Les Croissants

A good Banh Mi is not an easy thing to make, it’s all about the different elements combined for overall experience.
A good banh mi starts with a good bagguette, should be warm when it’s served. Then comes the meat or veggies if you’re a vegetarian– along with the pickled daikon and carrots that balance out all the flavors.
For a Vietnamese that is really picky about banh mi — I have to say I was impressed and surprised. So get the grilled pork with the Vietnamese coffee, then you feel a little bit of our culture in every bite.

VEGGIE BANH MI THO
I’ve been searching the FiDi for a banh mi that’s less than $ 7 and is decent.
FOUND IT!
It’s a pretty decent size for $ 5.50
Definitively enough for most people for a lunch portion.
What’s super duper cool is the veggie one comes with imitation ham that’s actually pretty delicious. There’s also baked (fried?) tofu, plenty of pickled veggies, and some yummy brown sauce (maybe fish sauce) as well. And cilantro. The baguette is also pretty good as well.
SIDE STORY:
One time, I went to this restaurant that I won’t name but it was probably called Fresh Roll, and I asked for a banh mi. The woman did not know what I was talking about. I smiled and quickly said, I’ll take the Vietnamese sandwich please thank you. But I was wondering — BUT REALLY HOW DO MAKE THIS EVERYDAY AND NOT KNOW THE NAME OF THE FOOD YOU’RE MAKING.
Fin.

For the area — the breakfast options and bahn mi sandwiches are decent. Prices are good $ 5.50−6 for a bahn mi — bread was toasted and crisp, pickled veggies and cilantro were fresh, the grilled pork was alright (microwaved)/ not the best but not bad either.
For breakfast — there’s of course croissants which were ok — a bit dry– I expected better since the store is named after it. Costco croissants are much better. The roasted pork bun is good however the bun bottom is soggy from the filling.
There are usually 2 ladies that work the counter and deli — prompt and friendly the times I’ve gone.
Good corner deli to grab a quick bite and coffee/​drink. No seating.

Worst place ever. Says it takes card but I tried to get a milk tea and they said sorry, $ 5 minimum. Nowhere does it say that!!! I waited in line for 10 minutes and was turned away. «Now you know» was the response the cashier gave me.

I bought a Nasty Ham and Egg Sandwich yesterday. While I was taking a bite, I noticed that there’s something weird on the taste then I opened it, it has a hairy stuff and looks like mold. So I came back to the store and showed them. Then the lady told me it’s because she put it on the microwave. So I told her, it’s very impossible to have it there if you’ll just put it on the microwave. And it’s in the middle part. So I asked for a refund. And she acts like she’s the one who’s mad and never said sorry to me. Poor customer service, Dirty and Nasty Food! Definitely never coming back!!! They should be checked for sanitary.

Great place for a Viet sandwich and Café Sua Da (Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk)
The two ladies there are very sweet and food is not only good… It’s cheap.
But let’s not tell them that, as they may up their prices.

Normally I go to the blue tent across the street because they’ve got legit Vietnamese sandwiches and the price is hard to beat. But htey werent there today and I wanted a sandwich so I decided to try this place. Biggest disappointment. BBQ pork is notbbq pork and its microwaved which isn’t a crime except hte pork isnt good or close to bbq pork. The sandwich is small and is 5 DOLLARS for 6 Dollars you could go anywhere else and get better.
Not worth it for the vietnamese sandwiches.

I don’t know how, but this is my favorite Banh Mi spot in the whole city. Bread is nice and warm with a crunch to the outside and a soft inside. Their veggies are tasty, their pâté is tasty, and they make one of the best banh Mi Cha lua that I’ve ever tasted! Can not explain how much I love this place. And they are so nice too no matter what’s going on in the restaurant!

Good egg sandwich on the run. Kind of a small place, but good service. Right on the corner where all the metro stops are. Their Thai teas are good too. Enjoy!

Such a good cheap bahn mi! They offer bubble tea, pastries, coffee, tea, and several varieties of bahn mi. It was a convenient location to my hotel. Legit directly across the street. If you want a quick bite on the run its a good option. I’d go back again if I were in the area.

I ordered the grilled pork bahn mi with pâté. It was pretty decent. The two gals working there were pretty fast compared to other bahn mi places in the financial district. The bread was okay. It did not cut my mouth even though that seems to have happened to other people who bought sandwiches here. It was about $ 6 for my bahn mi.

My go-​to spot for Vietnamese Iced Coffee before work. Perfect amount of sweetness and really hits the spot.
$ 3.60 for a cup!

3 stars because it was a pretty large serving (still not as big as id get for the same price for a sandwich at Algiers, though), and there was a lot of cilantro and veggies, which i do like… but…
$ 6.25 for a vietnamese sandwich? A. are you guys totally oblivious of the great vietnamese sandwiches across the street for $ 3.25 or a little off your rockers? B. If im paying you double what I regularly pay elsewhere, there should at least be actual bbq pork in my bbq pork sandwich. It wasn’t the typical bbq pork thats smothered in yummy bbq sauce — its the standard pinkish pork you get in your combination fried rice. not impressive. the fresh cucumber addition was ok… i wasn’t crazy about it.
Oh, and 90% certain the bread was sourdough. =\

What a total disappointment. I was really hoping to get a good Bânh Mi but not here. Sure they have a pretty decent selection but the sandwiches are subpar. I got the combo sandwich which is pretty much a standard of meats and veggies but it lacked all kinda of flavor. Their pâté was bland. There were no pepper like it should have unless I opt out of it. But honestly the WORST part of the sandwich was the bread. It was the toughest and hardest bread I’ve ever had to bite into. I mean when you’re talking crunchy this is like on a different level. I swear you had to be a pitbull to tear thought it with ease. After eating the sandwich, my jaw was seriously sore from the hard chewing.
The only reason why I gave it 2 stars was for their vietnamese coffee but even then it wasn’t as cracky as it should be. I’m just being nice.

