Café Saigon — Restaurant in Montreal

Dined here as my first meal after a long drive to Montreal. It was close-by to our accommodation and it was well rated. Unfortunately, it did not life up to the Google Review, which was disappointing.

We ordered some iteration of the soup (i.e. soupe tankinoise or the saté) and the broth was essentially flavourless. They garnish with a lot of coriander but this doesn't add much to the dish. Considering that a bowl of soup ("repas") is essentially 14$, the value of the dish is well overpriced and does not deliver on the standard of a pho, even at mediocre restaurants. It lacked richness from the broth and just seemed skimpy on seasoning and pho components.

To add, we noted to our friendly server that the chopsticks were not properly cleaned as there was still food remnants. She happily exchanged the set but this did not add to the overall experience. The waitress was actually nice enough to ask how the food was, to which, we responded honestly. She talked to the owner but he did not press further.

From my experience, you are likely better to find another option a couple of minutes away. I hope that the restaurant will address this issue as it's well located...

Hidden little gem, BYOB with an SAQ around the corner.

A little mix of different Asian plates, however its hard to read what it is because a pad Thai won't be written out as pad Thai, it was a loose description instead, so ask your waiter. Service was excellent, friendly staff.

I'm giving it 3 star because of the food. Maybe it was the dishes I got but meh.

They gave us a little sampling of General Tao at the beginning which was nice, I don't generally eat that seeing as it's not real Chinese food but it tasted great. I ordered a small Tonkinese pho soup as an entree, and was debating about which noodles to get as a main meal and as per the waitress' recommendation I got the saigonese chow mein. Both fell a little flat. The soup was quite good if I don't compare it to other pho soups but a little bit to beefy and flavor, Saigon chow mein had a lot of toppings. I just did not like the flavor. I'm not sure what it's supposed to taste like but I wasn't a huge fan and the noodles were overly crispy. Very dark sauces tasted almost like it was 100%...

Cafe Saigon is not a legitimate Vietnamese restaurant, nor is it an exceptional restaurant in its own right.

It is nicely located downtown in an old brick building, and the interior sports a nice vibe, sitting somewhere between a tiki hut and a brasserie.

The service is slow, and they only take cash or debit (this is very disappointing for a place that charges over $20 for a pad thai)

In addition, there's this poor old lady who is working as a server there, and there wasn't anyone else helping her out the day my wife and I visited. We felt bad for her, she was very kind and very sweet.

There was also an annoying kid running around behind the bar, not the best.

The food was....... bland. The pad thai wasn't spicy at all, and the portion was quite small for the ridiculous price. My wife (Vietnamese) got a vietnamese dish that she said reminded her more of an European dish than a Vietnamese or even an Asian dish.

Considering the high standard restaurants are held to in Montreal, this place is a...