Spice Saigon

New York, United States

3.9

Open now

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

QR code, vCard

Telephone:
+1 212-628-0088
Website:
spicesaigonnyc.com
Address:
1237 1st Ave, New York, NY, 10065
Upper East Side
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.3 miE 72 St / 1 Av
0.4 miWest Rd / F Subway
0.4 mi67th St / Lexington Ave
Categories:
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Bussiness info

Takes Reservations
Yes
Delivery
Yes
Take-out
Yes
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes
Good for Kids
Yes
Good for Groups
Yes
Attire
Casual
Ambience
Casual
Noise Level
Average
Alcohol
No
Outdoor Seating
No
Wi-Fi
No
Has TV
No
Waiter Service
Yes
Caters
No

Today

Today 11:30 am – 11:00 pm
Open now
Local time (New York) 6:35 PM Thursday, November 28, 2024

Business hours

Monday 11:30 am – 11:00 pm
Tuesday 11:30 am – 11:00 pm
Wednesday 11:30 am – 11:00 pm
Thursday 11:30 am – 11:00 pm
Friday 11:30 am – 11:00 pm
Saturday 11:30 am – 11:00 pm
Sunday 11:30 am – 11:00 pm

Description

Specialties

Since 2015, Spice Saigon has been 1st Avenue’s choice for authentic Vietnamese dishes with a modern flair. Whether you’re a fan of phở or of our signature grilled pork chops, there’s something on the menu for everyone. Choose from an assortment of soups, dumplings, and noodles, as well as hearty chicken, beef, pork, and fish options. We also offer a choice selection of beer, wines, and spiced cocktails so you can take your conversation past dinner into drinks. The location itself is beautifully decorated and open, elevating the standard for both a quick lunch and dinner. The restaurant slips easily from day to night, transforming from a busy lunch spot to a sultry nook for drinks and conversation.

We take pride in serving our guests with style and grace — you’re sure to be impressed by your visit regardless of the time of day. Busy day? We also offer takeout and delivery, so you can enjoy your favorite Spice Saigon dishes from the comfort of your home or office. We’re here to make you smile — can’t wait to have you in!

History

Established in 2015.

Spice Saigon opened in 2015 on Manhattan’s East Side. We offer authentic Vietnamese cuisine with a modern flair, and have always had a mission to offer a pleasant customer experience. We look forward to sharing our love of cooking with you in the future and hope you return often for great Vietnamese food.

Meet the Business Owner

Michael C.

Business Owner

Michael has been in the restaurant business for more than 20 years. Inspired by his mother’s cooking at a young age and learning from the experience, Michael cherishes being able to share his recipes and the love of cooking with all who come through the doors here at Spice Saigon. Guests love the recipes because they’re home-​cooked and derived from time-​honored traditions which take time and skill to prepare. Michael’s talents as a chef are recognized by the many regulars who return often for a great meal again and again. He hopes you stop by, leave satisfied, and come again soon!

