Saigon Cafe

This place is so confusing, after my love-​fest and enthusiasm for them in the begginning, in these past few weeks it’s starting to wane. This place is now hardly ever open. They’re not open during the hours listed and after calling them for a while, in the past month they have not even answered their phone. Are they still in business? No clue. Do they still deliver? No idea. Are they ever opening again? Anyone’s guess.
Bad business practice since the food is delicious. But I guess that doesn’t really matter anymore, since no one is able to even eat the food.

This restaurant was an overall disappointment. The interior is really crappy and is tiny (it only had 3 tables for seating).
The food was also very bad. I got the $ 10 lunch special with includes an appetizer (not normal size) a menu item, and a drink. For appetizers I ordered the spring roll which was pork and chicken inside. It was decent but the chicken and pork inside tasted like over processed meat. A normal appetizer of spring rolls is 4 rolls and this included 2 rolls which I was fine with since I didn’t like it anyways. I ordered the beef brisket phở for the menu item and it is the worst phở I have had so far. It was extremely salty and the beef brisket tasted old. Also, there was way too much onions and basically nothing else in this phở.
I also ordered a taro bubble tea and I’m surprised they could have possibly messed this up so bad. The tapioca pearls were hard and not cooked properly so I returned it and asked them to make me another one. My second drink did not come until it was time for me pay the bill so I took it to go. This time the drink had basically no tapioca pearls. There was probably 10 small pearls in there at most, 5 of which were still hard and not the chewy texture it should be. Also, the drink was extremely watery and I don’t understand why they cheaped out on the milk. The tea was practically purple sugar water. It was so bad I threw it out.
Would not recommend this place for phở or bubble tea.

The food is disgusting here…
1) If you’re going to market your place as a Viet place, have Viet food with all the ingredients… Phở doesn’t have just 2 types of meat… Get the brisket and tripe and fat… Also, the broth should have been cooked with bone marrow that’s been stewing for a day, not chicken stock with massive amounts of fish sauce… If not, don’t F*ck up the name and call it phở…
2) spring rolls are goi cuon… They’re fresh, hence the word spring…
3) summer rolls are like Chinese egg rolls and are fried, therefore SUMMER rolls… How hard is it to get that concept? Why are you perverting our food and our names for our food?
Spring — fresh rolls
Summer — fried rolls
Easy right? Please stop insulting our culture with those names…
Oh and the Viet videos that plays in the background that constantly lags isn’t good for business either.
Avoid this place and travel to Flushing… I’m appalled and disgusted, no wonder you had to change management…
Update: Lol are you even Vietnamese? Your food is disgusting plain and simple and insulting Viet culture from someone who is Vietnamese is hilarious, you will go out of business again if you can’t even get the names of rolls right… Spring rolls are fresh in San Francisco, LA and Viet nam… Educate yourself in Viet food and stop insulting Viet culture if you even want customers… Laughable business!

I stopped by for a weekend brunch meal with the wife. We both ended up ordering phở. I got the house special and she ordered the spicy version. The flavors of the soup was great but the portions were pretty small considering the $ 9 price tag. The spicy soup was great and did not require any extra seasoning or sauces. I will have to admit, the MSG level felt pretty high in my opinion.
We also ordered viet ice coffees which was good and an order of bahn mi to go. We ended up eating the sandwich hours later and I was disappointed by the italian bread they used. The quality of french bread IMO makes a HUGE difference in bahn mi’s…
Overall, I’m still happy to find an authentic viet restaurant in Astoria, meaning they have phở, rice, vermicelli, drinks, sandwiches). Not sure if I’ll have the phở again, unless I’m feeling too lazy to travel farther. I will be back for the other menu items though.

Just moved to Astoria and was worried there would be no vietnamese places to get my phở fix. Thank god for Saigon Café. I ordered take out last night from here. Got the saigon phở and the pork banh mi, with an order of spring rolls to start.
The phở broth was amazing, complex flavors and not just salty. The noodles was great, not a soggy mess. The pork banh mi was good. Not as good as Xe May in the east village, but it does trick.
Def coming back!

