Banh Mi Express Sandwiches

Did you know that Madison street has a food court in the Loop? Apparently, most people don’t either because it’s easy to miss and there are only four vendors. One of them is worth mentioning, Banh Mi Express Sandwiches.
Despite the odd location, this is one of the few places in the downtown area where you can get phở, banh mi sandwich, and even an avocado smoothie. The avocado smoothie was extra thick. After 10 minutes, I only finished a quarter of it. The prices were decent but higher than usual due to the location. Phở around $ 7 – 8, banh mi for $ 5 – 6, and smoothies for $ 3.75. Not too bad when you have a Vietnamese craving. When you’re used to paying $ 3.25 for a banh mi, paying $ 5 in downtown Chicago is actually a deal.
In comparison to Saigon Sisters in the French Market, this pace keeps it simple and doesn’t try to modernize Vietnamese cuisine. You won’t see any fusion dishes here. They kept the menu simple and easy to order. With a full working kitchen and a fast food approach, it’s worth trying out if you work in the area and don’t want to pay unreasonable downtown prices.

A gem considering the lunch options in the loop. They know whats up.
They have a number of unique Vietnamese dishes such as phở, vermicelli bowls, Vietnamese sandwiches, and pork buns. Their beef phở is a favorite of many according to signs all over the place, but I was seriously craving a sandwich so I grabbed the grilled pork sandwich, which is my go-​to at any Vietnamese sandwich shop. The meat was marinated perfectly, and it makes me excited because that more than likely means they’ve got their other flavors down. Although the meat had that amazing flavor I grew up with, I would definitely say that the vegetables were a bit off. They were pickled, yes, but there was some thing very… americanized about them. Still, they included all of the necessary chili peppers and spreads.
What I love most is that they are truly Vietnamese and know their food. They respond to Vietnamese well and enjoy speaking to those who also know the language. More importantly, they have all the the ‘correct’ hot sauces, fish sauce, and brand of sweet drinks that every true Vietnamese community member has known and loved.
I’ll let you guys know how the phở is when I try it.
Remember to bring cash!
Sandwiches 50% off between 4pm-​7pm.

I do not know anything really about Vietnamese food. I like the fake Bahn Mi sandwich from Pret a Manger (the «Vietnamese baguette»).
My thoughts about Bahn Mi Express Sandwiches:
Bad: The bread was stale and dry and overpowered the taste of everything else in the sandwich. It also left crumbs EVERYWHERE in my office, and I kept finding more after I thought I cleaned them up. Not attractive.
Good: It was really spicy, which was excellent. Lots of places seem to go light on the jalapeño, but they do not.
Also, cash only!

Not bad for a lunch place in the loop but certainly not Ba Le quality Banh Mi. The location is fairly depressing (inside a basement food court next to a dunkin donut) but the friendliness of the people who run it and the food makes up for it. The first time I went there, the Banh Mi was great. Since then, the quality has varied quite a bit. The bread is sometimes great and fresh, and old/​stale at other times. The Phở is ok — not comparable to any place at Argyle but then again, this is the loop.
Overall, if you really are feeling like Banh Mi and are in the loop, this is your best bet.

I can only really speak to the chicken curry sandwich at this point, but that forebodes good things for the balance of the menu. For around $ 5, the sandwiches are liberally dressed. The chicken curry is hot and oozy, and the ample bread prone to soak it up. Finish it off with an ethnic berry soda
While you wait for them to prepare your sandwich, enjoy the free samples at this otherwise drab underground food court. Falafel and pizza on toothpicks? Pas mal
Omens abound as a Ba-​Le outpost is under construction a half block northwest at Washington and LaSalle

Yes, Banh Mi in the downtown area!
I ordered the specialty Banh Mi and it was a-​okay. It was composed of jamon, pâté, pickled carrots, daikon radish, cucumber, fresh cilantro, and jalapenos. The bread had a very crisp crust with a slight chew to it. It wasn’t tough but I wished the interior was softer. The jamon was very delicious. It has a slight crunch to it because it was made with pig’s ears. The veggies added a very nice texture to it. They were crisp and fresh, and created a very good combination with the sweetened mayonnaise. The lacking part was the jalapenos. I think I only found one slice in there. I can usually handle more heat than that.
The specialty sandwich was a little over $ 5.00 which is slightly more expensive than Chinatown and Argyle. But the sandwich was also slightly larger than usual. Overall, it’s a very nice quick fix of Vietnamese food in the Loop. I intend on returning to try their vermicelli and sushi rolls.

I’m so happy to have Banh Mi in the downtown area! It’s an expensive Banh Mi at $ 6.60, but still good and comparable to the Argyle area.
Just an FYI that the shop itself is located at the bottom of a joint food court. We walked around the area looking for signs but missed it because we were looking for a store front.
The shop not only sells banh mi sandwiches but also sells spring rolls and vermicelli and sushi rolls. They also sell specialty drinks that are freshly made or in a can.
The banh mi itself was very good. I asked the cashier which sandwich she recommended. She recommended the grilled pork or grill beef. I went with the pork. I thought the ratio of mayonnaise (its kind of sweet) to everything else was in good proportion. I really enjoyed the picked veggies and fresh cilantro in the sandwich as well. The bread was super crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.
The only suggestion I have for this place is that I wish they had cut the sandwich in half. I had to tear the sandwich apart myself and most of the filling came out.
I’d definitely stop by here again for my lunch break.

