Saigon Cafe – Cumberland

Very nice service. I checked in and got a free bubble tea. My phở was full off beef and shrimp but as we all know, it’s all about the broth and it was only okay. I guess that’s to be expected from a chain. However, my food was still good and the portion was more than enough so I’ll give four stars but it really garners 3.5.

Nice modern deco and comfortable dining experience. Easy to find parking.
We ordered crispy tofu for appetizer, and rice plate and Singapore noodles for entries.
The good: Large portion; seasoning was fine; grilled meat was not tough; turmeric touch on the noodles was nice.
The not-​so good: The noodles dish was a bit oily/​wet; grilled pork and sauce for rice plate were on the the sweet side; ratio of grilled pork to shredded pork skin was off; crispy fried tofu was not crispy.
Overall, the meal (minus the tofu) was enjoyable.
We came for dinner and service was fast. The only waiter was nice but a bit inexperienced, but I guess that can be fixed with time.

This is my go-​to phở spot in Vinings! This place is very special to me because after MANY failed attempts & many arguments I finally succeeded at getting my husband to enjoy phở! Now he asks to go to Saigon Café before I even do!
The servers are always nice and service is timely. Food of course is delish. I’ve tried a few different meals outside of phở and have yet to be disappointed.

Wish I could give zero star. Before I share my experiences here, I visited this place 3 times throughout this year. 3 out of 4 visits, I had issues with their foods and attitude of servers. I’ll share my most recent visits below. The reason I’m saying is to give you an idea of that my review is not a biased resentment or grudge out of one time visit. This place is consistently disappointing without any improvement.
On my second visit, I ordered a medium sized phở. The soup tasted really authentic with plenty of meats, so I really enjoyed it till I found a piece of plastic in the phở. I asked our server why there was a plastic in the soup. She indifferently picked it up and said she would need to check with a chef. 13 minutes later, she showed up and confirmed it was plastic without further explanation nor a gesture of apology. I was just shocked with her attitude. I asked her manager at the counter and it turned out the server didn’t report it to her manager either. The manager had no idea what happened at all.
On our recent visit, I ordered a Bun Tom Ga Cha Gio (B2). I had the same dish many times from different Vietnamese restaurants, and was expecting to get something similar, but it wasn’t. The noodle was so soggy that I couldn’t hold them using the chopsticks. The texture was not firm enough to hold its shape. Apparently, the noodles were soaked into water or stayed outside too long, which wasn’t a good sign. I asked my server whether she could just get me fresh noodle.
And her response shocked me again. (The server was a different lady from the previous one)
” This is how we make it in our country.” I suspected my ears. I should have not visited this place as I was hoping the previous experience was just one-​time thing. Also this place is the closest Vietnamese restaurant I could go from my work.
Overall, the owner of this business is very indifferent with improving the quality of their food and service. The servers were not trained well enough to response or escalate the customers’ concerns. Maybe that’s how the owners runs business in their country…

Both of my visits to Saigon Café have been very good. I have ordered phở both times and the broth is simple, clean, and delicious. I have had different topping and additives delivered to the table each time, but the lime, cilantro, basil, and bean sprouts. Another visit I received some fried garlic and onions. Both visits resulted in a delicious meal and pleasant service.

I’m no Phở connoisseur, but I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch. I was seated immediately, order placed and food received In under 5 minutes. Waitress was attentive and friendly. I ordered a medium bowl of the Phở Ga which arrived hot and full of goodies with a side plate of fresh basil And other yummies. I like my food spicy so I was brought a separate small bowl of their chili Mix which was Perfect.
All in all, I quite enjoyed my meal. It was flavorful and just enough to keep me satisfied with feeling full… I finished nearly the entire bowl including most of the broth. Service was very good and the ambience was casual and comfortable.
I will definitely be coming back. Free bubble tea coupon given for writing a review.

Craving phở…
Usually go to Bufford but decided to stop here. The broth was not very flavorful. Very little herbs, wished I took a photo… Service was good, clean. But Will drive to Bufford next time.

One cool thing I got: a free Bubble Tea when I checked into Unilocal when I arrived.
Parking — Saigon Café is next to Kuroshio (sp?) Grill. Parking is awesome. You’ll find a spot for sure.
Space — Bigger than I thought. I was surprised. They have some booths but a lot more tables. I came right before lunch rush and was able to snag a booth.
Service — I only saw 1 or 2 girls for all tables. It was fine until people started trickling in. I could tell the girls were a little stressed. But… after they got the hang of all tables, they were fine.
Food:
Got the pork or shrimp? fried egg rolls — these were okay. The sauce had no zing. :(I would pass on these. There was no taste really. I felt like I was eating a warm cracker. I was hoping for more. 2 per plate.
Phở — I accidentally ordered a Med. Sheesh — what a huge bowl. The broth however was kind of bad. It tasted off. Completely. Something about it was weird. I also had the meatballs added. Meatballs tasted kind of abnormal. Not sure how to explain it. I’d only had 2 before I stopped eating them.
I may recommend going to Phở Hoang Long (I forgot the exact name) on the other side of Marietta for Phở…
Bubble Tea:
I got the Passion Fruit Green Tea — WOW, so sugary. Holy cow. I felt like I was drinking sugar. I was on a sugar high then crashed a few hours later. Tapioca was good though.

