Red Pagoda

Not a bad place for a quick bite for lunch. My office is a block and a half away so it’s very convenient, and if you’re able to miss the lunch rush (I came at 1 and there were tables freeing up everywhere and we were seated immediately), you can get in and out in half an hour.
I ordered the bun bo hue ($ 9.25) and it wasn’t the best I’ve ever had or anything, but it did the trick. I was craving phở and this hit the spot. Food came almost instantly after ordering it, the service is quick and turnover is fast. A decent place to come for lunch in the downtown core for very reasonable prices.

Just had lunch here yesterday. Ordered #22 noodle. Good as usual. Very busy at lunch time. Sometimes, I just ordered take out if in hurry. Pay the cashier at the till. No much service. But the service is fast and price is good for downtown location.

Best Vietnamese ever!
This is my go to lunch spot when downtown Vancouver. Everything is delicious and very affordable. It’s a popular midday spot, sometimes there is a line out the door waiting for a seat. Do not be alarmed, they are very quick and extremely lovely. After putting my order in the longest I ever had to wait was 10 minutes. When dining in, while you wait, you are also brought complimentary green tea. My two favorite items are the peanut satay soup (#23) and vermicelli noodles with chicken and spring rolls (#29). The chicken is SO tender even with a crunchy finish. If you’re like me, you want as much fish sauce as possible — and they leave a bottle of it on the table! Go nuts! I have nothing but pleasant things to say about this place. I only wish I lived in Vancouver so I could continue to eat it everyday!

I work in Coal Harbour, which means I’m walking distance from some of the best ramen in Vancouver, and believe me, I take advantage of this fact lol. But, recently I discovered a different noodle soup that had me saying «what the what?!»
Ramen has always been my noodle soup of choice, however recently I discovered the satay soup at Red Pagoda which is outrageously good. The soup is rich and nutty with delicate herb flavours, and it comes with rice stick noodles, much like phở. You can order it with chicken or with rare beef, also like phở (I always get the beef which in my opinion is better than the chicken). I think that most ramen noodles available around town are better than the noodles that come with this soup, but the soup itself is divine, especially after a drizzle of chili oil and a squirt of sriracha! Phenomenal.
The restaurant also has phở and the typical grilled pork/​chicken on vermicelli with spring rolls, skewers, salad rolls, beef stew, etc. and it’s all ok, but the satay soup gets them another star!
Tip: They give you a massive amount of noodles so I just order half noodles!

Peanut Satay 4EVA! This soup is so delicious, I want to bathe in it. I advise in wearing a cloak when you eat it, because you may end up wearing it… or maybe it’s just me.
Be sure to get there early to get a seat as they are swamped at lunch time. I like to order ahead so I can eat in privacy, seeing that I’m so messy! It wouldn’t hurt finding yourself a mixing bowl to eat the soup if you do take-​out as the portions are big!

One of the best Vietnamese Food in the Vancouver area. My friend and I had the sate peanut soup and it was delicious. To my surprise, this is one of the few place in Vancouver that this variation of Phở is available. The portion was huge as well as being reasonably priced.
As for the service, even though it was absolutely packed, the staff did their best to be courteous when it’s clearly visible they’re stressed out. Not sure why some people are complaining about the slow service when they’re coming during lunch rush. Have some empathy for the people there, they’re working their asses off!

If speed and average tasting food is what you are looking for for lunch, Red Pagoda is a place for you. The food is forgettable and you will be spending the rest of the afternoon drinking copious amounts of water. For Vietnamese food, prices are a little high in my opinion. I digress, you want my review so here it goes.
Lemongrass Chicken, Salad Roll and Spring roll Combination Plate. The lemongrass packs a good punch of flavor and the spring rolls are nice and crispy but quite oily. The combo plate was too much for one person and great to share.
I did enjoy the tea though. It had barley in there I think which I enjoyed.
Damage: $ 12.75

Funny place I never would’ve found on my own:-) super packed with lunch crowd, super fast. Good phở.

