Saigon Restaurant — Restaurant in Albuquerque

This is our second visit, and I'm fairly glad I waited for the second go-round. Our first visit was downright phenomenal. We were ravenous and went for appetizers of spring rolls and roasted quail. There wasn't a whole lot of meat on the quail, but with the salt, pepper, and lemon, plus its crispy exterior and succulent interior, it was divine.

We had two entrees that were wonderful mixes of meat and veg, but I can't recall their names any more than the names of our servers. The real cake-taker from that first visit, though, was the Salted Squid. The squid itself somehow tasted fresher than any we've had out here, and the light breading was full of savory, umame, picante, and just a hint of sweet. We wept with delight eating it, even though we actually made it take-out and ate it cold the next morning.

The real joy of that first visit, though, was the older lady who served us. I'm rubbish at remembering names, which in this case is a real tragedy, since her warmth, good humor, and readiness to answer our questions took the visit from good to astounding.

Fast-forward to today's visit, and the young man who was our server. Again, I'm absolute rubbish at remembering names for good or ill, but it was not the same experience at all. We ordered a Shrimp (Thai Style) Fire Pot and the Salted Squid this time. The soup that came out on the fire pot had maybe 4 shrimp total, and a bunch of onions, some assorted seafood (fake crab, 2 mussels, and a handful of squid pieces), some tomato bits, a few mushrooms, and chunks of some of the most astringent ginger I've had the pleasure to bite into. I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to bite into the ginger since it was downright woody. The broth was delightfully picante, but also fairly sweet, though Raz couldn't enjoy it due to the hefty clump of Cilantro that did not lend itself to my attempts to gather it all, and therefore found its way into every bite. I enjoyed the soup, even if I'm still convinced that it wasn't what I ordered, so I'm not about to review them super harshly for bringing me good food that didn't kill me...

The Salted Squid tasted every bit as glorious as the first time, but the portion seemed much smaller than we remember. For the inconsistency in the visit, we definitely could not award 5 stars, but since the food is actually pretty amazing even when it's wrong, I'm...

I wanted to update this from my first review of this restaurant 9 months ago. I've been here numerous times in the past 9 months, and I've had a great meal every time. My go to is the combination beef pho. Very flavorful. I can't comment on the rest of the menu as I order this everytime. My favorite part of the restaurant is the young employee, Ung (I hope I'm spelling that correctly), who is a delight-- always smiling, attentive, and helpful. The restaurant is always clean, has a decent amount of seating, is not loud, and is comfortable both in scenery and temperature.

First review: The pho is excellent, as are the rice dishes. There's a lot more that I have yet to try, but everything looks really good. The staff is great--very friendly; they even complimented my partner and I on being "good...

By far my favorite asian food spot in Albuquerque! We have tried multiple items and every single one of them is awesome. Today was the #72 curried chicken. Comes with a plate of rice. Chunks of bell pepper, onion, and chicken mixed with almost a sweet curry sauce! Sooooooo good. Dont forget to try the Avacado shake if you havent! This one is definitely one of the better ones in Albuquerque!

Their spring rolls are amazing with the sauce they bring with them...

Really friendly service, and the owner is always there! She is super nice! Pride in ownership! She never advertised and has been in business for 20+ years! Also recently opened another location in Rio Rancho.

Nice spot for a date nite or just to order...