Vina Vietnamnese Gourmet

Located inside Richmond center I decided to come here to finish some paperwork. I know phở in the food court wasn’t going to taste good but thought what the heck.
Ew. Phở barely had any meat, noodles were stale and had a musky smell to them, and a lot of salty msg broth that left me dying for water. I also got the salad roll for lunch. Very disappointed of course, damn thing completely fell apart and was all vermicelli.

so i went again yesterday with a friend and the service was soo much better this time!
there was different staff since to my visit. the young man and lady at the counter were very helpful and they showed us all the different options of phở soup available on the menu sheets. they were really patient and knowledgeable because my friend wasn’t at all experienced in ordering Vietnamese food. my friend asked many questions and they answered them without being annoyed. at the end, the beef phở was not bad! i will come back to try the other combos they have. i just wish they lowered their prices a few and have a consistently friendly service like this time. i’d come a lot more often if they did!

I ate here on 2 separate occasions and ordered the beef phở both times. Unfortunately I guess my stomach is weaker than most people, and I ended up with food poisoning both times. Plus the broth was not tasty. I can’t say I’ll be going back.

I understand that Vina is a fast food version of Vietnamese food, but at least make the food taste good?
All I wanted was some spring rolls and salad rolls. They were large in size and I didn’t hesitate to pay the usual cost of these rolls, but unfortunately the content was mostly filler.
The salad rolls I’m used to eating is normally filled with bean sprouts, meat, vermicelli, lettuce, shrimp, etc. I didn’t expect to find a roll that’s 90% vermicelli. Essentially all I was tasting was the dipping sauce. Yum.
The food court has a lot of better options with more reasonable prices. I’ll pass on Vina from now on, sorry.

I love this place! I come once a week or so. I come for the lemon grass fish, spring roll, noodles and salad. It’s 8.60 for a full plate which I think is very reasonable. The food is always delicious and satisfying. I’ve tried the lemon grass chicken and it’s very good too.
Negatives:
If you’re into Phở this isn’t the place for it, I find their beef Phở to be bland and it’s never really hot. Linda C. mentioned being overcharged and I’ve had that problem too, you have to really watch the cashiers. I don’t think they get much training.

Decided to give this place another chance and came back this week — I am happy to say that their phở noodle soup is better than the last time. I would suggest ordering the regular phở beef one. The meat was cooked all the way through and the soup was very hot. Be warned that it is pretty «safe» beef — in other words, not rare slices, it is cooked strips of beef and some beef balls.
I was satisfied with the product, but still think it is overpriced for a food court ($ 8 for a regular phở.)
The regular size, however, I found to be pretty big and I wasn’t able to finish it. I was full at 80% and I came pretty hungry, so I think a small should fit an average appetite. (A small is $ 7 i think).
Their service however, still remains questionable.
I would maybe come back if I had a coupon.

OVERCHARGES AND UNDERWHELMING FOOD
(Richmond Centre Food Court)
I usually don’t review food court stalls since value, quality and service are pretty much the same everywhere. I’ve had Vina at Oakrdige many many times before and it is a good place to go to if you have a sudden craving for Viet food — everything from service to taste is pretty average. The Pacific Centre Vina is fast and food is piping hot, though the price is a little higher than the Oakridge Vina.
Then this Vina at Richmond Centre comes along and gives all the other Vinas a bad name. The Boy was craving Viet spring rolls and since we were already at Richmond Centre, Vina was the closest option. The Boy ordered their lemon chicken combo which came with rice noodles and a spring roll for $ 8.50 and an extra spring roll because he REALLY was craving spring rolls. Cashier rings him up and he paid $ 18.00 (!!!) with no drinks, just the food. Common sense told me an extra spring roll shouldn’t cost $ 8 so I asked the cashier to give me a receipt.
The cashier paused. Looked sheepishly at me and even before the receipt was printed, she said she had mistakenly overcharged the Boy. SHE LIED!!! I asked her for a refund and she said that she didn’t know how to refund to the credit card that the meal was charged to so I told her to give the Boy cash back, which she said she can’t. Really frustrating.
By the way, even after admitting she made a mistake, she never said sorry. Her manager came over and glared at us like we were being unreasonable asking them to charge the correct price of the meal.
Anyhow, long story short, we got the difference back in the end so the Boy started eating his Viet rolls. He said that they were cold, stale and didn’t seem too fresh. The lemon chicken was hard and the noodles were clumping together. It didn’t really satisfy his cravings.
Avoid the Richmond Vina if you can.