Ba Le Sandwich Shop — Restaurant in Alhambra

Overall: 3.3/5 (take out)

We came on a Saturday around 4:30 PM so it wasn't busy. We were craving banh mi so we did the buy 5 get 1 free sandwich deal. We wanted la lot but they didn't have anymore. The sandwiches came out pretty quickly too but there's a clear difference between which ones are good and which ones are bad.

Ba Le Special - Dac Biet ($7.50): This was clearly their best sandwich. Everything was really good and tasty.

BBQ Pork ($7): This was a close second. The pork came with peanuts, green onion, & house sauce which made it so flavorful and different from any other BBQ pork we've tried.

BBQ Beef ($7.50): This was okay. It was more dry and less flavorful than BBQ pork even though it had the same marinade.

Pork Belly - Ba Chi ($6.50): This was the third best banh mi. The pork belly was really thin and looks like xa xiu.

Sweet Meat - Xiu Mai ($6): The sweet meat was so gross. The texture was like baby food so I can see why they call it the "Asian Sloppy Joe". We only took 2 bites.

Pork Lemongrass Sausage ($7): The sausage was flavorless. It's the 2nd worse one. Would not recommend either.

Crispy Chicken Jerky ($8 for 4 oz): Not a fan of the texture....

Really good sandwich with decent coffee is a good way to enjoy an early Sunday afternoon.

ITEM'S ORDERED:

Chicken banh mi w/ egg added Vietnamese Coffee

TASTE:

I've had a fair amount of banh mi & this was one of the better ones. Bread & veggies were fresh, chicken was tasty & a solid portion of it as well. Decided to add egg which just made it even more of a meal. I enjoyed how it wasn't just drenched in mayo, but rather had the right amount & went well with the light soy sauce flavor.

Vietnamese Coffee was pretty decent. Not the best I've had but also not the worst. Really just a little too weak of a coffee flavor for me, but imagine most would be fine with it.

SERVICE, LOCATION & PARKING:

Service was friendly & it wasn't too difficult ordering in English as I've noticed at other places. They are cash only FYI.

They are located in right off Atlantic & Valley in the Starbucks/Chase plaza. Pretty easy to find a parking spot but just FYI sometimes really busy because the Starbucks drive thru.

There's so many different banh mi places around but I'll say I was impressed enough with this one so I'd...

Sandwiches and food are perfect except the customer service is nonexistent to sub par. The girls who work the front counter wouldn't know customer service if it slapped them across the face. The medium build Asian girl in the mornings; Asian girl with glasses; and short Asian girl all have a mean scowl as soon as you enter the store. They will even talk about you as if you're not standing in front of them. I usually spend $70-$100 for togo for family and friends. They had the nerve to serve another customer who was behind me first. I go to this shop because my uncle Ngo's relative is part owner of this place. I am a manager of a large retailer and service like this would result in firing. Make these girls clean in the back for 6 months until they learn customer service. They speak a little broken English and act like they own the world. I've shopped here over 10 times; but probably won't be back. There's Viet sandwich shops all over the 626 within blocks of this place. Saigon by San Gabriel Blvd...