Café Au Lait

We decided to try this place several months ago, based on good Unilocal reviews. Our standards are high since my husband is Vietnamese and we have eaten in Eden Center in VA, OC in California (but have found excellent banh mi shops not too far; e.g., Silver Spring). These were the worst banh mi he and I have ever tried. We couldn’t even finish our sandwiches. and we are not the types to waste food typically. The bread was dense and hard, the filling was bland, not high quality meat.
I was very disappointed; I guess we expected too much. Notice this area is not popular for Vietnamese food.

Best Ba Minh’s that I have had in the area. Staff are very friendly and prices are decent. Have been here three times and enjoyed the food every time.
Sadly they are closed now Aug 2015

I’m shearing they’re closed. I’ve tried to go four times in the last two weeks, the same «sorry, closed for the day» was posted on the door. Anyone have any info? I’ve been coming from Baltimore City for their delicious sammiches. Any info?

Needed a quick lunch… I had never eaten there before. Amazing pork sandwich… recommended
Nice customer service…
Clean and reasonable prices.
Can’t wait to eat there again

I was referred here by a fellow Unilocaler to try a Banh Mi sandwich closer to me and said «why not?». Well I have to say that I was NOT satisfied at all. First I asked for a Grilled Pork and got a Classic Pork with Pâté and Ham… yuck!!! I returned and got the grilled pork I asked for, but it was nothing close to other Banh Mi sandwiches I have had elsewhere and further from me.

I am a frequent customer there.
There hasn’t been a time I wasn’t happy with quality of the food and their service.
It seems to be that it is a family business and they have small but nice selection. Nice location with plenty of parking available.
Don’t forget to check out their smoothies. My favorite is Kiwi Avocado.

We ordered Vietnamese iced coffee, mango smoothie and pork banh mi. Everything was delicious! Coffee had strong coffee flavor just the way I like it. Mango smoothie was very fresh and refreshing, made with real mangos. Pork banh mi was so good, bread was crispy and the the vegetables and the pork in the sandwich was fresh and very flavorful. I’ll definitely be coming back for my Vietnamese sandwich fix. Only complaint I had was that it took longer than expected to get one sandwich. I wouldn’t have minded the wait if I didn’t have somewhere to be. Other than that, all was good.

Nice little place. It’s a little bit out of my way but I could see myself coming back here again.
Met a friend here for lunch. She wasn’t all that hungry and got a Pineapple smoothie. I was hungry and got a shrimp salad sandwich on wheat and a green tea. The cashier was very nice and informed us that he would bring everything out shortly. Within seconds the smoothie and tea came out and the sandwich followed shortly thereafter.
My sandwich was just loaded with shrimp salad, like it kept falling out there was so much put in it! I really enjoyed that. It’s always very satisfying to use a fork and spoon the leftover salad after eating the sandwich. The bread was a nice whole wheat that was nicely tossed. The shrimp salad was good and not too salty. I could have seen it using a little bit more Old Bay or something, but it was still pretty good. The lettuce and tomato on the sandwich were good. Not the best quality, but it’s rather hard to find good summer produce in MD during winter, so I don’t count that against them at all.
My friend and I did sit there in the place for a couple of hours and the cashier was very polite, never seemed to mind that we were there for so long. I did order a cookie later because I always feel guilty sitting in a place like that for a long time. They have a wide variety of baked goods, including Red Velvet cookies!!! I ordered that and it was very good! Nice and soft, but chewy.
My only complaint is that this place is a bit out of my way. It’s in an area off of Route 40 that’s a bit hard for me to get to, but that isn’t the place’s fault at all. If I worked in one of the office complexes that the place is in I’d probably got there for lunch a lot.

Stopped by for a bahn mi pick me up! tried the bbq pork Bahn Mi and it was tasty but not amazing. (There are no good Bahn mis in this area and it was better than nothing!)
However, this restaurant unfortunately was a complete turn off as there was a huge bug crawling along our table! We told the worker about ur who just seemed very nonchalant about it and didn’t make a move to do anything about it!
Not a horrible Bahn mi but I really cannot return to a restaurant crawling with BUGS!

I visited sometime in December, and tried the pork and lemongrass chicken banh mi. Both were so good and so filling, too. My friend and I were actually going to get just the lemongrass chicken, but the guy at the register strongly recommended that one of us get the pork banh mi, and I’m so glad he did.
I would love to come back and try out other items on the menu.

I can’t seem to understand why my 4 star review of this place disappeared.
Well this’ll be the shorter version of my previous review. This place has non-​traditional Banh Mi. A different type of bread, different type of meat and similar pickled veggies. The place has reasonable prices considering it’s Banh Mi and the owner there was very nice.
If you’re looking for the traditional Banh Mi then go to the Eden Center in Virginia for that, however, if you’re looking for a change or you’ve never had Banh Mi before then go here. This is a great place to try Banh Mi!

If you’ve never had a banh mi, this is the place for your first experience. Delicious, fresh and filling. The young man who always seems to be at the counter is extremely helpful and wears a smile ²⁴⁄₇.
I’ve had the lemongrass beef, lemongrass chicken and roast pork banh mis, all stellar.
Not open for dinner so don’t dilly dally.

