food was ok but portion was SO small for an $18 regular bowl. the service was was a 0/10 he never came to our table after he gave us our food. there were 2-3 dirty tables left there the entire time we were in there dining. total of 2 tables including us in the restaurant and both tables were not attended to... don't know why the rating is so good. read more

I've visited this Vietnamese spot several times now, and it's honestly a mystery why it isn't busier. Tucked away in the corner of the Smart & Final plaza, it is a true "hidden gem." The Pho is delicious--the broth is flavorful and authentic. What really stands out, though, is the environment. The interior is beautifully renovated, incredibly clean, and well-organized. Because it's never overly crowded, the atmosphere is very peaceful and quiet, making it a perfect spot for a relaxing meal. If you're looking for great food without the long waits or noise of other noodle shops, give this place a try! read more

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My friend and I were craving for Vietnamese food so here we are. Just look for Smart & Final if you need a landmark. It's my first visit to this shop so I ordered the #1 house special pho as I usually do. My friend ordered the house fried rice. Food came quickly and they were tasty. Service was acceptable but not as cozy as I expected of a top notch place. read more

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Visited here after a whole day at the Niguel Botanical Preserve. This restaurant is about 12 min away. Parking: They're located in a large plaza with plenty of parking spots. Ambiance/Environment: We visited on a Wednesday for dinner, and it wasn't busy. They have a large indoor space with plenty of seating. Perfect for groups of any size. The indoor area is really nice and clean. They also have outdoor seating if you want to bring your pets. Service: There were two workers present. We were seated immediately since it wasn't busy. Throughput was quick and efficient after ordering; took about 15 min or less. We were checked on once and didn't see our server after that. Food: I ordered Pho Dac Biet. The broth was clean and flavorful. I could tell they didn't add anything extra like msg or chicken bouillon because none of us were excessively thirsty. There was a generous amount of beef slices, but I'd prefer a bit more meatballs. The tendons were good, not too chewy, and held enough flavor. Each pho bowl came with a side of bean sprouts, jalapeños, lemon, and basil. Pricing: I personally think the prices for a pho bowl have gone up ridiculously throughout the years. The economy just gets worse and worse. Their prices match every other pho restaurant. Definitely worth it though. I really enjoyed my bowl. read more

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I loved the Thai iced tea. Wasn't too strong but not light. The pho was delicious. They only have the thin rice noodles. The filet mignon was pretty decent just not as tender as I would have hoped, I would try to order some alternative meat next time. The broth was great, and they provided a great amount of bean sprouts and mint leaves. Service was great. I was attended to right away. Order was taken quickly. Since I went early in the afternoon on a weekday, it was quite empty but it was very peaceful with mostly music playing in the background. read more

Pho Saigon Gem - 2. Thai Iced Tea - Soup Near Me - Laguna Hills, California

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I have been wanting to try this place and now I ask myself why have I been lagging it?! Hubs was craving pho and I was hungry so this was the perfect spot. Kids loved the egg rolls. Only two for the appetizer plate though. Most places come with 5. Kids also got the garlic noodles with chicken. Although it did not look appetizing the kids loved it. I wasn't allowed to try any or have leftovers so I can't tell you how it tasted but I guess that nears it was awesome. They never hoard food like that. Husband thought the pho did not have enough meat. Barely got any brisket. Huge bummer. Soup was good and serving size was good. Got the vermicelli noodles myself. Always a fave at Vietnamese shops. I was very impressed. The pork was perfectly marinated. So much flavor! Plenty of noodles and lettuce but wish there was more sliced cucumbers. Still, I highly recommend and would definitely be back. read more

Pho Saigon Gem - Garlic noodles with chicken - Soup Near Me - Laguna Hills, California

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This is our go to Viet in Laguna Hills... actually I think the only Vietnamese Restaurant in LH!! The chicken wing are the best - so tender and juicy with a lot of garlic The Pho is on point Viet Coffee a delight Their steak salad (I forgot what they call on the men) is amazing. Bahn Mi - Yum! Shrimp and Pork Spring rolls! We've had it all! In addition the owner and head chef has a high standard on his Pho - one time, he told us they had no Pho at all tonight. He had one of the other cooks make it and it was not up to his standard so he would not serve it. He had to turn away any Pho orders for that night. Now that's integrity! Give this family owned place a try. read more

