What if I told you that “bottomless in “Las Vegas” doesn’t necessarily mean showgirls nude below the waist? Sure, establishments featuring nude performers happen in Vegas, but if I were to frequent one, my Kim would probably make me stay in Las Vegas. She’s perfectly fine, however, with my conception of bottomless. That would bottomless as in an endless amount of food for a single price. That type of bottomless establishment is pretty common in Las Vegas (though no longer inexpensive). One type of bottomless restaurant we didn’t ever expect to find in Vegas (or anywhere) is an all-you-can-eat (AYCE) Vietnamese restaurant.
In my hundreds of visits to Vietnamese restaurants, I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of Ẩm thực Việt Nam (the Vietnamese term for Vietnamese cuisine or gastronomy). Every experience, nay every morsel, has been a joyous exploration of exotic indulgence. Vietnamese cuisine is one of my three favorite Asian culinary arts (along with Malaysian and Thai). So, finding a Las Vegas restaurant with a vast menu of items heretofore unexplored made for an exciting prospect. As a pedantic diner with a disdain for buffets and their sneeze guards, I would gladly make an exception for Vietnamese food.
We were surprised to learn that Saigon Alley, the first and only premium AYCE Vietnamese experience in Las Vegas, is not on Spring Mountain Road. Though Spring Mountain Road is widely known as “Chinatown,” “Asiatown” is a far more accurate descriptor. It’s where restaurants like Saigon Alley feel most at home. We learned that leasing restaurant space on Mountain Road has become so expensive that many Asian restaurants are opening in other areas of the burgeoning city. Asian restaurants, in particular, have found a home on Rainbow Blvd. We were happily surprised to see so many Asian restaurants of every type on Rainbow.
Launching in October, 2025, Saigon Alley is only about half an hour from the Strip (depending on traffic). Though you’re handed plastic menus, you’ll actually place your orders on an iPad. Before you start pounding the keys, your server will explain the concept to you. Essentially you have ninety minutes at your table to order as much as your particular AYCE tier will allow. The entire table must choose the same AYCE tier (Basic, Beginner, or Foodie). Naturally, we both chose the “Foodie” tier. Tiers determine your access to premium meats like American Wagyu and specific appetizers. Everyone at your table gets their own choice of an individual hotpot made with luxurious soup bases: regular beef pho, spicy beef, Tom Yum, sweet and sour. My choice was spicy beef soup while my Kim opted for the sweet and sour soup.
On the tablet, you’ll submit orders for sliced meats, premium appetizers, and specific desserts. There’s a limit of ten items on your initial order, but you can order more items after five minutes. While waiting for your ordered items to arrive, you can visit the walk-up buffet bar (pictured below). This station is entirely self-serve and features unlimited vegetables, tofu, noodles, dipping sauces, and various seafood items (like clams and shrimp) at no extra cost. Fountain drinks, iced teas, and milk teas are also included. The vegetables, of course, are for your hot pot soup. My choices included baby corn, corn-on-the-cob, crab, ineki mushrooms, seafood mushrooms and oyster mushrooms.
A gleaming steely cauldron began boiling almost immediately after our server poured my soup (spicy beef) base. All other ingredients–such as boneless short ribs, Wagyu flat, Wagyu chuck and lamb (my choices)–arrive thinly sliced and raw. They begin to cook immediately upon being immersed in the soup. Ditto for the vegetables. Essentially, you’re creating your own version of a Vietnamese soup. I took liberties that none of my favorite purveyor of spicy beef soup (Cafe Dalat) would take. In addition to our meat choices, our server delivered several of the other ten items we ordered.
Legend has it that dining practices of Mongolian horsemen may actually have been responsible for the creation of Chinese hot pot cooking. Legend has it that the Mongols used their helmets as vessels to simmer broth over open fires and cooked chunks of meat in that broth. Their shields they were used as a sort of frying pan to sear meat. Though the Chinese resisted Mongol hordes, they incorporated this style of eating it, modifying it over time to suit particular ingredients and tastes in each region.
Hot pot style cooking isn’t exclusive to China. In Japan, one method of hot pot cooking is known as shabu shabu, an onomatopoeia derived from the sound emitted when ingredients are stirred in the cooking pot. Another Japanese hot pot dish known as sukiyaki also involves cooking or simmering thinly sliced beef and assorted vegetables in a sweet soy-based sauce. Korea also has a version of a hot pot dish. It’s called Jeongol which is made by putting meat, mushroom, seafood, seasoning, etc., in a stew pot, adding broth, and boiling it. Yet another Korean hot pot dish is made with large dumplings.
