Cafe Dore

I ordered banh mi dac biet. The bread tastes good and though the sandwich ingredients tasted fresh, it lacked flavor. I wasn’t sure if they had Vietnamese mayo in it, so maybe that was the problem. Next time, I’m gonna make sure the sandwich has mayo and or ask for Maggie sauce. I wanted to try pâté chaud but they ran out in the later afternoon. I made the mistake of having them make my iced coffee extra sweet, it was almost not drinkable. Service was pretty good. I will be back to try their other dishes for sure though as they have an unexpected variety.

Vietnamese food is absolutely closed to the original one in vietnam and they have a lot of things that i like. And the price is so good. I heard that they open in the afternoon until 11pm, cant wait to enjoy with my friends here this weekend

I was craving for Banh Mi That Nuong (BBQ grilled pork) and had a good first time for experience at Saigon Sandwich next door, but unfortunately it was closed on a Monday. :(
However, I was open to trying other sandwich shops, I saw good reviews about Café Dore and wanted to try it out for the first time.
So when I first came in to the place, it reminded me of OC café shops but no girls in bikini lol
I ordered a Banh Mi Thit Nuong (BBQ grilled pork) $ 3.50 and a pork pâté chaud $ 1.50. Paid only $ 5. Awesome!!!
To my surprise, the sandwich was good, especially the meat, it tastes like Nem Nuong (grilled pork patty) in a way, but it tastes delish and the pâté chaud wasn’t too bad (just a bit more greasy then I thought).
Although I enjoyed Café Dore sandwich, I liked Saigon sandwich better because of the flavor and more veggies and jalapeño was given upon request.
Service and wait time was good, so I will definitely come back to Café Dore to try other Viet dishes and maybe try their café sua da (Viet iced coffee) :)

I always to come here to enjoy and hanged out with my friend to have a breakfast all of food have been trying so delicious and yummy… he staff so friendly too… good place… I will be back…

Small café with a nice host. I got a bbq pork sandwhich that was great! From the outside, doesn’t look promising, but food is awesome. Inexpensive & fast service. Stuffed & not skimpy.

Small decieving Restaurant bt the name they don’t just sell coffee.
We had the Bun Bo Hue and Spicy Noodle with broth. They messed up the order and I got a non spicy chicken noodle soup. No regrets. The chicken tasted organic and the soup has so much depth to the flavor. I couldn’t belive it. It’s going on my list of places to go to. Prices were affordable. It’s quiet and old men are playing checkers. How’s that for authentic!

Stopped by for a vietnamese iced coffee on the go. Probably one of the best I’ve ever had. Nothing as satisfying as that first sip when you’re so tired that your eyes are practically half closed. Not overly sweetened with condensed milk like in most places and the coffee was super strong. If you come by earlier in the day, they already have the espresso made in cups so there’s no need to wait for it to drip through the filters.
Seems to be a local hang out spot for the older vietnamese male crowd so it gets too loud and rowdy for my taste. Visited in the morning so I’m not sure if dies down during the day. Would definitely stop by again when I’m in the area!