The phở is excellent very large bowl with lots of meat and vegetables deffinetly not lacking any flavor I came into this place a few days ago on a warm day the hot bowl of phở made me wish I was eating It on a cold winter day its a small restaurant with about 10 seats a little TV playing Vietnamese tv but don’t let the aesthetics fool you this is an authentic Vietnamese you can’t find another place like this in Astoria

I went for the $ 10 deal (appetizer, sandwich, soda) and overall found it disappointing. The Summer Roll had a nice texture, but the flavor was completely dependent on the hoisin sauce it came with. The bread for the Fish Sandwich was a bit harder than expected (a bit stale, perhaps?), while the fish itself tasted a bit like canned tuna. Once again, the flavor depended heavily on the sauce it came with.
I was about to call the place a complete (i.e., two-​star) bust, but we ordered seconds that turned out to be immensely better than what I ordered. The spring roll kicks the Summer Roll’s butt anyday of the week. The Phở Saigon was better than the Fish Sandwich, but the soup leaned a bit too much on the sweet side — I didn’t care much for the cinnamon-​like spice in it. I also had a bit of the pork from the Saigon House Special Platter; the flavor was a bit unnecessarily strong, but I imagine if that’s what they use with the sandwiches it would’ve made a much better filling than the pork.
Service was exactly between that of a sit-​down restaurant and a place with just counter service. (They dropped the ball first with telling us to get the soda ourselves, and then initially giving us napkins after the apps arrived.) The cleanliness was fine with the exception of two very aggressive flies going about.
I’m giving this place the benefit of the doubt and three stars for now, but if I come back and am disappointed with yet another meal I’m downgrading my rating to two.

My brother likes to order the sandwiches here and brought me a yummy noodle dish and avocado smoothie for lunch. They were both delicious!
I didn’t give 4 stars because I have never been there so I can’t comment on in house service/​décor/​cleanliness.

This was a comforting bowl of phở. I ordered it for delivery and was happily impressed by the bounty of herbs, vegetables, noodles, and good quality beef that was packed into my bowl. The one complaint that I had about the phở was that it seemed a bit oily. However, I attribute that to the fact that I got it delivered and didn’t have it fresh in the restaurant. Heard about this g to grouch Unilocal

Seating is upgraded to booths. Menu has expanded, seafood soup is one of my new favorites for a meal along with summer rolls and a good large sandwich. This is still a tiny local mom ‘n’ pop type neighborhood joint, (really is a café, not a full restaurant) expect no tablecloths but the food is very tasty and very affordable. If you are in the area, try it. A number of Vietnamese restaurants in NYC are Chinese or Korean owned, but this one isn’t, actual Vietnamese people are cooking here, if that matters. The obsession about authenticity in regards to eating in NYC always struck me as an odd thing to complain about.
Tips for ordering delivery: if the menu has item #s, use them. Makes everything faster for you and everyone else. Ordering soup? Heat up the broth until hot and add it into the noodles – this will finish the thin rice noodles and if you have beef phở, this will make it less rare. They probably don’t deliver it all combined together because it will be mushy and overcooked when you get it. This is how food works. You’re welcome. Sincerely, Your Local Asian-​American

I usually don’t expect much from phở in NYC, but this was one of the worst I’ve ever had. I ordered online, and unlike some other reviews they actually were right on time with the food hot. However, the flavor of the soup (to me, the most important part of phở) was cloyingly sweet with hardly any of the other spice flavors that usually give it dimension. The meat was ok — half the beef was very tender, but half was slightly chewy. They provided a good amount of jalapeño, basil and bean sprouts but I did not like that they put on hoisin sauce ahead of time (usually on the side) and did not include fresh lime. Maybe it tastes better in the restaurant somehow, but I would be very skeptical about trying again.

