South By Saigon

Love... Love.Love.The food is always good.I'm not sure who the Asian guy is but he got that business in tip-top shape!They need to give him a raise or his own bigger restaurant. The cooks in the back, man, I can't say enough!! The Mexicans can cook, Cook! You heard! Customer service is wonderful like Chick-fil-A wonderful.They had this pasta that they used to sell, that they took off the menu, THAT THEY NEED TO PUT BACK ON. I cried when they said they didn't sell that anymore, but that's when they were named Dans.Go try it, all the food is good including the crawfish

The wife and I decided to give the Houston Restaurant Week thing another shot this year and stumbled upon South x Saigon as a cajun/seafood option, and I must say, I'm quite impressed and very happy we stumbled upon this place.Upon entering we were greeted by the restaurant's owner, "Skip." The personality definitely matched the name as he was just down to earth, honest, and someone who definitely knows his way around food.We asked about recommendations which he apologized for being out of certain resources to make most of his desserts that were listed. Skip did promise to accommodate with a hefty reduction in the bill which I found his gesture to be very heartfelt. The restaurant is quite clean and recently renovated. The pan roast skip makes is quite good. Hush puppies were a hit and some snowcrabs that stuck to the shell a bit. They have nights where they do all you can eat snowcrabs for a fair price.Overall happy with my visit for houston restaurant week.

Decided to pop in during our lunch break. The interior was pretty small. Customer service was phenomenal! The food was fantastic, the crawfish was fresh with the seasoning on point too. The gumbo took a while to come out but when it did the staff had separated the gumbo into 3 small bowls for us to have on our own :'), I usually don't like gumbo but I thought it was great & might have converted me! The lemon pepper hot honey wings were the star of the show!! We had ordered just regular lemon pepper wings but the worker insisted we try their hot honey lemon pepper. It was amazinggg. Easily a new favorite crawfish spot & we'll be coming back soon! :)

No, just no.My husband wanted to come here, because, "Houston Restaurants Week is About Trying New Stuff blah blah blah," uh fine. Fine. So he corralled a church group to come here. Fine, just fine.My initial impression walking in was terrible. It smelled so bad inside, like food that had gone bad. I asked around and they all smelled something "bad" but no one could quite pinpoint what that bad smell was in our group. I think it was the crab legs patrons from another table were eating. I did the Houston Restaurants Week menu. I ordered the shrimp and finger crab scampi, because it seemed like a good choice. They described it as being cooked in a butter garlic sauce. No, it was cooked in lemon juice times the power of lemon juice squared. If you read any of my other reviews you know that's bad. It was so lemony that all I could taste was lemon, but you couldn't smell it. The bread was so drenched and overpowered with lemon, I had to give it to my husband and switch with his appetizer. It was a huge failure for me and started a downhill spiral with my stomach hurting and being upset and making me sick for the rest of the weekend.(For those that don't know...I love the smell and taste of oranges, lemons, etc. but it doesn't love me.)I ordered the chicken and shrimp pasta for my second course. I don't know what it was about that dish, whether the pasta was too big or didn't meld well with the sauce, but it was simply poorly executed. I felt like it was a pasta dish made by a 16 year old in some type of kitchen training at Olive Garden. Something was just off. I didn't get the "alfredo sauce" it seemed different. Not off, not unsafe, just didn't seem to match their descriptions. It was disappointing to the point that I just gave up.The final course, the dessert I can't remember who ordered what but between my husband and I we got the hush puppies and beignet sticks. They were okay. However, by the time we were eating, my stomach hurt so much I told my husband I wanted to leave.Interesting side notes, the guy from our group that ordered the crab legs. The restuarant didn't have the proper stuff to help him crack them. Another couple complained about the food. Service, I felt the waitress wasn't trained well and was overwhelmed due to her missteps, which made her cranky. Like, I usually don't like that in waitresses, but it was obvious this poor girl wasn't trained well from struggling to carry super hot trays to mixing up teas. Like it's basic stuff, but even in waitressing you're only as good as how your manager trains you. Poor thing.I definitely have no desire to come back and hope that the stuff I hated can be fixed over time.

When I had a short stay in Houston, I wanted to find something uniquely Houston!! I found South by Saigon and saw the great ratings and then saw the Saigon Pan Roast on the menu. I've only had a pan roast at the Oyster Bar in Vegas but figured it was worth a try. Oh my gosh, was it ever amazing and full of shrimp and crab and the flavors! Service is spot on and they shouldn't be too surprised if I show up tomorrow to have it one more time on my way to the Airport! Cute and clean spot too!! One of the top 10 dishes of my lifetime!!! Wow!