Out of all the Vietnamese places i've had the pleasure of eating, this still remains my #1! friendly staff goes above and beyond. clean place. the food is outstanding for a fair price, large portion. i absolutely ADORE the pho filet mignon. the broth is so rich and you can tell they spend lots of time on it. tried the bahn mi beef today-- 10/10!!! thank you for always serving me. PS i've ordered from here on doordash 30+ times. never fails to come piping hot with all the fixings. please give this place a try!! read more

Pho Saigon Gem - beef BM1. Charbroiled Sandwich / Banh Mi Bò/ Heo/Ga Nuong - Soup Near Me - Laguna Hills, California

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This is now the third year our company has decided to cater eggrolls for our Lunar New Year festivities and we will continue to do so! Pho Saigon is truly a gem and everyone I've interacted with has been so sweet and kind. You are able to cater orders online, but for bigger orders ( We did about 200 eggrolls) you may want to call in or go in person to order and pay. I went in to place the order and paid there. Wrote down the date and time I wanted to pick up. Pick up was super easy and fast and they staff was really sweet to help load all the yummy food into my car! Our event was successful and had multiple people asking where we ordered the food from! Shout out to Evan for making the transaction smooth and being so accomodating! read more

Pho Saigon Gem is a one of a kind Vietnamese restaurant in South Orange County. I've tried the Spring Rolls with shrimp a couple of times and loved them and the accompanying peanut sauce. The sauce isn't spicy; the flavor profile runs toward the sweeter side, which I like. Since I like the restaurant so much, I've gone here with my husband, by myself a couple of times, and with a friend. When I brought my friend in, she ordered the oxtail pho, and shared spring rolls with me. I ordered the vermicelli noodles with pork, which worked out so well for the hot day. The noodles are a repeat order for me because they're that good. My friend raved to me about the pho and spring rolls. She was unable to finish the bowl. She asked the waitress to bring her a to-go container. My friend was happy with the service, food, and clean setting of the restaurant. I felt the same way. read more

Authentic Vietnamese food. Wish the crispy tofu was cut into smaller cubes so they would be crispier but we still enjoyed them. The shrimp spring rolls and seafood pho were as expected. Peanut sauce needed a little more taste. I ate too much! At least they're healthy foods ;) Not a lot of diners on a weeknight. Service was good and place was clean. Our server probably owns the place and he was very friendly, asking where we're from. I guess he can tell we're just visiting the area and not regulars. read more

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I was looking for a local Vietnamese restaurant near where we were staying and came across Pho Saigon Gem. Evan greeted us warmly and let us choose our seats. My husband and I both ordered the filet mignon pho, though he opted for the oxtail pho with a side of filet mignon. The filet mignon was fresh, and the pho broth had a solid 8/10 flavor--comparable to the ones in San Gabriel Valley. For this area, it's definitely a great pho spot! Next, we ordered the spring rolls, which were delicious--no complaints, just praises! I'd rate them 8/10. The peanut sauce, however, could have been more robust, so I'd give it a 4/10. Still, the spring rolls were enjoyable. We also tried the egg rolls, which had a crispy exterior and a flavorful minced meat and taro filling--absolutely exquisite! Those were a solid 9/10. Parking was hassle-free, with plenty of available spaces. The restaurant itself had a sleek grey finish, and everything was spotless--always a plus! Overall, my experience at Pho Saigon Gem was fantastic. Evan was incredibly attentive and made sure we had everything we needed, including extra lemons for my pho. I'd definitely return to try more dishes and will likely be ordering the filet mignon pho again! read more

The food here is amazinggg. I'm a big time pho lover and just moved to California from Idaho and have been trying a couple places to find a good spot but this place in particular definitely stands out! The Pho is amazing! I got the brisket pho. The broth is incredibly flavorful. Perfect balance of that salty slightly sweet broth! Tasted so fresh! The service was amazing and sooo fast! Love the ambiance of this place! Feels so homey read more

