Lotus Banh Mi - Chicago UIC — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

Super GREASY broth!!! Do not recommend.

We ordered the beef pho, ginger chicken pho and both broths were flavorful but extremely greasy. I've eaten pho all over the city of Chicago bc my bestie and I are pho lovers and so I know what good broth tastes like. But this broth here was so greasy every time I took a sip of the broth I felt like I was drinking oil that's how greasy it was. I had a ring of grease on my lips and it was just too oily I couldn't even finish half the bowl.

The beef pho was more flavorful than the chicken pho, the chicken pho was a tad bit salty but then chicken was tender.

We also ordered the pork egg roll which was crispy and tasty no issues there. But we ordered the shrimp spring roll which on the menu lists it as two but it's literally one spring roll they cut in half instead of two whole spring rolls which I thought was a cheap move on part of the restaurant.

In terms of the drinks, I don't see any prices listed on the menu for drinks so I didn't see the cost until after paying. We ordered the bubbly drinks lychee and red yuzu both were good but nearly $4 a drink. They have a small selection located in the fridge next to the register. I was hoping they had Vietnamese ice tea but they don't even serve that only iced coffee, disappointing.

Lastly, this place is self serve which I wasn't aware of since it was my first time coming here, I paid 15% tip and realized after that I had to serve myself!!!! This will be the first and LAST time I come here. Crazy nonsense asking for tip when customers have to bring their own pho to the table.

I do not recommend this place unless you like drinking oil for broth. Overall, disappointed.

The space is very small so not ideal for dine in.

Hard to find parking it's metered except for Sundays. They do have a garage which is $3...

I had really high hopes for this place because of the reviews, but I was seriously disappointed! I ordered the honey grilled pork - the meat was really fatty and there was very little of it. The veggies on top were also scarce and had no pickled flavor whatsoever. The bread was decent. I also ordered a jasmine iced tea (plus tapioca) which lacked flavor. I then ordered the taro smoothie (plus tapioca) -- this was pretty tasty! The flavor was unusual and I wasn't sure I liked it, but I kept drinking it til it was gone, so I guess I did! My three items were over $15, with $1 of that being the added tapioca, which I think is silly to charge extra for.

I would eat here again in a pinch, but the prices and quality were not worth it. There appeared to be 2 orders in front of mine (the place was basically empty) but it still took about 10 minutes to get my order. It should be noted though that they have a great and unique selection of bottled sodas, teas, and lemonades that would be worth stopping by to try!

I found a parking space around the corner, but there is no parking on the street where the cafe is located. There is paid street parking nearby and a parking deck, but...

I typically avoid the University area because parking is a pain in the butt, then I found out they now had free parking. Honestly that is what was killing all of the businesses in this University complex. So the free parking worked and it brought me back to the area.

The location is small and cute. The service was friendly and are sandwiches were cooked fresh to order. I loved the perfect warmth & crisp of my BANH MI bread.

We ordered two sandwiches. The Honey Grilled Pork Shoulder Banh Mi with lemongrass, honey, garlic, scallions, pickled daikon, carrots, cucumber, cilantro & jalapenos. This sandwich had some amazing flavors going on. The one thing I didn't like was the quality on our cut of pork. We had to pull some inedible fat from our mouth. I'm hoping this was a one time problem & on our next visit it will be perfect.

We also ordered the Sunny-Side Sautéed Beef Banh Mi with caramelized onion, sunny-side up egg and crispy sweet potato fries. I really enjoyed this sandwich. The meat quality was perfect and everything worked together on the bun.

So if you're in the area and looking for a fresh Vietnamese sandwich then this...