Saigon

if you like phở then ask for beef broth with for your chicken. the chef is not vitmise and has less I go about the viatnamise cooking .
all in all acceptable exprience

I’d say this is actually one of the best places for Vietnamese in Amsterdam. Given there only about 4, it’s not saying too much, but I do think it deserves a higher rating. Some people talk about Vietnamese in other cities, but you just can’t compare on that scale.
They have a very affordable lunch combo with a beef Bahn mi and phở soup. Since I don’t eat red meat, I usually go with the veg phở or shrimp vermicelli noodles. Their cha gio rice paper deep fried spring rolls are legit — not the typical egg roll wrapper loempia that everyone in Ams serves.
They’ve changed chefs/​menus it seems in the past year and I think it’s an improvement.

Good lunch prices although only two things in the offer, both containing some delicious Bahn Mi sandwiches. The Tofu one was great and the salad was ok.
Really calm as well, 4 – 5 tables at 13:00 on a Tuesday.

Wouldn’t recommend. I had really good Vietnamese in Berlin and wanted to relive the goodness of Monsieur Vng in Berlin but I was expecting way too much and this place was really below average. The good thing about it is that the setting is pretty good in a nice street, and the portions are really really large. Think XL.
All that couldn’t save the food though. It’s really easy to fail at asian food because of all the spices and ingredients involved. The soup for the bun bo hue I ordered was not as flavorful as it should be and the spring rolls were really too oily to be Vietnamese.

Considering the tourist area you’re in I’m always impressed with the gorgeous and super tasty food they serve here. The prices are very reasonable as well. Staff is friendly and you’ll not see that many tourists there. The omelette with coconut milk is amazing.

To be honest, I didn’t expect much about this restaurant at first. However, the quality of phở in here is one of the best phở I’ve ever had, and I am a Vietnamese.

I’m a phở enthusiast. Or, at least, I used to be – phở in Los Angeles, Orange County was cheap, plentiful, and amazing.
So far, my experience with Vietnamese food in the Netherlands hasn’t been the greatest, but Saigon changes the perception a little bit.
I had a phở dac biet, which was great because the broth actually had flavor. I’m sad that adding tripe costs extra (sad face), but the option to even have tripe is nice. The pork cha gio was bland (yet expensive!) and the 7-​color dessert at the end was decent.
Worth a visit.
Also, as we were leaving, a friendly woodland creature ran across the floor. Excellent.

There are several «Saigon“s in Amsterdam. I always get confused. XP
This is so far the best «Saigon» I experienced in this city.
It is a place combining perfect location and really traditional Vietnamese food. Was keep ordering the phở tai, rice noodle soup with stew beef/​raw beef and vegetables each time I go there. Really really yummy, they must have special secret recipe for the soup to make it soooo delicious XD While today when I went there, I decided to explore their menu a bit, that’s how I found another impressive dish, bo phở xao. It’s fried rice noodle with omelet, veggie and beef.
Talking about drinks, avocado milk shake is definitely highly recommended! They also have a cocktail menu, sounds exciting for cocktail lovers? XP

Not particularly delicious but good enough to make us full :) The problem is everything comes as a ‘set’ I.e. always food with rice or bread. So there are not much choice to order as snack or side dish. Asian loves variety you know :)

This little shop is not super far from my workplace, so I’m here at least once every week or so.
Service can be hit and miss. Sometimes it’s AWESOME and sometimes well. it’s Amsterdam after all!
Since Amsterdam is seemingly picking up their Vietnamese food game, compared to a few of the other new gems, this place might not be your first choice. But they do consistently good food and sometimes, that’s all you need.
On a cool winters day? A bowl of phở is the way to go and lucky for you, these guys have more than 5 different kinds of phở on the menu!
But for me, I highly recommend their lunch specials. They’re an absolute STEAL for under € 10. And whilst here, you must try their lemon grass ice tea. It’s seriously the best thing on their menu.
If you’re in the neighbourhood, this place is worth a visit. Except maybe avoid the vietnamese pancake. There are infinitely more tasty things on that giant menu. Trust me!