I wanted to like this place as I love the Bahn Mi in the Argyle area, but it just was not very good.
I got the grilled pork Bahn Mi. The only good thing about the sandwich was the bread – it was fresh and quite tasty. There was way too much mayo on the sandwich and it was hard to scrape off because it had sort of melted into the bread and it was all over the vegetables and pork. There were also way too many onions – I would have ordered it without onions, but the ingredients listed do not include onions and I don’t remember ever having a bahn mi with onions. I asked for jalapenos, but they did not put them on the sandwich. The vegetables were fine, but they were not pickled.
The service was very friendly and for that I might go back and try the vermicelli or the phở. But for bahn mi, I will stick to Argyle.

the one star is for the veggie tofu sandwich. the tofu was some strange, dried, processed product that was just terrible.
alternatives: chicago’s downtown farmstand (66 e randolph) sells saigon sisters sandwiches on certain days (i think tues and thurs) and the tofu sandwich is okay, but a little pricey at $ 7. thalia, in the basement of bloc 37, sells a «malaysian-​style» tofu banh mi with peanut sauce, which i find tasty.

Wee! It isn’t as delicious as say… a banh mi from the Argyle/​Broadway area is but when you’re in the Loop and you’re craving Vietnamese staples but don’t want to fork over the money for Saigon Sisters and don’t have time to go to Argyle area… THIS WILL BE LIKE HEAVEN!
We grabbed lunch here while I was at work. The bread is good, fresh still, and light, like they’re supposed to be in banh mi’s.
We had the grilled pork, the meatballs, and the classic. The best was the classic (although mine was missing the daikon and other veggies– probably just a mistake). The grilled pork was my 2^nd favorite. The meatballs I did not have any of but it seemed too heavy for me anyway.
The classic was good, although missing the daikon and veggies. Tastes just like any other banh mi from Viet town.
The pork needed a little less mayo but I am not very picky so I just scraped it off. Tasted yummy!
I also had the avocado smoothie. SO GOOD! WAY tastier than it sounds! Oh, and the spring rolls… were extra chewy! Just the way I like them. Haha.
The papaya salad… was okay, not bad. I’ve had better. I probably won’t get it again though.
All in all, great place to go for lunch in the loop if you’re craving a banh mi but don’t have enough time.
:)

I’m half Vietnamese… so I’m spoiled. Not the best Bahn Mi.
I got the pork, while my friend got the classic. He was quite disappointed with it, pulling most the ham off because of the «scary amounts of fat chunks» very visible… my pork one was actually not bad, the vegetable seems pretty fresh and tasty as well. The bread is kind of poor. A huge crunch with no substance and it left more to be desired.
If you can travel up north to Vietnamtown off the Argyle stop, you’ll be much more pleased with the Vietnamese sandwiches there. If you’re curious about this place, stop in… it’s hard to find, but you basically enter Dunkin Donuts to get there.

Decided to go here for lunch during the work week.
The place is in a lower level food court along with a couple other places. There’s ample seating and a soda fountain machine but the place was a bit warm and pretty drab so I got my stuff to go.
I ordered the specialty bahn mi (jamon and pâté) and some spring rolls. Tha sandwich is bigger than i’m used but it does cost more than places up on argyle. The bread is cripy with a bit of chew to it, not tough. The veggies are nice and crisp a nice hint of fish sauce with the pickling. the cilantro might be a bit much when i wish it was the peppers instead, which are kind of lacking, but i guess that’s expecting being the clientel is mostly americans in the loop. The meat is peppered nicely slightly less proportioned compared to the veg, but the strong flavor masks that fact. The springs rolls are come in a pair and it’s standard with vermicelli, shrimp, lettuce, carrots and thin cut of chicken (i think, it’s rather bland). the peanut sauce that came with it is a must to add flavor.
They also have phở available and some canned asian beverages along with other specialty drinks. The beef phở is just ribeye and meatballs (no tripe…) but I’ll have to give it a shot later.
Overall it’s a nice quick fix for vietnamese food in the loop. a few bucks more in cost but that’s just because it’s in the loop.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE bahn mi. But I’m vegetarian and its sometimes hard to find a place that makes a vegetarian version, so imagine my delight when I came across this place in the loop — a mere block from my office. I carried my bahn mi back to my office practically salivating at the thought of warm crispy but soft bread, yummy fried tofu, and delicious pickled veggies and jalapenos.
What a let down when I bit into a cold sandwich, with really weird (and also cold) tofu cut into strings, cold marinated veggies (maybe in terikayi?) I don’t know — but whatever it was, it was totally disappointing. Ugh, i’m depressed just writing about it. I am so desperate for a good bahn mi in the loop!

