Saigon Surface

If you’re craving some decent Vietnamese food you can’t go wrong here. The same owner owns this establishment, Saigon Bowl over by Aksarben and Saigon by Nobbies on center. Surprisingly the location off of Center is the best in my opinion, and cheaper in price.
I got the combo vermicelli which is impossible to mess up. Was a great dish, portions were very small for $ 15. The bowl it’s served in makes it very deceiving. Service was good, I mean it can’t be bad when we are the only ones in at 8PM on a Thursday :).
Overall great viet restaurant. Again, prices are high due to location I would assume, but food is great! I’m sure we will be back in the future if we are having cravings while in the area!

Trendy Vietnamese-​inspired restaurant on 14^th Street.
Pros: It wasn’t terrible for soup.
Cons: It did not taste like phở. It was fine for soup, but don’t try to pass it off as phở. I heartily do not like trendy places that modify food into fusion types to fit into the scene. We refer to this place as «Ipod Phở» because of the technology-​themed interior.

This place is literally one of my favorite restaurants in Omaha. They have delicious and trendy Vietnamese appetizers, entrees, and drinks. Their phở is very authentic and will quickly fill you up with their super sized portions.
My favorite meal to get here is the fresh spring rolls and ox tail phở. The fresh springs rolls are gigantic and there is enough to share. They are served with a traditional peanut sauce, though I like straight up soy sauce with mine. I have been eating phở for 15 years now and have been to Vietnam, where I ate a bowl everyday for a good month. The main cook, as I recall is a born and raised Vietnamese woman who hasn’t strayed from traiditon when making this yummy beef noodle soup.
We always use a Groupon whenever we go, but they do offer a bangin’ happy hour menu complete with drinks, apps, and entrees. If you are using Groupon, it says to make a reservation, though I don;t believe it’s necessary, especially earlier on in the evening.

Update: I’ve got to update my review and my feelings towards this establishment. It has become a to-​go hot spot for us in terms of phở take out – so I can’t really leave it hanging at 3 stars. I still agree the broth leaves a bit to be wanted and the cost is high. However, it sure as heck beats me making it myself so I have to tip my hat to them and continue to patronize due to location and convenience from my house. Their new packaging for the phở to go is also great, and less wasteful.

Saigon surface is a nice little place to eat. It’s a modern Vietnamese style of dining. The food is alright. I would say if you are looking to eat really good vietnamese food, don’t necessary look for a trendy place. But if you are looking for a good ambiance, perhaps this place would work.

So disgusting. There is a flyer in my Bun Bo. The waiter told me that it is ok. No sorry, no apology. It is ok to eat flyer? Fuck it’s ok.

Food is what we come into a restaurant for, and it fails to impress me. Food is neither authentic nor delicious. I have curry tilapia clay pot which is too sweet. My friends have Bun Bo Hue– spicy noodle soup and it tastes bland/​totally not right. We ask for fish sauce and are told «The kitchen does not have fish sauce». I understand this is a fusion restaurant, but Vietnamese restaurant that does not have fish sauce tells something about the food itself.
The restaurant has modern decoration and is super clean. Super good service.
Price is high.
Would not recommend for real food guru.

Great dinner! The Fresh Spring Rolls were excellent, and I really enjoyed the extra spice kick in the peanut sauce that you usually don’t get at other Vietnamese restaurants. I ordered the Ginger Chicken Clay pot for my main. It came out steaming hot! It was very flavorful! I’ll return next time I’m in town.

