bistro nguyen's

thisplacegives me life, the pho and the pork belly are absolutely exquisite and everyone i have taken there has enjoyed it immensely . nguyen's is well worth the hype. anyone who needs motivation should visit nguyens- it will give you hope.

thisplaceis always busy but you don’t have to wait long for the food. i’ve been here a couple of times and it’s been consistently good. their pho serving is decent for the price paid. there is a good selection of traditional vietnamese dishes. they don’t split bills and i’d recommend you book if you have a group.

this was theplacewhere i dated my husband for the first time. their special pho is mr yu’s all time favorite, and i love their vermicelli salad the best. the best vietnamese restaurant in canberra!

pho was lovely, such a sweet and homely vibe too! excellentplaceright in the heart of civic. i'd definitely come back when visiting canberra next!

i came in with high expectations after hearing my brother’s praise of this place. it delivered above and beyond any expectations i had. coming from a vietnamese background i can guarantee thisplaceis legit. the banh xeo (vietnamese pancake) had a perfect texture and was delicious with well seasoned filling. the nem nuong (marinated pork) rice paper rolls which were house made also did not disappoint. finally the beef dac biet pho was up there on best phos i’ve had. insanely fresh and tasty broth, meats were beautifully tender and serving size was generous. decor is modern and authentic and service was genuine. highly recommend. 10/10

as far as bun's go this is about as good as it gets. perhaps a little too much vermicelli but this is a small oversight. this is a popularplaceand it's easy to see why. the dear luncher smashed down the beef and spring roll bun pretty quick, and would happily order this again. and again. this was done in the privacy of the dear luncher's hotel room, where there was no shame in slurping it down and getting dressing all over the face like a proper sloth.

this is a fabulousplacefor vietnamese food! the restaurant itself is well decorated, and reminds me of some of the hip restaurants in hanoi. the food is really fresh, tasty and well portioned. i really recommend the pho and iced coffee. the staff are always friendly and the pricing is pretty reasonable for canberra. recommended.

had this pho after a good hike at mt. ainslie. if you used to live in melbourne like me (or maybe sydney), don't get your hopes high. decent phó to meet your craving but nothing compared to other places i have tried in melbourne. having said that, i would come back to thisplacewhen the craving hits again.

bistro nguyen's was a total disappointment to pho restaurants in canberra.

yesterday i decided to try a differentplaceto get my favorite meal being pho, this decision ended up in disaster.

first off, the bean sprouts and lime were not fresh at all, when i tried to squeeze the lime nothing came out, so i avoided putting them in the pho. this incident then involved me in getting the attention of a staff member.... nope.

secondly, the service... my gosh the service was not what i expected, i made it clear that i was staring and even tried to ask a waiter that was walking past but got ignored. this type of service is unacceptable for any type of restaurant.

third, when i first came into the restaurant i didn't feel welcomed, as i was getting stared at by the three staff members that seemed to be talking amongst themselves and i had to find a seat that didn't have plates all over them.

lastly the pho, the main reason why i came, was lacking and was full of msg. the pho i ordered was the "pho with meatballs", this tasted very artificial and muddled that i couldn't finish it.

all in all i will not be coming back to bistro nguyens pho restaurant after this horrid experience.

as a positive note, the restaurant has a very good interior design.

theplacehas a cool vibe and service was great - however, i'd call the pho average. the flavours were muddled and a bit plain - i wouldn't go again but i wouldn't complain if someone took me.

