For some reason, everywhere I’ve lived in Austin has been in a “delivery-free” zone. Sadly, I don’t mean “free delivery,” which would be ideal, but rather the infinitely more tragic Bermuda Triangle-esque situation where NO ONE will deliver their tasty meals to my house.

Seriously, Austin, what gives? You’ll deliver to broke-ass college kids, but not working-class types like me? Bad form, my friend.

As if in response to my ready-to-print rant, I recently returned home from a hard day at work to discover a flier from Saigon Kitchen elastic-banded to my doorknob. What? Could it be? A restaurant that would deliver to my secret bunker?!

At first I was skeptical. How good could this place be, if they were willing to deliver to the Dead Zone? I perused their menu, and discovered they specialized in Vietnamese food, with an emphasis on pho. There were, however, a number of Americanized “Chinese” dishes on offer, which (after consulting the many negative reviews thereof on Yelp) I wisely decided to avoid.

But seriously, folks, who orders Chinese food at a Vietnamese joint? GET THE PHO, YOU FOOL!

"Pho in Saigon" (photo by Flickr user Andrew Dinh, via Wikipedia)

Celebrity Intern and I pondered our pho options, as one Vietnamese food-loving Yelper did positively note that he was happy to see the fatty brisket option (which he claimed was difficult to find in Austin). I settled on the fatty brisket, after his glowing reviews, while Celebrity Intern went with the lean beef, and we ordered up 2 large bowls to satisfy our cravings.

Less than half an hour later, there was a knock on the door. We had accidentally ordered 3 bowls instead of 2, so the total came to $24 rather than the $15 we’d been projecting. (It was totally worth it, though, as we slurped that third bowl up with gusto the next day.)

So, what of Saigon Kitchen’s pho? I enjoyed my fatty brisket, and although Celebrity Intern was a bit weirded out by the rare serving of lean beef he received, he found the brisket tasty as well. We were a bit confused about why the noodles were put in a separate styrofoam container, rather than included with the broth itself (as this left them all stuck together in a huge blob), but Celebrity Intern found this a plus for those looking to keep their carb intake low. (Me? I just want everything mixed together for maximum marination.)

In traditional ”assemble your own” setup, when you order the large pho you’ll receive:

• A huge styrofoam container of broth
• Another styrofoam container with rice noodles, bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, green onions, jalapenos, your meat of choice, a slice of lime and
• Two small plastic containers of sriracha chili and hoisin sauces to spice things to your liking

Celebrity Intern played it safe and only mixed in a bit of the sriracha and hoisin, while I grabbed for the gusto and mixed all of it into my bowl.

I have no idea what their “small” bowl size looks like, but I can tell you that the large was more than enough for me. Next time, I think I will go for the smaller size, as I felt quite stuffed and sloshy with broth at the end of the meal.

I give Saigon Kitchen major points for delivering to the Dead Zone, but even if they didn’t, I’d still be in their corner. Their pho really hit the spot, and while Celebrity Intern was sad to say that it wasn’t quite as delicious as the cilantro-rich broth we used to order from a place around the corner from our Montreal apartment, I feel their multiple beef options made up for the lack of cilantro flavor.

If you live in South Austin and want to give ‘em a whirl, I would definitely recommend the pho. Anyone silly enough to order General Tso Chicken from a Vietnamese restaurant, however, shall get what he deserves.

Saigon Kitchen
4323 S. I-35
Delivery: 512-326-3969