Restaurants
Top Saigon Restaurant
Top Saigon Restaurant has barely been open a month, but it already has one thing going for it -- impeccable location. Tucked inside a bustling plaza at the corner of Finch and Leslie, Top Saigon is one of only two pho establishments within nearly a 7 kilometre radius.
Obviously, somebody believes there's a niche here that nobody has gotten right. A previous restaurant (Ricepaper) serving almost the exact same fare shuttered in this same plaza not more than six months prior. Top Saigon clearly does not plan to befall the same fate.
Walking into Top Saigon, I immediately notice the pseudo-contemporary look so ubiquitous amongst low-mid end Asian restaurants these days. Budget decorating strains aspirationally for modern design; hard edges and surfaces abound under the exposed ceiling.
The final result is an inoffensive interior that although clean and practical, sacrifices warmth for atmosphere. Also, the chandeliers are nice enough, but (to me at least) scream the owners are more likely from Hong Kong than Ho Chi Minh City.
The menu at Top Saigon is eclectic, consisting of Thai, Malaysian, Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. The multicultural tome sets off my alarms that this meal will either be amazing or terrible with little room for a result in-between.
Despite the myriad interesting options, with Saigon in your restaurant name you better serve solid pho. We elect to stick with the basics when ordering.
Fried spring rolls ($4.99) arrive crispy and piping hot, stuffed with chicken, shredded pork, carrots and a hint of shrimp. The texture is faultless and each bite is satisfyingly crunchy, but the internals are bland and flavourless, tasting almost solely of the fish sauce accoutrement.
Beef brisket in tomato soup ($6.99) is a somewhat rare treat and doesn't skimp on the meat. The small sized bowl of red broth has the viscosity of motor oil but tastes pleasantly of ketchup and sesame oil. The brisket, although generously portioned, is a bit too lean and slightly overcooked.
Finally, a medium pho with rare beef and tendon ($7.99) arrives in a bowl that seems indistinguishable in volumetric size from my companion's small sized portion.
The tendon is basically non-existent and the beef seems to have been rolled into a ball before being frozen, then thrown into my soup to thaw. The meat tastes enough like beef and is adequately uncooked when it first arrives, but the texture is, for lack of a better word, mysterious. It's akin to thinly sliced hot pot beef pounded repeatedly with a tenderizer; not exactly a prime cut of meat.
Redemption comes in the pho broth itself. Clean, clear and filling our senses strongly with aromatic star anise, the soup is light and flavourful without beating us over the head with sodium.
Service is forgetful and the food was more hit than miss. Still, it's tough to judge a restaurant when it's this new, particularly when sampling but a slice of its diverse menu.
Hoping to give it another shot, this past weekend I walked by again and Top Saigon was full to capacity during its official grand opening celebration. I couldn't get a table.
Food schmood, you know what they say -- location, location, location.
Hours
Sun-Thurs 11:00 am - 10:00 pm
Fri-Sat 11:00 am - 11:00 pm
Discussion
7 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
Try Vietnamese Delight at Don Mills and Finch. It's not bad.
How I see it is there are 3 categories of pho:
1) traditional viet pho (ie. west end) - BEST
2) chinese-made pho (ie. Viet Delight, east end) - NOT BAD
3) fusion pho (ie. Spring Rolls, Congee Queen etc) - HORRIBLE
I agree. West-end pho is the best. Our favourite place is actually Pho Hung on Spadina. I'm sure it's not the best of the best, but it was a date spot for us and has special meaning.
In summary,
AWEFUL SERVICE,
OK Food.
OK price - but be ready to be totally humiliated if you are not paying with cash.
Quiet - because there are not that many customers - and here's probably why.
It was on Sunday around 6:30pm. My dad and I wanted to have a quick dinner after golf, and we wondered why the restaurant was pretty much empty. There was only one other table when I got inside.
As we sat ourselves, a waitress came to take our order who spoke absolutely no English - which is ok in many cases, we can simply point to the menu item and it's okay. When the dinner came, it was quite good. Ordered a pho (noodle dish) and a satay noodles. Stay noodle is very very oily by the way - but it was quite delicious. My dad and I both have this embarrassing habit of runny nose when we have hot or spicy dishes - and we were only given a single sheet of napkin that got wet because the server put a tea kettle on top of it. When I asked the server to bring us some more napkins (of course she didn't know the word "napkin" so surprisingly, but it was okay as I could point to it) she brought us additional 2 sheets of tiny tissues. After a few more bites I had to ask again for napkins - and when I saw that she brought another 2 sheets I started getting somewhat irritated... so I said "More, please" and she didn't get it... :-(
When it was time to pay, they brought a bill for about $16 - quite decent for a dinner for two. I only had my credit cards and gave my master card. Now that's when the big scene happened. The server called the store manager who explained how they don't take credit cards under $20. I said "I am sorry but that's all I brought with me" to which they rudely stood around for me to somehow produce cash. Quite irritated I said "are you gonna take it or not" and with big sighs (while some other customers who came in after us watching) the server (store manager) said "Fine, we'll accept it. But how much is your tip".
Now that really ticked me off. I have family and friends who worked as wait staff, and I understand where they come from - but to be that outright "how much are you tipping" just didn't to right. I said "I have some coins, and I can't charge tip on my credit card as it's my business credit card", and all this time they are chattering loudly in their language surrounding my dad and I.
My dad is in his 70s and does not speak English well either, he was so embarrassed and told me that he would go home and get money. They finally brought a small slip of receipt and asked me to "tip" and "sign". I put "0" as their tip and was ready to leave, but dad suggested that I should still leave some tip - so I did. I left a twonie.
I take all this time and effort to write this - so that other customers (and potential customers) are NOT embarrassed when they 1) need more tissues, 2) only has a credit card, 3) does not speak their language, and 4) try to have some cool dad-daughter time one sunday.
As I said, food was okay, price was reasonable, but their service was probably the WORST I have ever experienced. Go there if you are okay being mistreated, neglected, and humiliated.