Located downtown Omaha. Newer building, very modern and clean inside.
This place isn’t really authentic Vietnamese. I would say this place is more of a fusion type restaurant that serves some Vietnamese food.
This place is a little more expensive than other Vietnamese restaurants in Omaha.
What we ordered:
Chicken wings — 6 pieces came with our order and sweet and spicy dipping sauce. No batter but fried crispy.
Calamari — small pieces but fried perfect and good taste. Accompanied by dipping sauce which was sweet and spicy. Would recommend.
Pineapple fried rice — served in half cut pineapple. This was about 11 dollars. Portion size was good, but on the expensive side. Good size shrimp came with meal. Would recommend.
Phở — this was $ 11. Compared to other restaurants it usually ranges from 6 – 9 dollars. Taste was good, but I don’t think 11.
Cripsy noodle with stir fry — this is usually referred to mi xao don, but okay portion with large cuts of meats. Sauce was too sweet imo. I think if they cut down on sweetness dish would be okay to eat.
This isn’t your typical Vietnamese hole in the wall restaurant. Clean restaurant and restrooms. Tad more expensive, but if you want ombiance come here. Banh mi is $ 9…too expensive in my book. Other well known places usually sell for 5.

I stopped in for lunch while in Omaha and in the mood for some Vietnamese cuisine.
Service was prompt and I ordered the fresh squeezed lime soda, the fresh spring rolls (Gi cun) and the grilled pork vermicelli bowl (Bún tht nng). Everything was very tasty and fresh. The pork and the ch giò in the bún bowl was really delicious.
Reasonable and fresh yummy Vietnamese food.
Next time I am back in Omaha, I’ll stop back to try their dinner menu.

Had fresh spring rolls that had pork on the bottom and it was a nice change from typical spring rolls
Also had the phở soup which was really good and filling. One of the best soups I have ever had! Would highly recommend this place. Service was good.

Wife and I with our small kid had just arrived in Omaha from the airport and this was our very first stop. We had this restaurant in our itinerary during our 2 day visit to Omaha and it was a pleasant surprise.
We came by here on Saturday for lunch. Parking was a breeze since I was lucky to get a free parking spot on the meter just outside the restaurant.
I paid $ 2 on that parking meter only to find out later than parking is free during the weekends in Omaha! Hello, Dallas? We get charged for everything down there!
We enter the restaurant and we are the only customers at the time. The restaurant’s ambiance is great, nice colors and lighting. They also have iPads by the tables for the guests to use. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this perk in any of the restaurants I’ve been to!
The waitress and the bar tender –Aaron — are the sweetest people we’ve met so far in Omaha. They are great with the kid and really helpful with the menu and small talk. It’s always nice to have friendly employees helping out customers — good way to work the tips!
For drinks, I ordered the $ 8 GL Lechee Martini. Wife got the $ 7 GL Sangria. These drinks were GREAT! The presentation and all was top-​notch! Good alcohol content, great tasting drinks.
For the lunch entrees, I got the $ 15 Shaken Beef, Wife got the$ 14 Prawns Clay Pot.
Again, delicious meals. The flavor, temperature, and spices were all in sync. We pretty much cleaned out our plates!
Wife had a $ 20 Groupon which was great, but since we were excited about the great service, drinks and food, you bet the tip was also hefty!
We’ll definitely be coming back here next time we are in Omaha! Great place to dine!

