Lola’s Cafe

This place is great… The owners, Frank and Lola (?), are such kind people. They are very personable and always provide great customer service.
My personal favorite is the roast pork banh mi. The bread is toasted perfectly… Light and crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. The roast pork is well seasoned and baked fresh in-​house. Good value at $ 4 per banh mi.
Their smoothies are great and toppings are free with every drink! My favorites are the passion fruit smoothie and iced green tea. Make sure to check out their selection of fresh smoothies. Prices are very reasonable here. The environment is clean, spacious and quiet. There’s also a TV there, so you can enjoy some entertainment while chowing down on your banh mi.

The chicken Bahn mi was delicious, I look forward to trying to other options. Wasn’t as big a fan of the traditional as I expected, may need to try the roast pork instead next time.
Price makes these endlessly enjoyable. I’ll get 4 at a time and still only spend $ 16 ;-)

I want to give my review an update after making another visit. All of the positive in my previous review still stands. This time I am mostly reviewing the smoothie. They make it fresh and it’s delicious for only $ 4. I got an avocado smoothie but I have to say their bubble tea is still great even in comparison.

Green tea bubble tea was perfectly refreshing. This place does not skimp out on boba!

I love everything about this place — friendly owners, quiet space, super duper great bubble tea (by far the best bubbles I’ve had in Chinatown), and excellent banh mi.

Lola’s Café is easy to walk passed without a second glance. But, if you are fortunate enough to peer through the large storefront glass you will find a small utilitarian banh mi house that turns out a superior Vietnamese sandwich and a very good smoothie, too.
I walked in for a late lunch before my scheduled haircut around the corner looking for a good baguette based sandy made with skilled hands knowledgeable in the ways of Saigon fare. I lucked out.
Lola is the young daughter of the owners of this shop. The couple running the operation are very friendly and informative about their vision for the business and how they create their dishes. I had the Roast Pork Banh Mi. It came complete with in house baked pork roast sliced thin and amply placed in fresh French loaf. The Daikon radish, Cucumber, Cilantro and Mayo were in there, too. The bread was slighted warmed, and perhaps spread with a touch of butter or oil to bring up the flavor of the opus.
I learned that the roast pork starts as a raw ground meat that is mixed with spices and baked in the home oven for several hours before being sliced and used as the foundation for their sandwich. It is not a «deli meat» at all, but done fresh by the owners as needed.
It was an excellent banh mi, perhaps the best I have sampled in Chinatown, and on par with those down around Washington in South Philly. The Pineapple-​Banana Smoothie was thick, cool and so refreshing. I walked around with it after lunch and was great on an above average mid October afternoon. At $ 4 per BM and Smoothie, the prices were right!
Lola’s is worth many return visits to see what else they do in the kitchen.
4 Stars with a Bullet!

Stopped here on my trek back home with my daughter in a stroller. An added bonus of this place is that there’s no step to when entering which is a plus for strollers.
It was relatively quiet inside. Owners were very warm and friendly.
I got the traditional bahn mi and a coconut bubble tea for $ 7. The bahn mi is spot on! Nice flavor and the bread is crunchy yet soft.
Boba tea was good, but I’ve had better coconut so I’ll probably try a smoothie next time. And there will be a next time!

Could somebody please explain how Lola’s bread is simultaneously thin and soft yet crunchy and warm? I’ve tried all of Philly Chinatown’s banh mi offerings multiple times, and Lola has rightfully earned first place among the others.
Their bread really sets them apart from the other places. When I take a bite out of a Lola’s banh mi, I don’t feel like I’m trying to gnaw on a pork flavored tree branch. The grilled pork I ordered last week was flavorful while the pickled radishes were crispy and tangy. Price-​wise, they’re $ 4 per banh mi, which is cheaper than other Chinatown spots.
They also offer fresh smoothies and bubble tea, which I will try next time! Cash only!

first time trying this place after hearing about it from a friend. overall, this is a solid cash only place for viet hoagies and smoothies.
what separates their viet hoagies from nearby competitors such as Q. T is their bread, which is softer, while still retaining an outer crunch. Most other places bread is simply too crunchy or hard, making it more difficult to eat and less enjoyable.
their smoothies here are good (albeit a good amount of their flavors use powder) — had the avocado smoothie (1 whole avocado used, no powder form) and added bubbles (for no added cost). Most people think an avocado smoothie doesn’t taste good but it is actually really enjoyable and can act almost as a second meal with its creamy texture and light sweet taste infused with each sip.
owners are very friendly and always willing to explain their menu items. come give this place a try!

