Pho Saigon Garden

Food was good, but service was very poor. We tried to get our order taken, but the man barely spoke, or understood English. He came back with the order, and we tried to explain he had not ordered correctly. He nodded yes, and then went away and never came back. When I looked over towards the front door, one of the lady’s working there was brushing a woman’s hair in the restaurant at a table, like it was a hair salon. They both worked there! Ugghhh

I came to this place after reading the good Unilocal reviews. Arrived at 11:30 to an empty restaurant. I interrupted the man who was in charge of taking orders. It seemed like my presence interrupted his phone conversation. After handing me the menu, he went back to talking at a side room. Maybe he was on a break, but as a paying guest, I would prefer not to be in on the employees personal call. After putting in my order, he walked into the kitchen and yelled out my order followed by profanity. I ordered grilled pork vermicelli and egg rolls. I wasn’t impressed. The cut of pork was wrong for the dish and dry. This place wasn’t anything special and the server was outright unprofessional. By the time I asked for my bill, there were maybe 4 parties including myself. When the server rang up my bill, instead of bringing it to the table, he called out my total from the register. I had to get up from my table, 5 tables away to pay. There was no sign that said payment was to be made upfront. Sucky service coupled with sucky food. To that, I will not be coming back. This place has an average of 4 stars, seriously?

Terrible customer service! They even charged more than the price indicated smh and to make it worse, the lady argued with me about whether or not I ordered a meat soup when I don’t eat meat! Like why force me to accept a meat dish that I didn’t order and I cannot eat! Terrible place

Huey was awesome !! I eat phở all the time all over the Bay Area honestly the best phở I’ve ever had! Nice portions even better service. Fresh and delicious. I will be back !!

This is by far the best phở place in this area. The presentation is different from most phở joints! Which I really like, they don’t leave the utensils on the tables! Which is really smart and sanitary because most phở joints have the little organizers with spoons, forks and chop sticks. If you think about how many people touch those and put them back (gross)!
The food was great! The noodles were perfect not too hard and not too soft. The broth was a 9.5 out of 10. The Thai iced tea was great (they have boba)
I think what made this place stand out was the cleanliness but also how good the food was. It’s rare to find a clean phở place that also has good food and service. Next time I will try the spring rolls and a rice bowl for sure! Also the steak in the soup was great and tender.
UPDATE: tried this place for the second time and the fresh spring rolls were great! I work right down the street so the this is for sure my go-​to spot.

Another great meal at PSG, but this time it was take out. The fiancé caught something last night and she’s been laid out sick since. I had to hit 99 Ranch for some Asian groceries (my Vermont curry was a smashing hit with my little sickie tonight), so instead of cooking lunch, I hit PSG to pick up some phở ga (chicken) and my favorite bun bo hue.
Nothing new what I’ve written in the past: PSG is pretty damn good. The staff are really professional as well. The convenience and next door proximity is a huge bonus.

BOMB! I’ve been to many different Phở spots and this right here??? Lol sooo good! Broth is so flavorful. Whoooo! I’m glad today I decided to switch it up! I can’t even take a pic why? It’s ALLL in my tummy!

Short Story: It’s an awesome place for phở! Not expensive and a good portion.
Long story: I’ve been coming here for the past few years and it’s been a good experience. I’ve always gotten a phở with broth and it’s been good. The service can be quite lacking at times, especially if you need water or something. But if you just want some quality phở without service, then this is your place!
Verdict: I’m coming back for the phở.

The phở here is phenomenal! I’m a vegetarian so I stick to the plain Vegetable Phở, but my boyfriend says the Beef Phở is the best he’s ever had. Not to mention… the owner is extremely likable, attentive, and fun to talk to!!! He even gave me a free sample of the vegetable egg roll to try when I talked about ordering it next visit!
Overall, I give this restaurant ⁵⁄₅. Great service, food, and clean environment. Gotta try this place.

Found this place via Unilocal (Is that referential, or meta? I can never tell.) and it did not disappoint. Sat down, ordered the No. 1, and it was in front of me 3 minutes later. A perfectly balanced beef broth that you could see to the bottom of, melt-​in-​your-​mouth flank, springy beef balls, and perfectly cooked noodles. A fantastic almost Thai coffee slushie, and all in with tip and tax for 15 bucks. The owner Huey sat and talked to me for a bit after, great guy. 5 stars all day!

3^rd time this month.
Always great service and food is delish.
Very clean. Max capacity is 35. Reasonable price too.

