green leaf bistro

i'm just saying, you're going to love this restaurant!. friendly welcoming greeting, warm happy atmosphere, greatmenuofferings, delicious food, excellent service ... perfect!

was our first time ordering from this place, thought we would try something different. then i found out that themenuat the langford place was not the same as the one on this website according to the lady that answered the phone. i wanted to order spring rolls, rare beef pho and caramalized shrimp on rice. even after confirming my order and making sure that she had the rare beef pho on the list, what we received was: spring rolls, salad rolls, and caramalized shrimp. no one bothered to take our name and number for the order, they didn't say what time it would be ready, and didn't give us an itemized receipt when we picked it up. i don't know where the mix up was... hubby went to pick up and there was confusion about which order was ours... got home and found out there was no pho in the bag(!). i said that i wondered if it was a language barrier and hubby said no, her english was fine. food was not bad but won't be bothering to order from them again...

decent vietnamese food for langford.
partner really enjoyed the pho. satisfying on a chilly evening. there's a small section of vegetarian options (unfortunately no pho) so ordered the vegetable vermicelli with spring rolls that were a rather mushy minced texture. will try the salad rolls next time...
friendly helpful service. very busy especially with takeout.
update** visited again to try new dishes and the meal was good. ordered the grilled pork vermicelli and meat was cooked perfectly with a nice smoky flamed flavour (they seem to do meat well), and the tofu and veggies with egg noodles is a vegetarian dish that i'd recommend (although second time i ordered it, it was heavier on the soy sauce...). again, restaurant was bustling on a sunday evening with people coming and going. restaurant itself may not seem all that busy but lots of orders are pick-up so service is steady - if you need a server just flag someone down. keep in mind it's a family run business. space could do with a little touch-up and tlc including fixing up the huge under-utilized deck out front that would be great for customers to enjoy. we found service to be okay and price-to-portion very reasonable.
note* westshoremenubit different than downtown location

love green leaf!. i have been to both green leaf bistros (downtown and langford) and they have both been good! i go to the langford one more often however.

the food: i have never had any problems with the food! the pho is flavorful, hot and comes with lots of fresh garnishes. i have tried a couple different things from themenuand my favorite are the green papaya salad, the pork patty and spring roll vermicelli bowl and the pho ga. my husband and i went once and he wasn't very hungry so he ordered the grilled quail. the server was so friendly and said "just to let you know they aren't very big so please be aware of that". she was right, they weren't very big (being that they are quail it makes sense!) but it was the perfect small appetizer size that my hubby was looking for. really nice of her to warn him though. expectations that aren't met can often lead to dissatisfaction. i've also ordered take out pho from here and they package everything up separately and it is still hot when you get home!

the service: the service is pretty good. nothing spectacular (other than as mentioned above) but it is fast!

the decor: i like the decor of the langford one better than downtown. it is spacious, cozy, lots of parking out front and even has a patio for the sunny days!

warning vegetarians - these guys lie!. i hate to be another guy on the internet complaining, but i consider this to be a major issue. i've been to this place 4-5 times in the past. every time i went, i confirmed with the server that the hot and sour soup i was ordering off the vegetarianmenuwas made with a vegetable base. each and every time the server was keen to convince me that the soup base was indeed vegetarian. this was witnessed by my vegetarian and non-vegetarian friends who were with me. every time the server assured me it was vegetarian, something about the way she said it seemed a bit dodgy and the soup always tasted a bit funky. it was pretty good to be honest, but it didn't seem to be vegetarian.

today i pushed the issue a bit more and she finally admitted that it was made with either chicken or beef base depending on the day. i was furious and asked to speak to the manager. he was quite hesitant to deal with me until i continued to push. he said themenuexplains everything, but there is no mention of beef/chicken broth in the soups.

the undisclosed meat issue (especially fish sauce) is common with thai, vietnamese, chinese and other eastern ethnic foods. i know to look out for it. the problem is that i clearly asked our server on several occasions and she chose to lie to my face on each and every occasion. i'm also certain that this was not a language issue. she knew exactly what i was asking.

in short, i hope no one dies on their floor because they chose to lie about the ingredients of what they are serving. shame on these people. i wont be going back.

non spicy asian food lovers. i gave vietnamese food a try when they took over the goldstream ave location. i found out being a spicy asian food lover that theirmenuofferings which i'd tried were totally bland with little enticement in the flavour dept. people that like bland foods will probably enjoy this. unfortunately, its not quite my cup of tea. i still may though give it another shot and inquire this time for something "spicy", or just add some of my own chili to it.
bon appetite.

welcome, green leaf! amazing flavour, healthy, fresh...! yum!. i ordered salad rolls with shrimp and an order of vermicelli salad combo, number 43, i think, and though a big eater, i could not finish the ample takeout portion. my young daughters stole one of my salad rolls to share, and they normally won't touch them unless i make them fresh. our family will definitely be going back, i am a new fan, and cannot wait to try the phone, and some other dishes from the variedmenu:-) ps dont have a bill? try asking for one. staff is very nice, be patient!! wish they had dessert to go, like creme caramel ...mmm!

sept 2016 update: still awesome!! still hopeful they make desserts one day.

really liked it. we tried the new westshore location for the first time this evening and really enjoyed the food. we had the followingmenuitems:
#1 fresh salad rolls with pork & shrimp
- these were amazingly fresh and tasty,and came with a great peanut sauce.
#21 pho (beef noodle soup) with rare beef & meatballs
- the broth was excellent and spice, oyster &/or soy sauce can be added to taste. it is also served with a heaping side of fresh veggies, lime, chilies and thai basil which can be added as desired.
#34 udon noodles with shredded pork, grilled chicken & coconut milk
- this was a huge meal, and was very tasty. the coconut is a cream sauce for the udon noodles and is served with bean sprouts and pickled veggies as well.
overall, the food was extremely good, and was a very reasonably priced for the large portion sizes (only $30 for an appetizer and 2 mains after tip, and we had leftovers for lunch the next day.) we will definitely be back to try more of theirmenusoon!