Hot pot is not a native traditional dish in Vietnamese cuisine, as communal table cooking has roots in neighboring regions like China and Mongolia. However, it has been deeply localized and embraced across the country for decades. I suspect the idea for a hot pot restaurant showcasing Vietnamese cuisine likely came about because Saigon Alley’s enterprising owners saw the success of hot pot concepts featuring Korean, Chinese and Japanese cuisine. Why not Vietenamese food? It’s exploded in popularity over the years with such specialties as pho and banh mi becoming almost as mainstream as tacos, egg rolls and pizza.
Should you decide on the “Foodie” tier, you’ll be entitled to all lower-tier options plus a wide selection of premium Wagyu beef, seafood, appetizers, and self-serve items. You’re also entitled to a seafood platter containing lobster (a full lobster tail), shrimp (tiger shrimp), clams, mussels, and scallops. Also available are crawfish and raw oysters. It’s a veritable Bacchanalian feast!
Premium and wagyu cuts on the “Foodie” tier were selected for qualities which are brought out as the soup is being heated on the hot soup. Wet-aged Wagyu Flat Iron, for example is a tender, richly marbled flat iron steak designed to melt quickly in hot pot broth. Wagyu Beef Belly is a thinly sliced, high-fat-content belly cut that absorbs soup flavors and stays juicy. Wagyu Chuck Round / Wagyu Chuck is a flavorful, well-marbled chuck cut providing a balance of lean meat and rich beefy taste. Wagyu Beef Brisket and Wagyu Fatty Brisket are Classic brisket slices with generous marbling for a soft, rich texture. Wagyu Fat: Pure Wagyu fat pieces available to render and enrich the flavor of your hot pot broth. This is a must!
The Vietnamese steamed rice rolls (Bánh Cuốn) are superb. Delicate rice flour sheets are made fresh in-house from scratch and are folded over a savory filling then topped with crispy fried shallots, minced pork and wood-ear mushrooms. The steamed rice rolls are served with a side of savory-sweet fish sauce ((nước chấm) for dipping. A diner at an adjacent tabled said they looked like spent condoms. Somehow, a single slice of Vietnamese baloney (often called Vietnamese pork roll, ham, or sausage) made it onto the plate. It, too, was delicious.
The primary reason both my Kim and I wanted the “Foodie” tier was so that we could be enjoy the seafood platter. Our server confessed that most people share our motivation, especially for the lobster tail. The seafood platter’s primary attraction is a fresh, full lobster tail. It’s sweet, succulent, and cook down tender in the hotpot broths. Our server cautioned us to keep them in the broth for no more than five minutes or we were risking rubberiness. The seafood platter included shrimp, scallops, clams and mochi pouches filled with shrimp. The mochi pouches resembled “bags of gold” we’ve had at other Vietnamese restaurants. If you love seafood, the “Foodie” tier is the only way to go.
The Vietnamese spring rolls are among the many buffet appetizers. The spring rolls (essentially one roll cut in half) feature a chewy, translucent rice paper wrap packed with vermicelli noodles, fresh crunchy vegetables, and cooked shrimp. They have a soft, chewy texture from the rice paper and a clean, light bite that is not overly heavy or filling. I suspect one of the reason spring rolls are so beloved (especially by Americans) is the side of thick, creamy, nutty peanut sauce typically topped with crushed peanuts. These spring rolls are terrific.
The stirfry noodles with a fried egg was tailor-made for my Kim. Maybe I’m missing something. With many noodle dishes, she almost invariably tells me how good the noodles are. For me, if noodles or pasta don’t have a lot of sauce, they’re boring. I don’t understand noodle enthusiasts and how Italians view pasta as the star of the dish and the sauce (condimento) as a light complement rather than the main event. Maybe my dear friend Becky Mercuri can explain what flavor components in pasta and noodles I’m just not getting.
