I walked in with my young daughter after a long day exploring NYC. The staff could not have been…read moremore welcoming and friendly. We tried the ribs, dumplings, and salmon carpaccio. All fantastic. The carpaccio was legitimately one of the best small plates I've ever had in my life. Bursting with flavor and texture. The atmosphere was warm and relaxed, everyone around us was having a great time and we heard many comments from other diners how amazing their food was. Incredible meal - thank you to the owner and her team for having us!!

Prior to coming to Saigon Social, visiting Vietnam was an idea we had flirted with for our summer…read morevacation. Although that didn't work out, coming here was definitely worth our trip across the river. Shortly after sitting down, I soon realized that I was visiting my second Vietnamese restaurant within a week. However, this place was definitely not a typical Vietnamese restaurant that we New Yorkers are used to. After getting some input from our friendly server and some discussing, we decided on the two signature dishes of oxtail fried rice and garlic noodles, Helen's Bo Kho that was highly recommended by the server, and the lemongrass ribs. Both signature dishes lived up to their reputations. The fried rice was very flavorful from the oxtail and was prepared at such high heat that we could tasted the intensity from the wok. The garlic noodles had a great chewy texture that contrasted perfectly with the tobiko coated on top. Helen's Bo Kho had a more mixed reception by our family. I loved how earthy and fragrant the broth tasted and was ideally paired with the toasted bread. The beef shank was flavorful and tender that made you want to savor each bite. Across the table, my wife was underwhelmed as she found the broth a bit too salty for her palate. Our boys were too full to give an honest option at that point. To us, the lemongrass ribs were less remarkable. The ribs themselves were nicely marinated and tasted good with the green sauce. I was wishing that they were a bit charred or smoky to elevate their flavors. The service was friendly and attentive despite a rather busy weekday evening. As for the place itself, the spacing definitely had a LES-level of coziness and had a modern feel. If you are a Star Wars fan, definitely head downstairs for a little exploration.

Fantastic Vietnamese in Wast Village. The poached shrimp salad is an amazing light salad; I didn't…read moreexpect the various ingredients to complement each other as well as they did. The morning glory was good, but a little bland. The grilled pork noodles were fantastic; the broth, pork, and vermicelli all tasted delicious separately and together. The service was a bit rushed and disappointing. We had a couple people each waiting to use the bathroom after dinner, and the second our last person got back to the table, the waiter appeared and rushed us out. It's not our fault that there's only one bathroom for the entire restaurant...

Okay this is like my place for pho and their addictive shrimp chips. I haven't been back here for a…read moreminute, and I wanted to say some things fell flat here for me. The shrimp chips are still good, but no longer addictive. Like I felt like they went a bit light handed on the seasoning this time around. Not to mention the egg cream coffee didn't taste good anymore. It didn't taste very eggy and neither did the coffee. I should have looked over at their menu more carefully, so that's my fault for not realizing they changed their Clams flavour. It is now stewed tomatos with anchovy. Gosh, I didn't like this flavouring at all, and it was overly salty to me. The pho was no longer phoing for me. Like it used to be the better tasting pho in NY, but now I don't know, it is kind of on the same level as the Chinatown ones now. Was it a bad day or did they change chefs? What happened here?

would definitely come back for the cua lot rang muoi (soft shell crab) alone!!! it was amazing!!!…read moreeveryone loved it for the table and wished we all got our own lol love the remix cover music hehe and appreciate the attentive staff - keeps filling our water

Food: The food is just okay here. I have been here several years ago and thought the food was very…read moreaverage but decided to come back and give it another try. I still find the food to be very average; there is much better Vietnamese food in NYC. I had The Madame Pho which is their classic pho dish with beef slices and meatballs. The broth was flavorful, but the flavor wasn't as deep as other Vietnamese restaurants. We also tried an appetizer (a crispy pancake with squid and bean sprouts inside) served with lettuce and mint for wrapping. This was also nothing special. There was nothing bad about the food at all, but it isn't special enough to make me want to return and also pay more in general for Vietnamese food. Having given it a second chance and still being unimpressed, I won't be returning here. There is much better Vietnamese food that is less expensive around the city. Service: Service was excellent, and we were greeted with a lot of smiles and warmth from all of the staff both going into the restaurant and leaving the restaurant. Our server was excellent and always around. She was very attentive. Ambiance: Decor and ambiance is very nice in this place. Tables are spaced very closely together, but seating is still comfortable. The restaurant is pretty narrow but can still accommodate both small and large groups. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this restaurant if you're looking for the best Vietnamese food in the city.

This was my fourth time dining here, and I've also lost count of how many lunch specials I've…read moreordered for delivery. Safe to say... Twilight Lounge has officially become one of my go-to spots! The atmosphere is such a cozy vibe. We were greeted and seated right away, grabbed a window table, and enjoyed soft jazz playing in the background while catching up with friends. Everything we ordered was a hit! The mapo tofu had the perfect spicy, silky kick, the braised beef tendon was melt-in-your-mouth tender, the eggplant with garlic sauce was packed with flavor, the farmhouse-style pork was crispy and aromatic, and the limited-time golden salted-egg rice cakes & lobster absolutely stole the show. Crispy, savory, rich... Add the dishes' sauces to white rice, my gosh, just writing this review is making me salivate... The service was beyond excellent. Huge shoutout to Lili! Even though the kitchen took a little longer (which we honestly didn't mind since everything was made fresh), she surprised us with complimentary pear and sugar cane drinks to cool us down. It was refreshing, light, and not overly sweet. She was incredibly warm, attentive, and made sure every table was comfortable--even while handling the entire front of the restaurant by herself on a Saturday afternoon! We even got to chat with her in our mother tongue, which made the experience feel even more special. THANK YOU, Lili, for your wonderful hospitality!We'll definitely be back. Highly recommended!

