Banh Sen Noodle Bar & Street Food

Great Asian food, great atmosphere and great people. What's not like. You can explore many Asian dishes from different countries all prepared with great care. The only thing is if you want your dish real spicy hot....you need to emphasize you don't want it American hot.Update 1-4-24 Thanks James. Hope your son is still around. He's too great as a waiter. He always makes sure our food is blazing spicy even when the rest of the family looks at him like he's crazy. If you mention this review to him he will know who we are. Take care. Love your place.

We went on a cold night and wanting pho. This place didn't disappoint. There was parking in the lot behind them. We were seated right away but the place seemed busy. I saw the lady running the food out so I knew it would be a wait so we ordered as soon as possible. Ordered pho, laksa, bulgogi, fried dumplings, spicy basil chicken, a fried rice and papaya salad. It was all really good. Everything was spicy! The bulgogi was spicy! I would go again!

This place is a GEM, awesome wait staff and incredibly knowledgeable of the various styles! Their menu is extensive with dishes in Japanese, Vietnamese and Laotian styles, just fantastic. The ingredients are fresh, sauces abundant and portions large. This restaurant is a must do, seriously a hidden gem. Also they serve gluten free and vegetarian dishes also, so enjoy for date night and a large family outing. BTW private off street parking too, parking in Southern Pines can be very difficult.

Great meal and even greater service! I saw a post on Facebook and decided to try the restaurant out. They have outdoor and indoor sitting and very beautiful ambiance. I was impressed with both of the servers making recommendations and guiding me to choices that fit what I wanted. I will be returning. ***l made a to-go order of pot stickers and spicy house ramen (it wasn't too spicy)

Great working lunch date. Started with the crab Rangoons and ordered the beef pho. It was delicious. The wine list is limited but the Clos Du Bois was delicious and perfectly paired with our food. The server, Jamie was quirky, and fun. He was very pleasant and incredibly attentive despite a busy lunch crowd. Sitting outside was fun for wine drinking, & people watching. Honestly, not much work got done. But hey...we had a great experience. Neither of our husbands like this type of food, so I predict many more "work" dates here. Good job, Banh Sen Noodle Bar! You're a welcome addition to the Southern Pines culinary row.

Stopped in for lunch with a friend. We had heard good things and wanted to try it out. One of my favorite restaurants is Bee Banh Mi in Apex so I was excited to have a similar menu here. The dining room was empty with only a handful of diners on the porch. It was 12:30. The restaurant has been totally transformed from the 1980's era of Mannie's restaurant but unfortunately they couldn't retain his lunch crowds. So much money was spent on the renovation but no effort was put into staff training. There was no greeting or explanation of the menu. No conversation to connect the diners with the experience of the food. The only feeling of street food is that you are sitting at a table on Penn Ave while the flies try to carry your plate away. The lovely ceiling fans on the porch were turned off so the flies had their way with our crab rangoons and steam dumplings. Both were good and the flies seemed to agree. Our steaming bowls of Bun Rieu were delivered next. The broth had absolutely no flavor except for the one sprig of cilantro floating on the top. It was just underwhelming. The service was OK. They brought watered down iced tea that had completely melted so it was as flavorless as the soup. At the end of my meal, I finally got a packet of sweetener that had been requested. The servers were silent and had nothing to offer in the way of interaction. I can't understand the restaurant owners in this town who put so much thought into every detail but fail to train their staff. They seem to not make the connection between human interaction and larger tips and larger orders. I don't think I will Return.

Admittedly our expectations for Bahn Sen were low based on previous experience at The Block, but somehow it still managed to under deliver. We visited on their third day open and expected to deal with delays as usual with any new restaurant. We were not disappointed. Even being sat at a table in a mostly empty restaurant seemed to be a daunting task. The menu contains multiple errors and ambiguous descriptions which further lowered our expectations. We asked a couple of questions of our server and received less than adequate responses. We should have left then. There were only two adults in our party. Not a huge table. When the food came after nearly 25 minutes, only one order was brought. To my surprise the noodles were cold. Apparently this was intentional. It was, however, not stated as such on the menu. The pork was also cold, under seasoned and nearly without sauce. When the waitress returned 5 minutes later without my partners food still, she explained that many people were surprised by the cold noodles. This however, clearly did not prompt her to warm me. At this point we also inquired about the other food and we're provided with an answer of "we're still new to this and working out the bugs."10 minutes later, the other dish arrived. Same problems. Food was cold, under seasoned, and should not have required 40 minutes to prepare. We paid. Did not eat, and left. As for the interior, the walls are festively painted. The personalized tables seemed poorly constructed and on the third day already out of balance.Save your time and your money and skip this one. They won't be here long.

Very authentic, proper cooking technique, flavors balanced, fresh ingredients. Quality, ethnic food this town was missing and this town should be more educated on! This place is the real deal and absolutely worth it.

Food and service has always been fantastic. Regulars there and they have the order memorized for our toddler.

Food was delicious and service was great! Took time to explain different dishes and how to eat them. Lots of options!