Saigon Bistro

Worst phở experience. It tasted fine and the small portion was perfect size to fill me up, but 5 mins after leaving I had the worst headache and all over tingling/​numb sensation. I wouldn’t consider myself sensitive to any food additives, so it is alarming that they added so much msg that my body would react to it this severely.
I would give this negative stars if it was poss

I live with a bit of a phở snob, and having heard time and time again that you can’t find good phở within DC limits, I was skeptical when a colleagues suggested «the phở place on P street» for lunch. Saigon Bistro looks like a forgotten Asian lunch deli, and it definitely isn’t trying to wow you with its interior decorations. They also don’t seem to be catering to a hard-​core Asian clientele or putting up a pretense of authenticity, as I don’t even recall seeing the word «phở» on their menu. So I ordered the «beef soup,» correctly assuming that this referred to the Vietnamese noodle dish.
Now, this definitely wasn’t one of the best phở’s I’ve had, but perhaps because of my lowered expectations, I really enjoyed my meal. The meat isn’t as plentiful or diverse as you would find in, say, Pho75, but the broth was pretty flavorful, and the meat balls had pop when I bit into them, and were perhaps better than those I’ve had during the closing hours of Pho75. They had a comforting notice on their menu that they use MSG – what good is comfort food without artificial flavoring, right?
I wouldn’t bring my husband here on date night. But if you’re not a phở-​snob and just want a satisfying bowl of well-​priced, generously-​portioned phở, Saigon Bistro ain’t half bad.

I’ve been on a phở fest recently and sadly this place disappointed me. I ordered a small phở noodle #3 to go and what I got was a container of broth and a styrofoam box of noodles and meat. Taken all together it made for a bland experience. The meat was a tad tough and relatively tasteless. The broth reminded me of warmed vegetable broth that I could buy from Safeway.
I am saddened that it is so difficult to find good phở in this city. I had high hopes for Saigon Bistro since it is a hop, skip, and jump from my the doorstep of my new place. Oh well…

Really really delicious Phở and Tofu Rice (Spring) Rolls.

I have only gotten delivery from here. (Which is funny because the delivery man had trouble finding a pretty prominent building in DC, hidden right in plain sight I guess. He was awkward.)
We got 2 different versions of phở, and it was good. I got the #3 meat with brisket and rare tenderloin (?). The broth came luke-​warm, so I had to re-​heat that. The meat was good once cooked… but took awhile to cook since I had to re-​heat… The broth was ok, much better after putting in the sauces. (I think Phở 14’s is much better all around.)
The fried spring rolls were delicious! Not bad for the price. But I’ve had better.

I feel bad for the people who said this is the best phở they’ve ever had. The worst phở at Eden Center is probably still better than this crap. The menu wasn’t lying when it said they use MSG – the broth tasted like liquid MSG. Absolutely none of the rich meaty flavor that phở broth should have. It also wasn’t hot enough.
Now, I’m not one of those people who are scared of fat, I actually love when there’s fatty goodness on my meat, but when the ¾ of the piece is fat, it’s overkill. That’s how the flavorless, poor quality, beef in the phở was. The toppings were adequate.
The worst part of the meal was the taro boba. The tapioca pearls, which they originally forgot, were a mixture of overcooked ones that disintegrated and ones that were undercooked and hard. The boba wasn’t blended well and the flavor was horrible. It tasted like super sweet cake batter, nothing like the taro boba I know and love. I drank 2 sips and left it.
If you’re craving phở and can’t make it to Eden Center, skip this place and head to Columbia Heights for some decent phở.

This is a very satisfying and affordable phở location. However, many of their dishes are not as fresh as they can be. Particularly, the additions to the phở including vegetables and their lime. Their broth is very tasty and the phở is out in no time. Good place for convenience factor but there are better phở places out there.

Goi cuon were excellent
Like Harry T. said, the Hu Tieu Seafood has great broth but the seafood was lacking. The squid and shrimp had been pan-​fried, but tasted like they’d been left around getting old/​stale/​cold. The squid was definitely not fresh and the shrimp still had the shells half on.
My dining companions thoroughly enjoyed their phở with chicken.
Acceptable Viet food for DC.

