Saigon Pagolac Restaurant

Best place for 7-​course beef in Houston. I still say they do this better in Irvine, but so be it.
I mostly eat the first course. Don’t kill me.

You only come here for one thing. That is bo bay mon. I can never finish one serving of this stuff. It is recommended for two. Everyone laughs at me when I tell them the last and seventh dish is alphabet soup. It is only when it comes out they realize what I am talking about.

Overall i would say 3.5 starts but not quite 4 stars. My cousin and I shared the 7 course beef and an order of the Banh Xeo. 7 course beef was just okay in my opinion. I really enjoyed about 3 or 4 of the meats but 2 of them were really dry and seemed old. Also the soup, i really didn’t care for. The Banh Xeo was terrific though. So far the best one I’ve had. Next time I’m craving Banh Xeo, i know where to go! Took forever for the waiter to come and take our order but once he did he was very helpful and attentive.

This was a really awesome place to go with my boyfriend, but I wish we would have been with someone who spoke the language and knew what to do. We shared the 7 beef course and everything was very delicious. They don’t have free refills on soda, which I think is a bummer. The language barrier was difficult to say the least, but that course is a meal meant for a queen… To share with a king. That is not something only one normal rational sized person could eat!

If you’re looking to feast on the 7 course of beef meal, then look no further. There are a couple of restaurants in the area that offer this meal however I will say Saigon Pagolac simply does it the best!
For those not familiar this meal, the meal consists of exactly what its name suggests… seven courses of beef. Each of the seven courses come as a different variation of beef. For the most, you’ll find every variation extremely appetizing! My personal favorite is the Hawaiian beef (Bo La Lot). Upon biting into this, you’ll instantly taste a burst of flavor that definitely hits the spot! Aside from all the beef, they also offer a fried catfish which I personally say is a must order! The fish is perfectly fried and you’ll find a nice crunch when biting into it. I typically order the medium size and find it way more than enough for my typical party of four. The fish does take a bit longer to come out however you can call in advance and place your order for your fried fish.
I should note the staff here can at times be a bit slow at bringing what you requested out. Many times my water was left empty despite my request for more water. My biggest concern however is the floor. The floor has accumulated quite a bit of grease and can be extremely slippery when walking on. Definitely take an extreme precaution when walking. Aside from that, after coming here, you’ll find yourself being treated to a tasty seven courses of beef!

My husband always raves about how good the 7 meat dish in California is. So we found this place through Unilocal.They gave a lot of sides with our 7 meat course. We also received free refills on the sides. Their mum (sp?) dipping sauce was favorited by my family and I. That is the grey sauce with pineapple inside. You can order a smaller fried fish if your party is smaller. We were really stuffed by the end of this meal. We went earlier than dinner hours so we were the only customers there. Very satisfied with the 7 meat course.

Food is decent especially for the price. The beef 7 course is only $ 16 and definitely enough for 2, possibly even three people. You have to order a side of steamed vermicelli noodles which is like $ 3, but totally worth it. The baked catfish is always good but pricey. This is very traditional Vietnamese food.

Houston is a gold mine for delicious Vietnamese food and Pagolac is one of my top choices whenever I visit home. Granted, the cleanliness factor of this place is probably 4 out of 10 (be careful walking around here, there’s probably a decade of grease on the floors), and this should normally be a turn off, but damn the food is so good!
It’s my go to place for Bo 7 Mon and ca nuong (which takes about 30 – 40 minutes, so keep that in mind when in order). You can’t go wrong with either of those, or an order of bo nuong vi. Also, surprisingly the hu tieu xao ap chao (vietnamese flat noodles, extra crispy) here is freaking tasty. I randomly ordered that one day and have been making sure I get it every time since.
It’s grimy and I worry about them being shut down by a health inspector, but it’s worth every delicious bite.

Holy cow batman!!! Officially just found the best Vietnamese food in Houston. I saw good reviews, went solo, ordered the 7 course beef dinner. I seriously had enough food to feed most peoples families tonight, and the to go bag was almost bigger than the meal! Everything had a wonderful service; they even came out to the table and showed you how to roll all the rice paper rolls and there was fondu and fire. It couldn’t have been more amazing. And guess how much it cost me? $ 15.95. I repeat. $ 15.95. I’ve paid $ 150 in Houston for meals that weren’t that good.

