Saiga Vietnamese Eatery (Irvine) — Restaurant in Irvine

Another great asian fusion spot to add to your Yelp list for those that haven't tried it out yet. I've been seeing their garlic noodles and banh mi all over social media, so I decided I had to try it out myself one day. Note that they are only open on the weekdays from 10-2pm, so if you want something for the weekend, make sure to grab it during the weekdays! They are more of a takeout spot, but they do have a few tables outside. What I find pretty unique about their menu selections is their protein. I love the Vietnamese bbq chicken and how they offer crispy pork belly on either of their noodle or rice bowls. Honestly I wish there was a place like this near my work because they would be seeing me every other day because that's how good their food is. They also have some frozen selections which is super convenient for those days when you don't have time to prepare a meal. Supposedly there are no preservatives added to the frozen meals so that is a plus for me. Pricing is fair and is pretty standard with asian fusion spots. Support your local mom and pop shops and give them a try!

|| L O C A T I O N / P A R K I N G || -Cross Streets are MacArthur Blvd and Sky Park Circle -Plenty of parking spots as it is located in a business complex

|| F O O D / D R I N K S || Garlic Noodles with Vietnamese BBQ Chicken ($14.95) - I'm a huge fan of garlic noodles but unfortunately, many places make it too buttery which takes away from the garlic flavor or there's just not enough garlic flavor at all. It's not the case at Saiga because wow, when I opened up my to-go container, I got a whiff of the garlic immediately. I love that they give you a generous amount of their flavorful garlic noodles. While I thought the main star of the dish would be the garlic noodles, I was actually pleasantly surprised with the bbq chicken. It was super tender and had lots of flavor as well. I originally wanted to try the garlic noodles with the crispy pork belly but I'm glad I ended up going with the chicken because it just balanced out the richness of the dish.

Pork Belly Banh Mi ($10.75)- I was told this was one of their best selling items so I decided that I had to try it out, plus, I've never had crispy pork belly in my banh mi before! As soon as I took a bite, I immediately could taste why it was a best-seller. The crispiness and the fattiness of the pork belly soaks up the baguette and the pickled carrots and daikon very well. I like how they put a lot of mayo (which is honestly one of my fav parts of a banh mi).

Passion Fruit Spritzer ($4.95) - My favorite out of the two drinks that I got! Usually I'm a little hesitant with passion fruit drinks because the fruit itself is quite tarty and requires a lot of sugar to tone down the tartiness, but I was told that this was super refreshing so I decided to give it a try. Surprisingly, it wasn't too sweet and because they had sparkling water, it made it extra refreshing.

Strawberry Lemonade ($4.75): This was good but personally a little too sweet for me. I took a couple of sips and had to save the rest to drink at home and add more ice. My family did enjoy it though so it's just my preference on the...

Parking: Find parking is very easy. This location is located in a business plaza. Tricky to find at first because their signs are very small. Make sure to enter through door A.

Ambiance/Environment: Walking in, you'll notice the place is very small with some seating. It's a quick service, grab & go and you seat yourself.

Service: You don't really interact with a worker, unless you have a question. There was no worker at the register when I walked in. You can place an online order and pickup. If you decide to seat yourself, you'd order through the iPads. There are two iPads you can order from. After ordering, they do tell you wait times are 15-30 minutes in preparation for the food.

Food: They specialize in modern Vietnamese takeout. I was told their pork belly is their speciality, so of course I had to try it. You're able to choose a main dish and choice of protein. You can also customize it how you prefer. They also offer frozen foods in which you can purchase at the register, and make it in the comfort of your home or bring to work and enjoy. I decided to order and dine. What I ate:

Vietnamese Iced Coffee - don't make the mistake of drinking this during dinner time like me. This drink will keep you awake! As someone who drinks Vietnamese iced coffee religiously, I absolutely loved this; its richness, bittersweet taste. 10/10

Garlic Noodles with Pork Belly - I usually don't go for pork, but since it was their specialty, I had to test it out for myself. I was very surprised of how crispy and juicy their pork was! The garlic noodles were flavorful (can't really mess up garlic noodles). Everything paired with the green sauce was delicious. 9/10

Kimchi Fried Rice with BBQ Chicken - Since I was craving a rice dish, I decided to try this. The only critique I have, is that I prefer the rice to be a bit more spicier. Though, it went well with the egg and BBQ chicken. The chicken was very delicious and mouthwatering. 8/10

Pricing: My total came out to $32 with some cents. In all honesty, the prices are $$$ than usual. I prefer the portions to be a bit bigger. But I'm not surprised since it's located in Irvine. Though, the concept is modern and convenient (especially being located in a business plaza). I would still come back to try their other pork belly specials and Vietnamese...

Quality food at a casual pick up spot.

I'll preface this with saying I was not expecting to be so impressed with the food at this place since it just looks like it's aimed at takeaway mainly for people on lunch break. Also it for some reason reminded me of bibigo which I was never really impressed with.

Glad I was wrong though. When I tasted the food I was very pleasantly surprised. You could honestly take the food out of the takeout containers and place them nicely on some real dishes and I'd think they were from a full service restaurant.

ITEMS:

Kimchi Fried Rice (w/ pork belly) Garlic Noodles (w/ chicken) Thai Tea Vietnamese Coffee

I've had all the items at other places, so there were lots of taste reference points in mind, and they all of course taste somewhat different at the respective restaurants. Overall they balanced out the flavors well in the dishes and executed the basic things correctly.

The Kimchi rich was not overcooked so the grains still had texture and for my own personal taste I'm glad it was not the overly sour kimchi flavor. I think it's the broken rice style (smaller rice grains) which you commonly find in Viet Dishes. A good amount of pork belly was given and worked well with the rice.

Garlic noodles are a must and these had the proper amount of garlic flavor as well as chew. I've been to some places where the garlic noodles taste very bland, so glad these did not taste like that. The protein here was also very generous and they cooked the meat well so that it was not dry.

Being the Viet Coffee aficionado that I am I can say they make a good one here, better than I've had at some solely drink spots. It's all a balance between the coffee & condensed milk which sounds simple but has its complexities.

Don't think you're lost when you are navigating yourself here. It's located in a business park where you will find lots of parking. You'll find just a few seats inside since it really does seem aimed at takeout. I'm curious how their frozen take home food taste, in regards to how the food quality is. Maybe I'll try it out next time

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