Saigon Shack — Restaurant in New York

Please let this be a warning on the prejudice one may experience when dining at Saigon Shack if they’re not aware.

Tldr; you pay and tip before eating/service and the staff is blatantly prejudice to black patrons.

My partner and I went in to dine on a snowy evening. I had this place saved to try for almost a year based on the reviews and I was excited to have some pho on a winter day.

We walk into the vestibule before entering the restaurant and we were blocked from entering by a young male employee. No joke almost tripped over his foot as he blocked the doorway and stopped me from going in. I said I wanted a table for two and he gave me the option of right in the middle or at the bar in front of the cashier, even though there were about 4 other available spots to sit.

We sit in the center of the restaurant near the door (which kept slamming the entire time we dined) and proceeded to order using the QR code on the table. No one checked in with us, they just confirmed we were ordering off of our phones.

You can order via the QR code and pay through your phone, or order with a waiter and pay with cash. It did not seem as if you can pay with a physical card. If you order via your phone, you have to tip at checkout prior to getting your food. Keep in mind, you’re tipping but get no actual service or experience from them other than making the food and bringing the bowl. Can’t go in and change the tip after either. Another unethical, weird element of this place.

The food and drink came out almost immediately. The servers dropped them on the table without saying a word to us… okay.

We both had the brisket pho and Vietnamese coffee. Both were okay. Tasty broth but the meat was tough in some parts.

While we were eating, I noticed two black girls came in and were offered the seat either at the door or at the cashier. When they were seated at the door, they were told it was cash only and I found that weird as we were not told the same. The waiter greeted them with “you haven’t ordered yet? What do you want?” HUH? Very unprofessional!!!

I started to become hyper aware of the behaviour of the staff towards the black customers. Myself getting stopped from entering, then them being told cash only. While other customers were being seated anywhere that was available and were helped to order.

I even saw two employees kept going back and forth and checking how finished they were with their pho??? I almost couldn’t believe it. It felt like they were trying to be sure they didn’t run out on the bill and it was SO BLATANT!!!!

No one welcomed us, checked in on us, refilled our drinks or thanked us for coming. Little to no communication from the staff.

I was so disgusted by the behaviour of the staff, and the vibe of the restaurant that it ruined my entire perception of this place and I’ll...

This was my first time trying this place , glad to have discovered it through my friend who always goes & speaks very highly of it . I had shrimp oh o& the sautéed broccoli appetizer. The broccoli was really good. The pho was good as well, but compared to several other Vietnamese restaurants that I’ve tried it just seemed like it was missing something. Maybe it was because I couldn’t really dress it up the way I’m used to. They don’t have chili oil. They have something else that’s more like a spicy red paste, but I cannot remember what it was called. They did have the hoisin sauce and the Sriracha, though. THEY DID NOT TAKE THE TAILS OFF THE SHRIMP!!! if I am eating a dish that is wet and I have to pick it up with my utensils to put it in my mouth, I should not have to pull off/spit out the tail of a shrimp. I should be able to just chew and swallow. And it was super weird because they left the very last tail end on, Something they could’ve easily just pulled off during the preparation of the meal. My soup also had bok choy in it. I’ve never had it in my pho before , it was fine. For us to have had two orders of pho , they only brought over one small plate with bean sprouts, basil, and two slices of lime. When I’ve been to other Vietnamese restaurants, I get all of that just for myself, so I felt the portion of that was kind of small. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t achieve the flavor I’m used to. They are a cash only establishment, but you can scan a QR code at the table and order and pay right on your phone. That was really convenient. Service was good and the volume was excellent for having a nice conversation and being able to hear the person you’re talking to. If I’m ever in the neighborhood I would give this place...

We came here as part of a self guided NYC food tour and hunt for a good bowl of pho. We were immediately turned off by the staff and their odd rules.

When we ordered, we were told that since there were 5 of us we had to order more than just the two items (again, we were doing a food tasting to find the best pho restaurant) because there is a minimum of $5/person. We asked for a few more minutes so that we could pick out a few more items. The waitress never returned.

Finally, I caught the attention of another waitress. We ordered two more items bringing our total up to about $28-30. Again, we were told this is not good enough. It must be an item per person with a minimum of $5 per item. This can be misconstrued easily by the wording of the fine print on the menu. So just know that if you’re meeting up with a friend here for just coffee or maybe your friend was having lunch here and you wanted to drop in and say hello and wasn’t planning to eat, you can’t.

Remember too that this place is cash only. Being that it’s a bit pretentious, I hoped that the food would be worth it. Not really. The papaya and mango salad wasn’t a papaya salad at all or at least it didn’t taste like it. Or it’s because the mango was too ripe to be made into a Asian styled papaya salad. The Vietnamese coffee was okay as well. Neither bad or outstanding. The Peking duck was one platter we did seem to like. However note that this is not an authentic Vietnamese dish. We came solely to find an authentic Viet place and for the pho. The pho was probably a 5.5 out of 10 which was disappointing.

We won’t be returning. While they have some good reviews, the bad ones have a common thread. Silly rules and...