Saigon Cafe

Great service, large portions and fair prices. I like the vermicelli and bbq pork here for $ 8.95. I will be back!

It is nice to have decent Vietnamese food in the Lakeway /​Hudson Bend area. We had 2 different kinds of Phở and spring rolls for takeout.
I am no expert on Vietnamese food, but the Phở soups were very good.
The to go order had everything needed, so no arriving home missing an extra ingredient. The soup broth was in a big cup and the noodles/​meat were in a separate container, so I can have the soup for dinner and then mix the ingredients again for lunch the next day. Otherwise, the rice noodles in the Phở dissolve after overnight in the broth in the fridge.
As good or better as any of the small places in Austin without a 30 minute drive.

My parents live a stone’s throw away, and I was excited to see a new (to me) place to check out, especially a Vietnamese place! The appearance is simple — functional, but not fancy. However, the service is terrific, and the food is excellent. The server was very helpful in suggesting vegetarian options for us. The lemongrass (which you can get without fish sauce, if you please) is delicious — try it with some extra added veggies too.

Nice addition to the Lakeway & Hudson Bend area. It’s tucked away in a strip mall and has great food. Everything is fresh and cooked on order. The dining area is very basic and I think this is awesome choice for take-​out. We tried the combination fried rice, pad kee mao (thai flat noodles) and ginger curry chicken. All were excellent.

Yum! So glad this place opened. I just got take-​out but the chicken phở was so delicious… I ordered the large size and literally lasted me four meals it was so much. Spring rolls and pineapple fried rice was also great. Will be back again for sure!

I had written an earlier review of Saigon Café soon after opening pointing out the fact that they were using dried noodles instead of fresh rice noodles. Like most restaurants it takes time to learn how to work out the kinks of service, food and supplies. I did something I don’t usually do for a place I was not happy with… I went back. And Lo and behold a total 180 degree turn around on this one. They are Now using FRESH RICE noodles and it makes all the difference in the world. The Phở broth was excellent and the Pad Kee Mao was delicious. These owners have proven that they are wise and willing to learn. I am Now a fan and will go back a lot. I am looking forward to trying their other dishes of authentic Vietnamese and Thai cuisine. I am so happy that there is finally a great Vietnamese restaurant in the Lakeway/​Hudson bend area. Kudos to Mindy and Sean… who by the way… are very nice people. Get your Viet-​Thai on .and try Saigon Café.

We got take out pad Thai spicy and basil fried rice. We ordered the pad Thai made spicy. Terrible. Pad Thai was not spicy and instead was bland and flavorless and had a few pieces of chicken. The portion was much smaller than expected for the price. I could go to my regular place down in south Austin and get a much better quality dish for about $ 1 less. They instead made the basil fried rice spicy, which completely threw off the flavor profile and we cannot eat it. She was very excited to try a new place that we haven’t been to before and I finally gave in, that was a mistake. Guess we’ll just go back to our regular go to options for Thai.
Updated score for conduct and professional manner in which manager communicated with me. Also, edited review for clarification on the order and more realistic comparison for prices.

Super delicious Vietnamese food. Friendly, quick service, family-​run restaurant with very casual atmosphere. In a strip mall in an unassuming part of town, but don’t let that keep you from bringing a date — the quality of the food more than makes up for it. We will definitely be back!

What it do Unilocal family? Alright I found this place when searching for lunch. I haven’t been on Hudson bend road in years. I wasn’t expecting this place but it was refreshing. It’s about a mile in on the left side of the street in a storefront. It’s right next to a laundromat which is good. I say that because when I washed my hands all U smelled was downy or snuggle in their restroom (unisex).
My experience was cool because I was on the hill for lunch and today is beautiful. It was enhanced even more because of the 2 year old boy cat calling the women in Restaurant. Lmao! Ladies don’t think I was enforcing sexism but je literally muttered at each woman that came in… funny.
The establishment is clean and doesn’t have more than a dozen tables. You can hear the cook banging away a fresh made order. I had the L3 lunch special fried rice, 2 dumplings and a sprite. The price was reasonable and portion plenty. You check my pics and will see I didn’t like it. Seriously the rice was good and I added my soy sauce from the dumplings. …even better.
Now I talk about slights perceived and fully verifiable in my reviews. I’m now of the mind that my face just isn’t likeable. My waiter was pretty cool I thought. Then as I was eating he comes to my table and asks «I never see you face before first time here? Before I could reply came You new round here? You just move here or something?» What is it about a big black man patronizing a place? I sat there like damn I saw several people come in and never heard that line of questioning and I know some of them said they’d never been there. I also noticed everyone else was bye thanks for coming and come again. I got have a nice day.
Oh well I’ll be sure to not traverse past the unwritten line when I come to the area again. I actually like the restaurant, ambience and food though… What do I do?

