Saigon Noodles

Closed, huh? No wonder, with food like that there was *no* way a place like this should stay in business

If you have ever been to an Asian mall then you will know that Saigon Noodles is set up exactly like the phở shops at the Asian mall food courts. They simply replicated the design to be similar at UTC, so everything from the menu to the high counter-​tops is reminiscent of that.
Whenever I want to eat at UTC I always go to Saigon Noodles to get my food, amongst all of the options that are readily available, and I usually get the vegetarian phở and sometime the Thai tea boba. It’s not the bet phở in the world since I don’t get the freshness of the vegetables, but it is definitely better than the other greasy options that the mall offers. The tea is typical A-​OK tea and not overly sweet which I can appreciate. Ordering food from here gets the job done and I am always very full at the end. I am definitely open to trying the other items on the menu if I come back.

Don’t bother. Don’t get Phở at the food court. Soup was bland and can’t say that $ 7 – 9 for Phở is reasonable.

The food here costs $ 1 to $ 2 more than it would anywhere else but the portions are fairly large for me, so I don’t mind paying over $ 8 for some noodles that’ll last me three sittings.
I’ve tried the chicken phở and the steak phở and both have really good broth. Usually after I eat/​drink phở, I’ll feel sleepy (from all the MSG). Not here! The chicken meat they use, though, isn’t that great.
I’m not a fan of their boba but it’s basically the only place in this mall where you can get any.
In any case, the #1 reason why I come back almost every week is to get their pad thai. It comes with chicken but like I said, their chicken is a bit nasty, so I recommend just getting the shrimp. It’s NOT authentic but it’s super delicious!

I eat here every time I go to UTC. I’m mostly vegetarian and I try to eat healthy foods that aren’t greasy and full of fat from animal flesh.
I’ve had the noodle soups, which are light but filling… oxymoron, I know… but light, as in the broth is not heavy and greasy. But so full of noodles and vegetables that it’s satisfying. I also like the lemongrass tofu. It’s spicy and has a LOT of flavor.
My guy orders the spring rolls with the peanut sauce. I get a coconut boba… it is good, and I’ve never found it anywhere else. It’s real coconut water, with flecks of real coconut and boba.
I read some reviews on here about this place that astounded me. One person wrote that they preferred PF Changs. Others commented on the «flimsy» tableware. It’s a Mall Food Court! The Hot Dog on a Stick nearby doesn’t serve on porcelain china either. Neither does Rubios, in the same vicinity. Someone else said they could make the coconut boba cheaper at home. Wha? You can make all restaurant food cheaper at home. The point is, you didn’t have to.
Bear in mind, it’s a mall food court. And for a mall food court, it’s a nice change from a greasy burger, it’s not a mucus forming dairy item, it’s not deep fried, or soaking in old cheese. It’s just tasty and good, and you don’t feel sick after eating it. Yay!

I picked this place because it claimed to be healthy. I ordered the Phở Combo of the day, which was a bowl with Steak, Chicken and «Meatball».
I put quotes around «Meatball» because I’m not sure what kind of meat it was. It certainly didn’t taste good and closer resembled goat testicles. I would stay clear of anything with meat-​balls there.
Other than that, the bowl was decent and did seem pretty healthy, with the sprouts and basil and mint. Pretty good size, but I did spend $ 8.50 for a bowl of soup. It would have been a better deal if it came with some sort of bread or side item.

Hella expensive Vietnamese food… but oh so good makes ya say «So yummy for my tummy!!» like a lil kid on Yo Gabba Gabba
Banh Mi will cost ya close to $ 6!
Phở & Entrée’s are like $ 7-​$ 9
Boba is like $ 3-​$ 4
I usually get the:
GREEN TEA BOBA: lots of boba and flavorful jasmine milk green tea. BOMB!
#10 BBQ PORK & WONTON WITH EGG NOODLES SOUP: very generous amount of tasty yumm yumm awesomeness

You have to take into account that store front is in a mall food court. In that context, this place is good for a filling meal thats an okay value. If you aren’t at the mall and hungry already you probably won’t go otherwise. Compared to the other places in the food court Saigon Noodle is probably the healthiest option. They serve gigantic spring rolls and there’s alot of food in their noodle bowls
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Hidden in the food court of UTC mall is a little-​known Vietnamese place called Saigon Noodles. Though generally not a fast food eater, I used to come here quite often back in the days when I worked a few blocks away and I still stop by to grab a quick lunch every once in a while.
As you’d expect to find at a Vietnamese establishment, their menu has a number of impressively healthful options, including tofu spring rolls and shrimp vermicelli. The real surprise for me, however, was the awesome coconut boba drink. Also, I like their uniquely styled chopsticks, so be sure to ask for a pair when you eat here.
Overall, they do a very decent job for a fast food place.

