saigon restaurant

rediscovering an old favorite. we have dined periodically at saigon over the years, and always liked it. but the lure of newer and arguably flashier asian restaurants has gobbled up much of our dining attention recently. so, after about a year's absence we decided to return to this old vietnamese standby in bel air plaza.
shame on us for being away for so long!
first off, the place visually hasn't changed since our last visit. it remains a very pleasant dining room, with high back booths along the wall of windows, and tables and a small bar filling out the remainder of the room. the tv was muted, but had the food network on. whatever...
and the background music remains as odd and vaguely off-putting as ever. mellow pop and country. seriously? it's just wrong for this sort of restaurant.
but, they have a new menu. and it is chock full of absolutely wondrous delights!
the first clue that diners are in for a nice experience comes quickly: the ice water glasses come complete with a thin slice of cucumber. better than lemon. better than lime. it really jazzes up plain old h2o. only a few other omaha restaurants do this. every one ought to.
then there is the beer and cocktail menu. while i usually stick to hot tea while eating asian cooking, they have some excellent beers here, including one new to me...saigon. it is wonderfully full bodied, and is now my favorite asian beer!
the new menu is 4 full pages long, plus a 2 page special menu advertising new dishes. i must have spent 15 minutes debating with myself what to order. everything sounded soooo good, i wanted to order something from every section: the soups, the vermicelli bowls, the meals for two, meat items, the seafood dishes, and even the interesting vegetarian offerings. i ended up with the pork clay pot, and my husband chose the grilled pork vermicelli bowl with thinly sliced raw veggies. the pork clay pot was attractively served with the meat, sliced peppers, carrots and onions still sizzling in the pot. and the flavor of chargrilled pork permeated the vermicelli and raw veggies, creating a fascinating blend of barbeque aroma amidst the noodles and thinly sliced veggies. we loved every bite! each main course was large enough to take a portion home.
we had started with the alwaysgoodspring rolls, plus a new item, flaky pastries filled with pork in the center. yum!
and a word or three about the hot and sour soup: it is much lighter tasting than the chinese version i am so familiar with. and it has just a touch of sweetness. believe it or not, it was a perfect soup for a warm summer evening.
our service was excellent. water glasses were refilled seemingly every 5 minutes, and the wait staff checked back on us regularly. only when we asked for take out containers did we have to wait longer than expected. still, we were in and out in about an hour. that included my delay in deciding what to order.
and meal prices are really dirt cheap for such high quality food. there is no way i could ever cook these foods at home for a lower cost, and it would take me hours. in contrast, the beer and wine prices are more typical of most restaurants in the city.
if you enjoy asian cooking, you will take joy in saigon restaurant. it is absolutely one of metro omaha's finest asian dining options.
food: a
atmosphere: b+
service: a-
menu sophistication: a
value: a


-----23 oct, 2010-----

vietnamese done with style. saigon has been open for many years, and offers consistent quality food in an attractive atmosphere. the lunch menu is a bit streamlined as compared with other asian restaurants, but it offers a nice selection of soups, noodle dishes as well as veggie, shrimp and meat dishes served with steamed rice. i wish some of the appetizers could be ordered in individual sized portions. most come in shareable portions.
lunch entrees are all less than $10. expect to pay a bit more at dinner.

clean nice kept place.goodfresh food. had a grilled & sliced short rib the beef galbi. came with diakon kimchi small salad & rice grilled onion with the beef.

this place has been open since, well, before i would have been willing to try vietnamese food. now, this is on my short list of "let's go somewhere different for lunch" places.

the decor is like a cross between a diner and a chinese restaurant. clean and well lit, but nothing special. atmosphere isn't the reason to come here, or a reason to stay away.

the staff is polite and service is prompt. i would appreciate a little more help in the way of offering advice and suggestions, but it may be that i am the only person that needs the help.

appetizers here are good, and come in small portions that won't ruin your appetite. the pate so is a very interesting meat paistery that i love, and the spring rolls are just what you would expect.

the stir fry dishes are​ allgood- but the best i've ever had, but they aregoodenough to scratch the itch. the soups and stews, however, are the real reason i go to this place. the pho and the seafood soups are big, well prepared a always satisfying.

this isn't my favorite place in town, buy i've never had a bad meal here. in a competitive market like omaha, you can't stay open for not than 20 years withoutgooddid at reasonable prices. that is what you seek find here.

