We've tried Pho and Vietnamese on both coasts and this is the best! The seasoning is their own mix that makes every dish savory while still brining out the flavor of the main ingredients. Definitely not bland! The wait staff (we've had Sam and Christian) are super friendly and effiicient. We recommend that you ask for their recommendations. Our top picks so far: Christian's Choice, Kim Chi soup, Chicken Pho soup. read more

Soooo good. Traveling from Washington to California, stopped here and Wow! Best food I have had in a long time. I had the V1 salad and couldn't put my fork down. I highly recommend this restaurant. read more

Simple place, very nice food and service. Everything fast. Total worth it to try this one!

I loved Pho when I ate meat, and theirs is pretty good. I only went once, but plan on going again.

Our waiter (who was actually the owner) was unbelievable rude. Maybe he was trying to come off as "hip or cool" but it seemed condescending and rude. He checked our table once and then just took out. I felt like I was in a High School cafeteria. My wife had the Pho and I had the spicy pho. The food was "meh", it wasn't bad but it was pretty much tasteless. I was a little shocked at the price compared to other places I have had pho. Over all, I gave it one star for the rudeness of the owner, we will not be returning. read more

Sam City is one of my favorite restaurants. We eat there about once a month (give or take). Their food is excellent and so is their service. I would highly recommend them to anyone who likes Asian food. read more

Great local place even just if you're looking to grab a drink. It's nice to have a respectable bar that is open until 11:00 even on weekdays. The service is excellent and friendly. Even the bar food is delicious and well presented. Great addition to Albany, don't let the location in a strip mall fool you, this restaurant is very nice and pleasing to the eye as well. read more

Fabulous food. Diner atmosphere. Fair service. Reasonable prices. If you like pho and Thai food, you'll love Sam City.

This is one of my husbands favorite restaurants!! We go often! I have tried several different items and have never been disappointed! My fave is the oriental chicken salad! The dressing is delicious combined with chicken, cabbage, lettuce, slivered almonds, house made crunchy noodles and bean sprouts! Yum! My husband loves the spicy soup! A must try for sure!! read more

Everything on the menu is delicious!! From the yakisoba noodles to the teriyaki chicken.

I highly recommend Sam City. Their food is wonderful, I love their tea, and their service has always been great for us. The portion size is on the large side, which I always appreciate for leftovers! It's a bit spendy if you want to take out your family or large group, but it's well worth it! read more

The food was good. The rating would be higher if the service was better. It took a while for the waiter to take our order and she never came back to ask how it was or refill our drinks. There were only a few patrons since it was around 4:30. I got up to use the rest room and I could see the waiter BSing with a group of customers at the other side of the restaurant. We will try it again eventually and hopefully the service is better. read more

Spicy pho is the best soup ever. Sam City uses really good ingredients and it shows. I have tried several menu items and ive never been disappointed. The hot Viet-namese coffe is really strong. Best flu/cold remedy: Viet namese Coffee and spicy pho. One of my favorite places. read more

Absolutely the worst food I ever had. The sauce was burnt and the rice was so hard I had to cut it with my fork....I had to ask for a spoon for my Chile oil that I had the waitress bring me. The waitresses were all huddled up by the kitchen playing on their phones. Worst experience I've had in the area so far. read more

This is an updated review... I still really like the pho, some of the best I have had. The servers are really nice and know the menu. Just pray you don't have to call in an order. I have never had so much bad experience calling in orders. We eat in the restaurant often but mostly call in orders. I have had to call 28 times once, before someone answered (yes, really 28 different times hitting redial). Tonight their phone is off the hook or something, it hasn't worked for over an hour now. This is a constant problem. I have now switched from Sam City for phone in orders to House of Noodle. I will still go to the restaurant but no more calling in, thus the three star review. read more

Pretty good food, love the salad dressing they make in house. Disappointed when I went to buy another bottle and was told "we don't sell it here anymore it'll be available on store shelves in 3-4 months" read more

Really good food and comfortable place to dine. Love Sam's sense of humor. Wish they had veggie Pho! read more

The food is delicious and surprisingly authentic for Albany. I recommend the gyoza and the katsu! Their special salad dressing is also to die for! read more

Owner told my wife that she couldn't get just an appetizer when we have ordered just an appetizer to go before. I went back the next day and asked if I could order an appetizer without a meal and they said that I could. The discriminate against people based on their looks. We used to be regulars but if that is how they treat loyal customers then they will lose them. My family will never go back there again. read more