I was in the mood for pho after a long week and unexpected turn of events. My husband was amenable so I took a look on Yelp to see if there was a place nearby I'd want to try out. I saw that Shane D. had previously reviewed this place and gave it a glowing recommendation so we headed to Pho Saigon Gem. We sat down and ordered after looking at the menu. We both wanted pho. I ordered the short rib pho (P4) and my husband got the pho tai nam (P9) in the regular size. While we waited for our food to come out, I happened to hear a familiar voice at a table nearby. It was none other than my friend Shane D. who's review I had seen earlier in the day and one of the reasons we chose to dine there that evening. What a coincidence! After a brief greeting and conversation, our food arrives. My husband inhaled his food, down to the last drop. On the other hand, it took me a little longer to get through my food. The short rib presentation happened to be smaller rib bones than I'm used to seeing. Other places give one big bone but Pho Saigon Gem gives you the meat in smaller pieces. One, it wasn't as tender as it could have been and two, it was tiring picking up the smaller bones as I was eating. It wasn't fall off the bone tender so it was hard to remove the meat from the bones. I made the best of it and finished most of my bowl of soup and noodles. The broth was nice and aromatic. We added the usual suspects of herbs and lime to the bowl. It was a delicious meal on a chilly December evening. Thanks to Pho Saigon Gem and Shane D. for popping up on my feed. 4.5 stars rounded up. read more

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I was very unimpressed by the oxtail pho as well as the service I received tonight. Starting with the oxtail itself, they were very skinny pieces of overcooked and dry meat. I'm used to succulent pieces of oxtail like I've had from other places. I also had to basically go into the kitchen to ask for my check as they never came out to check on me after I ordered and couldn't hear me say "excuse me" really loud like 6 times. This was very awkward since there were other people in the restaurant who were gawking at me. Overall, I either wouldn't come back here or wouldn't order oxtail anymore which is my favorite. read more

We came during the week around 5 and didn't have to wait. The place is very clean inside and nice and open. It seems like it's a family run business, which I love. The food was well priced and delicious. The beef pho was superb- broth was very flavorful. The fried tofu appetizer was perfect. The egg roll was delicious- even my 5 year old ate it and she is pick. Can't wait to come back read more

Met the chef and he knows how to cook good food. Excellent soup stock. They serve pho with bone- in oxtails. If white breast chicken meat is what you like in your soup, this is the place Located in the back corner where you can't even see this lovely modern deco restaurant is the reason why this yelp review is important. This is located adjacent to the Smart and final so put that in your GPS Laguna Hills. With the overcast weather in South Orange County this Pho restaurant should be a destination for you Were my comments of help? read more

This place is a go to for our work DoorDash orders! Why? They have something for everyone. First, if you're a pho lover, it's a generous portion. I usually separate it because a girl can't eat that many carbs at once!!! Pho ga (chicken) is a chicken breast-- healthy and delicious, pho dac diet the special is my fave with everything in it. Gotta save room for the spring rolls!!! So good, when you're craving some greens, the spring rolls hit with a delicious peanut sauce to pair. The chicken wings are delicious to share. The cubed steak is delicious as well served with steamed rice or noodles. There are stir fry dishes as well that my coworkers like. I love the vermicelli noodles as well on hot days. Even the Banh Mi is delicious! The for pho to go, if you don't have a stove, Recommend to heat the soup up in the microwave for 3:00 at least and if you've got rare beef, cook it in the soup first before mixing it in your dry noodles. It's definitely not hot enough when you mix it without heating up first. The egg rolls are also good. I love wrapping it in lettuce and dipping in fish sauce. Thank you Pho Saigon Gem!!! read more

Pretty expensive broth, not even filled all the way extra charge for everything pretty sad read more

Pho Saigon Gem - Side of broth to go $7.50 and they surcharge for brussels sprouts, mint lime and jalapeños on top of that - Soup Near Me - Laguna Hills, California

Unfortunately, this latest (third) attempt to make a Pho shop work at this location has once again failed. Sadly, they no longer serve Pho, so I wish them well selling other Vietnamese cuisine, but I am a huge fan of Pho, so I am unlikely to be back. I'm hopeful that things will get better for them, or for future owners. Apparently this is an unlucky location for Pho. read more

Pho Saigon Gem - What you get for $20. - Soup Near Me - Laguna Hills, California

The chicken pho and egg rolls are delicious. The staff is really kind and they truly care about customer satisfaction.

