Urban Bowl

Take no pleasure in giving a bad review to a privately owned restaurant, but this was bad. Pho did not even have all the right ingredients and the broth was tasteless. Had only 1 small piece of meat. My girlfriend got a noodles dish that was cooked dry, and also tasteless. The fresh rolls were just raw cabbage and raw carrots. I eat a lot of pho and other Asian food all over east coast, this might be the worst "pho" I ever had.

We went to Urban Bowl (located in the York Place Building) late on a Saturday night. Although it closed in 10 minutes, the young owner held the restaurant open until we arrived; she even stood on the street and waved when she saw us. The food was worth our little detour. We started with an Urban Roll – a delicate Rice Paper roll stuffed with crisp lettuce, cucumbers, and shrimp and served with peanut sauce; an explosively delicious dining experience. We then shared our main courses, Ga Gai (a flavorful Pho with chopped chicken breast meat) and Pork Bowl (a rice bowl marriage of vegetables and marinated pork shoulder). Everything was fresh, a lovely experience.

I loved Cardamom, amazing food, but the new owners and name change have not done great things for this business. The menu still has some old favorites on it (seaweed salad, tofu balls, dumplings), but they are not made or served with the same love. Crispy rolls were still partially frozen, other dishes felt overpriced for what we got, and the quality has reduced significantly.