Lee’s Sandwiches

Brought my family whose in town on a Sunday morning as my daughter said she was told their sandwiches are very good. Ordered a vegetable sandwich, a #17 & 2 x #11 sandwiches, 2 cold and 2 hot coffee, some sweet red bean fried sesame balls, a shrimp and a vegetarian spring roll. The coffee was good but the others were just not fantastic esp #11 sandwiches, there were something in there which hv a after taste that I don’t like it. Mr baguette across the street is better!

Came here on ⁶⁄₁₇ and ordered two #5 Grilled Pork sandwiches at 12:15. I did not receive my sandwiches until 12:47. Thirty two minutes for two sandwiches. Rarely do dine in restaurants make you wait that long after placing your order. There were about 7 – 8 other people waiting, and not once did the staff let the customers know what the problem was or the remaining wait time. I witnessed multiple people finishing their iced coffee which were given to them first before receiving their sandwiches.
From what I can tell, their grill or machine used to cook the meat was having issues, and that’s fine. Problems come up, life happens, but at least let your customers know and how long they are expected to wait. Normally I wouldn’t mind, but I was on my lunch break and by the time I got my sandwiches and got back to work, I had 0 minutes to eat. I always try to find some good in a bad situation so at least I won’t need to make dinner.

BBQ pork is so good! Love their coffee although all their drinks are pretty high in calories

Wow they got a drive through here but wanted to eat inside; inside have plenty of space and tables with chairs. Menu looks bright and nice in their flat-​screen as we were in line. Customer service is fine, nice and helpful, but cashier seems shy and could have been a little louder.
They got Macaroons (decorated in a tower), so got 2 (lemon and mocha) to try out as snacks while waiting for our traditional bun mi (with extra meat), grilled pork bun mi (which is BBQ pork), passion fruit sofa and Viet iced coffee.
Macaroons didn’t taste fresh and seem like they been out for a while since it was a little hard to bite. Not a fan of Macaroons as most females are, but thought I give it a try since the poster drew my attention of how colorful it was. And realized lemon (yellow) is the least favorite, after-​all lemon bakery usually isn’t up there.
I like both of our bun mi, it was long, slim, and bread was baked just right for the crunchiness. I can’t handle jalapeños and this time I forgot to request without it, so I just hand-​picked them out myself. The veggies is just right but the carrots could have been shredded a little more to blend the taste well with the other veggies. The traditional pork meat is just right as it should be, and the grilled pork is juicy and crunchy as well!
Passion fruit soda came with jellies! The carbonation taste alright, I believe it is probably the jellies that made it lose flavor-​ish, has a strange after-​taste I felt like, but still enjoy my meal with my soda and still better than most other places. And the Viet iced coffee is usually strong but the taste of this coffee here is just right, and will recommend to get this with my bun mi here from now on.

I been wanting to try this place and today was it.
Order the grilled chicken sandwich not knowing what to expect, I desiderate to sit here and eat half it’s a cool place let’s of friendly people having their ice coffee I went with a hot coffee but as far as the sandwich to me it was wow good conbination of sweet follow by the spiciness of the hot pepper and the rest of the veggies in it complement it very well.

I decided to round up to another star: they added more meat this time (still a fan favorite of their #11 Banh Mi Dac Biet), and I do like their $ 1 freshly baked baguettes.
However, I don’t like that they jacked up their sandwich prices by $ 2, and they no longer sell the green waffles (even though they still have the waffle irons there).
They even have a promo right now: buy $ 20.00 or more and get a free Lee’s Sandwiches shopping tote bag (valued at $ 1.99). (Mom tried to see if we can get something else besides the tote, but they wouldn’t budge, lol!).

The sandwiches have fresh simple ingredients. I got the number 11 no mayonnaise and extra cilantro.
Their iced coffee is pretty good but I recommend going in to order your drink vs. going through the drive through. The drinks seems to be fuller I noticed that there’s always a line at the drive through. Like today a regular sunny Saturday afternoon everybody’s rolling through the drive through. I found it quicker to just park and go inside to order there was no line inside.

