Agave Saigon Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

We were looking for a fun lively place that does Taco Tuesday with music. We read many good reviews and decided to come here. Upon entering, it was really quiet - no music. The music didnt turn on until 9:10pm, once we finished our meal which was about an hour later. Im also not sure if the AC was on, it was quite warm inside. We were excited to try the tacos and noticed the owner (I believe) of the restaurant was present. He did not look very friendly or welcoming and felt a little awkward, as mentioned in other reviews here. But thats okay! We certainly understand that might not be his thing. We were seated right in front of the open kitchen so we’re able to see everything that happens. After placing our orders, we started noticing words being exchanged between the owner and kitchen staff and it became very evident that the owner micromanages his staff. From what we could understand, it seemed like the kitchen was either behind on timing or was missing a table's order. He was rushing the kitchen staff, repeatedly asking for things, pointing at his wrist to indicate that its taking too long and just talked to his staff in a very belittling way, as if they were clueless and did not know what they were doing. It went on for the majority of the time we were waiting for our food. At one point, one of the kitchen staff was so visibly upset and argued back with the owner, creating such an awkward tension in the restaurant. I understand as an owner, you have certain expectations for your employees but I think there are some things that should be said in private or behind closed doors, in an appropriate place NOT right in front of the customers and in the middle of service. It is just not the time nor the place. And if the conversation HAD to take place at that exact moment, there are more productive and polite ways to communicate what you need your staff to improve on without talking down on them. Because the kitchen staff was rushed, our first round of tacos came out not warm however the second round of tacos that came out were piping hot and tasted so much better. It did not take unreasonably long for food to come out either round so I dont think the rushing was necessary. The food itself was good, I dont have anything bad to say though it didnt exceed my expectations either. Perhaps it was an off night and we came at a bad time but unfortunately, we dont plan on returning to this establishment again based on tonights experience. We highly appreciate the staff for their kindness...

I was really disappointed with this place. I tried three dishes, queso flameado, enchiladas, and a birria taco.

It started off well, their queso flameado was delicious, they grilled the onions and the chili well and the tortillas were warm and well made. It says Northern style Mexican chorizo though, and being Northern Mexican from Tamaulipas, this is not chorizo, full stop, not northern or any style. Even so, it tasted good.

The enchiladas were a disaster. I had the red enchiladas, and red enchilada sauce should taste like chilis, cumin, etc… this sauce tasted of tabasco mixed with cream. It wasn’t horrible and had its own charm to it, but it was not enchiladas, a mccormick enchilada sauce packet would have been better. The refried beans were watery, tasted a bit like flavorless bean water, lacked any kind of seasoning and just bad. That being said, the chicken was well seasoned and the rice was not bad.

The most disappointing part of the whole meal was the birria taco. In what world are those birria tacos? They were literally a corn tortilla with a few pieces of pulled meat inside. The meat was absolutely flavorless and the consomé tasted of flavorless bean water with some cilantro. This consomé was horrible. There was no cheese grilled into the tortilla and the tortilla was not fried in birria sauce. This single taco was 70,000 because it was under the special menu, but there was nothing special about it, it was not in the same realm of birria.

The price for this versus the quality...

Wait staff are very friendly. Good happy hour deals. We were excited to see the salsa bar, too. But ultimately the food, drinks and even the salsas were a letdown. Tamales were the best part of our meal. Not the most traditional, in that the meat was served on top of the masa rather than stuffed inside, but the flavors, aroma and overall experience was still there. Steak in the steak tank was also very good - well seasoned and rightly cooked. However, the corn tortillas were not great. They tasted sort of undercooked. The pork carnitas were the worst I've ever had. Square chunks of pork and fat without much seasoning or flavor. Nacho chips were too hard. Salsas were watery and lacked impact. Churros were overcooked and served with a ridiculously tiny portion of sauce. Margaritas were tiny and weak. I'd go back for the tamales, as this is probably the only place in town...