You may be experiencing "broken record" syndrome depending on where you read this review. If you're skimming through other Saigon Block reviews on Yelp, there is about a 10,000 percent chance you have seen a bunch of folks talking about the baked catfish, how the baked catfish changed their life, how much better "The Shape of Water" would have been if it was about the baked catfish, and how the baked catfish bowled a perfect 300 game once. This is going to be another one of those reviews, but hopefully mine brings something different to the table.
The first thing to realize is Saigon Block looks incredibly different on the inside than it does from the parking lot. You could easily mistake the corner spot in this strip mall for another cookie cutter restaurant in the DFW area, but as soon as you open the door to step inside, you realize it's a lot more modern, spacious and communal than it seemed when you stalked another patron for one of the coveted parking spaces outside. The dining room has booths lining the walls, plenty of windows to bring sunshine in and rows of community-style tables in the middle of the floor. There is a counter area near the back where the staff can congregate and food is brought out, while the hallway to the bathrooms is a few steps away.
My friend and I came here for a Saturday lunch at noon, and the place was already pretty busy. We got a booth against the wall, and while my friend took in the gorgeous weather, another, far more enticing sight caught my eye: $3.50 Heineken on the menu! Miracles do come true! Alas, our waiter told me the menu is out of date, but the place is BYOB. With my hopes restored, we ordered a couple sodas and a "medium" baked catfish.
Folks say it takes awhile to prepare this dish but it didn't seem drastically long or anything like that to us. If anything, the downtime made us even hungrier for the main event.
When it arrived, it was a two-man operation. One guy delivered it, and another deboned the thing with some serious sleight-of-hand technique reserved for magicians, card sharks and cat burglars. The entire plate was massive, making me think the "large" catfish is brought out with a forklift, and the "extra-large" has to be eaten in a swimming pool. Numerous plates surrounded it, with noodles, vegetables, and rolls to make the experience even more fulfilling.
The fish was delicious, with the crispiness on the outside being some of the best I have ever seen in any restaurant. I gorged myself on handfuls of vegetables, the occasional noodles and chili paste that made me think I may need to stick my head in the nearby fish tank to cool off. It was right about then that I realized if this place is BYOB, I could probably bring in a six-pack and demolish one of these "medium" fishes on my own in the course of a marathon visit. It's the kind of achievement my parents would be ashamed of, and I would hope is mythologized in a folk song for the ages.
Nonetheless, we did our best to tackle the beast, even breaking off pieces of its jaw and cheeks to gnaw on, but we could not overcome the mammoth amount of food. We gave it our best shot and would gladly do it again, though! The catfish was great, the staff was always available for refills or assistance, the atmosphere was chilled and the price was fair. All in all, it's another must-try destination, even if you only come for what everyone else has written about. read more