Madame Saigon (Markham Road) — Restaurant in Toronto

SERVICE: Slow service with 3 tables already eating, and 1 just got their food. Waited about 10 minutes to get service, and that’s with me calling out loudly to get noticed (it’s a small space, not hard to be noticed). 2 servers at cash & then serving everyone but us for the majority of us waiting to order & 1 other server on the laptop. Several tables not cleared. Restaurant was small, so we were moved to accommodate a bigger party. Other tables seem to get more attentive service, like getting napkins with your menu & getting asked if they’re ready to order. I did give 2 stars for service. Slow but they are nice.

FOOD: Ordered satay beef pho off their happy hour promo. It was small. Their regular satay beef pho off the regular menu comes in a much larger size, maybe twice the size (from what I saw my neighboring table ordered). Noodles were good, broth was spicy and very bland. There is pineapple, to anyone allergic. Not much given for garnish.

DETAILS: Washroom floor is very wet due to lack of ventilation. My kid almost slipped. Wet floor sign in the hall, not in the washroom. So just be cautious.

Also paid cash but didn’t get the 10% discount.

OVERALL, don’t come for the promo, unless you just want a snack or you have a small appetite. Also would recommend ordering off their regular menu to get more out of your money. That said, would likely not...

The house special pho was soooo good. I loved the broth and the brisket. Definitely 5 stars for that dish. The portion for take out was pretty small though for a “large”, but still worth it. The pork fried spring rolls were average (as in, just as good as everywhere else). I’d order it again.

The grilled pork banh mi, however, terrible. In lieu of the traditional banh mi with pate and deli meats, they had grilled meat, which would be ok. But the chef overloaded the mayonnaise (which was pretty gross), placed the cucumbers and lettuce at the bottom of the bun with grilled meat on top and then carrots and cilantro on top of that. This resulted in a super soggy bun that fell apart when I tried to eat it 15 minutes from pickup. The cilantro was also 2 awkward and large stalks making it difficult to eat.

Takeout service was fast (though they’re so busy it could be difficult to catch someone on the phone) and the dine in restaurant looked clean enough.

I’d come back and just not order...

Arrived here just before 5 on a Saturday evening and we didn’t have to wait long to get a table. Just 30min later there was a lineup out the door.

Food was delicious and the portions were generous. We also got the fried fish and their $10 pho promo. We shared all the food amongst 3 people and we still had leftovers! Make sure to remind them to also bring the rice wrappers with the street platter (pictured here), which we definitely recommend. The fried fish was also surprisingly good and came with 4 large pieces.

Room for improvement - service was a little slow and had to remind them a few times for water. The tables didn’t seem to be stocked with utensils much so folks kept dropping by our table to get a spoon since we seemed to be the only one with them.

Overall we left satisfied and very full, along with a bunch of leftovers. Very reasonable pricing. Would come back and hopefully the service improves and tables are more...