This is still my go-to restaurant for Vietnamese food. It tastes home made and is delicious. The chef is always so polite and accommodating. Love their beef pho, banh mi, beef garlic noodles and Vietnamese coffee. Yumm! read more

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Pho broth had good flavor but I've had better at many other pho restaurants. Beef was ok and noodles were just ok. Good for the area but doesn't compare to Westminster are pho houses. read more

Was craving Viet food and ended up here. The food here was disappointing. Pho was not good, rice dish was not great. Glad we tried though. Staff was very sweet. read more

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I have been twice and picked up the Filet Pho. I took it home and warmed it up when I was ready, It was so delicious and fresh. I heated it up on my stove a bit later and again it was so wonderful. I just went back and picked up the same meal again! I took it to my son and daughter in laws house and shared it with them. It makes for a quick and healthy meal.. you may like as is but I like to saute the filet lightly in a soup pan on the stove and then add the ingredients and serve piping hot. I highly recommend this place and I will go back many times! read more

This place has excellent food. I ordered take out. Did not have to wait too long. The customer service was amazing. It was a cold rainy day, while I was waiting they brought me hot tea. I highly recommend this place. read more

My bf and I decided to try this place last night and I'm so glad we did! Finally, there's good Vietnamese food in the south OC area. We came in around 6:30pm and were seated promptly. Service was also quick and friendly, but didn't feel rushed to leave. The place is still fairly new and inside is super clean and modern. We ordered: - pho chicken - shrimp and pork spring rolls - grilled pork and egg roll vermicelli All 3 items were well prepared and tasted great! Soup had great flavor, not overly salty. The shrimp and pork are a staple appetizers, and I really liked their peanut dipping sauce. What made me want to come back is not only their pho broth is good, but the vermicelli noodles were also great. It's honestly hard to find a good Vietnamese restaurant in south OC where different items on the menu taste great and are executed well. I do think prices are a bit higher, but you are paying for the convenience of not having to drive to Garden Grove/Westminster area and rent in south OC is generally higher. Since it's less than 10 min away from us, I'd say this is a good compromise. read more

Pho Saigon Gem - Grilled pork B1. Vermicelli Noodle with Charbroiled 2 Items - Soup Near Me - Laguna Hills, California

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Lovely family owned restaurant fast service and the food was perfect! I definitely go there again.

I just ubered food from this place because it was the nearest pho near me thats open on Christmas day. Pho and vermicelli bowl were so full of noodles we couldn't finish them. Their eggroll was crispy and juicy. Springroll was so fresh. Loved the Vietnamese coffee too. Highly recommend. read more

Come On in for authentic and delicious Vietnamese food. Chef Evan is a rockstar in the kitchen. We love every dish he made! Garlic noodles is his specialty but you cannot go wrong here, each plate is delish! Chicken Pho with charbroiled thigh- 4 1/2 stars Chicken Pho with breast - 4 1/2, stars, clean , light and healthy Shrimp Spring Rolls- so fresh and yummy 5 stars Fried a garlic chicken wings - hot , juicy and flavorful 5?stars Service 5 stars- Chef Evan came out several times to make sure everything was ok. What chef does that? He is extraordinary! Cleanliness- 5 stars - it's spotless here Thanks for a great dining experience! read more

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I am so happy I found this place! The best dish is the garlic noodles with filet mignon! Please try it! The pho is very good too! I always get a bowl of Pho and the garlic noodles and its plenty for my husband and I to share. The restaurant is very clean and decorated nicely. The service is excellent, love everything about this place. read more

Pho Saigon Gem - G1. Garlic Noodles with Shaken Filet Mignon - Soup Near Me - Laguna Hills, California