Every time we come here and the staff are helpful and we love their food it is very good

I used to frequent Saigon Café years ago and it has always been a solid Phở joint. When I heard a Saigon Café is open in my neighborhood, I was more than excited. However, our anticipation turned into disappointment.
I ordered Phở with meat balls and RARE eye round. When my food arrived, it was the saddest looking bowl of Phở… tiny pieces of WELLDONE beef struggling to stay afloat. The broth is meh — slightly too salty and slightly lack depth.
Wife complained that her Bun is not very good. It was overcooked and not adequately drained — which led to a soupy soggy mess at the bottom. I tasted the vermicelli and can’t find any flavor… even after wife poured the entire serving of sauce on it. I also tasted the shrimp patty… it just doesn’t feel right, not sure what, other than the bean curd to shrimp ratio is on the high side. Wife nevertheless finished the whole bowl with the help of our trusted, reliable friend, Mr. Sriracha.
We received a free Thai tea with bubbles for checking in on Unilocal… again, underwhelming. It’s so sweet I swear I was drinking tea flavored sugar water.
Also worth noting is the price of the entrees is often $ 1 to $ 2 higher than that of other Vietnamese places. I really hope the quality would improve over time. Until then, I won’t be returning.

I felt compelled to write a review as I feel this place is getting an unfair knock from others that are setting an insanely high bar. Comparing it to joints out on The Buf? That’s a little bit like walking into Chipotle and whining because it’s not authentic Mexican.
Saigon is definitely closer to tradition than say… a Chipotle is, and offers Thai dishes, Asian appetizers, Southeast Asian fare, curry, stirfry noodles, noodles salads, and phở. I’ve had darker, more fragrant phở broth elsewhere (We Suki Suki… nom!), and I’ve had lighter. I actually really enjoy Saigon’s phở because it IS a dish that’s not heavy but still very flavorful. It’s just slightly off from being phở-​nomenal but it’s certainly not faux-​nominal. It’s light and bright and should make your taste buds happy. I’ve had the beef broth twice: once in restaurant with meat and once to go without meat. (32 ounces of broth to go is $ 2.95, and the side of noodles/​onions/​basil/​cilantro/​bean sprouts is $ 2. Easily feeds two people!)
Both times, the service was five stars. I asked for additional fresh jalapeños, as I like my food spicy. My server had them out to me super fast and also recommended some chili oil to ramp up the heat. When they noticed I only drank a fourth of my beverage, I was given a fresh to go cup so I could make it back in time to work for my meeting. My check came out and was processed quickly. My take order was also quick and flawless.
Both times my basil was fresh and packed with flavor. It is what I consider to be ‘backyard basil’ — it’s not the fluorescent pea green, packed full of GMO, thin butter-​lettuce type basil you pay $ 8 for at Publix. It has an entirely different look, texture, and much more flavor. If people aren’t used to seeing basil like that I can understand how they would get hung up on it.
Dining in, I asked the folks at the tables near me what they thought of their food and they all highly recommended their dishes, which were a mix of curries, rice dishes, and noodles. I’m keen to go back and try the coconut soup that I saw on a handful of tables, and some of the bun — Vietnamese noodle salads. i’m not a fan of bubble teas but I will give theirs a try. The lunch combos seemed fairly priced for the amount of food and variety.
I would love to be closer to Buford Highway, but I’m not. Saigon is not the café we want but it is the café we need. They provide Smyrna with a destination touting multiple Asian offerings, prices are affordable (the people complaining about $ 10 dishes that leave you with leftovers need to stop eating off the dollar menu at McDonald’s. When did you get so righteous, Smyrna?!). With Saigon being minutes from both my house and office, I wish them longevity… both for their sake and mine.
So far their health rating is 100 (show me that, Buford Highway!)… i’m just happy to see something besides failed pizza businesses popping up in Smyrna.

