Saigon Flower Restaurant

This place isn’t terrible to say the least. I have had a lot worse Chinese food. However it doesn’t always blow my socks off. I find the pricing to be fairly cheap seeing as you can get 6 chicken balls, chicken fried rice and an egg roll all for $ 9.99 and they do serve decent portions. It’s usually just my go to place if I am craving Chinese and don’t want to walk too far. I do live in the neighborhood just a few blocks away so this place does kill the craving for what it’s worth.
The service isn’t the friendliest. The lady that works there who everyone speaks of seems to just be in a rush and seems exhausted all the time and a tad rude at times. The TV is always on playing some sort of Asian movie and that is pretty much the soundtrack to your dinner if you opt to dine in. There really are only 3 booths and a couple of tables to sit at. This place is never ever packed but there will occasionally be max 8 – 10 people sitting there if they are lucky on a Friday evening.
I haven’t tried anything other than my regular combo that I order for $ 9.99 as nothing else seems too appetizing.
If you are in the neighborhood and are craving Chinese. go for it, but as others say. don’t break your ankles just to get there as their are several other great places to dine in.

Went there after the Drake’s kithen had closed– shortly after 11pm on a Sunday. Saigon was open. My friend ordered Phở which he had no complaints about — me, I wanted something sweet, I asked the lady (the same lady everyone speaks of in the previous comments) for fried bananas. She replies «I DONT HAVE THAT». I say «Ok, what cake do you have?» She just shook her head no. I then asked her more generally «Ok, what do you have that is sweet???» she says nothing. No ice-​cream, no cake, no fried bananas as the menu suggests.
–_​–

Bloody awful. We saw the place on Restaurant Makeover a few years back. So we went there. The problem with the food was apparently that it was bland. The tv show chef showed her how to cook with flavor. In other words, at least bust out the salt and pepper. Well, I guess the girl in the kitchen forgot whatever they showed her. Our food was so bland, I asked the waitress if she could take my food back into the kitchen and add some cooking oil. It was awful. Never went back to the place. No thanks. And my date wasn’t impressed either.

It’s tough to describe Saigon Flower, it’s an interesting spot. By ‘interesting’ I mean a few things, depending on the day. On one hand, it’s a decent down and dirty Chinese food in area that’s got more pizza joints than it does Chinese. The food is okay, but not what you’d call bursting with flavor. When you want a #7 Combo of sweet and sour chicken balls, ribs and fried rice, this’ll do just fine. There’s nothing really WRONG with the food from here, which is probably not what you’re wanting to hear when someone suggests a place to eat. It’s a great place for when you’re craving the standard for greasy Chinese take out. What’s probably most noteworthy about Saigon is the woman who operates the place. She’s never been rude to me per se, but she often looks like she’d prefer to be scraping paint off the side of a barn with her fingernails than sitting at the counter taking food orders. I went in about three times in two weeks once and she didn’t remember me at all, which is not to say that I feel like I demand to be remembered and it’s absurd I wasn’t, it’s the way she seemed to take about ¹⁄₁₀ of a second to say she didn’t remember me right about four days after I’d been there and we’d had a nice conversation, like you’d expect to be remembered strictly by the lack of time elapsed. Not a big deal, but is funny when you try and be friendly and the person there looks like they’re already at home on their sofa watching the shopping channel four hours later. Also, the restaurant itself is ALWAYS empty. Save for one time I walked by and there was 3 people in there, it’s ALWAYS empty. Not a good sign.
The prices are pretty decent though and the food generally doesn’t take too long.
I’m giving this place an unenthusiastic but still decent 2 stars. Go if you’re close, don’t break an ankle getting there if you’re not.

Portions sucks and prices were high.
We ordered fried rice and it was not good at alll. Its like they put left iver meats and fried it all together.
The fried egg rolls, vietenamese roll and veggie roll is at par but nothing great.
We also ordered sweet and sour shrimps… which was fried battered shrimps served with side of sweet and sour sauce.
Service was quick and the lady was friendly.
If your craving chinese food… and portion/​quality of food is not a big deal… than this place will do the trick as its a step uo from street meat after a night out… and looking for a place open late.

