I was skeptical about this place at first, as I am about all Asian restaurants in Springfield, but the dishes we ordered hit the spot. Little Saigon is the kind of restaurant where you can get well-prepared, tasty staples (Pad Thai, drunken noodles, etc) in huge proportions at reasonable prices (2 dishes and an appetizer cost us 20$)--a perfect storm in my opinion, since gains in satisfaction at higher-end Asian places tend to be marginal. The overall ambiance isn't anything special, but the interior space is cozy, well-lit, and the server was friendly and waited on us with timely zeal. Our food came out remarkably fast, but not suspiciously so.
In sum, Little Saigon is a charming winner for those looking to sate a desire for Thai and/or Vietnamese food.
Food = okay. Â I had the steak with rice and fried egg, along with an egg roll and soup. Â Their soup was totally bland (yeah, I gave it to my friend who loves it). Â The egg roll was delicious, as was their crab rangoon (appetizer). Â
Service = good. Â However, our server seemed very nervous...
Prices = reasonable. Â Lunch specials were a steal! Â Under $8 per person.
I'm spoiled by California's wide assortment of Vietnamese/Thai restaurants so while this place was great for Springfield, it made me miss home--Bay Area! lol
I have been a faithful regular at this wonderful little restaurant since 2006.
The price is right, the food is consistently fantastic. Every once in a while I will run into an inexperienced server, but nine times out of ten the service is good.
VERY vegetarian and vegan friendly.
I highly recommend the Crazy Noodle with Tofu and the Summer Rolls. The Green, Panang, and Yellow Curry dishes are all fantastic. The crab rangoon is absolutely delicious-the wonton wrapper is wonderfully light and crisp. Everything I have eaten at Little Saigon tasted fresh and packed with Thai flavor.
I thought Saigon was in Vietnam? Â When I went here tonight, I fully intended to get some pho. Â But when I asked my waiter how the pho was, he said it was okay. Â Not a raving endorsement of what should be their signature dish.
Then I looked at the menu. Â This place should be called "All types of Asian food." Â Holy cow, the menu was extensive - Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese and even a couple of Korean dishes.
So I ordered the chicken wrap app and the chicken panang. Â Both dishes were actually very good. Â The wraps had a good amount of the fish sauce in it and gave it that distinctive flavor from Thai food. Â The chicken panang was also flavorful and tasty.
Maybe next time I go, Â I will take my chances and try the pho. Â But next time I am in town, I will definitely be eating here again.
This used to be a great restaurant. It was family owned and operated. We always had great service and the food was great. The owners sold it a while ago and now it's merely an Asian restaurant with bad service.
The wait staff is not good at all. Basics such as taking the customers order in a timely manner is lacking here. Or even bringing the customer the check is lost here. And don't bring my appetizer out after you have served my main dish. Refills? Forget it.
Now let's talk food. They overcook the veggies and they are soggy. A lot of the flavor is missing and it just tastes like bland Chinese food now. Â My favorite dish - basil chicken - has turned into a bland mass of overcooked veggies. It's all just flavorless now. Â They also seem to be transitioning into a Chinese place, the Thai and Vietnamese dishes are being replaced.
There is also a terrible smell in their front hallway and bar area. Â Its like the sewer is backed up but mixed with the scent of natural gas mixed in.
I think this is probably the nicest Asian restaurant in Springfield. It is a sitdown place as opposed to take out and a fairly extensive menu for fairly moderate prices ($7-$12). I really enjoyed the pho and came away impressed, as did my two friends. Also, it is Springfield, so options are a little limited and one should be happy with a place like this.
Review Source:A nice find in Springfield! Â The service was quick and the prices very affordable. The pho was HUGE!! Â Had enough leftovers for lunch the next day. The brisket could have been a little more tender. Also got the spring rolls which came out piping hot and crunchy. Finished off the meal with a fruit cup (mango, kiwi, and strawberry). The fruit was surprisingly quite fresh and sweet. And in comparison to the tiny little ones with standard fruit you get at Starbucks/Panera bread, this is a steel!
Review Source:Ok. My boyfriend ordered me the garlic shrimp with scallions and I must say, it was quite disgusting. I could not tell weather the sauce was brown or white; it was in between. Anyways, the sauce was tasteless. It wasn't salty, spicey, sweet or anything at all.
I've heard some really good reviews about this place so we decided to try it out since the rest of the chinese restuarants in town are pretty disappointing. Usually, I can eat any asian food since I grew up with it; I'm generally not that picky. However, this place was just ridiculous
Tried this place again and still think the same thing. Its just OK.
This time I had a Viet soup with wontons and shrimp. While it was a huge portion, the flavor just wasnt there. It was very bland and watery, no salt or spice at all. I literally felt like I was eating a large bowl of barely flavored water with flavorless shrimp and wontons.