Update: they now use better, deeper bowls and the noodles are never broken or mushy anymore, plus the menu has expanded and they’ve upgraded the interior a bit, all while keeping the excellent food quality and low prices, so I’m changing my review to 5 stars.
It is still not a destination restaurant but it is very valuable to have for people who live or work nearby. If you go out of your way to eat here on my recommendation you will be mad at me because they don’t have anything here that you couldn’t get just as easily in other areas of the city. A great choice if you are in the area.
Some of the new menu items I’ve tried:
* Seafood soup: same basic soup as the beef noodle soup, but with shrimp, fish cake, and calamari instead of beef. Costs more than the other soups but is worth it if you like seafood. They are very generous with the shrimp in the soup, which are tender and plump.
* Lobster soup: Seafood soup with the addition of some big chunks of lobster tail. For the extra $ 1 you get a lot of lobster in the soup, but I think I prefer the texture of the shrimp more (maybe I’m just being a New England lobster snob, though).
* Fresh Summer Rolls: This is shrimp and salad vegetables wrapped in a soft, translucent rice wrapper. If a salad and a burrito had children, this would be the result. The version on offer here is pretty standard. Nothing extraordinary but a good and reliable version and I like it.
Really glad to have this place in my neighborhood because there aren’t many places in this area which emphasize clean, fresh flavors; and this is the only Vietnamese option in town. They do good, reliable, renditions of the classics at a good price.

We were looking for vietnamese food in Astoria and stumbled upon this place. We ordered the Rice Noodle Fresh Eye Of Round and Rice Noodle Beef Ball. It’s a very small restaurant, in a mixed use building. The restaurant is on the bottom floor with apartments on top.
When we first walked in, nobody greeted us, probably because they didn’t hear us walk in. Kind of strange seeing that the place was really small. In any case, we were the only customers that ate in. Most people just order to go or delivery.
Overall, the food was just okay. They added black pepper to the dish which was a little weird for me as restaurants in CA do not do so. They also added chili peppers. It’s different, just didn’t work for me. The broth itself was okay. It lacked depth of flavor. It felt «watered» down. The meat wasn’t bad, it was tender, just used a different cut of meat than what I’m used to.
I can’t exactly recommend this place but I’m willing to try it again. Next time I want to try one of their sandwiches. Hopefully it’ll be more positive.

Saigon has my vote for the best Vietnamese food in Queens. hands down.
My boyfriend and I eat here at least once a week and are never disappointed. Highly recommend the Summer rolls and beef phở!

I was in the area and wanted to check this place out. I wanted some Phở and when I started to order, the lady Min asked if I was also Vietnamese. She said she could tell by my accent on the word ‘Phở’. She was so enthusiastic and nice about making me a Phở with ‘everything’ I just let her do her magic because I couldn’t decide which topping I wanted. $ 10 for a large bowl.
What I got was a very clean and clear slow simmered broth that has some aromatics and a sweet beefy meat flavor to it. Very nicely done and not oily or any off flavors at all. The well cooked noodles were brimming with brisket, beef balls, and rare eye of round beef slices. It was topped with some cilantro, chilis, onion, and bean sprouts. On the side were more fresh bean sprouts, a sprig of Thai basil, green chili slices, a wedge of lime, and extra cilantro. Pretty authentic. I am missing the tripe and tendon but I’ll take it especially for Astoria.
I also got a very classic Vietnamese Iced Coffee $ 3 that is the dark French roast, lightly sweetened, with cream; quite tasty as well.
What an awesome addition to the neighborhood. Phở is my comfort food so it’s nice to have a nice little place like this in the area. I’ll definitely be a regular here.

Bahn mi sandwich is on point. Very authentic. Cute little café tucked around the corner of 41^st and 28^th ave. Best Vietnamese coffee. Min is the sweetest lady ever ~ very accommodating! Support your local business !!

