Banhmigos — Restaurant in New York

Was in the neighborhood waiting for someone and decided to give Banhmigos a second try while I waited.

The first time I tried their food was shortly after they newly opened. I ordered a Beef Short Rib Pho, and I found the flavors to be plain and uninspired. The portion was also small compared to what you'd normally get from traditional Vietnamese restaurants. After this first experience, I had written them off as being a non-repeat.

Fast forward to January 2023, and I have an hour to kill right in front of this restaurant. There were plenty of other restaurants I could have gone to, but I decided to give Banhmigos another try and actually order a banh mi, which is what they're named for.

This time, I liked what I ordered! I decided to try their Traditional banh mi, which had Vietnamese ham, liver paté, roast ground pork, and pickled fixings of daikon radish and carrots, stuffed into a French baguette. While it tasted slightly different from the other banh mis I've had, it still had great, authentic flavor, and the crusty baguette was very light and airy. The size of the sandwich was smaller than others I've had, but it was enough to be filling. I bought a Vietnamese ice coffee to wash it all down and that was really good as well. Rich, dark coffee, lightly sweetened with condensed milk. It was creamy and delicious. The entire meal was surprisingly satisfying compared to my first experience.

The only other criticism I have is the cost of the food. The sandwich was $4 more than what other Vietnamese restaurants charge, but I rationalized this was due to the real estate of the area.

Overall, I would return for the Traditional banh mi and Vietnamese ice coffee, if I have a craving for them and can't access other Vietnamese...

I’m sorry and I hate to give a negative review, but I feel like in this case I genuinely have to warn people - DO NOT GO HERE. Like I cannot overstate the extent to which you should just pick literally anywhere else to get your Vietnamese food

I’m truly baffled and perplexed that this place has above like, a 3 star rating. The food was genuinely the worst meal I’ve had in 10+ years. It was so bad my ancestors were shaking and crying and probably cursed me for even putting this in my body.

We had the pho. How do you mess up a pho?? Apparently by making the noodles a wet, soggy mess of literal slop, the weirdest mystery meat ever put on God’s green earth, and a disgusting “broth” that tasted like lukewarm salt water. I think it was like 12 hours old and had been soaking them they microwaved it. Like why even do that to someone you just paid $30 for...

We ordered online and learned that we paid at least an extra 20% on top of the total and tip! When we picked our order up I told the manager and he said he had no control over that because a third party company handles the online commerce that for him. The two reasons that make this disappointing is the manager made no effort to make me the customer satisfied. He could of offered a free desert or something to soften the experience. Secondly, wouldn't you think if your customers were complaining and upset because that your online company is not really taking a slice of the profit but overcharging your customers and penalizing them for ordering online your goods. And not a one dollar or a few cents it was an...