Banh Town — Restaurant in Seattle

I recently placed an order online. And a friend who was heading over to our house picked up the order. Our order was wrong in two ways:

I added a fried egg to my Curry Lemongrass Beef Bowl. While I was charged for this, the fried egg was not included in my dish

We ordered two of the same sandwich, that being the 5-spice Chicken Banh Mi. One of the two sandwiches was ordered as-is. The other one had extra meat and a side of slaw added at at additional charges. Once I had added all of the meal items, I was careful to double check that my cart showed one 5-spice Chicken Banh Mi as-is and one with the extra customizations. Everything in the cart was correct at this point. However, once the food arrived at my house, I noticed that both sandwiches had the extra meat and came with the extra slaw. I went back and checked the receipt emailed to me and saw that my order had been changed to both sandwiches having the extra customizations - meaning I was charged twice instead of just once for the customizations.

I called the restaurant. The person who answered told me he was going to put his manager on the call. I explained both scenarios to this person who told me that they did not charge me for a fried egg and that the sandwich issue was my fault because I had ordered it wrong. I asked then for his name which I won't use in the review as I wanted to know how to contact the owners. At this point, he told me he was the owner.

Regarding the fried egg, he told me that if I forwarded him the receipt showing I was charged for the fried egg that he would credit it back to me. However, he refused to accept blame for the wrong sandwich orders insisting I had ordered it wrong. I explained that I thought there was a coding error on his order platform that was just changing the two different orders of the same sandwich (one with customizations and one without) into the same order (in this case, both with customizations). He would not entertain this option though and the issue was left unresolved. I did warn him that I would both dispute the charge with my credit card company and write negative reviews. I got his email addressed and confirmed with him that I had written it down correctly three times.

I immediately emailed him the receipt showing that I was charged for the fried egg. And when I did so, I also included screenshots of the ordering experience on their website. I recreated just the sandwich portion of our order to see if I could tell what went wrong. Once again, my shopping cart showed the two different version of the same sandwich. However, when I clicked through to place the order, the two sandwiches had been changed to the same order (both with customizations). So I guess in theory I could have caught this issue when I was first placing the order. However, I really believe that if there is a coding error on their website, the restaurant should take responsibility for this.

He never did respond to that email in regards to the fried egg or the sandwiches. I followed up once saying that I wanted to check in again before writing any negative reviews and disputing the charge, but he still never responded. For what it's worth, I did dispute the charge and was credited back the overage. I am uncertain of whether or not my credit card company reached out to Banh Town or not. I am assuming that they just ate the cost and that Banh Town gets to keep the overage without having to take responsibility for their mistakes, which is...

I eat pho often. I think all my friends can hold me to that. This could be the fact that I go out every weekend and absolutely need pho to recover. With that being said, I know a thing or two about good pho.

My fiancée and I stumbled upon this place when we were on our way to Ballard to get pho. It used to be an older Thai and Pho place (I believe?) and didn't really think much of that old restaurant. I noticed that Banh Town replaced this old restaurant and was intrigued with the "Vietnamese Street Food" Verbiage within its sign. We decided to give this place a shot.

We go in and are instantly greeted by a young man. I later learned his name is Anthony and I believe he is the owner or co-owner of this establishment. This guy is super personable and down to earth and we clicked instantly. My fiancée and I both order the beef pho with brisket and meatball (you have a choice between 4 meats (meatball, steak, brisket, tendon) and Grandma Le's Egg Rolls.

The egg rolls are very good. You get two egg rolls with taro, bean thread noodles, mung beans, wood ear mushrooms and carrots served with chili sauce on the side. These definitely hit the spot and you can't complain about the $3 price.

The pho is where it's at. I wouldn't say it's up there with Greenleaf or Pho Bac but it is close. The broth has some incredible flavor! It's unique, tastes clean, has the right combination of savory and sweet, does not have MSG and most importantly is homemade. This is definitely not the concentrated pho broth mixed with water. Oh, and they give generous portions of meat as well.

I think the one thing that keeps me coming back (my fiancée and I have been here two times, gunning for the top spot in check-ins currently) is the staff. Anthony (owner) is awesome and he shared with me his vision of this new establishment. He's a guy that definitely works hard and will do whatever it takes to succeed. He's got the true entrepreneurial spirit and when talking to him, you get the sense that he's passionate about his food and his customers. I really want him and his staff to succeed based on this (oh and of course the bomb food). Him and I believe Gabriel? (She comments on all the reviews on Banh Town's yelp page PS. You are awesome for doing that) are by far the friendliest pho business owners I have met. Usually if I go to other pho establishments, I get the impression that they could care less about the customers. I don't get that vibe here.

All in all, this place is awesome. Good ambiance, good food, and good people. Would more could...

Pork bahn mi: unquestionably below average. Good: the roll was very good, thin and crispy and soft in the right ways. More pork than usual. More cilantro than usual. Bad: the pork was a soft/mushy mass, with no grilled taste, no crispy bits at all, and none of the grilled pork flavor that should make this sandwich good; overall bland meat. Too much mayo-like sauce flavor on the roll and/or the pork (I'm not sure what exactly the sauce was). The daikon and carrots were all soft, not crispy at all, along with being under-marinated, minimal pickled taste, and little flavor. I was 3/4 through the sandwich, sure that they forgot the jalapeños or that jalapeños were an option I did not add on, before I found two small chopped bits of jalapeño. I would never order this again, as there are sooooo many better sandwiches in this town. Vegetarian spring rolls: indirect evidence, as my 11 year old spontaneously volunteered that they were "extremely bland", but I did not taste them myself. Certainly none of the fresh lettuce sticking out like you usually get. Iced Vietnamese coffee: no hot option available, as (per staff), they only have one of the "things" in the kitchen. Yet, the coffees arrived with the condensed milk already mostly-stirred into the coffee/ice, without the coffee//filter apparatus. They must have brewed and chilled the coffee in advance to mix into the iced coffees, so no filter was needed. So, I don't know why they could not serve the traditional hot version at the table? Flavor was good. Mango bubble tea: thick, blended-ice version was as you would expect. Service, mixed: ordered once, and another server tried to take our order again. Both sandwiches were completely eaten before the coffees arrived. One spring roll order was clearly forgotten, and arrived shortly after we...