Convenient and tasty. Keep in mind that this place is located on the second floor in the very busy tourist area of Leidseplein. The phở may be a bit overpriced But the bun salad bowls we’re amaze balls! And the lemongrass ice tea was Delish too… just maybe a tad bit too sweet. Yes you can’t get tap water here but why not try something a bit more exotic while you’re here. Do it.

Good food but terrible service. The waitress seemed unimpressed at us asking for a table for 4 despite the restaurant only being half full. When the two others asked for a menu they said they had run out of menus!!! It took over half an hour for our meals to come out and although they were tasty, they weren’t worth the half hour wait.

Wanted some Asian food in the Leidseplein area and a friend suggested trying this place. Normally I love Vietnamese food and the mains (phở, summer rolls, fried rolls) were passable but the service was really bad. I ordered a coconut drink and the coconut milk had gone bad so I had to wait to get another one.
The worst was that the restaurant illegally refused to serve us tap water. It is the law in Holland that any restaurant must serve you tap water when you ask for it. When we asked for it (as well as ordering other drinks as well as many dishes) they refused. When I said it was the law they said their water was contaminated.
Living in Holland for many many years, I know that the tap water quality is one of the best in the world.
Avoid this cheap ass place with mediocre food, bad/​illegal service.

Phở-​nomenily not impressed…
I LOVE phở.
So much that I once competited for title of Phở King.
I ulitmately failed because others love phở more than me.
This is all irrelevant, but none the less… I love me some phở.
Of course mommy’s phở is the best, and second to that is mine… but sometimes I don’t feel like slaving in the kitchen all day like an obidient Vietnamese mail-​order bride and would like someone to put a big ol pot o’ phở in front of my face. Thus, my trip to Saigon one chill May Sunday Funday afternoon.
I’ve been here before and tried many of the items. I think this is the only Amsterdam Vietnamese place that doesn’t have Vietnamese people working there, but if you read my review over the Vietnamese Restaurant Welcome on Zeedijk, you’ll see this has little to do with having good food or not. Here’s how I would sum up this Viet-​establishment above the crazy street known as Leidsestraat.
The Good:
— Giant orchids hanging over black furniture. Doesn’t look Vietnamese at all, but puts you in the Asian spirit. Number 39 with rice anyone?! But the best part is sitting next to the window so you can view all the hustle and bustle of toursists crowded in the streets remincent of a rat infestation overflowing the sewers of central London. (I’m a big fan of vermin watching)
— Other than phở, one of the staple dishes for Vietnamese restaurants is Bun Thit Nuong Cha Gio. They have it here and I thought it was acceptable. The meat is cooked kind of in a Dutch style, but it still tastes good!
The Bad:
— I don’t like much else here… I don’t know many places in Amsterdam to get Bahn Mis and here… they aren’t so great. If you get the traditional Dac Biet (combination), the meat is weird and they use Mayo instead of pâté or butter. And you don’t get many veggies or spicy chili.
— The Cha Gio, or eggroll (which Dutch people call Loempia) was ok, but I wouldn’t order it again. It definitely lacks the flavor that makes cha gios so yummy! Again… better made at home!
The Ugly:
— The phở… The poor phở-​cking phở… They had the rare beef kind where the meat is raw and you let the soup cook it… but it barely had flavor! I was happy they gave me some veggies on the side (as a lot of restaurants skimp on that), but if you are a phở fan, your phở craving will NOT be phở-​filled here.
One thing to note… if there is no Sriracha sauce and Hoison sauce on each table… 100% the place will not have good phở. This is the STAPLE of vietnamese food and without it… well… technically speaking, it’s just phở-​cked up!

