Saigon Grill - Vietnamese & Chinese in Jefferson Park

Made our maiden voyage (pun) last night to this new spot on Elston. This spot was formerly the home of Pier 5736.

Decor-wise, completely different from its predecessor. Light wood floors, green walls, high ceilings with track lighting. Nice Asian-themed artwork.

When you walk in, it's a bit confusing. There's an L-shaped counter for some food prep and the cash register. Behind the counter is an semi-open kitchen. The menu hangs on a wall above the window to the kitchen. We couldn't tell if there was wait staff or if were we to order at the counter. Then the owner handed us paper menus so we could sit down and decide what to order. You order at the counter.

Appetizers consist of egg rolls, crab rangoon, spring rolls, and chicken/beef skewers. Homemade soups include wonton, hot & sour, egg drop or vegetarian.
Entrees include egg foo young, chicken (sweet & sour, orange, governor's, kung pao, sesame), beef (mongolian, kung pao, pepper, broccoli), fried rice, chow mein, Singapore noodles, bun, and banh xeo. The most expensive thing on the menu is $7.25

Beverages included the typical self serve Coke soda fountain along with iced tea, bottled water & soda.

When we walked in, there was only one other table occupied. We ordered a couple of appetizers and three entrees. The kitchen sent out one of the appetizers along with one of the entrees at the same time. The other parts of our order pretty much came out in the same fashion. While were were eating, a few other couples arrived. Along with several carry-out orders.

Food-wise, the chicken skewers tasted good but were a bit on the chewy side. The spring rolls and egg rolls were good and appeared to be freshly prepared. My Singapore Noodles packed a bit of heat as advertised and was quite tasty.

One thing that bugged me about the experience is that everything is served on either Styrofoam plates or clamshell containers. Utensils are plastic. I don't know if this was a temporary thing as the place has only been open for a couple of weeks. When it came time to pay my bill, the owner apologized for the erratic service and knocked of $3 from by bill without me even asking. A nice gesture.

Will I return? If I'm in the area, I might give it another shot in a few months after the kinks get worked out. Is it wow-me cuisine? Probably not. In this neighborhood, decent dining choices are fairly slim.

Saigon Grill
5736 N Elston Ave
Chicago, IL 60646
(773) 628-7156
Mon-Sat 11-6
Closed Sundays

Oh man. I was hoping as I read your post to hear a bunch of Vietnamese dish descriptions.

Kind of hard to beat Moy Lee on MIlwaukee for sitdown Chinese food over by there.

kenji wrote:Oh man. I was hoping as I read your post to hear a bunch of Vietnamese dish descriptions.

The owners are worried that the area won't support a restaurant that serves only Vietnamese dishes. I think they are adding some dishes for the winter--I'll report back soon.

Sounds like you have an in with the owners. Can you sway them to offer pho and bahn mi in the winter?

CM2772 wrote:Sounds like you have an in with the owners. Can you sway them to offer pho and bahn mi in the winter?

I sort of remember Sonny mentioning pho but I wanted to doublecheck. I will mention banh mi as well. Yep, I know the owners and they are definitely open to suggestions from their customer base, so if you are going in there, ask for Sonny or April and go for it.

One thing they are doing is not using as much salt as a lot of restaurants because they think that is what their customer base wants. They use salt but they are trying not to oversalt. I got the kung pao chicken last week and did not get that dry mouth feeling I usually get after Chinese (I'm really sensitive to salt). Also--not trying to open a can of worms here, I swear--they use no MSG.

Talked to Sonny and April on Friday night.

-They now have real dishes for people who are eating in.
-They will be starting to serve pho this week or next. It may not be on the menu or advertised at first.

Went for the first time this weekend.....had drinks in the nice new pub next door, cheerful quick delivery to the bar...

Spring rolls were absolutlely wonderful...nice flavor balance and texture.....plus, tasted freshly made (i.e, not too cold...just a perfect near room temperature)..

Beef chow mein was just devine.....not gloppy/heavy at all.....superb flavor of beef with the thin noodles played off each other perfectly....one of the best examples of this simple dish I have had..

Very limited menu, so appear they are focusing on doing a few things very well.....will be back often...

ParkLaBrea wrote:
Very limited menu, so appear they are focusing on doing a few things very well.....will be back often...

Was there Pho to be had?

I live a few minutes from the place but from last Fall's info it sounds like it's more of a chinese/asian fusion kind of place and when I want Vietnamese I want Vietnamese and not Chicago style neighborhood chinese cuisine (Moy Lee on Milwaukee, or Kow Kow on Cicero in Lincolnwood has that covered) and we head an extra 15 minutes East or so from the hood here to get it.

There is pho to be had. I had called them last weekend to find out since I had a craving for it, but had a conflict and couldn't go. They have beef and I believe chicken? I am not clear on the other option...bc I only like/get beef.

lemongrass anything?

...byob?

CM2772 wrote:There is pho to be had. I

OK. Thanks. I'll get over there now. I'll report back after I do.

I tried it out this week and it was above average. Not close to Argyle or even Hoanh Long, but for the immediate area...fair to good.