The FoodCourt added expanded its Asian Noodle Soup term today to include Vietnamese Phở. Results below.
Overall: 2.8
Taste: 3.2
Menu: Average selection of Phở, in addition to a couple of egg noodle soups, and a wide variety of other Vietnamese fare.
Price/​Value: Okay. $ 9 for a regular and $ 10 for a large, but the sizes seemed to be smaller than most Phở places.
Service: Good, friendly. Handled our largish group gracefully.
Freshness/​Quality of Ingredients: Pretty good. Fresh, chewy noodles. Otherwise, pretty standard for Phở.
Taste/​Flavor: Pretty average Phở — good, but nothing out of this world. The meat portions seemed a tad light compared to most Phở places. Saigon Bistro’s scores suffered because some in our group were new to Phở and found it to be too tame and mild compared to the other Asian noodle soups we’ve experienced this term.
Pros: The only Phở place within walking distance of Dupont Circle.
Cons: Minimalist furnishings, a bit cold inside.

I like Saigon Bistro, but it does not wow me. The chicken phở is fine, as are the summer rolls. The dipping sauce for the summer rolls is too salty for my taste. I do like that the chicken is shredded, which makes it easier and more lady-​like to eat with chopsticks. Service is friendly and attentive.
The P street location and modern décor mean higher rent and higher prices. This is not a tiny, hole-​in-​the-​wall phở joint. A large phở and summer rolls will run about $ 15, before tip and tax. And I have this issue that does not allow me to eat phở without summer rolls. While the price is not outrageous for DC, it is a little hard for me to deal with, as it is just soup and summer rolls, so I don’t visit as often as I would like.

The best thing about Saigon Bistro is its convenience. There are a bunch of Vietnamese restaurants scattered throughout the city, but none as close to my home as the Bistro. I am almost embarrassed to admit that it has taken me two years to sit down for a meal here, but your judgment should be reserved for the food.
I went here on a Friday night to catch the tail end of the Happy Hour special that ended at seven. The rapture was impending and I figured that if the world was going to end, I might as well support my neighborhood Vietnamese place. The restaurant was fairly empty for 7:00PM on a Friday, so the host showed my party of three to an outdoor table. The entire waitstaff was so infectiously friendly that even though I don’t drink, I wanted to order a beer. Barley AND hops, you say? This sounds intriguing… on second thought, I think I’ll go for the water. I made a most excellent choice, as the water was none other than DC tap, the finest tasting water in the Washington, DC area.
I was pretty excited about ordering Phở until I looked at the menu and saw the taped-​on addendum: «MSG added.» I guess they didn’t have to make that known, but when I go to a sit-​down restaurant, I expect fresh ingredients. The fact that this headache-​inducing additive is knowingly sprinkled into the food is a good indicator that the food isn’t as fresh as I’d hoped. My buddy didn’t care, so he ordered the beef phở, while my girlfriend and I shied away from the MSG and ordered chicken bun (marinated chicken in vermicelli noodles).
The portions were a decent size for $ 12, but I guess I have a habit of expecting a full plate. The chicken had an unnatural neon-​yellow tint to it, but I covered it in Sriracha hot sauce so as to put it out of my mind. The food was okay, not great, and even after cleaning my plate, I left as hungry as I had entered.
If I’m in the mood for Vietnamese and don’t feel like leaving Dupont, I’ll come back, but if I’m going to make the trek anywhere for quality phở, it’ll be at Phở 14 in Columbia Heights.

Never being a phở fan, my boyfriend dies for it when he is hungover on Sundays. Today I decided to try it out, and have to say the beef #3 was great! Its a great location off of Dupont Circle and reasonably priced. The small is not much different form the regular size and its def. way too much food!
Service sucked and the place was empty but I highly recommend this place if you like phở! btw they deliver
pros: location, beef phở
cons: shrimp toast, service.

