3 /5
Rating
★
★
★
My wife and I were in town for a specialist appointment at St.Joes. We sought out Ben Thanh since we've eaten at the locations in Waterloo, Kitchener, Guelph, and Cambridge. You could say that we have some basis for comparison. With that said, we've never eaten in London so don't know the restaurant landscape well. As a result, I'll try to keep the review to observations as much as possible. 1) Price: this location was more expensive by $2-3 on a per dish basis.2) Parking: again, not sure about landscape but the parking time limit/voucher system would be enough to prevent me from being a regular3) Service: it took far longer than expected (10 min) for our orders to be taken, especially since there were 3 staff for 6 tables. During the meal, we were checked on once (again, never going above 6 tables). No issues with language with our particular server. Made the appropriate exemptions and one substitution due to food allergies 4) Food quality: I ordered a chicken pad Thai, which had decent subtle heat, but was quite "ketchupy" compared with inside and outside the Ben thanh chain. My wife ordered the seafood Shanghai chow mein. The noodles were undercooked and the flavor was unevenly distributed (and oddly sweet?)5) Accessibility: would not recommend this place if you have accessibility issues or have a kid in a stroller. There's a few steps to enter the restaurant. The washrooms are also quite a jaunt and accessible by stairs only.Overall: as an Asian having experienced hundreds of Asian restaurants , this experience was meh. Service was typical Asian style, but perhaps i expected more out of a place in a downtown core location. Wouldn't return if in London again - would go elsewhere.