In the mid-1990s I stumbled upon a hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Saigon Hut, at the corner of Meridian and Lexington streets. The small Vietnamese eatery seemed to pop up at a time when a number of families from Southeast Asia were moving into East Boston, and I enjoyed the inexpensive dishes and fresh ingredients.Over the years I've been to Saigon Hut dozens of times, with my usual order including fresh spring rolls and pho -- Vietnamese noodle soup. Sometimes, if I didn't feel like soup, I'd get lo mein noodles with chicken and vegetables. At one point I was eating there frequently with a colleague from Savio High School, and the waitress -- sweet, though a bit clumsy -- knew our names and our orders.
Once I ordered the same dishes at Pho Pasteur, Boston's most well-known Vietnamese restaurant, and the food was more expensive and not as good.
My cousin, who I introduced to Saigon Hut, called me yesterday to say that the place was under new ownership, the prices had gone up and the food was not as good. I wasn't feeling well, and I wanted some soup to soothe me, so I got an order of pho to go (OK, and the lo mein noodles, too -- I was testing it all for this report!). I didn't notice much of a difference in the quality of the food. Any readers visit Saigon Hut recently?
3 comments:
I went there with my wife on Thursday to try it out as we live close by. We were semi-frequent eaters (usually pho takeout) under the prior owners. I remember meeting Vietnames people in other areas of the city and upon learning that I lived in East Boston they would comment that Saigon Hut was one of the best Vietnamese restaurants they knew.
On this most recent trip, my wife had the pho and we though it was the mostly the same as before. The broth seemed even richer and more flavorful. I had noodles with chicken lemongrass and chili and the flavor was great, although it wasn't as spicy as advertised. My wife had a soda and I had an avocado shake. We also had the spring rolls as an appetizer which I liked a lot as they had both chicken and shrimp in the role with an excellent peanut sauce. Total bill = $24. Pretty good price in my book.
They have also made a big improvement with the decor and I like the red paint, which also stands out nicely when driving by with those huge glass windows.
After the news about Cafe Italia, it goes to show that if we like a restaurant and want more diversity in types of restaurants, then we need to eat at them regularly. I am glad that we have a Vietnamese restaurant in Eastie and I think it adds a lot to the culinary options. I hope they succeed.
I've been a fan of the Hut since I moved to Eastie about 4 years ago, but my big complaint was that their hours were inconsistent (i.e., they didn't keep to their own posted hours, and frequently would make customers feel they had inconvenienced the proprietors even when arriving 1-2 hours before the posted closing). After reading your post on Sunday morning, I dragged a friend there for lunch and we had delectable pho - hers was seafood and mine was chicken. The prices are up a smidge, but as the last commenter noted, they've spiffed up the place a bit and, best of all, the new owner assured me that they will be open 7 days a week, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Oh, and the new menus say "Saigon Restaurant," not "Saigon Hut," and the awning with the old name has been taken down.
Still awesome.
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