Xe Lua Restaurant

If you’re looking for good Phở downtown this is the place to go. Ordered a chicken Phở and veggie spring rolls. The waiter brought tea over as soon as we were seated which was perfect on a cold day. The Phở arrived and it was delicious, thicker noodles than I’ve usually seen in Phở but really good. The spring rolls were pretty good as well. Had the mango smoothie with it and that was also delicious, my bf had the same meal with a peach smoothie, and we both really enjoyed our lunch.

My favorite Phở place in Toronto!
Reasons:
–Quick service — never a wait
–Delicious Phở
–Big Portions
–Cheap
I have been addicted to this place over the past month. l think I’ve eaten here at least once a week. Perfect spot for a quick lunch, relaxed dinner, or take-​out on a cold night when you want comfort food.
And it’s SO cheap! $ 7 for a Small Phở (which is NOT small, it’s big!)
Don’t expect pleasant servers though, sometimes they are a bit rude especially when it’s busy. But I mean… for the speed of service and the price it doesn’t matter haha

This place gets worse every time we go there. The fresh noodles is the only thing this place has going for it. So it was a Thursday evening restaurant was barely busy, ⁴⁄₅ tables max? Our table ordered spring rolls for appetizer, phở for date and I got a rice dish. Only thing that came out was the phở. When the server brought the bill he looked confused, asked if I still wanted the food I refused. Went up to pay the bill which was around $ 8 and they have a $ 10 limit on debit and credit, we have to buy a pop to make up the difference.

It isn’t authentic phở in the sense that a. It is in Chinatown so it is probably made by Chinese/​Vietnamese people (but still good) and b. they don’t use the vermicelli phở noodles but the flat fat noodles (ho-​fun). Regardless, it tastes good, the food comes quick, service is efficient and the restaurant has good seating accommodations for a large quantity of people if you have a group dinner. They also have booths for more side and dinners for small groups

I stumbled into this restaurant late on a Friday night with the invite from a friend I hadn’t seen in a couple of months. It was my first time having Vietnamese food. It was good. I punked out though and got a fried rice type of dish out of fear of the phở, lol :(. My friend got some curry based type of soup that he gave me some of and it was delicious. I’m going to have it one day when I will inevitably end up there starving early in the morning. However I should mention, my friend couldn’t remember the name of this soup so it took two other servers and a lot of pointing and over exaggerating before we could figure it out. You would think I would remember the name of it but alas, I don’t. If you’re looking for customer service fair warning: this is not the place. The servers aren’t really looking to talk to you. Each menu item has a number. After you decide on what you want you are expected to write the numbers on a provided notepad and leave it at the edge of your table for a server to grab on their way by. That’s it. No further interaction. Like I said they did help us figure out the soup but it’s not standard practice here.
I tried some steak type thingy that was really good. My rice was the expected fried rice and went well with the chicken skewers type thing my friend encouraged me to get. There was complimentary green tea that I sipped on all night, which was nice. This is a late night spot that’s decent and good for conversation, and if you live that type of exciting life sobering up after a night of bad decisions.

I come here once in awhile. But when i do iam always satisfied. i ‘ve tried a few of their phở dishes. And always finished them looking for more. What got me were the awsome spring rolls

Ive been here several times years ago, and remembered Xe Lua to be a decent, no frills restaurant. I decided to come back last night after wandering around TO in search for a quick dinner. I regretted my choice almost instantly.
Although the food tasted standard, the 1 star comes from the ridiculous amount of fruit flies swarmimg our table; every time I looked back down at my bowl, there were 1 or 2 new flies chilling on the edge of it. Not. Cool. Not only were the flies swarming around the beansprouts, food, drinks and the table (how stupid can the flies be to purposefully fly into something that will kill them???), there were also a ton of them in the air where I was sitting. I also dont want to forget to mention my mini fruitfly napkin graveyard off to the side of my table. Fan. Tastic. Maybe it’s because we sat near the kitchen. Maybe it was nearing the end of the day and they didn’t get a chance to take out the garbage yet. In any case, there is no excuse for any restaurant to let fruitflies run rampant in the dining room (or anywhere else).

