Review Pho Gia Hoi - Sydney

What the restaurant lacks in atmosphere, it completely makes up for in quality. This is my friend’s favourite Pho place - great after a long day. The staff are great and their takeaway service is fantastic. The portion sizes are perfect for around $15 (sometimes I can’t even finish it!) Great place to stop with some friends for a cheap and satisfying dinner, especially if you’re a teenager like me and don’t have much $$$ for eating out.

Over the years, my partner and I often came to Pho Gia Hoi when we are craving Bun Bo Hue (Spicy Beef Noodle Soup). The soup is comforting and tasty, and we always leave with our Bun Bo Hue craving satisfied :) We also like to take their Bun Dac Biet as it is packed with goodness. Overall, it isn’t the best Vietnamese place you can find in Sydney, but the food is tasty, the price is reasonable and the location is convenient, so I’d recommend it if you’re around (definitely get their Bun Bo Hue!)

It was the first time that I’ve eaten here and it didn’t disappoint. The restaurant looks simple enough but their food was superb. I had the fried chicken and garlic fried rice. Their soup was amazing and I loved their iced white coffee.

The food was amazingly delicious and fast. I would definitely recommend my favorites dish. * Garlic friend rice with Crispy Chicken. * Combination Vermicelli Salad. * Shrimp Net Spring roll * Salt and pepper Squid (Super Tender) * Custard Apple juice (Legit).

Had some pho and chicken wings. Pho was a decent portion. Pho was tasty. Could pay by card, but the card machine wasn't working for some time so we waited. Typically, customers pay by cash and some were asked to go down the street to the ATM to get some.

Ordered the mixed meat vermicelli noodle salad takeaway. Some of the meats looked like it was precooked (as they weren’t warm). Apart from that it tasted good but just didn’t feel as freshly made as I had hoped.

first time trying eat pho here.... good service, and they also have lots of table inside🙃 i love the fried chicken and egg noodle soup! make me feel so fresh! but not really big portion like usualll pho...

I don't know why people always mention Pho when talking about Vietnamese food. My favourite of all time is Spicy Beef Noodle. This is the best place you can find in Sydney CBD for the Spicy Beef Noodle. The place is casual so don't expect much of customer service.

quail was surprisingly nice! tasty, juicy and crispy. the noodles are not as nice as bankstown or cabramatta area, but still a good options around city if you have cravings

Great tasting pho and always quick to receive your dishes. Broth is always flavoursome and the beef is tender and tasty. Recommended for anyone wanting to try pho for the first time. Enjoy!

Delicious Pho, very aromatic broth. Lovely fresh Spring Rolls. <br/>Would come here again. Quick service. Good pricing

Good Vietnamese food, well priced and great for a quick bite. Service is fast and portions are big. Really delicious!

Standard beef pho that comes at a good price. The netting spring rolls also deserve an honourable mention as they were super crispy and bursting with flavour.

Characteristic orange and lime green walls of Gia Hoi, theres quite a few chains around Sydney. Tried a new dish - Bun Rieu! With a tomato soup base, tofu, fishballs, pork, prawn and thin vermicelli noodles. Similar in taste to Thai Tom Yum soup but less spicy. Loved it! This place does good tea as well - none of the diluted 1 teabag for the whole day business.

It's been over a year since I've been back to this place, and looks like management has changed in that time. I used to come here often to have bun bo hue which I thought was pretty decent, and that was what I ordered today. While they were pretty generous with the meats and the vegetables, the quality of the dish has changed since I last came. I'm not sure whether it's because I came as soon as it was opened and the broth and meats were not quite ready or whether this is how the meal comes now, but the broth was lacking the rich flavour and shrimp smell it used to have. The cut of beef was also different to what was used previously, making the meat on the tougher side. The price is reasonable, but I have to say I miss the old version....

Beef pho<br/>Bbh<br/>Free tea<br/>Does the job in the city but doesn’t really stand out for any signatures dishes compared to Cabbra <br/><br/><br/>Beats a cucumber sandwich or salad<br/><br/><br/>

Menu includes dishes with pictures and for noodle dishes, they are flexible with whatever noodle type you choose. Portion is huge and price is fair.

