Ben Thanh Restaurant

I’ve been coming here since they first opened.I have noticed changes in the food portions.Twice now I have ordered #140 Malaysian Seafood Laksa Rice Noodle Soup in extra-large.It is disappointing.The actual bowl itself is large enough to serve four people.The noodle portion can fill a small coffee mug, the entire bowl is just soup, or seasoned broth. Some random seafood item and that is it. I had to make dinner after leaving because I was still hungry. Aside from that, I love this place.

Good food, neglected service!

I've been Ben Thanh's customer for years now and their food is great which is what makes me return but the restaurant can improve its service tremendously! I have stopped going for dine-in because of their rude service. Even for take-out, I find myself just standing idle for over five minutes (when the restaurant isn't even busy!)before I am attended to. I can see employees gathering and talking casually before they recognize that I am waiting for their attention. Even upon ordering, the woman insisted I pay her right away although I mentioned I had to go to the bank. She replied that they accept credit cards so I don't have to pay by cash. I can understand this might be company policy for food to be paid first, but I use the time for my food to get ready to run errands. Although she finally let me come back to pay, she glared as if I would not return. I felt misjudged and treated very poorly. They need to have faith in their customers. As for the food, I have yet to be disappointed. Always fresh and so tasty! Ordering time is usually ready in the time that they suggest which is fast and convenient for me. Love the interior too, as it is very cozy. The new renovations look great as well!

The Food is Good, but Avoid When Busy

I have been there many times since it opened a few years back. The food never disappoints me, but the service always does. I tend to order the Malaysian Laksa Seafood Noodle Soup. I love it every time. The last time, I ordered the house special pho. It is large and very tasty. Prices are reasonable.

another disappointing visit

sometimes it's great, other times not so much. We went early around 5:30 Sat to avoid the long waits and lineups. One third of the tables were empty yet we waited 35 minutes to get our soup and springrolls! The deep fried chicken wings arrived with no dipping sauce, which we had to ask for twice with another ten minute wait while they got cold. The pad seew was only just barely warm and was lacking flavor compared to other visits. The #113 pho, I was told was delicious, but my single serving tom yum soup was nothing but vinegar and hot sauce. Very disappointing. Overall, not a great meal. The waitress, we later discovered, put the watery salad dressing and lettuce from the chicken wings into the takeout container along with the leftover wings and "crispy" Thai spring rolls turning all into a disgusting soggy inedible mess. I seriously regret the generous tip that was left!

Very impressed

I visit this place 2 or 3 times a month for dinner. I have had a great experience every time. The food is great and the price is right. Even when they are busy and hectic, they do their best to service you. Very friendly staff, everyone smiles when you make eye contact =). Great place, I definately reccomend it, hands down, if you have never been there. Enjoy! =)

This restaurant is 'different'. 1. The food is AMAZING. It's cheap and you get great portions and flavour for your buck. Best thai I have found in K-W, hands down. 2. If you dine in, the food will come out randomly. Whatever is done first will arrive, so if you order an appetizer that takes longer than the entrée to cook, you will receive your entrée first. Who knows why they do this. To avoid this, order your appetizer first, then when you are finished, order your entrée. 3. The service is, and always has been, abysmal. The servers are not friendly, they act like they hate their job, and they will not give you anything unless you ask for it. If you don't like it, reflect these feelings in your tip (or lack thereof) or get take out. Overall, good food, bad service. Take out is advised to avoid these things.

Clean-Friendly Atmosphere

I came here on a Weekend with a group of 5 people. We had to wait about 15 minutes to get seated because it was very crowded. Everyone had a great time. The food was decent and nobody had any complaints. We ordered Vietnamese Noodles, shrimp rolls, stir-fry chicken, and some fruit shakes. We only had one waitress serving us and it seemed like she was also serving about 10 other tables. It was very slow. Our food did not arrive for about 20-25 minutes. I might visit this restaurant in the future again but definitely not on a weekend. But if you enjoy a crowded-noisy restaurant, then this is the place for you.

Terrific Take-out

Best Thai red curry I've ever tasted. It hooked me on Thai food the first time I ever tried it, but keep in mind you may or may not have to ask for rice on the side. Their pad thai is also amazing, but they've got a plethora of delicious meals to choose from, so don't feel confined. Really I'm just in it for the food, so eat in or take out, it's up to you. I prefer to take out because you don't have to pay for a tip, and you don't have to wait in line either. I chose $11-25 based on the idea that the person would be eating in, but if you just get an entrée and take out you can easily eat for under $10.

If you're dining in, be ready for spotty service, but for takeout, this place is awesome. I would say the pho and pad thai are great.

Food isn't really good, especially for its price. Basically paying lots of money for fast-food style cuisine. The service is terrible. Maybe they hate students or something, but my friend and I went there and waited over half an hour. The family of 4 that sat beside us got their food before us and they came 15 minutes after us. I was basically starved and they didn't even serve us water or anything but rather gave all their attention to the "bigger" tables. The atmosphere is nice though, but they really need to improve their food and service.

Both times I've been here (one lunch, one supper...