Very impressive restaurant coming from the same minds behind Birds of a Feather…read more Upon walking in, I noticed the wall art composed of real-ingredients! Goes to show they don't mess when it comes to flavors. The Salted Duck Egg Tofu is phenomenal--only complaint is that I had to share it. Otherwise, I would've finished it all alone. Love seeing an all tendon dish. USA needs more of this. Yummy, chewy texture. Very tasty broth--reminds me of Vietnamese pho. The workers are so kind and playful too. They definitely added to the experience. Would love to come back.

I kept hearing great things about this NYC restaurant with the unlikely name of Ha's Snack Bar. So…read moreI managed to line up outside the tiny spot at 4:45PM on a Wednesday afternoon and snagged a seat at the counter when the doors opened at 5:30. It's a small (24 seats) but full Lower East Side restaurant featuring Vietnamese / French inspired flavors, with a great vibe, friendly, helpful servers - and you can't miss the chefs at work in the microscopic open kitchen (Two inductions and a Rational). I kicked things off with Oysters with Green Chili which were a perfect starter. Next up was the dish I'd heard a lot about, Snails with Tamarind Butter. This lived up to the praise, absolutely delicious, with a warm chunk of baguette. Later, I realized, it's reminiscent of New Orleans style BBQ Shrimp! And that's a good thing. For my final plate, I ordered the Clams with Lemongrass and Chinese Bacon, and this seafood stew type dish was wonderful as well. I loved the whole experience at Ha's, which in a previous life was a well-known NYC Pop-up (Ha's Dac Biet) from Sadie Mae Burns-Ha and Anthony Ha. Now, in addition to Ha's, they also have a larger spot, Bistrot Ha. You can sure that's on my list now too! Ha's was the first stop in a three-day NYC visit for me, and a very memorable one.

I was very excited to try this place because of all of the hype. I think it's important to note…read morethat this place doesn't have a full kitchen, it should really be for good wine and light bites. The portions are pretty small and we ordered a lot on the menu. The standouts were the zucchini and bacon toast, shrimp and melon salad (perf for the summer), skate wing, and snail in tamarind butter (their staple). FYI The snail is supper buttery

Absolutely LOVED the dishes here! So flavorful and bold and Moc Mac offers unique dishes, which I…read moretruly appreciate. It was perfect for our GNO - delicious food & lots of yap! Moc Mac is worth the visit, especially since the variety is different. Their menu sets them apart from other Viet restaurants and the staff is super accommodating. I'd definitely make the trip out here just for this place!

Food/drinks: can't complain! Everything was super solid!…read more Atmosphere: cute and not too big! Service: as expected Price: as expected for NYC Vietnamese food

Came with friends and had an intimate little booth indoors. Super tucked away it was really nice to…read morehave some privacy. As most Thai places go, with good food you have great drinks and their cocktails are amazing! Each one was just so punchy and tropical. All the food we ordered was so good! I honestly feel like nothing could go wrong here and it's definitely kept its place as one of the top spots to eat Thai for so long. And I finally know why when I ate their food. We ordered the mango salad, tom yum hot pot, green duck curry and the crab fried rice! The food came out pretty quick and honestly my favorite is the tom yum hot pot and I was hoping they can bring it back for fall and winter as they got rid of it during summer time. It was definitely one of my faves. The green duck curry was so addicting and yummy and moist and the crab fried rice was top S tier! To finish it off we had to get mango sticky rice and this one their mangos were so ripe and delicious. I would definitely come back for the hot pot season as their hot pot is soooo yummy and flavorful.

pretty average thai restaurant in nyc. no wait on a thursday night, so that was pretty good, but…read moreunfortunately they were out of the only thing we really wanted to come for (the mango sticky rice :(( ) the tempura mushrooms were a sleeper hit honestly was not expecting much out of them but i think they're the perfect appetizer since there were so many mini mushrooms and they were all crispy and the sauce was yummy! kind of like an elevated snacking peanut dish in vibe lol the curry was also good, sweet and creamy and i loved the lychee they had in the curry. the short rib was not super tender but actually still more tender than the short rib curry i had at mitr thai lololol pad see ew was probably the most average dish of the bunch. it was fine. pad see ew is pad see ew what's not to like also the vibes were great they sat us at this semi circle table i loved it and the lighting was very dim and moody (in a good way!) other than not having mango sticky rice it was ur average regular degular thai restaurant. ~$35-40pp as expected.

Easily one of my favorite NY meals and restaurants ever -- everything was delicious and unique,…read moreplus HH deals are great! They're a sister restaurant to a Michelin-star omakase, so fish quality is amazing. Staff is super nice, made great recommendations! It's a super small spot, would recommend for 2-3 people or solo date. Personal standouts include Ceviche, Chef Sampler Nigiri (5 pieces), Apples, Fish Slider... basically everything we had. Desserts were also delicious, got both the Carrot Cake and Coconut Sorbet. I can't wait to come back!

The food - absolutely incredible. The dishes have bold and unique flavors that are definitely worth…read morechecking out. However, everything is rather pricey for the portions you get. The service - we had a weird experience with the manager and servers and made us feel very unwelcomed...I won't go into specifics but I dine at many restaurants and have never been made to feel this way before :( for that reason, it's going to be tough to come back. The ambience - it's rather small and quaint. It feels cozy and I love that you can see the chefs making your order and the entire kitchen working. However, if there are people waiting to dine, it can feel packed as people kind of hang out and stand behind you while you are eating. I'd say this was a rather unique and different dining experience, however, the food really stood out and these are dishes you really can't get anywhere else.