Saigon Square - Melbourne

Great for a stop on a busy day shopping, plenty of options, good amount of seating and good quick service

Cold day, wanted some pho, noticed this place on the Melbourne Central store directory. Given that it was a food court, didn't have particularly high expectations. Still, I was very disappointed with the large beef pho $11). Beef balls tasted outright off, like they had been sitting in a freezer for weeks, couldn't actually finish more than one. Broth had absolutely no beef or authentic spice flavour at all, tasted like it was made from stock powder. Beef was tough, especially the sinewy bits, with lots of fat around the edges. On the plus side, the noodles were smooth and the coriander garnish looked fresh.

I had a craving for a banh mi (Vietnamese roll with pate, chicken, pork or other meat, and pickled vegetables and herbs, esp coriander). I was shopping nearby, so went to this place. Now, good or even just 'decent ' banh mi is commonly available all over Melbourne nowadays. This one had nice meat lemongrass chicken, but that 's the best I can say about it. The roll was flaky, not a crusty fresh baguette roll which is an absolute essential to begin with. There wasn 't any pate, just margarine!!! Yuck. And iceberg lettuce, no coriander. The grated carrot wasn 't pickled either. I will not be back here again, and wouldn 't recommend it, at least for banh mi.

I have been in Melbourne for 12 days and tried many restaurants. This is by far the worst taste and quality of any Asian food i have had staying here. Just a few blocks away in the Chinatown area you will be better pleased.

****. I had the bo la lot noodle salad and felt that I essentially paid $10 for a bowl of bean sprouts. The nuoc cham was bland, which meant everything about the meal was bland. Also, vnmese meals are about the abundance of herbs. I got one 1.5 mint leaves. Honestly, these are basic, noodle salads and are staple Vnmese dishes so to get the balance wrong speaks volumes about you as a business. I am not willing to give them another go with the plethora of other choices, I would go somewhere else for my Vietnamese lunch. I essentially gave this place one star for the quality of their ingredients which is essentially rehydrated rice noodles, mediocre la lot beef rolls and lots, and lots of bean shoots (which I did NOT appreciate).