Bambū — Restaurant in Town of Brookhaven

Hands down the best fried chicken banh mi in New York (literally I cannot find fried chicken banh mi anywhere else, please let me know if you know a place!). They also have extremely delicious drinks and dessert. There are 7-8 tables for sitting and this place fills up with students and people around the area throughout the day. There is also a bathroom.

We ordered a chicken banh mi, classic banh mi, a fried chicken rice bowl (which I substituted for grilled chicken, though I think grilled chicken is more expensive), an iced Vietnamese coffee, and a pandan waffle (not pictured).

Both banh mis were delicious in their own way. The fried chicken was super crispy, tender, hot, and not dry. The bread was toasted slightly on the outside so every bite included a crunch from the bread into some pickled carrots, cilantro, cucumber, and a bit of crispy chicken. You can order the banh mi spicy or not and the spicy version includes jalapeños. The classic banh mi has the standard banh mi pate and ham ingredients inside. If you like the classic flavors, you’ll like this one. The fried chicken rice bowl was similar to the chicken banh mi but just over a piping hot mound of white rice. This rice was cooked perfectly, was slightly sticky and soft, and blended amazingly with the crispy chicken. We were also offered some cilantro sauce and spicy mayo on the side and both sauces added that touch of extra flavor explosion. I personally loved the cilantro sauce. It was herby, a little salty, and just added some moisture to the carbs.

The iced viet coffee was quite sweet but I believe you can adjust the sweetness level. It’s pretty good for viet coffee but it is pre-made and not drip made for each order. The star of the show (which I forgot to take a photo of because I was too excited to eat it) was the pandan egg waffle. Not many places make good egg waffles and even fewer places make pandan egg waffles. I believe the bambu cafe in Manhattan has pandan waffles as well but they are just waffles and not egg waffles. Egg waffles have little egg shaped ovals in the waffle. This creates little breakable ovals that have crispy edges and soft and moist insides. The waffle is not too sweet and the pandan flavor really shines. I may like this more than the fried chicken I touted earlier. If you are in the area, you MUST come and...

While I can't deny that the food is great and flavorful, the service on the other hand is not so much. I placed an order for pick up earlier, walked inside and said to the guy in front "Hi, I'm picking up an order." I'll admit that maybe this could be my fault too as I didn't say my name after, but sometimes when you go to a restaurant to pick something up and don't say your name, the person behind the counter will typically ask "What's the name?", right? Not here. After I told him that I was picking up an order, dude at the front just stared at me for like 10 seconds. I repeated myself because I thought he didn't hear me but they he got all angry and started asking aggressively if it was for uber, door dash, or online, all while throwing his hands around all angrily, before just shoving the food in my hand.

Like I said I could understand why it could be my fault as I didn't say my name, and I'll even give him the benefit of the doubt that dealing with a stressful environment in the restaurant could be hectic at times and you may have difficult customers(like me I guess?), but still that interaction didn't make me feel like I wanted to be at the restaurant anymore. In the future, if I continue to get a similar response or attitude from him I will simply just go somewhere else as I do not appreciate that energy from a person in...

I would not recommend this place to anyone. I placed an order over the phone, and they said it would be ready in 15 minutes. I show up 15 minutes later, and the food is not read. Not only that, but they had to retake my order because apparently they didn't take it down over the phone. I waited there for over 20 minutes waiting for my food to be cooked. I spotted a bag of food on the counter, but I assumed it was for another order because no one told me that it was ready, and I was sitting right there. Finally they tell me that that bag of food that has been sitting there for over 10 minutes is my food. When I told them that it has been sitting there for a very long time, they did not offer to remake the food even though clearly by this time it had gotten cold. I didn't even bother asking because I was not going to wait another twenty minutes for them to do their job. They have awful customer service. And after I got home, I realized they didn't even pack the sauce with the food. I would not recommend this...