Ginger

This is so far the best viet Thai Indian food in downtown Toronto that I’ve tried so far!

This place is like a home-​cafeteria to me. I visit almost twice a week and sometimes even more. The food is not the best of downtown, but it’s amazing with that price and quality.
I personally recommend the beef rib on rice and beef bahn mi (bun), you just have to finish it while it’s still warm, which apply to basically every hot-​served food. I didn’t expect much customer service but the staffs are friendly.

Ginger specializes in Vietnamese food. Its menu includes a large range of phở, appetizers and rice or noodle based dishes.
Orders are taken and paid for with the food prepared to order and then brought to you at your table. Service is quick and prices are cheap. This is basically fast food, Asian style.
The place is very busy, especially at meal time and tables can be difficult to find at times.
There is another restaurant across the street serving similar food and just as good, but at a higher price. There are always lots of tables available there.

It’s literally the worst phở I’ve ever had. I’ve been a few times because I live close and I LOVE PHO and every time it’s been mediocre to terrible. They don’t use fresh ingredients (as in their greens are black around the edges) and their broth is luke-​warm… not even warm enough to cook the rare beef. Avoid or be sorry.

Easily the cheapest and best-​for-​price value in the neighbourhood. Food is solidly the same quality every time I come (and order the same thing). Staff is efficient and friendly. Lots of room for sitting and they do take-​out and delivery (with a minimum charge). I lean towards the Vietnamese dishes here — it’s not my Thai go-​to. But always a good reliable option in the village.

Edit: It’s been a awhile since I went to Ginger. It used to be my go-​to place to eat/​take out because they were delicious and cheap. I kindda stopped going post-​renovation but decided to give it a go, why the hell not?
Sigh… I wanna like them back so bad because it’s so conveniently located. I ordered my used-​to-​be favourite No. 69 Lemongrass beef on rice. Meh, it’s so bland and almost watered down sauce. Rice was watery as well.
My bf ordered Green curry on pad thai and it was good but again it tasted like they cheap out on something, something in the curry didn’t taste as rich as they used to be. The pad Thai on the other hand was as if it was soaked in vinegar for 500 hours
I don’t know, I haven’t had a «oh.yum!» experience post-​renovation.

Cheap and cheerful Vietnamese in the heart of the Gay village. We came on Halloween night so we could get both dinner and a show. The place was rammed to the rafters but the food still came within 5 minutes of ordering it. My friend got the phở and I got the vermicelli beef. It was okay but I found the beef a bit stringy.. Not the best I’ve had but at least everything else was fresh and I could add hosin and spice.

Church Street’s go-​to place for quick, decently healthy food. Recently remodelled, lots of space, and the best (only?) Vietnamese coffee in the gaybourhood.

This is a quick go-​to place for solid thai-​viet food. I also think it’s better than the queen street location in consistency of the dish and taste. Highly recommended.
Food: 4/​5, I often get the vermicelli with beef, some rice dish or the bahn mi. Their phở is questionable though. I’ve come here often to know the consistently good food here. Anything pork or beef or lemongrass is usually a good choice. The phở broth is not as great and the chicken or curry is very «instant-​food» tasting and not very restaurant quality. Most of the food here is however great. I would say this location and the one on yonge/​bloor are the good ones in Toronto.
Service: 3/​5, not much here and I have lucked out on getting my food on time and the right dish (knock on wood) but many have also experienced their order not going in.
Ambience: 3/​5, great for dinner; easy-​going place with moderate seats and nice during the evening when they open the windows.
Price: 4/​5, very affordable around $ 10 – 15 per person.

This location of Ginger is decked out in rainbows, appropriate for its Church/​Wellesley location. However, I’m just not a fan of the size of the phở here.
Ordered a small beef special phở for $ 6.50 and it was honestly the smallest bowl of phở I’ve ever had in my life. I’m not a big girl, so my tummy gets filled up relatively fast — but I was still hungry after my lunch!
The phở itself was fine — comparable to the Yonge/​Bloor locations, but the size was just meh. Will make the walk to Yonge/​Bloor next time instead.

Went there and got food poisoning so already not a big fan. Overall quality of noodles and beef was not that good. Phở Hung is a better option when looking for phở in Toronto by far.

I use to love this place. The staff are friendly, and the atmosphere is nice, however, since their renovation the food quality seems to have sunk. I’ve gone twice now, and ordered the # 47. They now switched the grilled chicken to this new, cheaper, flaked chicken. I’m certain it’s canned chicken because it’s chunks that crumble into flakes.
The first time I thought perhaps they ran out and had to substitute, but the same second time.
So disappointed. Oh well. :-(

I love ginger! Quality eats for cheap! U get a very good a for your buck and it’s fast and delicious. They’re everywhere and definitely worth a try! You have a variety of options so everyone’s bound to be pleased. Of our a meat eater like myself id choose option 55 ginger chicken with beef and rice — it’s bound to be a success!