Since I’ve been a young child, every Saturday my family would take a trip to Chinatown and we would dine at Train (Xe Lua). My father’s Vietnamese so he always had a preference of having Vietnamese for lunch instead of Chinese. Because of this, Train remains a restaurant close to my heart. So when it comes to this review, I might be a bit biased about Train. I remember when Train used to be on the first floor of the location, covered with cardboard boxes and sticky floors everywhere. It’s come a long way from back then. However, the food still delivers.
There are two dishes that I usually order at Train, the vermicelli with barbeque pork, spring rolls and ‘raw pork’ (also known as Nem Chua which is Vietnamese Fermented Pork) and phở special (101).
I never used to order vermicelli at Train, but it grew on me after trying it on a hot summer day. My dad would sometimes buy Nem Chua at Nguyen Huong (a Banh Mi place down the street) and after eating it with homemade vermicelli, it was a dish that I really enjoyed. My dad would also make his own version of the Vietnamese barbeque chicken/​pork when I was younger which tastes exactly like the one at Train. All the components of their vermicelli dish are ones that I have had the homemade version of and although it does taste great, I do prefer the one at Train. The fish sauce at Train is quite strong and the amount they give you tends to be too much for me as I prefer my vermicelli light and fresh. The peanuts add a nice crunchy texture to the noodles, and the bean sprouts and veggies, give it freshness. But with everything in the dish, it’s a great combination.
Train uses fresh noodles while many other restaurants use dried noodles for their soups. This make a huge difference in texture as fresh noodles are softer while dry noodles are harder and less pleasant to have in phở/​soups. The noodles here are also thicker than what you get at other places which I find to be a lot heartier when scooping a mouthful. The broth is nicely seasoned and isn’t too salty. However, I will admit that the broth is a tad oily and will leave a film in your mouth. Tendon has always been my favourite part when it comes to «toppings». If you leave the tendon in the warm broth for too long, it dissolves and does add even more oil to the soup. So my suggestion is to eat it up fast before it melts into the soup. I enjoy getting both the cooked beef as well as the raw beef in my phở. The raw beef should be dipped into the warm soup so that it cooks it but the longer it sits, the tougher it’ll get.
The service at Train isn’t like any other restaurant. They’re not known for their service but despite that, the efficiency of the food is quite impressive. It doesn’t take long for your food to come, even if the place is packed. The broth of the phở, as like most Viet places, is already prepared and they just scoop it onto the noodles and meat. The prices at Train are very affordable and $ 10ish can get you a bowl of phở/​bowl of vermicelli as well as a drink (try the 3 bean drink with coconut milk!), which is a decent amount of food.
After rereading my review, I guess there is an art to eating phở. There are certain items in the broth that are much more enjoyable when they are consumed in a certain order. That may be just me and how I eat but this is my personal review of the restaurant and food. I enjoy Train a lot and trying other Vietnamese places don’t compare (…well, maybe Phở 88 is alright — but that’s a review for another day). Even though I’m on a quest to experience as many Vietnamese places I can, Train will be one that I’ll always come back to.
(This review is solely for the Spadina location of Train, I’ve been to all the other locations and quality of food is indeed different at all the locations.)

Great phở, they have an extra large size bowl with the works for $ 10, that can be shared for up to two people. Their pork chop on rice is terrible, the pork chop was fatty and chewy, the pork is from the shoulder of the pig, My wife didn’t even enjoy the dish, ask the waiter about the issue and he looked at me, as he didn’t seem to care and stated that I ate most of the dish, yes we ate half of the white rice and a piece of the fatty pork, I would have been ok if he attempted to change the protein instead of the whole entire dish, but he didn’t offered any solution and walked away. Overall the phở and soup were great but their customer service and their fatty pork sucks.

I have been to 2 other Phở Train and I think this one is the worst of all three. Had Satay and fresh rolls. Both dishes are ok. Neither tasted fresh. The egg noodles in the satay were tough. The whole place has a dirty feel. The other two Trains are much better than this one, but it does what it needs to do, be open post club hours and fill the post drinking cravings.

All about the broth and nothing should be added when eating phở. I was looking for everything to throw in my bowl. If you like instant phở in a package, then go ahead and eat that because this is worst than that.

