Miss Saigon Downtown — Restaurant in Tucson

I once came here and asked for the house fried rice. My server was more than awkward. After speaking with the kitchen, he came back to clarify that the house fried rice could mean so many things. Without explaining what options were available, what his preferences were, or what I might like, he asked me to clarify what he should ask the kitchen to do. I tried to explain that I wanted it with chicken, sausage and shrimp, which as it turns out is exactly what “house fried rice” means according to the menu. He acted flabbergasted and I barely escaped the restaurant with food at all.

That was just the time I tried to order fried rice. It gave me food poisoning, but I live in the neighborhood and this spot has a reputation so I tried again recently.

Today the service was much worse, going well beyond the pale. After asking the same server for the number 21 to go, allegedly one of their most popular dishes, he returned from the kitchen to explain that he could give me raw beef, and asked if that's what I wanted or if it should be rare, or… there is an actual ellipses in the conversation here, so I asked him to clarify what he meant and how I could make it easier on the kitchen. In other words, what does the default number 21 amount to if I want it to go?

Apparently, there is no such thing as the number 21 to go, because the server repeated the question to me. I could have it with the raw beef slices, or a lengthy and awkward pause in the conversation. I tried one more time: are you suggesting that the beef will cook on the way home? Can you sear it? Can you help me make sense of this discussion at all?

Here is where a one star review comes from. At this point, my server told me, “Look, I don't know what industry you're in, but--” and I interrupted him, starting to lose it, because I have worked in commercial kitchens across Tucson for almost 10 years. I told him so, asking how I could make his job easier, as well as the kitchen’s, but he remained combative. I didn’t need the attitude or the meal that badly, so I left hungry and it was worth every penny saved.

Here's clearly what happened. A server with poor social skills sucks up to the kitchen when they complain about making their least favorite dishes, in other words most of the menu. This buck gets passed from the server to his customers, which is an award-winning move in somebody’s book. Most people are willing to overlook this; being basically decent, they accept the misunderstanding as their own responsibility. But as a professional it's kind of my obligation to speak out: this is unacceptable. This is also the only time I have left a negative review of a restaurant, ever.

If you want good Vietnamese food, there are a lot of great options in town. Do your research and don't be fooled by the lights and decor. This place is clearly dysfunctional, like from the outside looking in it is quite obvious when you know what to look for. It is a shame to see people dressing up for food that will probably make them sick...

Ok, I am leaving this review after over 2 dozen times we have been there. We have been to both locations.

What a disappointment in service and food.

We owned a restaurant before...... we know we give the customers what is expected.

Who serves pho with no basil, what Asian restaurant doesn't have chili oil, who walks past their regular customers when they are asking for assistance and just ignores them because they questioned why they don't have traditional -standard- items??

The usual server at the downtown location has an attitude when we respectfully and kindly ask for certain things.

We kept going to keep giving them another shot, even took out family and friends. We truly love to support local!! But, wow.... consistent disappointment.

Shame on them.

We used to have a wood fired pizza mobile concession in WA state and we never made excuses of why we didn't have certain things on hand. We understand basil doesn't keep well so we adjusted and learned how to make it keep well and always had it at hand...... Miss Saigon NEVER has basil for their pho. That's not ok... we should not have to settle and not get what we are eager for on a traditional meal because they don't plan and prep accordingly. They NEVER have traditional chili oil...... Standard things just to name a few.

We will respectfully say we gave them plenty of opportunities...Not going back.

Especially since the waiters attitude is always horrible 😒

We are willing and would love to continue to support you but you make that tough.

We have heard from multiple families similar issues regarding Miss Saigon.

I rely on reviews to determine where I go to eat. I'm leaving this review and you can decide for yourself. Hope you have better experiences than we have had multiple times at...

Where do we start? My best friend of 1005 days and her mom and her grandma came in here and we were very impressed with the pretty pink trees. However, our impresssion only lasted a moment. When we sat down, we pick up the menu and it was heavy. Anyways, we got very excited to see our favorite beverage Thai Tea on the menu. We ordered our drinks and it definitely took longer than necessary to get them. Then, when the waitress brought them over, she didn’t even give us straws and the Thai teas had plastic on the top so if she never gave us straws we would have went thirsty. I wish we would have went thirsty. The Thai teas sucked and almost made me vomit. When we asked for straws she gave us some for the water and not even for the tea and we had to ask again. Then we order and my bestest friend of 24,120 hours mom and grandma and I got our food but my best friend of 143 weeks and 4 days didn’t even get her food until last and she had to wait a while. She asked for a lot of hoisin sauce and they didn’t bring it. Then we asked for hoisin sauce and she said “more??”. Seriously? Shaming? We like hoisin sauce, so what? But also no one brought it to us in the first place so why would you say “more?”! Also, I asked for sriracha and she didn’t bring it so I had to ask. Also my best friend of 1,447,200 minutes and I both got the fresh spring rolls and they were straight up bad. So small and full of iceberg lettuce and falling apart with so many holes in it. We didn’t order lettuce rolls. Then to find out they charged us for extra hoisin sauce? That should not be an extra charge...