Been coming here since forever. I’m surprised how many people have never been here before. I never get the 7 course beef because I don’t like everything that comes with it.
Every time I come I get the same thing. Bo nuong vì (beef marinated with oil and lemongrass cooked on top of a hot plate with more oil lol) Bo nhung dam (healthier alternative, beef cooked fondue style in vinegar) ABC Soup and fried/​baked fish. Not sure if it’s fried or baked or both but it’s crispy and delicious. Fish takes 30 minutes to come out so if you want it right away call and order ahead of time. Last but not least fried fat on the side is a must to add to your rolls. So fattening but so good!
Once you leave this place you will smell the entire day. No way around it but going straight home to shower. Your clothes, hair and car will smell. Be sure to do laundry immediately or your entire room will smell as well lol

Ah yes i remember when i went here food was actually pretty good ate the fish which was huge. But the quality surprisingly was on point. The interior is different. But i dont mind really. I am sure to come again.

My friend brought me here for dinner while I was visiting family in Houston and it was a great experience! We had an order of the 7 Beef and a medium baked catfish. That really was too much food for two people! The beef came in various different ways but my favorite had to be the beef wrapped in leaves — it was super flavorful! My least favorite had to be the rare beef cooked in boiling water. But the star of the meal had to be the baked catfish! I’m usually not a catfish fan but it was baked until the skin was super crispy and sprinkled with tons of fried shallots and ground peanuts for an added crunch when you made them into spring rolls! I definitely would like to come back and bring my in-​laws to try it out!

I’ve been here several times before and each time service and food was good (I normally get the beef to cook on the skillet thing with banh hoi). This time, however, I saw a tiny baby roach squeezed in between the table and the glass top. It was laying face up, still alive and kicking… maybe this is the secret sauce?!?

I found about Saigon Pagolac through an online article several months ago and had it in the back of my mind. I decided to voyage out to Bellaire one evening recently after Chef C. Shepherd recommended this place as a classic Vietnamese restaurant.
Saigon Pagolac is slightly hidden but not too hard to find with numerous private parking lot spaces. As soon as we entered, we had to wait to be seated but was immediately. We probably sat for about 10 minutes before the waitress arrived with menus and took our drink orders.
Before arriving, I knew I wanted to try the 7 courses of beef that Saigon Pagolac is known for. Frankly, I didn’t know what or how the 7 courses of beef was prepared until we got the order. In summary, I made spring rolls with 7 different types of meat. More than plenty of rice paper wrap was given with lukewarm water, 7 meats, vegetables, and fish sauce. Order a side of thin vermicelli to add to the rolls!
How to eat:
Get rice paper wrap and wet it throughout with the water.**
Place rice paper wrap flat onto your dish and add vermicelli, desired vegetables, and meat of choice in a linear fashion.
Try to place the vegetables and meat as close together on one side of the paper wrap.
Roll wrap and then fold the outer edges inwards to create that custom spring roll of yours.
**I layered two rice paper wraps to prevent the rolls from falling apart. You may use one or two, whatever to your liking.
Afterwards, our waitress brought a soup that was shared and an Asian octopus/​shrimp flavored chip. Both were perfect to sip and eat after dinner. Soup tasted like a Korean soup to be honest that I cannot remember the name of.
Cons: Service, Décor, and Cleanliness. Our waitress was running around looking clueless sometimes and seemed to forget the left, front side of the restaurant that she had to take care of as well. We had to flag down our waitress three times — once for drink refills, once for extra vegetables, and once for the bill.
Would I come again? Yes — cheap, yummy food that leaves you satisfied. Count me in.

