Saigon

The last two times, I’ve been here, I’ve ordered and waited for 25 – 30 minutes, and then left. The food here is mediocre at best, but the time that it takes to make the food is ridiculous. If you must go here, then I recommend calling in to order one day in advance. Otherwise, you will find yourself fingering yourself for half an hour before you even get to smell your meal.

Had dinner here with the folks and my uncle for Lunar New Year. The food was very good and very clean. There was very little oil in it. The service was good. We thoroughly enjoyed it!

This is my go to Phở place, right in my ‘hood. It’s a family style, funky, noisy, plain tables and paper napkin kind of place, but you go for the food, not the ambience. The menu has regular and large size Phở but I ask for a small which is more of a normal sized serving. The fresh spring rolls are excellent and big as burritos! This is a «go big or go home» restaurant. When someone at home is not feeling well I order a large chicken Phở with all the trimmings and get it to go, it is a cure all from hangovers to the flu. Like mama would make if she was Vietnamese.

i’ve been coming here for … like ten years or more i think. HUGE menu. this is not a phở place. they serve it but they serve a lot of different things. the portions are generous and the prices are good.
it may sound gross but the fried intestines with vegetables was amazing. i think it’s number 335. the intestines were soft of the inside, crispy on the outside. and the vegetables were pickled :)

Food is great. Love their egg drop soup, stone pot catfish. Decent price for their family combos.
The only thing is the wait for the food is extremely annoying, don’t be surprised if you wait an hour before your dish is out :(

Saigon, the very first and only place that I have had Phở. This place is interesting, I was a bit hesitant when I was brought here for my first time but I fell in love…
My boyfriend and I get the same thing every time, the tofu and vegetable Phở. The portions are H U G E and I mean like a big bowl… a huge bowl… I never finish it. The prices are great. The only thing that is keeping them from five stars is their service because it’s always a hit or miss. Sometimes they will come by and refill your water and sometimes they won’t…but if you’re looking for a great bowl of Phở this is definitely your place!

Definitely always a good time! The food quality is amazing & authentic. I’ve gone here since I was 7! My family & I love it. It’s really big & spacious. I usually always get the sour fish soup, the catfish clay pot is a MUST, bo luc lac is delicious as well, any phở dishes (the broth is to die for, I usually either get Tai Chin Or Phở Bo Vien) bun bo hue is definitely good, & I love the shredded pork & BBQ pork broken rice platter. I feel like I named everything, but seriously, you have to have these dishes! For beverages, if you’re not familiar, you’ve got to try the Nuc Hoc Ga or Sinh To Bu (avacado shake) those drinks are my personal faves! Or even try a fresh glass of coconut juice! I didn’t give 5 star because I wish they were more attentive, & maybe a little bit more clean. I wish they had at least average level customer service, but with food that good & having it with good company, not much of a big deal!

Very good Vietnamese food. Big portions. Good flavors. Large gold fish tank for your viewing pleasure. Some may be put off by the atmosphere As it is a basic looking place, however do not be fooled the place is filled with great dishes.

Saigon Vietnamese restaurant on El Cajon Blvd. was once one of our favorites. I haven’t been there in a while and my lunch there today was a shocker. something has definitely gone south.
to say that the service was unenthusiastic and extremely slow would be to pay it a compliment.
The rice paper on the spring rolls I ordered was so tough that it would have made excellent shoe leather.
The place is run down and not very clean. I have been enjoying Vietnamese restaurants for 40 years and I know there are plenty out there that are much better than this. A definite no to Saigon on El Cajon Blvd.

One of our favorite spots to get delicious phở. We always start with the shrimp spring rolls and let me tell Ya’ I’ve never seen any as big and good as the ones they serve here. Their fried rice is so delicious that we always split a bowl of phở and get their seafood fried rice. Their portions are enough to share, we always end up with left overs. They also offer a good selection of imported and domestic beer, we always get «33» it’s so delicious and it’s a great phở pairing. The place is always inviting and clean. The staff is very attentive and takes good care of their clients. We love coming to this place all the time and we urge you to check it out when you are in the mood for great phở!!!

Stomach is always satisfied coming here but I must say, some of these waiters make my blood boil. Woosah!