Those who has seen my other reviews would know that I have been pretty fair with my reviews, some may say I may even be a tad generous. This time however, it is not the case.
I was working in the area and had a craving for sushi, and this was the closest sushi place that was in walking distance. I went online to look at their menu and made a pick up order of a red dragon roll along with some salmon sashimi.
Walked into the place, it was empty, went up to the counter and notice on the display case on the right side were bits and pieces of salmon wrapped in seran wrap. I was worried that the salmon might be old, but I paid and carried it back to work.
I made sure to smell the salmon just in case and it smelt of lemon. I ignored it and ate a piece. After chewing a few times, I started smelling the fishy smell from my breath, tasting that old fishy taste. Needless to say, I gave up on the sashimi.
I had better hopes for the red dragon roll (after peeling off the salmon) The rice tasted like it was from a day or two ago, the shrimp tempura was stale. The only thing good in the roll was the avocado.
I won’t be returning to this place, and sadly, I would not recommend it to anyone.

I used to frequent this spot a number of years ago, great soups, nicely packaged up for a pick up or sit in. Years later having moved back thought it would still be good. But time has worn away the charm and the messy bar and disorganization should have been a clue. The food was terrible. Soggy chicken, greasy rolls and rice. It was all so unmemorable but for the musty smell omitting from all the dishes. I really wish this place would change hands so we can get some decent takeout spots around here.

Where to start with Saigon Flower. There are just so many things that went wrong here last night, that in the end it was hilarious. But will never go back.
My general Tso tofu was soggy and bland. My partner ordered the vegetarian noodles but surprise surprise got fried pork which actually smelled like it was rotting. This terrible food took 45 minutes to arrive. Two other groups already left because they couldn’t wait any longer. A woman came in for take-​out twice in the span of an hour because they had not yet finished her phone order. Then there was the man yelling «This is madness!» because the machine declined his credit card three times whereas his bank (on the phone) kept telling him that the payment had successfully processed. And the staff at the restaurant refused to talk to him.
Never seen so much restaurant drama in my life.

Spicy tuna, phở with chicken, and taro bubble tea are all delicious!
Came in with a friend on a Monday afternoon, it was super dead. Just a single woman working and we ordered way too much food. The woman was happy to make recommendations, and we had a great time. Fuck the haters

I’m here right now and the female owner is actually cutting her nails in the service bar area in the main dining room. We just asked her to stop because we’re on the verge of throwing up… It’s very unhygienic! She obliged. This is sick. Where is the no star option?

I went to the Drake hotel for a poetry slam, as usual.
Then I was like — the weather is so nice and calm and breezy and beautiful, and it is 11 p.m., what can I eat?
Oh Saigon Flower? sushi and har gow? GREAT.
Anyways — no. I ordered the har gow, Phở, sushi. Fail on all. I felt like I was eating acid and bleach. I dont know how to explain this. The HarGow did NOT have real shrimp in it.
I would never eat here again. It says open till 330 a. m, which is cool for the late night crowd but… no.
I wish I went to Subway next door.

Quiet stroll on queen street with a friend and our hunger level going up we opted to eat here.
We were the only customer there so the service was quick and although the menu is messy to look at the options were good.
I ordered some spicy chicken dish with rice. The food came out quick enough but i was left wishing they took the time. The chicken was overcooked and dry and I only ate the stuff out of pure hunger.
Since on this side of Queen Street there are not really many Asian food options, so I can see why this place is still running and I can only guess that during busier times the food is more fresh and tastier.

Saigon’s got a bad rap, so I thought I’d come here to clear some things up.
The «matron» previous reviewers have referred to is a lovely lady named Rose. She has a great sense of humour and stands by her food. She’s a no nonsense kind of woman who has been running her business for almost 27 years. I actually only recently learned that this place was on Restaurant Makeover from a drunk girl ordering chicken balls and making all of us laugh, including Rose, with her knowledge of the history of fortune cookie presses.
I admit I haven’t tried too much here, but there are two staples I generally fall back on. First, the veggie lo-​mein. I always order this by mistake, but am never too disappointed. It features seasoned noodles with lots of bean sprouts and green onions. What I always mean to order is the veggie chow-​main. When you order it they ask if you’re vegan because the dish is made with chicken broth. If you’re vegan they’ll do it without, but I like keeping the chicken broth in there for flavour. This dish comes with your standard chinese mixed vegetables. I find it quite tasty, but I also add a few spoonfuls of sweet & sour sauce to my noodles. This makes me happy.
This place is great because it’s open super late on weekends. I wouldn’t say it’s the cheapest, but the portions are generous and you can always get multiple meals out of one order.
The menu is huge and the place is never too busy (most people get their food to go), but the food is consistent and quite tasty! Don’t be afraid to give this place a chance.

THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENT IS CLASSIFIED.
Minute 1: My squad arrives, tired and broken after a tough night. We figure this is our last chance before Dovercourt so we bite the bullet. My forward scout, Cpl Duguay, ducks in for a recon and signals back that it looks safe. We follow.
Minute 2: It’s a ghost town. No sign of anyone, friendly or foe. We hear nothing. We say hello. We turn to leave. Half the squad’s out of dodge, but two were caught behind by the woman. We took our seats and felt chills in our spines.
Minute 3: Photos of death marches on the walls. We’re scared. Lieutenant Walsh is scared out of her wits, whispering prayers to gods that never knew this hellhole existed. My communications officer Kim jokes about an eleven-​hundred-​hours vodka after receiving a menu. He’s told by the lady to wait a minute for her to get a notepad.
Minute 8: The lady returns without a notepad. She asks if we’re ready to order. Everyone was paralyzed. She’ll come back in a minute.
Minute 10: We decided on safe choices, hoping our plain orders would be enough of a distraction to cover our exit. Vietnamese joint, vermicelli all around. No problem, right? Right? Cpl. Duguay answers his radio and tells a friend we’re getting a quick meal at a nice place. How wrong he is, but he lies because he knows we’re being observed.
Minute 12: The lady returns and takes our order. I fear for my life as ‘To dring?!’ bellows from her nasal canal four times.
Minute 14: There’s no sound here. It’s driving us insane. I head for the door but I can’t make it out — there was a flaw in my plan: there was food that I ordered and had not yet paid for or eaten.
Minute 15: The man comes out, with a hunched back and without a word, he shoves onto the table one bowl of vermicelli sauce per each of my squad’s members. He shuffles back to the kitchen. There’s a reek coming from our sauces, one of sickly sweetness and definite fecal matter. They knew we weren’t there to make peace.
Minute 18: The man shambles out again, and though he didn’t say a word, his eyes screamed ‘Run, run now. Run now for your lives, you young, beautiful people, because I didn’t and now I am I. This life was not chosen, but is the remains of what was taken from me by this god forsaken place.’ he also brought us our meals. Placed them right in the middle of the table. My people exchanged glances of terrified bewilderment, and routed the food to who ordered it.
Minute 19: We dumped the death-​smelling sauce onto our mostly noodles and meagrely meated meals. We began eating. The silence throughout the restaurant punctuated the mashing of teeth onto food. We could hear ourselves in our most primal moments. We were being deconstructed into the base animals we always were. Under my breath, I muttered to the squad that we’ll make it out, we’ll live, and we’ll eat again somewhere where we can’t hear our own heartbeats.
Minute 20: Communications officer Kim’s eyes perk up. The lady had made her way behind the bar with only him noticing. She turned on the television and it blared a soccer match. In stark contrast to the vacuum silence from a minute ago, I was sure this was meant to disorient us. What was truly unnerving was that we knew she heard us earlier.
Minute 21: A machine in the back begins hissing. This is the gas. This is the end.
Minute 25: We finish the unremarkable meals. We get up to pay, and watch in horror as the lady shoves a fist into an unmarked box. She rifles through it, and I ready my sidearm. Safety off. She turns to us and clumsily drops 4 fortune cookies on the table. We sigh relief and I pay first. Maybe if I can make it for the door while the others are paying — no — no man left behind. That’s what they WANT me to do.
Kim begins speaking. He doesn’t have their language, but he’s local to their continent. I think he’s done it. I think he negotiated our freedom. We won!
Minute 32: We’re outside. It felt like years had passed. We can breathe again. Kim smiles for the first time in his life as he puts his crumpled fortune into my palm. I unfurl it, read it, and a single tear drops from my weary eyes. «The best way to destroy your enemy is to turn them into a friend.»
Food: Entirely average for the price
Atmosphere: An awkward ghost town
Service: Not as bad as my dramatization would lead you to believe but just go somewhere else anyways.