With great reviews and a modern feel right downtown, I really wanted to visit Saigon Surface. I went for lunch and admired the restaurant’s simple design, with lime green and dark wood styling. The service is top-​notch, with friendly staff that are happy to describe menu options and constantly check on you.
Many of the tables had iPads for customers to use, which was a fun touch. Their menu had a variety of items, including the usual appetizers, vermicelli bowls, noodle soups and banh mi, but also had a large selection of entrees like ginger chicken clay pot, worked pepper beef, and eighteen hour boneless short ribs. It definitely had Chinese influences, as there were also egg drop and hot & sour soups. They also had unexpected desserts, including mango sweet rice, flan, and apple crispy cheesecake. Their full bar was rounded out with cool specialty cocktails — but I decided noon was a little too early for me that day.
I started with the spring rolls. An order was $ 6 for three rolls, which was very well-​priced. The shrimp were a good size, but I was a little disappointed in the browning of the lettuce and bean sprouts. The sauce tasted good, but had the same feel of hoisin sauce. It didn’t feel as unique or as satisfying as a good peanut sauce.
Next, I had the oxtail phở, which came in one size for $ 10.50. It came out before I finished the spring rolls, and looked phenomenal. It was huge, with dark pink beef on top just waiting for me to dunk it into the broth, and a fine layer of black pepper on top. It looked great, but when I tasted the broth, I found it a little bland. I added hoisin sauce to pump a little more flavor in it, but it didn’t make much of a difference. There was no way for me to add the meat flavor I was craving. A lot of noodles in bland broth makes for a rather unappetizing bowl of phở — though I must say, the sliced meats in my phở were very good. Omaha is known for great beef, and this was delightfully tender and flavorful.
I guess you can’t judge a book by its cover. The phở had excellent presentation, but not enough substance to make me a fan. While I wouldn’t order their phở again, Saigon Surface is a cool restaurant with a great atmosphere, and I’d be down to try their tasty-​sounding entrees.
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One of my main problems with this place is that it touts itself as a «Vietnamese» restaurant… which it’s not. It’s an Asian fusion place. But, since they self-​advertise as a Vietnamese place, I’m going to review them based on that standard, and based on that standard, it’s not good food.
The fresh spring rolls were good. They came with the standard peanut sauce, which was kicked up with some chili for heat. Quite tasty.
The Saigon «egg rolls» are just fried spring rolls, like you’d get at a run-​of-​the-​mill Chinese restaurant. To top it off, ours came out burnt. (see photo)
My husband had a yellow curry chicken, which was decent but not special. It was under no circumstances spicy, and almost had a cumin/​turmeric/​maple syrup theme going on in the sauce. Interesting, but not amazing.
My dish, the Hu Tieu Mi, which was literally the worst thing I had there, was almost unrecognizable as Vietnamese food and was more something I would have made in my dorm in undergrad out of leftovers. It was not even made with traditional Phở noodles… it was made with what looked like ramen noodles. Like, Maruchan noodles that come in a brick at the grocery store. There were random glass noodles in with my ramen noodles, too, as if they weren’t using different strainers. The dish had pork and prawns in it, which were fine, but there were also random pieces of beef in it, too… again, like they weren’t separating ingredients well in the kitchen. Lastly, who puts wontons in phở? I guess that mistake was on me for even ordering it.
Our server just kind of mumbled and grunted at us, and our waters went empty a couple of times. We were there on a quiet weeknight; there were three other couples in the whole restaurant. It’s a sleek, modern look and feel inside, but that’s the only redeeming quality about being here.
If you want Vietnamese, find a family-​run hole-​in-​the-​wall. This stuff is inauthentic and over-​priced and kind of a mess.

I went here for dinner with a friend on a Monday night. The outside is fairly unassuming and it would be easy to miss if you were driving by on the street. However, the inside is really nice. The first thing that struck me about this place was how relaxing the atmosphere is. It has very sleek, modern furnishings, dim lighting, and they play really great, relaxing music. They also serve cucumber water which is always nice.
Our server was very friendly and the service was fast and efficient. I decided to try the pineapple fried rice which contains fried rice with shrimp, chicken, pork, sausage, egg, bell peppers, and green onions served in a hollowed out pineapple half. Obviously the presentation was great, but the flavor was also fantastic. It seems like there is a lot going on in this dish, but the flavors meld together really well. I thought the sausage was an unusual addition and it ended up being one of my favorite things in this dish. I was still dreaming of this dish the next day. I found their prices to be in line with similar restaurants and they were reasonable for the quality of the food.
We really enjoyed our visit here and I would definitely come back again if I was downtown and in the mood for Vietnamese food. They have iPads on every table which I was pretty indifferent about. My friend and I did play with it toward the end of the meal, mostly because we were curious what apps were on it, and we found one that provides candlelight via three brightly-​colored cartoon candles.

