Ottawa Foodies

I went here today with my good friend and we were both extremely unsatisfied.

First of all I must say that I have experience in REAL Vietnamese restaurants. I've been to a few in Chinatown. Unless you've had a real experience, you would never know better. You wouldn't know how wrong this place is. And I think that's what the owner is banking on. Your ignorance. Let us begin.

As soon as you walk in to Pho Thi it's nothing like a real Viet restaurant. It's artsy and feels stuck-up. They play elevator music. I don't know about you, but if I walk into a cultural restaurant I want to feel that culture right away. I want to feel like I've stepped out of Ottawa and into whatever land the food originates from. That did not happen here. We still sat down. As soon as I saw the horrendous prices on the menu, I wanted to leave, but my friend didn't want to walk out after sitting down. Typically, a Vietnamese restaurant is very affordable, even cheap.

There were no condiments on the table. No hoisin sauce, hot pepper sauce, fish sauce, salt or pepper... no forks, knives or napkins and only 4 chopsticks as if they couldn't take the time to replace them. This is not a common set up for a Vietnamese restaurant.

We had to pay for tea. Usually tea is free.

The shrimp spring roll: nice presentation, but tastes boring. They worked too hard on presentation and not so hard on quality. I've had MUCH better.

Thai curry beef with rice: So spicy I could hardly finish it and wasn't very tasty. The beef tasted undercooked and the veggies were just basically pepper and onion. I could make better at home.

Beef soup: Quite expensive. Taste good but they didn't bring the lil plate of veggies that you commonly get with soup. We noticed that they brought the veggies to other people who ordered the soup. Just not us. (she is Cambodian, maybe that has something to do with it?) She was still hungry after finishing the soup.

We had to wait 15mins for the bill and there were only 3 tables plus 2 tables outside. Then we had to wait another 10 min once we had the bills cause I had to pay by debit and they just left us standing there at the cash register as they rushed past us to serve the outside people. (I was beginning to think the meal was free.)

When my friend paid, they never offered her the change. Granted, it was only 70 cents change but still... that's her change and the proper thing to do is to say "I will get your change now", right? They decided to tip themselves from her change! They didn't say thanks after I paid so I did not give them a tip. I wasn't planning on giving a tip anyway.

I would not recommend this place at all if you are looking for an authentic experience. However, if you are rich and love to waste your money on pretty things rather than quality things, then this is definitely the place for you! Don't get me wrong, the food is not bad but they are very stingy with it! We usually get a LOT more for our dollar.

I am so extremely disappointed and sorry to my friend for making her experience this crappy place with me.

Went for dinner here on Sunday night for the third or fourth time since it opened and again the food was very good. I seem to be stuck on the pad thai here now and have trouble ordering anything else even though when it comes out of the kitchen, everything looks pretty tasty.

I find the customer service in here not necessarily bad, just a little odd. Nobody seems overly friendly or wanting to serve you, but perhaps this is just my interpretation.

Overall, a good restaurant for Barrhaven to have.

Went to the Pho Thi Fusion in Barrhaven with wife and friends recently, ordered the pad thai for myself, my wife and friends had sushi... very pleasantly surprised by such an up scale and classy establishment in Barrhaven... the chief chef in the kitchen is a culinary master as is the sushi chef out front, waitresses all very courteous... can't wait to go back, well worth the price... 5 stars!!!

i want a perfect body, i want a perfect soul.

starts with clean eating. @ p h o th i fusion for tom yum on noodles, chicken and shrimp vermicelli bowl, and chicken and shrimp black bean on thick rice noodles. out of all the pho places in ottawa, this one has the best presentation and clean taste; however, the meat portions on the dishes are marginal. the washrooms and kitchen were immaculate -- hallmarks of a good restaurant and more sanitary side of food prep.

funnily enough of note: the side of the royal classic plates may dwarf the table tops.

pictured: chicken and shrimp vermicelli bowl.

Review the food? I wish I could however my one dining experience (if you want to call it that) left a bitter taste in my mouth.

My husband and I went to Pho Thi Fusion on my birthday. After waiting two hours at the door, bar and table, we left starving and utterly frustrated with the lack of customer service skills this restaurant provided. Granted all restaurants make mistakes, but this was unaccpetable. My husband even wrote the management a letter which has gone unanswered. You won't see me at this restaurant any time in the near future.

