Saigon Social — Restaurant in New York

Disappointed. I was excited to try this place because I had followed their Instagram during the pandemic and admired their efforts to donate food to needy causes. In addition, a friend who is notable in the industry and knows the owner highly recommended the restaurant.

That said, my husband and I made an early Saturday dinner reservation to celebrate an early Valentine's Day and his birthday, which is one day later. We reserved 5:30 pm as we had an early flight the next morning. When we arrived, the restaurant was half empty, yet the staff offered us a 2-top right by the front door. Since it was a bit cold out, we asked if we could possibly have a different table and were then offered the 2-top, only one table over. We aren't the type of people who advocate hard for ourselves (unfortunately!), so we accepted the second table offered. Sadly this table was right next to the expediting station, which made it a busy space, and we could hear all of the orders going into the kitchen LOL.

We realize it is a small restaurant and would have been ok with the seating if we hadn't seen two couples who came in after us seated at 4-tops against the window - a better location as they weren't literally in the middle of the floor, and they got a bigger table. We were irritated but decided to move on and try to enjoy dinner.

Regrettably, the food didn't make up for the seating snub. We ordered the Lemongrass shortribs for appetizer - one (of the 4 in the order) was delicious, but the other 3 felt a little dry, perhaps overcooked. We ordered the garlic noodles with shrimp - it comes with 2 very large shrimp, and they look delicious, but one seemed a bit undercooked. We also got the pork belly entree - which was overall good, but some of the meat also seemed dry and overcooked. We got a water spinach side dish which was average. The jackfruit drinks were good but expensive at $12 each with no alcohol. Overall the food is really expensive, especially when given that quality, compared to what you can get even at other places in NYC. Back to the 2-top table - it got very crowded trying to balance our dishes on our tiny table.

The food came out weirdly quickly, which we were surprised at. But we had only had our main entrees for about 15-20 minutes when our server asked us if we wanted to wrap it up. Really? We felt rushed. We understand needing to turn tables over - we also aren't the type of people who linger too long on a table - but to be asked at the ~40-minute mark (of arriving) if we're ready to take our leftovers home is a bit much. To add to the discomfort, the acoustics in the restaurant were awful. The room even when relatively quiet is loud and echoey.

We weren't offered dessert (not sure if they even have it but we weren't going to ask) paid our bill, and were out by 6:30 - less than an hour after arriving. It might have been a record time for a restaurant dinner for us! We don't plan...

One of my favorite spots for a guaranteed satisfying meal. Went back after a long time to catch up with a friend.

Updated 4/14

Went to try the updated Spring menu. Wow!

The chicken dish is probably the best in the City now! Just moist and levels of flavor from 5 spices. The watches salad with puffed rice was wow and the dirty chicken fired rice was 👌 it's called GÀ RÔ TI grilled 5 spiced chicken thigh with a chimichurri of Vietnamese herbs, ginger scallion sauce, pickles & dirty chicken rice and an incredible watercress salad with puffed rice

The quail scotch eggs is a must. It's stuff with sausage and shrimp and sits on a ginger aioli. Don't share this, probably want to eat it all. I took an order home.

No matter what dish you order, the dishes are full of flavor.

My favorite is oxtail fried rice. It's just a savory flavorfulled rice dish with oxtail!!

Their Siagon appetizer platter had to be one of the best in the city. Comes with BÁNH BÈO, BÁNH KHỌT, BÒ LÁ LŐT. LEMONGRASS RIBS, IMPERIAL ROLLS

BÒ NƯỚNG LÁ LỐT grilled lemongrass and curry spiced beef sausages wrapped in betel leaf is the perfect bite.

LEMONGRASS RIBS grilled pork ribs marinated in honey & lemongrass - cilantro lime sauce was great!

BÁNH KHQT are mini turmeric coconut pancakes, shrimp, mung bean, scallion oil - herbs.. so good!

IMPERIAL ROLLS are tp be eaten like a lettuce wrap. Good tasty bite!

In the past I have had their soft shell crab bhan mi, seafood boil, garlic noodles amd a variety of other dishes.

Chef Helen prob makes the best pho in town. Any time you get a dish with a pho, it's a winner. I once took left over pho home and added the fried rice...

During my recent visit to the said restaurant, my overall experience was disappointing, resulting in a mediocre rating of 2 out of 5 stars. From the moment we arrived, we were greeted at the door in an unfriendly manner, which was not a good start to our dining experience.

An open kitchen normally offers guests the chance to witness the magic of cooking up close. However, in this case, it revealed a worrying lack of adherence to hygiene protocol. It was clearly visible that prepared food was being touched with bare hands, and notably, part of the kitchen staff did not wear gloves. This raised serious questions about the restaurant's food safety practices. Additionally, our dining experience was further disturbed when my dining companion received splatters from the kitchen on his face, which was both unpleasant and concerning regarding the cleanliness and safety of the cooking processes.

Regarding the food, the Pho Beef and Bahn Xeo were below average quality. Despite the subpar quality, the prices were above average, which did not match the value provided. This contrast between quality and price was disappointing and contributed to the overall mediocre experience.

All in all, although the concept of an open kitchen and the dishes offered have potential, this was overshadowed by poor execution and lack of attention to detail, both in service and in the kitchen. The incident with splatters from the kitchen is particularly concerning and should be immediately addressed. It is hoped that the restaurant takes this feedback to heart and implements improvements to enhance the experience for...