saigon cafe

a lancaster favorite!. i have been eating at saigon cafe for several years, and it has yet to disappoint. not only is it hands down the best of the four vietnamese restaurants in lancaster county, but is also among my very favorite local restaurants. having chatted with the owners on a couple of occasions, this small family owned establishment prides itself on its fresh and authentic vietnamese cooking, from the homemade soup bases to shrimp/pork wantons made to order. i have tried many of their dishes over the years, but my favorites are the large wanton soup which comes with roast pork and baby bok choy, the spring rolls with peanut dipping sauce, the jellyfish salad with rice crackers (unusual, yes, but worth trying if you're adventurous), and the lemongrass stir fry special in the front of the menu. you also can't go wrong with the traditional pho, of which there are several varieties. the only downside of the place is sometimes the service is a little inattentive -- usually one server is working at any time, so that is likely the cause. regardless -- saigon cafe is one well recommended. i posted a couple of photos from my lunch this afternoon.

this place is great. fresh, inexpensive and healthy! never had a bad meal here

i've eaten here several times and always enjoy the food. it's best to know what you want going in the door because you're not going to get much of an explanation from the waitress and what you do hear will be very hard to understand if you only speak english. that said i still like going here to eat.

hands down one of the best asian places in lancaster. the food is super fresh and super authentic, i've tried tons of menu items and literally never had a dish that was anything less than amazing. the pho is rich and really flavorful, but i think the best menu item is the rice vermicelli with meatballs pork and shrimp. the dish itself is delicious, but wrapping your own rolls is fun and part of what makes it great. the staff is very friendly and welcoming, but can be a bit slow on busier evenings. it's definitely worth it though! the

not the best. people are rude and the place is filthy.

you have to be vietnamese to get good service. they have worst customer service. be aware you will be treated as lower priority customer if you are not vietnamese.
i came in with my husband 20 minutes prior to these 2 groups of vietnamese people arrived. ( i know they are vietnamese since they were talking in their language with waiters) and we were ignored until they took other groups order.
i understand the store was pretty busy, however i don't deserve to be treated like that.
i will not be coming back their again.

omg i love this place!!. i can't get the food at this place off my mind. it is so fantastic, i just crave it!! the spring rolls and the peanut dipping sauce are the best. the pho is excellent, and the vermicelli bowls (bun) are out of this world. i was especially surprised at how wonderful the "hoanh thanh" (wonton) soup is. huge and flavorful dumplilngs as well as pork. the best. my compliments to the chef, saigon cafe! i can't wait to go again!!

super food, super staff!. i've been ordering carry-out weekly from here for about 3 years now and have yet to grow tired of their delicious food. the family that owns this restaurant is so friendly and nice. as long as they're not insanely busy, they make conversation with me and ask me about my husband/son, which is sweet. they also give me oranges, cookies and random treats for my son from time to time. they even recognize me over the phone whenever i place my order too, even though my order changes from time to time. our fave menu items are: spring rolls (#2), egg rolls (#3), fried chicken (#5), large pho (#48), large wonton soup (#7), spicy lemongrass chicken (#s-2), and the chicken and broken rice (#69). oh, and yes, the avocado milkshake is refreshingly delicious. check these guys out for sure.

great food, great prices!! just a good come as you are kind of place. i love little hole in the wall places like this.

really good food, but slow service. i have gone to rice and noodles, this place's competition, several times. i was curious to try it since it got somewhat good reviews, and people said it's better than rice and noodles. for one thing, parking is so much easier since it's part of a little shopping center of sorts. we were seated right away and were approached by our waitress within 2 minutes, which is much quicker than rice and noodles. after a few minutes, my boyfriend and i were ready to order. i had seen several reviews stating that the avacado milkshakes are really good, so i ordered that to drink and the spring rolls to start. the one thing about sai gon is that they only have one type of spring roll--shrimp and pork inside. i'm not really a big shrimp person unless it's fried, but i thought i'd give it a try. for my entree i had the lemon grass stir fry, medium spicyness, with beef. my boyfriend got stirfried noodles with beef. the waitress brought out 2 waters for us right away, but didn't bring out my milkshake. i figured that she had to make it. 10 minutes passed and still no milkshake. other tables who ordered it got thiers, so i figured since they came in first, she would obviously make mine afterwards, and it would probably come out with my food. our food comes out shortly after that thought. still no milkshake though. the waitress leaves before i can say anything. we start eating and my meal is delicious!!! the beef is so tender and the sauce is zesty and flavorful-so good! i didn't really care for the spring roll though, rice and noodles has them beat by a long shot in that category. we eat for another 10 minutes and another woman walks by, i'm assuming the manager by the way she talks, and i ask her for my milkshake. she nods enthusiastically, but then ends up getting busy with other tables asking her for stuff. our waitress is the only one bringing out food so she's too busy. after i've been done with my meal for 5 minutes, my milkshake comes out. now, i was a little disappointed with the waiting, but may i say that it was so worth it. that milkshake was so light and sweet! i would come here and suffer through slow service just for that milkshake! it seems like every vietnemese place i have eaten at has slow service. i think they are just understaffed. either way, the food here is much more flavorful than rice and noodles, with a much better atmophere. however, they are also a bit more expensive. the food is really, really, good though. i was disappointed that the service was so slow, because i would have liked to have taken my leftovers home. i give this place a 4 because the food is so good, it's worth the slow service. if they hired one more waitress i think it would have been perfect.

delicious, authentic, best in lancaster!. though the decor is not very special, the pho here is fabulous! i've had pho at tons of different places in lancaster and outside of lancaster as well and this is definitely one of my favorites. the soup is flavorful and the portions are huge. definitely more authentic and more flavorful than rice and noodles. try the avocado milkshake too...sounds odd maybe but i swear its delicious!

great vietnamese. although the pho is great, my favorite is a tossup between the s4 special (tofu) and s2 (chicken). the ever-changing flavor combination during the meal makes it exciting to the taste-buds. the coconut drink is also excellent.

the staff are courteous and helpful in choosing menu items. my wife and i eat there often, and bring friends and family. we have never been disappointed with anything.

i could write about saigon every week, the food is that good. however, due to the prep needed to make the dish mi quàng, it only & rarely shows up as a special. tumeric seasoned egg noodles, chicken, beef, vegetables, crushed peanuts, shrimp and rice crisps in a signature stock makes it one of the best. no matter what your regular favourite is, if this is on the board, order it. you won't be disapointed, you will be hooked.


-----15 jul, 2009-----

this is the best food in lancaster. more flavor per dollar spent. a visual and olfactory delight. it could be twice the price and still be a good value. this food makes you smile.

great place. i love this place! i got my friends addicted to this place too, so we go there almost every week. i usually order the grilled pork with fried eggs and rice. i tried almost everything but my favorite is the avocado shake :-)

great food. great presentation. we had a great meal for two for less than $30. excellent stir fry and beef pho. we'd also recommend the summer rolls and egg rolls. service was great.