wonderful Vietnamese cuisine, one of Rockville's best
DESCRIPTION: Rockville has many fine restaurants, but I feel this one rises to the top of the pack. While everything is good, the black pepper dishes (steak, shrimp, soft shell crab, scallops, or chicken) are world class. The place specializes in a lot of the French-influenced Vietnamese cuisine, which some people have mistaken for a lack of authenticity, but that's hardly the case. Lovely outdoor dining is offered when weather permits.
DATE: 2000-05-23
FOODRATING : 10
SERVICERATING : 6
AMBIANCERATING : 8
OVERALLRATING : 8
RECOMMENDED DISHES : black pepper anything!

Amazing start
DESCRIPTION: Taste of Saigon was the first restaurant that I ended up at after moving to the DC area. I'm a little bit of a food nut, and I can get very critical, but Taste of Saigon was amazing! Not only was the food and service excellent, but the prices are extremely reasonable. My personal favorite was the ginger ice cream - it starts off tasting like plain vanilla, but has a wonderful ginger aftertaste. Our server was immaculate and friendly - he really went out of his way to help us. Hopefully I'll keep finding winners in the DC area!
DATE: 2003-06-01
FOODRATING : 10
SERVICERATING : 10
AMBIANCERATING : 8
OVERALLRATING : 10
RECOMMENDED DISHES : Ginger Ice Cream, Crab Claw Wrapped in Shrimp

Delighted again!
DESCRIPTION: The Blackened Chicken with Special Sauce has such a divine taste!!! The Phos are terrific, too!!! I am an hour and a half away from this restaurant, so we don't get there often enough. How I'd love to have the recipe for that 'special sauce'!
DATE: 2003-08-22
FOODRATING : 10
SERVICERATING : 10
AMBIANCERATING : 10
OVERALLRATING : 8
RECOMMENDED DISHES : blackened chicken with special sauce, beef pho

Pho at its Best!
DESCRIPTION: This place has really nice decor, is comfortable and clean; one of the nicest and friendliest Vietnamese restaurants that I ever had been to. It's location is in Columbia, MD, off of Snowden River Parkway. The food is quite delicious and the quantity very generous. The price is definitely affordable. With around 40 bucks, we were able to eat for 6 people including a few beers!! The service is also very good, the waitresses are so polite, as well as the bus girl. The hospitality of the Manager is also of note. He's the older guy you see walking the floor greeting the customers and ensuring they are OK. He always made you feel welcomed and want to return again and again. I exceptionally love the atmosphere of dining room which always makes me feel so comfortable and warm, especially I like to enjoy those outstanding "Still Life" original Vietnamese paintings which are unique among others I've seen. This is a nice Vietnamese restaurant worthy to dine again and again!
DATE: 2005-04-08
FOODRATING : 10
SERVICERATING : 8
AMBIANCERATING : 8
OVERALLRATING : 10
RECOMMENDED DISHES : sliced chicken with lemon grass, bo luc lac (diced beef sauteed with onion & blac pepper), fish in clay pot l simmered with fish sauce, grilled shrimp paste on sugar canes, seafood in 5 flavor sauces, crunchy beef with sweet & hot sauce, etc. The most famous PHO (beef noodle soup) and variety of chicken, seafood eagg noodle soups. A lot of grilled spring rolls, beef, pork, chicken and shrimps and fresh Summer rolls and rosted quails. Also many fresh fruit Smoothies to refresh your appetite.

wow. best place around.
DESCRIPTION: Good vietnamese food is everywhere in Boston and San Francisco but I have been looking for a place locally. This is it! The food is fresh and flavorful -- just fantastic. The prices are amazing (finally a place near DC that doesn't charge $5 for good summer rolls). The staff is friendly and inviting. It makes me happy just thinking of when I can go back. Definitely worth stopping off I-95
DATE: 2006-04-19
FOODRATING : 8
SERVICERATING : 8
AMBIANCERATING : 8
OVERALLRATING : 8
RECOMMENDED DISHES : Great noodle dishes! and don't miss the summer rolls, basil pork, vietnamese iced coffee. yum!

DESCRIPTION: The only place I go to get my Vietnamese soup! I Love it!
DATE: 2003-05-28
FOODRATING : 8
SERVICERATING : 8
AMBIANCERATING : 6
OVERALLRATING : 8
RECOMMENDED DISHES : Soup # 4 is my fav.

Great, great stuff!
DESCRIPTION: Not for the faint of heart- but great food. Get the one with tripe, tendon, and brisket. Add Asian basil and some hot sauce and sweet sauce (hoisin?) to taste. Then - with one of the self standing spoons - fill half with hot sauce and half with the sweet sauce - dip the pieces of meat in that. Great food. Note: there are no private tables per se- just big rows and you sit where there is an open space.
DATE: 2003-08-05
FOODRATING : 10
SERVICERATING : 8
AMBIANCERATING : 6
OVERALLRATING : 10
RECOMMENDED DISHES : pho!

Excellent and cheap, though no atmosphere
DESCRIPTION: Surprisingly good little place with a large menu. Highlights are the pho, various soups, salads, hot pot dishes, imperial rolls... it's pretty hard to go wrong. If you want to dine in a nice atmosphere though, keep in mind that there is no ambience here. Food sure is good though. Under previous ownership, there were apparently some health problems, but that is in the past now.
DATE: 2000-05-23
FOODRATING : 8
SERVICERATING : 6
AMBIANCERATING : 4
OVERALLRATING : 6
RECOMMENDED DISHES : vietnamese special salad, but it's all good

Good Food, Slow Service
DESCRIPTION: I went to Nam's recently with a large group of people who arrived over a long period. (That is, most of our group was there on time, but some arrived an hour late and some even later.) Parking was very easy in the next-door garage, which was free on the weekend. The food was delicious but overpriced - my dish was very small (I was still hungry after) even though I'd paid as much as anybody else. The service, however, was very slow. It took more than 45 minutes after we placed our order before anybody's food showed up - and that was the same for members of our party who arrived later, so it wasn't that our large group caused the problem. They were nice enough to give everybody separate checks, though, which made things much easier
DATE: 2003-09-01
FOODRATING : 6
SERVICERATING : 6
AMBIANCERATING : 4
OVERALLRATING : 4
RECOMMENDED DISHES : Vegetable Saut

Good overall, but not much to look at
DESCRIPTION: Been to Nam's a couple of times now, generally just with one other person. The selection of dishes is excellent, and the soups are quite good. You may be tempted to order the "33" beer, from Vietnam, but don't bother -- the French taught the Vietnamese everything they knew about beer making, which is nothin'. Always felt like a good value, service was just fine (most recently, February 2005) but the room is just that: a room. Not much to look at.
DATE: 2005-03-08
FOODRATING : 6
SERVICERATING : 8
AMBIANCERATING : 6
OVERALLRATING : 6
RECOMMENDED DISHES : Crispy pork spring rolls