This place fills up fast during the lunch hour, as evident by the out-​the-​door line up for take out, once the tables are all taken.
The portions are decent, though they are a little heavy handed with the bean sprouts. My last order was mostly sprouts, and not enough noodle.
Let’s face it, we’re here for noodles.
Everything is tasty, especially the beef stew, and the lemongrass dishes. For really hungry days, they offer a combo platter with spring roll, salad roll, and chicken on a bed of slaw. I think of it as the ‘favorites’ platter, for when I just can’t decide.
This is a decent place for authentic Vietnamese fare.

a 4 on food and a 2 on service. not great for lunch; if you’re in a hurry or ask them for something, you’ll likely wait or have to ask 2 – 3 times.

Food is OK. Service was the worst part.
Went here around 4pm for a late lunch with a co-​worker. It was dead in there, but as we walked in, we didn’t get acknowledged, and had to wave down a waiteress to ask for a seat. She pointed at a table and came around with some tea and menus. We sat there for a good 10 minutes (only took us about 2 minutes to decide what to eat). No one came around to take our order (again, it was dead, so what else were they doing?). I had to go up to the front to tell them we were ready to order, and they finally came around.
Ordered a spring roll, 2 bowls of noodle soup to eat there, and then 2 salad rolls to go, for another co-​worker. The bowls of noodle soup came a few minutes after ordering, and when they dropped them off, the waitress asked again to confirm our 2 salad rolls were to go. We confirmed, but also reminded her that we had ordered spring rolls.
Half way through my noodle soup, spring rolls still didn’t arrive. I assumed that they must have misheard us, and thought that the spring rolls were to go with the salad rolls, which I would have been ok with, as I could have eaten them back at work.
We finished our bowls of noodle soup and went up front to ask for the bill (no one came around after we got our food to ask how we’re doing and if we wanted anything else, or to even refill our tea).
She printed out our receipt and it was only for the two bowls of noodle soup. I had pointed out that we also had 2 salad rolls to go, and an order of spring rolls that never showed up. The salad rolls were in a box by the register, but for some reason (as she stated) our waitress ‘forgot” to put in the order of spring rolls (even though we told her twice?).
There was no reason I can think of why the service there was so horrible for a time when there were no other customers. I don’t think I’ll be going back here any time soon.

The food made up for everything and it was delicious. But the service was HORRIBLE!
I came here today with my brother and my mom during noon which was lunch hour for office workers. The restaurant is located under the Pender Offices which was understandable why it was so busy. Servers were rushing around trying to get orders to tables. We came up to a waiteress and asked if we can get a table, she replied with: «Sit where ever you want.»
So we followed her directions and sat down at a free, clean table. But just as we were scanning through the menu, the same server came up to us and started to yell at us «Why are you sitting at this table?!» «This table is reserved!» Ok first of all, you told us to sit where ever we want, and second of all, there was no sign that this table was reserved, it looked like every other table there. No little sign saying reserved.
She told us to wait up front for another table. We sighed and took our coats and waited at the hardly fitting ‘waiting’ area. there we no chairs and servers kept on bumping into us while we were waiting. We could’ve just left right there, but my mom really wanted to try the food because she is a big fan of vietnamese food.
We waited… and waited… and waited. It was almost 20 minutes and we were ignored by a black guy who i think is running the place. Finally when a group of people left, we were seated in a booth which was horribly messy, the booth seats were ripped and the walls were grimy. At least we were seated.
Just wait this is the best part. While we were waiting for our food, a server came up to us and asked «Can you share this table with 3 more people?» I was like she did not just ask that. Sure I get you are busy at this hour, but i have NEVER been asked to share a table with 3 strangers. That really ticked me off and we said no. Seriously what the heck?
The food finally came and it was very good. I got a beef ball brisket noodle soup, my brother got one of the combinations, and my mom got a beef ball, tripe, brisket noodle soup. They were all seasoned and very good.
I would’ve gave this one star if it wouldn’t have been how good the food was. Never have I encountered such unexperinced wait staff. The women act all cocky and sassy if you talk back to what they said. I would come here again on occasions but not purposely

— Lemongrass Chicken 10 bucks — no too greasy and full of flavor. You can even double up on meat for 5 more bucks. (⁹⁄₁₀)
— Phở Tai Nam — 8 bucks — delicious broth! a little fattier than other Vietnamese restaurants, but it was still good. (⁸⁄₁₀)
— Food is super cheap. A+
— Takes quite a while to get your food though. One time, we waited 30 mins to get our phở. And the lady didnt even refill our tea pot regardless of how many times we asked her for a refill. Fail.
— Ventilation in the restaurant is kinda weak. So you end up smelling like food by the time you finish dining.
— Make resos.
Overall — the food makes up for the bad service. Just try em out for yourself.