Both times I've been here (one lunch, one supper) it has been ridiculously busy and we had to wait for a table, which might explain the poor service. The place is large and atmosphere unimpressive (high ceilings, florescent lighting). I think the servers are understaffed and thus overworked. On both occasions we sat for a long time before our orders were picked up. Even more bizarre, the food seemed to come out of the kitchen in a random order. Perhaps they just cook things and send whatever's ready at that moment? The following occurred during BOTH visits: 1. Mains arrived before appetizers. 2. Mains arrived with substantial gaps (5-10 minutes) between dishes. At the supper visit, the first half of our party's food arrived and they were almost finished eating before the second half's food arrived. 3. White rice to go with the curry arrived long (>5 minutes) after the main. I had to ask our server for it. On one occasion, my bubble tea arrived after we had all finished eating. I actually assumed they had forgotten about it. Unless in Thai culture bubble tea is dessert? Given the haphazard way that the rest of our food arrived I'm unwilling to give them the benefit of the doubt on that one. I would order takeout from them, but not suffer through that service again.

This place was disgusting. We only wanted to pop...

This place was disgusting. We only wanted to pop in for a quick snack and drink for take out but ended up gagging at half their food. The spring rolls were dry and not flavourful at all and didn't have the nice crisp to them. The mango shakes tasted like thick powder and milk. The service was an absolute MESS. We went in and we didn't get served for 8 mins even though there were a handful of servers just talking amongst each other. We also realized that they forgot one of our mango shakes and wouldn't refund us, insisting on getting the mango shake when we came back. Truth be told, we didn't even want the shake after trying the first 2.

Eat-in is delicious! Take-out is atrocious!

I love going to this place for a sit-down meal. The food is quick and delicious. The service could be better, but lately it depends on the waitress (some are great, most are average, a few are terrible). Take-out from this place is a completely different story however. We called and ordered our food. When I arrived to pick it up I was ignored for more than 20 minutes. I even watched my food be brought out from the kitchen and left on the counter for more than 15 minutes before a server finally asked me what I wanted. When we got the food home, we discovered that the noodle dishes had steamed themselves while sitting in the styrofoam containers on the counter, and had been reduced to tasteless piles of muck (or tasteless piles of dried up noodles in the case of the pad thai). They also forgot to give us dipping sauce for our spring rolls. So our take-out was either mucky or completely dried out, and everything was bland. We will NEVER order take-out from here again.

Great Red Curry

Red Curry was very delicious. Bamboo was not too overpowering at it is at other restaurants and the portion was more than enough. Our server forgot the rice which I had to order separately to eat with the curry but otherwise nothing to complain about.

Great food. Service could be improved

I've both been in the resturant for a sit down meal and also order the food for take out quite often. I do find the food impressive. They give good quantity and quality for the most part. I have to agree with other reviewers on the customer service though. It really could use improving. I haven't had any terrible experiences but have noticed that the kind of service you get depends greatly on who you happen to get serving you or at the desk. Other than that I really do recommend this place on it's food alone. It's worth the trip and the coin!

Food Awesome, Service Awful

We have never done this but we can't find an email address for this restaurant. Anyways, we have been going to Ben Thanh ever since we moved here 2 years ago and the food has always been consistent and the service friendly. However, the last time we went there we encountered the worst service ever and I do mean EVER! Our server was the most obnoxious and unprofessional person I have ever met. It took her 15 minutes to come to our table and she even forgot to enter one of our orders. She never once checked on our table, we had to go looking for her to find out where our one missing order was. By the time the rest of the table finished eating the missing order showed up. By then we had to leave so we ended up canceling it. When she was informed of this she literally screamed and started slamming drawers. I can't believe Ben Thanh has people like this working for them. When I tried to explain why we sent the noodles back she was sooooo immature she kept raising her hand and saying "don't talk to me". Seriously who does that, even my 4 year old knows its rude to do that!!! At the time we were so upset that we didn't ask for the manager so we tried to look up an email address to their "head office" when we came home, doesn't exist. If Ben Thank keeps people like this on staff, it will lose its loyal customers, like us.

recommended restaurant

It is always busy there which is understandable!!! There food is good although they can work at bringing it altogether. The servers are really friendly and hardworking they do very well for being so busy and serving so many tables. Not too many poeple can handle that kind of pressure. Although service sucks at night the staff does a great job!!Food is also very good too.

General overview

This is pretty much the best Viet-Thai restaurant in the KW area, but you won't be impressed by their service. I like the food there but the waitresses doesn't seem to enjoy their job, especially the ones at the cashier. Their menu prices increased within the past year even though they didn't have any improvements whatsoever. The food is fresh and delicious. Compared to downtown Toronto Viet-Thai restaurants, this one is a bust -- both in taste, presentation, AND value.

Everything was delicious. Menu can be confusing...

Everything was delicious. Menu can be confusing, as we keep ordering what we think are the fresh spring rolls, but get the fried ones. Portion size for the soups here are very large. Noodles in the chow mien were wonderful. Service was fine, although our table had not been cleaned off properly before arrival.

One of my favourite restaurants in KW. This one...

One of my favourite restaurants in KW. This one is on the other side of the city from me, good thing they opened a new on in Kitchener (which is much better, see that review). My main dislike for this place is that they bring out your food in weird order. Drinks and Cutlery comes out first Appetizer, then entrees. I like to be able to eat my soup and spring rolls first, and not have my noodles sitting there getting cold. Many times they bring out the one person's food and the other person is just sitting there waiting, not good. I like the green tea they give you and the neat looking ice in the water glasses. Service is ok, you have a different person bringing out your food then you have taking your order, so it becomes a bit impersonal. Also, having the staff eat their dinner out in the dining room is not something I like, nor do I like the fact that every time I am in there, someone is always vacuuming around me!!!