Super friendly wait staff, nice big parking lot, and amazing food. My son and husband have tried almost all of the Pho options. I usually get pad Thai or other non-soup foods. We have always loved every item on their menu and felt welcome. Great place to visit on a rainy day. read more

It's a love hate relationship with this place. The owner's are some of the nicest people I have ever met and are usually really accommodating. For that alone, I would give them 5 stars. However, their business model lacks something fierce. Yes their Pho is the best around because it is the ONLY around. Ever eaten at Pho places in Portland? If you absolutely love this place, then don't go there. Also, if you have never had Pho and say this place is best, well, then yes, you have never had Pho. Their soup is great. It fixes my hangovers and colds with a smile. My biggest hangups is their menu that looks like a school project using word. Every single font from Word 95 is on there. Nobody uses pictures anymore unless you are fast food, and what is up with the rules and regulations? I came here to eat. Have to order a meal if you want soda, appetizers have to be ordered with entree, holy cow! Just let me eat what I want on the menu. Also, this is the ONLY restaurant on yelp where I have seen an owner have the audacity to take pictures of only their good reviews and post them as consumer pictures on the picture page. WOW! Who does that? Don't get me wrong, they are nice people, but nieve in the worst way. Once the crazy menu and arrogance goes away, I'll be back. read more

The service alone deserves five stars. Every time we go, the service is as every restaurant's should be: attentive, friendly, and professional. The pho broth is delicate and tasty. Any of the beef pho dishes are good choices. read more

Service sucks.it took over 30 minutes to get two simple bowls of Pho. The waitress is not friendly at all. I also ordered summer rolls. There's little bit of fried dough that I have to picked out of the rolls. read more

Went here for lunch. Service wasn't too great. All staff acted like they didn't want to be there. Had to almost get up to get any service. Food is better at other locations. My sweet and sour chicken was hard and then some pieces chewy. Will not be coming back or recommending. read more

I've been here twice. The first was for take out the second time was to "dine in". Too bad I went back. I could have been content to give this place an average review. Unfortunately 2 stars is it. We ordered our meal. We decided to eliminate the shrimp in the summer roll. I guess that was a big mistake because there are no substitutions allowed. No problem I thought. The rolls came filled with cold rice and shredded iceberg lettuce. The rice roll was chewy as in too stiff and we sent it back because it tasted awful. The server looked at us in dismay and then returned to the table with the rolls to argue with us about the roll. So if you don't like what they serve better be prepared to defend yourself even though you simply think it is poor quality food. The rest of the meal was just OK but the acid stomach from the server put me in a mood that made me want to just leave. Obviously they don't get another chance read more

great food, but NOT recommended if you have a time limit. had over an hour before work and ended up being late after not getting my food for an hour. left without my food so that I wasn't any later to work than I already was. read more

Good food at OK prices. I took my vegan wife there, on a recommendation. She had a hard time finding any menu items that were truly vegan. My kids 2 and 4 liked it, but don't eat meat by their choice. We could not find any kids menu items without meat. We asked for the burger and fries without the meat patty, and the server made it sound like that was near impossible. He made it happen though. I would like to see more non meat kid items, and a menu page of strictly vegan items. That would give it 5 stars. Overall a great, clean, and friendly place to take the family. It is also nice to see a place that serves Thai food open on Sunday. read more

This place time after time proves it make fantastic meals with good size portions for solid prices. Even when they are swamped they still put out great food with consistent portions. The place is magnificent and if you haven't tried it, make it a destination to come here if you are near Albany. It will not disappoint. read more

I used to love coming to this place because they have the most amazing drinks and apps, but I am officially never coming back. My husband and I recently came in on our anniversary and we ordered drinks, appetizers, and of course entrees and everything was fine until my Pad Thai came. First, I noticed that the basil garnish had browned and looked unappealing but I had turned the other way and decided to try it anyway. The more I looked at it the more I noticed the bean sprouts were looking a little "aged" and that was displeasing, but yet I still wanted to try it because Pad Thai is my most favorite dish of all time. I took my first bite and it had a very plain, lifeless flavor to it. I tried to cover it with soy sauce and that didn't do the trick so I added some plum sauce and it still wasn't the great Pad Thai I was hoping for... It had no flavor except the slight accent of bitter cilantro and basil with overly sticky noodles. I let my husband try it and he said it tasted a little strange (side note: he is a chef at a well known catering establishment). I normally don't send dishes back but I felt it best to since it was our anniversary and I wanted to actually enjoy my dish. The waitress was sweet and took the dish back but....then the owner or cook showed up at our table. HE PROCEEDED TO ATTACK ME! My jaw dropped to the floor! I couldn't believe how defensive and condescending he was-- asking me questions like, "well do you even know how Pad Thai is supposed to taste like????" Only insecure beings with huge egos act like this. Sam City should be ashamed as I am thoroughly disgusted by how they acted towards a woman in front of her husband who just wanted to enjoy some time away from their busy lives together ON THEIR ANNIVERSAY. NO THANK YOU SAM CITY AND WE'LL TELL ALL OUR BUSINESS FRIENDS NOT TO EAT HERE. read more