The good--the egg rolls. Light, not greasy, the filling was really tasty.

The fair--the Pho. The broth was more green than brown, which is a bit offputting. They serve theirs with beef balls and round. The broth was decent, but didn't have the same fragrance/spices that I have had at places on Argyle.

I will try out some of their noodle dishes (like the Singapore Sling) the second time around.

dddane wrote:lemongrass anything?

...byob?

Not the last time I checked and yes.

My wife and I went here for a late lunch yesterday after getting new licenses at the DMV down the street. She found it on her smart phone doing a search. A first for both of us, hadn't even heard of it anywhere before, just were in the mood for Vietnamese.

We arrived around 2:30-3pm, and the owner Sonny was sitting at one of the tables with a regular customer, and then there was us. He warmly greeted us and gave us menus. We were pretty hungry so started with a single egg roll to share (which was delicious, with Sonny's housemade sweet/sour sauce), and my wife got hot and sour soup while I ordered wonton soup. We ordered Singapore Noodles and Banh Xeo for entrees.


Wonton Soup


Banh Xeo

Both soups were delicious, the H&S was extremely flavorful and had wonderful texture as well. The broth on the wonton soup was light, fragrant and savory, and the 5 wontons were plump and delicious.

I really loved the noodles (sorry no pic) and they were served with shrimp and pork, and I hadn't had Banh Xeo before (my wife has) and it was a fun and tasty treat. The crepe was light and crispy, slightly sweet, and the filling of shrimp and pork (we were on a non-kosher binge no?) was savory and light. Traditional condiments of mint, basil, cuke, carrot and a light sweet/vinegar sauce on the side. My wife told me we are supposed to wrap the food in the accompanying lettuce leaves, but the red leaf wasn't the sturdiest, so I ended up with knife and fork...

We inquired AFTER our food arrived about Pho, and Sonny said "sure, I have Pho" and of course now we have to go back.

A warm and friendly little spot, tasty food and VERY reasonable prices (the entrees were about $7 each, soup was $3 I think) and our total bill was about $31 with two fountain sodas.

Oh yeah, he welcomes BYOB too.

It is cold and flu season, we're here in the neighborhood and have had the pho a couple times now. For takeout, they package the broth with meatballs and beef in a quart container while a clamshell is packed full of noodles, sprouts, basil, cilantro, lime and a little cup each of hoisin and sriracha. I'm not a very experienced pho-consumer but I found it very satisfying. The broth is light yet sticky and the spicy basil had me slurping the last drops from my bowl. The separate noodle packaging is appreciated.

The egg rolls appear to be made inhouse and have a subtle five-spice flavor going for them. A smear of the sriracha is all they need. I wish I picked up a couple more now.

While I was waiting for our order tonight, I remarked at how short the menu is. Reading the other reviews, I think I should try a couple more things. Prices are very reasonable with two phos and a three-pack of egg rolls out the door for $21 and change. There was only one other occupied table tonight and because of the good food and owners' friendly enthusiasm, I really wish them well and am glad to give them business. If you're around, give them a shot.

If there is a nicer, more congenial host than Sonny I have yet to meet him.....even does delivery himself

Rooting for them very much...nice addition to the hood..

I just had dinner here tonight. I was with a fairly large group of friends, so to make things easier, one friend who is a regular just ordered everything in advance, and just split the bill evenly. (Large enough group -- couple dozen-- that we were fed even though they're not actually open on Sundays.)

For appetizers we had the very fat, very fresh spring rolls with peanut sauce; the very crisp and flavorful Vietnamese egg rolls with spicy fish sauce; and wonderfully crispy, rich crab Rangoon.

For main courses, we had Singapore noodles (some with just moderate heat, some quite spicy), walnut shrimp (an American-Chinese dish with flavorfully sauced, large shrimp with candied walnuts served on bets of lettuce with steam rice; and bahn xeo, the omelet-like crepe pictured further up the thread, which was filled with shrimp, sprouts, pork, and scallions, served with more of their yummy, spicy fish sauce.

Dessert was Che Chuoi --ripe plantains, tapioca, coconut milk, crushed peanuts, and sesame seeds, served warm. It's one of those flavor combinations that is soothing, not to sweet, and a bit exotic but still familiar to most people who have visited SE Asia.

Everything ranged from quite good to excellent. And, as noted by others, Sonny was an amazingly warm host -- though everyone working on feeding us was really wonderful (and, I suspect, family).

Not competition for Tank Noodle, but good food and nice people in a wonderful little neighborhood place that I'd love to see succeed.

I've been trying to find a banh mi place nearby. I also love the steamed shrimp rice crepes with fried shallots. I think it's called Bánh cuốn làng Kênh. I used to get these things at Nhu Lan which was right down the street from me, but since moving to Jeff Park, I've been suffering!

On a side note, there's a sign in the window of the vacant storefront at Marmora/Lawrence for a Pho place "Coming Soon". I've only seen it up for about a week, so I'm excited to see if it's a bit more authentic Vietnamese food. Looking forward to trying out Saigon though!