New Saigon

We loved this place! The portions were: huge, fresh, delicious! The place is CLEAN. The wait staff super friendly. Plus, free dessert! We had the beef phở, vermicelli bowl with lemon grass beef, grilled shrimp and eggroll, and a plate of sliced pork with fried rice. We were passing through and it was better than San Jose!

The lemon curry chicken is so good! However the white rice was kind of old. They gave me free desert which was awesome and tasted even better. If it wasn’t for the rice, I’d give it 100%

I’ve ate phở in several places, but New Saigon’s House Special is the reason I made a Unilocal account in the first place. Everyone needs to try this amazing Vietnamese entrée. I am a big fan of Phở and Id recommend this place to everyone.

The food is better than average. The service is ok. They don’t have a lot of workers so I waited about 15 minutes to order when i was only the 5^th table in the restaurant! This may not seem so long for a restaurant in general but anyone who has eaten at a Vietnamese restaurant knows that this is a relatively long wait especially when it is pretty empty.
I will still eat here in the future, partly because there aren’t many choices around this area.
Update: Well I have been going here a lot since I wrote that update. I think the amount of servers is appropriate for the usual amount of patrons they get. They are consistently very nice and the food is good so I upped review to 4 out of 5 stars.

10 minutes for water. Gave me nothing but excuses about my concerns about the food I was eating. Was not happy.

Hands down the best Vietnamese good in Bakersfield. Very reasonably priced and excellent service. Love this place.

This is our phở spot. It’s family owned so yes, you will usually see the family members sitting at one of the tables either peeling vegetables or having their own food. It doesn’t mean they don’t care about service… it’s just how they roll.
The carpeting could use some updating but there is tons of room for either large or small parties. Seating is in individual tables as well as booths.
The menu has lots of variety which include phở and bun (vermicelli) dishes. Appetizers are the typical spring rolls, cha gio (fried rolls), and wings. I enjoy the special phở which has everything (brisket, steak, tripe). The Hue soup is a chef special that is tasty with lemongrass but quite spicy. Fresh coconut juice is awesome in the summer. They also sell assorted drinks like grass jelly drink, soursop, and guava. With your main entrée, you can order the side dishes on the back which are a great option for kids.
There is always some kind of random TV show on– karaōke, beauty pageants or music videos from the 80s. There is something so home style about the whole place. They grow a lot of their own herbs too. You can see the mini garden on the way to the restroom room. It includes chilies and basil!

Utterly disappointed. Beyond sad. Morose. These were my feelings upon leaving this establishment. I had high hopes, I’d read positive reviews. My anticipation couldn’t have been higher. Unfortunately, those reviews no longer hold true today.
In a barren square off of Union Avenue I found New Saigon. The layout was alright, but I do tend to prefer humble decorations. The service was quick and without reservations.
Not a problem.
Yet, what I do require, is quality food. Of that there was none.
I was looking for the soup and that is what let me down. At first it looked promising. The serving size was huge and the noodles were of the thick cut. But after my first spoonful I realized, the broth was bland, the beef was full of fat and my vegetables had wilted. The dumplings and spring rolls were. fine, but it was the soup I needed. And it was the soup that killed me. My companion noted my disappointment. «Do not despair my bae,» she consoled, «we will find a ramen shop that fulfills your desires!»
From there we left Saigon for the comforts of home.
And on a journey, I thought, never would end.

Bad foods and pricey!
The place needs to have health inspection regularly. Bad ventilation in the dining area.

Don’t confuse this place with Phở Vy which is next door.
I went in on a Sunday evening and it was empty. There is A LOT of space, so it would be great for a big group. They were very polite & made sure I was taken care of.
Honestly, I’ve had better phở in town. They put cilantro in the phở. I hate cilantro. I would have asked for phở without cilantro but they didn’t list their ingredients anywhere. The broth didn’t have enough flavor. The chicken was really tough too. The noodles tasted great though!

