Review Pho - Sip N Chat - Balwyn

I visited this place twice so far, and tried 3 items from their massive menu: chicken fried rice, hot and sour soup and crispy chicken In spicy turmeric sauce. They all tasted nice and I def will come back :-) I hope the crispy chicken n hot and sour soup are a little bigger in portion, so... 4 stars!

Nice place to dine. The pho is good and service is friendly.

Terrible service. Ordered through menulog, the order arrived 45 minutes later with half the order missing. This was delivered another 50 minutes later and the extra vegetables ordered were still missing. The manager refused to issue a refund despite the fact we waited over 90 minutes and the order was still incorrect. He offered a $3 refund only, for the missing vegetables. There was no consideration for the poor service and the food was average quality. I would never recommend this place as there is far better, more considerate service available plus better quality food at numerous other restaurants in the area.

We have been to many restaurants in Melbourne and have never given any negative reviews to a Resturant. But this is one of the worst we have tired so far - spring roll is slimmer than my index finger and lettuce werent fresh . Other dishes Are also over cooked and The quality of the ingredient are worst than Fastfood Resturant. We end up cooking another meal at home.

Very friendly Vietnamese among the slim pickings in the Balwyn shops. The food is normally priced compared to other Vietnamese restaurants in Melbourne. The soup was average - the stock was overly spiced with cloves and lacked some body and flavour. Perhaps missing some salt. We also queried why there was not Com Tam on the menu and the answer was that in this area, people don't order that type of meal (i.e. rural Vietnamese).

How do I sum up a terrible experience !! Phone order and delivery made- very limited English- Complete order was wrong and missing food we asked for, over charged for the wrong order and missing food - no receipt to look at - I got yelled at and made to feel I was in the wrong when I called about the messed up order-was back chatted on everything I said - if I wanted new order - had to wait 30 minutes + for the right one/ give back my wrong meal I had few mouthfuls of before realising it was wrong - told I had to pay more for the right one if I wanted it fixed - 10 -15 minutes on the phone of listening to them yell in their language to each other ( I was with someone who could translate what they were saying - both rude and unprofessional their comments-)-it was just not worth the grief they were giving me- I gave up and we just at the awful wrong meals we were given !! Never again will we buy from sip n chat! Poorly spoken to- completely unprofessional- and food wasn't that good and paid for food we didn't want and food we didn't even get in the wrong order!!

Terrible restaurant. Pity there is no function for no stars. Would have given them no stars if i could. I fed my My 10 mth old son some bread cos they had nothing my son could eat. They rudely said, no outside food. I said "but he will starve, we're going to order food.". They said, "doesnt matter, gotta respect the rules". I said 'but then we have to go cos he cant eat'. He said "doesnt matter". I expected some customer service, i didnt even get basic human treatment.

Great pho. The other food is delicious if a bit basic - reflects the price point. But I love eating here - great value (again, especially the pho).

The Vietnamese soup noodles are always nice and so are the crispy noodles with meat and veg.  Good size serving and value.  But the only thing I don't like is they spray their cleaner bottle to clean table while customers are sitting close by with tea and food in the open and tea cups around.  So dangerous eating chemicals.

Ordered delivery from Sip & Chat a few times. Enjoyed the crispy noodle and the fried chicken with turmeric on rice, good spring rolls and rice paper rolls too. Speedy service for us so far.

Service was friendly and relatively fast considering all the tables were full. <br/>Vego menu is a bit misleading as both soup has chicken stock so you’re left with only 4 choices.<br/>Tried the vermicelli option and it was ok, the sauce was a bit sweet.<br/>

Quality: 🌺🌺🌺<br/>Service:🌺🌺🌺🌺<br/>Taste:🌺🌺🌺<br/>Ambiance:🌺🌺🌺<br/>Value:🌺🌺🌺<br/><br/>The broth and pho was average but there’s better at box hill ! The serving size is a tad small and the price is okay but the guy at the counter is so nice 😊

Been here a few times. Each time I can say the staff or rather the boss was very friendly and welcoming. This is the only real pho place in this balwyn shopping strip. The prices are very generous - cheaper than most places. The pho and broth was average in taste which is not saying it was bad, just average. The rare beef in the pho was a little hard to chew. I would still recommend this place to anyone in the mood for some Vietnamese in the area.

