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Bun Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant
Category: Restaurants Vietnamese Vietnamese [Edit]
252 Spadina AveToronto, ON M5T 2C2
Neighbourhoods: Alexandra Park, Chinatown, Downtown Core
(416) 504-2188
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
12 reviews for Bun Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant
12 reviews in English
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Review from Louis T.
1/11/2012
This is another good lunch place near U of T. The Pho is good, the portions are big, and the prices pretty reasonable. Also good for groups.
-
Review from Anni L.
8/10/2011
This is now one of my favorite places for pho. The strange thing is that they only have two sizes. Small or a large. I always order the large. The portion on the large is generous and the ingredients are good.
The broth is very tasty and the meatballs are included when you order the special.
Price is reasonable $6-7 similar to every other place in chinatown.
The place has been renovated but the ambiance is ordinary. They have a flat screen television you can watch with asian girl bands performing songs while you eat.
The service is good and the food/bill comes quickly.
I definitely recommend this place. It is one of the better pho places in chinatown. -
Review from Kimberley N.
Mississauga, ON
7/30/2011 1 Check-in Here
This was the first time me and my family have been to Bun Saigon. We've eaten downtown plenty of times but for some reason never dropped by this place before. If our family friends didn't invite us to this restaurant then we probably wouldn't know about it.
The restaurant has a modern decor look to it...they probably renovated before. The restaurant is kinda small and there were 9 of us in total. The table was a bit small for all of us and there was water dripping from the ceiling where me and my sister were sitting. So when the food came I decided to eat at a separate table where there wasn't water dripping from the ceiling.
I had the banh cuon (summer roll) and bun bo hue (mild). The banh cuon was yummy and we all finished it before the main course arrived. The main course took a while but we didn't mind because we were all chatting away. The bun bo hue tasted delicious however it was still spicy because my nose was running like crazy and I finished an entire glass of water. That didn't keep me from finishing off my dinner though =P. While everyone had received their food, my mom was still waiting on her banh canh. So if you want to feel left out while everyone is slurping away, I wouldn't suggest ordering banh canh...unless you want to wait a while.
Overall, Bun Saigon is good for their bun bo hue and banh cuon (can't really judge anything else because that's what I only ate). However, the slightly slow service, drippy ceiling, and expensive (for a Viet place), turned me off. -
Review from Catherine L.
Toronto, ON
3/28/2011
I think I've found my new go-to place for viet food! To think it's been there the whole time, and it took a new sign and reno for me to forgo xue lua and try this place instead.
What we had - pho, spring rolls, and rice with pork chop, shredded pork, quiche and fried egg, and an avocado shake.
The spring rolls were deliciously crispy and had something different in the filling - I think it was either bean or nuts. In any case, I loved it.
The pho was also pretty good. I only tasted the broth and it was not as strong tasting as other places, but I liked the subtle flavour that didn't reek of MSG.
Finally the rice with pork chop was very good. They used the traditional sticky rice flavoured with garlic, and the pork was so juicy and perfectly cooked. With parents that grew up in Vietnam, I can say that this was a very authentic experience. Not to mention all the Vietnamese spoken all around me.
I also liked the decor. Unlike the other pho restaurants round it, they didn't try to make it sleek and trendy, which is invariably ruined by some flourescent blinking light. It was just very homey with paintings of traditional Vietnamese scenes.
Try it out and enjoy! -
Review from eric g.
Toronto, ON
9/7/2010
So, maybe Bun Saigon doesn't have the best pho in town. It makes up for it with its huge and awesome menu, full of dishes that my Vietnamese friends tell me you rarely see anywhere else around here.
But my Authentic Vietnamese Experience dinner was some time ago, so today I'm going to review today's lunch.
Ordered the Bun (noodle dish) with shrimp on sugar cane and spicy pork. Noodles a bit dry, but a good dose of nuoc cham dipping sauce takes care of that. The pork is mildly spicy, nicely grilled, and delicious. But the real star is the shrimp: a big dose of shrimp paste served on a piece of juicy sugar cane. This is not a stingy portion - dried out sugar cane barely dipped into shrimp paste. It's big, fresh, and damn near addictive.
Gotta go back for more soon. But perhaps next time I'll bring a Vietnamese friend or an encyclopedia of Viet food to help me get through the menu. -
Review from Mrakoo N.
Toronto, ON
6/22/2011
Bun Saigon is one of a few Vietnamese restaurant that not a lot of people are aware of but if you are familiar with traditional Vietnamese food, this place is a must visit. The last time I was there, the owner (lady with a heavy English accent) greeted me with a warm smile & asked why I haven't been there for months. Said I was busy & that I liked the new look (modern decor with Vietnamese music in the background).
I then proceed to order my favorite dish ( sour soup with catfish) and pork cooked in clay pot for 2. My friend wanted some Banh Cuon so we ordered that too. I have to say, their sour soup is one of the best I had, surpassed only by my mom's. The Banh Cuon was also excellent. My friend & I finished that before our soup came (takes time to make I guess) but it was well worth the wait. I normally ordered their tripe sausage (one that comes along with that smelly shrimp paste sauce) but declined since my friend & I didn't want to stink for the rest of the night lol.