Left or Right? Left or Right? I wonder how many people have experienced this same dilemma when standing in front of Pho Gia Hoi (Left) and Pho Pasteur (Right). But we chose Left, just because it looked busier; that has to be an indicator? Right? Or was it Left? *Confused look*<br/>Craving crispy chicken with tomato rice, we made our way to the two best Vietnamese restaurants in the CBD, by-passing all the other Chinatown options, and were pleasantly surprised to see that Pho Gia Hoi had undergone a face-lift, with new graphic menus on the walls and I think the chairs were new as well! After going through the motions of reviewing the menu to see if anything else could dissuade me from what I had come for (there really are heaps of choices to choose from!), I was resolute in my craving, and went with the crispy chicken with tomato rice, and my better half went with the Spicy beef noodle soup (mild).<br/>While waiting for our food (it wasn’t a long wait), I went about assessing their table setting. The quintessential tub of over 20 chopsticks was present (check); tub of 20 or more metal spoons, forks and soup spoons were there (check);  condiment cluster  like chilli, chilli-garlic sauce, soya sauce and other crusted over sauces were also there….I truly wonder who is game enough to use them? (check); the thermos of complementary tea was there, but oddly they had transitioned to giving people disposable (non-recyclable) paper cups instead of the reuseable hard plastic cups (check); and the good old box of facial tissues were also there crowding out one side of the table (check- no surprise, napkin score of 1 star).  But without these usual table settings, it just wouldn’t be an authentic Vietnamese restaurant? Right? And from the nearly packed out restaurant, buzzing from many people all talking at once, crying babies, sounds of wooden chairs being constantly dragged in and out (why can’t people just lift up their chairs?), I think all the other diners didn’t mind what I had deemed as rough edges, and with all the natural noises from the restaurant who needed music from speakers to create table atmosphere? <br/><br/>When our food arrived, the smell of baked chicken wafted up to greet me, and I poured all the vinaigrette which came with my dish onto my more-orange-than-red-coloured rice. The chicken lived up to its name, it was crispy seemingly like it had just left the oven, and the meat was real nice - tender and juicy. My wife’s Spicy Beef Noodle Soup had a good variety of textures from the thick rounded rice noodles (a good kind of chewy); various meats (beef with a bit of fat, blood jelly, and that pale-coloured processed ham); and assorted fresh veg (bean sprouts, chopped mint, lettuce and purple cabbage) making it an interesting experience in the mouth. The downers of our respective dishes were that my tomato rice was very clearly made from day old rice, where I could easily fork up big chunks of clumped rice; and the negative for my wife’s dish was that when she requested mild spicy, the soup base just tasted watered-down.<br/>But hey! All in all, it was what you’d expect from a CBD institution like Pho Gia Hoi, anything more polished would just feel like Faux Gia Hoi! Will we be back? Of course? New restaurants pop-up and poof they’re gone in the CBD! But I’m sure Pho Gia Hoi and Pho Pasteur will continue on their multi-generational long competition with each other, trying to win over customers when they stand-out front, pondering if they should go Left or Right? Left or Right?

Pretty good pho and huge servings although nothing on the Cabra branch. Me and my bf went here for a date and found three hairs in his soup and one in mine- not the nicest surprise 😂

If i can,i would only leave -100 to this review,but now i have to give them one score at least.<br/>I had the most terrible experience in my life today.<br/>The waitress is extremely rude,racist and unprofessional.<br/>The food is very bad,some meat are even not cooked.<br/>It is not tassty.And the price is not that cheap.<br/>There is one thing i am sure about is that I wont go there again.<br/>Maybe this restaurant is only open to cheat tourists.

Ordered the crispy chicken with tomato rice and special broken rice (pork chop, sunny side up egg, Vietnamese steam pork cake, and shredded pork). The food is average. But having to witness the recycling circle of bean sprout and fresh vegetables for noodles dishes like pho made me shiver. We sat near the counter hence we could see the staff prepare the veggies for customers. They collected the leftover from other tables then either just reuse some of the unused ingredients or just add on top of the plate... you can never be sure about it. Especially with viral infection when someone’s chopsticks touched the food.. gross

Its not bad . Pho is above average but nothing to wow you. The other options tastes pretty average to me. Stick to the Beef pho you wont be disappointed

It was ok. Portion was decent. Soup wasn't very tasty but at least it didn't contain (much) msg, so, props! Have had some better phos and hence perhaps I'm a little spoilt.

I think there is new management, the quality of the food has gone down drastically. I ordered no.14, the combination pho and it just looked sad. There were 3 slices of meat and 3 beef balls... the soup was almost clear, not flavourful at all and very watered down. Surprised that there was such a big difference between this branch and the other stores....