UPDATE: We went to one of our fave Vietnamese restaurants I had not been to in years and as the wife had reminded me these two GARLIC NOODLE BEEF dishes were night and day different. My wife strongly suspects close to a full bottle of soy sauce went into the noodle dish here at Gem where as soy is not in the dish at our fave restaurant. I do not fully know why this restaurant opts to go for flavor BOMB overkill but I have my suspicions. Regardless, it is rather disappointing. REVIEW: I love the gray and white color palette and stacked stone. They astutely left the decor from prior tenants. Many years ago, this was a breakfast joint that was pretty good. GARLIC NOODLES w/BEEF SHORT RIB: -- very wet liquidy type sauce, not creamy -- not garlic butter style, more soy or other dark sauce -- nice char and smoke on the rib meat -- not very meaty on the ribs, had much better and these are the skimpiest I have seen in a while -- sweet peppers and red onion cooked al dente w/snappy texture -- sauce is very bold and flavorful -- a different rendition from other Asian restaurant garlic noodles in the area -- pretty good tasting, just not as expected RATING = B- STAFF is solid and you do not pay at the table but pay at the cash register. I will likely get something else if we return. read more

Husband ordered last minute for pho to-go. Very underwhelmed, despite the glowing reviews. Ordered almost $50 worth of pho and cha gio, just to find out pho didnt have accompaniments like condiments and bean sprouts and basil. Nothing. Or those have additional charge that we don't know of? Cha gio also expensive for $7 for two. Only came with one lettuce , and no pickled veggies. Never ordering here again. Here is my sad pho. Only thing we have is left over samba oelek. Broth is bland too. Doesn't even deserve one star. *Edited to reply to the manager. You clearly missed my point of review. For $50 worth, with all that breakdown you mentioned, our order should have included all the accompaniments, which were not in our order when it got home. We inly had chopsticks and plastic utensils. As customers who had been trying pho places in every corner of this country, we get bean sprouts, basils, hoisin, sambal oelek and sriracha. Bottom line is, we only got $50 worth of pho without the usual accompaniments. We have left over sambal oelek from a pho place we went to last time, and that was the only way it made my pho palatable. read more

Pho Saigon Gem - Soup Near Me - Laguna Hills, California

After a long day at the office, I decided to try a new place. Craving a little fuss I decided to go to the place down the street and loved every second of it with a few caveats. Today is a holiday so I think it's an outlier, but this place is relatively empty and medium size compared to the other places I've been to around the area. Despite this, they had a very expensive menu, especially with a lot of drinks, which is something I love because I love flavor in my liquids. Ended up getting picture below and a strawberry smoothie and a bowl of rice which honestly wasn't that bad for what I got. The highlights, though would have to definitely be the pho which is perfectly seasoned and portion cause I ordered the small with everything tasting very well and not muddying the rest of the flavors. I also love the noodle portions because it was just right and under, which is what I'm used to to around the area at points. I would say the one low light of my dish, despite portion of eggrolls as the sauce was bland that I thought and the eggrolls almost tasted burnt with the flavors of the meat and vegetables inside not really coming out as much as I would hope. For the value I would definitely say that this place is a really good spot to go and definitely will be coming here more often. I a few things could be better for one thing that I wish was a little cheaper was the rice but then again I'm being a little picky on that since I like eating with my meal so much so your mileage on that may vary. I know this thing I wish was a little different, but definitely have no control over would be the fact that the food came out a little slower than other places. It could just be that they're understaffed, which I understand in this economy so that also may vary based on time of day when I went and the holiday being a significant change, but overall the people were very nice and accommodating they checked on me quite often and I would love to come back here again. read more

Pho Saigon Gem - A2. Crispy Vietnamese Egg Roll and P1. Pho House Special - Soup Near Me - Laguna Hills, California

We ordered takeout from this spot and found the service to be super quick and the food to be pretty dang tasty. I'll get the cons out of the way, because they're really minor. The pho broth was mild; we ordered both chicken and beef pho's and couldn't really tell the difference between the two. Also, there was no nuoc mam with the rice dish. But we loved the variety of dishes offered. In addition to the pho, we got the appetizer sampler (all tasty, and very crispy), the bun with pork and the rice with egg roll and pork. Very satisfying and decently sized portions. read more

