Top Taste Asian Subs & Grill

Ordered lemon grass pork with rice. The pork was very dry and tasted old. Should’ve probably ordered the regular grilled pork. Their sandwiches looked good and was the most popular thing on the menu. They also serve boba drinks and phở. Wouldn’t come back for the rice plate but I’ll certainly give the sandwich a try next time.

I had the lemon grilled pork banh mi and was impressed. Generous size, value price, and very tasty. I wasn’t as impressed with the bubble tea or wonton soup — they were average. But the sandwich was great. My friend and I were offered a sample of the lemon grilled pork when we stepped up to order — delish!

My husband and I eat here about once a week! WE LOVE IT! It’s accessed via the downtown tunnel system. They are very busy for lunch, and after trying the food there, we know why! It’s fantastic. I usually buy either the rice plate with sate’ chicken or sate’ beef, or the bahn mi with either sate’ chicken or sate’ beef. Both are very filling and tasty. The owner is awesome… great guy and so personable and he seems to genuinely appreciate his patrons. The staff is competent and friendly. Try them out!

The idea of a $ 7 banh mi sounds revolting. I too am spoiled by my fellow midtowners (ahem, Les G’s) but when you’ve got limited options in the tunnels and lines for Mayuri are too long, a fresh toasted fairly decent banh mi does the trick. Unlike your usual banh mis, Top Taste’s are a larger portion, enough to fill you up for the rest of your work day. Skip the spring rolls, you won’t need them, you also won’t need additional siracha since the banh mi already comes with traditional fish sauce, hot peppers, and a secret tangy soy based sauce that is just the secret ingredient that makes me pay $ 7 for a banh mi. I don’t recommend their Boba Teas as they are wayyyy on the sweater side but overall, Top Taste is worth trying.

I’m pretty wary of eating in the tunnels, but my coworkers would not stop raving about the sandwiches from Top Taste. I went with them one day and ordered the banh mi with grilled pork, all the fixings.
What’s unique about Top Taste is that it’s more Vietnamese fusion than straight-​up Vietnamese. The banh mi here has toppings that aren’t what you usually get at a banh mi place — the sauce is a vinaigrette, not a mayonnaise, and the spice comes from red chiles, not jalapenos.
Regardless, the sandwich is pretty good. Definitely worth trying out at least once if you work Downtown. My biggest issue, though, is that you pay a hefty premium for this sandwich — depending on the meat, it’s $ 8. $ 8 for banh mi in Houston! Absurd! It’s not particularly large compared to other banh mi, either, so you might want to supplement it with something else.
I will say that the Top Taste banh mi is pretty tasty, but be careful of how much it’ll cost you.

You can’t beat it. Fresh lunch for a cheap price. I love this place and wouldn’t trade it for anything else. The line moves fast and the food is great!

Every once in a while I crave a Vientamese sub, and this place has it goin on. It’s a little walk from my building, but definitely worth it! I order the lemon grass grilled pork banh mi, and it is everything I look for. Crunchy, but still soft french bread, great flavored meat, HOT peppers, cilantro, cucumber, and that sauce is what makes it all come together. I already had lunch today, but I could definitely go for one of these bad boys

ordered food here from work because we get free food every thursday, I ordered the garlic beef with fried rice, it was very nice they could have added just a tad more garlic.

I eat here pretty often. I usually order the grilled pork vermicelli bowl. Like other reviewers have said, it is not the most authentic Vietnamese you have ever had but it is good, fresh, and always served by very nice people. I have not tried the phở, maybe I will do that today.

Other reviewers need to keep in mind that this place is an extremely quick and efficient lunch stop located in the tunnels amongst a plethora of low grade fast food. Since discovering this place a few weeks ago, I’ve probably returned at least 5 times to get the bahn mi. The bread is fresh, the meat is fresh and tastes excellent, and the staff are friendly and complete orders very quickly.

I love Top Taste! Solid bahn mi, vermicelli and phở, and the large portions and cheap prices make them one of the better values in the tunnels. I would give 4.5 stars if I could but I decided on 5 to balance out some of the reviewers that perhaps have their expectations out of whack. It’s not the most authentic Vietnamese you can get, but it’s as good as it gets in their category, which is 1: fast food style Vietnamese and 2: a tunnel restaurant. Helping boost my rating is the fact that service is not only fast but especially friendly.

Like almost all places in the tunnel, this restaurant needs to be judged within a vacuum closed off by the streets of downtown. Yes, like the other posters have said, this is not authentic Vietnamese food (nor does it really come close – I’m pretty sure the guys running it are Chinese). That said, it’s still a good place to get a toasted baguette with grilled/​satay/​lemongrass meat inside if you have a craving for a non deli meat sandwich for lunch. You just have to appreciate it for what it is.
Note: I’d stay away from the Vietnamese iced coffee here. It tasted like regular folgers with some condensed milk.

