Pho Saigon — Restaurant in South San Francisco

I'm pretty much in a love/hate relationship with Pho Saigon and can't seem to get out of this terrible relationship.

Long, long time ago before Pho Saigon was renovated. I used to be a frequent customer. I was extremely heartbroken to have found out it has shut down. About a year and a half later, it was finally reopened.

Pho Saigon has always been my go to place for bun bo hue (spicy beef noodle soup) and bun rieu (tomato broth soup with crab or shrimp paste) The two soups taste like heaven to me as well pretty much if it were "homemade" by a authentic Vietnamese mother/grandmother. Although, I'm Vietnamese, I can't cook so I'm constantly craving for "homemade" type of Vietnamese food. The broth is pretty much bomb dot com.

Let's just say bun bo hue and bun rieu at Pho Saigon are my kryptonite. I can endure the wait time to be seated. I can totally overlook the bad and slow service. And I can patiently wait for my soup to be served to me 25 minutes or more. As long, as I can get my soup, I will take the bad with the good.

Anyhoo, love the new look of Pho Saigon and still love the food. But, sometimes I do have second thoughts about the service.

Nah, Pho Saigon's bbh and bun rieu is too good for me to stop me from always...

The food was good, however the service wasn't the greatest. It all started with a grumpy looking old woman who kept coming around every minute to see if we were ready to order. Then the food is brought out as it is ready. As pho is the main feature, they probably have a lot of it on hand, so that came out quickly, but everyone else at the table who didn't order pho was waiting. It took probably 10 more minutes for a rice dish to come out, and they likely forgot my wife's dish. Everyone was practically done, and she still did not get her dish. And our server was no where to be found, didn't check that we got everything. We had to flag someone down to check on the status of the dish, which they probably just started cooking when we told them it was missing. After that, there wasn't even really much of an apology. Everything tasted great, but if you want something to come out either on time or at all, just...

I used to come here a lot when I still work in Subway inside the Gas Station 7 years ago. They were still at that corner area before they demolished and rebuild the shopping area. Now that they have the fancy renovated location, you would think they've revised their menu as well, but regardless of the relocation, I can still taste the same home style cooking. They haven't change their ingredients. I prefer eating here for the great taste of mom's cooking and not to mention, they don't rush you by leaving your check on your table when you just started eating your meal and kick you out so they can get more customers in. They understand that you have a long day's work and all you need is to sit down and relax while enjoying your meal. The soup doesn't taste watered-down. And they don't make a big deal when you ask for more bean sprout like...