Hanoi Sandwich

I grabbed lunch here today. I ordered the Hanoi Special and a Vietnamese Iced Coffee. The sandwich was ok. it was warm and crispy, but nothing spectacular. The iced coffee was quite good though. The place is very small with no seating (It can barely hold three people at a time.

I’m a traditionalist when it comes to Banh mi. What is a Banh mi? Baguette, aioli, pâté, meat, pickled daikon/​carrots, cilantro, cucumber soy sauce. This place has decent baguette, crunchy and soft. I give this place 3 stars because there’s no aioli at all and their choice of meats is non conventional. Their signature Banh mi has some slices of processed chicken and bacon. Bacon is foreign to Vietnam and does not belong in a Banh mi unless it’s a totally modern twist. You can’t do half old half new it doesn’t make sense. The Banh mi is also over priced at $ 5 per but they do give you a giant sandwich. Overall, okay Banh mi but a little strange for me. No aioli major let down.

I go here for their vegan bahn mi — yeah, imagine that! The lemonade goes quite nicely with it. Tastes great — just the right balance of crispy bread, veggies and the flavor from the vegan meat. Yummy!

Solid new Viet sandwich shop.
Bread is a little crispier than other shops in the area, but it’s warm and toasty.
Ordered the Hanoi Special. Dressing, toppings and fillings looked very nice. I just wish they gave more meat and pack it in a little tighter. For $ 5.50, I expected to have a bit more meat.
Flavor was very good compared to other places. I think they put a Vietnamese type of bacon which made it very flavorful. Bacon makes everything tastes good!
If this place gave more meat and keep their spectacular flavor and price, it would be a perfect 5 stars.
Their location is very convenient if you are running to and from the MTA subway stations on Canal Street. This is a very good grab and go spot.

I stopped in for a coffee this afternoon. The woman was friendly but had limited English speaking skills. I tried a Hanoi coffee. The coffee is quite strong… a good thing… but I think it was loaded with sugar that I did not ask for. I had already eaten, so I did not try the food, but it looked good!

This tiny little joint makes delicious sandwiches. I’ve had Paris (so-​so) and Saigon (excellent BBQ pork, but not the others) and Hanoi’s banh mi is innovative, nouvelle, in a way. BUT they bread is super delightfully crispy, on the chicken, there was a big lemongrass flavor and on the pork, tons of cilantro. If I have any criticism, they could go a little lighter on the «secret» sauce. Hey, don’t like it, don’t come here. Don’t need any big lines.

Overall a horrible banh mi. Bread is hard and tough. Is this iceberg lettuce or cole slaw?! Bacon or whatver pork they used is salty and over powers the rest of the sandwich. Pickle veggies are not pickled enough or at all.

What is up with New Yorkers altering the classic banh mi nowadays? Some add this deep fried sweet Viet sausage thing and now Hanoi decides to add chicken, bacon and cole slaw… and take out the some other traditional cold cuts. Bacon is good, but contrary to what some people believe, IT DOES NOT BELONG IN EVERYTHING. And the banh mi is one of them. I like my Viet sandwich with its traditional cold cuts, pork pâté, pickled daikon/​carrots/​cucumber/​cilantro, some mayo and a dash of soy sauce stuffed into a good baguette.
On that note, Hanoi does have good bread: soft and light on the inside, slightly crunchy but not hard on the outside. In fact, other than my rant above, everything else is pretty good. Had to alter my sandwich by picking out the bacon and slaw and added a lil soy sauce, but that’s fine. I still enjoyed it.
Oh, and they have a pretty good Viet coffee. Key: Café Du Monde coffee beans. It’s nothing fancy like the slow drip ones with condensed milk on the bottom. Their’s is served in a standard NY style $ 1 to go cup. Perfect.
So far, they deserve 3.5 stars, but I like to round up. Service was fast and friendly and their other sandwich options seem promising.

Small place good for a quick fix. Bread is crusty and delicious, has an interesting albeit limited menu. Friendly service. Coffee is good but almost as pricy as the sandwiches. A good place to know if you frequent the neighborhood.

If you have money to waste on Coffee — Come here for the «Hanoi Vietnamese Ice Coffee» for $ 4.75 — It’s Viet Ice Coffee topped with INTERNATIONAL DELIGHT. I’ve never had coffee with ID — that chemical does not belong in our body. Vietnamese coffee should be made with strong coffee with Sweet Condensed Milk… They need to recheck their equation and have a more reasonable price if they want people to come back.
Ice coffee around the neighborhood ranges from $ 1.50 (most Chinese bakeries) — $ 3.75 (Bubble Tea places) — how are you going to cheat your customers and charge $ 4.75 for garbage?
Don’t be a SUCKER (like I)!

