Saigon Bistro — Restaurant in Jersey City

My prayers have finally been answered! There are just no good Vietnamese restaurants close to Hoboken, without traveling to the sketchy parts of JC. Whenever I'm craving it (which is pretty often), I always have to end up settling for the only one that's in the neighborhood. That is until Saigon Bistro.

I've been meaning to try out this spot out and had the perfect opportunity on the way home from the airport. After a long flight, I was definitely not going to cook anything for dinner, so we placed an order for pickup directly through their site around 5 pm on a Sunday. It said the order would be ready in about 20 minutes and we got there right on time. The dining room is small and it was filled for a Sunday evening with lots of takeout orders on the side counter.

Here is everything we ordered:

Vietnamese Spring Rolls (minced pork and chicken, cellophane noodles, mushrooms, carrots, fermented house sauce) - these were just meh. It wasn't that crispy and I also prefer rice roll paper (this was spring roll paper)

Spicy Lemongrass Soup (hue spices, chili oil, roasted lemongrass and shallots, beef, brisket, and meatballs) - I absolutely LOVED this. The broth was everything and they give a pretty big portion of meat. Even my husband, who doesn't like lemongrass, liked this soup. It was definitely comforting after a long day of traveling.

Shaken Cubed Steak (cubed-beef, butter, garlic, peppers, onions, salt and pepper, served with jasmine rice) - SUPERRRR salty and a little too oily

Classic Banh Mi (Viet cold cuts, fresh toasted baguette, liver pate, mayonnaise, cilantro, pickled carrots and daikon) - good meat to veggie ratio. The bread was fresh but could have used a pop in the toaster oven before they assembled it

Since we always over order for two people, we had leftovers for lunch the next day. I even had to stop myself from ordering the Viet-style wings so I'll definitely need to try...

Ordered delivery twice in 1 week because it was so good I needed to try other items. They did not disappoint. I had a spicy(ish)noodle the 1st time, summer roll with tofu, and the corn/rice pudding. Ate it all in 1 sitting. 1st time having that pudding. So good I ordered it again and added a flan. Next had the curry vegetables with vermicelli, flan, and pudding(again) and summer roll with tofu(again). Drank the curry out of the bowl. (You can try the fork, Spoon, or chopsticks provided but lifting the bowl and pouring it down my throat was more satisfying for me.) There were 2 servings to 1 container (Another positive) and I managed to ration the second serving for the next day to preserve thr experience of eating it.. it wasn't easy wrangling it away from myself but I won.The flan was thicker than I was expecting. Not eggy. And it wasn't floating in a thin caramel. The sauce was thick and balanced. The vegetables in all the different meals were perfect. In the roll they were crispy and fresh and perfectly sized slices. In the curry they were bright and fresh and not too hard that you couldn't bite them or break with a fork or chopstick. You can order directly with them for delivery on thier site. No crazy fees. The delivery was quick and the drivers were both so friendly and nice. I normally wouldn't critique delivery but theirs was thier own and good service. All in all, it was all so good I had to...

After my photoshoot of of NYC skyline at Weehawken overlook, I searched for Pho and Saigon Bistro had fantastic reviews, I love pho and look for new places. I quickly reached there, being Sunday, parking was easy (it is metered parking on the road.) Nice (small)cozy place, very pleasant greeter, quickly took my order. I placed Beef Combo Pho $13.95 and on the house hot tea. Tea was luke warm and very weak and I discarded it right away, my order came quick. Nice size portion.

Unlike most patrons including native named patrons giving enthusiastic recommendations, I did not find the Pho conforming with acceptable standards, I have been eating at numerous Vietnamese restaurants. Broth is the body of Pho, this broth was nothing more than a salty concoction, basically flavorless, neutral in taste with high amount of salt, lacking in beefy flavor and aroma of spices one would expect as a pho lover. I found the noodles stuck together in a clump, you may see in one photo, quantity of meat was less, and the strips were exceptionally long. I would not come back for Pho, I did not try anything else, I live far, will not come back anyway. It seems like a great option for Jersey city locals, but if you are seeking authentic taste, keep looking (read my other Pho recommendations). Saigon Bistro is an upscale fast food joint and a nice place, very clean, very attentive and caring staff but their Pho...