Sau Voi

Ice viet coffee is really good! For $ 3 ice, $ 2 for hot.
Small place selling Lottery, DVDs and CDs inside too.

by far my favorite spot for Bahn Mi, and for the price?
Sure there could always be more meat and more veggies and more blah blah blah. But I am certainly not willing to pay top dollars for something that tastes just as good.

This review is ONLY for their che ba mau l. It was below average… not enough coconut milk/​Condensed milk and the green jelly was over firm and was borderline plastic texture. Will try their Bahn mi next time.
update…Ok, i tried their Bahm Mi. It’s very good. They could be a little more generous with the pâté thought but i’m not gonna fault them for that since the sandwich is only 5 – 6 bucks. plus if you want it extra spicy they w’ll add a few more peppers for ya.
Che baa mau is 2 stars, sandwich is 4 stars.

Best Banh Mi in the city. Weird location but once you get the sandwich you look way past the porn video section next to you foie gras.

I ordered the Dac Biet and was pretty disappointed. I’ve had much better banh mi and it paled in comparison to the banh mi from Ba Xuyen in Brooklyn, which is the same price. Why was it so bad? Well… the meats were given very sparingly and the pâté was almost non-​existent. The amount of mayonnaise was more than the pâté. What little meat was there was so fatty that I felt like I was pulling out slabs of fat from my mouth as I was trying to eat. It was probably 80% fat… 20% meat.
Also. there were 3 ladies working behind that small counter at the same time and yet my sandwich took 15 min to finish making. How does that happen?
Overall… yes it is hidden. in the midst of DVDs, lotto tickets, undergarments and makeup but it is certainly not a gem.

i love the friendly viet aunties here and they make really strong ca phe sua da.

Simply wonderful. A New York Classic. Let us hope they will not be priced out by Duane Reade.

As a Vietnamese woman from Houston, I have high standards for Vietnamese food. This isn’t as good as Cali or Htown, but it is the most legit banh mi and café sua da you’ll find in NYC and priced relatively fair.
My fiancé and I rotate between the Dac Biet and the Xiu Mai (meatball). They ask if you want spicy, but they know my order by now and always throw in my jalapeño slices. Snacks are good too. The ladies are nice, and I support Vietnamese establishments actually run by Vietnamese people. We usually take our sandwiches to the park on the next block in nice weather and sit at one of the chess tables.

Pretty good for a cheap and fast place. The ladies behind the counter make the food and handle the cash register. This is like a Viet/​Chinese bodega. One side of the store sells CDs and lottery, and the other side is the banh mi counter. The ham is laid out along with the veggies, bread is kept in a toasting oven, and they have pre-​made noodles, sweets, and tamales laid out on the counter behind a glass but only some are refrigerated. I’m not squeamish about food placed out in the open, this may turn some people off. I ordered the grilled meatball sandwich, delicious but not amazing. Wish they stuffed more veggies and lacked cucumbers. For $ 5 totally justified.

This place is not much on ambiance. In fact, I almost missed it — it looks like a Bodega from the street. Inside it looks the same — lots of CDs, books, with a food counter almost as an afterthought. But my sandwich was delicious, and as the long line of customers suggests, the food is great.

Ok wow, this is probably the best Banh Mi I’ve ever had in New York, since all the other joints I’ve tried are either too corporate (looking at you, Paris Sandwich) or too hipster (you know who you are, trying to be cool with your fusion organic paleo crap). This place is really down to earth, I mean for fks sake the booth 3 feet away sells Vietnamese porn dvds in cardboard sleeves, how much more down to earth can you get?
Useless digression aside, their Banh Mi Dac Biet is Dac Bomb. I can only think of two other Banh Mis that tasted better, one was in Houston (huge viet population) and the other was in Boston (also lots of viets).
Just give it a try, you won’t regret it I promise. Besides… even if you end up hating the sandwich, you can still buy some DVDs to take home. hehe. /​creepywink

The bread was not as fresh as I would like on the ham sandwich (aka the Dac biet) but it was otherwise flavorful where there was a little bit of pâté and some black pepper they gave the ham sandwich a bit of a kick. The shop is really a deli rather than a restaurant and it is run by a sincere mother daughter duo. They speak English and Cantonese at least and they also serve a number of other Vietnamese small dishes like summer rolls in addition to the Vietnamese sandwiches

