Big Saigon

FYI This place is now closed.

I liked this place and the Phở was as good as any but I heard they closed? Check it out before making the trip.

RIP Big Saigon :(
i have had phở at most of the PHO places in the MD/​DC/​VA area and also at a few places in Vietnam.
Big Saigon hands down had the best PHO with the best service. It was probably the only Vietnamese place where you didn’t get a dirty look for asking for 2^nd and 3^rd rounds of water refills.
I was a regular there since last summer, however, today i went back for a bowl for the first time in a few weeks and i was saddened to find out that it has closed its doors :(

I had to give it a second chance after BaLe’, my first choice, was closed because of the snow. No raw meats this time, but I’d have to say the spring rolls take a back seat to the ones from the place next door — they are undersized and look like they should cost no more than $ 0.25 each. The summer rolls were very good and fresh, but the portion of the Banh Xeo was disappointing. I had two, maybe 3 shrimp in there, a few pieces of pork, and a whole LOT of sprouts. BaLe runs circles around this place. Go there instead if you have a choice.

Pretty decent phở– the star anise definitely stands out in their broth. Unfortunately, they only offer one size: large. It’s a pretty damn big bowl of phở, but it’s too large for me so it’s quite annoying that they don’t have a smaller options.
As other reviewers have noted, it’s a bright and clean restaurant. They have a full menu, so they serve apps and entrees along with the phở. They also have a pretty yummy peanut sauce for the summer rolls.

I am shocked that others didn’t dig this place as much as I did. It is bright, super clean, and the staff is beyond cheery. They serve a limited phở menu and are not a «phở joint».
I recommend the pepper chicken, or their mixed grill– I think it’s called taste of Siagon Platter”.

Eh, the phở’s all right. If you’re not much of a connossieur, you’ll probably like it, but if you’re trying this dish out on someone for the first time, I’d avoid this place to avoid giving them a bad idea of what phở is about.
I also got a burnt-​noodle rice noodle dish with brown sauce. It tasted ohh-​kay. Average take-​out quality. There weren’t enough noodles! All of it was drenched in brown sauce, which wasn’t great in flavor, and just made me feel like I was swimming in MSG. Oh well…
The service is also spotty. Obviously run by a family, and, like all families, some people are pretty well-​adjusted to life, and some people seem to HATE life. One guy is super nice. We ordered spring rolls, which normally, in every part of the world I’ve ever been in, do NOT come with tons of meat in them but mostly cabbage. We tried to return this, but the biyaatch serving us was very harsh about it. I said to my friend, «Well, I guess we should have asked before ordering,» and the server piped in, «YES, YOU SHOULD ASK,» before storming off. JEEZ! Luckily her brother is a lot nicer.
Anyway, who wants to eat food from a broken family’s kitchen? Yuuuuckkkkkk

Went again with a friend a weekk ago, and after eating lots of phở recently @ Phở 75, I can say that although the broth here isn’t a rich, the Thai basil is fresher, the meat is learner, fresher and tastier, and it really does rival Phở 75 and 88. But it’s never crowded, and I’m afraid if folks dont’ start going, they’re going to have to close the doors!
As I said in my first review, phở’s great, but the appetizer of beef skewers is also fantastic – a meal in itself! Tender pieces of grilled beef (2 skewers) over very thing rice vermicelli with wonderful sauce that’s always served with grilled beef and pork dishes at Vietnamese restaurants. Ordering a phở (both my husband and I), we had too much food with the appetizer, so could easily share a phở and order the appetizer and be happy – unless one is starving!
We think Big Saigon’s phở is much better than Ba Le by far, and my hubby’s a phở fanatic!

Best Phở I’ve ever had. Staff is super friendly. The Vietnamese beer «33» is pretty good too!

Good, cheap Vietnamese food. I didn’t have the phở but my dinner companions seemed to enjoy it. I had the Big Saigon dinner, and if anything else, have the grilled pork. It’s amazing. And their fried rice is too.

