Saigon Bay, Pho, and Bubble Tea

The Saigon Bay, a Vietnamese restaurant on Sacramento State's campus, is surprisingly good, if a bit pricy. They are also one of few places in the area to sell bubble tea.

First off, the menu is fairly small, consisting of pho (prounounced more like "pha"), noodles in broth with your choice of meats or vegetables, sandwiches, and spring rolls. Being a small restaurant, the menu is on the wall behind the counter, almost like a fast food restaurant (and in thinking, who are they kidding? It is little more than such for college students.).

The pho took mere minutes (blink and the food is ready) to make, and there were plenty of tables both inside and outside to enjoy the flank steak pho at. The tables inside are fairly close together and it was difficult getting four people around the table.

The pho itself was delicious, but rather expensive. The styrene bowl of pho, useful for traveling on campus, costs a whopping $6. While the noodles and meat are delicious and filling, it feels like there should be more. It is reminiscent of a bowl of udon noodles, a fair Japanese equivalent, but udon noodles are much thicker and usually come with far more meat. For the same size bowl of udon, I'd expect to pay $6. The pho noodles are much thinner, and thus come off as cheaper.

Another point of contention was that Saigon Bay normally provides the large Chinese-style soup spoons for pho, but on this trip, only normal spoons and chopsticks. For those that like their soup spicy, Srircha sauce is provided in large quantities.

The other part of the meal - the drink - is where Saigon Bay shines brightly. They are the only restaurant near campus that sells boba or bubble tea. The name is a misnomer - there are no bubbles, and it's a smoothie, not tea. The "bubbles" are orbs of black tapioca that sit at the bottom of the smoothie. A much-larger-than-normal straw is provided to drink the smoothie and suck up the orbs. While a bit pricy at $3 for a single bubble tea, it's worth it. The tapioca balls are mostly tasteless, and are there for texture more than anything, so the only requirement to like the drink is enjoying fruit-flavored smoothies.

For the starving college student looking to have something other than Panda Express or Burger King, the Saigon Bay is an excellent choice. The food is good and the drinks are better, but the price is a higher than expected. It is more of a treat than a replacement for the student who normally eats at the Hive, something to splurge on and feel more refined than getting another Whopper or bowl of orange chicken and rice.