| Large dim-sum restaurant with low prices that can get busy at lunch |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 11/11/2008
Rating: 9
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All you need to know is to order 1 thing on the menu.... Snow Mountain Ball. Holy crap it is sooooo flippin' good.
Eddie game me this translation 雪山包 if it translates to something rude, well...that's Eddie.
It's this delicate pastry ball with an incredible flakey texture on the outside with moist bun with a sweet purple taro filling. If I could rate the restaurant on this 1 item, I'd probably hand out a 10. The only problem with this dish is its limited availability. We saw it make an appearance on the floor and there was a mad dash towards the waiter, people were throwing cash on the tray. NO JOKE.
Other than that, most of the dim sum items kicked ass, it's a madhouse here everyday. Service can be iffy but it's all worth it when you give the Snow Mountain Ball a try.
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Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 739
Reviewed: 10/12/2006
Rating: 8.5
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I went here today with Agent Eddie, to take another place off the wishlist. Jason and I had passed by this place a month or so ago, and it always looked interesting. From the outside, it has ornate-looking frontage that catches your eye. The complex is a big run down, but this place definitely stands out from the others. Inside, is equally fixed up. The lighting here is superb, so many lights. The walls and tables, everything looks quite nice and updated.
We arrive early and the place is fairly empty. This didn't last long, as by the time we left, there was a huge line out the door. This place is super popular. Most people were getting the dim sum and that is what we chose to go with. We were seating against the far wall, and I now realize this a mistake. The dim sum carts rarely came by our out-of-the-way location. Prime real estate here is the center of the room, so if you have a choice, make it the center. Thats not to say service is necessarily bad, though, as we were frequent fillsup of water and tea.
But lets get to the food. I was here for one thing only, really. Shrimp dumplings. There is no other reason for me to have dim sum. I just want to load up on those little things, and sample as many different ones as possible. As you can see by the pictures, I was able to get 5 different types of them today, until I gave up on my waiting for the carts, and left to go pay the bill.
All of the shrimp dumplings were very flavorful, and not too greasy. One of them had some kind of chicken or pork in it. And with me not eating that kind of meat for so long, and biting into it for the first time, I could INSTANTLY tell that things are not right here. It just coats your mouth with this greasy residue that doesn't go away very quickly. But that was just my bad choice of dumpling.
When we first arrived selection was not the best, but was still quite good. As time went by, the selection got better and better, but finding the cart was the tough part. For the entire packed room, there was like 4 carts. Super inadequate. But once you got the attention of the lady behind the cart, you were usually in good shape, and had a nice selection of items.
Prices were not too bad. Agent Eddie and I were satisfied, not super stuffed, and our bill was $26. In all, a good lunch dim sum experience. Solid food, good selection.. Even Eddie said 'this is a place I will bring the family to' - something he rarely says. Just be sure to arrive early to beat the rush.
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Reviewer: wchane
Total Reviews: 148
Reviewed: 5/26/2007
Rating: 8
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First of all this place was nearly impossible for me to find, partially because I just took a mental note of the address and was looking for "Hong Kong..." where as one should really be looking for a stylized 'SaiGon' - It's located within the Lakeview plaza, marked by a huge shell station.
We arrived shortly after 12 and had to wait maybe 20 minutes before we were seated near the kitchen. We had no problem obtaining dishes and they came fast and they came often, we did have a problem ordering with our eyes instead of our stomachs.
In terms of selection they offer a whole lot more then most places, even taiwanese cuisine such as xiao long bao (little steamed pork buns you eat with red vinegar and ginger) to vietnamese style shrimp cakes. The items we ordered were notable, however did not perfectly suit my taste buds. I'm used to Canton Delights, Loon Wah, Koi Palace, East Ocean, ABC, and Mayflower's style of Dim Sum. I would say HK Saigon is a cross between one of those traditional Dim Sum houses and say Sino or Yank Sing. They are more careful about presentation, and their food clearly shows more effort on the kitchen's part then just throwing them into huge steam bins.