Pros: 7 courses of beef. Usually less of a wait than Jasmine.
Cons: service, décor, cleanliness

What a fun night! We had the seven course beef and an order of shrimp fried rice, and it was just a wonderful experience. While the food maybe didn’t blow my mind, I think it totally deserves five stars because of the service, good food and fun presentation/​experience of the meal, not to mention that it was right for the price.
Food: The seven course beef was really fun. For one of the courses, you cook it yourself (fondue style), and you get to wrap your own spring rolls for most of the courses. Even all of the veggies are delish. Of all of the courses, the first (the cook-​your-​own-​beef) and the last (the beef soup) were my favorites. And the shrimp fried rice may sound simple, but it was some of the best I’ve ever had and was surprisingly nice and garlic-​y.
Service: I didn’t have the same experience that most other Unilocalers seemed to have: when we were there, the service was excellent, and the server was really nice and explained the courses and how to make the spring rolls. She was also nice when explaining how much food we really needed for two people.
Price: The seven course beef was about $ 15 for one order (the menu says «per person,» but the host told us we needed only one order for the two of us), and the shrimp fried rice was about $ 9. So, with tax and tip, we got out of there for $ 33 for two people. And there was plenty of leftover food for one or two meals.

I’m from the DC/​dmv area, visiting my husbands family here in Houston and heard good reviews from the locals about how great the restaurant. Of course after hearing everyone rave about how amazing this place was I was excited to experience it for myself.
Unfortunately my dinner experience there didn’t make the cut. Being this is my first time to the restaurant and out of town I expected better service.
The food was great. The only thing that ruined the whole experience was that there was a cock roach crawling around on our table next to all of our food! One can only imagine where it had came from. All I know is that cock roaches don’t fly and it had only appeared when they brought the food out.
Not only did we had to catch the roach ourselves and show it to the staff, their only solution to situation was to offer us if we wanted to «switch tables». In what world does switching tables remedies a situation where diners are met with cockroaches in a restaurant?!
I would’ve been okay with the situation if they staff has checked up on us or refilled our drinks or asked if everything else was okay or even if they offered us some kind of discount or took off our drinks, but when we received the bill they included gratuity to the check and made sure they spent minimal contact with us because they were probably embarrassed.
I can only imagine how often they clean their kitchen. It’s a shame that my experience was only ruined by the cockroach and the poor wait staff service when the food was great.

This is my second time here and i’m just meh about this place. My mom was in town visiting for the weekend so we came here with the extended family for dinner. There is a huge parking lot which is a plus, but I have seen it fill up to capacity pretty quickly.
Service: the waitress that we had was really nice and attentive. She did have a lot of ground to cover between our two tables and bringing everything out.
Food: Since I don’t eat fried fish, I ordered Phở. Without a doubt this is one of the WORST bowls of Phở I’ve ever had in my entire life. There was a really odd flavor and it just wasn’t robust at all. Definitely didn’t feel like it had been stewing for hours. The soft tendon literally came in one giant chunk. Annoying. My siblings didn’t really care for this place either.

You can’t expect amazing service at an Asian restaurant, and this place is no different. It wasn’t even packed that day, yet our waiter brought food out without giving us plates/​utensils, and he had to be reminded to refill our waters. Maybe the place was understaffed that day.
We came to try the «Bo 7 Mon» (Beef 7 ways). Out of the 7 ways they presented beef, I only liked the one that was wrapped in a leaf. All the other ones were «okay.» The «steak» beef was very dry. We’ve had better Bo 7 Mon in Arlington.

This place is very quaint and has a stunning mural on the wall that really set the tone of the restaurant.
You will understand when you see it! I started with the salted plum soda (Soda Xi). This was CRAZY to my palette and brain for that matter, because you automatically assume it will be a sweet beverage because of plums. I guess.well, Hell no. It’s not sweet at all (I think the SALTED PLUM should have been the hint). Your glass comes with a salted plum at the bottom, sugar crystals atop it and crushed ice. You pour club soda over it and mash. You have to try it to really understand how crazy FUN this experience is!
I didn’t eat much here as I am not a big fan of spring rolls and the bulk of this visit was creating your own spring rolls.
But I did try the «Bahn Xeo» or the Vietnamese crêpe that you roll in lettuce and dip into the cause of your choice. It was really good and totally scratched the itch I was having for fried egg rolls.
Totally fell in love with the” Bo Nuong Vi” or Perfectly marinated beef in lemon grass, garlic and cilantro. You get your own little griddle to cook your meats. delicious, flavorful and smoking hot. I ate everyone’s portion.
I didn’t get to try the «Bo la lot» Ground beef wrapped in Hawaiian leaf and grilled over charcoal but I heard nothing but great things!