Saigon Saigon

Food: they have two menus, one for dim sum and the other for stir-​fries and other Northern Chinese dishes.
Their dim sum was below average. Some items were ok, others were just so off.
But their stir-​fried dishes were really good and authenticate. I’ve tried the hunan style pork dish, shredded pork w/​chilli and veggies, Szechuan spicy chicken, and all were very good.
Service: alright services. Food came w/​o much wait.

We came here around 5:30 for an early dinner of dim sum and this place was packed. I realize that dim sum is usually a lunch meal, but it is advertised for dinner as well at Saigon Saigon. When we came in we were given a print off of all the dim sum items that were sold out. It turned out that most of what we wanted was on that list, but we decided to persevere and try new things. After we waited about half an hour our order was finally taken, and then 5 minutes later the waitress came back and told us 3 of the things we ordered were now sold out as well. This happened one more time before we could finally secure our dinner order. *whew* Once the food came it was delicious. Everything we got was cooked perfectly and didn’t disappoint. Trying to order dessert however was another fail and required us flagging down a manager after waiting another half an hour on that. We never did get a drink refill either, although the mandarin speakers at the table next to us seemed to get prompt service. So for food (what was left of it) I give 5 stars, and for service I give 1 star. I’d recommend coming earlier and on a weekday if you want to try it.

Food was okay actually. It’s just we waited over one hour to get the food. But if you don’t mind waiting, this is a good place for dim sum.

Having lived in Germany for the past 3.5yrs and travelled around Europe&UK, this place is delicious! Has authentic food, like the stuff my family orders at dinner in Chinatown. They also have dim sum a la cart… aka all the time! For americans, there is the typical American Chinese menu e.g. beef broccoli, wanton soup in addition to lunch buffet. Oh and did I mention free Wifi!

Came across this restaurant as we were walking on Prince Street and decided to try the dim sum. I have had dim sum in some of the cities with Chinatowns like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. I have to say — best dim sum I have ever had. It was made fresh and the fillings were flavorful. Try the glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo!!!

Some of the best Chinese I have had! Came for an early dinner. We were promptly seated, drinks orders taken, we were ready to order when the drinks arrived. We had the minced pork and eggplant, rice, octopus with peppers.
We were sharing plates so the staggered delivery was fine with us, food came out hot. Both dishes were spicy with different degrees of heat and peppers.
Casual setting with many Asian dinners always a good indicator of good food.

Food is ok while price in reasonable range. Service not good as expected.

DO NOT GO HERE! We waited for over an hour for our sub-​par food and then when the food was finally delivered, we were heckled by the manager that it was somehow our fault that our order never got placed. Totally livid when I left and didn’t even get a discount on the meal. Staff is poorly managed, totally confused as to what is going on and the food wasn’t even worth the effort. Disgusted!

Nur mittags wird ein asiatisches Buffet zum günstigen Preis angeboten. Abends gibt es Menüs und Tellergerichte, die auf einer bebilderten Speisekarte (für Touristen) ablesbar sind. Diese Gerichte sehen zumeist etwas unappetitlich aus, sind aber reichlich bemessen und mit etwas Glück schmecken sie sogar.
Am besten schaut man den vielen hier anwesenden Asiaten auf Tisch und Teller und ordert deren Menüs nach. Überhaupt sind in diesem Lokal sehr viele Asiaten anzutreffen, die durchweg von der nicht bebilderten Karte bestellen.

The dim sum here is so good. I think one of the best places in Edinburgh for dim sum: good quality, good taste, and well priced.
The best part is the manager, Ben. He walked around the restaurant making sure everything was running smoothly and everyone was enjoying their time. He is also very funny and was constantly joking with my table.
So not only was there good food but great service from the manager, and of course the other staff were really helpful. But man, Ben he rocks.

First time here last night and would recommend and be back. The place was full but we got seated without any issues and no booking. Food was delicious and wasn’t too big a portion where you can’t move afterwards but just enough to fill you up enough to enable more shopping. The only criticisms I have hence the 4 starts is the tile it takes to get served and actually get your order in to start with. Also the dim sum was a bit too sloppy because they all stuck to the paper and fell apart instantly, but tasted good. A bit pricey for a bottle of wine but it is on the tourist mile.

We have been backpacking around the UK and Europe and have been craving some good Asian food! This was the first good Asian food we had!
The food is surprisingly authentic and tasty. They have a wide range of delicious dishes on the menu so be prepared to run into some first world problems with deciding! The food can be a little too spicy for some people, so be sure to let them know if you can’t take spice!
The restaurant is in the heart of Edinburgh, and is very large with a nice up beat vibe.
The waiters and waitresses are all really attentive and friendly.
Great place for dinner, and they also serve dim sum all day!