Despite the huge rush and frantic staff we had better service then most HK style dim sum joints and I didn't find the pricing bad at all. It is more then say ABC or Mayflower but now by leaps and bounds.
I miss Canton Delights, but wouldn't mind making my way to Sunnyvale for HK Saigon Seafood Harbor again.
8/10
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Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 187
Reviewed: 10/6/2006
Rating: 8
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8/10 for dim sum.
7/10 for dinner.
Located within a square on Lawrence but the entrance is off a side street where there is a Shell gas station on the corner.
Saigon displays their prices on the dim sum stamp sheet, where small items are $2, medium items are $2.50 and large items are $3.50. They even provide a sheet with all their dim sum items and the size of the plates next to each item.
My friend first introduced me to Saigon a few weeks ago. She advised us to arrive prior to 11am or possibly have to wait for a table. This place is huge upon walking in and nicely decorated as well. The smallest table they have is for four people and our host sat the two of us down at a table for six. My first dim sum experience at Saigon was enjoyable as they serve the basic items, but each item arrives piping hot and the items are large in comparison to some other restaurants that serve dim sum. Our final bill came to be $12 per person have tea, tax, and tip. (Yes, tea charge is $1 per person).
I decided to bring my parents here for dim sum this morning and advised them to meet me at 11am. We walk in at 11am and the place is already full. Our host seated us at what seemed the only table remaining in the back room.
I was worried the cart pushers may ignore us in the back room but the carts roll out from the kitchen into the back area first before making their rounds in the main room. We ordered several dishes and again every dish served was piping hot and the portions were very large compared to others. Take for example, the shrimp har gaw contains four giant dumplings and is only charged as a Medium plate. Our family ordered:
Steamed chicken feet (S)
Shrimp Dumplings (M)
Scallop Dumplings (L) – This is exactly like shrimp dumplings but contains microscopic scallop shredding and they justify this as an upgrade.
Pan Fried Turnip Cake (M)
Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll (L)
Sesame Balls (S)
Preserved Egg and Pork Porridge (4.75)
We ordered several other items, but I do not remember their names. Our final bill came out to be $36 after tea, tax, and tip. We left around 12pm and there was a huge wait at the door as the number ticket system was in effect.
Pluses: Accepts credit cards, courteous and great service, piping hot food, affordable prices, large parking lot, all popular items.
Minus: Come early or expect to wait in a long line.
*** UPDATE 10/6/2006 ***
Today is Moon Festival so the restaurant was extremely busy. They placed a lot of reserve cards out on the larger tables, thus making parties with less people wait for their smaller tables. There seemed to be at least five large tables unfilled and a line of people just waiting at the front door for a table. Our party sweet-talked the hostess in giving us our party of three a table. They sat us down at a table for four, as that is their smallest table.
We arrived at 7pm and did not get a seat until 7:30, by the time we finished at 8:30 there was a long line of people waiting and they began seating people at their larger tables and removed the reserve signs.
I would say service is still great but the noise level is extremely high so it is difficult to have a normal conversation without some yelling. Menu prices for dinner are on the high end as their cheapest standard dish is 9.95. We ordered the salt and pepper squid, the stir-fried flounder fillet, and the stir-fried beef with black mushrooms. They charge $1 per bowl of rice. I much prefer being charged $1 per person and having unlimited rice.
The stir-fried beef was tender but it is not as good compared to Pan Tao and it costs more than Pan Tao. I prefer the Chinese broccoli stir-fried beef rather than with snow peas. The founder filet and beef both was stir fried with snow peas. The mushrooms in the beef dish tasted bland as the snow peas in both dishes. The salt and pepper squid had excessive flour. The dish seemed a lot larger, due to the amount of flour used, than it actually was. The salt and pepper squid dish was bland. The deep fried flour was bland and the squid on the inside was bland.
I cannot recommend this place for dinner unless you are willing to shell out money for better items. If they cannot properly cook the basic items, I am not sure if they can cook the extravagant items.
Stick to the dim sum.
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