I have a love-​hate relationship with VietNamese food, dating back to the 1990s. Philadelphia had good food. Orlando was horrible. Orange County had a restaurant I really liked – that is closed now, and east San Jose probably has the best in the state.
I see this restaurant every time I got to 99 Ranch Market and it’s always so busy that it would be faster to drive to San Jose to eat. Strangely, as I decided to try it, the restaurant was practically empty – Chinese New Year attracting crowds elsewhere, maybe?
The manager (owner?) was very friendly and we talked about quite a few things when he brought a glass of water. The menu was somehow different than most VietNamese restaurants where I’ve been. Chinese names were beside the English and the VietNamese, which helped greatly to quickly determine the main ingredients, such as 牛肉. That’s quite a time saver for me, especially since I don’t deal with the French transliteration very well.
I ended up with Com (rice) Tom (prawn/​shrimp) Bo (beef) something. No, sorry, don’t remember exactly since VietNamese is not my language. Beef and shrimp over Rice, I believe was the description. The price seemed to be $ 7.95, which is inexpensive, especially in Dublin.
It wasn’t long and another man brought the dish and, as I asked for chopsticks just then, he brought those quickly also.
The food was artfully displayed, which is unlike any VietNamese restaurant I’ve ever visited. Usually, you get the food on the plate or in the bowl and there is nothing to critique about the appearance.
How do I say this carefully? The meat was a bit stringy but better than the usual VietNamese restaurant. Most places, I order vegetarian dishes because I can’t handle the bad meat. This was actually good. The three little prawns were cute and tasty, but I would have taken less beef and paid a bit more to have mostly prawns/​shrimp.
The rice was good and there was a big portion. In fact, I didn’t finish the meat or the rice. My mum wouldn’t be happy with me, not finishing the rice.
This was a good experience and I suspect that the price keeps people returning. I wish the menu had more items, but I guess I’ll have to go to San Jose for those.

Love this phở place. The owner is super friendly and has learned my order already. I usually order the beef stew with rice noodles. It’s super flavorful and has a nice amount of noodles but can be stingy sometimes with the meat. The «beef» in it is sometimes just chunks of tendon or fat and then a couple chunks of actual meat. But other than that it’s very delicious.
My go to order when I’m not as hungry or not craving noodles, I get the fried egg rolls. These are sooo good but a little on the salty side especially with the sauce. They’re freshly made and cooked to order which is awesome.
Definitely a place I would recommend to a friend and keep coming back to for the great food with great prices.

This is my go-​to Vietnamese restaurant for delicious Bun Bo Hue!
Typically I do not like pieces of onion in my Bun Bo Hue so the way they make it here is great. I go so often that the owner knows my order by heart now which is always awesome to form that relationship with an owner.
The décor here is for sure better than your average Phở restaurant. Only downside to this more fancy décor is that they don’t have the napkins, chopsticks, etc, ready on the table for you. On top of not having the utensils there, they usually forget to give the sauce dishes and things too.

When I give 1 star reviews — it Is not out of spite. This place is NOT good. I should’ve taken the other poor reviews more serious!
Came in here today for lunch and ordered the vegetarian spring rolls and the chicken vermicelli. My friend ordered the shrimp and pork spring rolls and EWWWWW — they were seriously gross, I almost gagged! They tasted fishy.
The appetizers came out WITH the entrees which is a huge no — no for a restaurant. And the service here was not that great either, we finished our meal and waited 20 minutes before flagging down the server and asking for a box and check. He wasn’t very friendly and seemed like he couldn’t be bothered.
You’d think this place would be good since it’s right next to Ranch 99, but no, not at all. Go somewhere else!

I went to Phở Saigon Garden for lunch and had the combo beef phở. The phở was okay, but not particularly noteworthy. The ingredients seemed fresh, but the broth was a bit light in flavor. Also, the service was just okay. One guy was void of personality and seemed like he didn’t want to be there. The other guy that helped us was friendly, and I probably go back if everyone at the restaurant was like him.
Overall, the place is okay. I might go back since I work nearby, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat here.

2.5*
I’ve been here two or so times. I ordered spicy beef soup once which I recall liking. The second time, I tried my parents phở broth and liked it. I ordered bun thit nuong… grilled pork w vermicelli. Not good at all. Noodles were hard like it was from yesterday where it was reheated in warm water to rehydrate them. I know that texture bc I’ve done it myself when i make spring rolls. The pork was dry. overcooked and lean. There was a lot of lettuce in my bowl. Call it a salad, not vermicelli bowl. The egg rolls had a lot of taro… wished had more pork. Really unhappy w last visit. And the place wasn’t busy. .3 tables full w few to go orders. No one asked how the food was otherwise I would have told them about hard noodles.
Recommend: decent phở 3* and bun bo hue 3*only. Skip the egg roll and pork vermicelli 1*.

Its good for the area that it is in. There are not a lot of vietnamese places around here.
Prices are definitely inflated to match with the area. A small bowl of phở is roughly $ 8. They serve it in these stylish bowls where the sides are very high up so you don’t have to worry about the «thumb phở.» I tried their egg roll vermicelli bowl and it was pretty good. I recommend it. They give you a good amount of egg rolls. Spring rolls (the non-​fried ones) were okay. But for $ 5 an order you would expect a little more.
Service is whack. They almost never check up on you and they stay behind the cashier/​wall so drink your water slowly.