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20 reviews of Spice Saigon

No registration required
Place rating: 3
Manhattan, NY
The ginger scallion chicken was ok but the sauce was too sweet for me. I might try them again but not the same dish.
Place rating: 3
Brooklyn, NY
Very friendly, attentive service. Experience started well, but ended poorly. The apps were great and fresh, as described. Shrimp summer rolls in rice wraps with peanut sauce, and steamed pork dumplings with spicy soy vinaigrette were both excellent. Hit the spot. The beef papaya salad with deliciously dressed. Tasty marinated beef too. The crispy fish with lemongrass dressing, not so good. The fish was large and cooked perfectly. The sauce it was DROWNING in, gross. Like Chinese sweet and sour with a lot of sweet. No lemongrass. When the waiter (owner we later found out) asked how our meal was and we told him, he tried to vehemently defend the dishes’ worthiness. Not a smooth move. All in all a bit hit or miss. Probably won’t return.
Place rating: 4
Franklin Lakes, NJ
They have great lunch specials, and the food is fresh… An earlier poster said that it was not authentic and I have to agree. I’m pretty sure that owners are Korean. No complaint but not authentic… Will defiantly return, but if you want authentic I’ll have to head to San Francisco.
Place rating: 5
Manhattan, NY
What a find! Authentic Vietnamese on the Upper East Side! I originally discovered Spice Saigon on Seamless and have ordered takeout many times. Always fresh, delicious, and clean. The Phở is amazing. But tonight decided to check out the actual restaurant. And happy I did. Had the spring rolls, pork chops and beef salad. All delicious. And the dining room is so peaceful. Loved it. Highly recommend.
Place rating: 4
Ridgewood, NJ
Good lunch specials.
YUM!
Come in and have some authentic food!
Great pricing and the service was faster than most places.
No place to really wait when you are wanting to be seated but really just a fine place to have a healthy lunch and dish!
Me and my two friends really wanted to sit and have the view of the street but we were tucked in the back –and it was Fine!
Place rating: 5
Manhattan, NY
Great food, attentive service, appropriate décor, and very classy music. My dad and I came here for dinner after work. We both did the prix fix, I had the fish sweet and sour soup, the Singapore style curry chicken noodles, and the green tea ice cream, with an ice Vietnamese coffee. Delicious! This place is now a favorite!
Place rating: 4
New York, NY
Too tasty! Try the Vietnamese salad and Basil Shrimp! EXCELLENT! Nice sweet service too!
Do yourself a favor and try this place
Place rating: 3
New York, NY
My husband and I were walking around the area looking for a cozy spot for lunch. We saw Spice Saigon and said hmm, maybe they’ll have some good Viet food. Decided to go in and try it because we saw the $ 8.95 lunch special and truly, it’s not a bad deal in this neighborhood with the amount of food you get.
We walked in and was surprised by how cute and modern it was inside! Felt super clean and plenty of seating. The place is pretty popular for lunch but clears out quickly. We ordered the phở beef soup and grilled chicken platter. The soup was just okay. Big portion, comes with usual ingredients that you can add into your soup like mint and bean sprouts, accompanying sauces and typical noodle and beef slices. The broth threw me off. It’s not like the usual Viet style broth. It’s not bad for a quick lunch but if you’re looking for authentic Viet style broth, go somewhere else and probably not in midtown.
The grilled chicken was really good and well flavored. It came with the option of brown or white rice which was nice. A lot of food! Both dishes came with a salad or soup. The salad was delicious. I like how finely sliced the lettuce was and the fish sauce style dressing on top. All in all, good lunch spot for a quick, sit down meal.
Place rating: 5
San Diego, CA
The owner is a true gem, and will accommodate, I’m gluten intolerant and he is so thoughtful in recommending and having it cooked without any gluten. The food is amazing, we have had birthday parties and celebrations there. Everything we ordered, chicken with basil, spring rolls, seafood soup, beef satay, chicken soup with vegetable, so many good things on the menu, I can’t remember all the names of the dishes ,
I recommend Spice Saigon highly, it’s very clean, comfortable, and always accommodating. Five star *****
Place rating: 5
Manhattan, NY
I have no idea why these guys aren’t at least 4.5 stars, they are awesome!!!
Yeah, the phở is not great, don’t order it! But you can’t go wrong with literally anything else!
Beef cubes are the best I’ve ever had, curries are homey and delicious, all meat+ veggie lunch specials are delicious! (Highly recommend beef cubes and curries and the peanut beef bun (noodles)).
Also staff needs a shoutout, some of the nicest people ever!!! They’ll totally accommodate your weirdo preferences!!! And they’re pleasant to talk to!
Atmosphere is also awesome — quiet, clean, perfect for a night out!
Place rating: 5
New York, NY
I’m Vietnamese and was looking for a traditional Vietnamese/​phở restaurant that’ll take me back to my heritage. Good food. Friendly staff. Pleasant service. No complaints. I just wish I was well enough to indulge and satisfy my sudden craving. But unfortunately, I was experiencing a headache prior to coming in and ended up leaving sooner than planned. Overall, I would come back. My friend and I are were seated by two ladies that brought in their own bottle of wine. So we can only assume it’s BYOB, which is nice!
Place rating: 5
Flushing, NY
Small, quiet, and lovely to come in during lunch time. I came here during break and it was very quiet but still had a couple of customers. The waiter? Manager? Was super attentive, made sure I was well taken care of even though it was slow, which is usually when workers get lazy… The food itself was awesome, I got the phở with grilled chicken on the side and it was delicious. Definitely going to be my go to spot for phở in that neighborhood.
Place rating: 3
Fresh Meadows, NY
A few days ago I ordered takeout from Spice Saigon, based on a friend’s recommendation. According to him I had to try the diced beef. My expectations were definitely made.
