Here's what we ordered: Lemon Grass Pho with Chicken, Spring Rolls, Chicken Curry, and the Sizzling Fish.  Our best dish was the sizzling fish. Everything was tasty, very fresh, and the portions were properly sized.  We loved the  fragrant hot tea.  The service was prompt, polite,  and sufficiently attentive, although our server was not terribly knowledgeable about what he was serving. The restaurant was clean. BTW, don't park in the lot across the street, they definitely tow.  For what is and aspires to be this restaurant earns a solid 4 stars. We will definitely return
Review Source:Absolutely delicious - the service is out of this world. Â I had the lemongrass-chicken pho and the spring rolls with some Vietnamese beer. Â I couldn't have been happier. Â The food just made me FEEL good. Â I would definitely stop here again. Â I live in CT and the ride is worth it!
Review Source:Once again, I was filled with anticipation as I walked through this place, hoping that it would offer some of my favorite beef and tripe pho. However, I was sorely disappointed. The noodles were served lukewarm, overly salty and in tiny bowls (despite the "super size" cost). The fish casserole was also incredibly saturated with salt and MSG so much that even I could not bring myself to finish it.
With all of my one-star restaurants, I always owe to the restaurants to come back and re-evaluate it. This was no exception for Pho Saigon, but alas, I was disappointed once again.
This place is not what you would expect from six corners in Springfield however inside it is very pleasant and the staff is very welcoming.
I had the fresh spring rolls which were delicious and the pho chicken lemongrass soup which I also enjoyed very much.
The portions were hearty and they prices were good. I left the restaurant very satisfied with the experience. I will certainly be back.
I started with the Fresh Spring Rolls, which come with a shrimp and chicken combination. Â They quickly agreed to my all shrimp request. Â Tasty rolls and peanut sauce.
Next up, a small Pho Tai (of course). Â This was some seriously good pho, with flavorful broth I did not need to doctor. Â I smelled the sweet and savory spices more here than at any other place I've tried. Â All rare beef, which was perfectly sliced and so tender.
I washed it all down with a Jackfruit slushie/shake, recommended by my waiter and loved by me. Â Refreshing.
Decent sized restaurant. Â Busy the evening I was there. Â Friendly, fast service. Â Cheap - my whole meal was $15, including tip.
Closed Wednesdays! Â Street parking.
My husband and I have been travelling around to all of the local pho restaurants in search of "that one." Â Most were so-so at best, with "odd" smells emanating from the kitchen of some to others just not having great customer service skills...I prefer water refills when I am slurping on mouth-scalding soup!
That said, we ventured a little farther from home to find what has become our favorite pho restaurant. Â While the commute isn't that terribly long, it is on those exhausted evenings when I feel the least like driving that my spirit perks right up when I realize we are off to Pho Saigon. Â The service here is spectacular - they bring lots of cool water that actually tastes fresh (as opposed to some of the others where you feel like your drinking water from a garden hose). Â
Aside from that, their seafood pho is to die for. Â They use chicken broth as the basis and actually add a little flare with crunchy onion bits. Â It adds just enough flavor to give it that little extra bit of ummphh that you are looking for. Â This is the only place I have seen that. Â I must admit, I do only get it with shrimp...not because the traditional style with various types of seafood isn't good, it is just that I am not quite that adventurous yet. Â I love shrimp, and for those shrimp lovers, they actually peal and clean the shrimp and leave just the very end of the tail to assist in the consumption should you choose to use your fingers! Â Enough said.
I highly recommend either the passion fruit or mango bubble tea. Â You have to get the tapioca pearls - they cook them just right, although it does cost you an extra 50 cents, you will find it is well worth it. Â It is by far the best that I have ever had and since my husband and I are big fans of bubble tea, we try it whenever it is available on the menu.
In closing, I work in a fast pace, high stress environment, so when I go out to dinner I prefer a comfortable and welcoming ambiance. Â I prefer to be able to hear myself think and talk to my husband without yelling, knowing that the establishment is clean, and that the service well always be consistent. Â Pho Saigon offers just that. Â They even clean the bottles of condiments left on the table after each use - there is nothing worse than those restaurants who are a-ok with leaving dirty bottles of hot sauce for other patrons to use. Â Overall, I always look forward to our regular visits, and it is always nice being greeted by the owner or his family when they recognize our repeat business with a welcoming smile.
