Viet Kitchen - pho & bánh mi — Restaurant in Madison

I was extremely excited when I noticed this place recently. I love banh mi sandwiches but there are not exactly a lot of places around Madison that have them. So this weekend I ordered two different types, a BBQ pork and a shredded pork. These came with the traditional pickled daikon and carrots, cucumber slices, thinly sliced jalapeno chilis, pork liver pate, jambon and Vietnamese mayo on a fresh crispy and flakey french baguette style roll. When I arrived I was informed that the menu I ordered from was an old version (yet still posted) and so the BBQ pork was actually grilled pork with Vietnamese bbq and the shredded pork was now shredded pork skin. So not too far off, yet a bit annoying. The sandwiches were just OK. They had good flavor, the bread was right but the filling was rather slight. The place itself is what you'd expect at a strip mall, plain and rather nondescript really. The girl that came to check my order out seemed disinterested as I tried to engage her in conversation asking some questions because I wanted to know more about their other offerings. I'm still glad it is there and I will give it another shot...this time I think I'll try the pho though and see how that goes.

As to the response from the owner: It is still confusing to determine which menu is current to anyone unfamiliar. When I ordered I was informed that the bbq pork was grilled pork, however NOT a word about pork SKIN vs shredded pork. Like I said, it all tasted good, balanced if you will, just that the bread to filling ratio seemed light, that's all. The price is fair, no...

Do your food recommendations also come with history lessons? A new restaurant has opened and I’ve been eager to try it. Naturally I snapped a picture of the menu and sent it off to my friend G. The parameters for her recommendations included that I couldn’t have soup because I was eating in my car. She suggested I order number 9 (Bahn Mi Dac Biet) and a Vietnamese coffee..with extra sweetened condensed milk for the first visit….other suggestions were made for future visits..and I WILL be going back.

After one sip of the Vietnamese coffee I immediately responded to G and asked her what made this coffee so magically delicious! I was blown away. She informed me that the French brought the coffee to Vietnam in 1857 and it was perfected over the years by adding chicory root. The coffee was the smoothest I have ever tasted and of course the sweetened condensed milk put it over the top!

The coffee was the star of the show but the Bahn Mi Dac Biet was equally amazing. Flavorful, fresh and the bread was perfect consistency to make the sandwich not too heavy.

For my next trip I’m hoping they have the Chef’s Special again… Com Suon Bi, this was also recommended since it is a staple in the Vietnamese households (per G). I’m drooling just thinking about my...

This place is opened during pandemic, so I sympathize with them.

Spring rolls were tasty. No pork is included at Vietnamese kitchen in their rolls. Pho number 8 was fine. For my taste I enjoy better the one at Saigon Noodles. However, this is my personal preference. I can’t say it was bad. It had a slight hint of raw pig feet at grocery store.

The ambiance is simple, no music. You need to place your order at the counter.

Large selection of boba smoothies, most people who walked in while I was dining in ordered smoothies to go.

I’d recommend to give it a try, possibly you might find it great.

What I did not appreciate is that water served in foam cups that is so harmful for the environment and doesn’t biodegrade easily.

Update 04/22/25: The place isn’t clean at all. The fridges are filthy when you are checking out it is pretty disgusting. A restaurant should be prioritizing cleanliness for the overall impression that food is made safely. I’m not sure about that. The empty place had at last two dirty tables sitting after customers left. Tables are not wiped, I had to pass on a few tables due to sticky stuff on them.

The pho with beef and tendon was very good much better than first time I...