It’s Sunday morning at Café Dore. I’m the quietest, whitest and fattest person in the room, the place being otherwise filled with 40-​to-​80 year-​old Vietnamese men.
These football fans are watching Green Bay beat Carolina, but not really; they’ve staked out seats for today’s Chargers game, so the TV is background while they chat, drink coffee and snack. The two guys playing co tuong (Chinese chess) at a corner table slam each piece down with a «Snap!,» occasionally shouting at each other. I don’t think they care for football at all.
I was welcomed, then largely ignored, by the guy behind the counter, who took my order, delivered it, then returned to serving his regulars. He was adamant that there’s no smoking allowed, pointing to the sign that says so. When I stopped by a month ago, this sign was obscured by two patrons’ curling blue smoke. Progress, I suppose.
Seated facing the large-​screen TV, I’m just in front of the California Lottery station. This allows me to say «hello» to customers who come in for café and a payday. I’ve got a laptop on my table, which warrants curious glances, but no one seems bothered. Mostly, I’m invisible.
Before coming in, I had a breakfast drink, a champurrado from the Tamales Oaxaqueños cart at the end of the parking lot. Now I’m eating breakfast food — Pork Belly Bahn Mi. At least, it’s my first meal of the day, and I added a fried egg, so if you don’t ask my Mom, it’s breakfast.
The bahn mi is delicious. The bread is fresh and soft inside with a bare yeasty tang, and its thin, crispy crust holds the bellies, soft-​fried egg and vegetables securely. In a weird way, it’s like really good pizza. I’ve eaten a lot of bahn mi, and had thought the best in San Diego were at Á Châu or K Sandwiches, but now I suspect that bahn mi are indeed like pizza, in that cooks have the ability, by slightly changing how they prepare and present the item, to make it appealing in ways unique to their kitchen.
Time for hot Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk. This is not my usual; I like the iced version, considering it like a coffee milkshake for grownups, but hot coffee cuts grease and egg yolk in the mouth, bits of which this sandwich provides, in a good way.
The coffee is slightly bitter, but not undrinkable. I step outside for a smoke, which makes the drink more palatable. My café-​mates don’t notice my leaving, or my return, except for one fellow who asks if I’m a reporter. «No,» I tell him, «I just like the food here, and I like my Vietnamese friends.» He smiles, gratified that I’ve figured out what the room already knows.
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Tamales Oaxaqueños:
Á Châu:
K Sandwiches:

I’m still a Saigon fan for banh mi, buttttttt everything else was so amazingly delicious. I ordered the blood clams, bun, and rice. The chicken was cooked to perfection. I highly recommend for vietnamese food.

Very strong vietnamese coffee, and above average Banh mi. Will come again for sure.

I was amazed as I dine here for my friends birthday a couple nights ago. I forgot all about what real authentic Vietnamese food taste like. They made dishes I only remember my mother would make. The food is so fresh and the service is exceptionally friendly and fast. You would be surprise by the name Café Dore would have such good food. The restroom is in the back so you have to go through the kitchen to get there and as I look around the kitchen it was so clean which made me feel even better.

Café sua da was strong and tasty. Yum. We had 2 vietnamese sandwiches to go and they were so delish. The chicken sandwich wasn’t just a shredded piece of leftover chicken like some other places. It was grilled and flavorful. I’m not sure as two girls, that I’d want to eat in the café at noonish on Sunday. The vibe reminded me of going to Chinatown in the summer and watching all of the old Asian men play Ma Jong, but don’t let this deter you, especially when you’re in the neighborhood and looking for good, cheap food.

One of my fave banh mi spots! Crusty baguette, perfectly pickled daikon and carrots, crunchy little sticks of cucumber, a little mayo, and delectable grilled pork. A strange little restaurant with many older Vietnamese gents hanging out, in a transitional neighborhood. But, who cares, just go grab some banh mi and you won’t regret it! You actually can sit down and enjoy your food, if you prefer. They have a full menu so you have a lot more options if you’re not in the mood for a banh mi.

Cool place. Nice little range on the menu. I actually didn’t get coffee because I already had too much. I went with the beef lemon grass stew with egg noodles. Pretty flavorful. The beef and broth were on point. Lots of herbs. They were so fresh there was a 2 inch slug was crawling off the plate! I didn’t care and chowed down anyways.
I got a half order of egg rolls too. About average nothing to speak about. I’ll be back to try the coffee and banh mi. They need to stock sriracha on the tables. Came out with the tiniest little thing with a dab of chili and some salt and pepper. Think they saw the disappointment in my eyes and ran back and brought a jar of chilli. Good place and an eccentric mix of patrons.

3 stars, not bad, not good.
got ca phe sua da (vietnamese coffee) and a chicken banh mi (no carrots, daikon, cucumber, add pâté.) for some reason the sandwich seemed noticeably salty. the coffee was just ok.
the staff was nice though.

