Banh Mi Ba Le — Restaurant in Oakland

I have been searching for a good banh mi place closer to home than San Jose and finally came across Banh Mi Ba Le. Ever since I discovered this place, I’ve been back a couple of times now and typically eats it immediately. But today, I decided to see how well it travels and picked up 7 banh mi and some flans for a picnic in Mt. Tamalpais which was about an hour and a half away from this place.

I picked up Banh Mi Dac Biet (#2 - special combination) with extra Mayo and extra pate for myself and a couple of different ones for my friends and husband. After traveling for an hour and a half, the banh mi was still crunchy and not soggy at all! The banh mi was filled with a variety of different cold cut, lots of Mayo and lots of pate, jalapeño and cilantro. The flans were also great! This is my favorite banh mi place in Oakland by far.

A couple of pro tips: They have parking in the back in case you can’t find street parking. There is typically a line here so get there early if you got somewhere to be! For those that don’t eat or can’t eat pork, their pate has pork in it so make sure to tell them not to include it in your banh mi. Cilantro is added to all their banh mi so if you don’t like cilantro, make sure to ask for...

Update: the good food is no longer worth the long lines and rudeness. We called ahead and it was obvious that didn't help at all. Also, early afternoon on a Sunday, a bunch of stuff was already out, and they seemed uninterested when asking if they were making more. Add the risk of getting car broken into in that neighborhood, I can't blindly recommend this place like I previously did.

Food is almost always good but the service, line, and parking can be hit or miss.

We always get a few sandwiches, grab a random tray from the counter and maybe an iced Vietnamese coffee, and always enjoy them. Grilled chicken (#18) and meatball with egg (#13) are our go-to's.

Parking can be a pain, even with the lot in the back, and the neighborhood is sketch, and like the rest of the city, getting worse by the day. The service is normally good but they seem to get occasionally annoyed if you ask questions.

What bugs me is there aren't prices for anything posted, besides the sandwiches, and those seem to be one of those things that annoy them when you ask.

Either way, still good prices for great banh mi's and highly recommend you try if you...

PERFECT BANH MI

Hands down, the best banh mi I’ve ever had—period. The kind of sandwich that makes you shut up mid-bite because your brain needs all available resources to process what’s happening. Usually, when something’s this cheap, you brace yourself for “good for the price.” Not here. This place laughs in the face of your low expectations and then blows past them.

Ambiance? Family-run, Vietnamese chatter flying back and forth, and I swear they could’ve been talking smack about me the entire time. Hell, they could talk about my mother for all I care—this sandwich is worth it. The shop is spotless, the kind of clean you only get from people who actually give a damn.

And the price? $6 for a grilled pork banh mi that could hold its own anywhere in the world. Add a mango smoothie and a guava drink and you’re still walking out at $14. In the Bay. That’s robbery in reverse.

Eat here once and you’ll spend the rest of your life comparing every other banh mi to it—and watching...