Banh Mi & Che Cali

What a great find and such a stable experience. I have to say that the food is great, quite reasonably priced and the personnel are so nice there. I am amazed at how hard they work and how fast the service is. I feel like I am coming home when I go there to eat, as they make me feel special.
If you don’t know what to order, start with a Phở soup of your choice.
NOTE: For those that have complained about them being out of bread at night, all I can say is that is because it is good and the bread is fresh every morning. Plus, these people are working to feed you on christmas eve and you whine about it… Daaaahhh

The food here is great, the pricing for what you get is even better. The reason it lost a star is because of service. The service here is horrible, you have to refill your own water and the servers have a hard time speaking English.

This is a simple but tasty and affordable phở restaurant.
The interior is nothing fancy, but is clean and moderately spacious. There are no booths, but the tables are comfortable enough.
VIETNAMESE ICED COFFEE ($ 2.50 if I remember correctly)
Their coffee is rather small and too icy for what you get. The flavor is alright but a bit weaker and more bitter than other Vietnamese iced coffees I’ve had.
SMALL PHO WITH RARE BRISKET ($ 5.50)
Their phở is a good portion, deliciously tender meat once it’s cooked, and there is a good noodles to meat proportion. They don’t give as many bean sprouts and mint leaves or sides as other places, but I just asked for more. The broth is flavorful, but not the best I’ve tried. For the tastiness and price, it can’t be beat.
For 3 people with 1 small phở and 2 larges with 3 drinks, it was about $ 35 without tip. For the quality, portion, and price of food, this is a nice phở place and a very good experience :-) It’s not the best but I recommend trying it.

One of the skinny girl with the white cap there has a bad attitude and a bad personality. Never smile and say thank you when I come in to buy. She seems like she doesn’t like of what she does. She is the person that you just want to come up and get her down and get her out of sight!!! When someone chooses to wrk in customer service, he/​she has to have the right fit for it.

Best Phở place in all of Southern California! My wife and I have tried numerous Phở restaurants and we continuously come back here. The shrimp curry and veggie phở are to die for! My wife makes a special trip from Murrieta every Tuesday just to bring dinner home!

Gave this place a few chances since I frequent the area. Average at best. Flavorless met bland and had a baby named Che Cali Banh Mi.

Usually Phở Ga is served with shredded chicken. This one is served with a couple large chunks of chicken that you kind of have to cut up yourself. Other than that its not bad. It’s also pretty cheap, I think it’s 40% off. The banh mi is buy 2 get 1 free so I picked up some for the road as well.

One of my worst experiences at a Vietnamese restaurant. The gf and I came here on Xmas Eve night for a quick bite since everywhere else was closed. When we got in, we stared at the sandwich menu board (dedicated to ONLY sandwiches) for ~5 min. When we were about to order, the lady says, «we’re out of bread.» Couldn’t tell us that when we were staring at the menu? :|
We decided to just grab a table since we were tired of looking for restaurants. The gf ordered «Phở w/​Brisket,» while I ordered «Vermicelli w/​Grilled Shrimp, Pork, & Egg Roll» (primarily bc I wanted egg roll). As the server brings out the dishes, she tells us…“we ran out of egg rolls.” The right thing to do would be to tell me that when I order… so I can possibly change my order… but nope, there lays my dish… eggroll-​less. I didn’t want to wait any longer, so I just stomached my annoyance and accepted it. On top of that, the dish was very bland, and the gf also claimed to have the worst Phở Tai of all time… OF ALL TIME.
When I went to go pay, I swiped my credit card, and I see the receipt printing and it stops halfway. Then I’m told the credit machine isn’t working, so I had to pay with cash. But the receipt printed halfway before stopping, so I’ll just have to wait before finding out if I get double-​charged!

We’ve been here the last 4 – 5 years since they first opened. It’s typically crowded and they’ve for cheap chicken phở at $ 3.50. Aside from that everything else is an a ok.
Service sucks and one of the waitress with glasses and a boy cut gave lots of attitude when asking about excluding MSG from their meat and looking at me as if I were crazy or asking for too much. Otherwise, would avoid this place as everything is laced with MSG, they’re not helpful in coming up with options and aren’t friendly.