Black bean beef, dim sum served all day, won ton soup… so many more dishes that are all tasty. This hit the spot after a week of bar food. Dishes are better than most Chinese restaurants at home in Los Angeles. Service is quick and attentive. Prices are average.

That 8.99 lunch buffet look tempting? DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! Now it may be b/​c I’m American, and I’ve been spoiled with really great Chinese buffets, but this is by far THE WORST one I’ve ever been to! Pretty much none food tastes fresh, it was either dry, tough, or bland, and no amount of sweet and sour sauce is going to cover that up. Don’t know if any of their regular menu items fast are this dreadful, but you can bet I’m not coming back to find out…

My last meal in Edinburgh before I return to NYC… I was both sad to leave and happy that I had enjoyed my last meal here.
This is probably one of the best Asian restaurants in town.
We came around 7:30 pm and they informed us that they were going to close early tonight.
No problem, we knew we just want a quick meal, we can always take-​out if we didn’t finish.
We had the egg soup, tofu with broccoli, another plate of vegetables, beef noodles (Beef Ho Fun) and some other stuff.
A couple dimsum — they serve dimsum all day — what restaurant does this – this is a HUGE plus for me. We ordered the Viet spring rolls and char siu crispy bun (triangle pork pastry)
You will love the menu… pictures are detailed and right to the point.
You get what you order.
Bathroom in the basement.

Although Saigon Saigon helped me realise the wonderfulness that is Dim Sum, I’m afraid this is where our journey ends.
The service has improved, the food has not.
My pork buns (tee hee, buns) had very little meat in them and my pumpkin balls were overdone. Also, I’m pretty sure no one at our table ordered tripe but it showed up and was on the bill anyway (with 15 people each ordering different dishes it’s hard to say though).
My main problem though was that despite two glasses of water and a pot of tea I left this restaurant last night dying of thirst, with a fuzzy head and my mouth burning, symptoms that I still have 12 hours later. These are the telltale signs that I have eaten too much MSG. I won’t say that Saigon Saigon is adding MSG because I don’t know (it’s a Chinese restaurant and it wouldn’t be surprising), it’s possible some sauce or dough or something they use is just full of the stuff.
I don’t blame Saigon Saigon. Chinese cuisine is known to be chock full of glutamates but unfortunately, it means I can’t go back without clearing the next two days of any kind of thought and abstaining from hot drinks.
Good bye Saigon Saigon, it was nice while it lasted.

The Chinese restaurant so good, it was named twice… after a city in Vietnam which hasn’t been called that in nearly forty years. Yeah, not making loads of sense in my book. Saigon Saigon is a buffet /​dim sum establishment hoping that you will ignore the latter part of their menu (apparently). I approached the restaurant located only a few meters from Princes Street on the basis that they offered dim sum, but when I mentioned I was ordering from it, I got a look indicating that I had stumbled over my line in the script. I guess it’s the obligation that I order the buffet and keep my mouth shut. Far be it for me to accept the role given. Saigon Saigon is packed nearly butt-​to-​elbow with tables with my chair sitting half on wood and half on the carpet leading to the door. Like many restaurants in the UK, the bathrooms are rationed to a different floor. Eventually, I browsed through the dim sum menu, one of the most expansive offerings I’ve ever seen, page after page, scallop dumplings, steam chicken claw with black bean sauce, golden tripe with satay sauce, beancurd rolls, pine nuts veg – what? Yes, steam chicken claw, I didn’t order that. I did order three dishes, including mixed meat dumplings and something called pork egg congee. When I asked what that was, the answer I got was oddly evasive.
«It’s popular with Asian customers.» Is that «cityspeak» for «it’s not mean for you?» I call that a challenge.
I should have taken her advice. It wasn’t bad, just somewhat lacking in… umm… flavor. The crispy egg and pork which topped it tasted good enough but the – I don’t know – gruel tasted like unsalted, unsweetened rice pudding. I know critics of this review will claim that congee IS unseasoned rice pudding. I’ll give you that. In praise, the other two dishes were good and the prices reasonable, with each plate costing between three and four quid, putting it around $ 18 Canadian for the whole meal.
In full disclosure, I was not aware of Saigon Saigon’s past when I enjoyed my meal. Apparently, they went through a major sanitary controversy a couple of years ago, including fines and a temporary closure on health violations. It’s shocking such a thing could happen to a restaurant in such a prime location. Enough time had passed that I can still judge Saigon Saigon on its own merits, and what I can take out of it was that it wasn’t bad, but in the future, it would be better if I ordered the dim sum with a few friends.
And how about that buffet? In a few words, it looked disgusting, meaning crappy western Chinese food is not exclusive to North American. It makes me worried that there might not be a good Chinese restaurant in Edinburgh if one in such a prime location is unwilling to deliver quality food.
However, what I ordered was dim sum, and dim sum I enjoyed. If you are wandering around Princes Street, Saigon Saigon is not the best place to enjoy a meal but considering so many of the other restaurants are fast food franchises, there are plenty worse.
Food: ³⁄₅
Service: ²⁄₅
Presentation: 2.5÷5
Value: ³⁄₅
Recommendation: 2.6÷5

