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, theplacevisually 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 always good spring 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.

authentic and delicious!. my husband and i have been coming here for years, and i have to say it's the best vietnamese food in town! the price is amazing, too! don't be scared off by the location either... not all business opened when sw fw was being developed so you get what you get! i also have to mention how amazing the two waitresses are that work there. they been there for years (i feel bad because i don't know their names... but it's a little too late to ask at this point) they work so quickly and efficiently even though theplaceis always packed. they both know our typical order now and even go out of their way to brew our tea just the way we like it! you must try this place.. and get the "noodle #5" and egg rolls!

the real deal. thisplaceis good- 'nuff said.

thisplacehas 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​ all good - but the best i've ever had, but they are good enough 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 favoriteplacein 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 without good did at reasonable prices. that is what you seek find here.

bad service!. bad service + great food = still a bad experience.

to their credit, we did not wait long to get seated as dinner rush had not started yet, but the entireplacehad 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 wholeplaceand 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.

excellent quality, service mediocre. they put their phone in the loudest part of the restaurant, so its hard toplacean order via telephone. otherwise very prompt delivery and high quality, clean food. vegan friendly

best pho anywhere. i keep trying pho from other places and it doesn't even compare. the service is very quick as well.i recommend thisplaceto everyone.

thisplaceis excellent and has great food with outstanding quality. they also have great customer 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 ofplacewhile 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.

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 is great too, 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 secondplacefurther 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 were great and 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, great service 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 thisplaceat 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 a great dining 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!!

great littleplace- always seems busy at lunch!. we eat here as much as we can. love the beef or shrimp fresh noodle soup! also love their fresh spring rolls! we have dined in and gotten carry out and food quality is the same either way! wouldn't hesitate taking friends here for a meal!

saigon. the food is amazing. the service is slow, so probably not theplaceto go if you only have an hour for lunch. they only take cash.

bestplacein town. though portland is considered a "foodie" town, i am often hardpressed to find aplacei 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 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 thisplaceis definitely the best. keep it up folks!

wonderful place!. great place! reason i am writing the review is how impressed we were with how they took the time to help us properly enjoy the main dish. this was our first time in a vietnamese restaurant so our background was basic at best. often we choose things on the menu that we are familiar with and wont deviate for fear of the unknown, thisplaceis theplaceto give something different a try. they showed us how to blend the extra ingredients such as a little ginger and pepper spice to give it just the right flavor and just the right kick. so many places will serve and come back at the end but they were so friendly even though it was one busy place.  place was very clean with silverware that was better than home, price was not bad at all hence a nice tip was very easy to figure in.
thisplacemade trying new cuisine a fun delicious experience. looking for a newplaceto try? this is a must to put on the list :)