This is the worst Chinese food I’ve ever had. Not to mention the place is very strange inside and poorly run. I ordered takeout last week and when I went in to get it there were no employees to be found and there was a couple making out in one of the booths.
After 10min I literally had to walk back into the kitchen and yell for someone to come help me. They were playing Indiana Jones on the TV very loud and there are stacks of papers, receipts, invoices everywhere. Very unorganized.
The food itself was soggy, bland and saucy. Sweet and sour chicken balls were the only decent item but how hard is it to fry pre cooked/​frozen chicken balls.
It terrifies me that this place offers sushi as well.
Just don’t go here — you’d be better off at pizza pizza a few doors down (and I strongly dislike Pizza Pizza).

Disgusting, not clean. I ordered no 145 sweet and sour spareribs, it was actually a frozen weird meat in a thick cherry sauce. I feel sick now. I also noticed they serve sushi, hahaha, that sounds very risky to me.

Stopped in this evening for a quick bite. I wanted something tasty, cheap and free of pretense. I was immediately struck by the modern kitschy décor and the crazy menu featuring hundreds of dishes, none of them distinguishable from the next.
Having been one of the featured restaurants on Restaurant Makeover added another possible strike against it. Can this place really survive 2 major kisses of death?
Staffed by one matron, one unseen cook and a general helper who struggles with English but was friendly and pleasant, I did not come in expecting high end service as can be had in the snootier places in the ‘hood (ahem, Nyood) but what i did expect and satisfactorily received was tasty food at cheap prices.
We opted for bowl of bun (vermicelli) and a stir fried fish and veggie dish along with two cold shrimp rolls. The noodles in the bun were perfect, thin with a slight al-​dente crispness. They are a perfect example of how they should be done (not the soggy sticky clumps that we get all too often).
The stir fried fish n veggie dish was well prepared as well — Crunchy veggies and delicate bits of fish in a not too salty or greasy bit of sauce. Simple, yet delicious
On the whole, Saigon Flower nestles comfortably in the realm of family restaurants serving good quality food at reasonable prices — not quite a dive, not quite mid-​range but kind of like a good chop suey — throw it all together in a hot wok and stir fast and furious. The end result becoming better than the sum of its parts.

Yawn. I’m not sure why this place has been around for so long.
We came here after Vivek’s last CMYE for a late, small dinner. We were able to get a booth for 6, which was kind of neat, and all ordered a range of small appetizers or bowls of soup. The food came out really sporadically, even though we all only ordered on thing each.
I ordered the Hot and Sour soup, which was fine, but nothing special. The menu was all over the place, offering Chinese and Vietnamese items, as well as some Canadian items like poutine.
TV was on the Voice, then Chinese programming the entire time we were there, which kind of offset the otherwise Restaurant Makeover’d décor.
I probably won’t return.

Decent food, less than half decent service, prices not too bad.
Went there last week with m’lady. I found the food quality to be pretty decent, however the waitress was rather indifferent and seemed to pay more attention to the news on the TV behind the counter than the customers. She seemed to do the bare minimum with assisting customers (at least when it came to us, she seemed to be doing a better job in attempting to assist a customer with a newly pierced lip).
This is most definitely a lower-​end place, so considering that, my experience there was half decent at best.

Oh, late night, alcohol-​induced food choices. On a late night, with a fair amount of alcohol involved in the choice, we headed to Saigon Flower for some cheap food. I was starving, I had Beef Phở and an egg roll and I was happy.
Now that I actually look back on the experience at Saigon Flower, it wasn’t awful. It’s got pretty décor inside, decent service, food came out relatively fast, lots of cheap menu items. This place tries to conquer a couple different kinds of Asian food and some varieties are much better than others (Phở = pass, Pad Thai = fail).
So maybe I wouldn’t come here without the alcohol, but it’s definitely a good late night joint, especially since it’s close to a lot of trendy bars — the Drake, Stone’s Place, Rhino. Plus it’s cheap, fast and clean. At 2 am, that’s all I really need anyways.