Someone pointed out recently that my star ratings did not represent my written review. This was an oversight on my part. However, I’m going to stick with 3 out of 5 stars for these reasons:
The only thing I repeatedly get is their peanut satay vegetarian phở. This shit is legit and if I could base my review on one single menu item, then I would. The vegitarain salad rolls are good too but I only go back for the peanut satay.
That being said, the phở is not consistent. I order it vegetarian and I’ve been confirmed that the broth is vegetarian but I’ve found the hard way that that is not the case.
Thus, 3 stars.

Good Viet tucked away on Pender. The food was above average and I was pleasantly surprised by the tables and general ambiance, it’s a little outdated but the portion size of numbah 29 made up for it.

great Viet food for the office workers, truly authentic – servers wearing gorgeous costumes. harder to find as it’s ground level under a building that’s recessed in off Thurlow.
good service. reasonable prices for more modern ambience. i usually go to their Commercial Drive one. Vermicelli is a winner here.
does close early here.

Red Pagoda has become my new go to phở place since my office moved too far away to make it to Ha Long Bay.
If you plan on eating in make sure that you get here by 11 a.m. sharp. By no later than 11:15 — 11:30 a.m. a line starts snaking outside and around the corner, which is surprising for a restaurant that is hidden in the middle of a city block, smack dab in between six office buildings.
This place gets three stars because the phở is a great deal for $ 7.95. But, don’t think you’re paying for service, a great dining experience, or the best phở you’ve ever had. The broth that comes with the Vegetable and Tofu Phở is a bit on the weak side and if you order takeout the noodles take awhile to come unstuck from a giant square clump. But, the serving sizes are quite large.
The serving staff routinely forget your food (and I hear often bring out the wrong orders). If you’re in a rush, give them a call and grab takeout. They’re set up for online ordering, but unfortunately only for night delivery, not takeout.

Came here for lunch today. TIP: come no later than 11 45am sharp on a weekday, otherwise, the place will be packed within seconds!
Food: pretty good value and taste. Everything comes hot! This is definitely the more affordable and immediate option if you have a Phở craving downtown.
Location: convenient for those working in the area. NOT convenient if you are driving downtown to come eat here.
Seating: Tables are small and crowded and somewhat sticky. Really tight. About 6 inches between tables, so it’s like everyone in the restaurant is eating together. TIP: Make sure the people you sit next to are cute, because when you get out of the booth side of the table, your butt will be in someone’s face (and food) for sure.
Overall a 3 — good food, great price (for downtown), awful seating, awful parking, mediocre and sometimes long service. Accepts credit too.

the place is small and super busy, so be careful around lunch time. They did accept reservation from our group of 8, which is great.
Food is not spectacular but decent, service is a bit slow and there weren’t much servers around, and paying took a while.
Overall not too bad
Ordered the lemongrass chicken and veggie spring roll combo, as well as beef ball soup. The spring roll was very fresh and nice, enjoyed it lots!

I’ve only been to Red Pagoda once so far, but I do plan on going back. Their portions are huge (Phở) and well worth the price of $ 7.95 — but I guess I’m used to seeing high prices in this neighbourhood. I saw another reviewer comment that the price wasn’t very cheap. Maybe I need to get out more!
Anyway, I had a Groupon for this new location of Red Pagoda and went with a friend thinking this would be lunch for two. The amount of food we received would’ve been enough for 4 people easily. The appetizer platter was huge and I loved all of the items on it. See my photos attached.
The Phở was hot, flavourful and did I mention HUGE? This is the best lunch to have on a cold day and I’ll definitely be back for more.