We dine here once a week cause place is good. I always order rice vermicelli with egg rolls and grilled beef and it’s real good. Their Phở is good too but I prefer another soup place. Goi coun (fresh spring roll) is the best cause it’s big and ways made fresh…

This place is super authentic. I had the Phở and by far it is the best I have had in all of San Diego. I can’t remember what my husband and friends had but they all said it was amazing. My husband is looking forward to going back and trying each item on the menu… it will take awhile because they have a huge menu!!!
2 thumbs up from 2 fluffy foodies

I’ve got to give a quick update and ask for some feedback from anyone else who cares. So, let’s take a second to talk about the spring rolls here. Are they getting bigger? The last two times I’ve ordered them they’ve been about a third bigger than usual. I’m not complaining but am simply wondering if I’m getting a little love from the kitchen or if this is happening across the board. Either way, delicious!
The way I do it is to take some of the Sriacha, mix it in with the peanut sauce, a few dabs of the chili paste and dip away… you won’t be disappointed. Once you’ve polished off the spring rolls take the remainder of the dipping sauce and stir it into your chicken broth and your phở experience will never be the same. Sure, it’s not for the phở purists but it’s a great way to shake up your phở routine.

I’m a twice-​a-​month regular here, so that probably says something. Saigon has a more varied menu than most of the phở places in the neighborhood, mostly Chinese-​influenced. Egg noodle soup, with a different broth than the phở, is a nice change. The hot-​and-​sour soup is excellent as well, though it does take a bit of time to get it cooked up. Much better than the steam-​table stuff, just don’t be in a rush. All of the appetizers are good.
The ambiance is, well, basic. There’s the requisite fish tank, and lots of tables. That’s pretty much it. Good food, no rush, fair prices. That’s what dinner is all about.

The only place we buy Phở. Food is amazing! I love their fresh spring rolls.
1 star off because of their service time. They take FOREVER to take orders. Even when I call ahead of time for carry out orders, I get there and have to wait longer.

Was shocked to find them bringing in unpackaged meat from the back of a dirty pickup truck. see attached photo! I immediately notified the health department. I will never ever ever ever eat there again

I had a GR8 time here. The food was delicious and the service was on point.
My GF chose this place because she wanted to try the Banh Hoi thit nuong. And I just wanted to eat.
Service: was nice. I don’t speak Vietnamese but I try my best. The server laughed and asked «Vietnamese?» And I shamefully shook my head as he told my GF I had good pronunciation. I know it was a lie but it felt nice lol. They came by and filled water quite a bit. It freaked me out that they put the food down on the table so slow… in all my experience Vietnamese restaurants usually come by with your food like hell on wheels. Here they gently put food on the table… I got caught off guard because it was nice and respectful.
Food:
The spring rolls were as long as my GFs arm and probably thicker! These rolls are packed tight with a lot of veggies which were nice and crunchy.
Banh Hoi thit noung was crazy good. Came with a whole plate of salad to rollup the thin noodles and barbecue beef. This place really knows how to barbecue their meats! Recommend this. It’s fun to wrap and make your custom roll! I made mine too thick and felt like an amateur porn* when devouring it but it was well worth it!
Looking at all other Unilocal reviews that try the phở here, came with low * ratings. So i (my GF) chose to go with the dry noodle dishes, and boy was I (she) right!
Décor is dated but I like the fish tanks, both with the edible and just for show fishies. Clean and great for large parties.
Will be back for some more meat!

I used to go to High School across the street and used to think this place was the bomb! I have since become more of a connoisseur of phở or xe lua, and after coming back for the first time in over 15 years, I found this spot to be just average.
Dont get me wrong, I still like the place. This was my first Phở spot ever. But it doesnt quite have the wow factor I thought I remembered.
I dont think the location is as bad as my fellow Unilocalers make it out to be. Whatever other people think about the neighborhood matters not to me. This is home. I feel safer here than anywhere in the world. Dont let the yuppies dissaude you. There is plenty of parking, and if it IS full, use your imagination.
I came in to the familiar smell of fish and phở. The waiters didnt notice me at first, but when another party came in, and I didnt sit with them, they realized the error, apologized and ushered me to a great seat by the fishies.
Ordered the #1 like I should. It came out quick. It is quite good and all, but quite brothy, which didnt have as much flavor as I am currently used to. No beef balls. Only a strand of tripe. Plenty of tendon though. Only 2 pieces of tendon? LOTS of noodle.
I usually eat it with a combination of sriracha and hoisin sauce. But there was no hoisin sauce. It was hoisin paste. Not too bad though. I really needed salt and chili oil to flavor the broth up a bit. They didnt skimp on the vegetables and leaves, thats for sure.
I also ordered fried eggrolls. They give you 6 well portioned eggrolls for I think $ 4.50. But they didnt taste that great. I ate half of them with the delicious sweet & sour sauce. I gave the rest to a cousin of mine the next day, and she swore up and down they were the best! I guess that would be a matter of taste.
I had Iced Tea, which was horrible. Im starting to think thats a Viet thing, either that or they are brewing tea with old coffee. Ugh.
I did have to flag someone down for more water, but an employee on his break eating HIS dinner got up twice to wait on me. Besides that, everyone was friendly.
I come here mostly for nostalgia. The food is good. Ill come back in a few years.