For the value & authentic Vietnamese food, Bun Saigon is a place you need to visit. The owner is nice & will help you with any questions if you are not familiar with their food. -
Review from Connie T.
Toronto, ON
1/14/2009
(cough cough)
Yeah, I'm sick. I will use Yelp as a whining platform, and let Bun Saigon be the provider of the soup that heals me.
Yes, their pho was hot and tangy and actually worked wonders to clear my nasal passage, but I suppose anything liquidy and hot would've done the same. Still, it definitely hit the spot.
And the servers were -- not only this time, but last time as well -- so quick to jump when I even glanced their way. One minute they'd be reading, and then next they'd be table-side, asking if I needed something else.
In fact, everything here is Speedy Gonzalez fast, even the food. If I'm not mistaken, I swear my food was under my nose before I finished ordering.
However, despite all this, I've had dinner here twice, and both times left a bit displeased. I can't remember the reason the first time around (which explains why I returned), but the pho's well-done beef was very, very fatty. It also didn't help that my strands of vermicelli were sticky and clung to each other like they were babies on a mama's breast.
But for some reason, I wanna support these guys. Is it the service? Is it the atmosphere? I don't know. I'm in a charitable mood. 3 stars. -
Review from Neil T.
Toronto, ON
8/21/2008
This is the best *overall* Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown. The pho is average but the menu contains more options than others. The rice and vermicelli dishes are all very good, as are the not-so-often-ordered (i.e. snail broth noodle soup, beef stew, banh xeo [coconut crepe], banh guon [steamed rice noodle], etc.
If you are looking for a bowl of pho, this might not be the best spot for you. If you want to venture off the beaten path a little bit, then go here, turn to a random page and point to a dish!
Try the dinner for two with the spicy and sour soup and clay pot catfish, its fantastic. -
Review from Debaser S.
Toronto, ON
1/5/2012
My go to Vietnamese place in Toronto. i always get the vermicelli noodles with pork and it never dissapoints. Nothing remarkeable but it feels better than a lot of the other Vietnamese places ive eaten in. And its a nice sit down dinner
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Review from Andrew G.
Toronto, ON
7/11/2011 1 Check-in Here
Very good, very cheap! It deserves 5*! All the friends I bring here - say that the pho is fabulous. My Vietnamese friend says that their Pho is excellent, and I can't agree more. I like this place more than pho hung. And it's a $1 cheaper for everything on their menu compared to the other places
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Review from Jason E.
3/4/2010
I went in, looked at the menu and immediately realised I knew less about Vietnamese food than the boots I was wearing. I was even unsure about how to order, on the table before me was the menu and order pad and a pencil. So with my pencil in one hand and palate in the other, I launched into a scribble-fest on the order sheet, most everything listed being less than $4 I ordered a variety of items, well done beef pho, the UK Yelpers rave about this stuff and to my eternal shame I hadn't tried it; Vietnamese spring rolls, at least one thing I recognise; stuff; more stuff; even more stuff. The serving lady came up, looked at my order sheet, repeated the items and gave me a confused look. In broken English, she conveyed that I had actually ordered enough food to sate the hunger of Ho Chi Minh City; I scaled back and settled on the pho and the spring rolls and the waitress said I should tell her if I was still hungry afterwards.
She walked to the bar counter spun around, sat down, stood up and walked back holding a pot of green tea, a bowl of pho, a plate of beansprouts and basil for the pho and a plate of deep friend spring rolls with a chilli fish sauce dip. A few instructions on pho etiquette later and I was tucking in.
The fried spring rolls were a little oily, but crisp and a little spicey, the pho needed livening up with some chilli sauce and I additionally added some hoi sin as instructed in my pho etiquette lesson. The thin slices of 'well done beef' were lightly cooked and had a skirt of fat on them. I briefly wondered if the rare beef was just threatened with a pot rather than simmered in one. My repast consumed, I was most definitely no longer hungry.
It was all pleasant rather than breath taking, what was good was the bill which including taxes and tip came to $12. I can't give a comparative qualititive assessment of the pho, this being my first, but being a frequent visitor to Toronto, I'm not ruling out a rematch at this place. -
Review from Aaron B.
3/21/2010
My experience here was fair. I got the rare beef and beef ball pho. The noodles were boring, there wasn't much seasoning or thought put into the recipe, and the "beef balls" (which were not prairie oysters) were inedible stiff spheres of blech. But I only paid a few bucks and I was almost full afterward. In fact I paid for mine and my friend's meal here and it was still MUCH cheaper than my lunch at Fresh. So it may just be a matter of getting what you pay for...and they don't hype it otherwise. I don't have any plan to go here again with so many other Vietnamese places within a block, but I wouldn't avoid this place either. I'll just order something else from their encyclopedic menu.