No bueno. this is NOT vietnamese food. don’t get the rice dish. or anything that involves fish sauce because it’s totally bland!

Tried this place for the first time last week. It’s a pretty good banh-​mi place in the tunnels downtown. I’m not sure if there’s any other places to get banh-​mi in the area, so if you’re craving a vietnamese sandwich and you’re in the tunnels, this is basically you’re only bet. Not that that’s a bad thing!
I ordered the special beef banh-​mi along with a mango tapioca drink. I’ll break it down by the item, as it’s easier that way.
The banh-​mi itself was pretty delicious. Savory with all the bright flavors you expect from banh-​mi. The peppers on it add a nice little bit of heat too, which is fantastic. The spice pulls it all together well. All this on top of a great piece of toasted french bread. Not the best banh-​mi I’ve had, but it’s a solid entry. A full-​sze sandwich is definitely filling, and big enough you can split it for two meals. It’s more expensive than what you’d get in Chinatown, but I wouldn’t expect anything else. It’s still relatively cheap and still delicious.
The mango tapioca, however, definitely was a downer experience. Don’t expect their drinks to be milk tea. It’s a weird ice-​cream-​slushee sort of concoction. The tapioca itself was sub-​par, and the mango-​flavor was simply bizarre. My first sip tasted like a watered down hubba-​bubba bubble gum. Pretty bland as well. Definitely not mango at all. I’d have to say it’s one of the worst experiences with tapioca drinks I’ve had. Perhaps the other flavors are better, but I’d be hesitant to try them.
Overall, I’d rate the sandwich a 4, and the drink a 1 for an average of 2.5. I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt though and raise it to 3 since I did really enjoy my sandwich. I’ll be back — but I’m staying away from the tapioca drinks.

If you like Vietnamese food and can’t easily get to the best spots in Houston like me, this is a good option. Since I take the Park n Ride to work, I normally have to eat at places within walking distance from my job.
Top Taste will do the trick if you want to get your Vietnamese on and can’t go where you want. It’s located in the Tunnels near Main and I’m not sure of the other street (But it’s by Macy’s). Their Banh Mi sandwiches are so delicious. I personally like one that’s called the Sake Beef Sandwich. The employees are extremely friendly and usually will go out of their way to make sure you have everything you need before you leave the counter. It’s a bit spicy but good. I have also tried the Phở, however I think I have had better at many other places. From now on, this will be the place I get my Banh Mi sammiches at.
The sitting area is quite noisy since Top Taste is located in an area where there are several other restaurant who share the space with them.
½ Sandwich $ 4.50
Full Sandwich $ 6.99
Phở $ 6.50
Spring Eggrolls $ 3.50 (4)

Great subs — the classic Vietnamese subs with cilantro, cucumber, and marinated beef or pork. The subs are toasted and perfect. The staff is very accommodating as the previous post mentioned. The price was only $ 5.15 (this includes tax) for a great sub!!! I highly recommend this place!

In the Prince’s food court in the tunnels, there are some locations that seem to precariously rotate restaurants every few months. My coworkers and I had casually noticed this new «Asian Subs and Grill» place a while go, but it never seemed too compelling to actually try. Then it got cold outside. Really cold.
So, as we sat in our office making lunch plans (which is obviously the most important work we do from 10AM-11:30AM every day), we realized we were jonesing for some banh mi but were not willing to walk outside to our usual Vietnamese place. We trekked to our first Top Taste experience.
Now, if you’ve ever been to see the dumpling nazi, you know why my coworkers start shaking in their shoes whenever we line up at an Asian place. Stereotyping? Yes, but it happens. The Top Taste lady was SO nice, and I could see the shock on my friends’ faces. I didn’t even order there at first, and she gave me samples of the house special pork. We were pleasantly surprised at how tasty the meat is.
We had to wait a whole 15 minutes for our food, which is strange for the type of food they are serving. They apologized for the wait, but the line wasn’t that long and I couldn’t see a reason it would take that long. The sandwiches come in «half» or «full,» and the full is REALLY big. Maybe not ending-​scene-​in-​Bridesmaids big, but you get the idea. This may be the only banh mi place I have ever been to that defaults cheese as an ingredient on their sandwiches. For the lactose intolerants like me, that’s a no-​no, but perhaps it’s a novel idea for others. The bread is thinner than average, and less crispy than I would hope.
The rice plate is pretty good, it comes with a generous portion of white rice/​meat of choice, a tub of flavoring sauce, and some salad.
In general, it’s a good place for lunch and the owners are nice– but when it gets warmer we will probably go back to our usual Vietnamese places above ground.