OK, first off, I'm not Vietnamese. I've eaten tons of Vietnamese food, but all of it was in the US and most of it was in Chicago. So that being said, I can't honestly compare it with "authentic" Vietnamese food from, oh I don't know, Uong Bi. What I can say is that from the service (excellent), to the help in navigating the menu full of specials, to the quality of the food and price of dinner, drinks and desserts, I'm thoroughly impressed and will be back many many times. Now, again, I'm sure if you were born and raised in Vietnam, there might be differences in the dishes than what your childhood memories of your mother and grandmothers cooking was. But given the fact that this place is 8800 miles from Vietnam, Â they're quite excellent.
Review Source:I had been wanting to go here for a while and I finally had a chance to visit. Â Overall I was pretty happy with the visit. Â The pho was amazing, if thats all I had I would have given them 5 stars. Â I could drink that broth all day, never mind the beef and vegetables. Â But we decided to pig out and order a bun too, and i found that less impressive. Â Everything was present and well cooked, but for some reason I just found it much less flavorful than buns I have had before. Â The comment from the waiter about how we were pigs probably didn't help their rating either. Â When I go back I am just ordering my pho and I will be happy.
Review Source:My quest for the greatest pho is over. This is it. No place near my native Hartford CT can compare. This is the perfect storm.
It's clean! The condiments were all spotless. The atmosphere inside is nice, which was surprising for where it is. The tables weren't sticky or anything. The water didn't taste like pool water. Beautiful. It's even a little nicer inside in terms of decoration.
The servers were super friendly and knowledgeable. Our waiter had just come back from spending time in Vietnam and even taught us a few things about the culture. He knew how long the restaurant had been there (decades) and briefly ran over the history of the place, even though he was a relatively new hire. The whole staff was on top of refilling waters, too. Helpful waitstaff is not common enough in places that serve pho.
The pho was AWESOME! They didn't have tripe in their dac biet, but I don't really need any of that noise. They did have perfectly cooked tendon, though. It literally melted in my mouth. Best in class. Ask for extra tendon!!! The beef tasted extra beefy, too. Even the hoisin was better than every other pho joints sauce where I've eaten. No pickled chilli, but I can bring my own... it's that good.
Oddly enough, I guess flan is also really big in Vietnam. The custard they make here is really light in the Vietnamese style and very heavy with vanilla. It's almost like whipped cake frosting.
If you're coming from I-91 you'll have to do a weird u-turn to get there. Â You'll be on Sumner and the when the road divides you'll pass the street it's on. The next street you'll see will be Ventura, take a left onto that and then your next left and one more left and then you'll see a parking sign on your right. Park by the weird unity mural and the restaurant is two or three doors further down the street.
Thanks to the helpful reviews on this site, Pho Saigon has become a regular meet-up spot for my friend and I. I've been there about 5 times and have never been disappointed. My vegetarian friend is always satisfied with the veggie options as well. We often have to let the server know that we do not want to be rushed, as they tend to do that. In general, a great dining experience!
Review Source:The Pho taste like instant noodles, lack real beefy taste. The owner is an Chinese Man, the food is no longer traditional. It is now considered Chinese Food.
Food is not what I expected it to be, pretty horrible for a Vietnamese Restaurant.
This is coming from a Vietnamese person.
The service is very fast and swift. But the waitress doesn't speak or understand the Vietnamese culture. Vietnamese Restaurant owned and run by Chinese people, that don't understand a single fact about Vietnam, pretty much summed it up for you.
I've always loved this place, and hadn't been in years. Â It was where my wife and I went for our first date back in 2001, and since we had moved out of the area in 2003, we hadn't been back since, until this weekend, when we brought our 5-year-old daughter. Â
It was just as good as we remembered it. Â The ambience was excellent, the service was great, and the food (two phos and a tofu/veggie stir-fry) was as delicious as always. Â Love it here!
I've gone to this restaurant several times, mainly for Pho. Â The Pho I've had in the past has always been okay, but nothing like Pho I've had in other places, such as Vans in Albany NY. Â
Last night, I was in the area with a friend, who wanted to go here. Â Even though I had other choices, it was his birthday, so I went along with it. Â Â I called ahead of time to make sure they were open (a lot of restaurants are closed Mondays) and the women who answered was VERY rude. She said yes and hung up.
I decided to go with something different since I'm not a huge fan of the Pho. Â I go the pork & shrimp over vermicelli with spring roll. Â I was surprised to have it come out in like what seemed 5 minutes, Â My suspicion was correct. Â The vermicelli was so dry, I needed more fish sauce. Â The pork was dry, full of fatty edges and VERY SALTY!!! Â And on top of that, there was 1 ( ONE ) shrimp! Â
I also had some fresh spring rolls, and they were okay, but the peanut sauce was VERY bland. Â Had to add hot sauce to give it some flavor.
