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Saigon Nights is just up the
road from our shop and I'd noticed that it had quite the hustle and bustle in the evening,
so we decided to give it a try after work on night. I was pleased to be
able to add one more cheap, convenient and tasty restaurant to my list
of locals.
Not a flawless dining experience, we liked the
food and the prices we're value oriented. The menu is designed for
sharing or very piggy eaters. We shared an appetizer, soup and meat
entree and it was more than enough to provide a light lunch for two the
next day - for $30 you can't complain about that. The menu is fairly
short for a Vietnamese restaurant, but that's ok with me, I'd rather
people focus on their competencies and keep their costs down.
The restaurant is a weird design and considering
how busy they were, could be easily reformatted to seat more people in a
more organic fashion. Patty and were quickly seated at the only
available table in the front window. The table seemed oddly huge, or, we
were so tired from work that we felt oddly small. We received tea
quickly and Patty and both ordered beer. Not much of a wine and beer
list to speak of, I ordered a Heineken and Patty ordered a Kirin, as
they were out of the other Asian import he wanted.
Our food arrived in a peculiar, backwards order
(meat, soup, appetizer), but ultimately were all on the table at the
same time, so no big deal. The fried pork chop with rice, was hot and
crispy and a nice change from the usual high fat meat dishes more common
to Chinese cuisine. The soup was huge, the beef appropriately rare
and then cooked by the soup and the bean sprouts, cilantro and lime
condiments appropriately fresh. The salad rolls appetizer was huge and
included a pork and prawn filling with a very flavourful peanut sauce.
All the dishes were prepared with skill and I was pleased with better
than average chili sauce.
After receiving friendly and adequate service for
most of the meal, at the end of the meal they lost it. The head server
sat down to chat with friends, leaving a single, inexperienced server
with limited language skills, to serve about 40 people. It took a long
time to get the bill and we finally gave up and went to the bar to pay.
Despite some service failings, I was happy with
the food, speed of service pricing. I can't stress enough however, that
the portions are huge and designed for sharing. As a neighbourhood
restaurant, I definitely see myself going back to Saigon Night once a
month for a quick dinner on my way from work.
reviewed September 19, 2007
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