Saigon Cafe

The service was timely and very helpful with accommodating my young son. The pho' was good. I would not say great. Whenever the restaurant is a mix, I am always skeptical. A Thai Vietnamese combo is a red flag. Nonetheless, the food was nice. You can definitely count on something different and satisfying. This was my first venture with Pho in Alpharetta, so there is more to explore. I live close enough to Buford Hwy, that I am jaded. Take it with a grain of salt and you will feel cood about the experience.

Overall a mixed experience rating this place only 3 out of 5 Stars. Pho: The beat part was the Pho. Delicious. I had everything minus the tripe. A medium portion was huge. I couldn’t finish the medium bowl which looked like a very large bowl to me. For $9.99, well worth every sip and slurp. Rice Noodle Soup with Shrimp called Pho Tom was also excellent. This chicken based broth was excellent and it had good portion of shrimp. For $9.99, well worth the price and my wife couldn’t finish half of the medium portion. Here’s where things break down: Veggie Spring Rolls, called Cha Gio Chay were tiny... as in very small and almost all wrapper with virtually no vegetable inside. If you want to eat fried rice paper, be my guest... but for $4.95 not worth it and quite frankly, a joke. Here’s where it got bad: My wife really was in the mood for some spicy eggplant. We found a dish called Basil Eggplant with Tofu. We told the Server we were in the mood for Eggplant. He asked us twice what protein we wanted and we said just the tofu. The dish arrived with 5 tiny pieces of eggplant in a huge bowl of veggies and a ton of Tofu. When I say tiny, I mean the eggplant pieces were the size of a cherry tomato. The dish had a good taste to it, but the least abundant veggie in the whole dish was its namesake. When I pointed this out to the owner, she laughed and said the dish only comes with a few pieces of eggplant. No apology. We paid $10.95 for an eggplant dish with virtually no eggplant. Since I’m in the restaurant industry, I do not try to get things removed from my bill and I always tip no matter what, but at least an apology was needed. They should change the name of this dish to stir fry vegetables with Tofu; an eggplant dish, it is not. Last but not least, the menu shows Coke products. When I ordered a Coke, I was asked if Pepsi was okay. I said, no... your menu shows Coke. The waiter said, that’s just an old menu. News flash: This is Atlanta, home of Coke. Lastly, leftover containers are styrofoam which cannot be microwaved.

06/08/18 Ordered takeout lunch and they asked if we wanted fried rice or jasmine rice with the meals. We had requested fried rice on all orders, they indicated there was an up-charge which we were totally fine with. When we received our orders there was plain yellow rice on each dish where fried rice was requested. When we called to ask, they told us that real fried rice was only sold as an individual whole dish. What??!! Very shady, be aware of the “fake fried rice” tactic when ordering. 12/07/18 We decided to try Saigon Cafe Windward today again after a bad 1st experience 6 months prior, mainly because our family ate at the Hwy 92 Woodstock for years and never experienced a problem. It started with a basic takeout order, when I arrived to pay, I asked the cashier person at the desk to clarify which items were which. (They use different to-go containers than other location). She got a bit of an attitude and I didn’t understand what she had said. I decided to let it go and smiled and paid. When I got out got to the car to check I discovered they had left off a couple of items. I went back in to bring this to her attention, again I received more attitude and argumentative language. I refused to receive this type of poor customer service so I smiled and said, I have changed my mind and want a full refund. At this point she lost it and basically told me that since they already made this food, I had to take it. I politely told her no thanks, I just want a refund. It finally took another senior manager to come out and process my refund, he never apologized for my experience. I was shocked and disappointed at the type of customer service here at Saigon Cafe Windward. I then informed them that I would publish a review of my experience. They both responded with a snide comment as I left. Hopefully their corporate management takes the necessary steps as this type of customer service experience should never be tolerated, especially in an area as affluent as Alpharetta is.