terrible service for long time customers. we had been long time customers of saigon restaurant, taking many friends and family there over the years. one evening i called to order for pickup and drove 25 minutes to pick it up. after driving the 25 minutes back home found the the rice papers for the pork roll dish were not there. i called and told them that they were missing and the meal could not be eaten without them but i was not driving back 25 minutes to get them. after much discussion i was told that the next time we were in we would receive a free meal. the next time we went and explained to our waitress about the free meal she went back to the kitchen and discussed this with the owner and came back out and said we would not be receiving a free meal. the owner (whom we had spoken to numerous times and felt we had agoodrelationship with) would not come out of the kitchen, only relaying through the server. after such disregard for long time customers over something that was clearly their mistake, we will not refer anyone to this restaurant also we have not and will not be back.

unbelievablygoodfood, amazing service, reasonable price!. i noticed that this restaurant had an excellent rating and decided to give it a try. the moment i walked in the door, i was immediately charmed by the cozy, out-of-the-way feel -- and the delicious scent of the meals being served.

while i waited, a waitress brought me over a cup of tasty lotus tea, and a man placed in front of me a cup of quite possibly the most delicious cup of soup i've ever had. i settled in for what i thought would be a long wait since i ordered three entrees and a couple of appetizers. but i hadn't even finished my soup when the food came out, less than ten minutes later--and that was only because one of the entrees i'd ordered was apparently more "time consuming" to make. they were very friendly and welcoming and unlike many times i might order takeout, where you feel awkward and out of place while you wait around for your meal, i actually enjoyed the experience. considering it had been one of the hardest weeks of my life, i appreciated their collective kindness and great attitude.

the drive to my destination was close to torture, so overwhelming were the delicious scents coming from the bag in my back seat. i drove a little faster than normal, risking a speeding ticket to get it to my boyfriend's house sooner so i could try it.

i barely got in the door before we both ripped into the bag and dove into the feast like two starving beasts. normally, we have more manners and decorum, but honestly, the food was so damn good, it should have a warning label. i had the bun bo nuong (vermicelli with roasted beef), which had the most flavorful and deliciously spiced beef along with a generous assortment of shredded lettuce, mint, cilantro and pickled vegetables. my counterpart had the vit quay chien gion sot (roast duck with sweet and sour sauce). our dinnertime conversation, which is usually philosophical and interesting, consisted of "mmm. oh god. so good." rinse and repeat.

"where did you find this place?" my boyfriend asked, the first complete sentence he'd uttered in nearly a half hour. "that's the best vietnamese food i've ever had."

was he ever thrilled when i reminded him that he still had some egg rolls and another entree waiting for him. but he was too stuffed to even consider it.

his two standard poodles sat dejected in the corner, pouting. you see, he usually gives them a taste of his meal. but not this time--he was not in the mood to share a bite. better luck next time, guys.

i don't know what my dreams consisted of last night, but i seem to remember dancing in fields of mint and cilantro. a happy tummy usually equals happy dreams.

you would think that a meal of such quality would cost you. but three entrees, two of which were seafood and duck, plus two appetizers cost a little over fifty bucks. pretty reasonable, i'd say.

my sage diner's advice for the day? you need to try this place.

bad service. i went so many times for the restaurant because ofgoodfood. but recently when i went with my family the food was notgoodas before and to my surprise for 3 people they charged 18% service tax. when i asked them they were very rude and saying we changed the policy charging 18% service tax. so how i didn't like the new people and the taste was notgoodas before. so be careful about the new service charge.

unexpected surprise. we were looking for a sit down oriental restaurant and happened to find this one listed close to where we were. it would have been worth the drive whether a mile or across town. the waiter, yujid (jerry) explained the menu, gave helpful advice and was very respectful of our lack of knowledge of vietnamese specific menu items. he made several suggestions- we had the seafood lo mien, sweet and sour pork and cashew chicken. we didn't go adventurous for food choices, but what we had was excellent.goodingredients, fresh vegetables and cooked to our liking. i would recommend this and will go back again. it was clean, friendly and was an actual sit down restaurant- not a buffet.

expect nothing. several of the reviews on here note how terrible the service is here. i went by myself last night, sat at the bar for some pho tai and a vietnamese coffee (no room for the egg rolls, unfortunately) and had a wonderful experience. i went in with no expectation ofgoodservice due to the mixed reviews and was very pleasantly surprised. the whole floor was staffed by one woman (aside from a man that came out to cashier at some points) and they had 5-6 tables occupied so she couldn't hang around waiting on me, but she was very friendly. she showed me how to make the coffee, and smiled at my barely-passable pronunciation. in addition, the pho tai was incredible. i think i let the beef cook a little too long in the broth, as some of the last pieces i ate were a little tough, but other than that it was a perfect experience. i look forward to coming back and trying the egg rolls, which i've heard a lot about from friends, and exploring the rest of their menu.

