Saigon Saigon — Restaurant in Arlington

Nice place. While passing through DC we got our usual Phò craving. Its become a new adventure just finding a place in each city I visit that has a vegan veggie broth on their menu. So you'll probably see my constant raves about vegan Phò lol.

So now..the parking..if your not familiar with the area like myself I hope this helps. It seemed like everywhere we stopped in DC was metered parking. There is a parking area of the shopping center just behind the restaurant. Wren you park the meter sences your arrival and the meter begins to run a 1 hr time for free parking. It's $2 power hour after that so we added 30 minutes to the free hour for $0.50.

We came in about an hour before closing. Not too busy. The bar area was clear just a few booths were taken. Really nicely decorated open space. Clean bathrooms. Very inviting. Quiet. Fast service.

I had my laptop and asked for their wifi and they said they don't give it lol. Umm ok I don't rate based on wifi so all 5 stars from me however I imagine in a busy business city it just seemed strange. I just used my Hotspot so not a biggie again.. just a bit strange..

We only ordered the vegan Phò and it was delicious!《《 Mainly why I rate it 5 ⭐️. It was so good we devoured it before I realized i didn't get a picture. So no pic but please believe me when I say yoi need to try their veggie pho! They offer small and large option with only a $2 difference. We opted for large 🍜😃. Veggie broth was very rich and flavorful. It was packed with veggies and noodles. They were a bit light on the tofu serving though. I'm from Georgia and Phò is usually like $12-13 at the most at my spots so paying $14.50 was a good surprice in comparison to other DC places we visited...

This restaurant is all atmosphere without good food nor service.

Service: the server didn't write down our order (no big deal if they can remember it) and put the order in wrong. Our waiter appeared to change mid-meal. We don't know who the actual waiter was. Whoever it was supposed to be never came to check in at all or see if refills were needed.

Appetizer: We ordered the steam potstickers, for $8.50 and only got 4 potstickers. The quantity and quality was not worth the price. They came with two sauces, but we were not told what they were. A different waiter happened to walk by, so I asked what the sauces were. The sauces were mediocre at best

Food: Spicy miso ramen has no spice, at all. The seaweed was extremely overpowering. It ruined the bowl. The flavor was very bland overall. I can make better tasting ramen at home with stovetop ramen with some spices and toppings. This is definitely a one-and-done ramen stop for me. By far the worst ramen I've had in NoVA. Ichiban Sushi & Ramen in Shirlington Village blows this place out of the water.

Drink: I ordered the "Strawberry blush" and was provided "Purple Dream." Sadly, due to the lighting in the restaurant, I couldn't tell it was purple instead of strawberry colored. The drink was far from a "dream" the initial taste was pleasant but after that, it tasted like soap. It would've been nice to have received the drink I ordered. The Boba Milk tea from their Sister location, "Bees & Tea" was significantly better than what I was served tonight. Another poor point for this restaurant

Overall, if you want a cute date-night spot, that's it. Nothing else...

I ordered takeout recently from Saigon, Saigon at the front counter. The restaurant still appears to have a nice atmosphere. Some of the pricing was quite eye-popping compared to other Vietnamese restaurants in the area and the quality was not quite what we remembered. In particular, they charged $27 for chicken lettuce wraps. The fillings were okay in quantity but there were only two lettuce leaves. In any case, who charges that kind of money for lettuce wraps, even if it is an entree? (I noticed that they also serve a grilled shrimp dish with only 3 shrimp for the high 20s -- website is down right now so I can't recheck the price). Second, we had vegetarian papaya salad that had almost nothing but papaya (no peanuts, green onions, green beans and not the mint and basil advertised on its menu) on some lettuce, maybe some carrot. Instead of a lime-based, garlic soy sauce that one usually gets with the vegetarian version of papaya salad, this had a very sweet soy sauce that ruined the concept of papaya salad. Interestingly, when I mentioned that their online menu listed a "Buddha Style" Papaya Salad, the gentleman seemed to be unaware. We also had the Buddha's Soft Noodles Delight and this could have been a good dish but was absolutely drowned in the same sweet soy sauce as the papaya salad. It was unpleasant to eat. Others in my family said their pho was just okay, but not as good as other restaurants. So for that, a...