very disappointing experience at bistro nguyen's, unfortunately this is not aplacei'll return to. the food itself was not super tasty but fine, and the service was truly awful. 
as a group of four last friday night we were greeted and seated promptly, got menus and ordered right away. one entree arrived quickly, followed by two of the four mains (pho and a rice dish). it then took a long time (i didn't time, but 10-15 mins) for the next dish to arrive, and the order was incorrect. the waiter took it away, and returned with it saying that if my friend didn't want this, then they'd have to put the order in to the kitchen again from scratch and we'd have to wait for it to be ready. it felt a lot like we were being told we were fussy not to eat the dish we didn't order. this is bad enough, but i've never experienced a wrong order not being rushed, plus they'd made a beef dish instead of the veg version for my vego friend. not cool. after a while the replacement dish arrived alongside the second entree, which we'd forgotten about.  after what felt like an age the fourth dish arrived, well after everyone else had finished, and just at the point we'd decided to leave and get takeaway from somewhere else for our now ravenous friend. he ate his dish alone after everyone else was finished.
i did see afterwards on the menu this restaurant has a "serve when ready" philosophy, but this wasn't explained and i've only ever seen it in a share-dining setting.
the waiters were friendly, and i don't think it was their fault but regardless the restaurant was non-apologetic and didn't offer any recompense or explanation.  
we won't be going back.

there weren't many places open to eat on a monday night at 915pm. most of the anu area had shut down already and red chilli sichuan wasn't taking anyone new. across the road from it, in a prime corner of northbourne avenue was a new(ish) vietplacethat i had heard mixed things about. bistro nguyen's probably brings a little hesitancy to the avid eater on paper (especially one with some familiarity with vietnamese food) considering the prime location, the restaurant name, and the decor attempting to fuse old school vietnamese charm in a more modern setting. the only modern viet places i've tried are the slanted door (which is exceptional) and red lantern (which is good). there's also a chef's hat called dandelion that i've always been interested in but never made it to. but with limited options, a few other people eating inside and the cold weather setting in, it seemed reasonable to try and see what bistro had to offer.

finally i get to catch up on my reviews, now the sydney film festival is over and we are mostly caught up on movie reviews it is time for some more loving and attention to spooning australia. i am continuing on with my next meal in my last trip to the ruling section of the nation. theplacethat houses all those evil conniving backstabbing fucktards we call politicians, canberra. enough with politicians, we want to make you hungry, not puke. i came across bistro nguyen’s purely by accident. i made a list of the restaurants i wanted to review in canberra and this wasn’t on it. there was aplacea few doors up i was keen to try, zomato (old urbanspoon) said it was open at the time but alas it was not, i kept walking up and down the street trying to find it, the numbers were all off and i could not locate the numbers at all. but i walked past bistro nguyen’s about ten times and it was packed and looked fantastic.

don't be a spoiled brat: bistro nguyen's is great. i've been here more times than i can count. apart from having some sort of divine pho recipe, theplaceis friendly and the staff are lovely unless they're too flat out to breathe. be patient with them, they're clearly new to the restaurant game but they've got a great recipe and they've always done their best to fix mistakes when they've made them, although i would say this to anyone having a go at them: you try running a busy restaurant in a second language. that is, if you can even speak a second language.

excellent food, fantastic atmosphere, fast service.. i was immediately impressed with the rustic/ industrial decor as soon as i stepped inside bistro nguyen's. i was with a group of eight and didn't have any reservation, theplacewas quite full for a monday night, but the lovely manager quickly seated us down in the central table without any hassle. the smell of spices from the kitchen is instantly recognisable as 'pho' reminded me of my time in vietnam. the menu is small, but filled with many recognisable vietnamese dishes. we all decided to have pho and a few vietnamese pork bread roll( banh mi) to share. our saigon beers were quickly delivered to us while my vietnamese ice coffee arrived momment later. the banh mi arrived minutes later nicely cut andplaceon a wooden board for us to share. i've got say that was the best banh mi i've ever had in canberra, it was filled with fresh coriander, chilli, pickled carrot, pâté and pork. warm, crusty and flavoursome, well presented starter for $7.50. while downing our banh mi, my 'special pho' delivered with a plate of fresh bean sprouts, basil, lime and chilli. the rather large bowl of pho is aromatic, topped with many different variety of beef product, onion, shallot and coriander. i've tried pho at many vietnamese restaurant before, but safe to say thisplacedoes it way better. beefy flavour, loads of meat, and the rice noodle was cooked perfectly. i was told thisplaceonly open for a couple weeks and its already popular. look forward to try their crispy skin chicken rice.