3.5 Stars.
This place is a hidden gem.
Is inside of a Vietnamese CD /​Cassette /​Lottery /​Drinks Store.
Very small menu, very simple.
Got the simple number one Vietnamese Sandwich.
Compare to other places, I like the Bread here since is warm, not as crunchy.
But they put one slice of each meat, very little veggies. So is perfect portion for me. and its just $ 5.00!!!
they also have Iced coffee, desserts, salads, etc.
This is one good option for people who are in a hurry, there’s no table to sit. Just to order.
***********************************CASH ONLY************************************

DELISHHHHH!
I will say I’m partial to everything Vietnamese from Texas because hellooo… I’m a Texan at heart and Vietnamese food from DFW is just so much better than NYC’s. Fact. And it does help that a sandwich is about 2.50! Those from California, I’m not talking about y’all so don’t fret and be upset. I’m sure it’s even better there than Vietnam itself. Just kidding. But maybe.
In any case, the Dac Biet sandwich is quite tasty with just the right amount of everything except pâté. I like pâté. I asked for just a tad bit of spicy and holy cow, that jalapeño slice or two she put in there burned my mouth off. Avoid. Yikes. Also, the bread could be fresher but maybe it was my timing (~2pm) and it seems it isn’t authentic Vietnamese bread? Am I wrong here?
The place itself is tiny with two countertops, one for the food and another for purchasing CDs, vids, and even lottery tickets. Why not right? Get a sammich, win the lottery.
Four stars only because it really shouldn’t be 5 bucks for this. Please stop ripping people off New York City with your outrageous prices for everything. Come onnnn. Before I’ve got to pay for q-​tipping my own earwax.
Next time, the Bi Cuon (shredded pork).
Btw, fun fact:
that Asian lady in Xian I.‘s «stealth pic» Unilocal photo upload from five years ago is STILL there as of 4÷7÷15. I don’t think she’s aged one bit. That’s how Asian people roll yo.

For $ 5, this is a perfect banh mi. It’s a large, delicious sandwich and actually tastes really fresh and not super fatty. Very no-​frills, but perfect for a quick to-​go lunch.

$ 2.50 for a really yummy Banh Mi? Yes, please. I stumbled upon this place on my way home from walking around and getting lost in the city. I picked up a sandoo on my way home and finished it in the park.
This place is kind of a trip though with all the DVDs and CDs in the store. But who cares when they can make a yummy Banh Mi for $ 2.50? I’m certainly not one to judge.

I’m not gonna lie. I had to play it cool because I walked back and forth a few times from the location. I was so confused. I was looking for a heavenly Bahn Mi sign and all I could see from the sidewalk was a tiny store filled with DVDs. I checked and rechecked the address and finally went in. Ta-​da. The bahn mi counter.
The list is pretty exhaustive but I stuck with what I love. A good ‘ol pork Bahn mi. It was super cheap and took only a few minutes. Unfortunately I was a bit disappointed at the quality of meat. It was really fatty, as in every other bite had a hunk of fat. They also were generous (extremely generous) with the mayo. Yikes! Pickled veggies and soft bread were on point though.

I think this might be the best Bahn Mi sandwich I’ve come across in NYC. Not to mention the cheapest! Delicious and cheap, you can’t beat that combo! Granted, the shop is pretty random, like really, really random, full of cassettes from the early 90s (yeah… cassettes… that’s right), random VHS, and some CDs, and Iotto.
While I was waiting for them to restock the bread for their sandwich so I can get my Bahn Mi fix, I counted at least four people coming in to buy lotto, though I’m still curious if they ever have any, and I mean ANY cassette sales this day and age.
Three flavored coconut ice is also good, and besides sandwiches, they also have a lot of other Vietnamese snack dishes. I haven’t tried any of the snack dishes, but will report back when I do!

A very solid and fine banh mi. At first I thought $ 4.50 was a little high but it’s much larger than most banh mi I’ve had making the price eminently reasonable. Today I had the dac biet, next time I’ll go with the nem nuong.
Note that there’s a significantly more comprehensive paper menu than the board behind the counter.

I like the classic — it is with various Vietnamese cold cuts: a sliced ham, ch la sausage, pâté, and sweet pickled carrot and daikon radish. Of course, I have it with some sliced jalapeño and not Sriracha with this for me. This hot-​garlicky Sriracha overpower the sandwich and I only taste Sriracha but I do like Sriracha for Phở.
Pre-​prepared papaya salad that was in the refrigerated glass case wasn’t so exciting as I hoped. The portion is surprisingly generous. There are more interesting pre-​packed items I want to try next time.
All for only $ 7.50!