Absolutely the best Asian restaurant I've been to in my 8 years in the Albany/Corvallis area.
My wife and I visited Sam City for the first time today, for lunch. Â The place is clean, well-kept, attractive and comfortable. Â It was 1:30 PM and not very busy, so the service was very prompt, and pleasantly provided by the proprieters. Â Both our dishes, Orange Chicken and a spicy beef dish were bursting with flavor, with the beef having just the right amount of spicy heat. Both were piping hot, a must at any restaurant I might frequent. Â We are looking forward to going back, hoping of course, that they are consistent.
Well I wasnt expecting much, but this place was good enough that i went back a few days later. lots of freshness and flavor in their food. I never really expected beef broth to be so good. Some of the better asian food ive had in Albany. the place seems really family based as their kids were in the next booth .doing homework or somthing, but i thought that was cool. A little expensive but well worth it. this is my new asian food joint.
Review Source:It's a love hate relationship with this place. Â The owner's are some of the nicest people I have ever met and are usually really accommodating. Â For that alone, I would give them 5 stars. Â However, their business model lacks something fierce. Â Yes their Pho is the best around because it is the ONLY around. Â Ever eaten at Pho places in Portland? Â If you absolutely love this place, then don't go there. Â Also, if you have never had Pho and say this place is best, well, then yes, you have never had Pho. Â Their soup is great. Â It fixes my hangovers and colds with a smile. Â My biggest hangups is their menu that looks like a school project using word. Â Every single font from Word 95 is on there. Â Nobody uses pictures anymore unless you are fast food, and what is up with the rules and regulations? Â I came here to eat. Â Have to order a meal if you want soda, appetizers have to be ordered with entree, holy cow! Â Just let me eat what I want on the menu. Â Also, this is the ONLY restaurant on yelp where I have seen an owner have the audacity to take pictures of only their good reviews and post them as consumer pictures on the picture page. Â WOW! Â Who does that? Â Don't get me wrong, they are nice people, but nieve in the worst way. Â Once the crazy menu and arrogance goes away, I'll be back.
Review Source:Sam and Christian truly make you feel like family when you come to this restaurant. Not only do they have great customer service but they have excellent food!
I am a big fan of the pho as that is what I usually get. My husband, however, gets something new every time. Since their menu is so large we have had a lot of different tasty items.
I realized none of my previous reviews over the past several months have posted on here. We love Sam City along with Sam and Christian. Food is always amazing and service is like being with family.
We have tried several items on the menu and loved everything we've had. We have four kids that also love the food, especially the Pho! Thankful for a great place to eat with delicious food and the service is of course perfect as usual!
Tasty pho, appetizer sampler, beef yakisoba, sweet & sour chicken and veggie delight with prawns. I'd give them five stars if the kitchen coordinated food so that appetizers arrived first, then pho and salads, then entrees all at once. Otherwise it's great and I'll definitely keep going!
Review Source:This place is the pho king of Albany, because let's face it, It is the only place that serves pho within a 30 min drive.
The broth was lacking in flavor, the meat was over-cooked, hard and chewy. I would probably not eat here again unless I was extremely desperate for something that barely resembles Vietnamese food.
I had never dreamed of finding such great pho in the valley! This was a fun surprise, and I'm so glad I tried it out. The pho is pretty darn delicious, and the service is wonderfully friendly. I gladly make the 30 minute drive from Corvallis just for this pho. The ambience is a bit weird with diner-like booths, but I think this is kind of endearing. When I go for pho, I'm not looking for elegance. Summer roll appetizer, #1 entree and vietnamese coffee before I hit the road. These things make me happy.
Review Source:We were really looking forward to something special. The place was very clean and presentable. Our server seated us and said he'd be right back to take our drink order. Well over 10 minutes later we had to flag him down to ask for water. 5 minutes or so later he came to take our order. The place boasts of making everything fresh so we knew we could expect a reasonable wait to be served. My wife ordered Korean short ribs and a stir fried cabbage salad. I ordered a sample tray in hopes of trying several dishes. Carol's salad came and it was fantastic. I was encouraged by this. Sadly, it was downhill from there. There was a vegetable in her salad which we did not recognize. We asked the server what it was. He said he didn't know. I asked him if he would ask the chef. He said he would. This young fellow was pleasant enough but had the attention span of a humming bird. My fried items were heavy with grease. We finished our meals, which were mediocre at best. He brought our check. I asked him if he had asked the chef what the vegetable was. He said, "Oh yeah." It was thinly sliced broccoli stalk. I knew my wife, being the kind soul that she is, would not take kindly to my stiffing him for the tip, so he got a lot more than he earned. I am happy for the folks who are pleased with this place. I'm sorry to say, I can't count myself among them.
Review Source:This place is fanastic!!! My hubby, my family and myself favorite place for lunch or dinner. We love the owners, Christian and Sam and their service, food and atomsphere. They have come to know us and our family. They pretty much know exactly what we want to order each time. As well as have us try their new receipes. Go here often enough and they may name a dish after you! ;) Check out my new fave dish..."Kaylee's Sweet Shrimp" Breaded shrimp with peppers, onions and a sweet n spicy sauce. DELISH!