First off I am all about supporting local business and I love hole in the wall places to eat.
This is a small little café, I did not expect much going in with all the mix reviews.
We had ordered a beef phở and a grilled pork vermicelli because they were out of rice at 2pm.
The phở is not your authentic Vietnamese phở and the grilled pork was very dry.
We kept heading the microwave go off, I am assuming that is how the food is being prepared, with the microwave.
The lady however is super sweet and I hate to write such a bad review but the food does have to change.
We will not come back even if we are in the neighborhood not order to go. I am so sad to see a Vietnamese place be such a disappointment in the area.

It’s so hard to find good Vietnamese food in NY. I found this place on Seamless when I was really craving it and decided to give it a try. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t really good either.
I ordered the grilled sliced pork chops. It was served with rice and a small salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots. The portion was very large. Pork chops were cooked well and the sauce it came with really made the dish. I loved the rice that it came with because it tasted almost lightly seasoned. It was also a little stickier than your average jasmine rice. Almost like a hybrid of jasmine rice and sticky rice together. It had a great chew to it.
I also had an order of the Vietnamese egg rolls. They were just ok. You can tell the oil they fried it in was old because they were not as crispy from soaking in all the oil. And also from the brown residue.
Would give it another try.

Well… on the bright side, Astoria’s long cry for Vietnamese food has finally been heard.
Now, on the dark side, it’s not the best I’ve had.
Walking down to 41^st & 28^th Ave. was a bit of a stretch for me, and make sure you have the address with you because it is tucked away, in a peculiar building on a quiet block that you’d have to walk down, in order to find it. So, maybe I was expecting something big, like a phở place in Chinatown, or even a small banh mi shop like Joju, but this place is small – like Manhattan pop-​up juice bar-​small.
The inside was very.odd. You’d have to look around for the one menu paper by the door. Maybe they’re not done with renovations, but I found this to be a little disorganized. I came here craving banh mi, and I was very surprised to see how small the menu was, especially for the sandwiches – only 3 options. I got the Saigon Sandwich without the bacon and I asked her to substitute more pork instead. It took about 15 minutes – which was a really long time – and I heard the microwave door being opened and shut so many times, I was already turned off.
The sandwich was definitely not what I expected. The inside was very nominal and there was less pork that I expected… almost like the same amount I can imagine, with bacon. There was a mix of red peppers, onions, and other spices – it felt like a Mexican dish in a sandwich. For $ 5, I didn’t feel like it was worth the money and doesn’t amount to the sizes and quality you can get elsewhere for less and better. Then again, they have no competition in the area. I might come back and try the phở someday, but slight chance.

So I’m torn between ranting and raving about this newbie local gem or telling you it’s simply meh. If I tell you how good it really is then there will be lines around the block and I’ll need to wait for my order. But if I don’t tell you that Saigon Café is as great as it is then it may close. I’m torn but I’ll opt for good karma.
OK folks this place is unbef****lievable!!! It’s the absolutely the best Vietnamese Phở and banh mi sandwiches east of the Mississippi and north of Philly, with the phở being better than the sandwiches. My GF ordered the beef phở and I ordered the spicy beef phở; the spicy phở was better.
It’s an Internet café too! So in a nutshell, this place rocks. Don’t take my word for it visit SC and send my regards to Min.
QUICK UPDATE AND COMMENT TO MY FELLOW UnilocalERS ABOUT PRICE: Some say that SC may be too pricey but you must experience it. SC does value proposition is not tons of crappy food for a very low price. They don’t serve «wondermeat.» So if you are the belief that a place is good because they give you two tons of crap for $ 1, please look elsewhere for that «value» proposition. I’ve never had neat that was so good in quality at a phở joint. I reicently had a pork chop with rice dish that Mihn uses very expensive soy sauce to marinate the pork chop. SC may look like a typical, cheap, phở place but it is a high-​quality restaurant in disguise. Oh and by-​the-​way, the $ 10 phở is pretty large. The small size will even fill-​up a bottomless pit like yours truly.