I have no doubts all this food was prepped way ahead of time and thrown together and probably nuked or heated up quickly in a wok. Â I should have complained, but I didn't. Â I wanted just to get out of there. Â
The service was horrible as well. Â The waitress brought our meals about 10 minutes apart from one another and never asked how everything was. Â I had to get another waiter to get us the check.
I'll never go back and suggest you never go.
This is one of our favorite restaurants. Â We decided to go out again today thanks to the extra money we have from K's fantasy football winnings. Â We looked for a local breakfast place but unfortunately they all seemed to be closed (I guess cause it's, well, New Year's Day). Â So we decided to come here instead.
K started out with the pho soup with the well done pieces of beef in it. Â It was wonderfully savory, as expected. Â He also had the shrimp with mixed vegs. Â I tasted a bit of the vegs and they had a delightfully spicy kick to them. Â I thought the shrimp looked a lttle overcooked but K was happy with them. Â I had the chicken curry which seemed a little thick, but the flavor - like homemade cooking, asian version - more than made up for it. Â We left feeling very satisfied.
Looking at the reviews that gave this place low ratings, I don't really get it. Â Yes, the area is a little sketchy, but so what? Â There's lots of businesses in this area so it's busy - chances of anything bad happening during the day - slim. Â I've had their spring rolls before and it's good, though personally I like the ones at the Bamboo House better. Â I think quality of food here is better and more authentic than Vinh Chan which is another Vietnamese restaurant across the street, but I would love it if Pho Saigon adopted their practice of putting the chopsticks in paper wrappers after they're cleaned so they're not touched by customers' hands as they pull them out to eat with.
By the way I love their desserts here - they only have two - lemon mousse and flan. Â They come in small sizes which I think are just the perfect amount for dessert. Â They have good smoothie drinks here too - Kevin had the coconut one with blueberries today and liked it. Â They make this awesome cold chicken cabbage salad. Â Their pho soups are always wonderfully, perfectly tasty. Â I have yet to try their iced coffee but I will the next time I come here.
A few nights ago, we decided to try Pho Saigon, so we drove to Springfield.
On the evening we went, their A/C broke, but we decided to eat there anyway. Â I guess we get the full experience of what it might be like to eat in Vietnam with the heat and humidity!
I ordered the grilled pork, shrimp, and egg roll vermicelli plate (@ $8.95) and my friend had the grilled pork and rice plate (@ $7.95). Â Both were very good, the meats were marinated well and very tasty. Â My shrimp was large and the egg roll was excellent and crispy, but not overcooked. Â I enjoyed my meal.
While driving TO the restaurant from the 91 freeway, it seems like our GPS took us through a sketchy part of town, so if you drive through the same area, just be aware of your surroundings.
I will definitely eat at Pho Saigon again.
Xie Xie!!
I don't know much about Pho, but my brother and his friends are Obsessed with this place. The menu isn't huge, and there aren't a lot of vegetarian options, but the soup is pretty authentic as far as I could tell. It's in a pretty sketchy part of town, but hey - sometimes the best food can be found in the shadiest areas, so if you're feeling bold, go check it out.
Review Source:The service here is awesome. Â In particular, there is one young kid there who is so attentive without being intrusive to the meal. Â Cups were filled and extra plates were provided, without asking. Â And he was so gung-ho about asking, and then providing, service we requested. Â Usually I don't expect good service from pho restaurants, but this went beyond even higher end places. Â 25% tip for you.
The food itself is nothing special. Â The pho is on the better end of average. Â Spring rolls, egg rolls, Vietnamese coffee, and scallion pancake were all fine. Â For the service, coupled with good food, I'll be back.
I will never, ever visit this restaurant ever again.
I took my boyfriend here last month to have a pleasant anniversary dinner. Â He enjoys Vietnamese food, and I had never tried it before.
We were seated immediately, and we ordered. Â We got a type of fresh roll which contained shrimp so we asked for vegetarian fresh rolls. Â No problem. Â They arrived with chicken in them. Â It came with 'peanut sauce' which packed the flavor of a dish of water with a couple of peanuts floating about in it. Â I had to practically pour hoi sin sauce on them to give them any flavor whatsoever.
I ordered a beef skewers dish, while he ordered a tofu noodle dish.
The food arrived and I cut into a piece of beef, finding out that the beef was stuffed with hardly-cooked onions. Â The menu did not clue me into this. Â The boy's entree seemed to be all right, only also unbelievably bland.