This place is horrible. The servers here are entitled and snobby. We are from Scottsdale, Arizona… home of the snobs, and these two take the cake. They charge for a small side of bean sprouts, which would be TOTALLY fine if they didn’t try to sneak it. Then we heard the female server on shift talking at the top of her lungs in the kitchen when we said we didn’t want the bean sprouts purely because our server did not inform us of a charge. (I use to be a server so I think highly of proper and honorable serving, not sneaking for an upcharge). I’m writing this as we are waiting for our order, so hopefully the food is decent. I’m mixed Vietnamese and was so excited to try this place while on vacation. Sadly disappointed by the service.
Update 10 min later: scratch that. We just left. We found out the woman talking in the back was the assistant manager, and while we were on Unilocal looking for other possible places to eat, the server walks by and sarcastically says « Unilocalin away huh?» (Probably because he knows their service was terrible). Needless to say we paid for our appetizers and finally their terrible service played to our advantage as we were able to leave before they brought our order out. Highly recommended if you like sarcastic and sub par service, in addition to decent Vietnamese food.

So, this was a pleasant surprise on a cold winter’s night!
The motley crew from Denver was back to our client’s site for the week, and after a 14 hour day, we were craving something warm and familiar for dinner. We wanted phở. Simple, noodly goodness. A Unilocal search turned up Saigon Surface as the option closest to our hotel.
This place looked nothing like the phở restaurants of the northern ‘burbs of Denver. It was sleek, modern, with iPads on the tables and Katy Perry blasting on the speakers. Lots of green and wood paneling. I really liked the vibe (though the Katy Perry left a lot to be desired!)
Three of us ordered the oxtail phở, one had curry in a clay pot, and the fifth opted for the shaken beef.
Service was friendly and quick, which we appreciated after an exhausting day.
The phở was amazing. Portions were huge, and the broth while basic was plentiful. Tons of noodles, and for me, phở is all about the noodles, baby!
The shaken beef looked delicious, and so did the curry tofu in a clay pot. Both orders came with a healthy portion of rice.
We feasted for less than $ 15 each, though nobody ordered beer or appetizers. So, I could see how this could get pricey quick. However, I liked the atmosphere, and the portions were pretty generous, so it’s well worth the price!

This is a great place to go if you’re looking for a more modern Vietnamese restaurant. I always get either the oxtail phở with rare beef or the grilled chicken vermicelli, which both are delicious and the portion sizes are large. The prices are a little higher than the other old school Omaha phở joints, but you pay a little more for bigger portions and a more modern environment.
The drink menu also has a variety of fruity cocktails and martinis and the Saigon egg rolls are super delicious as well! I really enjoy the nuoc mam (the dipping sauce for the egg rolls) which has a nice mild spicy kick to it. Being that most of the other Vietnamese restaurants are a little out west, it’s nice to have a location near the downtown area.

What a gem! This is far and away a different scale of fanciness I’ve experienced in my local Vietnamese restaurants. This place is sharp and sleek and provides an approachable menu. The beef carpaccio was my winner for the night. Sliced rare: ahem: (raw) beef was topped with peanuts, cilantro, pickled and fried onions, and sat on a bed of crispy iceberg lettuce. It was all dressed with a remarkable sweet and sour vinaigrette. I could have easily made that my only dish of the night or ordered seconds.
But I had the bun Bo soup with tender brisket and thick rice vermicelli. If you can figure out how to eat that with chopsticks please tell me! It was filling and delicious. I definitely walked away happy.

I love Saigon Surface.
My wife and I go to Saigon Surface once about every few months or so and it is amazing every time. The broth’s and sauce that is in every dish is just outstanding.
I have had the boneless short ribs which are always amazing, the pork clay pot, and most recently this past weekend, I tried the Curry Tilapia Clay Pot, which was cooked in a coconut curry sauce.
The dish literally comes in a clay pot that must have been over a fire because it comes to the tabled slightly charred and very hot and bubbling. I usually wait a few minutes for it to cool down, then I pout it all over the bowl of rice and mix it together.
The fish was cooked perfectly. The curry was awesome, and the sauce they cooked it in had so many great flavors and it was all balanced really well.
They don’t let you split checks at one table, which I always have an issue with because how hard is it to do that, honestly? And they don’t let you use Groupons on Happy Hour, which I dislike, but a lot of businesses do it.
All in all, I love Saigon Surface. The food is always outstanding, the service is always friendly, and its a very nice and trendy place.