Banh Mi Street Cafe

Checked out this Vietnamese restaurant in Waikiki at lunch. It has a menu of the classic favorites along with some other things. Banh Mi Street Cafe is one of many such restaurants around here. Of course it's got the namesake on the menu, but there's plenty more. This is a good place for healthy options. As expected and is obvious, the banh mi is the most popular item. It's got plenty of these to choose from with different proteins and toppings. There's a few that are vegetarian. Along with these, there's also juices. It's about $8 for a smoothie. There's tropical flavors like dragonfruit, mango, and pineapple, and they're good for chilling literally in the hot weather. It's about $13 for a banh mi. These all come topped with carrots, cilantro, cucumbers, pickled daikon, and spring onion. Other ingredients vary per which one you get. The plainly but properly named Vegetarian Tofu Sandwich is a healthy substitute. Good place to get classic Vietnamese street food and Asian cuisine. It's located on Kūhiō Avenue by the Waikiki Haven. There's plenty on the menu for both meat eaters and vegetarians.

What was great was that they warmed it up in a toaster oven and the bread was good. I read one of the reviews where the person from San Francisco said it was one of the best chicken banh mi's they had ever had. I have been eating Banh mi for almost 40 years! From East coast to west coast to overseas.....This chicken was sautéed in some sort of curry sauce. There was no mayonnaise and it didn't have Fresh jalapeño and needed a lot more toppings like the pickled daikon and carrot. I ended up taking the small amount of toppings from 1/2 and putting it on the other half and discarding the other half of bread. If you like chicken cuury flavor then this would be the sandwich for you, but it was not like any other chicken banh mi I have had and I found it a little bizarre tasting. Again, the bread was great! It was $14 which seemed a bit on the high side too.

Excellent banh mi chicken $13.99.Authentic iced coffee with condensed milk $3.99.Very satisfied with the quality of food and authentic. Great sandwich to go.

They're a new location, and just opened recently right across the street from a popular food truck area, and next to the place I was staying at this time. They share this space with a travel agency apparently, so when you walk in, make sure to stay on the right side of the store, though it's probably difficult to actually get this mixed up.They have a pretty basic menu food wise, and have the typical Vietnamese offerings. The prices here are a bit pricey, but not that much more expensive than anywhere else in this busy area. It is a short walk away from the busiest parts of this street, so might be harder to find as they don't have huge signage either. There's not actual big seating here, just a couple of small cafe tables outside, so it's really more of a to-go place.The staff here were pretty friendly, and chatty. They certainly wanted to make sure you knew about everything they have to offer. And you can ask them questions about stuff on their menu.Full disclosure though, I did not try anything food wise on the menu today, and only got a smoothie today because I had just come home form the beach, so was feeling a smoothie for sure.The Dragon Fruit & Mango smoothie was solid. It's not super sweet though, because they use the pink dragon fruit, which is a bit different than the white ones. The mango they used probably stood out more in the flavor category, but it was nicely blended together with the dragon fruit flavor. The price is, a bit expensive for a regular sized cup drink, but at least it's blended fruit so worth the value for the most part.If I go back to this area in the future, I will certainly check them out to see if I may partake in some of their banh mis.

I happened to walk past this café and saw the sign outside and decided to go in. I got the grilled pork sandwich along with the spring rolls and Thai tea. There are a couple spots to sit inside or outside if you wanted to eat there. I took mine to go and when I got back to my room, it was still hot and absolutely delicious. I like that both of the dishes had a lot of veggies. The man that took my order was extremely friendly and provided great service. I would recommend this place and return if I was back in the area.

My spouse picked up a tofu bahn mi sandwich for me from this location. I am so used to eating Lee's sandwiches and so I have it for comparison. I enjoyed their tofu bahn mi sandwich. The filling was fresh and the bread was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Great option for vegetarians.

The shop is small and has a cute vibe. The crispy pork sandwich was a little too crispy but it was good, loved the peanut sauce the summer rolls came with, good size and portions here. Very friendly. Would come again.

I came home from a run after sunset, was super hungry and saw their cute new neon sign. It beckoned me. I walked in and was greeted right away. I looked around, studied the menus, and decided on the tofu bahn mi and veggie spring rolls. The man took my order with a smile and was super friendly! I was impressed because it was close to the end of the evening, and he might've been there 12 hours! It took them a little while to prepare my food, (I think the fryer wasn't heating up), so for future reference it might make sense to order ahead, but this time I didn't mind as I wasn't in a rush, and I was taking photos. I took my food home and right away tucked in the tofu bahn mi. It was the best I'd ever tasted, and I can see myself getting one a regular basis. Inside, the tofu was fresh and had a lovely soft, chewy, and juicy texture. The smear of red sauce added a great flavor, the veggies and bread were just right! I ate both halves of the sandwich before moving on to the spring rolls. The spring rolls were fried, but not crispy and quite oily on the outside. Inside there was a plump, juicy filling of veggies and noodles. Served on the side was a container of dipping sauce which was quite good and fresh lettuce and basil leaves. The lettuce leaves were the baby pieces and too small to "wrap" the rolls but even so, I enjoyed the dish and would order it again. They offer a kamaaina discount, so be sure to ask for it!

!DRAGON FRUIT & MANGO! Awesome smoothie! Definitely coming back for this drink.!!!!

10 out of 10 Sandwiches were on point, they were toasted after being stuffed FULL of protein. Tofu fried rice was also SUPER flavorfulSO glad we came here, food is absolutely delicious. Will be coming back for more while we're visiting!