Used to be my lazy/​local, go-​to spot for «Thoroughly Adequate», Americanized Bun Bo Hue… BBH, sans all the goodies (most notably, pizzle & huyet), yet still did a relatively decent job of satisfying the cravings (when a 60 mile, RT drive to New Camau or Bun Bo Hue An Nam are simply not an option).
Service (though seemingly friendly), is Jekyll & Hyde the busier they are, or the closer they get to closing… I’ve given them numerous chances, accepting the fact that some places are known for crap service w/​the food speaking for itself… That being said…, how did the food speak to me? Had it a voice (other than saying «Eat Me»), would likely be making empty promises w/​the only pro being «Well, I’m closer than San Jose.» Is that good enough to justify mistreatment? Is that good enough to justify being promised a table on a busy day, only to be overlooked multiple times due to a much larger group arriving? Is that worth for the «owner/​proprietor» to be driven by greed vs doing what’s right when folks enter in a particular order w/​empty stomachs? Lastly, is it good enough to justify how I’ve heard him make comments when customer arrive too close to closing, «grunting» stating, «Why couldn’t you have shown up earlier» w/​customer’s having to apologize to the business for giving THEM money? I think not…
Let’s take Shanghai Flavor Shop in Sunnyvale for an example. Better yet, Mi La Cay in SJ or even New Camau in Santa Clara. These are nothing but storefronts with AMAZING food, with service obviously being an afterthought. Even still? If I walk in solo when it’s busy, I still get a damn table. If I show up prior to closing? I don’t feel as if I’m imposing. Food at these spots more than speak for themselves. Show me a better Sheng Jian Bao, I DARE YOU… New Camau has my personal fave BBH. Xiu Mai, Dau Chao Quay or the Mi La Cay Dac Biet? Fuuughetaboutit… I’d name-​drop Yummy Trieu Chau or Dalat Restaurant, but service at those spots are EXCELLENT (diamonds in the rough)…
All this being said? Why the F*** would I ever step foot again in Phở Saigon Garden & subject myself to yet another disappointing experience? My last few visits were horrible, service-​wise w/​the most recent visit being inexcusable. I thought I had completely written them off last visit, though my insatiable craving for BBH brought me back for a now confirmed, FINAL visit…
Stepping through the doors, the owner states «No tables, but one should open up in a few minutes», I said OK & stepped directly outside the door (owner even assisting/​holding the door open for me), considering the body heat w/​customers packed like sardines would likely result in heat stroke (not to mention the lack of an actual waiting area). Minutes later a large party walks in, followed by another large party, followed by a freaking tour bus of folks that suddenly arrived (most of which opened the door & got the hell out of dodge). No worries, I’m still queued for a table as the owner is looking directly at me. Once a table freed, (& once again making direct eye contact w/​me prior), waves over the family of 4 behind me, then starts asking for party sizes for the rest of the mob off the tour bus. (Flashbacks of Elementary School, hoping not to get picked last for teams during recess). He glances over at me yet again, then turns around…
Like the ending to an old western; where the hero & villain lock eyes & are suddenly drowned out by a dust storm, followed by a crowd of folks materializing & obstructing each other’s views… Queue credits as distances between the two widens, vision between the two now impaired/​blurred (further intensified by the refraction of light), until both parties seemingly vanish into thin air, never to be seen again… Seems fitting as this particular story has now played out the very same way…
Such a shame as well considering their BBH was just so darn «OK.» What’s a boy to do now? Guess I’ll just drive my ass to San Jose…

My friends wanted to try this place. Initially, I thought this was the same place I had gone the day before (Phở Saigon). However, this place is actually located in the plaza across the street from Phở Saigon, next to 99 Ranch Market (in fact, I recognized that our waiter was someone who used to (or maybe still works part-​time) at 99 Ranch!). Apparently all phở places like to have similar names. This place opened up not long ago, maybe a couple years ago. I was not impressed. I had a small #2 beef noodle soup with combo rare steak, well done flank, brisket, tendon, and tripe for $ 7.95. The place is clean, but the door kept slamming from the wind every time someone walked in/​out. The portion is also skimpy; I hardly had any meat or noodles. I do like the bowl though!
If you’re craving phở, I wouldn’t recommend this place. The taste is fine, but there are plenty of better phở places. Also, I don’t understand the difference between #1 and #2 on the menu, all the ingredients are the exact same except #1 says «special rare steak» and #2 says «combo rare steak.» What on earth makes the steak «special?!» That’s what I want to know. Whatever it is, it makes #1 cost 60 cents more than #2.