Driving thru town, we decided to find something to eat and found this place. So glad we did!!! We shared the Tofu spring rolls which were delicious. The seafood noodle soup was amazing, the seafood was cooked perfectly!!! Some places you go to, the squid can be overcooked, but it was literally melt in your mouth tender. I hate to say, it’s better than the phở place we love back in our hometown!!!
So glad we decided to stop here instead of some burger place…

Because of strong recommendations from friends and the reviews on Unilocal,we decided to stop by today and try this place out. The restaurant was a pretty good size and had bitb booths and tables to sit at. We were helped right when we walked in the door. The staff was very friendly. If you order a soda, they give you a can with a cup of ice (no free refills, so pace yourself!). Oddly enough, we ended up not ordering any phở (I know right… go to a phở place and not order phở? Next time). We eneded up ordering the crunchy egg roles, fried dumplings, and a rice dish. The food was great! The egg roles had a great flavor and very crunchy. The dumplings were the best part of the meal for us. A while back, we had some fried dumplings at Disney World and have not been able to find any like it anywhere else. Well, today we found some! They had a perfect crunch and the stuff in the dumpling was delish. The sweet sauce they gave us was perfect for dipling both the dumplings and egg rolls. The rice was one of the specials on the front page of the menu with pork (I can’t remeber what it was called). It was cooked perfectly and the meat had a great flavor. Between the two of us, we couldn’t finish all this food! The portions are a good size and the prices are low. We will for sure be back again and this time we will try the phở.

Strong four stars for the amazing phở, clean atmosphere, and fast service!
We stopped here while exploring California, because we wanted phở, and Unilocal told us that this was the place to go… Unilocal for the win!

The rice noodles themself is 5 stars. Been to a few Phở places. But the noodles texture here is Out the Park. Awesome. A chewy texture I’d not had the pleasure of. A pure taste. The Phở soup is typical. Lots meat goodies inside. Regards the broth my Fav is at Saigon R. on Oak. But I been Favoring that for years. Other peoples may like others.
Interior this restuarant is very nice. The herbs sprout plate is super fresh. They grow their oun herbs in their patio garden.
Like Unilocal pictures shows… Lots foods here looks so Yummy. The two ladies who served me are sweethearts.
The Large bowl was more than I can finish. But Im Low’ish carbs now. Under $ 9. A grand deal.
Each of the various kinds meats in broth have their distinct Fresh Flavor. Such a plus.
I’d wanted to eat light today. Think Soup. But those rice noodles… Noddle’D Me. Haha.
Update. The nice lady told me they use fresh noodles. Not dry then boiled soft. Heavenly noodles. Sure to bring a smile.

There is nothing negative I can say about this place. We are regulars and we’re known be name. The food tastes so fresh and flavorful. The spices are grown on their patio. The dining room is spacious and open. We have to have it at least once a week.

Ok, New Saigon, you get your stars back. I had some lackluster experiences awhile back that have since been corrected. This is my Bako gold standard for phở.
It’s the tastiest phở and the biggest value out of all the phở shops in Bako.
If you’re a phở newbie, start with a beef soup and work yourself up to other dishes. Lemongrass chicken, seafood phở, and the vermicelli dishes are my staples here. All my thoughts on this place over the years are detailed below.

