bay city noodles & cafe

best viet in geelong by far.

such an ugly restaurant but thefoodis very authentic. i used to live in footscray and this place is on par. they just need to clean up the place a bit.

5 of us drove past geelong on good friday on the way to great ocean road. not many shops were opened. decided to have lunch here. the restaurant has an unpleasant smell. ordered 2 entrees and 4 main dishes. costed $63 for 5 people. very cheap. however the taste of thefoodwas very....not nice. i wasn’t expecting much at the beginning anyway. sorry to say that but it was the worst vietnamese restaurant i’ve ever been to. wouldn’t want to come back again. made me wanna go back to melbourne and have a good bowl of pho.

overall thefoodthat we ordered was very standard, rice paper roll was very bland, there were no marinade on any of the filling, the flavour were only from the dipping sauce (i like the crushed peanut on it), pho was very basic, the flavour of the broth was "meh" and there were many tendon pieces inside (good coz i like it) but taste wise the whole thing was just so-so. the mung used bbq pork, and it was okay. what annoyed us was the strong smell of this place, seems like we were eating inside their kitchen, definitely there were something wrong with their kitchen exhaust fan, we ate real fast and just cant stand to stay there longer. decor inside was depressing with majority of dark green and black colour paint, and the paint job was awful. the mirror was dirty, with lots of stain on it, dunno when was the last time they clean it. only the service was good, the young waitress was very friendly and fast, explain everything thoroughly and made us feel a bit better. but that wont make us come back though, maybe for geelong this pho considered not bad, but its far below melbourne standard. and its not worth it to stand the smell anyway.

the environment is pretty aweful , pretty dark and filthy . waited for half an hour still nofoodand i ended up late for work. the taste of thefoodis below average but it's so far the best in geelong . if you compare it with the pho restaurants in melbourne it's really not good .
the dinning area is smoky like in the kitchen .no fresh chill

amazing food! so authentic, spring rolls are just like you get in vietnam.
don't judge a book by its cover because thefoodis so delicious.

i was dying for asianfoodand this really hit the spot!! definitely recommend the pho! my only recommendation is use fish sauce for the spring roll instead of sweet sour sauce~

no fresh herbs with my pho? really?
the beef broth was overly salty and mono-dimensional. it had no resemblance to the balance and subtlety of a fine, restorative complex broth. the rice noodles were all broken up to about the length of matches and were texturally indistinct. 
the bean shoots looked slimy and in need of at least rinse, and again no herbs really? 
the rice paper rolls were so tough (fridge cold?) and with no herbs within the vegetarian rolls, just vermicelli, carrot, iceberg and a tiny amount of tofu they were so disappointing.
it just seemed like thefoodwas prepared without effort or care and left the table disappointed.
hate to sound like a broken record but where were the herbs?  
cant see myself returning or recommending.  super mediocre.

food sizes are too small.. i love vietnamesefoodand i went tonight and ordered 'sweet and sour pork'. when i returned home i found that there was 1/4 pork (no vegetables) and 3/4 rice in the container for $11!
a few vegetables would have been fine however to have 3/4 rice was a joke. i've eaten 'sweet and sour' from almost all asian restaurants in geelong and this was by far the most disappointing.

owner- you should have just said sorry and given me some more pork in my 'sweet and sour'. that's all i really wanted.

don't listen to the haters. if you like small portions and authenticfoodserved by a friendly man reeking of cigs this is the place for you.

where did this place get its rating? very very ordinary food! if you're looking for fresh authentic vietnamesefoodthis place is not for you. just edible...disappointed.

nice food, good service, small serves. i agree the service is friendly andfoodis nice, but this place is also very dirty and the prices not that great. geelong lacks any real variety when it comes to vietnamese restaurants. the beef pho here is nice, but the serving size is not big enough for the price tag.

very traditional,foodwas lovely. couple that run it very sweet and nice. great value for your buck.

top notch pho. i only recently visited the popular 'i love pho 264' in melbourne and was very pleased with the quality of the food. what pleased me even more was the fact my local pho place was just as good. it's a humble little place, but thefoodspeaks for itself. in my opinion this is the best place in geelong for authentic vietnamese.

bay city noodles & cafe in geelong is as authentic as they come. owner minh looks like he would be just as at home whipping up some tasty streetfoodin vietnam as cooking in geelong and thefoodsure tastes like it’s straight from vietnam. the moreish stock is at once salty, almost slightly sweet, slightly spicy and full of amazing, mouth watering flavour. the meat a beautiful coral pink, quickly cooks in the steaming broth. the soup comes complete with a side of tasty additions; mung sprouts, vietnamese mint, lemon and fresh chili. a tray in the table’s centre holds all sorts of chili oils and sauces, as well as hoisin sauce which i like to add generous amounts of before i start eating.

the best place to dine in geelong. minh is proud of his stock and so he should be! beautifulfood- best pho in victoria period