Hanco's — Restaurant in New York

Let everyone else write about the classic banh mi or the grilled pork or the chicken—allow me to rhapsodize about the tofu sandwich.

I was feeling veg one day and decided to grab lunch from here. This is clearly a spot that gets a fair amount of business. They had a few people waiting outside and delivery people zipping in and out. Already, that said something (I made a mental note to order ahead next time).

I waited between 5-10 minutes for my order. Service was very efficient considering how many people they had to serve. When they called my order, I could feel the warmth of the sandwich inside the paper bag as I cradled it like a baby back home.

Oh my goodness, it was so good. For the uninitiated, you may be taken aback by a foul odor, but that's just the fermented radishes. Forget how it smells—it tastes phenomenal. Banh mi looks simple, but it's really easy to screw up. Hanco's does it beautifully. The baguette is perfectly toasty and sturdy enough on the outside to hold all the goodness inside. The pickled veggies, jalapeno, cilantro were just the right ratio to "meat" and the tofu was very well marinated and tasty! It's so easy to make tofu bland, but this, my friend, was anything but bland.

The original bubble tea was just OK. Don't come for the bubble tea—come for...

It's pains me to write this as hancos makes a great ban mi sandwich and a damn good pho. But I ordered delivery (through their website) tonight at 6:39pm, order confirmation from hancos at 6:45pm (estimated delivery 45min) email from hancos at 7:38pm, that order was out for delivery (figured they were busy) 8:38pm, still no food, and no call. So I called them, I told them I placed an order 2 hours ago. They asked through what service, I said their website and gave them my details, name address etc. They then said we don't have an order from you, so I read them the exact order number. Then I was told my order is out for delivery, I said it's been so long the food is cold so I'd like to cancel the order. They called the delivery driver than called me back. Now the story changed, that they missed my order. Never once was i told that they were sorry, I had to request refund, one wasn't offered immediately. Mistakes happen, but the lieing and not apologizing for messing up order directly through their site which I received 2 emails from is not okay. I never order delivery but I recently broke my ankle so delivery is my only option. So tonight thanks to hancos I will...

Free WiFi - 5 star Layout - 5 star Bubble tea - 1.5 star

hanco's vs Henry's sounds like a landmark case in front of the Supreme Court, right? It sure sounds like it, but no! It's merley 2 Vietnamese sandwich shops who serve similar items a few blocks away from each other, and because Henry left hanco's to open his own shop (Henry left again to open another shop) now both benefit from the competition...

All trivia aside, and let's sandwich ourselves into the bubbly side of things: the "bubble tea" so on a hot Sunday afternoon I decided to get a lychee bubble tea from each location, and compare it... And the clear winner is: disclaimer: Henry's. (that's not to say it's the best bubble tea in town...) Henry out scored hanco's in every aspect of the bubble tea, sweetness, taste, etc. The tea was so overly sweet I simply couldn't finish it, and the lychee flavor had a artificial taste to it, it was so bad.

The reason I give this place a 3 star, and not a one star, is because I really loved the sofas in the back, the Free WiFi, and the specious layout. It has a very laid back, chill feel...

Note: This review is based only on...