Saigon Pearl Vietnamese Restaurant Review

Sides Served with Bowl of Pho

Saigon Pearl Vietnamese Restaurant
Category: Vietnamese
Rating: 4/5 stars
Wesbite: Saigon Pearl on Yelp

Likes: friendly staff, food, cheap prices, friendly manager, easy ordering of hard to say Vietnamese entrees, non-English speaking people eat here a lot, tasty pho! 

Dislikes: the fish sauce stinks, no hot pots on the menu

Brad and I have been going to Saigon Pearl for years now. They recently just had a management change. It used to be a little bit of a dive. Now, they have new dishes, new table tops, new painted walls, and better food. This evening we went out for a date night dinner and had some of the tasty dishes. 

Steamed Dumplings and Spring Rolls

For appetizers, we get fresh spring rolls and steamed dumplings. The spring rolls always have shrimp in them and other vegetables accompanied by Thai basil. One order comes with two spring rolls and a peanut dipping sauce. The dumplings have sausage and shrimp in them. The dumplings come with THE BEST dipping sauce, with a smoky soy ginger taste. I usually put the left over sauce to the side and use it to dip other dishes in.


Brad ordered the large P3 bowl of pho. Pho is a Vietnamese soup that has meat, broth, and noodles. In Vietnam, they eat it for breakfast. Saigon Pearl's P3 has beef flank and skirt steak in with the noodles and broth. To accompany the soup, it comes with basil, bean sprouts, jalapenos, and limes.  Brad and I believe that it is the second best bowl of pho in the Richmond area (the first goes to Pho 79). For more information on what pho is, check it out at the Steamy Kitchen.

I ordered the vermicelli bowl, V8. The dish features pork, fried egg roll pieces, and a skewer of grilled shrimp. They are placed in a large bowl with noodles, lettuce, bean sprouts, cucumber, carrots, and peanuts. It comes with fish sauce, which I do not particularly care for, but I saved my smoky ginger sauce from the dumplings to put on it. You can also use leftover peanut sauce, too. For both dishes, you can also use sauces on the table. They always keep Sriracha, chili garlic sauce, and hoisin sauce at the end of the table.

Pho soup with sides

Vermicelli bowl with egg roll, grilled shrimp, and pork