Had their signature Bun Bo Hue noodles and I was satisfied. Not the best, but probably the best you can get in the city. No diluted sauces that I could see, food was fast, service was... well not good. The Pho is also 6.5/10

My friend and I both ordered the #16 which had beef and meat balls. I found it to be tasty but there's a lot of MSG in the soup. I found myself to be quite thirsty after eating it. The noodles were also fresh I believe since I've never had that kind of noodle in pho before. The place was busy for dinner time. I'd say the prices here are a bit pricier, it was 13$ for the pho. They do accept card but there's a surcharge fee. The service is okay even though they forgot our order of spring rolls. I would go back again for some pho.

Craving on Vietnamese food, so I decided to have Bun Dac Biet for the second time this week.<br/><br/>The dish is consist of pork meat ball, shredded pork, minced prawns, grill pork, spring roll and rice vermicelli, on top of that fried onion to make your taste bud goes wild!<br/><br/>It will cost you $14, but hey it's cheaper than go to vendor by the side road in Hanoi (plane ticket already cost to you $800 .. )<br/><br/>The dish bring back memories of my food journey while I was travelled to Vietnam earlier this year.<br/>Flavor as good as I experienced back in Hanoi,<br/>I wish also they serve egg coffee..<br/>I did order durian and avocado shake.. Oh my.. <br/>So good I have to order 1 more for take away....<br/><br/>I'm happy with over all experience, less than $20, and not bad for food and drink they are serving

Average Pho - little flavour. Doesn't help that the service is even worse - which i would happily ignore if the food was decent. Much better places in the area.

Pho here is very inconsistent, from my experiences it's probably a 1/10 chance to get a bowl that has the right amount of flavour. I've been coming here for the past two years on a weekly basis and safe to say this place has been going down hill. Service doesn't add any points either.

Awesome place to go with a group !!! The service is very quick, and the complimentary tea is good ! The first time I got grilled pork and spring rolls (#75) which had huge portions ! And recently I tried the beef pho (#16) which I think will become my regular order. The beef cooks quickly in the soup, and the broth is not bland at all. From what my friends said, the avocado shake is highly recommended! The seating is a little cramped but to be honest that adds to the experience. I would recommend this place !

Worst pho I've ever had! Was so so watered down and tasteless really bland and super disappointing. Would not at all recommend this place. It was not a pleasant experience.

Have found the different outlets of Pho Gia Hoi all pretty consistent in quality. Service is quick, as one expects of Vietnamese pho houses. We came for lunch on Sunday, it was busy, but not pact out like a weekday lunch time. We got some prawns rice paper rolls to share, the prawns were decent size & juicy, they give you plenty of sauce to go with it too! The pho were good, not necessarily the best in Sydney, but always have good amount of toppings & flavoursome soup. I had the spicy combo noodles, good variety of toppings, just enough spiciness for me to feel the heat & still taste the rest of the soup. One of the better pho options in the city.

Pho wasn't bad - noodles were great and the soup had good flavour but I've definitely had broth with more depth elsewhere, so no miracles. The broth means a lot... <br/><br/>Has all the vietnamese restaurant hallmarks - tissue box, fluorescent lighting, plastic orange spoons etc - which I really enjoy. Wonton and fried noodle also quite tasty.

The interior felt like something out of an 80s Asian action movie, a fight scene taking place in a shoddy fluorescent restaurant, if that makes any sense at all. The purple/orange colour scheme was obnoxiously in your face, but strangely fit the vibe quite well.<br/><br/>One huge positive thing to note here are the portions, for the price the quantity is superb. If anything I found they gave you TOO much pork in the pork & spring rolls rice vermicelli, but honestly how is that even something to complain about because you receive too much. I was starving so the amount was just right and the dish was tasty too.<br/><br/>However, my friend found her rice paper rolls too dry and the ingredients were not fresh, most likely due to being close to closing time. She also noted the sauce did not have a tangy, sweet kick which she usually expects and tasted better elsewhere.

Come here quite often for lunch. I had beef pho this day and it was yummy as usual. The taste of soup is not stable but still yummy. They give lots of beef and noodle(I cannot finish a bowl of pho!). Also garnish is plenty too. This restaurant is always busy so if you want to have a quick lunch then you should make sure that you have enough time to enjoy your meal.

The good. The crispy chicken skin with rice is always generous and plentiful. The chicken tastes juicy and succulent with a nice aroma and colour. Vegetables could be a bit more creative then the slices of cucumber and lettuce (fans). <br/><br/>The bad. The pork & prawn rice paper rolls although large don't much taste to it. The hoisin sauce is unusual in taste and I can't quite put my finger on it. Is there vinegar in it? To top it off it's very diluted.

