Second Bowl

10 Reviews on “Second Bowl”

• Noodles

  —-11 Nov, 2016—-I have been here many more times than I have reviewed in this post. We went on a Friday morning, Remembrance Day after watching the service. The name change was the first thing I noticed and my heart sank a bit. There were five of us and we each ordered something different. Two had the pho, one with beef and meatballs and one with just beef. Three of us ordered different vermicelli bowls, I had the ‘three colour bowl’, one had shrimp and one had a two colour bowl with beef and spring rolls. The overall impression was that it was ‘okay’. I found my noodle bowl to be very bland, even with the fish sauce mixture. I only received one spring roll but was under the impression I would get two so that was disappointing. The other toppings were very sparse as well so it wasn’t really that filling either. I kept adding sriracha to bump up the flavour. I don’t know if the owners changed but my experience was different and I hadn’t found the food sparse or bland before.14 Apr, 2012This time we ordered fried spring rolls, Pho tai with extra meatballs, vermicelli bowl with lemongrass beef and hot and sour seafood soup. I had the seafood soup, ordered it extra spicy and was pleased with my choice. My fellow diners were also happy with their choices. Service was a bit lacking but an overall good experience.24 Mar, 2012This is definitely a good place for soup. Pho, satay beef, hot & sour seafood soup, all really good. However, I branched out today and tried the vermicelli bowl with julienned pork and Vietnamese spring rolls. The rolls were the only notable thing on the plate. The accompanying fish sauce mixture, was flavorless. It added no savory-sweet flavor to the bland stringy pork, bean sprouts, shredded lettuce and shredded cucumber. No cilantro either which might have added a bit to the flavor profile. I will come back because it’s in St. Albert but I will stick to the tried and true next time.25 Dec, 2010New, some kinks to work out, but good, not great. We’ve been three times now. First, we all tried the Pho Tai. The steak was tough and not plentiful. On the second visit, I ordered the seafood Pho. It was quite good and will lead me to another visit.On the third visit for lunch, I had the seafood Pho again and the spring rolls. My friends had the Pho Tai, Spring roll & grilled beef noodle bowl and the 3 year old had the ‘kids’ meal. It was all very good and we enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. The service has relaxed and seems comfortable to let people sit and enjoy the food. They are attentive but not stifling. I’d go back anytime, St. Albert definitely needs a good Vietnamese restaurant!

  February 17, 2017, 5:07 am

  Log in to Reply
• Hungry

  Came in to try them out, only seen them as a pho hoa hoping it was different or new. Decided to get most of the appetizers and a couple dishes. Salad rolls, chicken wings, spring rolls ( no picture ), pork chop and egg rice dish and the weekend special of the seafood chow mein. Spring rolls were good but really you cant mess up spring rolls, salad rolls were lacking filling mostly vermicelli noodles. The rice dish was not bad pork was a bit dry but as a vietnamese restaurant in st albert it has a ill be back type of feel. The weekend special seafood chow mein though is actually really good, love the deep fried noodles and the sauce is really sweet. Only thing is bring scissors because those noodles are very long. Atmosphere could do with some music and the workers probably could use some red bull but overall id be back.

  October 16, 2016, 7:17 am

  Log in to Reply
• Jay B

  *Updated review – Post name change*Not sure why this place changed its name to Second Bowl (formerly Pho Hoa). Their pho and vermicelli offering still look to be identical as when they o/a Pho Hoa. They do look to have more menu options (i.e. rice bowls/chow meins). Regardless of the name I still come here for my regular grilled pork & spring roll vermicelli and notice no difference in taste/quality/portion.Pho hoa seems to get a bad rep because it is now a fully thriving franchise however I always seem to get a consistently good product. I will always order either the beef ball noodle soup (pho) or the pork, meatball, shrimp vermicelli (comes with a spring roll). Both are very tasty and good portion as well.

  December 2, 2015, 9:43 am

  Log in to Reply