Life is a journey. Not a destination.
Whoever came up with this quote was obviously, perenially late. To everything.
The person who believes in this quote probably enjoys smelling B.O. in a crowded Muni bus. Or doesn’t have a concept of time. Or is backpacking in Europe right now with no direction whatsoever or no time constraints.
Sorry to burst your bubble. Life is ALL about the destination. Sometimes, it’s a freaking race! Getting kids to the babysitter while trying to beat rush hour traffic or going straight to work after that noontime yoga class. What a blessing that Les Croissants is just one block away from the BART station.
Ironically, there are no croissants here. There are Asian style pastries, donuts and banh mi. These Vietnamese sammiches are stuffed to the brim with all the darn pickled veggies you’ll ever want and despite the hardness of the bread, you chow down because the meat is really good. However, the grilled chicken tends to be on the dry side but nicely spiced with teriyaki sauce. I love the grilled pork with roasted garlic. Occasionally, I buy their milk tea even if it is watered down. Sometimes, I just want squishy tapiocas balls in my mouth.
Next time someone reminds me of this quote, I’ll slap them with my $ 5.50 banh mi and I won’t even feel bad about it. And that’s real talk right durrr, bae.

I came here for years back in the day. Now that I’m back in FiDi, i popped in at this Café and they remembered me. They serve breakfast foods for people heading for work, coffee, bagels, croissant. Service is so personalized. Smiling faces, kinda look they are happy serving customers.
If you need that caffeine fix, come here.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

This place rocks. Was in the area for business and looking for breakfast sandwiches. The girls working are awesome and the sandwiches are the best. Went back several times during the week. Better then anything area.

I had a mild mistake that turned into a infuriating experience.
I had been here before… Microwaved meats and day-​old bread were to be expected. It wasn’t the worst sandwich ever, but it was fast and two minutes walking distance.
On Fourth of July, everything pretty much worth eating was closed. But I was very hungry. My spring roll did not hold me over, nor did my snap pea crisps… So I went to this place for a *decent* sandwich. I told the woman behind the counter, «NO MAYO please». Actually very kindly. It’s not that I’m allergic. I’m cutting back where I can. It’s really not a life or death thing. And I’m not into the habit of starting out sassy with people making my food.
The woman is microwaving the meat, toaster ovening the baguette… And then she assembles. I see her glob on the mayo. I stop her and say, «did you put mayonnaise on my sandwich?»
Her: «yes»
Me, calmly: «I had asked for no mayo.»
Her: «but I already did it.»
Me, irritatedly: «but I asked for no mayo before you started»
Her: «but I already did it.»
I was boiling. Who does that? Who makes a sandwich wrong and then makes the customer feel like they should acquiesce? I wanted to say, «look, you literally microwaved the meat and took out some old bread and it literally took you 2 minutes. I’m the only person in here. I CLEARLY told you no mayo.» I wanted to make a big scene… To start screaming about how weird it is that they have a pile of boiled eggs behind the counter… The «I can’t believe it’s not butter container»… I was NOT pleased.
But I was like, «I’ll probably run into her and I don’t want that kind of thing.» So I said, «just take it off… But I seriously told you no mayonnaise.» She did.
the only reason i got so mad was because of her attitude.
I sat under the shade of the bus stop… The sandwich hurt my mouth because it was hard to eat. I hate this place.

I was in a tearing hurry today, so stopped in for a quick Banh Mi with meatballs and pâté. The price has gone up to $ 5, which is steep for what you get.
When I came back to my office, I discovered that my meatball and pâté sandwich was merely a meatball sandwich, no pâté. The two massive slices of unpeeled cucumber were really unpleasant. If you’re not going to peel it, then use English cucumbers, whcih have a very thin skin. It was completely dry and to make matters worse, it was served on a piece of french bread that cut the hell out of my mouth.
Not exactly what I was looking for.

Hey, these are pretty good. Actually better than pretty good. Why am I so surprised? Right at one of the busiest corners in city at the base of California at Drumm across from the mammoth Hyatt Regency is this little corner operation that comes with zero expectations. When you face the whirling cross-​currents of tourists and office drones looking like fish in a barrel, all you want to do is take a rock and throw it at one of them, any of them, much like what Paula Deen wants people to do to her who dare to judge her with a wagging stick of butter. But I digress as there is no butter in these banh mis, just a dab of mayonnaise, Vietnamese pickles, onions, cilantro, jalapeño slices and cucumber spears.
And there is quite a variety from which to choose (photo:
). I ended up ordering the $ 5 Grilled Pork Sandwich which was encased in the regulation French baguette (photo:
). It was put together by expert hands who could chit-​chat with her co-​worker without a pause. That’s all I got along with a can of Diet Coke, and off I went to Justin Herman Plaza for a pleasant lunch under the sun. It had just the right amount of crunch and meatiness, which proved satisfying along with the freshness of the vegetables. I could have had another, but I was wise enough to know that could be the start of a carb-​heavy bad habit. I would definitely come here before the nearby Saigon Deli which missed the mark with the same ingredients.
FOOD — 4 stars… a satisfying banh mi well executed
AMBIANCE — 2.5 stars… what ambiance?
SERVICE — 4 stars… fast without breaking a sweat
TOTAL — 4 stars… it’s all about the sandwich here