What happens when you have low expectations? You get a better experience than you expected. Yes, that’s what happened to me. With all the really bad reviews on Unilocal and my friend saying that Saigon Café near Cumberland sucks so bad. I was scared to try. But because my curiosity got the best of me, I was like why not? Besides, I don’t like phở anyways so I will just take my chance.
My co-​worker wanted to try it with me so we went. She was craving phở and wanted to tag along. Saigon Café is located off Cobb Parkway and Cumberland Blvd in the same plaza as Kuroshio Sushi Bar and Grille. We were greeted and seated right away.
The menu was a lot more extensive than I thought it would be. They have more than phở, yay, and more than Vietnamese. Yay! I was so close to ordering the pad thai but opted for the Singaporean noodles cause I wanted to try something new. That’s just how I am. My friend did get her phở. I also ordered the shrimp summer rolls to share with my co-​worker.
The food came out fast. I was surprised. The summer rolls were okay. The peanut sauce was just okay. Singaporean noodles was good but not spicy so I put a bunch of hot chilly garlic sauce in it, twice. It was huge and had a lot of shrimp. I wasn’t able to finish it. I love the curry kick to it. My co-​worker loved the phở. She is Thai but very Americanize and haven’t had it in a while.
Overall, much better than expected. Guess good enough to go for non phở dishes. Thank goodness I don’t care for phở too much. Plus given the area, it’s good enough for me.

My coworker was excited to find out that there was Vietnamese restaurant which opened up down the street from our offices. We decided to try it out during lunch on a Friday. We called in for a table of for seven and good thing we did. Even though the restaurant opens at 11am, it was already busy with diners. The space of the restaurant is pretty tight and small.
FOOD & BUBBLE TEA:
— H3: Tieu Chau — slightly different from Phở as it is chicken broth based versus Phở’s beef broth based. This noodle soup comes with BBQ pork (xa xieu), shredded chicken breast, and three pieces of shrimp. The soup is topped with aromatic chives, green onions, minced garlic, and dried shallot onions. With Tieu Chau, you get to choose your noodle: egg, rice, or clear noodle. I chose the rice noodle. I thought this noodle soup was good as well as my coworkers who were able try it out. I liked the shredded chicken in the soup. The noodle soup comes with a side of bean sprouts, cilantro, lime, thinly sliced jalepenos, and basil leaves.
— Thai Tea — I ordered this with boba (tapioca). The Thai Tea & boba are good. What it should tastes like and the boba is pretty fresh.
I looked at my coworkers’ orders (such as the Com Bo Luc Lac) and I thought they all looked slightly different from what I’m used to seeing at other Vietnamese restaurants along Buford Highway. My coworkers enjoyed their orders.
Also from looking at their drink orders of bubble tea, it looks like the Thai Tea and the Passionfruit Green Tea are good. I wouldn’t suggest the other bubble teas. My coworker ordered the a bubble milk tea and I could see the powder floating around the drink.
SERVICE:
Service was okay. I would say that it’s pretty standard in an Asian restaurant. It was lunch time and it was really busy. There were only maybe two to three servers (who also attended to the front «hostess stand» and the kitchen/​bubble tea making). It took a bit of time to get our bill, but I understand seeing how busy it got over lunch.
Overall, I will probably only eat here in the future with coworkers. The food was good, but I’ll stick to the Vietnamese restaurants that I frequent on Buford Highway.

Update:
Owner messages me explaining their machine was broken that day and that’s why they were only selling regular-​sized teas and offered me a free drink next time. I told him I wish the server would have explained it to me. I would’ve understood. I hope all my Unilocalers that want to get a large tea will be able to next time. I’m updating my review from 2 stars to 3.
Original:
Came in for a semi late night bubble tea drink. Not impressed as the menu says there are regular and large size bubble teas when reality they only have the regular size.

I finally tried the Saigon Café after a long wait near Cumberland Mall.
My Phở was prepared by Rambo, the owner so the noodles and the broth were great! My sister’s cold noodles were a little clumpy and her fish sauce was a little salty and bland. They were tasty enough that she ate most of it. If you communicate what you want, they deliver. Like most new places they probably have some kinks to work out.
I will definitely be back. So happy I don’t have to drive to BFH to get some Phở

