Thai Son Restaurant

My go-​to Vietnamese restaurant recently. I try to go on Tuesdays for 10% discount. Plus, weekends are always crowded and hard to find parking. Great cheap food as always. Haven’t wronged me yet.

I’ve been to their Marine Drive and Victoria Drive locations and I can safely say that those are probably safer bets than this one. Although the servers here are a LOT friendlier, the food leaves something to be desired. Got my usual: grilled skewered pork with shredded pork and spring roll on vermicelli. Despite the shredded pork being fine, the spring roll and the grilled pork were SUPER greasy for some reason! Something funny that I noticed too was that the Marine Drive location also charges 9.25 for this dish, but the Victoria Drive one charges 8.50…wonder what’s up with that! It’d be like going to two Timmy’s but one charges $ 1.85 for an iced capp while the other charges $ 3.50.
BEWARE OF THE CASH ONLY POLICY!

Came here last night for dinner. They have a few locations in Vancouver. This one is found on the second floor of the building in Richmond. Warning: Parking might be difficult to find and make sure you don’t park in the neighbouring plaza.
Anyway got in and was promptly seated. Ordered my usual phở tai. It came out pretty quickly. Good amount of rare beef and decent broth. Broth was a bit oily though. Also came with limes on the side.
Went up to pay and they had the bill ready to go. It’s cash only btw. Good food, relatively cheap, quick service, very efficient. Was in and out with a full stomach in no time.

Cheap and filling phở chain that keeps the cravings satisfied. Not something I would go to when searching for a great bowl of noodles but when I feel like saving some money while getting my rice noodle fix, I would consider it!

This is one of those very average Vietnamese phở restaurant franchise. A little too much MSG for my liking and it just doesn’t impress me enough to really repeat.

This place can tend to get pretty busy, however, I have never had to wait to get seated. I usually order their vermicelli noodles with pork and spring rolls and I would say the portions are pretty good. They do add a lot of the raw beansprouts and lettuce at the bottom so that would be my only complaint of not having as much vermicelli as I would wish. I usually eat in the restaurant and would definitely not recommend getting take-​out. The waiting time for take-​out was way too long and eating in the restaurant would have been surprisingly faster. Other than that, the food at this restaurant is definitely one of the top vietnamese places I have tried.

I am a super fan of Phở and have tasted Phở in many countries around the world. As usual, the most basic dish is the one that tells you the real quality of the chef — so I ordered rare beef Phở and taste the soup base as the first thing — after all the soup base of Phở is like the soul to a place selling Phở. I was very disappointed with their soup as it is just flat salty water, with almost no taste of beef at all.
The portion is big, considering also the price is not high you are certainly getting a lot from what you pay, but it lacks the finesse that usually exists in this Asian bowl. The fried spring roll (nam) was also disappointing as the wrap was not done with the right type of dough (they used the solid one instead of the flaky one).
The man who runs the shop (seems like the owner) has a very arrogant attitude — as I was waiting for them to sit us (they had a few empty desks at that time) I had one foot stepping into their carpet area (apparently he sees that as the boundary between the waiting and the dining area) and literally pointed at me and ordered me (with big eyes) to take my foot off the carpet while waiting!!!

On one hand, Thai Son is my hands-​down favourite place to get phở, I usually just get a vermicelli dish at other Vietnamese restaurants because they always seem to find a way to mess up their noodle soups.
AMBIENCE/​SERVICE: Located on the second floor, this Thai Son is relatively open and quiet for a Vietnamese restaurant. Staff are Cantonese and Vietnamese speakers. It may be hard to get water or tea. 2/2.5
FOOD: Everything about the phở here is on point. Noodles are a perfect al dente. Rare beef is thinly sliced, fresh, tender, and not overcooked. What really sets Thai Son apart is their soup base, it is pretty much liquid crack. Be warned, by the time you finish your soup (I guarantee you will), you’ll already be feeling withdrawal symptoms. Oh, the wonders of MSG. 2/2.5

The is Thai Son everywhere in BC. There is always one near by. I find that the Richmond location portion seems to be smaller than the Vancouver location. I usually order number 13 because there is more meat then the other ones.
Was I full not like really eventhough I ordered a large. Service is OK. The food to a while to come. But this Thai Son is quite busy.
Note this place accepts cash only

The place was busy but you can come here to get your phở fix for cheap. Bring cash since they don’t take credit or debit. Only come if you’re in the hood otherwise no need make a trek over.

My first experience at a thai son, been meaning to try for some time now and low and behold, I had no idea there was one in my neighbourhood on the way frm costco.
The broth was good, not bad but not spectacular, but man, they use so much msg, even for phở standards. The spring rolls were a nice surprise– even though it wasn’t the crunchy thick bubbly skin one I like, it was really nice, with a meaty centre and thick crunch. By the way, it’s $ 5.25 for three.
The service was ok, the place was pretty dirty, the walk up to the restaurant was creepy, so overall, I won’t come back.

When I’m ever in Richmond and need a place to eat, I think this is one of my regular go to places. It’s always good. The staff is always nice and I don’t think I’ve had ever really had anything bad when eating at this restaurant.

Thai Son has to be one of the best Vietnamese chains in the Vancouver area. Forget Phở Boi, and definitely Phở Hoa. The consistency here cannot be beat.
Parking is available in the nice large strip mall parking lot, as well as the exterior
The entrance to this one is a bit hokey — there’s a staircase, as well as an exterior elevator. Take your pick.
The inside is relatively clean, but a bit dated. One can tell that the restaurant was once a sushi bar. Instead of raw fish and liquor, one can now see the nice stacks of teapots and plates.
The food here is delicious. You really can’t go wrong with any of the dishes here. Cheap, tasty, and filling. Beautiful.
One nice thing about this location is that they cook the bean sprouts. Makes life a lot easier as you don’t have to try to soak them in the soup.