I mean it’s my second time to had lunch in Saigon, we had dim sum this time, kinda like the din sum, I think it’s better then the normal lunch. service is fine.

I was here 2 years ago visiting Edinburgh with my high school friend who studies in England. It was right around Christmas time and trust me on this, you will find NO restaurants! And I mean ABSOLUTELY NO restaurants that are open except for Chinese and Indian restaurants. So this place became our life savor.
I’m probably a little biased about the food but when it’s 0 Celsius outside and everywhere is dead, you’ll appreciate anything they bring you. The food here was very authentic and delicious. I think we ordered braised pork and dim sum, and they were freaking delicious! If you’re a Chinese food lover like me and find yourself in Edinburgh around Christmas or New Years, this is THE place to go!

We stayed at Jurys Inn and were referred here by the desk clerk for Chinese food. We were lucky to get a table because the place was almost full, mostly with Asians — good sign I thought!
My sesame prawn rolls came first. OMG, they were to die for good. Crisp wrappers with sesame seeds on one side and filled with perfectly cooked prawns and nothing else and so meaty! They were good size but I still didn’t want to share so I ate faster than Dale so I could get my fill. Then came the szechuan beef — too hot for me but he loved it and the couple next to us were enjoying theirs as well. In fact we made friends with them and they told us that we were eating at the very best Chinese place in Edinburgh. We also had sweet & sour pork — outstanding although I was disappointed that there was no onion in the dish. We also had the mushroom egg foo young. It’s not served like we’re used to in America. Instead it’s sort of chopped up and there is no bean sprouts. It was still wonderful and all of the food tasted so fresh.
We shared a banana fritter with a scoop of ice cream. If I ever visit Scotland again, this will be my first stop for dinner and I will order plenty of the sesame prawn rolls!

OK I must admit that I was a little apprehensive trying this place after reading fellow Unilocaler’s reviews and also it having a Vietnamese (wtf) name… not to mention an all you can eat lunch buffet (read: DANGER WILL ROBERTSON! :P) but I had a craving for yum cha (dim sum) so thought for the sake of the Unilocal community I’d try it out and report my findings.
So, had the Dim Sum/​Yum Cha — note that this is a not a trolley-​based service, rather you order from the picture-​book and it comes out after about 20 minutes. Was able to order dishes at different times and they all came out roughly after the same time.
Food quality was quite good, surprisingly good — the pork buns (cha siu bau) and prawn rice noodles (cheung fun) were really good, the pork ribs (pai gwat), sticky rice and crabmeat dumplings (siu mai) were all adequate. I’ve had better in Hong Kong and perhaps Sydney however they weren’t horrible. Turnip cake (lo buck gow) was also very nice. Custard tarts were very nice also for sweets.
My dining partner had never been to Yum Cha/​Dim Sum before — she was impressed — and I must say it was a good introduction to Yum Cha quality-​wise.
Service was the typical «fucks not given» (phrase borrowed from a Melbourne Unilocaler) Chinese restaurant style that we’ve globally all come to love however with a little persistence I was able to get all the food, tea refills and bill that I wanted :)
PS: I did note there was a Chinese-​language-​only larger Dim Sum menu available than the picture-​book-​for-​starters however I can’t read Chinese and only saw this after getting the bill so can’t comment on the dishes without pictures™.

Besonders zu empfehlen ist das Angebot an Dim Sum. Die Hauptgänge waren eher durchschnittlich und zum Teil unappetilich viel. Die Bedienung ist sehr zuvorkommend und aufmerksam.
Das Angebot ist eher autenthisch, daher kommt sicher der hohe Anteil an Cinesen unter den Gästen.
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