Saigon BOWL- Authentic Vietnamese Bistro — Restaurant in Bonaire

The food here is just decent, it has a homemade feel, but it doesn’t reflect authentic Vietnamese cuisine. This spot might be okay if you’re in the mood for fried rice or salads, but I wouldn’t recommend it for Pho or Banh mi. The price doesn’t match the quality or portion. Although the chef is Vietnamese, his skills come across as rather amateur, which is disappointing to admit.

I also happened to know during my visit that the restaurant sources most of their ingredients from City Farmer Market - an Asian grocery chain known for its budget-level produce and poor sanitation. This calls into question the pricing even more, as the ingredients are far from premium. ————— The Pho broth had an unpleasant odor, likely due to poor technique in handling the beef. It wasn’t a rich, meaty aroma, but rather the off-putting scent associated with stress hormones from industrial slaughter. Even using fresh meat won’t fix that without proper culinary skill. On top of that, the broth was cloudy, probably from being reheated or cooked at excessively high temperatures. Also, no culantro was served - a key herb and the essential soul of a proper bowl of pho. Neither the chef nor the staff (who appear to be family members) were even familiar with this herb.

The fried rice had good texture, each grain was well-separated yet moist. But the use of margarine for fragrance overwhelmed the natural flavors of the seafood and meats. The seafood used was low in quality, especially considering the price point. Seafood fried rice consisted of fish balls and imitation crab sticks, which felt like corner-cutting.

The goi (Vietnamese salads) were decent, and the fish sauce dressing was fine, though nothing stood out. Again, the price felt too high for what you actually get.

The BBQ short ribs with rice were marinated well, but the portion was small and the meat sliced thin - noticeably less than what you’d get at T Break. It also lacked the usual pickled carrots and daikon typically served on the side. Overall, not worth the high price.

The Banh mi was disappointing. The baguette was overly hard and crumbled with each bite. It came with no fresh herbs or vegetables - just bread and filling. Once again, not worth the price.

In summary: I’d also strongly suggest the restaurant reconsider its pricing, especially given the quality of...

It was our first time here, but we left before ordering anything.

The server sat us and brought our waters, then disappeared for a really long time. The water tasted really bad, I don't know why.

The place smelled like a dirty public restroom, but also very strongly of cleaning supplies, which oddly wasn't covering the dirty restroom smell so the smells just mixed together.

The music was very, very loud, and the TVs had their audio on in addition to the music, making for an environment where talking was almost impossible, especially since the other patrons were having to yell to hear each other, which only made matters worse.

We were given two menus (there were two of us), and one of them had over half the menu items marked as unavailable, while the other menu had nothing marked off at all. I don't know which menu was correct.

The walls--at least by our booth--were really filthy. It seems like this place needs a really serious cleaning.

The smell was so bad, and the loud music and nasty water just made everything worse, so we ended up leaving. We tried to wait to let our server know we wouldn't be ordering, but she never came back. She disappeared from the dining room and was nowhere to be seen, so we ended up just leaving.

I felt gross and like I needed to take a shower or at least wash my hands just from being there. :/ I wouldn't want to eat food from such a dirty place, either.

EDIT: I usually don't leave reviews until after visiting a restaurant multiple times because I feel that it is unfair to judge a place based on only one visit. You never know, it could just be an off day. But I won't be giving this restaurant another chance. It wasn't just like we got some bland food or something. After leaving my review, I saw in other reviews people mentioning the dirty wall. How long has this dining room been so dirty? This is more than...

I wasnt going to complain but I felt like I should warn other people. I ordered a Thai tea with no tapioca boba. It came out warm with the ice completely melted. Took 2 sips and noticed it kind of tasted like tapioca was in it before so I took a closer look and saw something small and black floating in it. It was a roach. I showed my server the roach. She was going to leave it on my table. I had to tell her I don't want it because there's a bug floating in it. I had to ask her to take it away from the table. I placed my order. Told her I wanted the seafood pho. She repeated my order back to me. I said yes, the P2 seafood. She said okay. And brought out some kind of special instead. When I told her I ordered the seafood pho she argued with me and told me I ordered the special. So I told her it's fine, I'll just take it. I ended up taking out all the meat but the rare steak. The soup was not hot and tasted off. I usually give places a second chance and don't usually complain but the roach and arguing made me lose my appetite. Unfortunately. I didn't get a picture of the roach because at that point I wasn't going...