van son vietnamese cuisine

i have been to every vietnamese restaurant in alberta, and there is noplacethat compares. the largest most diverse menu, the flavouring in the soups, service/staff.......it is all incomparably the best vietnamese restaurant in all of ab.

they cater to your likes, spice things down for kids.....i just cannot stop talking about how great thisplaceis. since finding it, happy accident, i usually have lunch at least twice a week. if i could i would eat there 3x a day, every day, and the best part is the menu is so diverse i wouldn’t get sick of the “same things”.

worth driving too, for sure.

tried thisplaceout on a weekday. their restaurant was fairly packed. we ordered the pho beef special and chicken salad wrap. the pho broth was fairly light with less meat than most vietnamese places (average). the chicken salad wraps had seasoned chicken but again less meat (okay). prices here are higher than average $12 - $15 for a bowl of pho. overall, it was okay.

so sad thisplacedoesn’t do delivery anymore :( i first found thisplaceon skipthedishes as it was very highly rated. probably the best bun bo hue i’ve ever had! service is always amazing and food is consistently good.

recently have begun to stop by thisplacesince it's near where i've been working and since the last time i stopped by it was renovated. it's actually a nice location and the atmosphere is great for quiet conversation. i have a personal weakness for sate pho which i have tried at many different locations, and this was the firstplacewhere i didn't want to add sriracha or hoisin sauce, as i thought the flavor was great already. for heat, the thai chili they give you is enough to kick it up a little without changing the flavor, which in my opinion is the best part of this pho. they also offer two different types of sate pho so you can get the kind that you are craving! my personal favorite is the non-peanut sate however.i've tried it multiple times and it does not vary much day to day, which is great because i was already very impressed with the quality of their pho. additionally, the staff are extremely polite and attentive, and the bubble tea is great too. it  comes in those sealed bubble tea containers so it's easy to take it with you after your meal. i would recommend this location to anyone who enjoys pho.

thisplacewas ok but subpar on a lot of levels. i ordered the vegetarian curry dish with rice and there was not enough sauce. i've dined at a few other vietnamese restaurants to know how they portion out the sauce and this dish lacked it. i wasn't an huge fan of how they did their curry either but it wasn't terrible.
my boyfriends dish hardly had any meat like the picture showed on the menu. it was a lot of and rice with seldom chunks here and there. again - very skimpy. to their credit though the vegetarian spring rolls we had for an appetizer were very good.
we thought we would try to rectify our sub par entres with dessert - another fail. we ordered the fried bananas and they were pretty cold - below luke warm temperature and bland. i was expecting a caramel sauce or something similar to go with it but all we got was 3 fried cold ish bananas with a skimpy drizzle of what tasted like smuckers hot fudge with two scoops of vanilla ice cream. not worth it at all.
the service was pretty good and friendly - just the quality lacked.
with all the other great vietnamese restaurants out there i wouldn't recommended this one nor would i go back.

the good:
very friendly staff
large menu with endless options
nice tasting broth with lots of meat in it
tasty salad rolls

they've definitely renovated thisplacesince the last time i was there. i found my food all tasty and liked the options :) will go back.

update: ordered from skip the dishes because we were craving pho and it was close to us. the pho and bun and everything arrived perfectly and was delicious.

food was ok, it's not the worst i've had but nowhere near the best. i ordered a pho dac biet #28 and it was a lot of noodles so you get your money's worth. if you're looking for something quick to eat, thisplacewill do. however, there are definitely better pho restaurants in town. service was friendly.

this restaurant has become a regular lunch time spot for us. we stumbled across van son while we were looking for a quick bite to eat at lunch time. we’ve come here a few times now and we can honestly say that the food has been consistently great every time. if you’re looking for a heavy meal that’s going to probably send you to sleep for the afternoon, thisplaceshould be your go to restaurant. portions at vietnamese restaurants are always notoriously massive, and van son never disappoints. i don’t think i’ve ever left without a giant bag of leftovers.

this is the first time i came to thisplace:) so far i really like it. the restaurant is pretty big. a lot of pho options with really good broth. i would recommend my friends to go to this restaurant :)

overcooked noodle, greasy soup. i had their peanut beef soup. noodle was simply overcooked! soup was very greasy too. spring roll wasnt crispy enough. i rather go to my other 2 fav phoplacein calgary.

best in calgary. i go here all the time. bestplacein calgary in my opinion.

83% rating ?. wow, we happened to swing by for the first time in about 2 years because i was craving lemongrass chicken , grilled shrimp - omg no flavour and greasy spring rolls, my spouse had satay chicken and spring rolls...wow... i think too many people are confused about good vietnamese food in calgary. won't be back, even though theplacelooks great!

thisplacehas some of the best vietnamese i've had! every item i try always is a pleasant surprise. #30 chicken sate is delicious! great flavour and good spice! i work close by and even our clientele say its way better than the last place! so good!!!


-----12 jul, 2014-----

a step above the last place! i've only tried a few different things here and they have been fresh and delicious. newly renoed and very clean. the satay i tried here wasn't spicy, idk if it's supposed to be but good food. give it a try.

newly renovated, good food. van son has replaced the previous tenant, vietnam palace, just recently. new owners gutted the wholeplaceand made it into a nice clean restaurant! #31 pho sate bo has some nice flavors happening in the broth, and the beef is soft and tender. the sprouts, basil and lime are very fresh. if you like your pho traditional spicy, ask for extra sate on the side. for appies, try the #9, sweet and sour sauce or satay over egg tofu. delicious!

good food, friendly service. i live in the area so when i saw thisplaceopen up i had to try it! i have a "go to" vietplaceand generally every time i stray and try a new viet place, i'm disappointed. this place, however, is good. quite good. i really like their satay broth - very spicy and flavourful, although i always find it a touch oily. their vermicelli bowls are good too, their spring rolls are nothing to write home about. all dealings i've had with the staff have been great, they're all very polite and friendly. all in all it's a good compromise for quick viet, but it's not the best i've ever had... certainly good enough to keep me coming back though!