This place is disgusting. Worker just sneezed into his hand and kept on working. I informed supervisor and nothing done. Rather go to Mr. Baguette

Food is good. service is slow as a snail. Good was drive through took 20 minutes. And this is multiple times not just once. I only come cause it’s close to work, but my lunch break is pretty much over by the time I get the food.

Lees iced coffee is now my morning ritual. One of these bad boys will get you going through the whole day. Priced and about 4 bucks for a large iced coffee. They have croissants that are baked on site which are so buttery and crispy yet soft and moist inside. There sandwiches are also pretty good. Love the fact that they are located all over Rosemead.

Lee Sandwiches is first and foremost a Vietnamese sandwich shop. You cant get any cheaper and more authentic than Lee Sandwiches. How to review the perfect such?
To begin with, the french baguette was of the utmost quality. Fresh, airy, with an excellent crispy exterior crust. It was far from overly flaky, that some Vietnamese banh mi’s make the mistake of doing. Then came the meats and vegetables, all complimenting each other harmoniously. No one ingredient overwhelmed the next, something I’m much too accustomed of having too much pickled carrots and cucumber at one too many Vietnamese establishments. The fatty BBQ pork took it to new levels as well as the pâté. Flavors of savory, sweetness, saltiness, sourness from the pickled vegetables. Textures of crispness, crunchy, gelatinous from the BBQ pork. Putting that all together equates to one very complex and superior banh mi that reigns supreme. There was nothing to really complain about, but everything to compliment about. But if there was ONE thing I could have critiqued, it was that the spicy version of the sandwich had only a hint of spiciness. Most casual spice eaters would not even notice. For those more enthused spice eaters, you may be let down.
#11: Special combo: Head cheese, jambon and pork roll: the feeling I got from the first bite. Crunchy, soft, then protein then veggies. What in the world just happened? Your life will flash before your eyes. Until you take the next bite
# 5: grilled pork: Fresh veggies and cilantro, not skimping on the meat. The meat is perfect not too burn
Ice Coffee: You need to try it !!! One of the best coffee in town, I mean not only in town but in the world. Their coffee simply the best, strong flavor, tips: you can wait a little for the ice melted before you drink. If you like it, you can buy the ready to drink bottle, buy 2 get 1 free !!!
Definitely recommend their avocado smoothie, made with real avocados. It’s suppose to be a drink native to Vietnam. Trust me I was really reluctant on trying it at first, but it doesn’t have any taste of the gooey oily taste that I was expecting. It’s quite refreshing actually
Staff are friendly, speak Mandarin, Viet, Cantonese, and English all well. Speed is very fast.
If you’re on a quest for the best banh mi, I highly recommend you make your way out to Lee Sandwiches and give them a try. You can thank me later! It is definitely my go-​to spot for best banh mi in the 626 area.

I used to really love Lee’s Sandwich because it was cheap — $ 2.50 for a #1 sandwich. Anyway I haven’t been there for about 5 months and I just found out that the #1 sandwich is now $ 3.50!!! That’s a big price increase.
The sandwich itself comes with daikon, carrot, cilantro, jalapeño, pâté, and sliced jambon. It tastes about the same as before. Remember that it’s not that filling for guys so maybe you’ll need to grab two sandwiches. When the bread is fresh, the sandwich is really good, but when the bread sits for a little bit then it gets hard and kinda yucky.
There used to be a lot of people dining in at Lee’s but this past time I went I didn’t see that many patrons. Maybe of the price increase across the board?
There are decent amount of parking spots in their lot but they can be kinda tight. :/​
This places also has a drive through, but it doesn’t save you any more time than walking inside and getting your food. The way the drive through works is kinda messy to get into.
Anyway, I might try the other sandwich shops on Valley because of this price hike. I used to like Lee’s because it was a cheap meal for $ 2.50. No longer at $ 3.50.

I can buy and use their baguettes as a weapon and hurt someone really bad
and there was something about their meat being dated 4 years ago

Drive thru Viet Coffee!
Funny, but I am not a fan of their Baguette Sandwiches. Never have been. So many better sandwich places out there.
They have a Drive Thru!
Lee’s Coffee, Regular — $ 2.89 — The best viet coffee around. It is always hard to wait for all the ice to melt! I am pretty sure they do not make this fresh anymore. They probably use the same stuff they sell at Costco.
Egg Rolls — 5 for $ 3.79 — Decent egg roll but nothing special.