Phở in a mall food court? Yes!
Mmm, both the Rare Steak Phở and the Spicy Sate Beef Soup was delicious! I really liked the food. We also had the Spring Rolls, which was just okay, it was huge and filled with a lot of noodles, I wouldn’t really get that again. But the soups, hell yes I’m coming back next time I’m shopping at the UTC Mall on another breezy day.

Was recommended by a class friend
don’t waste money here, if you want phở noodle soup, just go to a real phở place, not in a shopping mall where your soup comes in a small plastic bowl. bad

decent steak and meatball phở. I also tried the shrimp and chicken pad thai, and the portions were huge. the guy was pretty nice as well.

Good, but I mean how good can a restaurant be if it’s in an American food court?

I was craving spring rolls and delightfully saw pictures of spring rolls on their picture menu. But wait. $ 7 for 2 spring rolls? Whatever I was willing to fork up the cash because hunger was striking. I got 2 HUGE spring rolls with TONS of noodles. no flavor really. The peanut sauce was way too thick. Also I got coconut juice with boba for like $ 4. Could have made it myself if I just went to Ranch 99 and bought coconut juice and boiled my own boba. The boba got hard quickly, it tasted like boiled water, and it came in a cheap small cup. I don’t think I’ll be coming back for the $ 8 a bowl phở next time.
Just walk on over to Great Khans or Panda Express if you feel like asian food… better yet go to Boudin and get a salad– be healthy!

I really felt like some phở tai so I thought I’d try it out. Man was I disappointed.
It’s too expensive (something like $ 8 for a regular bowl) & the quality is not there (noodle too hard). Cannot compare at all to any other phở place in the area.
Even if you really feel like phở while shopping, I’d pick something else. It’s not worth it. Maybe the other stuff on their menu is good, but the phở with beef is not.

First off, to have a phở place in the mall is unheard of, but very clever. I do think that’s very smart because now the eateries caters to that many more people and they have a healthy alternative to the other greasy places. I was rather pleased by the idea.
This place has potential but since it’s an eatery in the mall, I’m cutting it some slack. The price you pay is a little high considering it’s in a food court. Don’t get your phở to go because I noticed it tastes different and you have to put the soup together and whatnot and it’s a big mess. The portions of the to-​go is also smaller.
If you’re ordering spring rolls, make sure you’re ordering it as a meal since they gave me 4 gigantic ones! The spring rolls were really bland and dry and they had a gigantic piece of hard scallion in each of them. Not the best but they were $ 6.50 for them!
The boba is about $ 3.50, more than I’d like to spend on boba and for the size and with the amount of ice they put in it, it wasn’t worth the price.

This establishment is situated in a one of the mall’s food court, so expect to pay higher than average prices for Vietnamese food than if you were to drive to a restaurant in the ‘Convoy Asian Food District’ where dishes are dirt cheap and service is fast.
Nonetheless, the phở bowls are large and equally delicious to those far off establishments. So, if you work in and around the mall and are tired of eating the Rubios, Panda Express and Subway, change it up a little and eat at Saigon Noodles. You will be satisfied.

I tried this place once while I was shopping around back in ’04−05 ish.
The pricing and portion isn’t so bad, but the quality is not so great.
The authentic taste is definitely not there!
I ordered a phở bowl and my friend ordered a bbq pork rice plate and we were both disappointed. Seems like they watered down the authenticity to cater more to an «American crowd», just like the way Panda Express is Americanized «Chinese food».(just an example, :P).

I don’t ever get around to eating phở unless I’m home in San Francisco so when I saw a sign that said «Saigon Noodle» I got very excited. I never really see anything Asian, let alone Vietnamese, near where I go to school in Westchester, LA so this sign struck some heart strings. My friend said, «it’s probably fake Vietnamese food» and I looked at the people working behind the counter and lo and behold, they were Vietnamese! Then I looked at the prices. What kind of real Vietnamese place charges over 7 dollars for a small bowl of phở? Almost 8 dollars with tax? I ordered it anyway because I wanted phở pretty badly. I got the beef combination phở and there was chicken in it! The beef was incredibly lame and there was not tripe or tendon.
So sadly, real Vietnamese people make fake Vietnamese food and charge 8 dollars for it.
Also, WHERE WAS THE SRIRACHA SAUCE?!

AVOID THIS PLACE.
I was disappointed because when I worked in UTC, when this place opened, it became the closest Phở restaurant.
BLEECHH– the phở (at least the chicken phở) here is disgusting.
Chicken was rubbery, soup was bland. It’s pretty hard to screw up chicken soup, but this place manages to do so effortlessly. Perhaps the beef soup is better, but since I don’t eat beef, I will never go back to find out.