Vivian C.
Yelp
Its been a while since we've had Vietnamese food and since we were in Mississauga in the afternoon, I remembered hearing how great Pho Ngoc Yen was, so we decided to pay a visit. We had a choice to choose between their older location on Kamoto Dr., or their new location near Sherway Gardens. But we assumed that Kamoto Dr is such an industrial area that out of the two locations it would be less busy. O boy, were we wrong! We arrived before 6pm and it was FULL inside. We waited maybe 10 mins to be seated. While waiting, lots more people were coming in looking for a table. I had 10 mins to look around while waiting, so a couple of observations. Decor seems a bit old, kitschy, and maybe even a bit gaudy. Personal opinion. And theres not much of a reception area for you to wait. So if you have to wait for a table, theres a very high chance you will have to wait outdoors.
Once we got seated, the tables were VERY close together. You essentially feel like you are sharing a table with random strangers. So that made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
Menu wise, they have way more options than the typical pho place. In fact their pho selection i found to be quite small, but has the staples. Theres a lot more dishes that I don't recognize than I do, but that's what makes it fun. The menu has many pictures so you know what to expect when ordering. I ordered a pho, a clam and perilla leaf dish (recommended by someone I follow on IG), pork chop and chicken broken rice, and a chia grass jelly dessert (also recommended from someone on IG). Pho was pretty standard I thought, but honestly I barely got to eat any of it, cuz my kids and husband inhaled it. I did notice that the ratio of meat to noodles was high. Almost like there was more meat than noodles (i'm not complaining i swear). Pork chop and chicken broken rice, portion looked good, a pork chop, a chicken thigh, fried egg and bowl of rice. But what was different than other Vietnamese places is they have the Vietnamese egg too. My kids looked kinda scared of it but once they had a bite they loved it. Again barely ate this dish because my kids inhaled it. What i did get to eat was the clam and perilla leaf dish. I think it was stir fried clams, ground pork and perilla leaves served with crunchy rice crackers. Textures were amazing! What i wish i knew was that it was a bit spicy. The kids couldn't handle the spice. My favourite though was desert. I didn't think that chia seeds, grass jelly, fresh fruit, and ube ice cream would work but it was so refreshing! I could eat bowls and bowls of this.