As I mentioned in our review of Sally’s Apizza Woburn, our travels recently have resulted in our having several visits to Woburn, MA, usually trying to get a meal before we head home. There’s an extremely high restaurant density in that part of Woburn, but on our various drive-bys, I had noticed one relative newcomer that looked worth checking out: Saigon Eatery.
Up until fairly recently, what’s now Saigon Eatery was a slightly hard to get to location (it’s hard to get to from the east without doing some sort of slightly sketchy U-turn), next to a furniture store. It was formerly a Noodles & Company, but sometime in late 2024 they closed, and the place got renovated into Saigon Eatery. I’ve long joked that a lot of Vietnamese places have more than a bit of a utilitarian bent to the decor, but Saigon Eatery, while keeping with the basic bench-style seating typical of a good phở joint, is actually pretty inviting: some nice wood panels, some nice seating, and a few decorative prints. Service is counter-based, so you place your order, get a number, and relax while they prep your food.
Menu-wise, Saigon Eatery has the typical menu I find in most places like this in New England: the menu is Vietnamese-centered, but with some broad forays into broader Southeast Asian cuisine. So you’ve got the basic Vietnamese classics: phở , various bún chả options, bánh mì, various cơm plates, and chả giò. Add in a few Chinese dishes (lo mein and chow mein from the wok), and a nod to Thailand with a pad thai, and they’ve got a reasonable menu. We decided to starting off with some gỏi cuốn (summer rolls) which were very nicely executed, with nicely steamed and cooled wrappers, fresh rice, good veggies, and cold chicken. The last of these was a bit of a surprise, since I almost universally expect my gỏi cuốn to be shrimp-based, and it is a menu option at Saigon Eatery, but apparently the default is chicken. Quite good, actually, but next time I’ll have to make sure to order the shrimp.
For my main course, I got some phở. Particularly, phở tái nạm with rare eye of round and well-done brisket. I usually prefer tendon as well, but Saigon Eatery keeps a more limited menu. In any case, this was a rather good bowl of phở: a really rich broth with some good star anise notes, perfectly done rice noodles, a reasonable amount of meat, and some good fresh veggies. Satisfying, especially since our home region, the Upper Valley, doesn’t really have any place that makes a proper phở. I’d definitely come back for this.
Well, I did come back, on another trip to Woburn, and decided I wasn’t in the mood for phở, instead, going for bún chả giò thịt nướng, my standard order if I’m not craving phở. This is a cold rice noodle salad topped with spicy fish sauce, grilled pork, and egg rolls (I actually had to order it that way, “Bún with grilled pork, add egg rolls”). This was a good overall dish, with the pork in this dish being well above average: tender, flavorful, well-crisped, and well-spiced. I was thoroughly pleased by this dish as well.
Overall, I really liked Saigon Eatery. Good Vietnamese food, with a few particularly good standouts like the grilled pork. I’ll definitely make sure to come back on our next trips to Woburn.