So glad I decided to walk up 10^th street today! I almost went to one of my usual lunch spots, but thought I’d see if there was anything new to try. Not only is the food delicious at Lola’s Café, the owners are so friendly and informative and helped me pick the best lunch I’ve had in a while! Fresh mango smoothie (they added tapioca for me, too!) and a delicious tofu bahn mi! Both were so tasty and fresh and I’ll definitely be back to try other smoothies… and eat more tofu bahn mi’s! Highly recommend this gem! Keep in mind, it’s a cash only establishment, so hit one of the many ATM’s on 10^th, first!

the Banh mi’s here are on point. the bread is toasted to perfection. And who could argue with the price. Definitely the best bang for your buck in chinatown.

Kind owners and… roast pork bahn mi for 4 DOLLARS?
I already thought $ 6 was a bargain…
And this one came on crispy baguette and didn’t skimp on the meat.
They add bell pepper which I thought was a unique touch, and they also seem to offer a duck option.
I never thought to venture this far into chinatown, past David’s Mai Lai and Tea Chat. But I probably will be back when a hankering for bahn mi hits.

They’re extremely nice and would love to help you choose what to order from their menu. The environment is very calm and it’s a great place for a group of friends to come and relax. There’s good food and good drinks, nothing to complain about! Planning to stop by again very soon.

$ 4 for the traditional. The bread was warm and crunchy which was the highlight. Solid sandwich but I would’ve preferred it with more veggies and mayo. There was no mayo which makes for a kind of dry sandwich. Overall though it wasn’t bad and definitely satiated my craving! For $ 4 I’ll definitely be back.

Although this place is not as well known as some of the other Bahn Mih places, I think this is the best location in Chinatown!
Their sandwiches are 4 $ each, which is the cheapest you’ll find in Chinatown, with most places pricing their sandwiches at $ 5-​$ 6.
Also, the owners are very kind and helpful! Great service and great food! My new favorite location!

Very plain simple and CLEAN space. Very refreshing. Only banh mi and bubble drinks and very friendly. Sandwich is big and full. The bread is warm and crispy. The grilled pork is kind of weird as it is processed meat not really grilled pork but good. My mango bubble tea is really tea lightly flavored with mango. But good and refreshing. Overall best I’ve seen in Chinatown but washington ave still beats all.

Review is for bubble tea only.
I think they use powder, it was 3 bucks for original bubble tea and it wasn’t good.

I’ve been on the search for the next Banh Mi in Chinatown. Every place lacked something. QT Banh Mi is expensive and I don’t feel the bread is authentic for Banh mi. They don’t put enough vegetables and its soggy and not crisp. Banh mi Cali on 9^th street had this weird sauce on it that made it too salty and not typical of Banh mi.
I ordered a regular/​traditional Banh mi at each place. The perfect Banh mi should consist of crispy flaky French bread, the saltiness of Pâté to balance out the butteriness of the home made mayo, a good amount of meat to veggie ratio, the sour crisp pickled veggies, the heat from the jalapeño, and finally the cilantro. All different flavors made to create the perfect harmony in each bite.
Finally the Banh mi here is close to perfect. The only thing missing is the mayo. I didn’t see any mayo only pâté on my bread. But the bread was so crispy and flaky. The meat to veggie ratio was perfect. Add the mayo and I would have given them 5 stars!

This is definitely a good place to get banh mi in Chinatown. Their smoothies/​shakes are good too. The employees that work there are very kind. As we were getting ready to leave and clean up our trash and crumbs, one of the employee insisted that they will take care of it. We tried to leave them tip as well, but they said that we do not have to. Such a friendly and laid back environment. Would definitely go back :)

Yum, yum! The best Bahn Mi sandwich in Chinatown … After becoming obsessed over Bahn Mi a few weeks back, I made it my mission to find the best sandwich in chinatown (I work in Market East).
Let’s start by saying that these sandwiches are usually super cheap, which makes it a great lunchtime option. I visited a few of the other known Bahn Mi locations in Chinatown … not bad, but neither quite hit the spot. In an effort to be fair, I ordered the same meal at each location … Chicken Bahn Mi and Thai tea … the other locations were epic failures in the Thai tea department, so gross that I couldn’t even finish them. On my second visit I tried the pineapple fruit shake (real pineapples — none of the powder stuff) and it was also super yummy…
As for the Bahn Mi sandwiches — Lola’s was again the clear winner … while one of the chinatown location’s had oddly chewy bread, this sandwich was just right, with the bread having the perfect amount of crunch and the sandwich containing the perfect combination of sauce, cilantro and heat.
As an added bonus, I absolutely love Lola’s logo: an Asian woman w/​a big olé ‘fro! (This spoken from the mommy of a Blasian family, so I might be just a tad biased (smile))!! Located a stones throw from my in-​laws house and less than 10 mins from my office, I will definitely be back again and again…