Tried the dumpling appetizer, which was good. Also had a bite of the ginger chicken which seemed like it had a bit more flavor. The spicy noodle dish I ordered had some flavor, but wasnt spicy.
Overall this place will be OK is you have an Asian food craving, but it isnt a place to rave about or return to over and over.
I came here once when I first moved to town, had the pad Thai. Â It was unbearably awful. Â That said, multiple positive testimonials from people whose foodie cred I respect brought me back with a friend. Â I went with the Panang curry. Â With the caveat that I will never eat Pad Thai here in a bajiion years, I am a major fan. Â That curry was fantastic, the menu is extensive (although apparently full of landmines), the interior is bright and pleasantly garish and it's cheap! - Asian food at it's most authentic. Â Â I'll be back!
Review Source:This place is alright. I read through the other reviews and didn't really find it to be as good as many others. Don't get me wrong, you'll enjoy your meal here. I just think the prices could come down a bit 1) because it's Springfield 2) because the food is just average.
The Pad See-ew (or however you spell it, I've seen it 3 different ways on menus) was bland. I should have had them kick it up a notch with some spice or something. The portion was large, but it was like eating a whole lot of meh.
I thought they had really, really good bubble tea so that's definitely a plus. Other than that, I'd probably stick to Magic Kitchen or Taste of Thai.
As a Springfield native who's tried food from the China towns of many major U.S. cities, I must say that Little Saigon is a diamond in the Midwestern rough. Â First of all, they have tapioca (boba) shakes, Pho soup, AND Thai filtered coffee. Â Know anywhere else in Springfield that can compare? Didn't think so. Â
  Their pho is delicious and I absolutely love the dipping sauce that comes with their dumplings. The drunken noodle is also very pleasant.  In all honesty, the General Tso's is a little too breaded for my taste.  But seriously, who goes to a Thai/Vietnamese place and orders General Tso's?
  They also have a pretty varied beer and wine list. As for the decor, it's a huge step up for anyone who remembers what it looked like back when it was a Vic's pizza. If you want "atmosphere" head over to Pao.  The waiters don't speak great English, but that's a small price to pay for authentic food. Also, what they lack in grammar they make up for in attentiveness and politeness. Some of the dishes are Americanized, but it should be pretty obvious which they are when looking at the menu. I'm a picky eater and they've always come through when I've asked for substitutions. The prices are all pretty reasonable, too.  I've never had a bad meal and have brought many other equally satisfied customers to the establishment.
Another saving grace in the mid-west madness.
Where strip malls, fast food, and chain restaurants rule, it is good to see a down and dirty Vietnamese (multi-asian) throw down on Wabash Ave. Â
The decor is both delightfully frightening and entertaining at the same time, but we all know that there are a few signature Asian idiosyncrasies which characterize a GREAT down and dirty Asian restaurant:
1) Terrible Decor
2) The bill comes before the food
3) They don't let you sit where YOU want to sit (even when the place is empty.)
All jokes aside, this restaurant serves up a tasty meal in an area of town filled with so much other junk food.
I had Vietnamese Pho Soup which I'd give a solid 6.9 out of 10 (since I've had pho in Vietnam and Oakland California.)
I also had deep fried tofu and would say the same in score.
My friends had chicken rice noodle soup, and beef over rice. Â Looked quite good to me. Â There were no complaints from them either.
Go get it. Â Call before you go, since all mid-western restaurants are only open for an average of 3-4.5 hours a day.
DZ
Admittedly, this is probably one of the better places to get Asian fare in Springfield, IL. However, the aromatic vegetables (i.e. onions, green peppers, etc.) are consistently under cooked. I typically enjoy these vegetables in my food, but must remember to ask for my food to be cooked without these items at Little Saigon. Unless you like eating copious amounts of [essentially] raw peppers and onions in your food, you may also find that it is a bit much.
The Drunken Noodles are great! I also have enjoyed several other noodle and curry dishes.
The service is decent, but can vary significantly between visits.
The best place to get Asian food in Springfield, hands down! Â I have eaten here numerous times for lunch. Â They have lunch specials for $6 that include soup and an eggroll. Â You can add a pot of hot tea for only $1. Â I ate my first dinner their recently and it was awesome! Â I highly recommend the saigon coffee. Â It is freshly made with condensed milk. Â
The smoothies here are also the best in town. Â They use fresh fruit for all of their smoothies. Â Overall, a solid choice for lunch or dinner!!
This is one of my favorite places to get food in town. I think the Pad See-Ew there is the best from other local places I've tried recently. And the fruit freezes are the perfect pick-me-up for any day. There is also the lunch special during the week that starts at eleven and ends at two-thirty. You have a selection of lunch entrees, soup and a little eggroll for $5.99 (plus tax).
