Little Saigon

My favorite technique in dealing with patients’ pain is distraction. I tell them look over there and quickly rip the bandaid off. It works every time. This time, there were no distractions for me. No friends to keep me company. No music in the background. Just the food and me.
I had a coupon for buy one, get one free, and when I tried to use it, they wanted me to dine in. They didn’t think I could eat two entrees, but I felt like it was a challenge, so I said bring it! …and I won! Maybe it’s a bad thing, but I ate everything. Maybe that means that the portions are small? or does it mean that everything was good?
Another time, I had lunch here with my buddy, Dear Daniel. The Combination Phở was alright. Well, because…
First off, I think it’s brave to claim that you have the best broth in town. .um…okay.. My sister, mom, and I ordered take out a few years ago and we thought it was just average. They also add no MSG, so the broth isn’t overly salty. It’s satisfactory…
This time I had the Seafood Phở — it included squid, mussels, and shrimp. Nothing outstanding.
Would I return? Sure — the parking is free and convenient in the Windward City Shopping Center. The service is cut and dry. Seems like a husband and wife team where the wife is the cook and the husband works the front. Décor, lighting, ambiance, etc. are all normal. I liked that the napkins, disposable utensils, plastic spoons, sauce dishes, and condiments are on the table, but then it makes me wonder if the previous customers touched it…

Good food. NO MSG is a winner! I love this place. Good take out too. The phở and the bun vermicelli is really good. This place is the best phở in Kaneohe, in my opinion.

In all honesty, this is the best place to get phở on the windward side. The broth is always good and service has always been on point for me.

Excellent customer services, and DELICIOUS foods there, i love Mr. AND Mrs. Lye. God bless them and there food business!

We’ve been once before and the food was pretty good. So we decided to try again. This next time was a nightmare. We first sat down and was greeted by a grumpy server. He gave us sticky menus that looked like they were bathed in old phở soup. As we waited for our food, we saw the cook place our order on the counter when done, but the server was too busy talking to another family, 10 minutes later he finally got our food. After taking a couple of bites of my phở, I noticed a small roach in my soup. I brought it to the server expecting at least a sorry but got nothing. He took a closer look at the bug and said I’ll get you another one in his grumpy tone. We took it to go and said we won’t be back.

So unfortunately we didn’t even try the food because when we got there we sat, as we were looking through the menu a roach crawls across the table, I had to kill it, it was nasty, I decided to looked down to see how sanitize the place were, 2 – 3 baby roaches crawling around on the ground… no thank you. We will not eat here no matter how much protein roaches provides.

Good points and not so good points to this restaurant. While the food is good and the prices on par with most of the competition, there are drawbacks enough to cross it off the restaurant list. That being; the man on register, who I believe to be the owner, is extremely unsociable, unfriendly, and does little to nothing that would make a customer feel welcome or want to return. I once went in to pick up a take out order. I saw that the meal I had ordered had come with one small plastic cup of chili sauce. I do enjoy it with my phở, so I asked if I could have one more. The look on this guy’s face… You would have thought I had just asked for the shirt off his back during the middle of a rain storm. It took him a moment or two to process the seemingly egregious request I had just made for another spoonful of chili sauce before responding, «There is more than enough.» A few seconds passed before either him seeing the cheapness and attitude of his statement or possibly my displeasure before he begrudgingly mustered every fiber of what generosity he had on store to reach back across the counter to put one more in my bag. I will be very hard pressed to ever visit this restaurant again.

the phở was cherry… after lifting sum heavy weights at 24 hr fitness… walked up the parking lot ate at genki then ate sum phở then ate at kj… eat big and lift heavy my frenz… the phở and spring rolls and pork chops cherry…

The Phở broth is delicious. Everything is made fresh, vegetables are crisp and enhance the Phở experience. We come here often. Have tried other Kaneohe Phở, but they lack the rich broth flavor which makes or breaks Phở.

Not a bad little Vietnamese place on the windward side. Good if you’re in the bind but there are better Vietnamese restaurants elsewhere.

Best beef stew I’ve ever had, the combination phở is also great. Been coming here for a few years now and I can say it’s the best in the area.

According to our Vietnamese friend this is some of the best Vietnamese food on the island. It’s fresh, authentic, and family friendly. Delicious and excellent service from the owner. We ordered the meatball phở for the older kids (they loved it), the Vietnamese pancake (to be wrapped in lettuce with fresh basil and dipped), the vegetable sour soup, the Vietnamese (not Thai) Green Papaya Salad (my personal favorite), and the fresh summer rolls for an appetizer. We took our 3 kids for lunch, ages 2 – 10. Our kids are well behaved, even so sometimes you can get the stink eye with kids at any restaurant. Not so here, the owner was our server and very friendly, thoughtfully brought plastic dinner ware and crackers for our 2 year old. The flavors and ingredients were fresh, the phở and sour soup broths were delicious with delicate flavors. We will be coming back here anytime we are in the area. (Near the Ross in Kaneohe)

Nice little restaurant in the busy Windward City Shopping Center. Food is always good and the service is always good. Simply quality Vietnamese food at a convenient location.

