Pho Saigon

Pho Saigon, located inside the Chinatown strip mall on N. Lamar, offers the best of several dishes of their kind in Austin. Apparently, they have several restaurants in Houston, where there's certainly tougher competition, so the "best" here refers strictly to the Austin area.

I'm guilty of ordering Thai tea in Vietnamese restaurants, but Pho Saigon serves up the absolute best Thai tea in Austin. It's creamy and has the perfect amout of sweetness. I don't like how Thai and other Vietnamese restaurants in Austin completely eliminate the taste of tea by over-sweetening this beverage.

Thai Tea

Pho seems like an easy dish to make. Heck, I made it in Paris with great ease, but I dunno why so many places in Austin get it wrong with unfresh ingredients that make you feel queasy at the end of the meal. Pho Saigon knows how to serve a bowl of piping hot pho with decent quality of ingredients. It's respectable compared to some of the ones I've had at other establishments.

I haven't had Vietnamese seafood egg noodles since living in Houston, so I nostalgically ordered it here (#34 Mi Seafood ***ask them to put the soup in a separate bowl so you can eat the noodles dry***). My best friend tried ordering this dish elsewhere and it can't compare to Pho Saigon. The fried garlic makes the noodles super tasty...just don't order this on a date.

Raw Beef Pho (the beef cooks in the hot soup); Mi Seafood

The rice plates here are huge, and they don't skimp on the meats (4 pork chops on my rice!). Although other restaurants provide a side of eggroll with their rice plates, the quality and quantity of the meats are better here. It's not a constant struggle for me to search and cut off excess fat when I eat here. I can also rest assured that Pho Saigon won't give me a plate of burnt meat.

Lemongrass Beef Rice Plate; Pork Chop Rice Plate