What I love about phở is that it is customizable and, depending on how you eat it, you can create some complex flavors (bold, light, spicy, sweet, tangy, and everything in-​between). But the most important thing about it is the broth. To me, if the broth isn’t very good, the whole bowl is ruined. That being said, the Seafood Phở that my 4 year old and I shared was WONDERFUL.
As soon as it arrived, my son was about to take a nose dive right into it. He likes his phở pretty simple… noodles, crab, broth, and some soy sauce. I like mine with a bit more kick to it. This is why I always ask for a separate bowl :)
With my bowl of phở I am more like a scientist. I taste the broth first (which was actually good enough to eat as it was) and then I start adding the very fresh veggies, sprinkle some lime, splash some soy sauce, and pour on the chili! Then I taste and add whatever else it needed until it was PERFECT. (I ended up adding a ton of chili and lime).
Then I eat… the broth was divine, the noodles just perfect, and the seafood pretty darn good. I can taste sweetness, bold seasonings, spiciness, sour from the lime and so many other flavors dancing around in my mouth. The only thing I didn’t care for was the squid. Even though it was tender, it had a bad aftertaste. But everything else was AMAZING!
My boyfriend ordered the spicy beef soup. Even though the broth had a good flavor the only memorable thing about it was the beef (I don’t really like udon style noodles and the broth had a bad aftertaste). We both came to the conclusion that the seafood phở was much better (he actually ended up eating half of my phở).
Lastly, the egg rolls and tapioca was very good even though my son didn’t care of either of them.
This is a great restaurant and probably the best phở place in Bakersfield so far. We ordered 2 bowls of phở, egg rolls, and free tapioca for a whopping $ 25 and some change. Can’t beat that!

This restaurant was recommended as the best phở place in town, which is why we came. I wasn’t in a phở mood, though, and had the bun bo hue instead. I was not disappointed. Food on point from broth to noodles to veggies to meat. I got the small bowl and ended up having to take half home! We had crunchy, delicious dumplings and shrimp rolls as appetizers.
The restaurant itself is clean and well-​kept. We were the only customers the entire time we were there… not sure if it’s because business is slow or because it was midday Tuesday.

The drive is a bit far, but I don’t mind driving for a good bowl of phở. My bf and I were confused when we got to the place. At first, we thought Phở Saigon was connected to Phở Vy, but that’s not the case at all. They’re two different establishments adjacent to one another, and both equally good in my opinion.
Some of the things that worked for me:
— Quick service
— Spacious and clean
— Phở came out steaming hot, so the noodles weren’t all tangled up into a big ball.
— Fresh vegetables
They’re not very generous with their meat. I was just eating my noodles half way through my bowl. More would be great.
We also tried the Shrimp spring rolls-​4 tiny fried shrimp rolls dipped in mayo. Not bad, but I wish it could be bigger.
New Saigon and Phở Vy are probably my top two choices for phở.

Came here tonight on a whim… trekked all the way out to Union Ave of all places in Bakersfield! haha =P Keep in mind this is the seedy part of town. This isn’t our first time at this restaurant, as we’ve been here on multiple visits before!
Plenty of seating when you come inside, take your pick.
We sat down and ordered the following dishes (they have a special all day, every day = buy 3 entrees, get 1 free!):
–Seafood Noodle Soup ($ 7.99 for large) — It was a ‘soup/​noodles’ kind of day, so I ordered this entrée w/​egg noodles. Seafood came with 4 pcs of shrimp, 2 pieces of white fish, 4 pieces of imitation crab meat, and 4 pieces of squid. Soup was flavorful, full of chopped green onion, and dried garlic. Egg noodles were chewy and stringy, and very good actually. Almost reminded me of Japanese ramen, but not entirely so. 4 star.
–Combination Phở (large) — this is the usual phở that comes with all the ingredients and toppings and meats, etc. My husband loves phở, so he thought it was delicious, it was better this time around than he had remembered… 4 star
— #13 Garlic filet mignon chunks over steamed rice (got this to-​go) — my husband thought the flavoring is great; the filet is tender and nicely seasoned/​cooked. he would give it 4 stars. He feels like this dish rekindled his «liking» for this restaurant, lol. In my opinion, I had a bite of the filet and thought it was just OK. nothing that special, haha. Portion size is small though.
— #10 Fried rice w/​scrambled egg, Chinese sausage, BBQ pork, chopped carrots and peas (got this to-​go). Typical fried rice dish; nothing too special. I don’t even know why my husband ordered this! haha 3 stars. Now he’ll be forced to eat it at home since he ordered it!
We’ll be back, New Saigon!