Pros: no msg on selected dishes excluding the 50 percent off chicken phở, which I’ve read on Unilocal has MSG. Tried the egg noodle soup (large, $ 7) with salted shrimp (not fresh, but premade that was sold without the shell in the frozen seafood aisle), chicken breast meat, and thin slices of pork (limp and almost nonexistent once you taste it). I was not super thirsty after having this dish, though I didn’t drink the soup at all.
Roomy interior, accommodates dining in, relatively clean floors and seating. No visible flies or smoking fumes. The location at Bolsa Avenue was the dirtiest and smelliest. Service at the FV location is 100% friendlier and servers speak English. Lots of non Asians customers here, but not as much as at their Fullerton location. That one is roomier than the FV one, and they serve desserts at the Fullerton one (buy 1 get 1 free). The staff here are really attentive and quick and polite when I arrived right before 11am on a weekend.
The rice, curry, and Thai dishes have more flavor. Try BBQ meat or pork chop instead of chicken meat in phở as it’s bland.
Lots of happy customers left that morning.
Cons: flavors are on the basic side. The chicken phở has MSG! Do not order this. Plus the white chicken breast meat is not smooth, but rather on the slightly rough, unflavorful side.
No dessert counter!

Always a ridiculous wait because there is only 1 register and a worker with an attitude problem at the front. No employee smiles or makes you feel comfortable. You can stand at the door waiting for seat and no one will acknowledge you. Trying to pay for your Bill is also a wait, you stand in line again with the to go order line and walk ‘ins. No organization. It’s a shame ! It’s Not worth my time or money at this place.

Fast service to get sandwiches to go! Wish they gave a bit more of the pickled veggies. Super hot and fresh egg rolls at 60 cents each. Definitely a great place for delicious, cheap eats!

Tofu spring rolls, pad thai, Thai iced tea, and soups are all delicious; and their crispy tofu is the best I’ve had. For vegetarians, they also serve a variety of sandwiches with mock meats though I’m not sure if they have vegetarian soup stocks.
The staff is friendly and the service is quick. This place is popular for a reason.

This is the for really good phở at a really good price!
The menu is packed with all sorts of options including Phở, Mi and even Thai dishes. I’ve ordered a lot of the options and they all come out great. The meats are always cooked well and the broth is always delicious and not too fatty. You have to try the little egg rolls for an appetizer. They are cheap and super awesome.
Huge plus is this place has a real vegetarian phở option with tofu and veggie only broth. So the vegetarians are welcome :-)
Another great positive for this place is they have Vietnamese sandwiches and they are buy 2 get 1 free! Just watch out, they can run out of fresh bread on a busy day.
The only negative here is that the staff isn’t too friendly. Getting a cup of water is hard and getting a refill is almost impossible. You always feel like you are inconveniencing them by asking. But the food is bomb diggity so go try it out

This place is the BOMB! Even though the ladies doesn’t speak English very well, they try their best to accommodate you. Always get my special orders correctly 100% of the time. Definitely sharper than many places that speaks perfect English.
On certain Sandwiches that you order, you get the buy two and get one FREE deal. Besides their awesome sandwiches, they have Spring rolls, Pork Chops, Vermicellis, egg rolls, mini chicken pies, etc.
But my ultimate favorites are their desserts. In addition to their buy two get one FREE traditional Vietnamese desserts (which are AMAZING), they have these awesome Caramel coated desserts. They are OMG! delicious, which is why I didn’t take any pictures because I was too hungry. As long as I am in the area, I must stop by this place a minimum once a Week.
Furthermore, their pricing is exceptionally inexpensive. If you prefer to eat at a full functional restaurant, they also have a restaurant style literally down the street. I love these ladies that serves here, they are a bunch of sweethearts. A 2015 must try before the year is over if you haven’t gave them a chance.
Customer Service: ⁵⁄₅
Pricing: ⁵⁄₅
Cleanliness: ⁴⁄₅
Options/​Varieties: ⁵⁄₅
Quality: ⁵⁄₅
Quantity: ⁵⁄₅

I was hungover af and was ordered to get some food, so bolted down the street in search of food and I ended up here. They had b2go banh mis, so of course my fatass got 6! Sweet deal!
#1 — Dac biet — pretty good, except the bread was a bit stale. Meat had good flavor and veggies were on point.
#5 — Thit Nuong — Not bad, the dac biet was more of a turn on. But this was good!
Vietnamese Iced Coffee — Now this is my recent discovery and my new fetish. It’s freaking delicious and perfect for a hangover (not really, but my taste buds loved it).
Check it out!

