Banh Mi Bay — Restaurant in London

Visited this Vietnamese restaurant on a lazy Saturday afternoon after heading to Hatton Gardens to resize my ring, my boyfriend has been here the year before, he was hungry, and he wanted to come here over my suggestion of going to Kimchi nearer Hoborn! I was expecting something good.

We ordered:-

Goi Cuon - Summer Rolls Tiger prawns, sliced pork, rice vermicelli, lettuce and Vietnamese herbs wrapped in rice paper, served with a peanut hoi sin dipping sauce.

Pho noodle soup for my boyfriend (sorry don't know which one he ordered, some sort of beef)

Bun Vermicelli Noodle Salad (Ga Sate - Chargrilled Satay Chicken)

2x Vietnamese iced coffee.

Comments:

The summer rolls were so and so, tasted really bland. The prawn was big, which I appreciated, but the only flavour is only coming from the dipping sauce.

My boyfriend's Pho unfortunately came with lukewarm soup. It was really disappointing. The meat tasted pretty nice but noone wants lukewarm meals. We scouted other tables who ordered Pho after us and their noodle soups were steaming hot! That's inconsistency right there for you.

My vermicelli noodle salad was ok, I like the one at Cafe East more. The chicken was pretty dry, but I was hungry.

The iced coffee was really strong. They don't use the Truong brand that I am used to, and they seem to put less condensed milk in as well, so it tasted more bitter than usual.

The worst thing is by the time we left, I was already feeling ill. By the time we got home about 30-40 min later, both of us were throwing up and on the toilet in general. I really don't want to come back here :( It's not like the food was anything spectacular, and I think it has some hygiene...

Came here during lunch rush hour (12:30) with my family (3 of us in total) and was able to get a seat without much wait! The service was immediate during the busy time and it was amazing. The staff were kind and accommodating without showing any signs of slowing down during this busy period of the day. We ordered Vietnamese fried chicken wings, the banh mi bay special, beef pho noodle soup and bun vermicelli noodle salad with roast pork. The bun vermicelli noodle was VERY filling ! The portion was huge and well portioned with the fillings of the pork, salad and noodles. With every bite you had a bit of everything (if you mix it well) and it was delicious with the fish sauce paired with it. The chicken wings complimented the dish very nicely with how crispy it was ! The beef noodle pho was very beefy and authentic, you cannot go wrong with this! The banh mi bay special was packed with flavour and with their vegetables. Perfectly rationed to fit in the baguette without feeling there’s too much or too little of each of the filling inside. The entire experience was enjoyable despite how busy it was and I can imagine it will be just as nice when it is a little quieter. But the amount of customers coming in is very telling that the food here is good ! I can confirm the food is authentic as a Vietnamese...

Imagine getting yelled at by the manager himself. Oh yes, I, too politely, reminded him to PUT THE SAUCE IN, because he forgot it the last time. See, I did give him benefit of the doubt. And to be honest, coming from East London and growing up in Vietnam eating authentic real Vietnamese food myself, I only ate here cause it was close to where my partner works so we usually have lunch around the area. But if you think this food is anywhere near what you will get in Vietnam, or let’s say, in East London where another ton of ACTUALLY GOOD Viet Restaurants reside, you’re better off getting something from Pret across the road. For real. If management is that much of an amateur when it comes to customer service and with the constantly offended face he puts on, I don’t get how I would pay 7 quid just to get myself mad over mediocre fake Viet food. Oh and I don’t need your compensation or don’t want to give you a chance to make this right, if that’s how you run your business, that’s how you run your business. I’m done with this place and...