Saigon Pho — Restaurant in Raleigh

::NEW (2023):: Refreshing updates, great food and fantastic service!

It took five long years before I ever decided to revisit this establishment, but what a great experience. Had a severe craving for Pho Tai (rare beef). My usual choices were not opened, so I figured I'd have to settle. However, it turned out to be a great visit. They had updated the entire restaurant decor. The sweet lady told us we could sit anywhere, was it was outside of normal lunch hours, so there were plenty of seats. Once we were seated, she provided us with menus immediately and asked what we would like to drink. After we received our drinks she came back shortly and took our order. Less than ten minutes later, she came back with our food. The Pho Tai soup had changed and was slightly less concentrated compared to before. The rare meat slices were not the paper thin kind, but had some chew to it. It was still very delicious! The Banhmi was delicious. But the highlight dish was definitely the grilled pork chops over rice and the fried spring rolls. They were so delicious. Ready to return to redo the whole experience again.

OLD (2018) - The short: Food is delicious, but wait time is horrendous.

The full scoop: So hard to rate. This place needs to be on an episode of Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmare or Robert Irvine's Restaurant Impossible. The food is delicious and authentic. The staff members are polite, but did not take ownership or accountability. Rating the food alone, this place is a 4-star. But, the service and management needs a lot of guidance and training. We waited almost 10 mins before being seated. There were 4 empty tables that needed to be cleaned off. We (my husband and I, as well the couple ahead of us) were very patient and waited for the staff to clean off the tables. After we were seated, a party of 10 people came in and were seated and given menus immediately. We were still waiting for menus. A few minutes later, the party of 10 had their orders taken. I started to chat up the table next to us and they were a party of three that had waited 20 mins...and have not received menus. They got up and left because they figured it would be another 30 mins before they got their food, since the large party had just ordered. I was really craving pho, so I convinced the fatty in me that it was worth the wait. Wrong decision. We waited another 10 mins before receiving menus. Then, 10 mins later, my husband's food came. He finished his food and about 30 mins later I asked the staff how much longer I would need to wait. He replied that I had come in at a bad time and that we did not make it known that we were seated first. In the restaurant business, you should not push the fault onto the customer. I explained the entire situation and he apologized. The waitress later came by with a cup of water for me. While she asked if we had ordered, another restaurant patron set a cup of water on her tray. She gave that same cup of water to my husband. When we left, the couple ahead of us had just started on their food.

Highly recommend management to implement a system to identify the status of each of their tables. The restaurant is well staffed, but they need training. May want to consider implementing a traffic light type system: red-stop to give table menus and take drink orders; yellow-slow down to take food orders; green-table received food (check in occasionally). It may be helpful to have the staff play some Diner Dash app game for training tactics.

Will be returning again in the future and would love to...

If I could leave no star, I would have! The girl server couldn't even take my order correctly. When she brought out my food, I told her I didn't order the duck plate and even asked me If I was sure and I told her I'm sure. I told her that I got the Bún bò Huế so she brought the food to the back and told them that I DIDNT WANT IT ANYMORE. First of all, I didn't even order the duck dish so of course I'm not going to eat it. The male server brought out our pho and I told him we had one more dish (thinking im still getting my Bún bò Huế) and told him one Bún bò Huế and when they brought the food out it was a whole different plate. So an older lady from the back came out with a menu and point at the dish that the male server brought out and I told her thats not it and i pointed at D5-Bún bò Huế. Mind you, my family was already almost done with their food so not even 1 minute after telling that older lady that I wanted D5, I told the girl server that this was taking too long and for them to cancel my order bc my family was already almost done their food. She then said okay but she didn't even go back to tell them that I canceled my order. I watched her!!! She didn't feel the need to communicate that to the others in the back. And when they brought out my food I told them that I had already told the girl server to cancel it. And the older lady had the audacity to say OH MY GOSH! UM EXCUSE ME, THIS WAS ALL YOUR GIRL SERVER'S fault. So we paid and left. Never eating there...

Have always had good experiences here. Was brought by a friend some 8-10 years ago for a dine in, and i loved it. Was served more food than i could possibly eat in one sitting, leftovers were great too. Since then, I have seen the place change hands a few times, inside the dining area changes in cleanliness, not terribly, just some dust, but I always take out since that first time. The plaza is very old and unkempt, questionable area, but once you get inside, it's a completely different and enjoyable atmosphere. Staff is always kind and helpful, overall great customer service and they are very eager to please. I do miss that I used to be able to order small, medium, or large bowls, a large bowl was enough to feed 2 people. Now there's no sizes, and the regular P1 (combination pho) comes with considerably less food. Just ordering a P1 for takeout used to come with a takeout tray of meats, a second one of noodles and veggies, and the soup container filled to the brim. Now you get one tray with meats, veggies, and noodles, and the broth container filled, but not to the brim. The food quality is still great, it sucks that amount of food has decreased, but the cost of food has dramatically increase overall as well, so it's not really the restaurants fault. They need their profits to continue serving great food and keep their wonderful staff, so the price increase is worth it. Overall it's one of Raleigh's hidden gems, and I cant possibly understand people leaving them...