Reasonably priced, central location, quick service. Will return next time I'm craving pho.

this place has a good location but as everyone else says, it's true, it's not the best food around. I guess I'm just spoiled by all the cheap yet delicious Vietnamese food in the bay Area... read more

Tucked away on the north bound side of Shatuck where Shatuck becomes a fork, this is a hole in the wall that you wanna go to every once in a while. If you live around downtown Berkeley, I would say go every other week :) ! This Vietnamese restaurant is what got me hooked on to Vietnamese food, their clay pot (veggie), fried rice (beef), spring rolls etc. etc. , list goes on and not to mention their Vietnamese sandwiches, an excellent value for the price and much better than the so called "sure diarrhea" Chinese places in that square (2 items for 2.75 ;) ) ! But don't expect an amazing service, its what it is, a whole in the wall and that is why you get to have good food for cheap price. Don't plan a dinner there, you might ask for a wine and if prospects are not high that the bottle will finish during the evening, you might be told its not there :) . I would recommend as a good lunch place or one of those Friday evenings when you want to grab a good quick bite before you go clubbing in the city :D . read more

Good chicken pho in a convenient location near Bart.

Four stars for a cheap and tasty sando. The bread is super flaky and kind of a mess to eat. Sticky tables, but fast and efficient. Good if you're on the go, walking distance from BART and campus. Plenty of seating inside. read more

About as good as it gets for low-cost, quick Vietnamese food. I've trawled the East Bay in search of good banh mi, and this is probably the best you can get for under $4. The vegetarian pho is pretty good too, and it's nice to have that as an option. Location is a plus - it's right next to BART! read more

The sandwiches here are absolutely to die for and the pho is some of the best in Berkeley! Love it- definitely worth a try :D!

Got the vermicelli garden salad bowl with grilled chicken and a thai iced tea. Scrumptious! And the bowl was huge. Food prepared quickly. Simple but nice environment. Friendly service. read more

Bottom line: there are no other places to get Vietnamese sandwiches in berkeley that I know of. I hear tell of one near Shattuck and Ashby but I can't seem to find it. The sandwiches here are ok, but if you can spare the time and cash to get there, Ba Le in El Cerrito makes these sandwiches seem like dog food. Saigon's chicken sandwich is made with some weird ass greasy lumps of chicken, compared to the sweet, marinated shreded chicken at Ba Le. Saigon's veggie isn't bad, it's got shreded fried tofu but Ba Le makes theirs with actual veggie-meat. It's all about what you're into, but I actually like Saigon better for the veggie. Their soy sauce is awesome. I also used to really like the vermachelli salid bowl with veggie imperial rolls at Saigon but the last two times I had it I felt a little sick afterwards. Not good. But still better than some. Their soft veggie rolls are bomb. If you have to go here and you don't know what to get, get some of those. Booyah! read more

Okay, so you may think this rating is inflated. I've had some stuff here that was eh tasting BUT the shrimp Saigon Express clay pot is delicious. My friends and I come here for lunch. I prefer the shrimp but my friends prefer the chicken and tofu. In any case, the SAIGON EXPRESS CLAY POT is good. Oh, and sometimes I come in to get the pork banh mi. That is also good. read more

Their cubed beef steak and prawn clay pot are ALWAYS amazing! Get it. Love it. You're welcome.

good sandwich, spring rolls are delicious, pho soup tastes wonderful!

the main thing going for it is it's cheap. the quality reflects that though: worse than panda-express-type establishments.

Tastefully quick and divey, which enhances the deliciousness. I'm prepared to fight anyone who defames the $3.75 #5 sandwich. This place should be a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it's that pivotal of affordably scrumptious cuisine. read more

I ate here for a year in 2012, they changed ownership and now they give you day old stale bread when you order a sandwich. Way to treat a customer that ate there for a year. read more

Super friendly staff, fast service, and the best banh mi I've ever had. There have been other places I've liked for banh mi in Berkeley and SF but Saigon Express in the most consistently fresh and delicious. read more

i came Sai Gon Express 3 times to order my sandwiches. 3 times they made wrong my sandwiches. the lady asked me "can I help you" and I said " sandwiches number 5 no chili, no mayonnaise, I want only cucumber and BBQ pork. After that the cashier asked me "what is your number" and I said " number 5 sandwiches". when I left, I checked my sandwiches. IT IS NOT MY SANDWICHES. they made WRONG for me. when I told them that it is not my sandwiches. the lady she helped me made my sandwiches got mad. the cashier told me that next time just say your sandwiches no mayonnaise. I think that why u ask me what is my number. SERIOUSLY they made wrong my sandwiches and they didn't want make the right one for me. When I opened one more time, FINALLy they made wrong too. 3 times total. I don't want to come back anymore because the service is terrible, the food isn't food ( My sandwiches taste so weird ). read more

Love the sandwiches I'm here all the time. It seems like many others I only get their sandwiches-- not because the rest of the food looks bad I just love them SOO much and they are great to eat half of and take the other half to go. Delish grilled and BBQ pork (BBQ is my go to). So cheap and makes for a good little meal. They may look a little run down but don't let that be any kind of deciding factor, their flavor is just right. If you aren't looking for spicey pick off or ask for no peppers. Very friendly people, always greet me with a warm smiley and "hello dear" read more

Family style restaurant that is very cosy. The food has a home cooked feel and the price is very reasonable. The sandwiches are very worth the price. read more

This place often has a line out the door at lunch. I think people come here because it is close to campus, fast, and super inexpensive. I ordered the hot food from the line, and it was greasy but ok. I have a lot of friends who get spring rolls and other healthier looking items here and seem to enjoy them. read more

