Asian Express — Restaurant in Capitola

Update since a year ago, I went on a Sunday because everything is close and just wanted to see if it gotten better and no... It's getting worse and the people that think this is a good place to eat are the ones that stay in Santa Cruz and never go out of town & see how over price this place is too 🤦 and don't try other places.

the noodles where all stock together at the bottom and tasted like mold.. And alot of water.

That place should really work on their food quality..

A year ago Okay I just want to say my experience with this place that has been a sore spot for me.

before covid hit us, the prices used to be decent and the food used to be really good and my favorite one was number nine but recently over the years especially after COVID the prices have gone up and the food quality has gone down.

The number nine spicy noodles doesn't even taste like it has any spice or Even anything spicy like it says.

I understand that they had a rat problem in the past and it was in the newspapers and they dealt with that and it affected their business but it still tasted good after for some time before they change their prices that used to be $10.00 now it is $15.99 and seems to be going up every month But the quality keeps dropping.

I used to go here all the time with my best friend as a kid and during college, this used to be my favorite place in Santa Cruz to go for a while then I moved to LA for a year during the lockdown and came back & was deeply saddened to find out how bad the restaurant has gone down.

I understand that things are now expensive due to the inflation but with the price it is now with the quality of the food is just...

First off, my take and comments here primarily relate to their Bánh mì (Aka "Vietnamese sandwiches") only. I love Vietnamese food in general, but I have been a Bánh mì addict since our first visit to Vietnam 25 years ago. Just to clarify,I have not yet tried out their phở, or any of their other dishes or drinks. I had their 'barbecue pork' sandwich (Bánh mì thịt nướng) twice now. I really liked it the first time, but tonight, when i was really yearning for it, it was a total disaster. The pork was marinated and flavored nicely, but it was put on the sandwich 'by the pound' in large, thick and too big ungainly chunks of pork, making chewing difficult and a chore (for lack of a better word). And the Maggi was sorely missing. The best description I can give for my experience is "disappointing", and "displeasing". Which is too bad since I REALLY want to love this place. And I really liked their Bánh mì the first time I had it. Not this time though. Staff is really nice, but not sure I'll go back. "Don't touch my Bánh...

I only tried the Banh Mi and the Thai tea. The beef Banh Mi is a little weird to me. In other Vietnamese restaurants, the beef is BBQ and dark, but this one tasted and looked different. The bread and veggies were okay, but the meat was not the usual that you would find in San Jose or Orange County. It wasn't exactly bad, but not exactly good. For the price, it was the usual 10 dollars you would find at other places. The Thai tea, on the other hand, was also weird. First several sips, it was okay. But after that, it started to taste weird. Not sure what kind of mix they are using, but the sweetener tasted artificial or something wacky. I suspect it is not condensed milk like usual Thai tea uses.

Not the worst experience, but from a regular Banh Mi and Thai tea enjoyer,...