Com Tam Saigon

I have to say, this is one of the best place for special Vietnamese rice dish «Com Tam»
This is the best example for, Do not judge the book by it’s cover. The place is very small and hidden in Eden center, where you might be drown with so many other Vietnamese restaurants. The owners are an old Vietnamese couple. They rarely speak any English; However, they serve the best Com Tam that you can find in DC area.
The price is very bargain. it is $ 9 including tax for an order of Com Tam. it has rice, pork chop, egg cake, Vietnamese sausage, over easy egg, and some veggies.
It is very simple, but they are overwhelmed with flavor. The best of the dish is their pork chop, which basically the soul of the dish. it is very tender, smokey, and has the right amount of spice.
The owner serve you Vietnamese ice tea by default, which is awesome since that is how Vietnamese serve you in Vietnam.
They are very friendly, and they made me feel like I was eating in my grandmother’s kitchen. She offered me more rice without me asking.
I highly recommend this place for anyone, who wants to try Com Tam with a very homey style. You will not be disappointed.

Com Tam Saigon has been at Eden Center for many years, pretty much since the opening of Saigon West wing. They seem to do brisk business with carryout and catering orders. We ventured here for a late lunch today. It’s a small space with a lot of the work overflow spilling onto some of the tables. A man was wrapping banh chung for Tet, but we were able to sit at a small table by the window.
It helps to speak Vietnamese, but you can get by with pointing out what you want. The restaurant has a small dry erase board with their specialties. Since rice is in their name, you can’t go wrong with ordering «Com Tam Saigon», which is listed as #1. The dish includes broken jasmine rice (com tam), shredded pork (bi), grilled marinated pork chop (thit nuong), steamed pork quiche (cha), egg over easy, and Chinese sausage (lap suong). The dish is a generous size and comes with a small bowl of broth with cilantro to enjoy after your meal. It was truly delicious and the pork was tender and had a bit of char. Use the fish sauce (nuoc mam) and mix it into your rice and bi. There are condiments to doctor the fish sauce to your preferred level of heat.
Cash only! The com tam is $ 9/​each including tax. Most places charge $ 8.50−99. Considering the egg is usually a $ 1 add on at other places, it ends up being the same amount you would spend anyway with tax.

Com tam is delicious and there is a lot of food for the price. This is a small restaurant but it is very similar to eating at home.

It’s somewhat sad to see that this place has only one other review at the time of this writing, and it’s 4 years ago at that. But I guess it’s not too surprising; while it’s not so much a hole in the wall in the interior of the outermost wing, it’s small and cluttered and can be passed by without much notice. (They do sell some fruits and stuff outside their store though.)
But as already mentioned, the owners do an awesome job at making their con tam. Their default water is a cold refreshing tea, and they also give a small cilantro soup on the side. On the plate, we get a generous serving of fresh veggies, lots of yummy shredded pork, an egg fried to perfection, and intensely flavorful Chinese sausage. The pork chop sealed the deal – so tasty and the meat was so tender. No part of the chop was dry at all. All this along with their friendly service made dinner very enjoyable.
To reiterate, the owners don’t speak much English, and their menu is rather limited, so just pick the con tam you want (or something else if you’re really inclined), point to it, and you’re good to go.

Yay first review!
Anyways, I was in Eden Center and feelin some com tam, which is broken rice to the uninitiated, and lo and behold walked by com tam saigon. Usually if the restaurant’s namesake is one dish you should probably get it.
If you don’t know what broken rice is, picture a grain or rice, cut into three pieces, in a pile of other tiny pieces of rice then topped with a variety of toppings from bbq pork, shredded pork skin, a fried egg, this steamed eggy porky mung beany cake, all topped with some fish sauce. It’s amazing.
Com Tam Saigon did a pretty good job. nothing lifechanging but good enough to stand up to the california average, though not the top dogs.
They don’t speak much english though so if you’re trying to edit your order just give up. That goes to you, you vegetarians!