Have you ever invited a group to go check out a new place and felt bad that you were the one who made the suggestion? That was me today.Following a church event, we had a group of six that wanted to hit a Houston Restaurant Weeks dinner. A suggestion was thrown out that some weren't happy with because they'd been there before, so I suggested this place as an alternative.On the whole, this place clearly attempts to be the type of Viet Cajun fusion food that has become a unique Houston cuisine. Sadly, it fails to be either one, and misses across the board. I'm not sure if the owners are cutting corners, or the cooks have never tried the cuisines they're trying to emulate, but it just doesn't work.From the point we walked in, it was clear this wouldn't be a five star experience. There was minimal staffing, the tables and chairs were smallish and uncomfortable, and there was an odd stench that was slightly off-putting.We ordered as soon as everyone was seated and the first misstep was right off the bat, as two friends who ordered unsweet tea got served a syrupy sweet tea that they immediately had to send back.For the first course, I went with the boudin balls and egg rolls and my wife went with the shrimp and crab finger scampi. The egg rolls were decent, and the boudin balls were good despite having almost no boudin in them.The scampi was a different story. Served in a hot steel plate like fajitas, it was clearly too far filled with sauce. It wasn't anything like scampi either. A strong lemon flavor overpowered everything else. It wasn't so much seafood cooked in a sauce as it was an inedible lemon soup. My wife gave up and stopped eating it so I swapped appetizers with her and finished what I could. We were both terrified when the waitress attempted to remove the platter that we might get doused in the excess lemon juice. The waitress might have been the most scared of all of us as she nervously removed the plate.For the second course I went with the shaking beef and my wife went with the chicken and shrimp pasta. The shaking beef was full of fat and bones, making for a meal that was much better looking than it tasted. The fried rice wasn't bad, but nowhere near good enough to save the dish. The chicken and shimp pasta wasn't any better. The thick pasta (papardelle?) held up to the sauce but was just too much for the proteins, which were horribly overcooked to the point of being dry and hard to chew.One of the others at our table opted for the 1lb snow crab legs, which ended up being a horrible mistake. They only had small gloves and tiny bibs on hand, so he couldn't properly cover himself for partaking in the meal, then they didn't have a crab cracker, so they gave him these pathetic scissors which couldn't really cut the shells. He ended up giving up on the dish and taking it to go.A couple in our group were not ordering off the HRW menu. One opted for the soft shell crab, which he described as "more batter than crab." Clearly yet another dish that was poorly prepared and not worth the price.At one point, it became clear that only two people (maybe a third) were working at the restaurant, and they were not trained on how to provide table service. I gave up and started moving empty dishes to an empty table and then one bothered to come over and start clearing it away.For dessert, we tried one of each of the offerings. The hush puppies were a questionable item altogether-- way too savory to belong in this segment of the menu covered with way too little honey to make up for it. The beignet strips were the best option of the lot by far, but were served with enough sauce for maybe 1/3 of what was provided. The fried who ordered the fried cheesecake was clearly disappointed with what she ordered, as it was once again an issue of too much breading with too little of the listed menu item.From everything we ordered, we saw a pattern of quantity over quality, but not in a way that saw the the quantity make up for the quality. It was clear that none of the six of us were pleased with the experience and we won't be going back. Heck, I might just go with the safe option we've all been to the next time we dine out.

First time visiting- was in town for my Sister's Birthday, and this was the chosen spot! Food & drinks (I had the Mixed Frozen Daiquiri) were amazing! The owner Chip (fellow Cali native) and his team were so accommodating towards our group of 20+ Next time I'm in town, I'm definitely stopping by for some yummy food! Thanks again Chip!!!

I recently got a chance to sample their cuisine at a board meeting. It was to go but still tasted delicious. I got the shrimp and pasta. Everything was perfect. The shrimp were jumbo and the sauce that came with the pasta was rich and creamy.I have to come back for actual dine in and try some of their other entrees!

Outstanding salmon pasta. A must get. It's a huge plate with decent amount of salmon! Crawfish was okay size. Big ones on top and they get smaller as you go down the bag (at least when I went). Sauces are excellent and the right amount of spice. Fries reminds me of McDonald's but not McDonald's.Ambiance is laid back, modern, chill, and overall clean restaurant. Gloves and bibs are provided upon request. The only suggestion I would suggest is to provide disposable wipes in lemon scents after dining in.Decent amount of parking but be careful where you drive/park. There's a lot of glass so watch out for your tires!

Was looking for a good boiled shrimp/seafood spot near my house and happens to come across this gem. I am not in this specific area often but it seems like the restaurant is quite new. I really like the yellow and black decor and the service is always fast and friendly. As for the food it's really good. my favorite is the boiled shrimp medium spicy with the southwest sauce and the soft shell crab. They offer a AYCE menu and usually have some type of special going on. Every time I go it's not busy but I definitely think everyone should give it a try!