I don’t know what y’all are smokin’. I tried this place for the first time today and the #1 Hanoi Sandwich was pretty good. I liked that they put coleslaw in the sandwich, and the bacon was a nice touch. As a Vietnamese dude born and raised in SoCal, I’ve had a lot of banh mi sandwiches and this one was definitely a fresh twist. I also really liked the crunchiness of the bread.
My only 2 complaints were that it was too spicy in the middle of the sandwich (I don’t handle spiciness well) rather than distributed, and one sandwich for $ 5.50 is a bit pricey (I’m used to $ 1 – 2 sandwiches in SoCal so I guess the premium should be expected in Manhattan).
However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they offered Trung Nguyen coffee and I liked it a lot… for $ 1.50, it wasn’t a bad deal. Reminded me of going back to Vietnam. I do agree that the $ 4.75 tag for the iced version seems kind of high.
Lastly, I like that it’s pretty close to the Canal St station (6 line).
Give this little place a chance!

After trying many Vietnamese Sandwiches when i heard about this new place opening up, i said its worth a try.
First bite into their signature sandwich i was hit was an overwhelming saltiness flavor. Upon inspecting the sandwich i found it contained a very salty bacon alongside a salty pâté.
Struggled to eat half of it even after taking the bacon out.
It was probably the worst sandwich i have ever had.
it was a no-​go for me

Not to be confused with TJ’s Coffee, this place is a little hole in the wall place on the corner. I went in to try out the Vietnamese coffee and was quite surprised how good it was. Like most places in Chinatown, this place is CASH only.

I have not tried their sandwich but I did try their so called «Vietnamese» iced coffee. Whatever it was, it was horrible with a chemical aftertaste and I couldn’t finish it.
Any reputable Vietnamese restaurant uses sweet and condensed milk for their iced coffee but as I learned from another poster, they used some off the shelf creamer product (International Delight perhaps).
Horrible horrible horrible… not to mention pricey at over $ 4 (way overpriced)! Been burned enough with the coffee, never going back.

I’ve been wanting to try out this brightly lit shop for a while now. To my luck, my dinner date turned out to be just a coffee date so I hopped over to get myself a Hanoi Banh Mi (aka #1 on the menu). I was hoping that they would list out what’s in each sandwich because maybe the banh mi in Hanoi is different! Who knows.
Anyway, the crust on the baguette is super flaky. It falls off all over the place but just eat it over the wrapper so it doesn’t get too messy. I thought the sandwich overall was pretty flavorful: the spread, the pickled veggies, the meats. (To be honest, I didn’t dissect it so I wasn’t exactly sure what was what in there) The guy at the counter asked whether I wanted spicy or not and of course, I said yes. The first bite of jalapeño gave my tongue a bit of a shiver but afterwards, it wasn’t too numbing. Oh yeah, I also found that there’s chunks of chicken in it even though I didn’t order the chicken banh mi. I guess it’s a standard? Like I said, wished they listed components for each sandwich but I’m not complaining about the extra meat!
Not to mention, this sandwich is huge. I think it’s the biggest banh mi I’ve ever had. They have a Chinatown (sandwich #5) that’s supposedly double the length but apparently no one has ordered it yet. Probably don’t have to. I ate half and was full off of it. Anyways, considering on going back again!

New Viet sandwich spot in Chinatown. I ordered the Hanoi #1 and it was so good! I’m not sure what everyone else here with the negative reviews. The bread is soft inside and crunchy warm outside. Love the pâté and butter!