I’m very saddened to write this review as we are so excited that a Vietnamese place is coming to Smyrna/​East Cobb. However, this is the review until it gets better. We ordered to-​go for lunch at my workplace. We ordered a lot of dishes to try and also to share at work… and we literally tossed the meal at the end. I’m so very disappointed.
PHO GA
The phở broth had absolutely no flavor to it. No sweetness, nor salt, nor any phở flavor whatsoever. It smelled like boiled chicken right out of the container and we just tasted the broth… and did not want any more. The noodles and veggies looked fresh, so I’ll have to take that home and make my own broth.
GOI CUON
So much noodles in the roll. The ratio from vegetable to noodles are way off.
COM BI CHA TAU HU KY
This is probably the best dish out of everything we ordered. The tofu skin was flavorful and the shrimp was good. It could do with at least 2 pieces of it though. I only got one piece cut up and one tau hu ky egg cake. There was so much rice that I felt bad throwing it all away at the end.
BOURBON CHICKEN
I’ve never gotten this dish before at any other restaurant but it did not even look like the picture of the dish on the menu. No one knew what it was and only by elimination that we figured it was bourbon chicken. It was bland and there was no taste to the chicken whatsoever.
CHICKEN SATAY
Was so skinny there was barely any chicken at all on the stick! What was on the stick though, was tough and very hard to eat. The sauce wasn’t bad but there was barely even any chicken to eat! This dish just looked so sad and tasted even sadder.
GENERAL TSO’S CHICKEN
I’ve never gotten this dish before anywhere else so i don’t have a frame of reference for what its supposed to taste like. Nonetheless, what I tasted, I was not impressed with. My co-​worker ordered it and she did not like it at all.
PINEAPPLE FRIED RICE
I ordered PINEAPPLE fried rice, not curry fried rice. I don’t think they understood the flavor palette of this dish. All we got was a mouthful of curry flavored rice. WE just left this dish after the first taste and no one wanted any more.
TAPIOCA
All the tapioca was hard by the time I got to the office… only 5 minutes away. It wasn’t even chewable. The milk tea and mango were both bland and the thai tea was probably the only one that was ok.
This place needs to get better stat. I’m not very happy with my meal and neither was my workplace.

I wanted this place to be good. I wanted good phở right by the office so bad. Unfortunately, this just didn’t do it.
The inside of the restaurant looks good, complete renovation from the Johnny’s Pizza previously. Nice hardwood floors and clean.
The food, however, just didn’t do it for me. The pork com was solid, and a large portion. The phở was «meh», though. It didn’t have that rich, deep beef broth flavor. It wasn’t bad, just was a little off. Could be the amount of salt as others have said. One of my main gripes was the garnish plate. Several of the items looked to be old (see the basil and jalapeño pictures). It’s really hard for me to trust a phở place that gives out old basil.
I may be back if a coworker coerces me into it. If so, I will update my review.

3.5 stars. I don’t think it’s bad enough to give it 3 stars. But I don’t think it’s good enough for 4 stars.
The phở isn’t bad. Is it the best I’ve had? Of course not. But is it good enough? Yeah. If you’re in the Cumberland area and you must have phở now, this will satisfy you.
I do have a few complaints. The phở broth has a ton of sodium. 4 hours later, I’m still thirsty. Sure, all phở broths have a ton of sodium. But Saigon Café seems to have even more.
They give you a ton of noodles instead of meat. At first, I was excited to see a packed bowl of phở. But I realized it’s full of noodles. I ordered Phở Dac Biet and they only gave me a few pieces of tendon, meat, and tripe.
Their menu is huge. They have all sorts of Asian foods: Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese. It looks like a South Eastern Asian one-​stop shop. Honestly, their photos don’t look too good to me.
I would also wish they focus on quality instead of quantity. But I understand that some people won’t be adventurous to try Phở or other Vietnamese foods. Maybe they can get their safe General Tso’s Chicken while their more adventurous co-​workers get phở.
Their staff looks understaffed. They only have about 3 – 4 people waiting tables there. And they seem popular during lunch.
If you work in the Cumberland area and need some quick phở, this is good a place as any.

Are my days of driving to Buford Highway for Vietnamese finally over?! Nope (SIIIIIIIIIGH)
First, it’s not just a Vietnamese menu, although it’s heavily featured. There are also Thai and Chinese dishes. I played it safe and got a rice & grilled pork combo, as I often do. They were meh at best. The meat is cooked differently than the other places I’ve been to (Phở Da Loi, I Luv Phở); it’s greasier, tougher, and seems like it was cooked twice. It’s kind of like comparing a solid burger to a double cheeseburger from McDonalds– there’s just something genuine missing. I also had some Tom Yum soup to start, and it was solid but not special.
Décor wise, of course it looks brand new with the recent opening. There is a strage glass wall when you enter, and I can already see some people smacking themselves trying to turn left to walk into the restaurant. The staff was friendly enough too. I just don’t see myself coming back because it didn’t satisfy my craving. It’s like getting that «almost» flavor, but you’ll regret missing out on the real thing. In fact, if you’re in that shopping center, just walk 10 feet and get sushi at Kuroshio.

I am please to announce that south Cobb is finally getting a little more diverse. After weeks of waiting, Saigon Café finally opened! Expect a very similar menu to Saigon Café on the other side of the world (Gwinnett). The building here is freshly remolded and gives you a nice, «this is a new place» feel. Enjoy it because new things fade.
The food here is great! Just like other Saigons, I really enjoy their phở and noodle bowls. For $ 8.50 you can get a medium bowl with plenty of broth. Other delicious dishes are their stir-​fried noodles and if you are boring, they have chicken and rice.
I am so glad this place opened. It will soon be a new favorite lunch spot.