I got take out today and I was impressed. Quick, tasty, and reasonable prices! Going in around 2pm seems like a good time since the lunch crowd was gone. I ordered the vermicelli noodles with pork and shrimp. It was delicious. Definitely will be back again for lunch!

Service — rude. Food –I will not be back. Only one server in the restaurant, so I’m usually pretty understanding and there was 5 of us. However, he walked away from the table while my friend was trying to confirm if a particular dish was available, to take an order at another table. It took so long to get our food & 3 people had Phở. The cold vermicelli noodles had the consistency like they were sitting in water for awhile. The lemongrass chicken was off tasting. The fish sauce was good though. He brought out a second dish for my friend and insinuated it was my friend’s fault that he had written down two dishes for him. When my friend ordered, he asked if he could substitute a different type of chicken. The server just stared at him and then walked away, didn’t clarify at all.

If you don’t like waiting then DO NOT go here. Waited 30 minutes to get our food (even our appetizer). Phở was decent but you are better going to Saigon Noodle House closer to windward mall where the owner is more friendly and the service is a heck of a lot better!

I’ve been coming here for years and the food is always delicious and consistent. The phở is so fresh and tasty. We like this place for a nice quiet date night. The place is usually not busy so finding a table isn’t usually a problem. Yes, the service is slow but good things come to those who wait. It’s a husband wife team. He is not the best waiter… but the freshness of the food makes up for it. He actually is a really nice guy… just a little on the quiet side. And the wife stays back and freshly prepares each dish… that is why you may wait for awhile. Everything is fresh!!!
We’ve also discovered that ordering take out is just as good. Give them a call about 20minutes prior and they will pack everything very nicely for you to enjoy your phở in the comfort of your own home. Little Saigon is one of my favorites… it’s always consistently fresh and the price is right. 2 can eat for less than $ 20!
Try the summer rolls too… so delicious!

I’m always so happy about the quality of Phở here. I’ve tried a couple of highly recommended place in Kailua but I’m not jumping up for joy when I had their Phở. Little Siagon has (so far) the best broth and my favorite is the meatball Phở (extra meat). I haven’t really tried much other than the spring rolls– I prefer the summer rolls.
Most reviews look like they don’t care for the service but I could care less. I believe it’s run by an older husband and wife and I would gladly support their dream as long as they continue with the delicious soup.

Oh Little Saigon, what went wrong?! I used to love thee soo much. It’s been a year since we’ve broken up and while I missed you at first, I’m so glad I’ve moved on. The break up was hard initially, I was going through phở withdrawals, but am now long over it.
I hate to do this considering I once loved you, so much that I would come here at least once a week to get my fix. But I am now over you and have summoned the courage and am ready to do this. I was such a newbie to phở at the time and didn’t know the better options out there.
While the broth is good, no MSG, yay, it wasn’t enough to keep me coming back. The service was good because I’d always do take out during off hours. But once we started doing family phở nights a few times a month and we had take out orders with 6 – 8 items at a time during dinner hours, that was the last straw. Waiting for an hour, sometimes an hour and a half for our food to be ready wasn’t cutting it for a hungry family. I FINALLY saw the sign and it opened up my eyes. One day I hope we can reconcile, but not anytime soon.

Okay, I’ll admit it! We were going to Genki Sushi for dinner. Friday night was crazier than usual with 20 people waiting outside! Genki wasn’t going to happen! We were all too hungry.
So Little Saigon it is. It’s right next door! My first visit but everyone else had been here before. In my defense, I have eaten recently at many Phở shops all over the island. I eat Phở, Banh mi, Bun bo hue and other Vietnamese dishes of all sorts on a regular basis. In fact, I had Phở about 2 days before at another restaurant in town. Point is, I’m up to speed on taste, broth and all the other factors that go into judging phở.
Ambience: Nicely decorated, dim lighting and very pleasant. Nicer than most phở joints. Usually phở shops have that «hole in the wall» ambience. I liked it.
PHO: Beef phở was nice with good flavor broth. My wife liked it and I tried it too. It was good. Veggie phở, this is my speciality, was good too. My daughter always orders this now and she shared it with me. Good veggie broth and fresh nice ingredients made this a winner. Tonight I had a tofu and spring roll plate since I had just had phở 2 days before. It was pretty good too. Prices were good! That always gets my attention.
Why 3 stars? I liked the food and can recommend it. I’ll eat here again. But, I still have a craving for my regular phở shop which is also in Kaneohe.
Little Saigon is good and I don’t think you can go wrong.