Saigon Saigon — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

For a truly Chinese experience, my main advice when visiting any new restaurant is to check for other Asians - you won't find Chinese people visiting a Chinese restaurant that doesn't serve authentic Chinese food. It's only at Saigon Saigon that you get to truly experience Chinese dining, the main one being 'yum cha' or tea time. The name can be slightly misleading though as yum cha is done anytime from 5:30am for the elderly generations who meet their friends early in the morning to chat and catch up over tea and shared dishes to lunch time for everyone else. Dim sum (literally translated into little heart) is served during this period, aptly named because you get small portions of each dish so you can try a little of each dish.

Booking by phone can be a problem, the background noise makes it difficult to hear the person at the other end of the phone. Sometimes when you manage to make a reservation, you turn up to find they haven't taken your details down correctly or they haven't got you on the list. The best thing would be to just turn up and be prepared to wait as it can be quite busy with most Chinese people taking advantage of their dim sum menu which I haven't been able to find any other restaurant offering.

The dishes they offer are as authentic as what you can get in restaurants in Hong Kong though. I've brought different non-Chinese friends to Saigon Saigon just for this experience and everyone enjoyed it very much and asked me to bring them...

We didn't even get to eat in here but me and my partner arrived in the early evening to be snubbed by the staff. I wore a Steven Universe T-shirt (Pink with a gold star in the middle) and they instantly insulted it. I explained it is from a cartoon in good jest and showed them the picture but they just kept shaking their heads and walked away speaking in their language whilst looking back at us. We waited 15 minutes to be seen by a waiter but no one arrived. Meanwhile people who came in after us had had their tables set and had had their drinks. We felt we were being ignored. A member of staff even walked past us to stand outside to greet others when we had clearly not been served. After 20 mins we walked out and it left a sour taste in my mouth for the rest of the evening. I later googled why they could have been offended and the t shirt looks a tiny but like the Vietnamese flag. I don't know the history but to be victimised in such a way in the UK, even after explaining and showing where it was from is quite shocking. This was an appaling show of hospitality and I will never go there again. I would not even recommend to any one about the town. The food may be nice but it is sadly let down by the bigoted ignorance from front of...

Short version: filling food, good central location.

Long version: good location when waiting for the night train as very close to the Princes Street entrance to Waveley station.

Saigon Saigon has a wide range of Dim Sum (which was what attracted me) and other items (I wasn't tempted by the various presentation methods of chickens feet).

There were quite a few people who looked of oriental persuasion eating here when I dined, which I take as a good sign.

Service seemed attentive enough (some reviewers say otherwise) but then I was probably at the end of any rush, getting there at about 8pm. The eating area was about a quarter full, though with a lot of people around the front lobby and bar it felt full on entry.

The staff were pleasant enough, and they will take time to explain dishes (I tested) even though the menu makes dishes easy to understand.

I chose a banana fritter to finish my meal off, this was my only disappointment since the batter was standard; some places I've been use a sweetened batter for desserts.

All other choices I made were tasty, and the size of the portions (3 or 4 large egg sized dumplings) mean they are...