A couple of Sunday’s ago my honey and I went on a date after church. We had the pleasure of enjoying a movie and lunch. I wanted to try this place called Saigon Noodles, so he decided to take me.
Saigon Noodles is a Vietnamese restaurant. This restaurant is know for their healthy yet delicious food. The dishes at Saigon Noodles consist of fresh ingredients and a very minimal use of oil. Vietnamese is known by many as one of the top ranked healthiest food in the world. Herbs is one of the main ingredients of a Vietnamese dish, which not only gives the dish a very fresh, but yet yummy taste.
The food is made fresh to order. Saigon Noodles is a very nice family environment that is a great place for lunch or dinner. The food is moderately price and there is something on the menu to accommodate everyone in the family.
As you can see in the pictures above and below that the restaurant is nicely decorated. Though the place that is not very big, it is very homey and cozy.
We started with two appetizers, spring rolls and fried shrimp. The spring rolls consisted of fresh shredded lettuce, cilantro, mint leaves, vermicelli, rice noodles, slice pork & shrimp wrapped in rice paper. Which was served with a peanut dipping sauce.
Pictured above is the spring rolls. The spring roll looked amazing, but didn’t appear that it would be very tasty. The presentation was awesome. This spring roll was good.
The peanut sauce was scrumptious. I won’t lie when I saw that the dish came with peanut sauce, I was a little hesitant to try it, but I was surprisingly impressed. A must try. I will be honest, it won’t appeal to every one’s taste bud, but it is definitely worth the try. I loved the freshness of the spring roll.
Pictured above is the Vietnamese sugar cane shrimp. This dish is fried ground shrimp, paste wrapped around sugar cane. Served with sweet and sour sauce. Omg.. This shrimp was amazing. So so good. The dipping sauce was crazy good. We really enjoyed this appetizer. After we were finished eating, we both said, we should have ordered two of this dish! Lol.. Yum yum..
I ordered the beef ox tail and tripe beef noodle combination soup & Brian ordered the beef ox tail and the eye round steak beef noodle soup. Pictured above is what the soup looks like when they bring it to your table. The soup consist of a hearty broth that is known as Pho. Most Pho’s are made with ginger, cloves, charred onions, fennel seeds, cinnamon & star anise (spice).
The dish alone had a great flavor. In my opinion, it didn’t have enough spice. The beef oxtail was very good and tender! Which makes for a great piece of meat, but the tripe in my opinion was a little tough. The noodles are rice noodles, light and airy noodles but very filling. This soup can be eaten whether it is 30 degrees or 100 degrees outside. A very hefty soup and healthy.
The portion sizes were large. I had a good amount of soup left that I could take with me to go.
The soup is served with a variety of garnishes. Fresh scallions, cilantro, coriander, sweet basil, bean sprouts, peppers and lime. We used the scallions, cilantro, a few pinches of basil and a hint of lime. This added a different taste to the soup and in a good way.
In addition to the garnishes, there are other sauces that can be added for additional flavor. There is the choice of Spice Hoisen sauce, Siracha, Soy sauce or a red pepper flake sauce. I loved the Siracha and the red pepper flake sauce in my soup.
I like the fact that though the soup has amazing flavor the soup is not prepared with a lot of spice. Which gives the customer the ability to add the spice to the level of heat that is most suitable for the customer. Definitely a great option and everyone can leave happy.
If you are going to add the sauces, do so in moderation. If you add too much, your mouth will be on fire! Kmsl.. The red pepper flake gave the soup such a great flavor in addition to the other spices and herbs. You can see the red pepper flakes sauce in the picture below. Great flavor.
Brian had the same soup as me with the exception of the tripe, instead he had the eye round steak. Which was pretty good as well. Very tender. The meat in the soups are prepared perfectly.
Overall our experience at Saigon Noodles was superb. The service was great. The waiter was willing to answer whatever questions that we had. She was kind and polite. She refilled the drinks without us having to ask.
More importantly the food was excellent. We are looking forward to dining again at Saigon Noodles. Definitely a great place. There are many types of hearty soups, appetizers and other dishes. There is a variety of things on the menu, so you are not limited to only a few types of meats. Also, as I stated earlier, the dishes are moderately priced.
Let me say this, some people will love this place, where others will hate it. Those who don’t have a mature pallet, this place may not be for you. The food is very light, but hearty and authentic Vietnamese food. The dishes are not full of grease, but a much healthier choice. We can all use a good healthy but delicious meal with well-balanced flavors.
My only negative comment would be that Saigon Noodle didn’t have a dessert menu. Lol. You know us ladies love our sweets, but other than that I wouldn’t change a thing about this place!
I definitely recommend that you try this place.
Saigon Noodles is located at 2865 Ambassador Caffery Parkway near Albertsons, 456-3317. The hours of operation are Tuesday-Saturday 10:30 am – 9:00pm & Sunday 11:00 am – 6:00 pm, closed on Mondays.
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