Pretty good family styled Vietnamese restaurant! I’ve been coming here since I was a baby and still come when there’s a big celebration or something!
Service here could be better… and food could come out a bit faster… We ordered a family styled dinner for 6 people and all of the items were really good. I loved the egg drop soup, garlic shrimp, beef & brocolli, and the clams were amazing!!! What was most disappointing was that my mom is vegetarian so she ordered on the side a vegetarian dish. It didn’t even come out until we all finished eating. I was so upset for my mom. No establishment should take longer than 20 – 25 minutes to cook their food.
Will come back in the future for any family meal but I don’t recommend any vegetarians to visit this place.
I recommend:
— Family style meal w/​beef & brcolli, clams, and garlic shrimp

This review is for the Phở.
Phở Dac Biet is huge! Almost too big. Way to many noodles and not enough broth. The issue with not enough broth is that the noodles and veggies cool down the phở significantly. So by the time you are eating the second half of your phở, it is not hot anymore.
Their menu has a lot of dishes and great for large groups that like to eat different things.
Worth a try.

So I went to Hoover for 4 years and I always passed by this restaurant. I told myself that I would come in but I was afraid it would be too expensive (it’s not).
Anyways, I got off work around 10 pm and was hungry. I got on Unilocal to see what there was around me (which I’m doing often now) and came across Saigon. I decided to give it a try.
I got the stir fry chicken with steamed rice and it was delicious! I’ve gone to other Vietnamese restaurants and have ordered the same thing, but they have tasted a little weird. So far this is the best!

My family and I have been coming here since I was a baby. The ambience is chill. The interior is very spacious and has a lot of tables for a lot of people. It’s always crowded no matter what time of the day it is.
We always get the Com Phan (Special Family Meal). It comes with 4 dishes. We get the one with fish sour soup, sautéed catfish (like in Master Chef with Christine Ha: D), fried beef with broccoli, and peppered salted spicy spare ribs. My favorite is the soup and catfish! The catfish has such a soft and chewy texture! It can be a little salty but if you eat it with a little bit of rice it is perfect! I just can’t get enough! It taste very authentic. I feel like I’m back in Vietnam!
Service is okay. They have their days… sometimes they are quick and sometimes they are slow. But employees are very friendly!
Parking is a little irritating. Very tight spaces and not enough for such a big restaurant.

Since I am vietnamese, my family has been going here for over 10 years. Im actually surprised this place is still open since they don’t seem to get that much business. But anyways, here I am finally writing a review for this place since I went here recently.
SETTING:
Small parking lot. About 12 parking spaces or so.
Inside is pretty big. Big open spaced. Lots of tables. Can get cramped between tables though. Great place for large parties.
Huge fish tank in the middle with giant gold fish. Some of the gold fish are pretty cool.
They also have fish tanks with live lobster.
FOOD:
They offer a large variety of choices from appetizers, rice plates, noodles, soups, vegetarian, beef, chicken, pork, etc.
Through my personal experience here throughout the years, I would prefer their dry plates over their soups (phở, bun bo hue, etc). because their noodle soups are often times very bland and unpleasing. But their rice plates and noodle plates are quite impressive.
My all time favorite dish is Banh Hoi Chao Tom Nem Nuong (Grilled meat with shrimp cakes and fine rice noodles) $ 10.95
For those of you who has never tried «Banh Hoi», you are missing out ! It is basically fine rice noodles that are attached together to make them similar to a pancake. Then you eat it with assorted meat, veggies (lettuce, cucumber, pineapple, bean sprouts, etc) and top it off with «nuoc mam» (mixed fish sauce). It is DELICIOUS !! Try it out !
SERVICE:
They always seat you quickly and provide you drinks.
The food, on the other hand, takes a very long time to come out so do come early and expect a wait. Sometimes they might forget your order too, so do remind them.