Roostar — Restaurant in Houston

I came to this establishment today with a friend. I ordered one egg Bahn mi (a whole one not a half) which I have ordered before and from my experience they have cut the whole sandwich in half for me just like they do with their other sandwiches. So when I ordered today I asked for light aioli sauce on one half of my sandwich and the normal amount of sauce that comes with it already on the other half. The staff member at the register taking my order was very friendly and gave great customer service. However, the staff member named Đất who called me up to pick up my already made sandwich decided that this was the right time to confront me about how I would have to pay for an extra sandwich due to asking for light sauce on one half of my sandwich. He was very rude about it and frankly to me it didn’t make sense because I am paying for one whole sandwich that y’all are just cutting in half (which I didn’t even bring up that particular issue with him) . I replied back to him that the cashier didn’t tell me this (otherwise I would’ve just asked to keep the normal amount of sauce). I told him I have no problem paying extra even though it does not make sense, in which he replied that the cashier is a trainee. To me it is common sense to address the trainee then and not me because as I reiterated prior, I have no problem paying. Đất continued to go on about this to a point where I had to get my food off the counter because he wasn’t going to bag them even though he had the bag open like he was going to but he was so busy trying to STILL address me that I walked out mid conversation because it is utterly ridiculous to go back and forth with a customer who did not give y’all any trouble in the first place and who did not order anything extra. Just a whole sandwich to be cut in half and on one half with light aioli sauce. Look, I am mixed with Black & Vietnamese and this employee was unprofessional and absolutely rude to me. There are PLENTY of restaurants to get Bahn mi from without half of the trouble that I went through today. I will never buy from this establishment again due to how I was treated as a customer. I was so upset with him that I had to have my friend go back in to get his name.

UPDATE: I am updating my review due to the quick and efficient customer service by Linda. She heard my concern, reassured me on their policy, and worked to address and resolve the issue which I greatly appreciated after my experience at this...

Ah, Spring Branch, and more specifically, the streets of Korean and Mexican restaurants side by side. So what does it take for a Vietnamese cuisine to stand out from all the competitions in the area? How about good food, decent price compared to your competitors, and then shine upon with friendly staff and a nice, clean looking restaurant?

This is what makes Vietnam Poblano earn it's 4 stars from me. Now, it would have gotten a 5 if it weren't for this small mishap on my visit to this place during lunch hour. My friends and I ordered our own separate food and the thing is, my friend ordered the garlic butter wings. But for some reason, the wings took almost 30 minutes to come out and we had to check with them twice to see what's going on. In the end, when it came out, one of the staff also brought out a free cup of Thai tea and iced coffee as compensation for the wait and explained that there was a mis-communication which caused the wings to come out so late. Again, it's good that they gave us free drinks to compensate and apologize but if we were really on a tight lunch schedule, it wouldn't have mattered.

But let's talk about the good things about this place. I have already summarized that it's clean, friendly staff, and good Vietnamese food here. Now I only ordered the banh mi so I can't comment on others, but I did get a bite of the wings. The banh mi is pretty damn good. It felt like there's just enough pieces of the meats and the bread is not too dry at all. I also ordered the alphabet soup given the raves from the reviews here and I gotta say, it's really good especially the current cold weather in Houston. Now the bite of the garlic butter wing is good, but nothing special compared to other wings place.

Over all, this restaurant is definitely here to stay because sometimes people want different choices other than Korean and Mexican in the Spring Branch area. I can only see them improve and thrive for...

Where did "Vietnam Poblano" go?! Not to worry, it looks like they changed their name to "Roostar Vietnamese Grill" recently. If you're looking for one of the top banh mi sandwiches in Houston for under $6, this is your best bet. Owners, Ronnie and Linda Nguyen, started their brand in 2013, and they are even opening up their 2nd location in the Uptown/Galleria area very shortly.

Roostar has been recognized many times since 2013. It was featured on Yelp's Top 100 List in 2015, was voted Best Banh Mi shop by the Houston Press in 2016, got a recent mention in My Table as one of the best banh mi restaurants, and was back-to-back People's Choice winners at the 2015 and 2016 Great Bánh Mì cookoffs.

They are usually very busy on the weekdays around lunchtime from the work crowd, so finding parking in their private lot may be a bit tough. It's usually a madhouse inside with plenty of people waiting in line, sitting and dining, and lots of employees in their red shirts scrambling around. The crowds do move in-and-out quickly, around 20-minutes to eat their sandwiches, so you'll be able to snag a seat quite easily if you don't mind sitting close-by to others.

I always order their grill chicken banh mi sandwich for $4.69. This comes with garlic aioli, pickled carrots, cilantro, jalapeños, cucumbers, and soy sauce. I like to throw on an avocado ($1.50) and an egg ($1.29) for an additional fee as well. I only come here for their sandwiches, but they also have rice boxes, soup, chicken wings, egg and spring rolls if you're interested. Go...