Perhaps your friend isn't a fan of Vietnamese food? Pho Thi Fusion exists only in Barrhaven, not in Kanata. The place on Merivale is Pho Thi (not Fusion) -- they appear to be affiliated and both serve slightly trendier than normal Vietnamese food. This "Fusion" one also has some Sushi/Thai/Chinese menu items.

The recommendation for Nokham Thai is likely a good one but doesn't seem relevant to a discussion of Pho Thi Fusion -- I doubt Nokham Thai serves Pho!

The nice thing about Pho Thi Fusion is that you could come here with a diverse group of people and everyone would find something to enjoy.

I remember my friend told us not to try Pho Thi Fusion. So, I sent her an email and asked her. She replied:

"Is it in Barrhaven or Kanata?

They have one in Merivale Road where future shop is. One just opened in Barrhaven which we tried it a month ago. It is NOT my taste at all. We do not think we will ever return. Go try Nokham Thai"

Are we talking about the same one?

Wifey summed it up as, "This is what TJ Pagoda's *should* be like."

This restaurant follows the recent trend towards pan-Asian cuisine, offering Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, and Chinese dishes in one place. Like the other pan-Asian restaurants in town it incorrectly labels itself as fusion. That's fine though because the food is good!

Like Pho Thi on Merivale, food presentation is a step up from most Vietnamese restaurants. Decor is nice and trendy, making the restaurant feel like something you'd find in Toronto rather than Barrhaven. Service was great but it was clear that the servers did not have clearly assigned duties or tables. The benefit of this approach is that everyone pitches in to help; the risk is that some customers might be forgotten. At one point, a family of four stormed out because they had been seated for one hour and never received any food. The matriarch of this family accidentally left her purse behind, causing the bartender to do an admirable Olympic-style sprint into the parking lot to return it to her. I'm guessing their food order fell through the cracks somehow; lesson learned: speak up if it's taking too long! For us at least, service was prompt and food arrived with perfect timing.

The food itself was very tasty! I'll go into detail in the per-food sections of the review.

Pho Thi Fusion is no longer cash only -- they now accept credit cards and interac, and they're just about to get their liquor licence.

I wanted to give this place a second try before I gave a bit of a review. This place is a great addition to Barrhaven with Asian Fusion inspiried dishes. Thier stir fry entrees range from $11 - 18, and are well worth it. Tried appetiser soup which was also Yummy. Sushi is ok, just not the best place in town and a little on the pricey side as there is not really a good range of different combo dishes so most has to be ordered a la carte. Husband has had Vermicelli BBQ pork twice now and really enjoyed it. I have had sushi once and Lemon Grass Thai Stirfry second, must say I will be back for the stirfry. Sushi I may just keep for an appy not main meal.They have just recently opened and have not Liquor L. and is still Cash Only. For those that know Pho Thi on Merivale it is their off spring.

As you can see, presentation is nifty -- using a martini glass for these guys. They weren't piping hot but they were delicious!

The fresh spring rolls were very tasty, as was the accompanying peanut garlic dipping sauce (not shown). Our only complaint was that the rice paper had the very slight toughness that indicates they were probably made ahead of time. We've had tougher ones at other places though, so we're just trying to be picky here. They certainly ranked up with those found on Somerset.

The sweet pickled red onion garnish was good too!

tom yum on noodles. it was alright. when it comes to thai, i find most asian fusion restaurants dumb down authentic thai flavors in a mish mash to please the masses. the connoisseurs are still left to look for something a little more.

my personal fave at this joint - the black bean noodle dishes. it has the zing. as pictured with beef and shrimp. again, meat portions were small.

Wifey had the "lemon grass beef" wok. It comes with a choice of rice or noodles and is extremely tasty. The lemon grass and galangal/ginger flavours are prominent and there is a decent hit of spice. The meat had a bit of a "reheated" texture, almost as if they'd julienned a well-done roast and tossed the pieces with amazing sauce. The dish was very good but would be improved with less-cooked beef.

The pho was very similar to the one I've had at Pho Thi on Merivale (good!), with maybe a little more depth to the broth. I had the chicken broth soup with chicken and shrimp. Accompaniments were as usual.

They only have two sizes here -- small and medium. Sucks for me because I like to have a large.