Great place for strong Vietnamese coffee and good food. Nice staff too :)

I usually walk straight into Saigon when I park in the parking lot but this time I decided to change it up and try Café Dore’s Banh Mi.
Upon entering there was a table of men playing chess/​checkers and there was a couple sitting at a table nearby. I ordered my BBQ pork Banh mi to go from the friendly cashier and was a bit frustrated when it didn’t come out for 15 minutes. Seriously? When I order ‘to go’ it usually means I need to be somewhere! And this is just a sandwich!
The sandwich was good, but I seem to like Saigon better. Maybe its just personal preference, but I felt like the pork was really ‘fatty’ here.
I will be back soon to give them another go…

I’m a Saigon loyalist, but how can I go there week after week and not try Café Dore? My first impression, this is a café/​restaurant with plenty of seating, big screen playing Vietnamese soap operas, and old guys sitting outside playing card games (?). The service at Café Dore is quick, friendly, and efficient.
I ordered our sandwiches to go (2 dac biet). Loved the toasted baguette, the pâté, and the pickles. The meat was fine. Overall it was a very good sandwich, but for some reason I love Saigon’s sandwiches much, much more.
I keep wanting to try out the restaurant menu items, but I am always either there during lunch or am alone when I am in the area. It’s not fun eating alone in a restaurant.

What can I say? I’m a junkie for the banh mi. I eat these things in every city I can, and am always looking for the next spot, even as I’m chewing through the present one.
So, this review will be a bit different. Initially, I was going to visit only Café Dore. But, then, as I approached the place, I saw Saigon Sandwich right next door. It was impossible for me to eat at only one, especially since eating at both would give me the opportunity to compare the two. This, to me, is tantamount to listening to the Goldberg Variations performed by different pianists, one after the other, side by side. Who could pass that up?
So, I walked into Dore knowing that I would now be ordering the sandwich to go so that I could buy one next door and eat them together. I chose the thit nhong — bbq pork. Sometimes I get a påté sandwich of some sort, but I thought that ordering the traditional Thit Nhong would make the comparison more straight forward.
[Note: This review will also be submitted to Saigon Sandwich.]
Methodology: I bought a sandwich form each place and ate half of one, then the other, then repeated after taking some mental notes along the way.
So, ambiance: Both places are pretty straight forward. Dore is a restaurant and coffee shop only; Saigon is a convenience store/​carry out joint (they do have 3 – 4 tables, though).
Dore’s sandwich is $ 3.00. Saigon’s sandwich is $ 3.50. Both sandwiches were really wonderful. The baguette was fantastic (and possibly made by the same baker) — warm and toasty with a nice crust and chewy interior. The pickled vegetables and cilantro in both sandwiches were fantastic — crunchy and cool, super-​flavorful and substantial in portion.
Now, the meat: This is where these banh mi break from one another significantly. Other than both places giving nice portions, the pork in each sandwich is quite distinct from the other.
Dore: The pork is more like a chunky pulled pork –which is a treat! Many banh mi have pork that has been hammered thin and tenderized. This pork was more the kind you’d tear from a pork shoulder. Bites were chunky and only slightly characterized by that familiar thit nhong bbq flavor. You tasted quite a bit of pork, which was very nice and quite a surprise. I like this sandwich a lot.
Saigon: The pork here was more of what you’d expect form a traditional banh mi: thinner, more tenderized pork that pulled apart easily with each bite. This is the banh mi I know — with one exception: Saigon’s sandwich had a very distinct and unusual bbq flavor. Almost as if it was an Americanized banh mi… as if the meat were cooked with American bbq sauce… like a rib sauce or something. It wasn’t exactly like that, but I immediately stopped and thought, this is a different, kind of odd flavor that I have never really tasted in a banh mi. I like this sandwich, but it was not what I expected.
So, which is better? I would have to go with Dore. Dore gets 4 stars and Saigon gets 3. I would eat either, but I’m more of Dore guy in the end. I suggest eating both sandwiches and deciding for your self.
Did anyone else have this experience?

Best Banh Mi in all of San Diego! The people that own this place are so nice and friendly. We had the bbq pork and marinated beef and the beef was much better. They also have various Boba teas, including Thai, which is my favorite. We’ll be back very soon!