Pho 99 Vietnamese Restaurant

Small simple restaurant. No décor. No greeting. You seat yourself. No expression on the owners. Spring rolls are bleah. Phở rice noodles… More noodles… Where the meat at??? $ 25 meal didn’t really fill us up. We only came here because no one greeted us on the other side at Phở Quinn. Be warned.

I should’ve just listened to the Unilocal reviews and ate somewhere else.
Having heard about the smaller portions here, I ordered a large (usually eat a small). Honestly, the size of their large is pretty much a small at other phở restaurants. I got the rare beef/​tendon/​tripe bowl, and it was severely lacking in all three of those. For some reason, the rare beef had this really awful flavour; it tasted as if it was going bad (I really hope it wasn’t). Everything about this restaurant just lacked oomph, and there is literally nothing appealing enough about it that would make want to return.

We got the grilled pork and chicken with rice that came with spring rolls, vegetable pad thai with the fresh shrimp/​grilled chicken rolls and avocado milkshake. Food was definitely above average. Service could have been a little bit friendlier. Will not make it a point to go back but if I am around the area and was craving phở and pad thai will wander in…

Simple quick meal and tasty!
Friendly staff to! Will be back for sure. Soup and noodles are all very good

I’ve been trying to find a phở restaurant close by to replace a favourite that had closed down and this is it!
The phở was serves fast and the portions are ample. The restaurant seems clean and comes with free tea. Also everything is super affordable oh man.
Not to salty and the beef in the P55 (a simplistic phở) well done beef and rice noodle soup was not to fatty and there was enough meat for the quantity of the soup. Was only $ 7!
Overall so yummy and worth coming back to try lots more stuff.

I have been coming to this restaurant for probably three years. I’m not a regular, but perhaps I should be. It is located across from Markville shopping mall (I still can’t say CF Markville… baby steps by typing it out first).
The first time I went in and had phở, I thought it was okay. I wasn’t a seasoned phở eater then. I used to avoid squeezing lime in my soup. I now do it religiously and it makes the soup base even better than it is on its own.
I order the large-​sized phở. You get a generous serving. I am a bean sprouts whore, so the volume is perfect for me, as is the mint.
I have a bit of a sore throat, so I had the shrimp on a sugar cane as an appetizer. I gnawed on the sugar cane. The sweet juice felt nice against my throat. Hot soup and sugar cane do miracles. I actually feel better.
It was the busiest I have ever seen at this restaurant, probably because it’s Christmas eve and getting your shopping done works up the appetite!
Staff here are always friendly to me. You get free tea, which is great. The food is good and served fast. It’s a decent place to have a quick, satisfying meal.

Not the greatest. Just an average small phở restaurant. Server wasn’t too friendly, the flavour was a tad bland and really salty and they don’t accept visa. Only plus is that the food came out decently quick but I don’t think I’ll be returning here.

Went there once. Decent phở and rolls. Service is so so.

If you go here and want to use A CARD FOR PAYMENT, be warned that they ONLY accept CHIP-​ENABLED DEBIT CARDS WHICH REQUIRE A PIN.
We are not from Canada, but I found this spot due to Unilocal reviews. I was with Hubby and the Kids traveling back from Pac Mall, and we were all getting hungry so we thought we’d head here since it was so close. The place is absolutely no frills, looks like a typical take-​out join from the 90’s: Linoleum counters and tables with a slight «film» on them that ya can’t rub off. Spoons and chopsticks out in the open, next to the bottles of spicy and savory condiments. From the get-​go, we asked our waiter (a young gentleman who, I overheard…, might be the owner/chef’s grandson?) if they accepted card. He said: yes, as long as it’s debit. Not a problem, we thought.
We ordered the Beef brisket&tendon Phở, porkchop noodles, along with the sugar cane shrimp (all of which are Viet take out staples). It was good and filled our bellies, but nothing spectacular. The bill for us 4 was only $ 32. The kid also seemed nervous as he tried to carry our order on a large tray from the kitchen to our table
Then came to trying to pay the bill. We had just enough cash to cover the bill, but barely a bit more to pay tip. As soon as my hubby tried to run his debit card, he was THEN told it was chip-​enabled cards ONLY. We tried running a number of cards with chips in them, but all to no avail. Not a bad place, but a no-​frills plain Jane kind of «dive». At least the bathroom was clean!

I went here a couple of weeks with 3 others. I got the chicken and pork with rice, two of them got the house special phở and the other one got a chicken and spring roll vermicelli noodle dish. My rice dish was not that good. The rice was dry and hard and the chicken was so overcooked that it was super dry and rubbery. The others said they were a bit disappointed with their meals too. Although the food came really fast, the portion was smaller than expected. The service was okay but there was only 3 tables total when we went. I am not sure I would return for the food.

Meh … I’ve had better phở anywhere else in Markham … and I live here so I know what comes in and out. This is the first and last time I will try Phở 99. I’ve always seen it at the plaza at Hwy 7 and McCowan, it’s been there forever but I ever went to try it. not sure why but now I know why I should have trusted my years of instinct.
Food is below average.
Service was okay.
Speed of food came quite fast.
Portions are very little compared to anywhere else.
Price is higher than most phở places around.
Presentation was nothing spectacular.
Creativity, none.
Cleanliness, average.
I definitely will not come back. I’d go to Kitchen M next door or Congee Queen next next door or go further for phở than come back here. If i’m eating phở I want to eat affordable, and when it comes to phở it’s hard to screw up. It can only be average good or amazing. I believe in I get what I pay for and if I’m paying more than what I would have at Phở 88 or whichever other phở place in Markham, I’d expect you to be better than just average.
Disappointing.

