Saigon Noodle House — Restaurant in Courtenay

I have to say, I am lover of food! But this place is not what I call a restaurant or even an establishment for dining by any means.

I like hot freshly served dishes but not when all you can taste is oil. My rice was swimming in oil, my wife's soup was even worse! She had to scoop out oil globs that were heavily floating the top of the bowl. It was made poorly by not straining the oil out at the end, which just shows how lazy whoever is making the food.

If I am paying $26 for 1 soup and 1 rice dish with maybe 6 pieces of beef very thinly sliced like bulgogi but not even close to the size or length of bulgogi, then at least cook it to perfection and don't present the dish like you just scraped everything off the pan as if your are about to feed the dog.

It had good flavor, but it wasn't edible, the soup could have easily been mistaken for water from a sewer well, with meat and vegetables floating in it and the rice with so called beef stir fry was so little in portion that it was only for a quick bite and that is if I decided to finish it. I only picked at what I could salvage that was somewhat edible but still so drenched in oil.

After we waived down the man who seems to be the owner he said "that it's because the the water and oil from the meat and vegetables come out after its done being cook in a stir fry" then walked away after we said it's not edible and its unacceptable.

I can create these dishes at home 10x better, but I just came back from vacation and was hoping to try a new place and hoping for a new good experience, which was definitely not the case.

Nooooo apology or even recognition that he is serving horrible dishes and expecting naive customers to think that this is what Vietnamese food is suppose to be. Whoever gave good reviews must be friends, relatives, or those who love to ingest oil in every single bite, or is completely naive to what real Vietnamese food tastes like.

I have traveled all over the world, including a few places in Vietnam and they served food I still dream about! This place is a joke compared to at best a welfare community food service.

Overall it was horrible food and horrible service.

I went across the parking lot to Wendy's and they had better food and service compared to this...

Excellent pho! The only explanation I can think of for the bad reviews is that those people have never been to a pho restaurant before. I found the service very friendly and prompt - albeit minimal by north american standards (as in don't expect much one-on-one attention or chit-chat with your server.) This is how I like a pho restaurant to be - come in for delicious soup, have a seat without much wait, be given a glass of water, check the menu, give my order, receive my order (relatively quickly compared to say a pub or steakhouse), enjoy a delicious meal, pay and leave. That is exactly how it went at Saigon Noodle House, even when the restaurant was very busy on a Friday evening (pretty much "packed" in house, plus many people coming in to pick up take-out orders.) Prices are very average for pho - $9-10 for a bowl of soup, $12-$15 for an entree. I had a beef noodle soup and it was excellent (yummy taste, good portions, solid meat to noodle ratio), served with the proper garnishes of sprouts, basil, and lime wedge. The only thing I didn't realize before eating is that it is CASH ONLY (no debit, no credit), but the waitress was friendly about it so it was really no issue with ATM's nearby. I'm looking forward to...

WORST SERVICE IVE EVER HAD!!!!

I'm literally sitting here in the restaurant writing this review, the only thing I actually liked about this restaurant was the atmosphere and only kind of, I haven't had such bad service in ages, literally had to ask for everything, didn't get water, but watched them serve ever other customer(who came in after) water, called in to asked if they were gluten free, was told yes then find out they had two things on the menu that was safe. I had to go up to the county multiple times to ask them for things they should have brought we were not checked on at all. I'm very disappointed with this place. I've definitely had a lot better pho, on the plus side, my partner did enjoy the hot and sour. Will not go back again, I've never had a meal out where I actually didn't want to pay for it. Obviously I did because it's illegal. Not to however would not suggest this place.

OHHH AND THEY ARE CASH ONLY, I WAS NOT TOLD BEFORE ORDERING, they said they told my son and my boyfriend who don't speak English before ordering, but I wasn't told, and they the owner was SO RUDE, laugh when I said they need a sign out front....