I picked up a large chicken soup to combat today’s wintery weather from Sip & Chat. The soup was delicious! The broth was full of flavour, and the thinly sliced chicken pieces were perfectly cooked. The bok choy was a great addition and there was a good ratio of rice noodles too. I was very impressed! I’ll make sure to come back soon and try more of their menu.

These guys seem very skimp, when ordering spring rolls, always run out of lettuce.. like three small leaves to six spring rolls.<br/><br/>Rice is never full.<br/><br/>For what they put themselves out there as good prices. That’s because they skimp on everything.. not good value at all.<br/><br/>Food is average too. Also, they insist on cash. If your’e on dollar short, they’ll make you go and get it... even if you always tip them!?

Pretty good chicken Pho - but a bit strange. Chicken did not really taste like chicken, not nice poached slices of chicken but rather hard grilled strips with bone still in. Broth was quite nice though and I was happy just eating the noodles and bok Choy. Also quick service was a plus.

We were looking for a cheap, cheerful and quick meal before going to see a movie at the Palace cinema in Balwyn. Sip & Chat is walking distance, BYO and great for a quick meal. I ordered Vermicelli with Chicken in Lemongrass and chilli, my companion ordered Vermicelli with Beef in Lemongrass & chilli, both servings where very generous in size, especially considering the $11 price tag. The meal was fresh filling and hot (not spicy hot), for those that like their Vietnamese with more kick, you will need to add chilli. Overall I found this meal suited our needs on the night but didn’t really stand out as anything special.<br/>KD

This is a nice place for dinner. My meal was good and the service was friendly and fast. I thought the wonton soup was probably the best part of the meal. The only down side was probably the price, I found it a little too expensive.

Compared to the Vietnamese noodle restaurant I have been to, Sip & Chat is cleaner. Compared to the Vietnamese noodle restaurant I have been to, Sip & Chat's Pho is not as delicious as those. The smell of rice paper rolls were somewhat funny. As a result, I will return to "Vietnamese noodle restaurant I have been to".

I am so used to have Vietnamese foods in Victoria Street so this is so far in comparison. Their spring rolls are tiny. Like, as small as your little finger. And who knows what is inside it because it has no flavour. I had the vermicelli noodle and I did not enjoy it. They put small amount of noodle and a big amount of bean sprouts and few slices of cucumber. You cannot taste anything other than the beansprouts, that's how much beansprouts they put in it. The service was pretty good but yeah, will never go back..

Good service. Clean and cheap Vietnamese joint. We had pho with grilled pork and the pork couldn't be chewed but the broth was nice. Had the satay chicken skewers, again the chicken went down my throat like sandpaper. Also had the chicken spring rolls which were flavourless. Cash only 😑

Terrible service. Ordered through menulog, the order arrived 45 minutes later with half the order missing. This was delivered another 50 minutes later and the extra vegetables ordered were still missing. The manager refused to issue a refund despite the fact we waited over 90 minutes and the order was still incorrect. He offered a $3 refund only, for the missing vegetables. There was no consideration for the poor service and the food was average quality. I would never recommend this place as there is far better, more considerate service available plus better quality food at numerous other restaurants in the area.

A nice & clean Vietnamese joint along the beautiful precinct of Balwyn. <br/>Tried Rice Spring Rolls, Fried Noodle & Lemon Grass Chilli Chicken and rice. <br/>Everything was very average and there was nothing exceptional about the food here. Flavours were missing even though ingredients were fresh.

I rate Sip and Chat as middle of the road. If you want pho or Vietnamese food and can't be bothered getting out of the house - get Sip & Chat delivered, be aware it's pricey!<br/><br/>My grilled pork was packed full of rock hard bones, almost inedible. I even ordered the extra serving of grilled pork - lucky I did because there was roughly a servings worth of bones. I get the same vermicelli noodles and pork everywhere and so far this has been by far my worst experience. Nothing worse than sitting with friends picking bones out from your mouth.<br/><br/>Would not order from here again. <br/><br/>Although the delivery drivers service was bang on - I'll give credit where it's due.