This place is as good as Vietnamese restaurants get in South Orange County. Its modern and updated decor is pretty elegant. The servers were very friendly and efficient. And the food? Well the number 1 dish is the Pho with many varieties that include chicken and shrimp and veal shanks and beef ribs along with the usual beef variations. And the broth was delicious at the level you could find in Little Saigon 15 miles away. The other dishes salads and ban mi sandwiches were also really good. If you want this kind of food and you don't want to drive a long distance you have it right here. read more

Best and fresh Pho and chow mein my kids ever had. We rook additional two meals to go and consumed it once we got home.

After my review, I was contacted by this business on the phone which I do not think they are supposed to do but it's okay, because I had an error I had to call them about anyway. I saw an $89.89 charge on my card and didn't understand what was going on, apparently my own teenage son tipped a certain amount and doesn't know the concept of tipping for pick up versus dining in. Anyway, I ended up reaching the employees and then the manager. They were very kind people and addressed all concerns and showed remorse for the misunderstandings. I understand that and I know it must be tough to run a business where the lease for them is likely high but then not have enough customers. I have a family too and hope they do well. I still stand by my authentic review of the taste and appearance of the food, but this family who runs it was very kind to correct everything, refund the entire tip and even offer multiple other items to make up for the experience. I wish the first impression was better, but they swiftly made up for it all. My partner went and picked up the items because I am recovering from a cold and expressed what kind people work here. I really value that and their gestures. For the above reasons, I have changed my starts from 2 to 4. I recommend you try it for yourself, especially the appetizer/peanut sauce and see how you like it. ------------------------------------ I called in a food order for pick-up since this place is a newer one near where I live, mind you I am actually Vietnamese and Thai. I love pho! I love Thai tea etc. but this place gave us a GREENish yellow Thai iced tea for my son to drink and I called them back asking if it was a Green Thai iced tea because they do make those versions and the guy said no. I told him I never in my life seen a regular Thai tea be green and he said there are other colors because it's like frosting, like what? Lol. Next, I expect the total to be around $60-ish and it was $72 & change. I was like what? So I thought maybe they accidentally got us the Large pho which I was like okay that's fine. I come home at the pho bowl is tiny and skimp. Taste wise it was okay, not my favorite broth and the broth is more oily/greasy than usual for some reason. I have eaten at a lot of pho places and never experienced green Thai tea and overpriced pho that is super skimp on the portion. Barely any noodles and was more like a small bowl. If you go to a more Vietnamese concentrated location like in Westminster or Garden Grove and you ask for a large bowl, the bowls come out HUGE. I understand to go can only fit so much, but compared to other food to go pho places this portion was uneven in the 3 bowls and left one with less than the others. Lastly, I will say their ~$19 appetizer plate was decent. The peanut sauce was actually close to legit and tasted good, the spring roll wasn't the freshest it could be but still pretty good, the little Rangoon things tasted like the egg rolls but just in a different shape. It didn't taste like the usual cream cheese ones at other places. The shrimp rocket was okay. Price wise, I think it was more worth like $16. Overall, pho taste was like a 7/10 where the chicken and noodles are good, but broth can be better. Saigon Gem Appetizer was good and I think it's a 8/10. I may try it out again later to see if it has improved. See pics for reference. read more

Pho Saigon Gem - Is this supposed to be a large pho? Because I got charged that price for this skimp and small bowl - Soup Near Me - Laguna Hills, California

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So yummy! The chicken pho is fragrant and warm and will make you happy on a cold day. Great even as leftovers. The garlic noodles are delightful. The shrimp spring rolls are refreshing and light tasting. No complaints here. We did take-out and it was ready on time and exactly as ordered. read more

I was always on the hunt for my next go to spot for pho and when I stubbled across this hidden gem I knew had found it. The broth they use is always so flavorful and rich. It does not sit too heavy and they have big portion. I got the chicken pho and was over the moon once I was done! read more