Vietnamese food isn’t as popular in the Netherlands as the other Asian cuisines, but it is nice that there is at least a place to go for your phở cravings. Saigon café is worlds apart from what I’m used to (in New York) but it is decent. If you’re craving Vietnamese food, it hits the spot.
Food: ³⁄₅
Overall the food was tasty. The fried loempias were fried perfectly but that seems to be the general trend here. The Dutch are super good at frying things. There was a beef salad that was also very tasty. Now… to the star of any Vietnamese meal, the phở.
The offerings were definitely catering to Dutch tastes. The noodles were thicker than I’m used to and the broth was also more salty, but there was an abundance of meat in the phở. I’ve definitely had better phở (not in Amsterdam), but it seemed a good value for how much beef you get.
Service: ³⁄₅
This was normal. The waitress didn’t check in with us constantly (which I prefer) but was around when you needed her.
Atmosphere: ⁴⁄₅
It is located right on Leidsestraat and 2 floors above the street. If you sit by the window, you get a great view. It is lots of fun to people watch and see the tram go by. The location is super convenient.
Value: ⁴⁄₅
They offered a tasting menu for ~40ish euros for 2 people and there were tons of food in that menu. I thought that it was a pretty good value. I know some people may say that 15 euros for a bowl of phở is ridiculous but this is Amsterdam and people have paid the same amount for ramen which is also a comfort food.

I had read somewhere to only get the phở, which I did, and I was not at all impressed. My friend got the rice which was also mediocre at best. Service was also not great. I won’t go back.

I had lunch here with some friends on a Tuesday. You have to climb two stairs to get to the restaurant and there’s no elevator as far as I know. Apart from us, only one other table was taken and the rest of the restaurant was empty. I had to take some points off the score for serving jasmine tea with tea bags.
We ordered a beef phở, shrimp rice rolls, pancakes with shrimp & pork and chicken fried rice noodle. The food arrived quickly but it wasn’t piping hot and turned lukewarm very fast which dampened our experience. The rice rolls, phở and pancakes were pretty good. However, the chicken in the fried rice noodle dish didn’t taste that fresh.
By the time we finished our meal the restaurant was empty except for us and the wait staff seemed to have disappeared too so I grabbed a menu myself to look at dessert options.
The star of our meal was the dessert. We had fried banana with coconut custard and a warm banana/​tapioca/​coconut pudding.
All in all, I wasn’t wowed by the mains and have tasted better flavors elsewhere. The food wasn’t bad but with these prices I’ll continue looking for other options.

Let’s temper expectations here… This is Amsterdam. Do you really expect phenomenal Vietnamese food here? That said, to any phở fans, yes it is actually decent but the idea of paying € 14 for phở is insane, ridiculous — not even sure what word to use here. Phở is affordable comfort food. Unless you used a magic cow to make that broth it’s really goes against common sense to pay that much.
There is a yummy dessert made of tapioca on the menu. I would definitely go back for that!

This restaurant is owned by the same people that runs the all-​you-​can-​eat sushi restaurants in town, so we know that this is not going to be real authentic vietnamese food. The service was okay even though my food arrived about 30 minutes later than the my friends — apparently they were short-​staffed that night.
That said, the Beef Phở I had was good as were the Bun dishes ordered by the rest. The fresh summer rolls could have more herbs in it. The price-​quality was certainly better than most other vietnamese restaurants in the city. It’s probably not a place for a fun dinner with friends, but I will recommend it if you’re looking for a quick lunch or dinner.

So, let me start by saying that my review may be a little biased because I’m considering the neighbourhood in my rating too. And thats because I’m not a fan of this area in Amsterdam at all. So, if you dont want to run into hoards of tourists and are looking for a cozy & warm place — this is not it.
Ambience — the place has an upscale-​ish décor but not very well done and I didn’t enjoy the dark, black walls etc.
Service — Okay
Drinks — They have all sorts of wines and drinks but not tasteful selection
Food — Food is actually fairly good but the rest of the elements were a killjoy to my vietnamese food experience.