Good food and reasonable price ..I like to eat the fish head vermicelli and special fried rice.The soup of those noodles is nice and tasty ..

Food use to be good but gone down hill and the service is VERY hit and miss. Sometimes they will deliver your food within 20mins of ordering or an hour late. Often they forget items of your delivery and offer no compensation for their mistake. The food and size of servings isn't worth the money... it's extremely expensive for Vietnamese. Best to go to Victoria St Richmond or High St Northcote for better quality Vietnamese and prices!

Always get the best service from Singh!! I'm very picky with food but they do their best to cater for everyone. Thank you heaps for the funny chats and delicious food!!!

Very affordable, cosey and clean. Staff all very friendly and polite. myself, im here for the lemongrass vermicelli....best in town. usually not a.viet food fan but this place sees me as a man...with manly feeding needs. thanks guys keep up the good work.

Occasionally I come here for lunch on working days and the dishes I normally order were ok. Vermecilli with grilled chicken and beef pho. Not the most authentic Vietnamese food but reasonably priced. Oh, service was shocking but I normally just don't give a shit. I eat, I pay, I leave.

Nice range of food (pho, rice, noodle dishes) with decent service. Prices are good too. They have a lot of special drinks available too e.g. red bean ice.

Very reasonable Vietnamese food at a very cheap price! The vermicelli and salad is good! The pho is good also, however, the taste of MSG in the broth shined through a little too much for my liking. But other than that, very reasonable Vietnamese in Balwyn!

We used Menulog to deliver. Absolutely atrocious! The satay chicken skewers where not all that bad. Chicken pretty dry. <br/>The vermicelli pork was horrible. Probably the worst Bun I have ever eaten. The pork was overcooked and extremely dry. Barely edible. The whole bowl was 20% pork (which was more pork chop bones than meat), 10% lettuce, 10% vermicelli noodles and 60% bean shoots! The vermicelli was undercooked. The Nuoc Mam fish sauce was disgusting. Very sour. <br/>Definitely not worth the $42 we had to fork out.

We love this place for a casual dinner.<br/>Kids love noodles, rice paper rolls and bbq pork entree. Parents live pho and veges.<br/>Everyone happy<br/>

Gone downhill. This great little vietnamese eatery used to be cheap with great quality food and fresh ingredients. It seems now that the quality and service have sadly declined

HORRENDOUS FOOD, HORRENDOUS SERVICE. They are a DISGRACE to Vietnamese cuisine <br/>The 'salads' were Western and certainly not Vietnamese<br/>Their rice paper rolls were beyond terrible <br/>The stock for their pho and Vietnamese har mee was bland and tasteless <br/><br/>It is a wonder they are still in business!

A gem in Balwyn. Very relax calm deco. Great fresh delicious food. Friendly fast service. Great price.

Bad service - ridiculous extra charges. The lady tried to charge me $3 for tofu and extra cash for bean sprouts only because I ordered a vegetarian pho. The ones with meat came with bean sprouts and were the same price as the vege pho. What's the difference? Stingy. Silly complaint but really bothered me. Won't be going back to a place worrying about the price of bean sprouts.

Expensive, cash only and poor quality. We were very disappointed with the take away dishes we had from this restaurant. Having eaten a good deal of Vietnamese food from Victoria St Richmond haunts, we are in a good position to say how good Vietnamese food can be-this was very poor in taste; the calamari which was $20 was rubbery and not crisp; the prawn crackers were stale and the lettuce for the spring rolls were parts of the spine of the lettuce and so could be used to properly wrap up the spring rolls. The spring rolls were pretty tasteless, and the mint was of one variety only- nothing was too plentiful either; and to cap it all off, it's a 'cash only' affair! We paid $100 for a below average meal that would have cost much less in Richmond.<br/>I would not recommend this restaurant nor will we be returning to it.