Came here for a late Saturday lunch (~2:30 pm) and there were a few groups sitting around enjoying their food. Simple décor, comfortable seating for couples and small groups, and looked well maintained.
Bf and I each ordered a classic banh mi and shared a Café Au Lait House Special (Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk! :D). Food came out very quickly and our server quickly brought us some Sriracha and little cups of water as well, so accommodating!
The banh mi was really good and surprisingly filling! Bread was toasted well and has a nice, light savory taste, though the inside was a little bit tough… though that might be more of a personal preference. Filling (cucumbers, jalapenos, various Vietnamese meats, carrots, & cilantro) tasted as expected and everything was very fresh! And the coffee was a great complement to the food — perfect balance of the sweet condensed milk and rich coffee taste.
Looks like I’ll be coming back here for lunch on weekends! :9

The bahnmi is ok. The service can be improved. I had to wait 20 minutes to get a to go bahnmi and a drink. I ordered classic bahnmi with nam neung and got extra charged but the nam neung was not added. See picture. I should have checked my order.

My dad had an appointment with a nuerologist and the building, While he was waiting my son and I went to get drinks were suprised by the menu.
I saw the words Bahn Mi and decided i wanted one. I ordered the classic. It came out and was pretty darned good. It really needed a bit of heat and the bread was actually a little hard. Still, it was delish!
My son got the ham sandwich on sourdough. The sandwhich was pretty substantial, nice and thick and fresh looking. He confirmecd that it was really good.
I will be going back!!!

Was looking for a nice lunch place close to home, and I’m so happy I decided to check out Unilocal for suggestions!
On the way there, I actually passed the place and called for directions. The owner was happy to direct me. I would never have guessed it was in such an unassuming office building.
My friend and I spent a long time staring at the large menu above the counter, but the owner directed us to the paper menu they had, which was updated with all the newest options. We ended up ordering the roasted pork and the grilled pork banh mi, two shrimp summer rolls, and a strawberry smoothie.
Atmosphere — definitely an excellent place to meet a friend for lunch. It’s very relaxed and casual. The restaurant is also very clean and well maintained.
Service — I really have to give props to the owner Eric for being so accomodating. He helped explain some of the items on the menu and was very friendly. Our order ended up getting directed to the wrong table, and in return, he offered us another smoothie on the house.
Food — everything was delicious and as tasty as I expected, and at a reasonable price. As one of the few places to get banh mi around here, Café Au Lait does it well!
I’d love to go back again, and I definitely recommend it.

Met a friend here for lunch and coffee. Was comfortable and clean in a small strip mall. Guy running the show was cool and offered to add flavors to café au lait based on my tastes.
The char sui banh mi was ok. Bread is very good as mentioned but I would not say the most authentic banh mi. Probably very good for the area.
Would frequent if I lived nearby.

Café Au Lait is a great find!
Where else in the area can you get bahn mi? No where!
The bahn mi here is great, with several varieties offered. In addition, Café Au Lait boasts a decent selection of breakfast items, gyros, and drinks/​smoothies.
Prices are reasonable, and you’ll likely be getting a good bang for your buck.

Big Fan of Café Au Lait!
My wife and I were in the mood for something new so we searched Unilocal and found Café Au Lait, boy were pointed in the right direction.
Café Au Lait is a nice small café type place where you walk up to the counter, order and then fight your stomach from jumping out and running to the kitchen.
We ordered a coffee and two Banh Mi sandwiches… one veggie and one lemon grass chicken… new for both us since we had never had a banh mi sandwich. Let me tell you this. I think I have found my new fav. sandwich! A banh mi sandwich is just a flavor explosion in your mouth and Café Au Lait does a spectacular job! Lets start with the bread… great bread that is slightly crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Next up the toppings, the toppings are not your standard lettuce, onion tomato… no they are carrots, cucumber, jalapenos if you so please and a fantastic dressing/​sauce. The combination of tang, crunch, and savory all rolled into one sandwich with the the chicken adding the protein and heft, you can’t go wrong! The lemon chicken is great as well, soft, well cooked but not dry and still full of flavor. Overall the Banh Mi has opened my eyes to a brand new type of sandwich. Café Au Lait does it right with good service and decent prices as well… you also get a nice tingly feel when you know you are helping out a mom and pop shop.
Overall, great food, good service and good value… thats a home run for me! So will I go back to Café Au Lait… for sure. heck I already have numerous times!
So open your eyes and your taste buds… the next Banh Mi is on me! Cheers!

You wouldn’t expect there to find a great banh mi in the middle of an office building… but somehow that’s exactly what Café Au Lait is. And that is pretty awesome, especially because banh mi sandwiches (Vietnamese sandwiches) are hard to come by in Baltimore and its surrounding areas.
Now if a restaurant finds itself in a «monopoly» of a certain item in an area, sometimes they churn out mediocre products because they know they can. But despite the lack of competition in the area, Café Au Lait makes a very good banh mi sandwich. It’s a pretty authentic banh mi too… it has everything you’d expect to find in a banh mi sandwich. But the true star of the sandwich is the bread. It is crispy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside… just like it should be. There are different types of banh mi here but you can’t go wrong with any of them in my opinion.
Café Au Lait also has some great smoothies. I especially liked the avocado smoothie. It sounds weird but trust me on this one – it’s good.
It’s certainly worth a trip here if you have a banh mi craving!