Rene's Saigon Restaurant of Vietnam & Philippines — Restaurant in Puerto Princesa

Rene's place came well recommended, but for some reason is not as popular as another "chaolongan" in town. The prices are very reasonable for the quality of the food you get.

The flavor of the pho bo (stewed beef with rice noodles - erroneously called "chaolong" locally) was excellent, rich but not greasy, flavorful and tender beef cuts cooked just right. The bean sprouts were crunchy, and the basil leaves clean and fresh. The noodles, however, was a clumpy disappointment. This isn't the best pho I've had, but this is the best pho you could have in Puerto Princesa - and it won't break your wallets, while the mosquitoes feast on you.

The baguette (aka "French Bread") didn't taste like overgrown pan de sal (the Filipino's mainstay bread), which is what you'll find almost everywhere.

A single serving of summer spring rolls is more than enough for one person, and the ingredients fresh and crunchy. The wrapper though was a bit dry but flavor-wise, the rolls are very, very good.

And finally, I found ca phe sua da (vietnamese iced coffee). The good news is that they use beans and condensed milk from Vietnam, however, the coffee was weak, I think it's right enough for the Pinoy palate, but I was hoping to get that gut-wrenching street coffee you'd find in almost every street corner (and in between) in Vietnam where they're so thick and rich, you could stand a spoon in it.

I would've given this place five stars, if not for the clammy cold pilsen they serve - what a waste of a good brew. Otherwise, it's a very good place to enjoy almost like real Vietnamese food - and probably the best...

Wanted to rate this higher as was looking forward to trying Chao long noodle soup. We ordered salad rolls, chao long noodle soup, beef stew soup, a pork bahn mi, salted caramel, oolong drink, and guava jasmine tea drink. Unfortunate had a disappointing experience.. the noddles were nice abs chewy but were all clumped together at the bottom of the bowl and was very watery - taste was ok but lacking in substance and not a decent portion. The beef stew soup also wasn't your typical pho but quite seafood/fishy in taste. The Bahn mi was just marinated meat with thinly sliced cucumber in crusty bread.. expected more in terms of fillings/garnishes as have had really good ones before. The salad rolls were the best of everything ordered but the peanut sauce quite thin and watery.

My sister ordered the salted caramel latte and it was tiny..gone in a few sips so she was disappointed. My partner had the best drink.. milky oolong tea probably better had at the end. My guava jasmine tea drink wasn't as nice as expected.. and worse I felt something in my teeth while drinking and picked out a bug! 🤢

To top it off.. the ride there ended up being quite costly despite the not appearing that far from our hotel, 4 min from the airport (driving). Note that tricycles can't go on main roads during the day so they had to drive all the way around in a big circle to get there, costing 3x the price! So not the best location in my opinion depending on where you are staying. I'd suggest instead going to the Bay walk for a nice vibe and...

Rene's offers a much desired Vietnamese menu, which is very nice. Banh My's, Pho's, Vietnamese Ices coffees and Spring rolls... A lot of your favourite Vietnamese staple dishes are on the menu.

I had several Banh My's, the bread is decent, the topping not always. The pork BBQ bread was nice, the Chicken bread wasn't at all.

Pho's are nice, the broth is strong and the home made noodles are delicious. Serving could be bigger though. I'm used to a pho being enough for breakfast or lunch, but theirs isn't. So the 2nd visit we thought we'd combine the soups with spring rolls and an ice coffee. Too bad, no spring rolls and no ice coffee. Hmmm.... These aren't the hardest things to keep in stock, right?

Drink assortment lacks variety. Not enough additives on the table. I like to see sugar, chili's, garlic in sour, fish sauce, chili sauce, Hoi Sin maybe to spike your broth to perfection.

Staff isn't per sé very friendly. They're also somewhat unprofessional, clumsy, forgetful.

All in all it's a mediocre restaurant, I think it could easily be much better. Only...