I asked the waiter if I could switch to what he had ordered because once completely doused in hoi sin, it wasn't bad. Â I expected to pay for all three entrees in this case even though the menu said nothing of onions being in the beef.
The waiter then said something about it, and in the middle of his statement, he added, "I hope you're not trying to scam me out of a meal." Â We both looked up and glared at him. Â I was completely shocked that he would say something like that. Â We don't exactly appear to be people that would go into a restaurant to try to score free food. Â If we went to the restaurant, we could clearly afford to do so.
The statement infuriated both of us and the waiter caught on immediately and realized he said something really, really stupid. Â I told him to wrap up whatever was on the table and bring me the check immediately.
He did so, charging us only for one entree and apologizing profusely. Â But, I didn't even look at him because I was livid and extremely insulted. Â I tipped the waitress in cash, as she did nothing wrong.
So end of story, the food had absolutely no flavor to it, the service was absolutely heinous and the restaurant is located in a NOT-so-great area of Springfield.
Nooooo, thank you!
One of the best restaurants in Springfield. I have come here time and time again and the food is always great. It is not only one of the best restaurants in the area but it is also the best Vietnamese place I've ever been to. The fried springs rolls there are probably the best I have ever had and the Pho is just as good. Even their chicken curry is spot on. Oh and don't forget their delicious ice coffee! A must order every time I go. If your in this area, and your looking for a cheap "great" meal, go here!
Review Source:I met someone I have "known" through an online forum for years here this past Sunday, 18 July 2010. Â Most of the reviews were raves although there was one strong dissenter. Â I thought the dissenter was just a curmudgeon. Â After my meal there, I think the dissenter was right.
Granted, the Vietnamese coffee with milk was excellent. Â It was very rich with an almost chocolate note to it.
I ordered fresh spring rolls as an appetizer. Â Now, many reviewers of Waltham's Tom Can Cook have been quite harsh with that establishment. Â Although I know that I have had fresh spring rolls at other Vietnamese restaurants, Tom's spring rolls are the ones I remember.
Tom's are largely made of veggies which are very crisp and fresh. Â The peanut sauce that accompanies them is rich and peanutty with touch of heat.
The fresh spring rolls at Pho Saigon were small, tightly rolled and bland as one of the fillings was vermicelli. Â I would have preferred lettuce. Â The rolls themselves were so boring that I had no desire to finish them. Â The sauce was thin and flavorless with a dusting of ground peanuts. Â Perhaps, it could legitimately be called peanut sauce but I expect something more.
i thought of having a bowl of Pho but the temperature was in the 90s. Â I selected two dishes, one a clay pot entree, the other a crispy noodle dish. Â The clay pot dishes were mentioned in several reviews. Â I asked our waiter, who was correctly attentive and friendly, which of the two dishes I should try and he steered me toward the crispy noodle with seafood entry.
Again, it suffered but not just when compared to the Tom Can Cook rendition of crispy noodles. Â Although the serving was huge . . . enough to share . . . and was filled with bok choy and peppers as well as an adequate amount of seafood, the sauce was like glue and the noodles were far and away too crispy.
Getting through that thick, corn starch laden sauce with unappealing gray color was too much for me.
I would be willing to give the restaurant another try, on a cooler day, and have a bowl of Pho. Â I am not expecting a revelation. Â If the pho is edible, I will be happy.
BEST BEST BEST pho! and also Vietnamese iced coffee.
The pho here is just insane. I can't describe the ecstasy that results. It's unlike any other pho I've had. Delicious! Comes in mammoth-sized portions. You get to add as much bean sprout, basil leave, and lime as you care for, since they're served in heaping piles on the side. There are several kinds of meats and meat combinations that you can choose from. All are excellent. Dipping the meat, which drops with delicious broth, into the hot sauces also served on the side, completes the explosive effect. YES!
ALSO unlike any other Vietnamese iced coffee I've had (which has ALWAYS been disappointing after Pho Saigon), theirs is rich, sweet, and leaves no bitter aftertaste.
I wish I could steal this restaurant and bring it back to Detroit. You are so lucky Western Massachusetts! And you better know it!
Ask practically anyone in the Greater Springfield area, old or young and they'll all say "Pho Saigon, I practically live there!" and if one hasn't been there, the surrounding group of people will respond with gasps of surprise followed by an immediate demand that the person go immediately.
The food is excellent and mostly fresh. Every member of my family has a personal favorite which is ordered every time even though we make a pretense of looking through the menu .