First time eating here. By far the best Mongolian beef I've ever had. Service was great, staff is friendly and the price for the quality and quantity of food was unbelievable. Definitely will be coming back. Thank you for such a great variety and quality food. read more

Their spicy Pho is the best I've ever had. Really friendly service. Nice clean atmosphere and decor. Highly recommend!

We wanted to place an order to go, and were told that we need to wait in the waiting area. About 10 minutes later I went back up to the counter to try to place an order to go and a few minutes later a woman, who had finished eating, came up to pay. When the kid came up to cash her out, she told him we were first, he told her that we could wait. She apologized to us and he cashed her out. He then asked us if he could help us, and told us take out orders would take at least 35 minutes. It would have been nice if they told us that 15 minutes earlier when they told us to wait in the waiting area. But when we got there, they didn't even give us the chance to tell them we wanted to place an order to go. We left and got food elsewhere to go, with only a 15 minute wait altogether. read more

I had never dreamed of finding such great pho in the valley! This was a fun surprise, and I'm so glad I tried it out. The pho is pretty darn delicious, and the service is wonderfully friendly. I gladly make the 30 minute drive from Corvallis just for this pho. The ambience is a bit weird with diner-like booths, but I think this is kind of endearing. When I go for pho, I'm not looking for elegance. Summer roll appetizer, #1 entree and vietnamese coffee before I hit the road. These things make me happy. read more

This is my favorite restraunt in Albany. Everything is great about this place, starting with the service, the staff is very nice and make you feel right at home. Then there is the menu, there is alot of options top choose from. The best part is the Pho. I have had a lot of this soup from all over, and theirs has a very clear and flavorful broth. So far no others compare. I highly recommend try this place out. read more

Sam City is spectacular! I absoulutely loved their food. My mom introduced me to this place and we went in for lunch one afternoon. I was shell shocked almost when my mom told me that our waitress was actually one of the owners. She was very friendly, prompt, and attentive. She treated us as friends more than customers and seemed very relaxed. I ordered a yakisoba noodle dish with chicken, it wasn't terribly grease filled like i have had elsewhere and the vegtables still had a good amount of crunch to them which is favorable for me. My mom ordered us some of the summer rolls with their peanut sauce which is a must have if you visit this restaurant. Oh my goodness it was amazing. We didn't have to wait very long for our food either which was awesome, and it was even hot! Portion sizes are pretty good and they offer a vast selection of options to choose from, however it is a bit on the more pricey side for restaurants in town so therefore it isn't somewhere we frequent much. On that same note however I would recommend this place to everyone! read more

Our second time here and fabulous pho. We moved from a very diverse area and are thrilled to enjoy the high quality and caliber of food they serve here. Deliciousness! read more

Best pho I've ever tasted. The broth is amazing, the portions are huge and everything about it is just so comforting and delicious. I don't get meat in my pho, I always go with prawn or vegetable and it is more than enough food for me. I will say however that some days the broth tastes a little watered down, so the tastiness may depend on the day and chef. read more

Great pan asian food. Pho is wonderful but my favorite is the Prawn and pork combo dinner. Their sauce is a sweet and savory addition to the dishes and makes the rice especially good. Highly recommended. Not American/Chinese food. read more

Sam city is a great restaurant with awesome staff. If you go there try Marks favorite!

Great pho. I like the Korean/Vietnamese fusion spicy pho. 5 stars for the food. Unfortunately, the bearded male who seats customers and takes orders has a personality that is tough to bear when you're expecting an inviting and warm atmosphere. Because of him, we won't go back. Sorry Sam City. We'd like to, but he makes the visit to your establishment not worth it. We'll just eat pho in Portland on the rare occasion we visit friends or family. 1 star for that man's customer service. read more