Finally, there is an Asian food very close by. I am happy to try it out. I am not from Vietnam, but one of my best friends is. We cook home food for each other every week. That is how I learn about Vietnamese food. Ha
Lunch special is delight, combo with appetizer, main dish and soft drink. It’s right size for lunch! :)
Spring Roll: 5 stars, very authentic. If you are allergic to peanuts, I am sorry. I love the spring roll to dip with peanut sauce.
#5 Phở: 4 stars, very good! If you don’t like Chinese 5 species, you should skip phở. Very strong Chinese 5 spices flavor. If they are easy on MSG, I would give this 5 stars.
Soft Drink: 5 stars. I got ice tea. I have very high standard when it comes with tea. I am from Taiwan, I grew up with tea, black tea, green tea, oolong tea… Their ice tea is made from jasmine green tea. Not high quality jasmine green tea, but it’s much better than Texan Ice tea. :)
I definitely come back to try other dishes!

First off I have tell you I’m Vietnamese from San Jose California and I know what good phở taste like and this place get a thumbs up. It’s legit! If your craving for a bowl after visiting lake Travis you must stop by. Their French drip coffee is very good. The chicken wings was finger licking good.

This is a very good place for Vietnamese cuisine. It’s a welcome bonus that it happens to be in my backyard, as I’m a quick car ride across Mansfield Dam to Hudson’s Bend.
As to my bona fides: I’ve eaten a great deal of Vietnamese food over the years in Houston, San Jose/​Westminster, and abroad so I know of what I speak.
The décor inside is pleasant-​but-​functional, the service excellent, and the food is authenic. Since pretty much everyone knows how to make a passable egg roll I ordered the hard-​to-​find Vietnamese appetizer Xoi Ga — fried savory sticky rice mixed with minced chicken. This is a crunchy, chewy ‘cake’ of a rice dish and while not to everyone’s taste, made my day. It was followed up by a piping-​hot, extremely flavorful grilled pork/​egg roll rice dish.
Central to any Vietnamese dish is the nuoc mam, a flavored fish-​based sauce. The version here is curiously light, with a floral or citrusy taste. However, on second glance at the menu they use ‘nuoc cham’, which is usually a lime-​juice or vegetarian version of the same sauce. It’s a welcome addition and probably more palatable to those first getting into the cuisine.
My 5-​star is conditional in that I didn’t sample the spring rolls, the phở (soup) or the Thai dishes, so I’ll probably be updating this review upon a repeat visit. That said — this is excellent food for the money, and a nice alternative for lunch/​dinner in a place that’s chock full of burger joints and steak houses.
This place gets 5 stars on the ‘CTJ Scale’, as noted below.
5 out of 5 stars: Come-​to-​Jesus good. Would be OK passing on after finishing a meal here.
4 out of 5 stars: Come-​to-​Mary good. Would be OK being seen eating here by Mother Mary.
3 out of 5 stars: Come-​to-​Joseph good. Would be OK having a beer here with Jesus’ Dad.
2 out of 5 stars: Come-​to-​the-​Apostles good. Meh. Wouldn’t have my last supper here.
1 out of 5 stars: Come-​to-​Nobody good. I wouldn’t have my penultimate supper here, either.

Very authentic and fresh, family owned, good service, Bring your own wine or beer and they will refrigerate it with no corking charge. It’s in a small strip center off Hudson bend road. The phở is perfect and everything I’ve tried was great. Try the sticky rice app. It’s bomb. Rated R Shrimp, the Charcoal Pork W Eggrolls, or the shacken beef where also great entrees I’ve tried. Fried bananas for dessert if you can still breath.

3^rd visit in 3 weeks. We must like the food! The staff is very friendly even when they are busy with a crowd. Give them a try.

We’ve been there twice and will be back soon. The food is fresh and flavorful. Portions are just right. We had pad kee Mao, pad Thai, phở, and chicken fried rice (for the kids). All were very good!
The service is a bit slow but its a small shop so they’re light on servers.

Very good phở. Broth was light and flavourful. I had the combination phở with all the meats and it was great.

Been here twice now, and I cannot complain. I was so excited to hear about a vietnamese restaurant opening in this neck of the woods that I went right out to get me a slice of the proverbial pie. First time around I ordered phở and was blown away by the quality and quantity of a bowl of phở for just $ 6 and change. Also, I love that this place uses cloves/​star anise in their broth. It gave the phở a very authentic feel and taste.
Second time around I ordered a thai lemongrass soup with noodles, also very reasonably priced and tasty. Overall I want this family-​owned joint to make it. They are the nicest people who truly care about food and service, and will answer all your questions and let you really customize your order depending on your taste. Let’s keep the weird in Austin and support our local businesses guys!

We found a one off here a jewel imbedded in an area of over priced food that doesnt deliver on the price tag
Definately a family owned authentic experience
The food from appatizer to soup to entee was above and beyond our expectations
I would definately recommend this place to anyone who loves good food
I will be back for certain and will recommend it to anyone

Great food, I am looking forward to coming again and again. Every dish was great from the apps, soup and entrée
Very happy that you decided to open in hudsons bend, thank you

We are so happy to have a wonderful Viet/​Thai restaurant in the area!
We ordered Spring Rolls, Combination Fried Rice (chicken, shrimp and pork) and a Charcoal Pork Vermicelli Bowl. Wherever we go, these are our favorites, so we are pretty particular :)
We will definitely be regulars at The Saigon Café!
It was delicious!