Bánh — Restaurant in New York

4.25/5 Stopped by Banh for dinner on a Sunday night. The place is pretty popular and was consistently packed. They also have a good number of takeout orders coming in and out. Love the decor and the friendly service. One of the workers behind the counter checked up on us several times to made sure we were enjoying our food. They have a restroom and outdoor dining as well. They also have a special menu for the weekends that has additional options that everyone should try. I recommend the ban dap and banh tieu kep.

✅Ban Dap (Smashed Rice Cake): A delicious dish from central Vietnam that's served here on certain weekends. The base of this cake ("Break Cake") is a grilled sesame rice cracker (Banh Da) with another layer of rice paper (Banh Uot). This variation has a modern elevated flare and is as beautiful to look at as it is to eat. The addition of the pickled carrots and daikon (Do Chua) adds a tangy sweetness while the bites of sausage give it a meaty salty depth. The real star for me is the shaved layer of preserved egg which adds a subtle savoriness and creaminess to the dish. Of course this isn't overshadowed by its costar, a beautiful layer of caramelized chives for a savory onion-y depth. There's also a brown sauce that added the slightest bit of heat, tang, salt, and funk. I believe it’s mam nem and it tastes like a pineapple garlic fish sauce dip. I do wish there was a bit more sausage and egg to stand up to the Do Chua and thick cracker but overall such a layered dish with so many flavors and textures! (4.25/5)

✅Banh Tieu Kep (Vietnamese Donut w/ pork floss, sticky rice, quail egg): I love Banh Tieu (Vietnamese donuts) which have an airy interior and a crackly exterior. This version takes the donut and stuffs it with goodies such as salty pork and creamy quail eggs over a bed of chewy sticky rice. There's a pink-orange sauce (possibly fermented shrimp?) in the sandwich that brought another layer to the dish. (4.5/5)

🆗OG Banh Mi: My go to when getting Banh Mi. While it was good I think the attempt to make this more “artisan” took away from what I love about it. The french bread was airy but much denser and less white-bread feeling than other banh mi shops. The slices of cha loa (pork loaf) and the Gio Thu (head cheese) were a bit on the thick side. I also personally prefer more mayo and pate. The spirit of the sandwich was there but it didn’t quite hit the spot for me but if you have a friend who’s a bit more skeptical about trying this type of banh mi, this may help ease them in. (3.5/5)

✅ Wildflower honey Jasmine Lime Tea: A really light refreshing summer drink. The globs of honey adds a fun heterogeneity where you get little globs of sugar in the drink. However I think mixing some directly into the tea to balance out the lime would be nice since at times it was a bit too unbalanced. Otherwise I love the gentle floral flavor of the jasmine accented by the lime. (4/5)

✅ Strawberry lime soda: My friends drink. Definitely a more sugary drink but still tart and sparkly enough to be enjoyed if you're not a super sweet soda person like me. The strawberry has a more candy-like flavor but isn't too...

Bahn used to be a wonderful place to get a bowl of pho. I might even say it was the best place until the last two times I went. I'm not sure when its new iteration opened at Union Sq, but out of hope for a resurgence in quality, I'm hoping that the new iteration is causing merely temporary upsets in the flagship restaurant's quality.

My first poor experience was three months ago. I came in with my girlfriend at 5pm to beat the crowd, but after 20 minutes of waiting (my girlfriend was kind enough to sacrifice the warmth of her meal and wait 10 minutes), my bowl was served without the usual garnish. Noticing the issue, I politely asked for garnish, and the waitress was clearly frustrated that I asked. She said she already told me I'd have to wait for the garnish, which was very confusing, since I did not hear her say that, and that it was even a possibility to be served the soup without the garnish. Why not just communicate the issue, making sure that I heard her with a verbal acknowledgement from me (it's loud in there!), and then wait to serve both of our meals until everything was ready? This interaction was unusually unprofessional. I figured something was wrong with kitchen timing and it wasn't her fault but she had to be a face of blame as the customer's point of contact. I was willing to give her and the clearly inexperienced cooking crew a pass until I looked down at the bowl and noticed bit of an MSG wrapper hidden behind a tendon. Before the wrapper, I was a usual customer; after the wrapper, I was an infrequent customer.

But even then, I still had hope! I went back a couple of days ago as a die-hard fan to find a whole new set of issues. The quality of the pho had declined! I could tell that some of the rendered fat had not been discarded in the cooking process and some other corners had been cut in the cooking process, whether it be a lessening of anise, less cooking time, or less meat used when making the broth. The broth simply was not as good as it had consistently been in the past. Thankfully my previous experience wasn't replicated, but in some ways my latest experience could be representative of a more permanent issue: the food just isn't as good anymore.

I haven't tried the new restaurant to compare, and I will as a lover of Vietnamese food, but I do hope that the Upper West Side establishment looks long and hard at what got them to their elite position because it deserves more than it's...

This is my 3rd eating there and will be my last and let me tell you the story......Overall impression: poor consistency, lousy lousy service and not a clean restaurant. Hit or miss food.

1. First time, take-out: Ordered 2 different banh mi sandwiches. The first sandwich was made in 10 minutes and then I waited another 30 minutes for the second because they forgot to make it. I got home only to realize that they prepared 2 of the same type of sandwiches. Although the two sandwiches were the same, one was beautifully made and the second was lacking for meat; very poor consistency. On a positive note I called up and they did refund me the cost of the mistaken sandwich with no problem. The sandwiches were very good overall I must say.
2. Second time, eating in: This was a very good experience. There was 1 Australian server there who waited on us who was very attentive and on top of his game. Lovely, delicious meal with a great service experience.
3. Third time, eating in: Very poor customer service experience. Servers did not care. We were sharing a bowl of Pho and a fried chicken banh mi sandwich. Had to ask for sharing bowls and spoons for the soup and were unable to flag down a server for sharing plates throughout the entire meal. The pho was delicious but the sandwich was cold and the fried chicken gummy and not crispy like it had been sitting out at a buffet steam table for 2 hours covered in sauce and the bread was not toasted like it should have been, so it was just soft like it had been stored all day in a plastic bag. However what really took the cake was come time to pay at the end of the night; the staff was eating their staff meal and busy on their iphones 3 tables down in plain sight, where we had to wait 15 minutes for a check. When we were finally brought the payment terminal, it was just dropped on the table and the server left, not even caring to clear the dirty plates. I even tried twice to wave down somebody to break a twenty so that I could pay them for a cash tip to which fell on deaf ears and eyes. I said to myself screw this, i'm not going to chase them down so I can pay them a tip reward for their very oblivious difference for what I am paying them for. So I ended up leaving them $3 tip on a $35 meal.

This place has potential but is so disappointing, I will not...