Ordered the special sandwich and they literally gave me two stems of cilantro.
On another note, their coffee is as always.

NASTY. DISGUSTING. Don’t bother wasting your time. And it’s CASH ONLY. Go figure.
«California-​based banh mi chain Lee’s Sandwiches is recalling about 213,000 pounds of meat, the USDA said in a press release MAY 2015. The recalls come after the discovery that the company labeled chicken, beef, and pork products with an «unauthorized» USDA inspection mark. The Department’s Food and Safety Inspection Service writes Lee’s «has been processing products from federally inspected establishments and re-​packaging them without the benefit of inspection.» — USDA
Iced coffee? 5 stars.
Baguettes sandwiches? The worst I’ve ever had. Seriously, it’s like it’s made out of plastic. One day is hard and feels like the bread will slice your throat swallowing it, and other days it’s just so darn chewy it’ll make your jaw hurt. Honestly I don’t know what happened with you Lees sandwiches… Your baguette quality just isn’t as good as what it use to be when I was a kid. It lacks so much flavor, and it’s just so disgusting. The meat quality is also really shitty and not warm like it should be.

After a long hiatus, I’ve decided to return to Lee’s at Rosemead for a visit. I remembered the place being really organized with more Vietnamese packaged varieties, but today there were none and things sort of changed. First of all, the menu is hard to read. The pictured menu does not have a clear and concise layout telling you what they’re consists of; for example there are two ‘Combination’ — #1 and #2 but I couldn’t differentiate between the two, on top of that the girl at the counter couldn’t tell me because she hardly speaks any English. When the total came out I handed her my CC and she says they only accept cash… uhhh…(expletive). Then I asked if they take ATM cards and she directed me to an ATM machine sitting across by the wall. No thank you!!!
Thank goodness my friend was able to loan me some cash which I later paid back.
While waiting, I also realized they no longer have the monitors once hung up by the menu that used to call out your number, but instead a person will announce it when your food is ready.
The sandwich:
I hated it. Really hated it with a passion! I’m not a fan of banquettes but instead prefers the more traditional ‘French Bread’ for Banh Mi sandwiches. The so-​called baguette bread is the WORST I’ve had and It is hard with a plastic texture feel. To add insult to injury, there is absolute NOTHING inside the sandwich other than RED ham with matching color RED gelatin along with a few sprigs of cilantro. All in all I can throw this at any animal and it is hard enough to kill it.
Though Lee’s wasn’t the best place to get Banh Mi sandwiches even in its early days but at least it was acceptable, but now their food is just horrible. The biggest turn-​off was the lack of accepting Credit Cards. I guess franchising really killed it!
I’m just going to stick with real authentic joints like Banh Mi My Tho (
) in Alhambra and look nowhere else.

I always go here in the morning whenever I feel like a banh mi sandwich. But ever since I found out about their meats I stopped. Until today.
They usually have long lines in their drive thru but when I came today, it seem pretty empty.
I didn’t order the banh mi. I went for their croissant sandwiches. Ordered #33 turkey, ham and cheese croissant. Love love their soft croissants with mayo, lettuce, tomato and meats. On the side it comes with pickles, red onions, mustard and a green chili pepper.
I also love their coffee. Really strong taste but I get the jitters after like half a cup so I usually don’t finish it.
I also love how it’s drive thru. So much better if u lazy and don’t wanna get out of ur car! But it’s cash only in drive thru!

Danger Danger,
I enjoyed my sandwich a few weeks ago. But if I knew what I know now.
The company chose to use uninspected (by the USDA) meats for the past year (up until May). Over 200,000 pounds was used in their restaurants over the past year. They marked it inspected, but never did.
This was a deliberate act by the company to skirt the rules. You’ve been warned

Don’t waste my time.
How do I give 1 star to the sandwiches (what they’re famous for… psh pathetic.) and 5 stars to their Vietnamese Coffee? Oh… there’s a 3 star rating.
Costco sells their coffee now, goodbye Lee’s Sandwiches, forever.