great food, worst service. on sunday, february 17th, we decided to try saigon for lunch because we'd heard suchgoodthings about this restaurant. the food was very good, indeed. that said, our waitress was unfriendly from the moment we sat down , beginning with her impatiently asking if we needed menus. that was the high point; her attitude went downhill rapidly from there. i felt lucky that she took our order. she never asked if we wanted anything to drink, never checked to see how things tasted, or if we wanted anything else as the meal wound down. she looked away every time i tried to get her attention to add another dish to the table or, finally, to get our check.
someone in an earlier review suggested that diners here should relax and go with the flow, but that's really a cop out. we typically tip in the 30% range and aren't especially demanding about anything. i do expect a menu, though, and i don't think it's too much to expect that a waiter or waitress might check back from time to time to see if things are going ok. getting back to the food, i would say that saigon is truly excellent. i'll order food to go in the future, but i doubt we will ever want to take a table there again.

best place in town. though portland is considered a "foodie" town, i am often hardpressed to find a place i feel comfortable going back to. i have worked in food service for more than a decade and am often baffled by the "its very annoying to have to wait on you and be even remotelygoodat my job" attitude of most portland servers. i was soooo pleased and relieved to go to a restaurant that not only serves a great product, but actually acts nice to you and even seems like they really really want you to come back. it worked for me at saigon. went two days in a row in fact and can't wait to return. been trying pho all around town and this place is definitely the best. keep it up folks!

the definition of bipolar. have you ever been in an on-again/off-again relationship? you tell yourself that thegoodoutweighs the bad. normally it doesn't. every once in awhile you hear about the crazy whirlwind love story that really touches you. turn that feeling into soup.
that is probably the best way i can describe saigon. every time i go in i forewarn myself that the service will disappoint me. but yet every time i visit this place i feel like i've been transported into a different world. i learn to accept that the service errors aren't so much errors as they are cultural differences. every time i go i begin with an iced coffee with milk. it arrives as a sort-of poor man's espresso maker. the strong coffee drips into a cup with sweetened condensed milk. stir, pour over ice, and enjoy! my next order is always an egg roll. saigon has a very thin, crisp layer to their egg roll exterior that is hard to beat. my main course is the pho tai. imagine the best beef noodle soup you've ever had. and then add cilantro, thai basil. hoisin, and freshly squeezed lime. i honestly don't believe that any beef noodle soup will ever win over the pho tai at saigon.

verygoodfood. wow , i wasn't expecting suchgoodfood and the prices were verygoodtoo. had not eaten some of the dishes in the past and the experience was delightful

great food, terrible service.. it is a reallygoodthing that the food is so awesome. if i judged this place on service alone, i would never go back. slow service, can hardly ever get a refill. but, the food is so good, i find myself going there once a month or so.

best by far. the saigon restaurant is by far the best vietnamese restaurant in all of indiana! i have experienced many dishes from the menu and all are quite delicious. the fresh spring rolls are a great appetizer, served with a peanut sauce. if your looking for ambiance, this is not the place, but if your looking for delicious cuisine at a modest price, saigon is the place! i've eaten vietnamese from manhattan to san diego and have found non closer togooddown home vietnamese! i have been a chef for some 30 years and a restaurateur. bonn appetite!

interesting indeed. i have never had vietnamese food before but i do eat japanese and chinese so i was excited to see what it was like. i ordered the goicon for an appetizer and garlic chicken with lo mein for my meal. the goicon was very different it is a pork and shrimp roll wrapped in rice paper. the rice paper had like a mint after taste i wasn't too fond of, it was just so unique i don't even know how to feel about it. the garlic chicken wasn't any different than a typical chinese garlic chicken meal, it was drenched in the sauce with mushroom, onions pea pods, water chestnuts and cauliflower. it was prettygood. my favorite part of the meal was the lo mein noodles verygoodflavor i thought. i friend ordered the spicy chicken lo mein and i woiuld like to say it wasgoodbut i don't i could taste much because when they say spicy they mean it. beware unless your a blazin wing at bdubs kind of person watch out for their spicy stuff.
all in all i would like to go back it was different but good.