Rau Bistro - Calgary, Alberta

Walking in, I love the restaurant set-up, it felt open and modern. Lots of sunlight in the restaurant making it bright photogenic. The food was 9/10 for me. To me, it seems they took traditional Vietnamese food and add a little creativity to it. I had the Wrap & Roll #2. ... My favorite was the shrimp paste on sugar cane. I wouldn't recommended if you're unfamiliar with Vietnamese food, since you basically make your own roll. My partner had the R1 Com Tam and he said it was really good. It came with a small salad, which is different than the traditional way. We didn't like that the egg whites wasn't cooked all the way on the sunny side up. Our friend had the TN2 Mi Quang Ga, he said he liked it and the portion was good. I do think the service could improve a bit, like taking initiative to guide customers on how to eat the dish, or providing more information to help customers decide on their order. The dining experience was overall great. I would totally recommend! Read more

I had the Vietnamese 7 beef course many years ago from a different Vietnamese restaurant, we had a good memory of it and we suddenly had this crave for it again. We asked our Vietnamese friend and they recommended Rau. Had it not been the giant meat balls, I ... would give this a 5 star. The key was that they called it as the giant meat balls, they were pork. Unfortunately the pork had this gamey taste to it (aka pork smell) and it wasn't pleasant. If you have a dietary restriction, please be aware the 7 courses of beef was not exactly all beef at this place. Other than that, I was quite happy with this restaurant. I would return to try out the pho next time, the $65 7 courses of beef will definitely fill up two persons. Read more

This Vietnamese restaurant is great with food, service, turnaround time, and atmosphere. There is plenty of parking available in the lot and it is free. Delivery, dine in, or takeaway is also available. It used to be owned under a different management with a different name, and now ... it has changed into something else. All in all, it is still a great Vietnamese spot. Read more

Great Vietnamese spot that focuses on speciality dishes that are harder to find in a typical pho restaurant. For example, we had the Bun Bo Hue and Bun Rieu noodle soups with an order of Salt & Pepper Cuttlefish to start. The cuttlefish was very good - light crispy batter ... and soft meat paired with a kale and tomato salad with a vinegar dressing. The noodle soups were also very flavourful with high quality ingredients and presentation. The only knock for me food-wise was that the portions for the noodle soups were on the smaller side - lots of broth but less noodles and meat compared to other restaurants, especially given the higher price point. I’ll likely come back to try more dishes, but it might be better for lunch given the lighter portions. The space is well decorated and clean, and staff are friendly. Read more

Great tasting food, some of which you get to cook yourself. Service took a while but was somewhat expected given the amount of customers. However, our server seemed to forget our requests when we asked for extra utensils or water.