Always a good bet if you want a cheap meal.
Location and service is not stellar, but the food is always good and dirt cheap!
60 cent eggrolls, $ 1 baguettes and bahn mi sandwiches for around $ 3 you just can’t beat that!
I like everything I have tried here, though the egg rolls can be greasy, they are still tasty.
Bahn Mi’s are skimpy on the toppings but more than fine for the price since I have still yet to find a meat I really enjoy here.
Great stop in the area.

BUYER BEWARE!!!
I wish I could give this place ZERO stars! Decided to give this place a try for lunch, So I called in my order (6÷26÷2015) for pick up. when I got back to work I opened the box so I could examine the meat and I noticed a small black hair, must have been from a beard, then I found a lighter hair at the bottom. The color of the meat looked odd and there were several fatty pieces in there. I expect a food establishment to be clean and after looking at other review and photos, I see this is a common occurrence. I’m never coming back here and they should really reevaluate their food handling.
UPDATED 6÷27÷2015
Check out this information I found on the OC Environmental Health website.

Generously rounding up here… in my belly, this place is more of a 2.5 stars, but because I’m a regular patron due to convenience, I’m rounding up to a solid 3.
This location of Banh Mi & Che Cali is nothing compared to my all time favorite location on First & Harbor, but it serves its purpose. It’s located in a high trafficked spot on Brookhurst & Talbert, across the street from the hospital and in the same shopping plaza as G Burger and Afters Ice Cream. It’s likely a family run place.
I’ve been here for both their sandwiches and phở. Let’s start with the sandwiches.
Usual order: banh mi ga or banh mi dac biet (chicken sandwich or «the special»). Unless you specify what kind of bread you want, they’ll automatically make your sandwich on that stupid baguette type of bread (the kind that stupid Lee’s Sandwiches uses). The girl at the register will even tell you, «But they’re the same price.» On more than one occasion I have told her (or any other person working the register), «I don’t like that bread. It sucks. Give me the normal one.» (For reference, the «normal» bread is called French bread, or bolillo in Spanish). Overall, the sandwiches are good and they hit the spot consistently. I always order a cup of ice coffee to go with the sandwich as well – it’s almost sacrilegious if I don’t order one.
Now for the phở. What else do I usually order, Unilocalers? Chicken phở! Honestly, it’s not my favorite place to go for phở, but if I’m in a jam and need something quick and reliable on my short lunch hour, I’ll come here.

Prices are ok, food is meh. Only thing worth getting is the 50% off Phở Ga (chicken).
I’ve been here a couple of times in the past several years since they changed ownership 4 years ago. The quality of food hasn’t been the same since then. I normally always get the shrimp and pork spring rolls, $ 3.49 for 2 of them. They used to be alot bigger and had more shrimp in it, now it’s mostly rice noodles, very little veggies, and paper thin slice of pork and shrimp. The peanut sauce is salty and lacking in peanut taste. We also got a large bowl of Phở Ga to share, regular size is $ 5.99 and large size is $ 6.99, and the price is half of that listed on the menu, which really is a killer deal.
The bowl of phở is pretty salty and definitely got some MSG because I got super thirsty for hours after my meal. There was about 5 slices of really dried chicken in the bowl. The phở was well cooked, and the stock was authentically flavored, but not much substance. Also they used to give more mint and cilantro, now you just get 1 tiny branch.
Really would not go out my way to go there, but on a cold rainy day, for $ 3.50 I’ll probably just get a bowl of phở.

Um … Go to Phở 54 on Brookhurst!