I just came back from a poor take out service experience. I went after a long bike ride with my dog and friend and they waited patiently while I ran in for what is usually a quick and good experience.
Unfortunately, my luck has run out with this place. My food sat sitting on the counter for about a good fifteen mins or so before the cashier realized I had seen everybody before and after me be served (about two people ahead and three people after, plus a number of tables). The waitress who packed it put my food in a bag and just left it there. The waitresses and cashier walked by at least ten times looking every so often; one waitress looked in the bag, picked up the ticket next to it and threw the ticket to the side. The cashier finally asked me what I ordered and handed me what had been dying at the pass this while with a straight face and no mention of the wait. It’s take out, I get it, but it was lukewarm at best when I got home and I ordered the beef ribs and saw that they had skimped and gave me half non rib normal beef to boot.
What really got me was that I had commented that that order had been sitting out for so long when I was passed it and he just said yea sorry roughly and didn’t even seem genuine about it. He should have been straight forward from the start and been the one to bring it up not me, that made me feel like he thought I was dumb enough that I didn’t see what had happened. I was a regular here, now I will be a regular at the Yonge street location. My friend raves about that one as much as I did here until now.

I love Ginger! Huge portions and so delicious! Their shrimp over rice is really good :)

Good price for the amount of food and quality of food you get.
After reading some of the reviews here, one thing I like to point out is that this is a self-​service place, all they do is to deliver your food to your table. You go get your own water, your cutlery, if anyone is expecting any ‘service’ here, they are out of their minds (for what they are paying, fast food restaurant pricing). Not to mention factoring in the rental cost on Church St, it is not a cheap neighborhood.
I find the good quite authentic and taste good, even my Vietnamese friends enjoy the food here. If you like spicy food, this is the place you should check out.

Used to be good, but the amount of meat they put into the meals has gotten way too small. Ordered chicken and rice, the chicken breast was so thin it fitted in between the space in a fork. Not much veggies either.
Service is horrible!
Also last time I visited I got serious food poisoning after eating there.
Someone else I know had same problem.
The hygiene in general is low, everything is sticky, big time.
Ginger no more! (shame as was good once)

Ginger has always been a reliable source of reasonably-​priced, tasty food in the area. I like their selection and the food always comes fast and fresh
They have a full bar and an open seating area near the window so you can people watch.
Minus one star for the washrooms which aren’t great.

This is hands-​down the worst Thai food I’ve ever had in my life. They serve a mix of Thai, Chinese, and Vietnamese cuisines, so maybe they can do the other ones better.
We had the pad thai which tasted as if they’d used Heinz ketchup and more oil than I ever thought possible to stir fry noodles which subsequently immediately clumped together. How come something be that oily and still clump together? We also had an almost inedible chicken dish.
The seating area is gross… tables are sticky.
BTW, the Ginger chain shows up pretty regularly in the listing of Toronto Dinesafe «Yellow Cards»…an indication of food safety infractions.
It’s cheap, but it’s hard to have good value when you can’t finish your food. Other people seem to like them better, so maybe I’ll give them another try sometime and try one of their Vietnamese dishes.

I’ve seen a few locations but never got a change to visit till now. Decent portions at an affordable price.
Ordered the hot and sour shrimp soup. Not a fan of celery, tomatoes, or mushroom but once I got past that, it was quite yummy to say the least.
Alongside the soup I also ordered a taro bubble tea and curry lamb with rice.
The bubble tea was somewhat lacking in flavour as compared to many others I’ve tried throughout the city.
I am giving this restaurant 3 stars based on the fact that the curry lamb (though I needed to add extra crushed chilli peppers to suit my palate…) Was indeed cooked to perfection. Very tender. Simply delish with its natural flavour. I am just getting addicted to curry flavour at this present time, so this can only be the beginning.

Ho un resto viet en plein de milieu de Church! Ici c’est la rapidité du service qui compte, ça fonctionne comme un fast food sauf qu’on sert des phô! Il faut importer ce concept en France!!!
C’est devenu ma 2e cantine apres le Phở Hung.
Conseil: allez y en semaine c’est super relaxant.
Whooot a vietnamese joint in the middle of Church?! Here you will expect service to be super fast. It’s like a fast food except that you order phô! They have to do the same in France!!!
It has become my favorite vietnamese place after Phở Hung.
tip: go during the week, it’s super quiet.