Review Source:Great service, good food, not bad prices. We had Christians special. Pretty good but what was great was their homemade ginger dressing. Best I ever had. Decor is dated so I wouldn't go here to impress a first date but definitely go for a good bite to eat. Hearty portion sizes. Would definitely come back for more!
Review Source:Love this pho! My girlfriend and i have eaten from here a couple times and have really enjoyed ourselves. The first time was takeout and although they got one wrong chicken item  it was still absolutely delicious! They give you every ingredient you need to make the best pho ever and it helps that they bag it all up separately so you can keep out what you don't want.
The food each time has been cooked to perfection and has been probably the best i have ever had! The sweet and sour chicken, general tso chicken, and spring rolls have been my favorites!
The service each time has been very friendly and i can't wait to go back again! When i start to get a feeling for Vietnamese food, this will always be my first choice.
 Cheers,
   Aaron
This is one of my favorite restaurants in Albany. Â I eat there once a week on average. Â Sam and her husband are so great! They are friendly and know how to cook!
Their menu is huge with lots of delicious, fresh choices. Â The restaurant is very clean and they are located on Pacific Blvd, which is one of the most convenient locations, even for those that are coming off the freeway. Â
I always choose their fresh salad with my meal. Â The ginger dressing is phenomenal, in fact, I always buy a bottle so I have one on hand at home at all times.
If you like Fusion and Pho then you will LOVE this restaurant!
Went back last week and tried the Pho. Â The waitress was very helpful with suggestions and I ended up with the basic beef brisket and steak pho. Â It was my first time with pho and it was pretty tasty. Â I had the large, which was WAY too big to finish, but shared it with my 3 and 2 year olds and they loved the noodles and broth. Â Just one more thing that I enjoy about Sam City!
Review Source:Sam's City Pho Special $7.99
Summer rolls $4.99
Teriyaki Chicken/Sweet and sour Chix Combo $8.49
[+] We came here for lunch today around 2:30pm and ordered the above items. We tasted very fresh ingredients and had great service. Food came out in a timely manner and our server was very informative(& knowledgeable) about the food that I ordered. The place was very pleasant, as they have a little bit of everything ranging from burgers to pho to stir-fry/teriyaki entrees. I really enjoying eating here because they offer a really relaxing, clean environment. I especially love their house dressing on the side salad that came with one of our dish.
[-] I was a bit disappointed though for the small portions. I was expecting the summer rolls to be bigger than the size of a small glue stick, as I am paying $4.99 for two rolls. Along with the rest of the orders, portions does not match with the price.
[?] Overall, I do expect to come back here to have lunch/dinner or happy hour. Oh yeah, props for pictures on the menu!
Pho. Â I live for it. Â I have gone to Vietnam seeking the yummy broth. Â The pho here is good. Â
But what really gets me going too, this place has GREAT fried rice. Â No other place in town has fried rice this good. Â It is a hair greasy but the flavor is epic. Â Go for the stir fried cabbage as well. Â They wok all this stuff in a well broken in wok so there is a little smokiness to all because they really cook the stuff in it instead of just passing it through a wok like other place. Â It's the flavor which I love. Â
Their salad rolls are clean and tastey with good peanut sauce. Â So, order all of the above and you will have a good meal.
If you want to be safe, they have stir fry noodles, and  a full american burger menu but I have not tried it.  Why bother when you can get Pho!
Ok, i LOVE pho.......i am a pho connoisseur. I have had pho in a lot of places. I was very excited when Sam city came to Albany. FINALLY i could get pho locally. Well, sadly their pho is not that great. Let me explain further:
The good- Their broth is really good, the meat is always tasty, and the staff is very nice.
The bad- The pho costs at least a third more than any other place i've had it, they only give you about half the normal amount of meat, Â they do not have chili oil (even though i have requested it multiple times), they do not have mini bowls for dipping your noodles, and i had the worst Vietnamese coffee ever there today! I felt inundated by advertisements and pictures of their food. and i witnessed the worst coupon i have ever seen. Buy 5 lunches, get one free.......within 45 days, WITH the purchase of a lunch!! I doubt anyone has successfully used one.
So, all in all? The pho is disappointing, their fried rice is really great, and the teriyaki is ok. The atmosphere is lacking, and the service is great.
#corvSMB
Sam city is fun! The big bowls of steamy pho are inviting with all the fresh chunky veggies, noodles and herbs. I've never had pho before but the waitress was super sweet in explaining what it was and how to eat it, although my soup spoon fell in my bowl and I never saw it again until I gobbled up my noodles. I asked the waitress what was gluten free when I sat down, and she had many choices available. I got the #19, and I would get it again. Warm and steamy inside on a chilly day. I really enjoyed my lunch and the people around me must like it there too, they told me they go just about every day for lunch!
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