Ben Thanh

TERRIBLE MANAGER

I've been to 3 locations of Ben Than in London. This location is by far the worst restaurant I've ever been to. Their menu has 2 pages of different cocktails. They kept coming back saying they did not have basically any of their drinks available. They had maybe 1 or 2 drinks that they could actually make. The drink was so terrible I could not drink it. The manager was yelling about my table to the waitress right in front of our faces. he is a terrible, rude manager. Terrible to his staff.

UNACCEPTABLE customer service!

I went to Pho Ben Thanh at the London, ON location on the evening of May 30th, 2012 with my boyfriend for dinner. What a mistake! We had the most UNACCEPTABLE experience there ever. I am not one to complain nor have I ever wrote a “review” for anything however this experience leaves me so flabbergasted I couldn’t help but try to make others aware of the HORRIFIC customer service there. I have had pad thai from many other restaurants in the area with great enjoyment. When I was presented with the one from Pho Ben Thanh I was overcome with great disappointment. I calmly informed my server that I didn’t like the pad thai at which point she started to verbally attack me in a loud voice in the middle of the restaurant for all to hear stating repeatedly that there are so many other people in the restaurant who order this dish and I am the only one who is complaining. It was made obvious to me it was ‘my fault’ I didn’t like this dish. I calmly asked if she would be able to return this dish so I could order something else instead since I didn’t like it. She continued to speak in a loud and disrespectful voice for all in the restaurant to hear that she cannot do that because she would get in trouble by the management and be made to pay for my returned dish herself. I asked her then if I could speak with the management and was told they weren’t present. I asked if I could leave my phone number for them to contact me with at their convenience and was declined my ability to do so by the server. Becoming upset at this point I informed the server this was the worst customer service I have ever received and could not believe I was being treated and talked to in this manner in the middle of a restaurant. I didn’t care at this point if she had to pay for the dish herself or not after how she had been treating me so disrespectfully and I told her I was not going to be paying for this dish because I was not going to be eating it. She then informed me fine she would take the dish off my bill but again made it clear she would be punished for doing so and it would be coming out of her pay. I am an owner of three independent businesses myself personally and am appalled that someone would show such disrespect towards a customer in a public way over something that is not their fault and that they were calmly bringing to a servers attention. I would never treat any customer that would walk into any of my businesses in any manner even remotely in the way I was being treated at this restaurant and if I found any of my employees doing this I would have them terminated immediately. Unless you enjoy being verbally harassed loudly in public STAY AWAY from Pho Ben Thanh!!! I will be making it a point to spread this word publically in a variety of manners in hopes of saving someone else the humiliating experience I was made to endure at this restaurant.

I come to Ben's usually to catch up with my family since we all love it there. I don't deviate much from my standard lemongrass chicken + pork dish since I love it so much, even if it is pretty straight forward. I could live off the crispy wontons ommm nom. The smoothies are delicious as well. Service is consistently friendly, have to admit I always had a little bit of a crush on one of the servers there hahah :)

Big Portions, Friendly Service

We have never visited this place so we weren't sure what to expect. The atmosphere is limited with hard seats and plain tables but all in all not too bad. We order shrimp stirfry, chicken stirfry, chicken rice noodle soup, and green curry. The soup was huge and excellently done -- not too salty. The other meals were served piping hot and large portions. We were a little surprised by the heat of the chicken stirfry but happy with it all the same. It would have been nice to have our tea filled more than once but our waitress was very helpful and patient. Funny enough, I think it would be better if their menu was smaller. It is so big you get lost in it!

The food is very delicious, but the service is bad, and oh!, the place is absolutely disguising. We sat in the middle aisle, and there was stains, spills and garbage on the floor! I would recommend this place only if you are used to this kind of conditions!

Over-rated

After moving away from Toronto, I missed all the ethnic cuisine that the city had to offer. My hope was that London's immigrant communities would be able to deliver the same in terms of flavour and authenticity. Upon my arrival to London, the first restaurant I visited was the Ben Thanh. The atmosphere and location was pleasant and the restaurant was busy (which I took to be a sign of quality). However I was rather disappointed with the food. Thinking that perhaps this was a "bad day", I returned but subsequent visits were equally unsatisfactory. Pad thai is a comfort food. And the pad thai was merely another noodle dish that was noodle rich and other ingredient poor; it lacked complexity, authenticity and warmth. A chicken vermicelli soup was watery and the chicken consisted of lots of noodles, a few stringy pieces of dark meat and a paltry sprinkle of green onion. The soup was not served with either basil leaves or lime slices. Spring rolls consisted of nothing but vermicelli noodles! I will never go back. I felt as though the lack of authenticity catered to lack of knowledge that the average diner has about Asian cuisine.

london location is the only one worth mentioning. they have gluten in the vegetarian pad thai - something the hamilton and burlington locations have failed to grasp. i ate here at least once a week when i lived in london and since moving to halton, i have missed london's pho ben thanh! the 602 spring rolls are the best (with peanut, not fish, sauce) and the 644 pad thai (ask for no egg) is what a friend calls: right off the streets of bangkok. best in town. go. and try the green tea ice cream - subtly ridiculous.

My friends & my daughter are regulars to Ben...