My go to! Love the staff here! Tough as nails, but all soft and incoherent at best… Maybe because, I’m a wee bit tipsy when I’m here at 3am lol

I don’t know why this place only has 3 stars. I’ve been here for years. You’re always able to find a seat or you’ll be seated in minutes.
I reckon this place has the best bunh (cold noodle salad with fish sauce) in the city chock full of spring roll and sprouts and etc! Super flavorful and fresh. I know people think the service is rude and slow but if it’s an Asian eatery, it’s really not rude to flag down the waiter. I also recommend the coconut milkshake or avocado milkshake.

I cannot get enough of this place. It’s so worth the travel and it’s always the first place I think of when I crave phở. I love phở with thick, salty broths and most phở places don’t offer it, but Phở Train does and they do it so well!
The place is definitely not upscale and the servers are never going to say more than three words to you, but I feel like that’s part of its charm. If you’re into that, great! If you’re not, I’d probably find another place.

Arriving pretty late in Toronto and not wanting to eat McDonalds I now regret eating there and we only ate there because after 11 days traveling in foreign lands that seem to only cater for fast foods you kind of miss eating vegetables. When my partner and I first arrived we were greeted by a sea of over-​worked staff who didn’t even bother to say hi and just pointed to a corner table and threw menus, a pencil and a piece of paper that looked like it belonged to an accountant. Never in my life have I seen this as I guess it’s your f@&k up to whatever you order blah blah. After deciding what my partner and I wanted we ticked the right boxes and then we waited for staff to take our piece of paper… 20 minutes later still waiting meanwhile there are 4 staff members on the floor working and not paying attention to their customers, as soon as one of them decided it was time for us to eat another disgruntled patron then yelled out that he has been waiting for his bill.
Food was served 20 minutes later. They plonked down our phở on our dirty table which I forgot to mention earlier. Anyhow the food and the price and the service is basically what you pay for… cheap and shitty.

Best taro bubble tea I’ve ever had! And the special beef phở was really good, definitely coming here every month. Service is a bit slow though but worth the wait. The phở is really filling, I can never finish my small bowl which is around $ 6. WORTH IT!

I had my first phở experience here on a cold winter night a few years back. Even though I’ve seen what else is out there, I still manage to find myself back here at some point. Each and every time it’s wonderful.
It’s not fancy at all and sometimes you have to hint really hard that you’re ready to order. However, this can be countered by the fact that it’s so ridiculously cheap for such a filling meal.
Their phở is on point! The broth is salty and delicious and their noodles are thick — my favorite killer combo!
I’ve been coming here for years and I don’t think I’ll be stopping anytime soon. One of my definite go-​tos!
Bonus: It’s open super late!

The post-​clubbing 3am phở spot.
$ 5 cab away from Easy, with judgey, middle-​aged Asian men perpetually hanging outside the restaurants. I like the standard rare beef one, but also the brisket/​tendons/​tripe phở as well. The menu #‘s are too much for my then-​inebriated brain to remember, but pretty sure everything on the menu would taste delicious considering people would usually go there after a night of dancing and round of drinking. Standard phở prices, worth a go if you’re ever near the area

This place is nothing mind blowing, but they do serve very good phở, bun and a very very good bowl of sate which is a spciy peanuty glutinous soup, sooo very good, and it;s what i usually order here. That dish specifically is impssoble to find anywhere but there sadly, so this is the main reason i keep returning.
Fast service, clean tables good food for SUPER CHEAP!
can’t go wrong here, if you’re picky and have special instructiuons for your meal, then this place may not be for you.

There’s no way around this place — people either love it or hate it. There’s no in between. Clearly I come in on the «love» side of things. It’s great phở, and it’s super cheap.
Some people talk broth, and noodle type — and that’s fine. I’d suggest coming here just once and figuring out if it’s for you. It’s my favourite place on the strip these days.
The waiters get you your food, then leave you alone. There’s always room. I love looking out over Spadina from the second storey.
Even when you’re done eating they’ll keep refilling your tea, and never hover and make you feel like it’s time to go.
I might suggest wearing a bib though. So many shirts have died here as a result of my own foolish oily spill.

C’est l’un des seuls resto viet ouverts jusqu’à 5h du matin le samedi soir, pensez-​y si vous sortez de boîte et que vous voulez manger un phô!
Le service est rapide et la qualité des plats est très correcte!
/​/​The only vietnamese joint opened until 5am on a Saturday around College and Spadina. If you just getting out from a club and craving for a phô it’s the place to go!
Cheap and delicious!