saigon restaurant

this of one of my comfort food restaurants. love the pho and the other noodle soups. crab rangoons are the best in town. the egg rolls aregreattoo. we have always hadgreatservice when we went.

hidden gem. i never would have thought to eat her if a local wouldn't have dragged me here. everything is awesome. vietnamese coffee isgreat& best egg rolls you'll ever have. cash only. ask server for suggestions on menu. most likely the descriptions on the menu will be confusing ;)

genuine cuisine. i only went there once, but generally speaking the food is really close to the vietnamese cuisines that tourists would find in vietnam. it hasgreatgood, service, and amazingly low price. recommend to anyone who loves asian food, especially who likes rice, and noodles.

servers use same cloth cleaning tables with the same cloth with which the seats are wiped. menu pricing aren't updated. less meat was given in pho soup, less chicken in sweet and sour dish, and less of everything in ingredients but price has gone up.greatway to take customer's hard earned money and assuming customers aren't smart enough to know the difference. increased your price but lowered the ingredients, you shake down the cost onto the customers. but i was still going to the restaurant and ignored all that flaws. until they are starting to get every penny and cent out of random customers. i haven't paid much attention to my bills at saigon until over the weekend eating at saigon, i realized they automatically add hidden tips/fee to my final bill when tipping should be voluntary, not forced. we didn't have large parties, hidden tipping/fee were added to even single/two person diners. saigon will also add their desirable amount of tipping onto your bill without your knowledge or consent.and they are selective on which customer they does this to. this has become common occurrence to few of my friends who dine in here regularly. but this is the first time this has happened to myself. i have told restaurant worker about this, and told them customers should have the right to tip however much they see fit with the exception if it is a large group/party. their responses was you didn't give tip and our worker works hard. i think we all have worked hard for our money, so that's irrelevant response to why you could put down any tipping amount onto a customer's bill. and if the service wasn't good, why should a customer been forced to tip? she refused give me the print out receipt. only willing to give me back the tips that she took. i didn't want the tips back. i wanted the receipt. in the end she still wasn't willing to give me that print out receipt has a proof of her adding the tipping amount on and only willing to write on a piece of paper of what i ordered.
not going to come back. i've been eating here for years, and sad to say, saigon it's not the same as it once were.

bad service!. bad service +greatfood = still a bad experience.

to their credit, we did not wait long to get seated as dinner rush had not started yet, but the entire place had only two waiters. our waitress seemed rushed and we did not get our drinks until our food came in, but our appetizer was nowhere to be seen. 40 min later a different waiter came to check on us - our waitress was gone. not sure if her shift ended.
we told the new waiter that we still wanted to try our appetizer - 20 min later nothing in sight. apparently the guy was the only waiter in the whole place and it was saturday night with large birthday groups on the tables and all of the booths full.
we had to ask to pay at the cashier on our own.
to their credit, the food was great, the atmosphere was nice, it was clean, the selection was good, the menus were nice, and the china was the fancy kind.
i might give it a chance, but i will think before going back.

delicious food and attentive caring owners.. being from california and eating vietnamese food and pho several times a week, i was not getting my hopes up for findinggreatpho in maine. what a nice surprise and agreatfind! delicious and expertly prepared pho, fresh meats, veggies and and perfect broth. their homemade "spicy" satay sauce (a sauce you can choose to dip into or add to your food for spice and flavor) was the best i've ever had and of high quality. delicious vietnamese style chicken wings are hard to find anywhere but saigon restaurant has "chicken wings in garlic and tamarind" (a fruit type spice from a tree). hard to describe, but a dark sweet and slight sour sauce and garlic over a fried wing. they were very unique and tasty. the owner is in the store and cares that your dining experience is agreatone.

not thatgreatof a service. the pho is way over priced for the portion that you get. they gave me only beef with the pho,when i ordered the combo of meat. i wouldn't come back again.

whenever i'm in town, i stop.... i live in boston, but whenever i'm in town visiting, i stop by saigon for their pho ga, (chicken soup). what makes this pho special is the spicy mixture that accompanies it... it adds complex flavor and compliments the soup well! the staff is very friendly and accommodating and unlike most places that just serve you, the staff here takes time to talk and get to know you.greatjob, saigon! :)

this place is excellent and hasgreatfood with outstanding quality. they also havegreatcustomer service. i would recommend saigon to everyone.

unbelievably good food, 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 andgreatattitude.

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.

still the best!. three years since my first review, numerous other places tried from new england to the dc area and hawaii and still hands down saigon serves my favorite bowl of pho. somehow, even though i already loved this place, my last trip and bowl of pho was the best yet! just that much clearer and flavorful. everything else isgreattoo, my other favorite thing is the chicken or beef on a stick served with salt and pepper in lemon or lime juice. and their bahn mi is a perfect takeout item. either saigon needs a second place further up the coast or we might have to move closer.


-----04 may, 2010-----

best pho yet!!. wow, the broth is perfect. we stopped here after a trip to hawaii where pho is sold on every corner and i can say that saigon in maine is on par with the best i tried in hi! the staff weregreatand wanted to help us prepare our dishes the way they would. a slight language barrier was easily overcome and their recommendations were right on. the large pho for $6.50 was a meal. now if they only gave us some red thai chiles for the pho? my new favorite restaurant, too bad it's so far from where we live.

saigon has it all - amazing food,greatservice and fabulous prices. i just wrote a vivid 2 paragraph description of all the ways i love saigon, and accidentally deleted it. without time to rewrite the whole thing, i have to give this place at least a few nods.
the ambiance is quaint and cozy, the staff are super attentive and helpful, the food is absolutely amazing and they do all their best to provide agreatdining experience.
i've had the pho many times (without a doubt, best in portland), as well as vermicelli dishes and they are always amazing, hot, plentiful and affordable. sauces are always perfect.
the deal sealer for me was when this past winter, like every american around, i was brought to my knees with a horrible cold/flu. the only thing i craved was their pho broth. the owners/manager worked with me to prepare/price a special order where a few times a week i would order 2 lg containers of their broth and i sipped this throughout the days. it was stellar - spicy, sweet, not too salty, flavorful... just incredible. they are so kind, take care of their customers and really make sure all details are covered. go here and enjoy!!

goooddddd fooooddddd!!. i love their food.greateggrolls, tea, i love the pork with rice dish and my husband loves their soup! it is a total hole in the wall, but that is also part of what makes it interesting. there are people from everywhere there and it is truly a cultural experience.

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 remotely good at my job" attitude of most portland servers. i was soooo pleased and relieved to go to a restaurant that not only serves agreatproduct, 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!

i'll join the other posters and sing the praises of this restaurant. we too were served complimentary cups of the crab soup. we shared one of the spring rolls which, for $3.50, has to be one of the best bargains in portland. the peanut sauce wasgreatand not spicy, which is very important for me, but hot sauce was on the table for anyone with the tolerance. speaking of heat, my wife ordered the pad thai and they offered her a heat option between 1 and 5. when she said 4, the waitress asked twice to make sure. my wife loved it. i had vermicelli with beef and shrimp; also wonderful. all together, plus a small carafe of sake came to only $29. what a gem! oh yeah, they don't use any msg either.