Banh Mi Boys — Restaurant in Toronto

The Wyck Recommendation: Banh Mi Boys Queen Rating: 3.6/5 Your Poutine Could Never: Kimchi Fries and Filthy Glory

Intro Scene Midnight on Queen West. You’re six gin and tonics and a couple of Negronis in, crouched on a sticky curb debating the Earth’s protective bubble with a ramen stray. Two more wander over from McDonald’s, someone flicks sauce on your shoe, and you’re balancing a chewy baguette that actually hits the spot way better than it has any right to. This isn’t just drunk food. It’s the bomb banh mi that keeps you coming back, grime and all.

What Was Ordered Kimchi Fries. The stoner crown jewel, artery glue with extra mayo Kalbi Beef Banh Mi. Sweet, chewy, always the move Fried Chicken Bao. Bread pillow of shame and pride, every time Spring Rolls. Crunchy oil bombs to pad your stomach for another bar

Service Commentary There is no service. They’d watch you wipe your table with your own shirt before they’d lift a rag. They’re stone faced, dead eyed, and they like it that way. So do you.

Vibe Check A sauce-splattered hallway jammed with punks, drunk poets, and conspiracy nuts. Napkins run out by midnight so you use receipts and sleeves. If you’re lucky you might leave with your shoes not glued to the floor. Horseshoe Tavern up the street keeps the post show spillover rowdy and sauced.

The Space Itself Narrow, bright, and wearing ten years of sauce ghosts on the walls. Floors that feel like flypaper. Tables that have never met disinfectant. If they cleaned you’d probably hate it.

About the Neighborhood Queen West is a bar crawl vortex that spits you out greasy and confused every time. Horseshoe Tavern is around the corner for sweaty rock crowds. Ramen shops and sketchy clubs keep the sidewalks sloppy. McDonald’s refugees drift in half-eaten nuggets and conspiracy rants. And Chinatown is just up the street, reminding you that if you really cared, you could find cleaner tables and way better late night eats. But you’re here sauce splattered, half drunk, and loyal anyway.

Hits & Misses ✓ Kimchi fries worth every clogged artery underrated, controversial, and honestly might be better than a poutine ✓ Kalbi beef banh mi stays the bomb ✓ Fried chicken bao hits just right every time ✓ Bread always chewy — exactly what you expect after midnight ✓ Cheap enough you won’t question your life choices until tomorrow ✗ Zero chance you’ll sit at a clean table ✗ Staff indifference hits spiritual levels

Final Verdict It’s dirty. It’s sloppy. It’s barely polite. But the banh mi hits every single time, and the kimchi fries might just outshine your go-to poutine. That’s why you’ll wipe your own table and come back again. If these guys ever cleaned up and gave half a damn about service, they could do so much better. They’d rule the latenight kingdom instead of just scraping by on sauce and attitude. 3.6 feels about right.

Perfect For Bar crawls with conspiracy rants and greasy fingers Forgetting...

Do you ever wonder if you're missing something in your life, but can't quite put your finger on what? We had just that feeling all week, then we realized what was missing. We have never reviewed Banh Mi Boys - crazy! Well, better late than never.

It's hard to follow the over 1,800 reviews of this place, most of which give justifiably stellar ratings, but here goes.

We've been going to Banh Mi Boys since they opened their Queen St. W. location in 2011. We fell in love with their fusion style Banh Mi right from the get-go. Rather than cater only to the traditionalists, the Boys decided from the get-go to focus on hot meats from various cultures - including Korea, Japan and China - to stuff their gloriously crispy baguettes. We rocked the signature Five Spice Pork Belly, as well as the Kalbi Beef. As always the meats were delicious, and balanced perfectly with crispy carrots, crunchy jalapenos and super fresh, flavourful cilantro. Totally on point as usual.

Oh, and they also do non-banh mi items like bao and Korean tacos (killer). On this trip we shared a Five Spice Pork Belly Bao (because, pork belly!) as an "appetizer" - sooo good!

If you've never gotten around to trying Banh Mi Boys now is as good a time as any to try. Banh Mi are a great street food, and hold up well for take-away back to wherever you intend to plant yourself to devour their delicious offerings. You won't be sorry...

This was my first time trying Banh Mi Boys and I ordered the Kalbi Bee banh mi. The sandwich was fresh and tasty and I would return based on the quality of the food.

However, the reason I gave it 1 star was because of the cleanliness of the place. I originally was going to eat it in the restaurant but due to the mess that was on the floor and on the tables, I left and ate in my car.

The floor was littered with several pieces of garbage such as forks, napkins, and even french fries which were stepped on several times.

All of the tables were dirty with food on them and did not look like it had been cleaned since the morning. All this with at least 2 staff standing around and doing nothing.

It was Saturday night at 8 PM and not terribly busy. Certainly they had enough staff that someone could have taken 5 minutes to clean the mess in on the floors and the tables.

Just before I left, I saw one of the employees bring a broom and dust bin from the back. I was thinking great, someone will clean this pigsty and I can eat my sandwich there. Much to my surprise, the employee took the broom and simply took it downstairs or put it in the corner.

ATTN: Banh MI Boys Owners - your food is tasty but your employees take no pride in your restaurant which was a utter pigsty. If I was the owner, I would have been ashamed and...