Paris Banh Mi Norman — Restaurant in Norman

The taste and selection of foods are superior here!

We had several types of Bahn Mi sandwiches. They scoop the center out of fresh baguette and fill it with layers of meats. I recommend asking for some stronger flavored beef cuts. They’re excellent. Better than any subway or typical sandwich shop.

However, It’s the Pho that’s the real experience.

The pho here is served in elegant traditional style with a huge stone bowl (granite?) that’s heated to thermally keeping your soup piping hot. It comes out of the kitchen on a cart at a rolling boil!! That might sound scary, but it’s important!

(Of note: In the US, restaurants very very rarely serve uncooked meats tableside, but they do here!)

They leave your noodles to be cooked to your own doneness on the side. Both the meat and noodles, you swirl it in the rich broth that comes out at a rolling boil in the hot stone bowls.

You might be thinking, yuck, I don’t want to have to cook my meal or see it raw. But, you’d be wrong. They have everything situated perfectly to bring you a taste experience.

When the stone bowl comes, you receive a platter of the uncooked meats you ordered and a plate of broth seasonings such as fresh basil, jalapeño slices, and fresh limes. You also have special sauces used traditionally to flavor pho. You first flavor the broth to your liking, then use your chopsticks to swirl the noodles and meats one bite at a time in the broth. This takes less than two to three seconds.

So fresh and delicious!

We also had boba. They have many varieties. Between the five of us, the flavors that were rated best among us were the specially formulated and named combinations Paris Banh Mi created for their menu.

Me and my sons loved the unique cafe decor here. The albeit cheap cafe style chairs, were super comfy and gave you a bit of relaxed elegance that added to the beautiful and very clean interior.

That’s not all this cafe has to offer in uniqueness, … they have a bakery case with elegant pastries, cakes, desserts, and jellies.

They also have a very nice selection of jerky, dried and preserved specialty fruits and/or nuts.

Oh!! They also have specialty house made corn dogs!! We tried one that was all cheese in the center, dipped in diced potatoes, and deep fried corndog coating!

Also of special note are the rice paper wrapped spring rolls?? I’m not sure what they’re called, … a bit of romaine and basil with delicious slices of seasoned stewed beef wrapped in rice paper and served with a sauce. I’ve had these in restaurants and it’s a wonderful and easy way to eat a salad. They’re superior tasting here because the meat is flavored well and tender and juicy. Plus they don’t skimp on the basil.

We will be back over...

Gave Paris Banh Mi a try this evening for the 1st time, after much anticipation waiting for them to finally open. From the minute we stepped inside, we were impressed - pristine and sharp decor, large and comfy chairs, full of light/life without being overdone. We were quickly greeted by the staff, and placed our orders after scanning the vibrant menu.

I tried the Black Milk Tea with boba (my go-to "bellwether" when trying a new boba place) and the Pate & Pork BBQ banh mi. The tea was subtly sweet with perfectly soft and springy boba - one of the few boba places I've ever been to that doesn't drown their tea in sugar (and I didn't even have to ask for reduced sugar). My banh mi was equally fantastic, filled with tender slices of pork and slathered with luxurious pâté, and topped with perfectly crisp vegetables/herbs. My partner got a grilled pork vermicelli bowl, which was equally delicious and easily outshines similar bowls/bún that we've gotten in OKC.

What really put our experience over the top, though, was the customer service. Several employees came over to make sure that we were enjoying our meal and engage us in friendly conversation. It is clear that the folks in charge care deeply about putting out a high-quality product and making sure that customers are having a positive experience. Without a doubt, we will be coming back often (and bringing folks with us) to try more of what Paris Banh Mi...

My wife has been so excited for them to open. We went today and were not disappointed. The atmosphere is lovely. The food is very good, very fresh, and not a long wait at all. The staff is friendly, but if you dont know what you want, they are not eager to make suggestions or explain. We had a pork Bahn Mi, original Korean corn dog, egg rolls, and shrimp spring rolls, and a Thai iced tea. Then we also tried the Lychee green tea with passion fruit popping Boba. Yum. We will be back. The French bread was so crunchy and fresh, the pickled veg was crunchy and tart. The food is good and fresh and the drinks... there is so much to choose from and try.

After our second visit, he only criticisms I have is 1) for the atmosphere and the price (spent $65 before tip), I expect some plates. The cardboard boats and paper wrapped sandwiches are awkward to eat and a paper to lean over feels chinzy when I just dropped a chunk of change. And 2) while the staff is friendly, they are not eager to give suggestions or explain. They will if asked but if they see people with bewildered faces, just take the initiative to ask what people like and make...