Sherman's Food Adventures: Pho Gizmo

Pho Gizmo

*Restaurant is now closed*

Have you ever noticed that there is a severe lack of Vietnamese restaurants on the West side of Vancouver? Is it due to the high rent? Clientele? To the best of my knowledge, there is probably around 10 places to grab Pho to the West of Ontario Street. One of these places is tucked right in the Safeway complex on King Edward and Oak Street. Pho Gizmo is the name, Pho & Bubble Tea is their game. Yah, not a conventional combination and really not a good idea when Dragon Ball is across the street. But whatever, I wasn't here for a bubble tea anyways. The place is small though, much like a bubble tea joint. Seating arrangements are made to maximize the amount of customers dining at the same time. Hence, there is a good chance you'll be really close to the table beside you. For me, that doesn't matter since I'm too busy taking pictures of my food. Ha! It might freak out the person beside me though...

As for food, I went for the usual Special Pho or better known as the Pho Dac Biet. It was a reasonable portion with a decent amount of al dente noodles and tender meat. I found the broth to be on the lighter side. I didn't get much in the way of meat flavour; yet it was aromatic while leaning towards the sweeter side. At the very least, it didn't exhibit much MSG. A respectable bowl of Pho considering the location. Of course that wouldn't be the only thing I ate, so I also got a Cold Cut Banh Mi. This wasn't bad as well. The bread was crunchy and actually quite airy inside. As evidenced in the picture, there was no absence of meats and ingredients. I wouldn't say the flavours hit me with much force; but it was still a very satisfying sandwich considering that this is not a Banh Mi joint. Furthermore, there is not much in the way of Banh Mi on the Westside period. So that brings us back to my original point. Since there as many Vietnamese restaurants as one can count on 2 hands on the Westside, Pho Gizmo does the trick. Of course there are better; yet not close by. I do have to note that the service was quite good and at one point, was "served" by the kid (with help from the mom of course).

The Good:
- Convenient location with lots of parking
- Decent eats considering location
- Inexpensive

The Bad:
- Seating arrangements are tight
- There is better Pho elsewhere; but not close by

Gizmo Pho on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

LotusRapper said...

We're quite close to Gizmo. Yet I'd rather drive out to Kingsway/Fraser area for my pho/banh mi/bun kicks. Having said that, Gizmo has stuck around for a few years now, so kudos to them.

My current fave westside Viet place is Pho Tan's in Kerrisdale :-D

Sherman Chan said...

@LR Yup, I would agree with you on both points.

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