They accept credit cards for purchases over six dollars. Less than that and you'll need cash.
Little Saigon is very popular with the locals in Springfield and I was told that they have won numerous awards so I had to try it while in town. LS is basically across the street from Food Fantasies; Their menu is extensive with many different Vietnamese and Thai dishes available. Being vegetarian, I had to inquire as wether any dish could be made vegetarian but only received confusion from my server- vegetarian meant tofu, right? Not so considering the use of nam pla and kapi in Thai kitchens. So I can't say the food I received was actually vegetarian (crossing my fingers). There was a definite language barrier with the service, ordering by number turned into confusion which eventually gave way to pointing to items in the menu. Ordering a Tiger beer resulted in a Diet Coke being delivered to the table; an order of veggie spring rolls turned into veggie egg rolls which was immediately self corrected upon delivery to the table. As far as food goes, the dishes we sampled were allright, but as I stated, I cannot confirm that anything ordered vegetarian was actually so. The green curry, ordered Thai hot, was barely spicy and the fried rice was too oily for my tastes. My honest opinion of LS is 2.5 stars considering the service issues and uncertainty of the food being vegetarian.
Review Source:Full disclosure here: Â I grew up in the largest Vietnamese community outside of Hanoi so I am quite snobby when it comes to legit homeland cuisine.
Little Saigon wouldn't last last very long in Southern California but it is definitely the best place around these parts. I also like the Southeast Asian fare at the Mekong Cafe near the Capitol. Â They are both great alternatives to the dreaded "horse shoe" --- a hamburger and french fry contraption slathered in a creamy cheese sauce.
The folks there are always nice and the service is good, which never happens in most Asian places I've been. They have a lot of decent standard staples like fried rice, meat and vegetables, fried noodles, which I admit they do well.
My friends from the local university and I really like the mini egg rolls. I know it ain't exactly authentic, but get over yourselves hipsters. Â
My only complaint is that the food has been toned down for Western tastes, like the watered down nuoc mam (fish sauce). Â But I got to enjoy the PHATTTEST bowl of pho (beef noodle soup) ever so it's all good.
P.S. The O in pho is not pronounced like the o in bowl. Â It's more like a sort of u sound like in cut and putt. Â So it's pho-nomenal. It's pho-shizzle. Â It's pho-nky cold medina.
Sure, they have Thai food good enough to give Magic Kitchen a serious run for its money, but why bother when they have such incredible Vietnamese food?
Went in with the family over Christmas (feeling like I was cheating on the Magic Kitchen the whole time) and the bill for 6 people with multiple appetizers and drinks was about $80.00. Â We pretty much ate everything in sight, I'm astonished at how affordable it is.
The menu is so large as to be intimidating (btw, I love menus with photos), so we tried some of everything. We had dumplings, eggrolls, crab rangoon, all fantastic. Â My fella had the Chicken Pho, my brother in law had the sampler platter, several others ordered Thai dishes and I had the pork dish with the fried egg on top - I can't remember what it was called, but trust me, everything is better with a fried egg on top. In any case, I could care less what it was called - it was incredible.
Everything we had was mind-numbingly delicious, but the great Vietnamese was really a surprise and, for me, is the real draw. Â With food this great and such a friendly staff, I'll be back every time I find myself back in the Springpatch. Â The portions are so enormous that a single entree could feed 3 people, it is astonishing! Go with a group and plan to share.
An extra star for being locally owned in a town overrun with TGI McFunster type chain restaurants and for bringing (fantastic) Vietnamese food to town.
Authentic cuisine, and good service. Â This was a very surprising find in Springfield. Â I travel quite a bit, and this was a great find for me. Â I highly recommend this place.
The food is very authentic, and it usually comes up pretty quickly. Â They also serve bubble tea which is a nice treat especially in the summer time.
Parking is a little tough since the parking lot fills up fast during lunch. Â Good lunch specials around 6 dollars. Â Dinners will run you around 10 - 15 bucks. Â Parking is easy to find at night.
Try the grilled chicken, if you want to be safe, you can't go wrong with this. Â They have a pretty large menu with many curry dishes, soups like pho and egg noodes, and lots a variety of fried rices, so I will definitely be back to try more.
One of the best eats for Asian cuisine in Springfield, check it out.
One of the newest restaurants in Springfield, and the only Vietnamese (I think). It's always amazing! They have actual fresh fruit smoothies. Cantalope and mango are amazing. I get them without the tapioca -- it tastes like bread dough, ugh. The prices are reasonable, pretty standard for Thai in Spfld. The decor is beautifully done -- lime and peach colored walls. Great vegetarian selection. I was scared to try it at first, but it became a weekly thing before I moved. I recommend going with several friends and picking at each other's plates, buffet style.
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