Saigon Shack

I was craving pho and have heard this place is popular so decided to give it a try. There was definitely a line and a wait to get in on a Friday night but it moved fairly fast.

As some other reviews mentioned, they only take cash if you order off the menu with the wait staff. You can pay by card however if you instead use the QR code on your table to place your order on their online system and have it delivered to your table. I opted for this and everything came pretty fast.

The pho here is decent, the flavors are there of a traditional pho however coming from the Bay Area the soup wasn’t too special and lacked a bit of complexity to me.

Great local spot in the west village. It's small spot but the food is really good. The service is prompt. We were able to get a table fairly quickly. But it can be tight. Not good for larger crowds but party if 2 to 5 ok. We had classic bah-mi sandwich it totally worth it. Also spring rolls and two phos the classic and Saigon shack one.

Great food and fantastic prices. I came here at lunch time on Saturday, a decent queue outside but they are taking everyone’s parties down. I was solo and seated at the bar after about 10-20 minutes of waiting. Food was excellent, and good value it is easy to see why there was a queue outside. Other parties that arrived after me would have had to wait 30+ minutes for a table. Staff were very busy but attentive and friendly.

Very popular, we had to line up outside to get a spot. I was happy with the grilled pork chop, shrimp, and spring roll vermicelli bowl I ordered. The pork chop in particular was really flavourful. Good portion size, and definitely good value by Manhattan standards. Note that they accept cash and not card (although looking through the reviews, it sounds like it's also possible to pay via QR code? we paid cash).

If you want to have a relaxing Vietnamese meal in the middle of the day, this is the place to go. We went there at noon and we could get a seat in about 5 minutes.

Ordered Chicken and Pork chop sandwiches - loved it although the meat portion is quite filling. Bread - 9/10, Meat - 8/10, Seasoning - 9/10, Spice - 8/10

Our friend had beef pho and couldn't stop raving about it, so definitely trying that out the next time.

Place is cash only.

Saigon Shack is one of the anchors of MacDougal Street, perhaps the most eccentric yet endearing street in NYC.
I came in here fresh off getting served an L by another job application, so needed a quality bowl of pho to ease the pain. Maybe they are reading these google reviews and think I’m unhinged ahahahahahaha.

The exterior is not what I would expect from a Vietnamese restaurant as you are met with a yellow and white striped canopy, something a tasteful or ostentatious French restaurant would have. The difference between tasteful and ostentatious is a microscopic line.

I was sat immediately at the bar and opted to get the Saigon Shack Pho and the Fresh Summer Rolls with shrimp. To be honest, the fresh summer rolls were decent, but didn't wow me. I like to be wow'd. I love to be wow'd, in fact.

But the pho...................WOW. The amalgamation of the sliced beef, house brisket, beef balls, and rice noodles hit like Roy Jones Jr hitting Percy Harris with 4 hooks at one time. Y'all must have forgot!

One of the servers had one of the coolest shirts on. It was a jet black T with bold white lettering that read "Saigon *** Shack" with QUALITY stitching, none of this screen print BS. I asked if they sold them and he said no. It hurt, but every no is closer to a yes.

Service was quick but the place was really busy - we sat at the bar and the food was fast. You can pay in cash with the waitresses or use the QR code and pay directly.

Grilled Lemongrass Chicken, Shrimps & Fried Spring Rolls was good - chicken a bit dry though.

The spicy short ribs were super flavourful - it’s quite fatty though so be forewarned

We got there around 6:30pm and had plenty of seating but by the time we left it was packed