Saigon Kitchen — Restaurant in Fort Lee

Once in a while, I crave for Pho and some good Vietnamese food. Saigon Kitchen is a Vietnamese food gem in Fort Lee, NJ.

I started with their Vietnamese Chicken Wings. It was sweet, savory and garlicky. It was crunchy on the outside but soft and tender on the inside. The cilantro and squeeze of lime gives it a whole new dimension that will surely whet your appetite.

Then the main course arrived - the Beef Pho came in steaming hot accompanied by your usual Vietnamese vegetables. The beef broth was to die for. It was rich but at the same time, very light. It wasn’t salty and it wasn’t bland - it was just right. For me, Pho is a blank canvas. The flavor changes each time you add something. When you add your thai basil, bean sprouts and chili - the flavor profile changes to light to very light soup. Then when you add sriracha and hoisin sauce, the flavor deepens. You can never go wrong with a good bowl of Pho.

But perhaps the greatest revelation I had with going to this Vietnamese restaurant is the Banh Mi. It was my first time trying Banh Mi. I’ve heard of it and I know that this is the “Vietnamese Sandwich”. But after tasted - an existential question popped out of my mind - “why am I just eating this sandwich now?”. This sandwich is very unique that I ordered two of it - the chicken and pork Banh Mi. The sandwich is a baguette that has a crusty exterior but pillowy interior. The inside is brushed with special (?) mayo and lined with the meat, pickled vegetables and cilantro. On the side more pickled vegetables, cucumber, liver pate and jalapeño. The combination of all these ingredients merged into the sandwich made my experience mind-blowingly good. I would never go to a Vietnamese restaurant again without trying their Banh Mi. This experience...

This was only place can eat the pho on near by Main Street until opened new Vietnamese restaurants pho che. I went there first time and last time . I seated table with my friend near by front entrance door. I order pork chop platter , house pho and shrimp summer roll with side of extra onion on the side. Summer comes with peanut sauce but sauce not feel peanut not tasty so I eat with hot sauce and hoisin sauce mixed. Pho come with rare steak and brisket and tripe and meat ball. Soup is not hot. rare steak didn’t cooked by broth so rare steak is too chewy I can’t eat it . I threw out rare steak on my dish. And pork chop platter come with rice And salad. I found the hair even before I touched.cause that hair near by top in the rice. I have long hair. I was try to tell server but no one at the hall. So I went at the looks like counter which has shelve for set up the glass cup another side and find three server who looking the cell phone. Even one of server was looking at his phone with his shoes on and his feet on the shelve where the glass cup was placed. And I let them know that found hair in my food. I came to my table with server and she asked me “do you wanna get same food? “ but I didn’t want it cause I thought they would just change my rice and give it to me again. I hear this place has a couple of branches but I really wonder how they understand serve safety!!! Put the feet with wear shoes on glass shelve and hair in dish. All food has nothing tasty, banh mi bread is soggy, Pork chop is not juicy. All ingredients not fresh. Please don’t...

I ordered spring rolls, papaya salad, and TWO signature pho bowls with beef on Grubhub. I waited 25 min before picking up my order. I was still waiting when I arrived. Having a busy day, I needed to quickly pick up the food, there were only 2 tables seated. It was not busy. Upon finally getting to my destination, I discovered they forgot one of the pho bowls. Also, BOTH THE SPRING ROLLS WERE POPPED.

The customer service was HORRIBLE. I called stating they forgot one of my entrees. No apologies, just said okay we will give you a refund. They didn’t even ask if we would want to pick up the food they forgot. It’s not an appetizer that’s a whole entree, the other person is hungry too. We wanted a meal not our money back. Finally arriving to pick up the food, again no apologies and still waiting for the missing food. There were no tables it’s still not busy I don’t understand the excuse. Just abruptly handed the food with no care in the world. We had to drive in the rain to pick up food YOU forgot to pack. In my original order I asked for extra limes and cilantro in BOTH pho bowls. Of course in the one they forgot and we had to pick up again - they forgot to give extra limes and cilantro.

Horrible customer service, food is subpar and popped spring rolls impossible to dip in the sauce. Why even order from this...