The traditional Vietnamese crispy fried egg rolls (Chả Giò) are served freshly made to order with crisp lettuce, pickled vegetables, and dipping fish sauce. We noticed that Vietnamese diners all wrapped the egg rolls with the chilled lettuce while American diners discarded the lettuce altogether. We’ve been enjoying egg rolls the Vietnamese way for years even though the fish sauce tends to run off the lettuce onto our hands. They are fried to order and brought directly from the kitchen via tablet orders rather than sitting under heat lamps, giving them a super crunchy, golden exterior. These egg rolls are superb!
Grilled sausage on a skewer (Nem nướng) are plump, golden-brown sausage-shaped meatballs molded around bamboo skewers and served with a spicy sauce. Unlike Western sausage links housed in a casing, nem nướng are bouncy, tender, and springy (likely because of their fatiness). They’re savory, smoky, and subtly sweet. The meat is seasoned with garlic, shallots, fish sauce, black pepper, roasted rice powder, and sugar, and have a glaze that gives it a vibrant sheen and depth. The sauce is somewhat reminiscent of sauce used on sushi rolls.
The Vietnamese tapioca dumplings are a savory offering with an outer shell made from tapioca starch which gives it a signature chewy, bouncy, and translucent appearance. They’re stuffed with a savory shrimp filling. The dumplings are steamed and served with sweet and tangy Vietnamese dipping fish sauce (nước chấm) and scallion oil. Some diners may find the texture offputting, but I found it delightful and would order this appetizer again.
One thing you learn the first time you visit an AYCE restaurant is what you should have ordered more of. Chief among them for me would be the grilled Cajun mussels (tossed in a savory and spiced Cajun-inspired seasoning blend that brings a kick of heat, garlic, and buttery richness to complement the natural briness of the mollusk. Plump, fresh New Zealand green-lipped mussels are cooked and lightly grilled or seared to absorb the bold Cajun spices rather than being served in a traditional wet soup boil. These mussels aren’t for the faint of heart and weak of taste buds. They’re fiery enough to gain my respect.
Perhaps even better are the raw oysters which are large, fresh, and paired with savory, distinct Vietnamese spices and sauces rather than just standard cocktail sauce. These are the type of oysters I would devour by the dozen. Perhaps more than any other mollusk, oysters are celebrated for their unique ocean flavor and soft, plump texture. Slimy to a fault, oysters sit inside their shells submerged in their liquor (yes, that’s what it’s called), a natural pool of clear, briny seawater retained from its environment. Slurp it up! It’s delicious.
Saigon Alley’s premium AYCE menu doesn’t have a large number of desserts, but that’s fairly typical of Vietnamese restaurants in general. The same goes for many Asian restaurants. It always amused me to see chocolate pudding as a Chinese buffet item. Saigon Alley offers only a handful of desserts. It’s highly unlikely the mint chocolate ice cream originated in Vietnam, but it was nice to see it. The ice cream is almost rock hard, proving a challenge for the flimsy plasticware. We cut into it with our soup spoons.
A more traditional Vietnamese dessert offering is the che soy pudding mix. The foundation is a smooth, lightly sweetened homemade soy pudding (tàu hũ), similar to soft tofu topped with a rich dollop of sweet coconut cream. The pudding is surrounded by a colorful assortment of traditional chè toppings, including multicolored jellies (such as green pandan and brownish herbal-grass jellies), potato jellies, and black basil seeds.
Saigon Alley stands out and stands alone as a premium AYCE Vietnamese restaurant. From the spicy beef broth with all the creative additions you can think of to the light, flavorful delicacies, you may dream about this restaurant. It gave us one of the best Vietnamese meal experiences we’ve ever had.
Saigon Alley
7920 South Rainbow Blvd., #115
Las Vegas, Nevada
(702) 268-7863
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LATEST VISIT: 8 November 2026
# OF VISITS: 1
RATING: N/R
COST: $$$$$
BEST BET: Boneless Short Rib, Spicy Beef Soup, Sweet and Sour Soup, Prime Flat Iron Wagyu, Seafood Platter, Vietnamese Spring Rolls, Vietnamese Steamed Rice Rolls, Stirfry Noodles With Egg, Crispy Fried Eggrolls, Grilled Sausage With Sauce, Vietnamese Tapioca Dumplings, Grilled Cajun Mussels, Raw Oysters, Mint Chocolate Ice Cream, Che Soy Pudding Mix, Vietnamese Banana Ice Cream
REVIEW #1563