I love this place. They have excellent sandwiches for only $3. If you have a few more bucks to spend, get the imperial rolls, they are also very very good. Sometimes the employees are a little bit rude so that's why it only gets 4 stars. read more

My friends and I randomly walked in here one afternoon when we wanted a quick bite to eat. I got a pork sandwich. I wouldn't say it was the best sandwich ever, but for $3, it was a great deal! read more

This is my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in the area. My favorite dishes are the clay pot and fried rice. Our family usually have dinner there once a month. Service is excellent and friendly. read more

I LOVE Saigon Express! I go there a lot to get the goi cuon. It is a family owned business, and they are all very nice! She remembers my order every time! They are very sweet and customer oriented. read more

I could come here every day. They serve the quality of food that I am looking for with great speedy service. Well worth the wait in line during the lunch rush. read more

Love their soups and sandwiches. The lunch specials are just okay, but it's convenient for grabbing something quick. The service is excellent. The eat-in space is not huge but I've always been able to get seating. read more

This place is the best! They're one of the few Banh Mi places left that still sells sandwiches for $3, and they're Pho is really good. The staff is always friendly and they're always apologetic when it's busy. This is my go to place in Berkeley! read more

Great place to stop by for pho if you're in downtown Berkeley. It's conveniently near the BART station, the staff are very friendly, and the clay pot dishes are delicious. read more

5 for service and attentiveness as a regular customer. It's understandably strained during periods of high traffic (11:30-1 PM), but they are humble and do their best. The lady who usually takes my order almost always has a smile on, and a great attitude. 3-4 for food quality: To qualify my rating, I'm from Socal and the pho down there is phenomenal, and nothing up here has come close except maybe Pho Ao Sen kinda far in Oakland (without a car). So, my rating scales are relative to where I'm living. That said, this has been the best local place (Berkeley for me) to get beef pho. It's not overwhelmingly salty and has variety, and they make the stocks fresh twice a day (the second happens during lulls in their afternoon shift sometime between 1-5 PM, so if you walk in and they happen to be cleaning the kitchen, they're also making more broth). The Banh Mi's are decent quality (there have never been any that have astounded me, not even from Lee's Sandwiches [though they're the best so far]; the veggies' freshness here varies but is never "old"). I like the "dry [vermicelli] noodle salad bowls" with the fish sauce that come with meat and for $0.50 extra, egg rolls (which I skip on). The baked clay bowls are really good too and smell amazing when they come out haha, and are hugely portioned (but is also a bit more expensive like $10-11). 4-5 for price, it's solid for the portions and comparable to what you'd get in usual pho places. I really like them, and they've been pretty solid over the past years I've frequented them for lunch during work (or late lunch/dinner after sometimes). read more

we went to a Vietnamese place called "Saigon Express." It was your standard college noodle house. In its defense, it was very clean, well-lit, and spacious, with curteous staff that spoke pretty good english. All the food was out on display, which is always a good sign. I got a dry vermicelli bowl with chicken, and George got spicy beef ph�. Mine was alright, I guess it was pretty much in line with your traditional noodle bowl. As usual in Vietnamese places, the meat was a little sketchy, with plenty of skin and gristle to avoid (or boldly scarf, I guess). I didn't get remotely full, partly because I got annoyed at the bad meat and partly because there just weren't that many calories to be had among the bean sprouts and cilantro and whatnot. Maybe I'm just not a ph� guy, but I wouldn't go to this place again. read more

Very Friendly, food come out hot and fast. The bird's nest and Pho are definitely my favorites, but the imperial egg rolls are great too.

Saigon Express is your typical, half-assed restaurant: small, casual, and lacking in effort. The pho is mediocre at best-- the soup isn't super flavorful and portions are on the small side, both the noodles and the accompanying plate of fresh herbs. Their spring rolls could be fresher-- the shrimp is a bit too chewy and the rice-paper wrapper is *way* too tough. Their Bun Bo Hue (spicy beef noodle soup) lacked essential ingredients-- the broth was bland (the absolute worst thing that can happen to Bun Bo Hue) and needed a lot more lemongrass, and specific cuts of beef were missing. Some of their items *are* pretty decent though, like their Curry Chicken, Clay Pot Rice, and Braised Catfish (Ca Kho To). Their Chicken Salad (Goi Ga) is also pretty good, and makes a refreshing meal on its own. Overall this place is a watered down, Westernized version of an authentic, down-home Vietnamese restaurant. read more

really tasty sandwiches. there is one veggie sandwich with shredded jicama and yam and these mysterious salty crispy pieces of flava. only $3! read more

cheapest (around $3) & most decent banh mi ba le sandwich I've come across since being in Berkeley for the past few years.

good an inexpensive food. from my understanding there have been some less than savory food experiences based on the reviews below. stuff being found in food that shouldn't be there and such. this has never been my experience though. read more

Food was bad. Service was bad. I paid $14 and change for something I just threw in the trash. Ordered noodles and received a soup. I wanted the pork egg rolls but they didn't have it so instead I went for the shrimp egg rolls. I took a bite out of the shrimp egg roll and that was enough for me. It lacked flavor and all I could taste was lettuce. When I realized my order was wrong I went back to get the food I actually paid for and it seemed like the woman had a problem with that. I waited a few minutes and got what I thought was my correct order. I realized I was given the EXACT same food I had just brought back even though the woman who helped me put her own spoon in that soup and took it somewhere out of my sight. Before I left she asked me to be more specific next time I order. No thanks, I will not be returning. With the abundance of restaurants in Berkeley I will take my business elsewhere. Overall would not recommend. read more