I am usually easy to please when it comes to food. Hanoi Sandwich, you’ve failed me. I don’t usually review a place in real time but this experience called for it.
I’m about two bites into my #1 sandwich and it’s just not good.
I expect this place to be closed sooner than later. The «bbq pork» is just a couple of slices of bacon and the pâté tastes like liverwurst. (four bites) This review started as 2 stars but I can’t, in good conscience, do that.
My buddy and I went splitsies on our sandwiches so we can each sample their offerings. The Bombay Curry Chicken is up next. I don’t have high hopes because I saw them remove the chicken from the microwave in a pre-​measured cup, Ala subway.
Here goes… the hint of curry is underwhelming and pales in comparison to other Curry Chicken banh mi sandwiches that I’ve had. The curry is something like heat and eat curry meals from your grocer’s freezer. No me gusta.
Both sandwiches have a very «Make your own Vietnamese sandwiches on our next segment, with Chef Dan, on Good Morning Akron! Stay tuned, folks!» thing going on. Not on par with a place that exepects to charge money for the food that they make and then hope for return business. Their offerings are not something you want to pay for. Their ‘bakery items’ seemed just as lack luster. Muffins on par with street cart guy, you know, big, but just not that good. Ooh, they’ve also got cupcakes that appear to be, if I’m not mistaken, unwrapped Little Debbie cup cakes, not kidding.
I threw out my menu and the buy 5, get one free card. Now I’m depressed. As my wise wife says, it was a waste of stomach space.
Paris sandwich shop is way better and it’s just across canal and up 2 blocks. Better yet, Banh Mi Saigon Bakery is about 4 or 5 blocks away on Grand street and superior in every way. Both places are cheaper and infinitely better. Get your sandwich from either of those places and then bring it in front of Hanoi Sandwich shop and eat it, savoring every bite, while shooting dirty looks at the people behind the counter. Avenge Me! They won’t make eye contact with you, because deep down inside, they know. They. Know. You’ve been warned.

This cute & bright Banh Mi Sandwich shop just opened and the service was pretty nice and welcoming. That’s great and all but… This was the most horrible Banh Mi I have ever had in my life. Absolutely a waste of time and $ 5.50. I grew up in Chinatown and perhaps I’m a bit spoiled when it comes to Banh Mi sandwiches. I had my first one at the age of 10 and have tried many different places in search for the best. I have not found the best but here at Hanoi Sandwich I have found the worst.
My Banh Mi was missing roasted ground pork, it had the pâté though (it was okay –a little on the bland side), Vietnamese Ham also bland, the daikon was not pickled properly aka bland, bread was over toasted where the bread became sharply jagged, scraping your face at each bite. All that torture for a bland sandwich that even a franchise sandwich shop sandwich can beat. By the way, I only realized this afterwards, they did not ask me if I wanted spicy or not. They gave me crazy spicy on one half of the sandwich and none at all in the other half. I guess they decided to split the difference rather than ask me. All in all, SAVE YOUR TIME & MONEY! There are many other, much better Banh Mi places within a 5 block radius of this place. I should of known that this place wasn’t good seeing that what got me in the door in the first were my eyes and not my nose.

I tried it out since it’s new but the experience wasn’t the greatest.
I got their #1 Hanoi Banh Mi. It was a pretty typical banh mi except for the use of coleslaw instead of pickled veggies which didn’t make it better. I was really confused when I bit into it to be completely honest. It wasn’t the worse thing they could have chosen to fill the sandwich with, but if they were going for some sort of new trend in banh mi, I sincerely hope it dies at this shop.
Service was a bit disorganized, probably because they were new.

SO everyone gets that craving for Banh Mi and this little shop recently opened up specializing in it. Its on the corner of Baxter and Walker Street and is a little hidden.
Walking into the store you’re greeted by teenage girls who take your order. It’s the usual greeting nothing too warm/​friendly just polite. There’s a display of cookies and chips and a selection of a variety of drinks. They have a limited menu and the banh mi here is pricier than other places but it’s new so i thought I’d give it a try. I ordered the usual the Hanoi Special/​Sandwich? I think this is their standard version of the banh mi. The sandwich itself is long, I think it can possibly compete with subways footlong sandwich!
I went into this with high hopes and sad to say it was a little disappointing. The bread is TOO crispy, to the point that after one bite you have crumbs everywhere and your bread is falling apart. The contents in the sandwich are a little different being that they have cole slaw in it, I’m not really a fan of cole slaw so i could’ve done with out it. Other than being long and filling (got full off half) the Banh Mi here is just average. Maybe the other selections would have tasted better but I probably will never know as I don’t really intend on coming back. I’ll stick with the other/​usual banh mi places in chinatown, theyre definitely better to me.
I’m not saying this place is HORRIBLE, it’s ok. It didnt make my mouth water, so I guess you can say it’s not my cup of tea. Being that it’s new the place did seem super clean and one of the workers there ran up to me asking if I need a plastic bag (which i didn’t but def trying with the customer service), +1 star for that. This place is trying and there’s definitely room for growth maybe after a few changes.