Elgin Saigon — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

What can I say? This was the capstone meal for a month-long excursion to Vietnam and it was pitch perfect.

Just looking at the dishes Google is prompting me to recommend (most of which weren't on the menu when we went in early April 2025) it seems like Elgin isn't afraid to change up their offerings - which makes it all the more impressive that everything we ordered was delicious.

Chutoro Toast. Just serve me a whole loaf. Grilled Pomfret. I almost cut ties with my bestie of 20 years fighting over who got the last bite. Watermelon Granita. I wouldn't mind selling a kidney or two for an extra scoop of that coconut semifreddo.

The other 6(!) things we had slapped in a similar fashion.

But the real kicker was the service. Our hostess was attentive and accommodating, the kitchen staff graciously gave us permission to film, and Doug (one of the co-owners) made the time to talk to us and make our meal extra special. You can tell from the food that these folks take pride in their cooking. You can tell from the service that they take pride in their restaurant.

The perfect dining experience doesn't exist. If I wanted to nitpick, I'm sure there are things I could muster up. There always are. The real magic lies in knowing how to leave your customers so satisfied that those things don't matter. And that's what separates restaurants like Elgin from the rest.

P.S. Doug if you're reading this hi I hope you remember me we chatted briefly about the scourge of fake reviews on Google. Anyways consider this me blackmailing you for the recipe for ya'lls brussel sprouts (picture included) cause I just bought a bunch and I swear to god left to my own devices I will boil them till they're mush and eat them unseasoned. Surely you don't want that food crime on your conscience, do you? 😂

For anyone else reading this, yes the brussel sprouts really are that...

MUST VISIT!

We chose Elgin for a private in-home dining experience in District 1 at an Airbnb to celebrate my sister’s bachelorette with 18 ladies.

Managing everything from Sydney, Australia, we coordinated with Doug, the restaurant owner, and the entire process—from our first conversation to the final service—was seamless and exceeded our expectations.

Doug and his team were incredibly helpful and accommodating. Being Australian, Doug understood our needs perfectly. We selected a few dishes from Elgin’s Instagram page, and he customized the menu to suit our group, even generously adding complimentary desserts—a selection of panna cotta, chocolate tart, and sticky date pudding—all of which were absolutely delicious! The stand out dishes were: Fried Potato Cake, Wagyu Tartare, Hokkaido Scallops and Drunken Noodles.

Every single dish was a hit with our guests. Doug’s team even visited the Airbnb a day before the event to assess the dining area and kitchen space, ensuring everything was perfectly set up.

Beyond the food, the attention to detail was exceptional. His team provided name cards, a welcome board, and printed menus as keepsakes. We also had an on-call chef throughout the night to reheat dishes and cater to specific dietary needs. For instance, one of our guests was pregnant, and the chef thoughtfully prepared a separate dish just for her—service that truly went above and beyond!

To top it all off, when we made a last-minute request for caviar (a special request from the bride-to-be), Doug somehow made it happen on the spot—it was like he anticipated exactly what we needed to get the party started!

A huge thank you to Doug and his team for their outstanding service. We highly recommend Elgin to anyone...

Food was ok. Not worthy of Michelin star.

The free shrimp cracker was great though. The lamb skewer was so salty, felt like it burned my tongue. I really love salty food so for me to say it was salty, it was really salty. The "pudding" dessert was also toooo salty. The octopus had lost all of its bounce? The texture felt like dried dried squid.

Normally, I wouldn't bother writing a review for something mediocre and not super terrible but our experience there was not so great. Although we didn't enjoy the food, we didn't really try to make a scene. We were just going to go home and maybe at most write a google review. But since the waiter asked us how the food was, we shared that we were a little disappointed in the food. Thinking they will just humbly casually smile and let us go home. But the manager(?) came over and asked us in details which we did give more details mainly that the food was very salty and about the octopus. Again, we didn't want to make a scene but since they asked, we answered. At one point the manager said "we didn't even put salt, just fish sauce".... 😒 🙄.

Then she insisted on giving us a refund on two menu items and then gave us another dessert that was "refreshing" almost like accusing us of making bad choices/choosing things we normally do not like and then complaining that it's salty. Who would've thought a pudding dessert was going to be salty??? It all felt like they saw us as trying to not pay for our meals when we had already paid for everything and didn't even ask for the refund she insisted on giving back. We just wanted to go home but had to spend another 20 minutes for her to talk to us and gracefully gave us a free (also...