Don't get rice paper rolls... Tried both prawn and pork. Dry and tasteless. So was the sauce it came with and there wasn't enough.

Had lunch here. Fish head soup and beef and vege XO sauce. It was pretty good.

Food so good - no time for chat!!. Try the vermicelli beef with lemon grass and chilli. huge dish, tastes amazing and only $10 for a dish to fill you up! never any complaints - food always tastes good. prawn rice paper rolls are a win too :)!

What happened to this place??. Live in the area and have always frequented this cafe over the last 18 months. It was never the best Vietnamese food around, but it was always tasty and cheap and close.<br/>Having not been there in a couple of months, I decided to get dinner there this evening. Went with my usual favourite of chilli and lemongrass chicken on rice. Well what can I say, it was the worst meal I've had in ages. There was no evidence of chilli what so ever, the dish in general was bland and the salad lacked it's usual zingy dressing. The dish was only luke warm when i opened the container (after only a 5 minute walk home). <br/>Even better was I turned up after 10 minutes when they said my order would be ready, only to have to wait around an additional 10 mins. Not sure if they have changed chefs/owners but I won't be going back in a hurry.

Not authentic Vietnamese. Grilled pork was over marinated and dry and the rice was cold. Something bout the crispy chicken that didn't taste right. Usually I don't bother complaining about an average meal particularly when it's cheap but it was truly one of the worst meals I had in a long time. Go to Richmond or Footscray to get something satisfying at the same price.

Used to be great but think the chef/owners must have changed - TERRIBLE and will not be back. We have been regulars at Sip & Chat and always been happy but suspect that either the chef/owners or both have changed as the food we had tonight was terriable across the board! Spring rolls were served with English mint, not the lovely Vietnamese mint we are used to. Food was bland and tasteless. The most disappointing was the Chicken with Lemon Grass and Chilli. No chilli to be seen, no evidence of chopped lemongrass - instead a stir fry with a yellow curry type sauce with a lemon grass flavour. If you want authentic Vietnamese go elsewhere. So disappointing as this used to be a local favourite. Not anymore!

Great little place. I've lived not far from S&C for years...never noticed it until a couple of weeks ago. Quite simply...a great little Vietnamese (café style) establishment. the food is absolutely wonderful, good serving sizes and great variety for the size. I found the service to be fast and friendly...! so what else..great food, good prices and fast and friendly service!

Vermicelli with vegetarian spring rolls is one of my favourite meals. Definitely try

I love Sip & Chat! Usually come here every week as it's local, fast, cheap and satisfies my regular Pho cravings without the travel to Richmond! Though the staff/cooks are Chinese making the place seem inauthentic, it's something that I'm willing to overlook given the slightly distinctive, yet similar tastes that I have acquired to my liking. I absolutely love the egg noodles in soup too! However, the customer service isn't anything too great (perhaps due to poor english) which is something they should probably work on. Otherwise, this restaurant is definitely one of my favourite restaurants in Balwyn!

Worst customer service ever. Asked for Pho with no noodles as I am currently reacting poorly to starchy food. Was told the chef didn't want to accommodate this. When I asked if they would accommodate a peanut allergy they said they would prompting me to ask why they could not accommodate mine. <br/>I ended up ordering the pho with no noodles. Before it came out (40 minutes later) I wanted to confirm the chef was ok to make it with no noodles. The waiter said he would check. 20 minutes passed and I asked where my meal was. The waiter said he had cancelled it because the chef made it with noodles. The waiter didn't organise another in fact began to argue with us.<br/>THE worst customer service, will never go back here as they were so rude and un-helpful.

Mum and I went here for my birthday I am a recent Pho convert and theirs is the best I have had so far!! I had the grilled chicken pho and the Hanoi spring rolls. Both were AMAZING!!! I'm so happy I stumbled across this gem!

Happy customer. I thought i would try this restraunt following the good reviews and the food did not dissapoint. Good food at the right price. <br/>Only negative was,the place was a little cramped for my liking.

