Saigon Restaurant

phở… Not quite. Real Vietnamese was not found here. It’s Canadian/​American Vietnamese and Chinese food. Two separate menus and not good results from the phở I tried. Went with a coworker, we agreed we are never going back.

A super yummy spot for phở!
Boyfriend and I felt like trying a different spot from our usual phở place so stopped in at Saigon. The décor is beyond kitschy, with faux-​rock wallpaper, paper Chinese zodiac placemats, and lots of shiny art. The servers are super friendly and know what they’re doing.
There are two menus — one Chinese and one Vietnamese. Personally I think there’s too many items on the menus, but as we were in the mood for noodle soup it thankfully cut our options down. I ordered the Special Central Vietnamese Beef Soup (Hot) with Vermicelli, and added veggies (they don’t come with it automatically).
Our soup and spring rolls arrived very promptly and our bowls were heaping full! The spring rolls were ok — not too special though, but the soup was excellent! The vegetables were piled high and delicious, the noodles were firm, and the broth is crazy good! Salty and rich with unidentified bits that were very tasty, and adding hot sauce made it even better. Boyfriend’s soup was much subtler but still excellent in its own way.
I’ve really enjoyed both our experiences here, and I look forward to returning!

ugh. quite possibly the worst phở I’ve ever had. I don’t understand why they advertise themselves as a Vietnamese restaurant when they’re obviously a Chinese restaurant that makes subpar Vietnamese.
I ordered the special beef soup (phở tai) which is made with vermicelli noodles instead of the traditional rice noodle. that was strike one. strike two would be not having any sriracha or hosin sauce at the table. strike three? no basil, no bean sprouts, no lime and no jalapeños.
overall the flavor wasn’t bad. it was edible but the noodles were terrible and the broth was pretty much a wonton soup broth, flavorless and incredibly greasy.
they get one star for having an incredibly nice waitress. and being close enough to the pub next door to steal their wifi.

As a regular phở eater, I must admit that the word Saigon had me convinced that the establishment was run by an authentic viet, or at least someone with a good idea what phở was. Dead wrong, this place had one of the most overpriced & un-​authentic Vietnamese food I’ve seen to date. Nothing much to see here, they didn’t even provide the customary herbs and condiments that accompany practically any phở order. Nothing to see here.
If you look really closely at the picture, you can see a fly drinking out of my water cup in the restaurant, Cheers!

Upon our arrival in downtown Kelowna a little past noon, we decided not to walk too far from our hotel for lunch. So, we turned the corner and saw the words «Saigon» written on the awning. Good enough for us.
Inside, we found a slightly larger space than the exterior had led on. The one relief we had was that it was full. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food, and we could tell that they had a good number of regulars.
It took 15 minutes for us to get a table. We were given the menus, including the lunch special: wonton soup, spring roll, ginger beef with rice or vermicelli for $ 8. Not bad. We all decided to get the lunch special with vermicelli.
Service was pleasantly fast. Our soups came out in no time. The wonton soup was OK, but the wontons were too tiny. I would have preferred two large wontons rather than four puny ones.
Next, the ginger beef with vermicelli was served up with a spring roll. The spring roll was wrapped with tofu skin and stuffed with vegetables. I simply cannot hate on spring rolls. The ginger beef was hardly «ginger», much to my delight! It was a simple sauteed beef with onions. Really quite tasty!
Along with the bill came fortune cookies. They tasted funny. It had an orange tint, and was thinner than most fortune cookies.
The girls working there were friendly and efficient. The décor was quaint and had the intended «Asian» touch.
Overall, it was a comfortable meal.

Best wonton soup anywhere — and I’ve traveled a lot!
And the rice paper rolls are to die for.
If you love black bean — order the sizzling black bean… Delicious!
We are also HUGE fans of the lemon chicken and egg foo young… I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!

Chicken Wings appetizer is great

came here for lunch while in kelowna and had the medium + well done beef noodle soup. Interior was kinda old viet flavor but quite clean. The portion was fairly small for a viet place but it was tasty. The soup didnt have basil or celantro like they usually do, but the soup was quite good and authentic. The vermicelli was the thick kind, not the skinny. There was this great tasting «burnt» green onion to add to the flavor of the rich soup. The well done beef was more like chunks rather than slices, but tasty non the less. Overall a decent bowl of noodle soup. Not the best, but not bad!