My friends & my daughter are regulars to Ben Thanh both downtown & south end. I can only write about the only dish I've ever had and continually crave. The pork vermicelli bowl that comes with 2 spring rolls. It may not be for everyone as you may find it a bit on the bland side and the spring rolls are occassionally greasy, but I certainly find it to be very satisfying!

I've only been here once because my girlfriend...

I've only been here once because my girlfriend really wanted me to try it, so I went along with her one time, and I'm kinda happy I did. When you walk in you are immediately greeted and seated very quickly. The atmosphere is nice but nothing special really. I ordered the Pad Thai and it came out very quickly! It was an average Pad Thai and again nothing really to special but still good none the less. For what you get the food can be a bit pricey when compaired to similar restaurants but again it's still good and worth it to check it out if you haven't already! I might come back but it's TK's for me! :D

It's worth going there for just the deep-fried...

It's worth going there for just the deep-fried cream cheese wontons! I enjoy the variety of the menu and it's good value. South location is much nicer than the North location.

I've been to this place numerous times and I can...

I've been to this place numerous times and I can honestly say that it is incredibly delicious. It is definitely worth the longer wait to receive your meal. Just make sure you know that you will be waiting a little longer. Also, it is sometimes hard to understand the wait staff because they don't all speak very good english, however they repeat everything back to you after you order it just to make sure they have it right. A major downfall of this restaurant is that the menu is very very long and you need a lot of time to go through it all, which is why I almost always order the same thing (that and it's just so good). I would highly recommend to a friend. Very good.

Although my girlfriend prefers to come here, I...

Although my girlfriend prefers to come here, I don't mind it much. I usually get a noodle soup, I can't remember the specifics, but they're usually pretty big and I'm always bringing some of it home. The service isn't terrible (at least when I've gone), but for what it is, it could be a tiny bit faster. An improvement they could make, as mentioned directly below, is the menu, just cut down on some of that length, wow! Talk about indecision. Plus I don't know about you, but I'm not into tripe and all that.

I've eaten here many times. The food is always...

I've eaten here many times. The food is always good and is bbrought to the table fairly quickly, even when it's busy. The service is mediocre, definitely better at the South location. The place could also stand to be renovated, but overall, Ben Thanh has consistently good value.

Best Pad Thai I've Ever Had...

Ben Thahn definitely has the best chicken pad thai I've tried anywhere in the world. Try it with a mango smoothie! I can't really comment on service or ambiance as we always get take out. Though the take out is always fast and friendly.

Not worth a return trip

Soups were tiny and didn't have the sour/piquant taste Tom Yum is known for. Pad Thai was not very spicy and was quite sticky. Mussels tasted like they might be "off". Service was rather slow and courses didn't come together. took home leftovers but there was grumbling about that too.

Amazing Food! We can't find it anywhere else!

We have moved away from London area, to western Canada, and we cannot find another good place to get any of the excellent dishes that we have had at Ben Tahn's!! We miss it! The little lady at counter at the Wellington location is great! Always good service, good hot food, and we let them know it! We haven't had any problems!

Good But SLOW

My friends from work introduced me to this restaurant and we all LOVE it and go a fare bit. The food is Awesome but the Service is pretty BAD and SLOW!!! We go because we Love the food but we go knowing we will be there more than an hour because they are slow and not always friendly. Are we crazy for giving them our business? Maybe, but the food is still really good!

We will never return--INCREDIBLY rude!

We used to frequent this restaurant (the York St. location) because they have a number of dishes that we really like. I've always just accepted the mediocre-to-poor service. When the server takes your order (eventually) they MUST read it back to you, because if they don't--they will very likely make a mistake, and at that point it is NEVER their fault. Anyway, the last time we visited, we hadn't been in a couple of months. My fiancee ordered the same dish she normally does... Fried Rice with Pad Thai Sauce. The server said nothing, but when the food was served, it was regular Pad Thai (which she really doesn't much care for). We mentioned politely that this was not what we thought we had ordered. They said we were wrong and that they had never served a dish of that description. Still being polite, I mentioned that we used to regularly order that dish (many, many times). The server went over to the manager--we could hear them bickering away behind our table, then they both came back and challenged us to tell them what was the exact date we had last eaten there. After all that, as we were leaving and paying the bill, that same manager looked at me with a big smile and said "see you again!" to which I replied, "oh no you won't." This wasn't all that was wrong and infuriating on this particular visit, but it was indeed the straw that broke the camel's back. Although I still really like some of the dishes at that restaurant, I will not ever give them my custom, while there are polite, friendly Viet-Thai places in our city who have better service, better prices, and deserve the business. Never again.

Excellent Pad Thai and my favorite spring rolls...

Excellent Pad Thai and my favorite spring rolls ever! The restaurant itself isn't great looking but I don't really care. I want the food to taste good, looks is secondary.

Visited a few times at both locations. Received...

Visited a few times at both locations. Received food cold almost each time, and got it back microwaved. Pad thai is a hit or miss - either bland, or nice and tasty, or extremely spicy. No real consistency. Ordered Basil shrimp and certain I got Sweet and Sour Shrimp since I've ordered it before. Told the server and she tried to convince me that it is indeed Basil Shrimp. They didn't do anything to reconcile it. Rather, the manager told me I've already eaten some of it, so I have to pay for it. Clearly not a winner in customer service. Not very good ambiance.