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| - I will say for the record that my first review of this restaurant was 5 stars, and with good reason. Sadly, Saigon 88 recently changed hands. We discovered this on our visit last night. GONE is the menu I loved so much, replaced by a pretty typical Chinese food menu that is less than inspiring, with a few holdovers from the previous menu. The good news was that our favorite waitress still greeted us upon our arrival. We knew that something had happened, because one of the signs in the parking lot (not the one on the building) had changed. We asked a couple that was leaving if it was still Saigon 88. They told us they had a new owner, but still had the sushi. We decided to give the new guy a try.
There used to be a delicious cold chocolately coffee drink on the menu that my dining partner enjoyed very much. GONE. Oh, well, a pot of hot tea sufficed. The selection of beers had also been reduced (which is saying something because it wasn't very exciting before!) and the Tsing Tao, Heineken, and Sapporo were the most interesting beers available. Meh.
Even though it wasn't on the new menu, our waitress told us that they could still prepare our favorite roll for us, the Royce's Roll. We ordered it, naturally. It looked different, and it tasted different. The sauce had changed, and the salmon on top was sliced a little thicker, and it was overcooked, as it fell apart in the grasp of our chopsticks. It was pretty good, but the flavor was wrong, and even the sticky rice didn't seem like sticky rice - more like the house white rice. Definitely a step or two down from what we had been accustomed to.
Also gone from the menu were the delicious soups that often attracted us to this place, replaced with the typical wonton/egg drop/hot and sour soups that are on most Chinese menus. We decided to get the Hot & Sour soup for two, and we ended up bringing half of it home with us. As hot and sour soups go, this was extremely mediocre, with not enough "bite." I think I used the word "thin" to describe it while slurping it down to the disappointed look on my partner's face.
On to our entree. I decided to order Kung Pao chicken, because I have enjoyed this dish as a "barometer" of Chinese menus all over the country. The presentation was nice, but they wouldn't substitute fried rice for the stuck together white rice that came with the meal. The chicken itself was perfectly cooked - very tender. The sauce was very, very weak and uninspiring. There was WAY too much celery and not enough peanut in the dish, but the vegetables were still crunchy and cooked right.
We noticed a few discouraging things. Like for instance, very few customers. The place was virtually empty, and it's a big, nicely decorated space. We also noticed that the new owner isn't nearly as meticulous about the appearance of his restaurant as the guy who opened the place. There was a bag of sidewalk salt laying next to the door, and paint peeling on the wall next to the door, and the rest room wasn't pristinely clean like it used to be. Also, the dishes that were on the table for our sushi weren't squeaky clean like they used to be under the old regime. Some of the furniture from the deck was stacked up in front of the window where we like to sit, so when we looked out onto route 19, we were treated to a view of stacked up furniture.
Our verdict? We decided to keep an open mind. We want to find out exactly what this place does well, but we're not willing to spend a bunch of money on disappointing meals to find out where their wheelhouse is. The lady who sat in the booth next to us assured us that the place was "better" now under the new management. As we were leaving last night, we chuckled about this "tip" and the remark was made that many people around here just don't know any better.
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