Dear Saigon — Restaurant in Richmond Hill

I have been to this restaurant multiple times even before their expansion was done and loved it, but not anymore. I promise not to return in the future because I just walked out with my family and spent almost $90 on dinner feeling like trash while being served by Eric & Phi(?). If I can give 0 out of 5 stars, I would have.

First the girl who took our order had to come back and re-take the whole order because she forgot (she said “what did you order again?”) to be clear, we ordered 2 shrimp fresh rolls (A2) , 2 pho bowls (P2 & P8) and 1 vermicelli (V5).

1 shrimp fresh rolls came out on its own, we let it go and waited until the vermicelli came out then the 2 bowls of pho. The girl was holding two bowls of pho very dangerously and heading towards our table then placed it down without even asking which pho bowl is for who since we ordered different types. Then I had to ask her and double check that the total of 2 orders of shrimp fresh rolls were properly input and she said it’s coming, cool.

Second shrimp fresh rolls comes out and she serves it, then we ask for scissors (to cut the fresh rolls since we’re sharing) and bean sprouts for our pho bowls. The guy named Eric had said that because customers ordered too much bean sprouts today, they didn’t have any left. He had to repeat this statement twice because he was mumbling and I couldn’t hear him at all.

My question is, how does a pho place run out of bean sprouts? Yes, restocking and etc many different reasons of why they can run out but really? You couldn’t tell me beforehand? Then Eric offers some lime and we said yes because there’s nothing else for us to put in. To make it worse he comes back with a small plate with tiniest amount bean sprouts saying that this is all they have from the kitchen, which we have declined.

I hope someone from this restaurant realizes that the restaurant is actually in the same plaza of T&T Supermarket (which does not close before the restaurant does) is 1 minute walking distance as picture shown. How does the restaurant fix the problem of no bean sprouts during the day? They didn’t show any empathy of all this and when I asked for a manager’s contacts (since Eric said they weren’t there), he gave me their personal phone number whom I would love...

We heard about Dear Saigon through an Instagram post and wanted to try their beef bone pho.

The food here is incredibly delicious! We ate at this location twice. The food quality and taste is very consistent. We had the beef bone pho, chicken pad thai, bon bo hue, chicken wings, sweet tamarind iced tea, coconut panda coffee, 3 layer iced coffee and sugar cane juice. All of these dishes come in one size only.

The pho broth is well seasoned, warming from the spices and not oily. The presentation of the beef bone in the stone pot and the pho ingredients on the side is an elevated experience. My partner finishes the full pho dish which is rare because most pho broth is too oily or salty to finish.

The bon bo hue is the BEST I've had in Ontario by far. The broth isn't oily, and again well seasoned. The ingredients are abundant and it comes with a side of fresh veggies (shredded cabbage, Taro chips and bean sprouts) to add to the broth for an additional crunch.

The chicken pad thai is in my top 3 pad thai dishes within Ontario. It's well balanced, not overdone with fish sauce and has a kick to it. This dish also comes with a side of veggies similar to the bon bo hue for added texture. The chicken is tender, and juicy. The dish also has sliced tofu throughout.

The chicken wings take the longest to come out but are worth the wait! They have a sweet, salty, savoury glaze put on when they're fresh out the fryer. It also comes with a side of veggies to pair with the fried food.

The coconut pandan coffee was unique. The creamer was powdered milk which added a nostalgic taste (imo). Be sure to mix the drink well before consumption.

The 3 layer iced coffee is your classic Vietnamese Drip coffee with a coffee foam layer on top.

Both the sweet tamarind iced tea and the sugar cane juice were refreshing, balancing out the hot broth.

All the staff were very friendly and attentive.

Bathrooms are clean, equipped with working exhaust fan and air fresheners.

We come to eat lunch on off peak hours, between 230pm - 4pm. The restaurant has at least 4 tables occupied at all times.

We spend around $80 each visit after...

What did we find here???

There's no better feeling than when you are out and about doing some errands and you realize you're hungry. You start to hum & hah about where to eat. After a couple google searches you pick a place that once you're done eating you say to yourself "where has this been all my life!"

My wife and I came into this place hoping for a good meal for lunch and when we were done, we asked each other. "When is the next time we're coming back?"

My wife had the Tom Yum noodle chicken and shrimp soup. The soup was so tasty and delicious 😋. I had the Pad Thai with chicken and shrimp. First, let me tell you that I have one restaurant and only one restaurant that has IMO the best pad thai I ever had. I find every other restaurant pad thai ok or not good compared to my one and only favourite. I have to say I've finally found my first very very good pad thai, which I am very confident is a close 2nd to my favourite. Just to understand how much of a big deal this is. It's been about 12 yrs for me to be able to confidently say there is a close 2nd to my favourite. There are now two places I would recommend others to have pad thai and I would go back here for the pad thai. There are only two restaurants in which I would have the pad thai and this place is one of them. We also had shrimp fresh rolls as an app and they were are delicious too. Loved the fresh cilantro in them, and the peanut dipping sauce was very good.

BONUS - We paid for our amazing meal and got to chatting with our waitress. She informed us that they have leased the next door unit and will be expanding in the future. As we were talking, she was suggesting next time we should try their coconut coffee as they have been receiving a lot of good feed back from customers. So I said sure give me one to go. OMG 😲 the coconut coffee was AMAZING and can see why people love it.

Thank you, waitress(sorry, didn't get your name) for suggesting the coconut coffee.

We can't wait to go back which I know will be in the next few weeks to try more dishes from this place and CC to go..lol.

We will definitely be telling people about...