Sundays are tricky for me – my favourite southeast Vietnamese restaurant is closed on that day, and sometimes, all I want is a nice bowl of Vietnamese noodle soup. So, we decided to venture off – but not too far to find some. We went to Heritage Meadows and found Le’s Pho Vietnamese Cuisine and Grill where I knew I had to try it.
Once we were inside, there was a sign that says “Please Wait to be Seated”, and it seems like it took forever to get seated, even though there wasn’t that many customers there at that odd time when I went (it as around 2 or 3pm). Once we sat down, probably another 5 minutes, a waiter came by to see what we wanted to drink. We just ordered some tea, since that’s what we like with our “Asian” meals. I quickly ordered the Spring Rolls and it came quite quickly. They looked pretty good, and it tasted good too! We’re off to a good start! Sure, it’s not the texture I was use to, but the flavours were all there, so I enjoyed them thoroughly! It’s hard to not like something deep fried, unless it’s soggy and not even a tad crispy!
I wanted something with a bit more flavour, so I tried their Satay chicken Pho which when it came out, it didn’t taste like satay at all! There was no other flavours besides a ton of spice… as though I ordered a super spicy chicken pho! There was no taste or texture of what you would expect from satay. Besides the spice though, the soup was very flavourless… a tad of fish sauce, and soy sauce didn’t help.
We also ordered a bowl of Pho Tai which is essentially rare beef with pho. This one is hard to goof usually, but the beef was fine, and the broth was really watered down. It tasted like nothing, so we were kind of disappointed with Le’s Pho!
The portion sizes are fairly large and the prices are within reason, but we didn’t like the watered down soups and just the overall lack in flavour of the pho. The noodles wasn’t too bad – just a tad on the soggy side, which I can’t blame them… sometimes I take too long trying to take a picture… but, I can say that taking long doesn’t make the flavours of the soup wash away. Overall, not my new favourite place for sure… but if I had to go back and give them a second shot (like I do with some places), I just might!
Le’s Pho (Heritage Meadows)
8180 11 St SE
Calgary, AB T2H
(403) 259-3883