The food here was decent. Not wow. The interior is beyond out dated. The workers are quick but not very friendly. Ordered the vermicilli (bun) with grilled beef. Food tasted ok. Average viet resto here. But the place just looks a bit too run down, especially when its steps away from Phở Quinn. I would only come back if Phở Quinn was too packed. 3 ***

Phở 99 is definitely an authentic and old fashioned Vietnamese restaurant. Both the store front and interior decoration are unassuming and no frill. It reminds me of the stores in the 1980’s. I ordered a phở with raw beef and cooked beef tendon (large $ 8). The phở came out piping hot. The noodle was thin, well cooked and well portioned. There was too little beef and tendon. The beef was basically cooked instead of raw. The broth was okay: it was clear but it didn’t taste very rich. I didn’t taste any MSG in it, which was good.
The part that I liked the most was the garnishments. They gave me plenty — red chili, raw bean sprouts, fresh basil leaves. There were fish sauce, chili sauce, soy sauce and white pepper on every table. I broke the chili and the basil leaves up and put them in the soup. I also put in lot of bean sprout. The end product was a clear, fragrant and slightly spicy broth. I really liked it, so much so that I drank most of the broth.
Services was average. The table was clean.

Grabbed an extra large bowl of phở with rare beef and tripe. The bowl was definitely big but the food portion is more like a medium to me. I always go for the extra large when ordering phở and it usually puts me out cold by the time I finish, but here at Pho99 its a different story. I was still not 100% full. The portion of beef and tripe were miniscule. I couldn’t believe how little meat there was in this extra large bowl of phở.
The spring rolls were just as bad in my opinion. Its suppose to be filled with pork and shrimp but it tasted more like a veggie spring roll to me.
Both items came to $ 15.55 after tax.

Great phở. Fast service. Clean washrooms.
You read that right! CLEAN bathrooms!
In the past there have been some consistency issues with the phở. But overall it’s the best phở I’ve had in Toronto, better than the more expensive places in Chinatown.

I joined Unilocal specifically to write about this place. It’s a gem
I order the bun cha gio (vietnamese spring roll + noodles) almost everytime and I can say it’s the best in Markham for sure. Their phở is really good.
I lived in Vietnam for a while and this comes very close to the stuff you would get there. Keep doing your thing Phở 99

The phở is generous on the noodles and soup here! My family and I had a dinner here on a beautiful summer night. My folks adore the home and garden store next door to this place. I will order a beef brisket noodle soup next time. Atmosphere gives it an extra star, the table, furniture, décor and lighting are much less casual than phở eateries in Cleveland. You can see the kitchen from sitting on one side and the soup stock is old fashioned style made in there.

I have to be honest, we came here because the place next door was full of people and we were starving. I wished we had waited at the other place.
First off, if anyone is going to this place, please take a whiff of the spoons… they smell like bleach. It’s not just a hint of bleach but a strong odour. Secondly, there were virtually no difference in amount of content between a regular or large bowl of phở. The only difference was the size of the actual bowls it came in. I counted 4 very small slices of beef and 1 and a half beef balls. I had to fish around for the beef tendon. The cold shrimp rolls… well it did have shrimp in it, but the peanut dipping sauce was definitely watered down. I had better quality and pricing elsewhere.

If it weren’t for the opening of Toro Sushi I wouldn’t have even noticed this place. It’s so small, and if I didn’t look at the photos I would’ve thought it’s some take out shack and would have no interest in visiting.
What enticed me to trying this place is the fact I noticed it’s been in existence for over 10 years. I mean, something has to keep this place alive, right? Something has to be good? Nevertheless, I’ll find out.
I had the beef brisket noodle soup with what reminded me of the typical tomato soup base you see in other Phở restaurants (though it wasn’t stated). I also had the pork strip rice paper roll and an iced lime soda. The noodle was your typical Phở noodle, thin and chewy, and the beef brisket was very good! The broth seemed to be the standard Phở soup base with a sauce added to it… ah well. The pork strip rice paper roll was decent, quite large in size. I didn’t really feel that much pork in it, nor the vermicelli. A lot of peanuts and veggies though. Finally, the iced lime soda was quite good if you’re not a fan of sugary drinks. It’s VERY sour, I warn you.
Will I come back? It definitely has its own character, different from my usual Vietnamese noodle place (Kim Po). I would come back for standard Phở, but not for the exotic stuff I’m used to in Kim Po.

Phở is probably the finest if not the most prevalent Vietnamese food out there. Good Phở is tough to find especially where competition is fierce in Markham. Ideally I look for 3 things in Phở, Soup, Noodles, and Authenticity.
Soup — 4.5÷5 Soup is pure and has the essence of phở here, worthy soup is the foundation of the whole bowl if this flops the rest is no good. I generally finish the soup and leave nothing behind, great soup without the MSG after taste.
Noodles ⁵⁄₅ — I really like the consistency of the noodles they use here it has much more texture to it compare to the average bland rice noodles found in most Chinese/​Viet Phở.
Authenticity 4.5÷5 — This place is actually run by Vietnamese folks, it has a good aroma that sort of gives you the feel that extra feeling you are visiting Vietnam.
Environment — 3.5÷5 it’s nice and cozy here when busy but can also be vacant at times the place is rather old but has a nice vibe, either way a good hot bowl of phở can warm you up.
Overall this is a very humble Vietnamese place that offers good food service at a good price!