Saigon Cuisine

When I go to Saigon, I only order one thing: the house special bun. It has everything for about the same price as the other bun options, which is a steal. Regardless of what you order, the portion here is big. I don’t find the taste particularly memorable, though. Don’t expect super-​friendly service here.

Their phở is great and service is fast and friendly! They take cards as payment which is super convenient and honestly, always questionable with Asian restaurants. Been here twice and each time I left with my phở bowls empty and happily satisfied!

In town for just a day… found Saigon Cuisine on Unilocal! Thank you Unilocal!Awesome food, amazing portions, fast service, decent prices… Excellent!

Came here for lunch and decided to get enough to have leftovers for dinner. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very good.
In theory, the large phở is a pretty good deal, but even though it’s well done, the brisket is incredibly dry and tastes more like botched jerky than brisket from a typical Viet place. Their noodles to broth ratio is very off, with far too many noodles. I got my leftover phở to go and even after normal absorption, there should’ve been more broth. I’ve taken leftover phở and noodle soup to go at plenty of other places and never returned home to basically an entire container of noodles. For whatever reason, the jalapenos here are much hotter than any I’ve ever had at a Viet restaurant. Lastly, and most egregiously, there was something in my phở that was not meant for consumption. I’m not sure what they’re doing in their kitchen.
The grilled chicken bun was better, but not even close to the better ones in the area. There was one piece of mint in the entire dish, which was disappointing because it adds great flavor. The portion of chicken was good, but I’m not sure it was fully cooked. It tasted a bit rubbery and should’ve been grilled longer. The price of the bun was fine, but they should’ve included a spring roll with it like most places do. Charging $ 2 for one, or $ 4 for two is a bit lame.
I would recommend Anh Hong in Upper Darby, Phở Xe Lua in Chinatown, and any of the places in South Philly over Saigon.

Oh Phở, how I love thee.
That being said, I’ve had my share of this Vietnamese bowl of deliciousness around Philly and up and down the East Coast. Unfortunately, my hometown city always came up a bit short. There are great Vietnamese restaurants here, but I’ve never been wowed by their phở.
Enter Saigon Cuisine.
Tucked on the corner of 40^th Street where
University City and West Philly meet is this small gem.
Hell, it’s directly next to an equally small Indian and Thai restaurant. So at quick glance you may lose it in the shuffle. But it’s there, and it’s worth the look.
The outside, I’ll admit, may throw you. The sign is a bit dingy, there’s an empty lot half a block down, can’t see inside to even see of the place is open. But. Once you step in all if your fears are put away
Inside is bright with bamboo floor (I think) with red booths and tables, modern pop music playing in the background and a single TV on mute with what looks to be a Vietnamese news station. Oh, and the smell. You’d live in a dumpster if it smelled like this restaurant.
I got here on a Monday at Noon with a friend and we were seated promptly. Plenty of booths and had an ok crowd. Maybe about ¹⁄₃ full. Our waitress immediately took got us water and handed menus. The menu here is small but gets the point across.
I ordered the brisket phở (large) and steamed pork dumplings. While my friend ordered beef eye phở and summer rolls.
The food (minus my dumplings) were out in no time. Which tells me they have this stuff at the ready. Good move, ownership. The summer rolls we’re bulky, full of greens and shrimp and came with a sweet peanut sauce for dipping. My dumplings came out fresh, hot, and with a little sear on them from the grill. Also with a dipping sauce. And once they were cooled I couldn’t keep them out of my mouth. So sad when I had gone through my serving of 5.
Now the phở.
Our waitress started by bringing out a plate of bean sprouts, jalapeños, sliced limes and a bottle of soy sauce. I was super excited when I saw that huge bowl coming my way. I could smell the spices before our waitress even put them down. The bowl was pretty big. Definitely a large bowl if there ever was one. The meat was tender in sliced pieces making them flavorful and easy to eat, the noodles were cooked to perfection. The broth at the end was so good I had to forego the spoon and drink it from the bowl.
So, needless to say I am a fan if this small slice of phở heaven.
The only reason it’s ⁴⁄₅ stars is the wait staff. I get it was a slow lunch rush and there weren’t many people in but to see the entire staff with their noses buried in their phones within view of the customers was a bit off putting. I don’t wanna bash too hard. Because when it was game time our waitress came ready to play. We didn’t wait too long for food or refills or anything. I guess it just seemed unprofessional to see them all in the phone. But other than that, they were great.
I’ll definitely be dining here again when I need a phở fix.

So you’re hungover or craving Phở but don’t want to venture down to Washington Ave? Me too. and this is where I go for that
No, it doesn’t even come close to the phở on Washington Ave, but is it good enough to cure your craving or hangover? Yes
The prices are a bit more compared to Washington, $ 8.50 or $ 9.50 for chicken phở small and large respectively, sizes are the same as Washington ave but definitely not as authentic.
They used sliced chicken, like the same type you would get in a Chicken and broccoli over rice type dish, not the ones that have been stewed to make the phở chicken broth — due to that the flavor is not as deep as your authentic phở, but is more like a chicken noodle soup.
The scallion pancakes I got were very flakey and fried well.
I’ll continue to come here when I’m too lazy for Washington Ave, but keep in mind you won’t get the same quality.

I walk by this hole in the wall every morning on my way to work and have never thought twice about it, but today I was in the mood for Thai or Vietnamese food. As usual, I consulted Unilocal (since I know there aren’t many decent Asian places nearby, despite the high Asian population here) and figured that I would give it a try.
Positive thing #1– You can pre-​order takeout right from the Unilocal app. I chose to do this and eat outside in the park (one block away).
Positive thing #2– My order was ready when I arrived, and I showed up a few minutes early.
I took note of the students in the restaurant (usually a good sign), the clean, relaxed atmosphere, and a foreign news program on TV (also a good sign), and left to enjoy the outdoors.
I ordered veggie bun (rice vermicelli) with spring rolls. The sauce for the bun was on the side to prevent the spring rolls from getting soggy– nice touch. The top of the meal was covered with finely-​chopped nuts with good flavor. The spring rolls were fried but not heavy or greasy (yay!). The bun itself was light and flavorful (though it could have had more veggies).
I would have rated this place 4 stars if it weren’t for the signature headache that I get after eating MSG that is currently developing.