I ordered my usual go of Phở Tai Gan (phở with tendon and rare beef) and an order of spring rolls. The phở was its usual browny tone with a good smell to it. The broth was a little oilier than I remembered from other Thai Son restaurants, but the noodles were chewy and absorbent of the broth (sans oil). Within, there were scallions, cilantro, and onions in the beef-​based broth. The tendon I got this time wasn’t as amazing or chewy as the Renfrew location. I know not too many people like tendon, but chewiness is a factor for me and it wasn’t doing it for me here. The spring rolls however, were exactly as I imagined; crispy, and with a good amount of ingredients inside. Though I personally prefer the style with a translucent skin, these were good nonetheless and they dipped very well.

Good food and large portions kind of hidden away on the second floor.
Speedy service

Thai Son has various locations across the lower mainland. This particular Thai Son is located on the second floor of a plaza on Garden City Road, across from House of Tofu Soup, in Richmond.
Upon entering, you’re greeted with décor that is quintessentially Japanese, so it’s pretty evident this use to be a Japanese restaurant haha. The restaurant is quite large and is able to accommodate quite a large number of people. Despite its ample seating, tables fill up fast, so be prepared to wait during lunch hour!
I ordered their lemongrass chicken, with shredded pork, egg, on broken rice. Their lemongrass chicken was one of the better ones I’ve had, the chicken was juicy withcharring and a potent lemongrass flavour.
I also had a side of their spring rolls, which came with obligatory fish sauce for dipping. The spring rolls were great: crunchy, fragrant, and paired well with the fish sauce.
The staff were polite and food came fast. Overall, a solid Vietnamese restaurant.

A friend who lives in Richmond asked me to dinner on Friday night. Usually I am hesitant to drive to Richmond during rush hour especially on a Friday night. But I hadn’t seen her in a while and I downloaded a book that I wanted to give her so I agreed to go. Finally figuring out the Skytrain system I decided to Skytrain it down to Richmond instead of driving. Awesome idea! I don’t Skytrain much but after last night I’m going to do it a lot more! Van City is a traffic mess most of our waking hours! The hell with driving! Haha
I met my friend and her daughter in Lansdown and she drove us to Thai Son Restaurant. Overall, pretty good! Cleaner than your average Vietnamese phở joint this little gem hidden in the bowels of Richmond is pretty decent! The waitress was friendly yet efficient. We were served easily within 10 minutes. I had a small number 1… Some meaty noodle dish with an assortment of meats derived from a cow! Haha. It was hot and tasty. The soup base had lots of flavor. Thumbs up! I also had 1 spring roll that left me wishing I ordered 2! Nice and crispy but not too oily it’s a must have in my books!
I Skytrained it home and I noticed that I was not famished for H2O like I usually am after eating at a Vietnamese restaurant. My conclusion… Thai Son doesn’t use too much or doesn’t use any MSG! Another positive check mark to note!

Amongst a sea of cheap Phở joints all over Greater Vancouver this is one of my favourites. I’ve been coming here for a few years and can’t help but get one or two of the same things over & over b/​c they’re just that good.
Thai Son has been around for a while, but their prices, service, and most importantly food quality never waiver. Run like a classic mom & pop shop there are no servers so much as random family members running around in what seems like a well practied mad rush. However despite the apparent craze, I’ve never had any mistakes on my orders, or trouble getting their attention.
Now to the food: I can’t speak to how authentic their dishes may be, but the quality is fantastic. The cuts of meat are always fresh, the rare beef is super tasty, and the broth is great. I can’t help but get #15 (spicy) — rare beef, & beef balls phở. My wife regularly gets #30 (beef w/​pork hoc phở). We’ve tried a few other doshes though and have never been disappointed.
TL;DR: give this place a try. You’ll probably end up coming back!

If I had to give a «consistently good Phở» award… it would go to Thai Son. I think regardless of location, I will always walk out of Thai Son feeling gastronomically satisfied.
I will be honest, they don’t serve the best BBH. Although for some strange reason the BBH at this Richmond location is a smidge tastier than the Kingsway/​Broadway location — I find it less oily. And in my most humble opinion (and maybe others would agree), they’ve got one of the best grilled lemongrass chicken rice dishes in the city. If I’m hungry, that’s what I will always order. Their regular Phở bowls are good too, but its their rice dishes that are most memorable.
PS. Parking here is indeed a pain in the butt (it’s the reason why I don’t come here as often as before).

It’s too bad this restaurant closes at 10pm everyday, unlike a majority of other Phở places that close much later. Despite that, I can’t find any other major flaws. The décor, set-​up and cutlery is quite obvious what the previous business used to be — Japanese, but it works.
I really enjoy their spring rolls. Very crispy and not over fried, with a generous packing of minced meat inside. Dipping it in the flavourful fish sauce is mouth-​watering, and worth the stench of the sauce — trust me! The Phở noodles are good, decent portion with good amount of ingredients but sometimes the broth can be a little salty. I mostly come and order the rice dices. Particularly the lemongrass chicken with egg and broken steamed rice. Everything on that plate is pure yumminess, I won’t write about it — just go there and eat it!
Overall, a nice place that is never over packed with people and efficient service. Cash Only!