Came here tonight to have some hot delicious Phở with a friend. We usually go to Phở 14 but wanted to try a new place so we figured why not.
First of all the waitstaff is super friendly and nice. We were seated right away. This a casual but cozy spot that good for one on one dates or big groups. We ordered the spring rolls which were pretty good. My friend got the vegetable Phở and I got the well done brisket. I personally like Phở 14’s broth better. This broth was a little more sweet, which I don’t like. Also the toppings weren’t as fresh. The noodles in the Phở were also more soggy. I also thought the quality of beef wasn’t top notch. So you are reading all this and wondering why I gave them 3 stars. Well overall it was a good experience and the food was OK, I am just used better Phở. I will try some of their other dishes because the couple next to us had some tasty looking food.
Side note: my friend’s only complaint about Phở 14 is that the vegetable Phở has a different broth and therefore it’s not as good. I mentioned to her to ask for the beef broth (because she is not a vegetarian) but she likes the veggie soup. Luckily for her the Saigon Bistro uses the same broth. Just something to consider.

When Saigon Bistro first opened I found myself there quite a bit but somehow it fell off my radar over the past few months. I was craving Phở and, after a very dissatisfying experience the day before at Nam Viet & Phở 79 in Cleveland Park, I decided to head back to Saigon Bistro.
When I eat here I stick to the soup: I’ve often found the other dishes to be too salty. After straying to a few different items early on, I know now what I like and I stick with it. The soup is good, hearty, and tasty. The service is quick and pleasant.

Had a short lunch break from a conference around the corner and this place looked like it was bustling from the outside. Service was really quick and friendly. I ordered the shrimp pad thai and was completely satisfied. The noodles didn’t stick together and the presentation was beautiful. They used a good size shrimp too.
I guess I didn’t expect anything less from a bistro.

Solidly 3 stars. I come here for lunch from time to time, mostly because they offer two different sizes of phở and the dish doesn’t offend me here like it does at some other places (*cough* Asian Bistro *cough*).
The restaurant itself is cute and clean. The service is most definitely two stars, and the phở is only three. However, some of the other dishes look fantastic. I’m determined to try their bun, so I’ll definitely provide an update once I sample a few more items off the menu.

My noodles were undercooked.
The broth was lukewarm.
The bowl was small.
But the beef was plentiful.
All that for almost $ 10? Meh.

Felt like hu tieu. They had hu tieu. I was riding by. I stopped. Had hu tieu. It was ok.
They give you a generous amount of shrimp with the decidedly msg’d broth but the shrimp is sort of mushy in that it’s old or overcooked or both way. It sort of hit the spot, that spot being my hangover, but I can’t saw I’m pumped to go back again.

My friend suggested we go to a Thai restaurant and when we rolled up to Saigon Bistro I thought, wow you’ve got your Asian cuisine mixed up! But I was game for some Vietnamese (love phở!) so we went in anyway. We snagged the table near the window, but soon found it was a bit drafty and moved further inside.
I ordered a small bowl of phở tai and we ordered spring rolls and summer rolls for the table. When our order finally came out, I wasn’t quite impressed with the spring rolls and even the fish sauce tasted a little funny. The summer rolls were definitely good, though.
Now in terms of phở, I have never been anywhere with phở that’s as good as what I’ve had in Houston. There must be magic in the broth, yall, because it’s that good. Alas, my suspicions were confirmed when my bowl was pretty darn small for a small and the meat was not plentiful and not that great (extremely hard to chew). Overall though, not bad. I had a bit of my friend’s crunchy fried noodles and they were pretty good, although perhaps not what she anticipated. Still, not really a whole lot to complain about.
However, it was toward the end of our meal when we got the check and split it three ways that it got a little contentious. The splitting part was no problem, but only two of us had tipped on our meal. I guess that left our tip a bit short and we ended up having one of the waiters approach us to ask us about it. Now, its understandable that they might have wondered about it, but it was weird the way they asked if everything was okay and then quickly left the check back on the table and walked away. I felt bad, but more obligated and ended up tacking a whole lotta cash onto the check, and my cheap friend ended up tipping much less than she should have.
But overall, it’s a nice place to go if you’re wanting a warm bowl of phở and maybe a sit-​down at the bar instead of a table.

My roommate and I came here for dinner since it was nearby for the coffee social that we planned to attend afterwards.
Man! Get the rice dish served in clay pots. (Just be careful because the clay pots are extremely hot.)
The rice with chicken and shrimp were delicious… filled with baby corn, snap peas, peppers, mushrooms.
And spicy too! Be prepared for a dripping nose.
Would definitely go back!