Still a fan, but I was really surprised at the fact this place was empty at 10 on a Saturday… where is the phở breakfast crowd? Weird.

I think I once mentioned that my dad, although not Vietnamese, nor well versed in Vietnam culture (besides what all Chinese know of our Asian cousins), believes that he’s the leading expert on phở. It’s not that he can tell you what is the most authentic — but he can definitely dissect the nuance of each bowl of phở, and what the highlights and shortcomings are. My father devotes so much time and effort to his hunt for what he feels is the perfect bowl of phở, that he’s dined at every phở joint within a 30 minute drive of MoCo. If he only knew English… or the interwebz… he would surely be Elite in less then a week. At least — when it comes to phở.
So it should be no surprise, that he’s been aching to visit Big Saigon. Newly opened next to the BaLe’s on Rockville Pike, my father has quite a bit of admiration for the way that Big Saigon has thrown down the gauntlet. Although BaLe’s phở is only moderate in both of our opinions — to so brazenly open up a Vietnamese restaurant just a few stores down… well…as my father says: that requires some «brass onions» (I told you — he’s really bad at the English).
We’ll cut to the chase. In a nutshell, the broth was meaty, hot and flavorful… but how did it compare?
Unfortunately, Big Saigon only has large bowls for $ 6.99, which was a minor irritant, as I had just had a large breakfast only 30 minutes prior. It just felt like such a waste. Also, it took a while for our phở to come out — which is a major irritant for me, as phở is quickly assembled, so waiting 15 minutes for 4 bowls of phở in a near empty establishment is unacceptable. However, the bowls of phở were quite delicious. The star of anise and cinnamon was the dominate notes after the meaty broth flavor. Both my dad and my husband enjoyed the broth heartily, but I felt that the broth was a little too salty, and it could have had a touch more rock sugar to it. There were plenty of meats in the bowls, as well as large and tender chunks of tendon (our favorite). We definitely all agreed that the broth was far superior to BaLe’s, and it was worthy of throwing down the gauntlet… yet, we felt that it lacked the finish… the nuances of flavor that PHO 75 has.
In addition, we ordered the spring rolls and the iced coffee, and both were disappointing. The spring rolls were limp — yes limp — and served with a heavy peanut sauce, instead of the delicious fish-​sauce, lime and chili concoction that is normally served with it. Also, the iced coffee came to us pre-​mixed, rather then in the mini-​coffee press, and we felt that the coffee was as touch too sweet.
All in all, it was a good phở experience, and braced my father up for an afternoon of shopping (he hates shopping with my mom)…however, the lack of different phở bowl sizes, the slow service, weak coffee and limp spring rolls makes me think that we will probably overlook this establishment for future dining experiences.

Since this spot is right next to Bale, I just never went here. A friend of mine, who is Vietnamese, recommend the grilled pork. So I took his word and the pork here is really good. It’s caramelized, tender, and has tons of flavor. Best of all, it’s only $ 7.99 for a decent portion.
I’ll edit this review later as I try other things on their menu, but for now, we’ll leave it a low-​end 4-​star. Next time, I’ll sit down and eat vs getting carry-​out.

After reading these positive reviews on Big Saigon, my GF and I decided to give the restaurant a shot. We weren’t disappointed! We went back for a second try within a week. Both times we ordered their phở ($ 6.99 for a sizable large) and on each occasion it was very good. The meat in the phở was surprisingly good and better than some of the other phở joints I’ve tried. The eye-​round steak slices were tender and not tough, and the brisket was very nicely done without being too fatty like that found in other places. The complimentary bean sprouts and basil leaves were also fresh and not browning/​wilted on both visits.
In terms of the broth of the phở, it was smooth and very gently sweet. To me, it was extremely similar to the phở broth served at Hai Duong in Falls Church, which is to say it is excellent. We also had a side of spring rolls which were great, but nothing out of the ordinary from other Vietnamese places.
The service was really friendly and inviting, and this place accepts credit cards (!), a rarity among cheaper Asian joints. All in all, a great place for lunch or dinner at an even better price.