If you are in a mood for a pho for breakfast in the city then this is a good place to get it. Came in around 10am Saturday morning, we ordered seafood pho and crispy chicken with egg noodle soup. I must say we enjoyed both dishes very much; pho broth was deep, ingredients were fresh and chicken was succulent. I would definitely come back to try more dishes when im in the area.

Used to go there 1 a week because it's the closest to authentic Vietnamese food you can get in city. Unfortunately the fancier it got the poorer the quality of the foods get! I had Bun Bo Hue which is a spicy beef noodle soup it was pretty much just beef stock+ vermicelli+ beef! There is very little taste and the broth was clear instead of the red/orange colour due to the sate. Very disappointed it was so nice before when it used to look just ordinary now it looks fancy but better go next door if you want authentic!

Servings are huge for the price, but that's all it ends unfortunately as the food only taste so so. There were a lot of inedible chewy beef bits in the rare beef pho. Crispy chicken is overcooked. The pork and fried egg in the broken rice is overcooked and the rice itself is just jasmin rice not 'broken' rice.

Very consistent and fairly priced food.i always come out happy.Lots of choices and their grilled chicken is perfectly grilled.I had the jackfruit juice the other day and that was good too.This is my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in CBD.

Awesome food, awesome service. Staff are friendly, well trained in how the food is presented, their confident and friendly approach to all diners & passer-bys is excellent. A regular, I enjoy the Crispy Chicken & Noodle soup

Wow! What's a surprise. They have a Quail dish! Love it! Love the food! Hope to come back to sydney more to try the rest! Good food! Good service!

Tried the combination rice vermicelli. It comes with spring roll, grill pork, sugarcane prawn, porkball, mix fresh salad, fish sauce and rice vermicelli. The taste and flavor is just perfect, not too salty or too sweet for the sugar cane prawn.

You come here for one thing.. and it is their Bun Bo Hue. It’s their specialty… so don’t go ordering their other dishes on your first visit and wonder why this place gets raved on about. You just can't beat it. The portion sizes are filling and the flavours are in depth and amazing…. With a nice kick to it… the most important factor. I’m happy that places like this that serves great food has opened so many branches over Sydney… and that their quality hasn’t deterred. It's just hard to get a seat sometimes because of the amount of people here.... and I don't really enjoy sharing tables with other people...but for the food.. I’ll survive. Opened right next to Pho Pasteur on the busy George Street. As mentioned I my other reviews this is the more dodgy side as it’s surrounded by pawn and porn stores.

Was with a mate, heading to Central after a short lecture at uni and me not having eaten all day (except for a coffee) we were talking about how awesome the Avocado Shake I got last time (At Darling Harbour) was and he disagreed, saying it just wasn't his kind of drink. He mentioned the first time he tried it was at a viet place in Haymarket and so I decided to check it out with him to get my first meal of the day. The only condition was that if it looked dodgy and was empty we would look for something else.<br/><br/>Walking down towards the Daiso at Central, we crossed the road and heading towards it I initially thought it looked super dodgy, then I looked up to the sign and realised it was the exact same company as the one at Darling Harbour and there were people inside.<br/>"OH MY GOD I CAN GET THE AVOCADO SHAKE! ITS THE EXACT SAME ONE AS THE ONE IN DARLING HARBOR" I was SO EXCITED!  My mate didn't know that they had a branch at Darling Harbour.<br/><br/>He showed me the Bun Bo Hue and said it was one of the best viet dishes to get, but I decided to stick with the Pho since I was craving it and I had not tried Bun Bo Hue yet and would prefer to try it with Cat (wasn't feeling adventurous at the time). So I ordered the large Pho (YES I WAS HUNGRY) which was $13.00, the Avocado Shake $5.00. My mate ordered the Bun Bo Hue for $12.00. WE CHOWED ON SOME GREAT FOOD!<br/><br/>You can tell how fresh Pho is going to be by looking at the beans and basil that comes with it, they were bright and alive looking which was obviously a good sign already. <br/><br/>The avocado though was very different to the one I got at Darling Harbour. It was more consistent, less sweet, very basic but still tasted great!

Had the grilled pork broken rice which was nice and pretty standard on par with other Vietnamese restaurants.

