A few people mentioned Gold Train Express II was a decent pho restaurant in Kits. It’s not. This restaurant is confusing. Is it a Quizno’s? A baby store? A money exchange? An English pub? “Hot Taste of Vietnamese Food” is their main signage, but a smaller sidewalk sign reads “Pho Gold Train Express”. What’s the actual name of this restaurant? The walls are painted baby pink and the ceiling is a lovely shade of baby blue. It looks like it used to be a children’s store with plaques that read “prince” and “princess”. But there’s also a Quizno’s subs sign still hanging up, and a currency exchange sign in neon lights. Lanterns and knickknacks make it look like it was previously a pub. Very strange. I think we were on an episode of “Hoarders”, restaurant edition.
French Coffee with Condensed Milk and Ice ($2.70) – Our Vietnamese iced-coffee was served to us with the coffee already dripped through the metal filter. But I don’t think it was actually brewed through this filter, the coffee tasted exactly like instant Nescafe!
Rare Steak Rice Noodle In Soup (small $5.50) – Where do I begin…this was the worst pho I’ve ever had. The beef in this soup had a very strong gamey taste; it didn’t taste like beef at all. Really unpleasant flavour.
Grilled Lemongrass Beef & Spring Roll with Vermicelli ($7.50) – Gary’s vermicelli plate didn’t appear as though it was made fresh to order – it wasn’t hot at all. The beef was room temperature, as was the spring roll. Do they just keep their food out all day unrefrigerated? Or was it just sitting around too long before it was served? So many questions…
Overall, Gold Train Express’ service was friendly, prices were cheap, but food was very unpalatable.
