Be's Noodles & Banh Mi — Restaurant in Charlotte

BE's NOODLES & BANH MI, serves truly AUTHENTIC VIETNAMESE, as "Be" came from South Vietnam and brought her expertise with her. I have known her since the first restaurant Houng Viet and am so glad she is in Ballantyne.

My favorites have been: Combination Pho Noodle Soup with lots of thin slices of Filet Mignon in a hot rich beef broth with meat balls. I stir in the hoisin and hot sauce and float fresh jalapeno slices on top with the asian mint, crispy white bean sprouts, and squeeze fresh lime on top. The Pho broth is awesome.

Combination Rice Vermicelli Noodles with marinated grilled pork, charbroiled shrimp on a skewer with crispy egg roll cut into bite size pieces on a bed of noodles with shreaded lettuce and cucumber. Now top all that with flavorful Vietnamese Nouc mam sauce with garlic, lime, hot pepper and it soars.

Chicken and Potato Curry. Tonight I ordered a bowl of Chicken and Potato Curry in coconut milk, chicken broth blended with spicy red Thai Curry. It was beyond belief. The blended Curry HEAT was smoothed with coconut milk - no MSG, no preservatives, no artificial colors. I ordered a toasted Vietnamese rice bread roll to sop up the broth. Definite French connection to China.

Don't tell too many people about this...

Be’s Noodle & Banh Mi serves up delicious Vietnamese cuisine at lightning fast speeds. You order at the counter, take your number, take a seat, and your food is at your table in just a few short minutes. In addition to the fast service, everyone who works there is also incredibly friendly. The interior is new, clean, and well lit (although the soda machine has been broken for way too long).

The prices may seem slightly high, until you see how gigantic the regular bowl is. My wife can never finish her bowl and I sometimes struggle myself. The broth is delicious and the noodles are perfectly chewy. The rare sliced filet mignon, brisket, and meatballs in the pho dac biet (special) are plentiful and are of top notch quality.

Items such as fatty brisket and tripe are unusually omitted from the menu. Most people typically steer away from these items anyways so I see it as a sensible cost cutting measure (although some purists may beg to differ).

It’s also important to note that the menu is not as extensive as other Vietnamese restaurants around town. You won’t find items such as mi kho (dry noodles) or banh xeo (crepes) so set your expectations accordingly. Even still, I highly recommend the pho - it’s fast, authentic, delicious, and mother...

I was left a little underwhelmed after reading all the stellar reviews. I forgot to take a photo when I went for lunch on Friday 12/2/2022. It was only my second time having pho. I got the chicken and to my surprise the chicken was dry and a bit tough. It was almost like the chicken (breast meat) was cooked separately from the broth itself then thrown into the bowl when people ordered. The noodles themselves were perfectly cooked. I was thankful for the add-ons that came with the soup...basil, bean sprouts, peppers, lime... They all added to the beautifully clear broth that seemed to need a little pick-me-up.

Aside from the pho, what I did enjoy, was the Vietnamese Iced Coffee. It was robust and flavorful. It was my first time trying it and it caught me off guard at how strong it was on my first sip (I'm not a daily coffee drinker) but I liked it enough to re-create it at home since I live too far away to just grab one from there on a whim!

I'll definitely return but I think I will try the filet mignon pho next time. I'd expect a completely different flavor profile... And I'll remember to snap a few photos because the presentation was definitely...