It's a cold, rainy night outside! What better to have than a hot bowl of pho :D Pho Gia Hoi is located just opposite central station and they're quite popular usually for a quick, no-fuss type of dinner that fills you up. Menu is typical of any standard vietnamese restaurant. The usual varieties of pho, which you can customise your own type of noodles, and rice paper rolls. Surprisingly, they don't really have any dishes that came without rice/noodles. So it's abit hard to try more on their menu without over stuffing our tummies. Bean sprouts  mint for pho Beef combination pho $11 The pho was quite tasty, and the serving portions for everything was huge! The other two dishes tasted just moderate, but it was quite nicely presented. The hygiene of the restaurant was worth a mention though, if you do eat here, it's best you don't expect much star service or clean tables and cutlery from this place! Overall though, it's definitely alright for a quick dinner type of meal :)

You can’t really miss Gai Hoi, with its neon orange shop sign and bright interior. I ordered a special beef rice noodle soup (Pho Dac Biet), which is my favourite type of Pho to order because of the variety. I have a short attention span, so I appreciate that this type of Pho presents at least 4 core different elements to keep my interest: beef brisket sliced thinly, beef balls, tripe and thick cut marrow.

The beef pho is...rich but doesn't taste like its pure MSG. The serving size is generous and they're not stingy with the beef. At $10 a bowl its an absolute bargain.

Gia Hoi  on George Street has become our go-to joint for a noodle soup cure. 

Good and filling. Each restaurant has their signature dish, and for Pho Gia Hoi it has to be the Bun Bo Hue. All the other dishes on the menu are OK but definitely go for their Bun Bo Hue, a hearty noodle soup that's great all year round. Their fresh spring rolls are good too, the dipping sauce is lovely with the crushed peanuts and chilli. We also ordered some avocado&durian shakes to go, they don't skimp on the ingredients and there's definitely a good amount of durian in it!

Staff are really rude and arrogant. Good food portion.<br/>Very Rude staff. The place is dirty.<br/>Won't be going back.

We liked every dish we ordered here

Never again. Why did I step through those doors? I'm embarrassed to say that I actually tried Vietnamese food at Gia Hoi it was such a disappointment. I will admit that they give you a lot of food but I couldn't take another bite... Would you like to receive a lot of food but it's bad?

Stingy restaurant and bad food. Rice noodles is not smooth as soft as it should be. The soup is artificially sweet and too oily. Beef is not tender and meatballs are a disappointment. What ticked me off is that the staff refuse to give us more greens for us to go with the soup! I would never come back and would never recommend this place to anyone!

Soup was too oily, beef was tough and the meat balls were tasteless. The fried spring roll was acceptable however. Portion was super large. All in all, wouldn't come again, nuff said

Spicy broth!. I have always gone to Pho Pasteur next door but decided to try this place with a friend for lunch. I had the cooked beef with spicy soup which was nice! It means I don't have to put the chilli sauce into the broth myself. Servings are very huge with the large being $12 and regular $11. I will definitey be back!

Chicken pho is great! Beef spicy pho is awesome! Vermicelli salads are great. Love this place!

Ordered the grilled pork, pork was greasy and full of grizzle :( the waitress was a bit rude and her behavior made us very uncomfortable. Won't be back.

Disgusting. Being fans of Vietnamese food we were looking forward to a Noodle soup on a rainy afternoon. Ordered the udon soup with crab meat and the vermicelli soup with tofu and prawns. Both soups not edible. Broth tasted like dirty water and even soy sauce and chilli couldn't fix it. The tofu had a black tinge, not sure where that came from.<br/>The only good thing was that the bean sprouts and salad appeared to be fresh. The waitress could have slammed them with a bit less force on the table though and it wouldn't hurt to smile once in a while. Will never come back

Awesome pho. Good service, good value. Tried quail for the first time here and it was perfect. So close to central station so I'm definitely coming here again when I'm travelling and hungry.

It was ok - nothing special

Come here every tuesday for lunch. Spring rolls fresh and tasty. Pork chop with steamed rice beautifully tender, generous serving and very delicious. Service is ok, dont really come here for that aspect though, fast in bringing out food is a plus. A firm favourite with the lunch crowd, business people and also other Vietnamese customers.

$10 bowl of pho and bun bo hue- can't complain on value. Flavour is good, slightly bland but easily fixed with a bit of fish sauce.

Best beef pho I've ever had in a restaurant. It makes me so happy to have discovered the pho here. Service was a bit flaky but it was 10 minutes to closing so understandable. Highly recommend the beef pho. Trust me, I'm Vietnamese and my mothers a Vietnamese chef.