Bánh Mì Makers — Restaurant in Prague

Our experience was literally laughable. I'm not even mad even though the staff was super rude.

We had just arrived in the city and we were exhausted.  We thought some pho would be revitalizing.  Due to laziness, we went to this location because reviews seemed "good" and it was close by. Huge huge huge mistake, always read reviews!

Let me step back by saying I understand Prague is far from Vietnam and ingredients might be hard to source. Additionally, the restaurant probably needs to cater to local tastes/preference. However, bad service is bad service. When your customers can tell that you hate your life and you're more interested in your phone or chatting with coworkers, that should be an automatic sign to move onto another establishment.

Now let me continue with a fully honest review. If you are seeking authentic Vietnamese food or if you already have a palette for Vietnamese food. Avoid this place at all costs!

We came in and there was one Caucasian lady eating at a large table. The lady at the register saw our group of six Asians and didn't seem pleased at all. We browsed at the menu. I asked the lady at the counter if they had anything close to pho dac biet, which is basically a super combination of all different cuts of beef etc. She said no, only beef or chicken. I assume 95% of their customers are Caucasian Europeans, we thought they might be happy to see ethnically similar customers but I feel like they were literally put off by our presence.

We only spoke English to the staff but we knew they spoke Cantonese and vietnamese. Guess what? We speak the same and more, but no reason to reveal that fact when we can just eavesdrop on the staff's rude conversations. But more on that later.

The beef pho/pho bo was passable if you are desperate for a warm soupy meal. The broth is okay. The flavor is present but has no depth or soul. The cuts of meat are sub par and not very tender. Apparently mung bean sprouts are a rare commodity in Prague. There was literally 7 in my personal bowl. Pho is typically served with mung bean sprouts, basil, and mint leaves on the side.  None of that was provided or even available.  The funniest failure for me was that they didn't have a single bottle or packet of hoisin sauce in the entire restaurant.

The bun bo hue is next to be reviewed.  In my opinion the dish was the third worst failure that we ordered.  The dish was served with super thin vermicelli noodles. Traditionally, this dish comes with thicker vermicelli noodles and a really rich, red broth.  This bowl just looked like they used pho bo broth and tossed a spoonful of red oil on top. Utterly disappointing.

The spring rolls were okay. However, they typically come with three shrimp and pork belly.  This restaurant rolls theirs with only two shrimp and only offer two rolls in an order.  But cut corners anywhere you can to make a profit! Europeans won't know the difference anyways!

The mango salad was okay. Would have been above average if they had used proper green mangos.  Instead they used semi ripe mangos on the yellower side.  The firmness and texture was lacking.

It was a really really tough debate deciding which item was the worst here. I decided the Vietnamese iced coffee was the second worst item we ordered.  Not a single traditional Vietnamese coffee drip in the entire restaurant. The coffee is made from extremely powdery instant coffee and watered down to oblivion.

The worst dish we ordered was the poor excuse for bun thit nuong/grilled meat with noodles. The vermicelli noodles were correct, the vegetable accompaniment was lacking; however, the most laughable failure is that they served the dish with a side of soy sauce instead of nuoc mam/fish sauce! Literally, LAUGH OUT LOUD! How badly can you disgrace your own country's cuisine? If I didn't know any better, I would've thought someone tried to recreate bun thit nuong after watching a YouTube video using local ingredients out of a Prague grocery store.

When leaving, she called out puk gai. This basically means drop dead in...

Tried Phở and Bánh mì thịt lợn.

Not very authentic, I'd call it Vina-inspired. Bánh mì tasted good and I'd definitely recommend it, if you're in for baguette that tastes a little different. The Phở was inauthentic and unappetizing. The noodles were far too hard and the broth was just boring (where's all the herbs, the coriander seeds, star anise, the broiled onion etc.) All I could taste was the umami from the meat/bones.

Nevertheless Bánh mì is what this little shop is banking on and they do it well enough (4/5), the second star is taken because of the unfriendly atmosphere, crowdedness and loudness of the establishment (3/5).

Having visited a few highly rated establishments in this part of Europe I am starting to feel that the rating is mostly indicative of how young and hip the crowd visiting the business is, not...

Visited 4.8.25, 1pm: Totally don't recommend going there! Banh mi's are mostly filled with air. Restaurant is not nice to stay. Service is the worst I've had for a long time. They tried to pull of my money and tried to make it look like a nice service. I ordered a beer and got ice tea, had to explain myself more than 3 times afterwards, First they said I hadn't paid for anything to drink. After I wanted to see the receipt they admitted that I paid for an ice tea saying the beer would be fine now. After I asked wheter it's the same price and being resistant they gave me back 3 krones less than the actual difference. Never ever will I go back there, not trustworthy nor...