Yum Yum Yum!
When I saw this place open up, my first feeling was sadness for the Ba Le Vietnamese Deli that is seriously 2 doors and a tiny parking lot away. Talk about close competition!!! But after eating here, this place is definitely more of a sit down restaurant and the other place is more of a quick to go stop.
So I got to try it here on a beautiful, warm, sunny Sunday. It was busy and surprisingly a LOT bigger than I expected. The dining room is big and kind of plain with light blue and orange walls with bright green trim. The waiter was especially peppy and apologized for us having to ask for more water.
As for the food, it’s very good! I had the rice vermicelli with charcoal beef. It’s thinly sliced beef over the noodles with carrots, lettuce shreds and cucumber. They give you that oil mixed with spicy somethings and I poured it all over the noodles. Sooo good and all for only $ 8. My bf got a combo platter that included a spring roll and a grilled skewer each of chicken, pork and beef over vermicelli that he thoroughly enjoyed. That was a little pricier for about $ 11.
My favorite part though was that they give each table a little ‘toolkit’ which is this plastic container with compartments that hold napkins, forks, knives, the sriracha sauce, another fish sauce and chopsticks. I loved it! How clever! They’re not already on the table, but they bring it to you after you sit down.
I’ll definitely come back!

Surprisingly Good Vietnamese food in Rockville and its cheap!!!
I gave this place 4 stars because of the GREAT SERVICE that the waiter provided (especially for a Vietnamese place). This is the place to go if you do not have time to go to Eden. I like it better than Ba Le (which is next door), but this place does not sell sandwiches like Ba Le The interior is very family oriented. They have a great menu.
I ordered the Crispy Egg Noodles with Beef and the fiancé ordered Big Saigon Combo with Beef skewers (Rice dish). The crispy egg noodles with beef was pretty good but not the best. But there was plenty of noodles for me to share with my fiancé. I felt that my fiancé rice dish was better than my dish though. His beef was well marinated and instead of steamed rice he had fried rice, which was tasty too =)

It just opened a couple of months ago, and I have already been there several times. I always enjoy myself at this restaurant.
The décor is simple and there is not a whole lot of ambiance, but the food is incredibly tasty and the service is very friendly (I believe it is family-​owned, with several generations involved).
And all-​out dinner for two is under $ 20.
Best Phở I’ve ever had and excellent vermicelli. They’re so good that I always order one of those two dishes.
While it is not very elegant, it is the kind of place you can take your family when they visit and be sure that everyone enjoys the experience, and it’s even kind of strangely romantic late on a weekday night. High praise, indeed.

I’ve heard horrible things about Vietnamese food in the DC area — that there isn’t any, that it sucks, that you’re going to really, really miss it.
Big Saigon was my first trip to a Vietnamese restaurant on the East Coast and I found it to be a great experience. I’m from the San Francisco Bay Area (South Bay) and there are tons of Vietnamese restaurants so I can’t say this is the best I’ve had, but it gets the job done. This ain’t no Vung Tau, nor is it a Phở 909 or Phở Thanh Long.
I ordered the Cha Gio and the Phở Tai Nam — I enjoyed both items and I would recommend them.
The Cha Gio was fresh from the fryer and tasted very good. They aren’t Vung Tau Cha Gio — but I found it to be pretty good. Add some Siracha to your fish sauce for a bit more spice to it.
The Phở Tai Nam was great. The broth was flavorful and gets the job done. The well-​done flank literally melted in my mouth — it was very fresh and soft. The steak was also quite fresh tasting. In short, I think the ingredients used here were fresh and that’s great fundamentals for a solid Phở bowl. At $ 6.99 for a large bowl, it is a bit more on the pricier side in comparison to large Phở Bowls in the Bay Area…
They also advertise a Bun Bo Hue — I didn’t try it yet, but I look forward to giving it a shot next time I go there.
Bottom line: If this place existed in the Bay Area, I would’ve given it a three star. But this place is great relative to the competition in the area and I look forward to going back.