The diced beef dish had the perfect balance of tangy and savory. Along with the diced beef, I had ordered the beef satay for myself. The Satay beef was a bit more disappointing, but only because I’m biased against raw onions. The bottom of the takeout pan was mostly raw onions and some bean sprouts. Other than the onions (which I picked out), the satay flavor was amazing. I loved the fact that the sauce wasn’t perfectly smooth. A chunky satay sauce with real peanuts over rice is one of the great pleasures in life. I am really glad that this place is here in close proximity to the hospital. I will be ordering from them again.
On the negative side, it did seem a bit pricy. The diced beef dish is $ 16.95 and the satay beef was $ 13.95. All in all though, it’s definitely better than hospital food.
Place rating: 4
New York, NY
This place is a great bang for your buck lunch special on Upper East Side! For 7.95 you get a generous portion of whatever you order along with a soup or salad. I got a huge bowl of beef phở which I took to go and lasted as another meal. Food was flavorful and well-​cooked. I started chatting with a guy sitting next to me who was a lunch regular here who said he’s tried just about the whole menu and everything is tasty.
The staff is friendly and attentive, nice ambiance, and clean space. I’ll definitely be back here.
Place rating: 4
Manhattan, NY
Are you visiting a sick relative? Or checking to see if that mole is getting serious? Or just happen to work in the tri-​institutional area and looking for good place to catch some lunch time grub?
Well for a great price for a satisfying meal I’d look no further than Spice Saigon. They’re relatively new to the block but certainly know how to draw in the hungry crowd. For ~$ 8, the lunch special includes soup or salad and entrees from phở to stir fried ginger beef. Prepare to be full as the entrees are pretty hefty as you can see by my food pic. (grilled chicken entrée with brown rice). My friend had the chicken curry noodle soup which was delicious, spicy and thickened by coconut milk. So good that I made him trade me.
They can be crowded at lunch during the work week so either come early or be prepared to wait for a seat. I’ve never done takeout but the seats rotate pretty fast. Server’s are really friendly so come in and have a taste. =)
Place rating: 2
Manhattan, NY
Nothing special here. Came here out of convenience, the place was half way between my apartment and my friend’s place, and it looked cute from the outside. While the staff was friendly and accommodating, the food was bland. My friend and I split a summer roll. The flavor that came through more than anything was the wax food paper that holds the roll together. I was so hungry that I finished mine, but my friend put hers down.
For the main meal, I got curry chicken. It was pretty flavorless, and seemed to have more tofu than the chicken that I asked for. It didn’t taste bad – it just wasn’t good. And with the ton of East Asian options in the area, there would be no reason to come back here. Giving two stars because of the friendly staff and the filling portions.
Place rating: 3
West Hollywood, CA
This place is just OK. Prices are good, but it does not taste like authentic Vietnamese food. It takes like Chinese food with Vietnamese ingredients. The ambience was nice and the service was pretty good.
1. Summer roll: Not bad. 4 large pieces of shrimp in two rolls.
2. Fish soup: Overall, I enjoyed the tender fish in this dish, but the presentation could be better. In addition, it just didn’t taste Vietnamese!
3. Shrimp fried rice: You have a choice of white or fried. We thought we wanted a little more flavor so opted for this. It’s good fried rice!
4. Spicy chicken: This tasted like heavy greasy Chinese food. Not a huge fan.
5. Saigon noodles: I guess there was the flavor of curry, but again, not authentic tasting. Portions are decent.
6. Fish dish (forgot the actual name): The pieces of fish are good, but you have to dig through all those toppings to find them!
I think overall it’s a decent restaurant. I guess the issue is that it’s not run by Vietnamese people, so the taste is not Vietnamese. I also had issue with the fact that they had no idea how to pronounce the menu items. I came with a Vietnamese friend, and they could not understand her when she asked for the dishes. Not a huge deal, but I thought that was kind of weird…
Place rating: 4
Manhattan, NY
This place has a great lunch special every day of the week. For $ 8, you can get a good portion of food plus soup/​salad. The soup is sweet and sour, and is good but gets old after the 10th time having it. My favorite meal is the singapore noodles – it comes with chicken and shrimp.
This is a newer restaurant (4 – 5 months), and owners are still figuring out the kinks. Aka once they gave out my pickup food to another person on accident. They also don’t know how to handle rush time, and they’re scrambling then. However, this is a nice, family-​owned restaurant, and it’s one of the few places I tip at because it’s a good spot and I hope it sticks around.
Place rating: 3
Manhattan, NY
Sorry Spice Saigon. Took a star away from my initial review from when you first opened. The food is good, nothing special. Phở is meh. Ok summer rolls, all romaine lettuce though, no mint or basil and they put like 2 measly noodles in there. Dissapointing. I do enjoy the grilled beef with angel hair and the lunch specials are a good value, in particular the beef satay bun is excellent. This area is lacking in good Vietnamese food, this place will suffice if you want average food.
Place rating: 3
ROOSEVELT ISL, NY
«Just ok»
I was kind of excited to see this restaurant open near my job. Fighting a hangover, I decided that I needed a big bowl of phở with a nice diet coke. Starting off, I will say that our waiter, «John» was super attentive and very excited/​happy. Our order came out pretty fast, which is a plus when one is hungover and hungry.
I ordered the Phở Bo and I will say that I have had better but it was not disgusting. Also, the $ 7.50 is not a bad deal, especially in this neighborhood. My main issue is that noodles were a little tough/​hard and the broth was a little bland. Also, the diet coke seemed to be a bit watered down.
Since this place is new, I will give it another shot and try something else (there are about 12 – 14 things to choose from the lunch menu). The curry phở looked kind of good.