Local gem. Great little cafe with fresh and delicious food, not trying to be all things to all people, doing one thing, Vietnamese and doing it well and at a great price. Children friendly. Pho is great as is the Vermicelli noodle dishes. Recommend!

Very, Very good food and for the price!!. Some bloggers which to make waves just for fun! From time to time in-hospitality your food might be a little down but this place pound for pound is sensational ! It's consistent, fresh and affordable. We as a group of 4-6 people go twice a week and have done for over a year and have never turned a dish away.. Sip and chat, bottle of wine then Balwyn Cinemas. Bang!!<br/><br/><br/>-----06 Sep, 2013-----<br/><br/>Great quality.. fresh!. Very happy to eat there once a week and now taking a group there for lunch!

The fresh duck rice paper rolls are fantastic and so is the Vietnamese chicken salad.

Local treat. Great food, great portions, great service and great price! so lucky to have a new place open up in balwyn, this pho was one of the best and the cheapest i have had in melbourne! the service was great to as well as complimentary tea, definately returning!

We come here when too lazy to drive to Box Hill for authentic Vietnamese. Food at Sip Chat is not exactly authentic but tastes fresh. Can hardly taste the lemongrass in lemongrass beef. There is an unwelcoming male staff who frowns all the time.

First time I came we had to wait at least half hour for two bowls of pho. It wasn't bad but definitely have had better. This place is also run by Chinese so, don't expect authentic food. The grilled chicken wasn't available...ordered the lemon grass and it was terrible. Rice was cold and he dish lacked flavour.

Pho was disappointing..meat not tender.. Not many "special" ingredients in the beef special.. Overall not very authentic.

Just walked in one day and now I'm coming all the way from hiedelberg for a good feed. Great food

Best Vietnamese in a long time! The food was delicious, as good as, if not even better than Victoria St! Keep up the good work! Yum!

Fresh and tasty. We gave this little cafe a try last night and it was fantastic. Service was friendly and prompt, and the meals were all delicious. Salt & pepper calamari was fantastic! The portion sizes were quite large and the prices reasonable. My kids recommend their milkshakes too! Very happy dining experience, we will definitely go back.<br/>One thing to mention is that when we arrived at 5pm it was pretty much empty but by the time we left it was full, and it was Monday night, so I suggest you get there early or make a reservation.

This place is up there with the best Viet in Melbourne. After discovering this gem a few months ago, my workmates and I can't get enough of this place. We work a few KMs away, but always make it up for Pho Friday and at least 1 other time per week.<br/><br/>I have eaten a lot of Pho in my time and this is definitely up there with the more well known I Love Pho on Vic St. The rice vermicelli (Bun) is the best I have ever eaten. Particular favourites are the beef with lemongrass and chilli and the grilled pork. The Vietnamese ice coffee is also authentic with your own personal dripper and sweetened condensed milk.<br/><br/>The prices are also under $10, so it is an absolute bargain. Highly recommended

Nice pho!. Just finishing the crispy chicken pho and it rocks! Definitely be back.

Very slow, 40min wait for a bowl of pho and only 2-3 other customers in restaurant. A bit unacceptable. Be prepared to wait.

Far too slow. 35 min wait for soup

A mixed review here. The veggie rice paper rolls and dipping sauce are divine, as is the pho, but the lemongrass chicken and 5 spice beef were just too hot (without this being specified on the menu). The 5 spice I can understand being on the spicy side, but the lemongrass flavours were list with the chicken as it was just too hot. Clean, quick and friendly, though, so I will go back. I think the main pricing is a little steep, if they included rice in the price I would say it is more realistic.

A little bit of Vietnam in Balwyn. Great place to pop in for a quick bite to eat. Tasty food and friendly service.<br/>Not 'Balwyn style' Vietnamese either. Delicious.

Time for pho. Balwyn's version of Samurai. Casual, quick, friendly service and tasty food. Had the grilled chicken pho and it was delicious. Huge bowl of steaming hot pho, perfect for a cold night.

Everything is good here. Great value and authentic taste. Will definitely be back!