Cafe Nho

I wouldn’t obv eat here due to the air quality. As a patron who doesn’t smoke cigarette, I can’t stop someone else. But the owner can at least vent out the air a lot better for their other non smoking customer.
I would rather eat Thai Li banh mi. This would be an option if I had no other choice. Bread is good but shady on the stuffing.
Café Sua Da (iced coffee) hands down. Using coffeemate hazelnut is really sad. Lees coffee still wins.

When I’m sick, all I want is some chao long (vietnamese porridge) and I am never up to driving down to the OC. So when I heard this place had it, I called in ahead to make sure, pulled my sick body out of bed and drove over while sweating profusely.
I beelined it to the counter and ordered a bowl of chao long togo and also ordered a limeade with brown sugar for my killer sore throat. In my wait, I must’ve gotten even sicker from the second hand smoke. Yes they posted hypocritical no smoking signs, but like every other Unilocaler here, we noticed that they don’t follow their own rules. Disgusting couches lined the walls where old men smoked their Marlboro reds. The air was seriously thick and all I could think about was my pounding head, my inability to breathe and my throat.
I don’t know if I would go back, maybe when the flu hits me again, but then again I don’t know if my health is worth it.

This is a great place for authentic and delicious Vietnamese Banh Mi at very reasonable prices. I should know, I have been to Vietnam about 6 times, I’m married to a Vietnamese lady, and I speak Vietnamese. I’m intimately familiar with the culture.
To the reviewers who complained about service or smoke, I’d say «get over it» because this is how things are in Vietnam. If you want to find a place where people wait on you and check on you every 5 minutes, go to Denny’s or Subway Sandwiches.
If you want the authentic Vietnamese sandwiches, do yourself a favor and go to Café Nho. They have a very friendly staff, free wifi, huge televisions playing either sports or Vietnamese programming including Vietnamese music, etc. They also supply cards and other games for their regular customers to play and occasionally have karaōke.
This place is fun, relaxed, has comfy couches, and has a casual family atmosphere. I can’t recommend it highly enough for those who appreciate real Vietnamese food and understand the culture.

good prices on the sandwiches and boba is okay. but they got banker’s hours.

More like Café NO.
Today I had the worst craving for some bahn mi, but I only had a little time for lunch so I couldn’t drive to any beloved spots. I figured surely there must be something nearby and came across Café Nho. After reading the very mixed reviews I was a little bit hesitant but I figured hey, why not give it a try, there aren’t any other bahn mi places super close. Oops.
While the owner smoking inside the restaurant, right beneath a no smoking sign, was funny, it was anything but appetizing. Neither was any element of the sandwich unfortunately. The bread was flat and OK at best, not the fresh heavenly baguette I’m used to. Then the fillings were pretty blah. Even the cucumbers were slimy and not very crisp at all. Bottom line, I’m no expert but this was the lamest bahn mi I’ve ever had and the inside of the restaurant reeked of smoke. It’s been illegal to smoke inside California restaurants for ages and ages. Sorry guys, you’re little no smoking signs aren’t fooling anyone.

I am constantly amazed by the wealth of amazing ethnic eateries within walking distance of my house. Vietnamese places aren’t too rare around here, but I hadn’t seen a specifically Vietnamese sandwich place in the neighborhood, so I was excited to try out Café Nho.
My husband and I walked from our house Sunday morning to find the place busy with about a dozen customers inside. No one gave us direction so we just sat at an empty table. When no one came to take an order, we just walked up to the counter to ask for 2 sandwiches: the House special and the ground pork.
After enduring just 2 minutes of the thick cigarette smoke in the place from at least 4 of the customers smoking in violation of the posted «No Smoking» sign, I decided we’d take our order to-​go and went outside while my husband waited for the food. For 2 sandwiches in a place that only makes a handful of items, it took a surprisingly long time.
The sandwiches were delicious though. And the other commenters are right about the bread — it’s great! I’d love to go back and try the other things on the menu, but I don’t think I could stand the heavy smoke filled air in there. The restaurant operators encourage the violation by providing small tea cups for the smokers to use as ash trays. My smoky experience was definately not a rarity.
I have to recommend this place only because it’s hard to find this type of food nearby. But do be prepared for the foul air and get your meal to-​go.

I’m a Hugh fan of the traditional Vietnamese sandwhich call «Banh Mi Dac Biet». When I first discovered Lee’s Sandwich I though that was the best around. Throughout the years Lee’s has declined in quality so my desire to find a decent replacement brought me to try this place. Unfortunately it’s just ok. The sandwiches were really skimpy and without high turn over, you’re not going to find the freshes bread which is a big part of a sandwhich. The service was the best part of my experience. While waiting for our order, the owner brought use free ice tea which not only was refreshing, it was the best part of the meal.

Hmm sorry Louie C., but I have to disagree with you. I wouldn’t say that this is the best banh mi that I’ve had … It’s actually probably lower on the list of banh mis that I’ve had, now that I think about it.
I went there on a Thursday at 12:30pm and the place was empty, except for two dudes chatting in Vietnamese and smoking at one of the tables (right across from the sign that says «no smoking»). I didn’t mind it so much, because a lot of cafes in Westminster and Garden Grove and Koreatown too have a bunch of smoking going on inside. The lights were also off (because it was daytime?), the front and back doors were open and there were flies flying around. I ordered the banh mi dac biet (house special) and it probably took them about 15 minutes to prepare. During the entire time, not another patron entered the café. When I got the house special, it was standard fare, though they were too heavy-​handed with the soy sauce. Also, the cha lua (
) tasted kind of weird to me. It was softer than usual so the texture kind of threw me off. The bread was good, as Louie C. mentioned. I didn’t get a stomach ache, but the flavors just didn’t taste quite right, so I won’t be going back.
Now that I think about it, this was actually the second time that I have been here. The first time I came by, it was the same situation — lights off, and the owners?/workers sitting inside. However, at that time they said that they were closed, and that was really weird. In the many times that I’ve been to Phở Thai Long next door and the two times I’ve been in here, I’ve never actually seen anybody eating or drinking anything.
The place that I particularly like for my banh mi is banh mi che cali, of which there are many locations in San Gabriel Valley and in Westminster. But for now, I’ll keep exploring southwest LA and the south bay for more locations that sell banh mi.

Since I moved to the south bay a year ago, the only place I could find bahn mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) was in Arcadia and Orange County. This isn’t true anymore after discovering this hidden gem in Hawthorne! Café Nho has only been open for a month or two (as of Feb ’10) and not too many people know about it. It’s more of a Vietnamese coffee/​boba shop than a restaurant. In fact, the only food they serve is bahn mi. But let me tell you… this is the best bahn mi I’ve had in the contiguous US. You’ll no longer have to drive 25 miles south to Lee’s bakery only to settle for a mediocre Vietnamese sandwich. At Café Nho, for only $ 2.50 you can have the house special: pork, pâté, cilantro, pickled carrots & radishes and thinly sliced hot green peppers on a 6 — 8 inch baguette. And the bread… how is it possible that they serve such amazing bread? It’s warm and crispy, but not tough; and it’s characterized by a chewiness that gives way ever so slightly to each bite. For three dollars and change, you can order their fried egg and sausage sandwich. This is by far my favorite! Something very special here is the attention to detail; each sandwich is made to order by a sweet Vietnamese lady who takes her time to assemble the sandwiches uniformly and seasons them with salt and pepper. Their prices include tax, so you can expect to pay $ 6.00 flat for a sandwich and Vietnamese iced coffee, which is the perfect accompaniment to bahn mi.