Personal favorites are the fresh spring rolls with chicken and shrimp, bun with grilled pork, lemongrass tofu and of course, the Pho. One complaint is that if you visit late, around 8 to 9, the usually excellent fried spring rolls are cooked in old oil and are a tad burnt.
The service is that of a family running a restaurant. Both in good ways and bad. Depending on the time, certain waiters are slow and forget to serve water or tea in the beginning. However some waiters are excellent. One particular event I remember is on a day I had chosen to wear 3 inch heels while visiting, a waiter commented that, wow it had been a long time since I had visited because I must have grown like 5 inches! Food always comes rather quickly but sometimes some dishes come quite earlier than the others resulting in that awkward moment when you pick at your food in anticipation for the people around you to receive theirs because you wish to be polite regardless of your hunger.
The ambiance is wonderful and it is usually a stop we take visiting relatives because even the most uppity persnickety food hating people will like the food because almost everything on the menu is delicious. The portions are large but one is not left feeling guilty for binging or the uncomfort of heartburn or overstuffedness after eating too much. It is also one of the only places you are guaranteed a seat on a Friday night. Another quirk is almost always you will see someone you know there, which may be awkward or not depending on who they are and who you are.
All in all Pho Saigon is a stop every Greater Springfield resident must visit at least once.
We've been coming here for 15 years, since it was a slightly scary little hole in the wall next door. Â The food is always excellent. Â So fresh. Â Almost everything on the menu has been tried, but the highlights are the Sizzling Catfish and of course the Pho. Â And you feel well taken care of, like family.
Try it, you'll love it.
Really, really good. Â Spring rolls are good, although I should add they're a little unusual, there was some sort of extra protein, chicken or pork maybe in ours that seemed different from what you usually get. Â
Portions are obscene. Â Really big. Â And the bowls are stuffed with meat and noodles, so there's plenty of broth but also tons of food floating around in the broth. Â Seemed stronger in the cinnamon department than other places I've visited. Â
The room is very nice and the service is spot-on. Â If you're in the area this is definitely the place to come, and probably the best of the pho places I've tried if your main concern is eating a lot of food.
When I was a student, this was our Sunday afternoon hang-over meal.
Extra large pho with everything, spring/summer rolls, and iced coffee to finish it off was a pretty hard combination to beat. Too bad they couldn't have opened a branch up in Amherst/Northampton so that it wouldn't have been so far of a drive, but the expectation on the drive down just made the food that much better.
Better than anything you can get in Boston, although I have heard from my Vietnamese friend that Worcester also has good restaurants.
I have nothing but good things to say. I needed to an extra credit project for my Southeast Asian history class of eating at a SEA Restaurant. I checked on Yelp first (of course) for anything in the New Haven area, and we were going to try Thai Awesome, but then we ended up at Pho Saigon in Springfield, MA.
The egg rolls were phenomenal, better than at Chinese places. There were four of us and we all got different things and shared. All dishes were fresh and amazing. The Pho soup had layers of sophisticated flavors, and the pineapple shake was fresh and not at all sugary.
My boyfriend got the sizzling catfish, which was rubbed with some kind of very spicy dry mixture, and really was sizzling on a cast iron plate!!. I had a beef with veggies in sauce on deep fried egg noodles, very good, a little sweeter than I would have liked, but not nearly as sweet as most Chinese dishes tend to be. My son had some kind of marinated, spicy pork, which was five alarm and very tasty. Boyfriend's daughter had an a beef dish, where the thin beef was wrapped around little onions, rice noodles and veggies, no sauce, but amazingly flavorful.
I highly recommend! Even worth a trip, but don't use mapquest directions, they were wrong.
My friend took me here after picking me up from the Amtrak station. Â We drove around for a while until she found it, seemingly by intuition (she lives in Northampton, and doesn't really know Springfield so well). Â Or maybe she was following her nose, led by the fragrant and delicious broth for the pho... Â I ordered combination beef pho, and she had the bun with pork. Â We split an order of imperial rolls and each had some Viet coffee as well. Â Everything was delicious! Â I am often wary of Asian food in New England, being from San Francisco--not trying to be snotty, just speaking from experience (crab rangoon, anyone???). Â But Pho Saigon allayed my fears and soothed my belly. Â Yummy yummy.
Review Source:This place may make the best bowl of pho I've ever had, and I've eaten a lot, from Boston to Philadelphia to Seattle. Â They have a rich, clean broth & fresh noodles. Â The portions are almost too much. Â Almost.
Parking stinks. Â And it's hard to get to if you don't know the area. Definately worth finding though. Â Next time you're in Springfield go check them out. Â Next time.
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