Nothing overly special about this place to be honest. Right next to the mediocre falafel place in my previous review. I had the chicken curry banh mi and kept asking myself, where are the jalapenos? The sandwich was bigger than others ive had in the past hence the higher price than i would normally pay for banh mi, but yet again, It filled a void and was thankfully not McDonalds or Wendys or (insert fast food chain here)
meh. blah. fart.
OH, and there was a crazy black dude who kept asking women if they wanted his «sexy chocolate love»… atleast I got a show. LOL.

The very definition of adequate. I got the grilled pork banh mi and a spring roll. The banh mi was solid but unspectacular. The grilled pork was delicious, as was the pickled carrot and daikon which provided fantastic flavor and crunch. However the bread was very weak as far as baguettes go, and there was some unexpected cole slaw on the banh mi that seemed purposeless to me.
I mean it’s a vietnamese place in a food court. It’s not too bad, but if you come straight from Argyle, you’re going to be very disappointed.

Coco-​locks and the Four Banh Mis:
Once upon a time there was a girl called Coco-​locks. She went for a walk in her office. Pretty soon she came across a menu for Banh Mi Express. On four occasions, she strolled over to the address and entered a depressing little food court. At the Banh Mi Express counter, she ordered a shrimp and garlic banh mi. Coco-​locks was hungry.
She ate her first banh mi. «Too wet, too bland!» she exclaimed.
She ate her second banh mi. «Too dry, still bland!» she exclaimed.
She opened her third banh mi. «Pâté?! WTF?» she exclaimed, unable to eat her sandwich.
She tasted her fourth banh mi. «Ahhh, this banh mi is just right,» she said happily and ate it all up.
THE END
Banh Mi Express is a nice departure from the sea of Subways, McDonald’s, Potbelly’s, Dunkin Donuts and other Loop staples. My only real issue with Banh Mi Express is one of consistency; it’s taken me four tries to get a sandwich that I can really enjoy. On my first visit, my sandwich was swimming in sea of mayo. Not a fan of the white stuff, I nearly gagged at the mountain of mayo I scraped off. I also learned jalapeños are optional on all of the banh mis.
My second sandwich was better, close to what I had hoped, but the mayo content went from feast to famine; they were also stingy with the jalapeños. My third sandwich was apparently a mistake, they confirmed that pâté is *not* supposed to come on the shrimp garlic banh mi — a very unwelcome surprise for someone who abstains from the stuff.
It took some trial and error, but for me the key to a satisfying sandwich is mayo on the side, extra jalapeños, and no pâté (for good measure). It’s still not as good as banh mi you can score outside the Loop, but it’s enough to temporarily satisfy a craving.
They serve more than banh mi; noodle and rice dishes, phở, and parfait are among other things rounding out the menu. I can’t help but stare quizzically at the cans of grass jelly drink in their refrigerator case when I wait for my sandwich.
Service is always friendly, they are generous with the $ 1 off cards, there are usually free samples out, and food is 50% off between 4 – 7. Banh Mi Express probably won’t blow your mind, but to me it’s good; a welcome departure from the monotonous Loop lunch choices.

It’s nice that there’s a place downtown that offers vegetarian banh mi. However, the sandwich was alright. I’ve had better banh mi, but since the only other option is Saigon Sisters in all the way in the Chicago French Market. Their sandwich is also $ 8, whereas Banh Mi Express’s tofu banh mi was around $ 5. It didn’t have much flavor, and the bread wasn’t very special. Their storefront was very nice and clean though, with menus on large LED screens and such. If you have a hankering for banh mi, Banh Mi Express will satisfy it and that’s it.

I’ve determined that having this shop as an option is better than not having it, and while I’m torn between 2 and 3 stars, I’ll round up.
The sandwiches are ok, but seem out of balance. I want more heat from the jalapenos, more bite from pickled vegetables, and more saltiness from fish sauce and the meats, but the predominant flavor I’ve tasted each time is sweetness from the overly sweet mayo. The thing I love about bahn mi, and Vietnamese food in general is that combination and contrast of flavors, but these sandwiches are for the most part a one-​note affair.
That said, on some level they fulfill a craving, so from time to time I’ll be back.

The price is right, but everything else isn’t.
For 5 dollars I got the classic, which is ham and paté. There was very little taste, the bread was hard — all around not a good sandwich.
The worst part about this place is the scenery. It is in a «foodcourt» that is more like a subway waiting platform. The décor was ugly, but the worse part is the smell. It literally smelled like a public restroom.
Stay away.

I am now further from Little Saigon, and I have needed a filler spot and this place does the job. I couldn’t believe the loop had a Vietnamese spot, and it’s only a block away from where I work. I had the special sandwich and the spring roll. I should have asked for more jalapenos since I like mine pretty spicy. The peanut sauce for the spring rolls were pretty good. The sandwich was pretty filling, and satisfied my craving. I am definitely going to have to come back to try the vermicelli and the phở. The prices were reasonable, and the line wasn’t bad at all. Keep in mind that it’s an express spot, so there’s not really any seating.