Nissi Bánh — Restaurant in Seattle

I have a personal policy, my "sleep-on-it" rule, for writing negative reviews. It's simple: if I'm still compelled to share my terrible experience the next day, it must be truly awful. Most places, thankfully, don't make the cut. They're just not worth the mental energy.

Then there's Nissi.

The glowing reviews lured us in, but I'm starting to think those people have either never eaten food before or were dining at a different restaurant entirely. We ate around 3 p.m., and from that moment on, it was a battle. The next morning, our bodies wisely decided to stage a full-scale evacuation, and let's just say the diarrhea was a welcome relief.

We both ordered the beef short rib broken rice. Now, I know short ribs have some connective tissue — that's part of what gives them their rich flavor when they're cooked properly. The long, slow cooking process is supposed to break that down so the meat becomes tender and the fat and collagen melt into the sauce. What we were served, however, was a bizarre collection of rubbery, tendon-like bits that were impossible to chew. It was like a game of culinary Russian roulette, and my teeth lost every round. The excessive sauce seemed like a desperate attempt to hide the fact that the meat was, well, an ancient relic.

And don't even get me started on the plaza itself. The walkway had a certain... "urban decay" aesthetic, and the parking lot was littered with debris. The whole place could use a serious...

Nissi Banh is a Vietnamese deli, which is a staple of many Vietnamese communities. There are a lot of freshly made take-out and pantry items to choose from, and the staff is always nice.

I would recommend these options: bánh giò (banana leaf wrapped steam rice cake with ground pork) - The rice cake and pork are moist and tasty. nem nướng (pork meatball skewers) were really good and the flavor is just like the ones I ate growing up bánh ít trần (mung bean sticky rice dumplings): soo good with nice amount of filling

The bánh cuốn (rice rolls with ground pork) were okay, but from my experience, it’s harder to maintain freshness for this unless you go to a sit-down restaurant that serves it as soon as it’s made.

I haven’t tried the bánh mì or drinks here, which seem to be the most popular options here, but will hopefully be back...

I was in the mood for bánh mi and vietnamese coffee and there's a ton of little places in this neighborhood I've been wanting to try forever. When I got here I was excited to see they had Tofu vermicelli since I don't eat beef or pork so I swapped to that. Everything is take-out so I got home and unpacked that and the chicken mini-egg rolls I got and everything was fantastic. The mushrooms in the vermicelli were also really yummy. They make a ton of egg rolls and they keep them in a warm case so they get a little tough but dip those crunchy suckers into some sweet chili sauce and you will be very happy. So anyway I still have to go back and try the tofu bánh mi plus all the other places in that plaza and on MLK. Oh! And I got all that plus the Vietnamese...