DragonEats

One of the only affordable place in Hayes valley: I am addictive to the chicken bahn mi :-)

«hella good hella cheap»
Sardine banh mi — is an item on the menu, its also something you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else. For the price of under $ 7 this is a great deal in the SOMA.
After the lunch rush the space is nice and not crowded — clearly best time to arrive.

Got a 5 spice chicken bowl and it was SO GOOD. These guys are doing it right!!! 5 stars for taste and prices.

The best kale and ginger broth soup! And the shrimp roles are so fresh. 4 stars instead of 5 because I was nonplussed by the fresh chicken rolls.

Really solid basic options. Very reasonably priced for the area. The pork bahn mi was solid! Good bread, sauce and fresh veg. Really great!

Love this place — a local favorite! Very affordable (roughly $ 6.50 per item) and always tastes fresh. Recommend: Shrimp Fresh Rolls (peanut sauce is delish!) or pork bahn mi (tip: ask for extra house pickled vegetables — you won’t regret it).
Con: sometimes at lunch it can get busy (to be expected) but they can also get a bit careless with orders (aka always check you have your peanut sauce). I’d say that forgetting part of an order is rare and a growing pain as they expand operations.

This is one of my favorite spots to get a quick bite especially around lunch time. The duck bahn mi and vietnamese coffee is my go to. Duck is always so juicy and delicious and the coffee is strong and sweet, just the way I like it! I’ve also ordered the shrimp fresh roll and the five spice chicken phở before which were mediocre in my opinion. This place gets pretty packed during the weekdays during lunch time so get there early especially if you want a place to sit since space is limited.

I get something from this establishment at least every other week. Bun Mi, Fresh Bowl, Spring Roll… all delicious. Highly recommend the fresh lemonade as well.

Let me preface that this is not the most authentic Vietnamese food. Nonetheless, the food here is very delicious. As a D6 native, I can tell you that yes, this place is cheap… but there are bahn mi places in D6 that are cheaper (and more «authentic») and just as tasty. E.g. Saigon Sandwich.
++vegetarian option available (tofu)
++accepts credit cards
++try your best to keep the bahn mi horizontal to avoid spilling (or should I say losing) the amazing juices

I had shrimp fresh roll and chicken broth soup. The soup was amazingly good, has lots of layers. Very tasty. The fresh roll is very fresh, with lots of shrimp!

I like this spot a lot. And if I worked in the area I’d be here several times a week. It’s simple, easy, quick, and cute. Authentic without the overbearing ambience of a traditional Vietnamese spot. I had the five spice chicken fresh bowl, which is basically your traditional bun bowl. Lots of fresh veggies and I didn’t actually find the vermicelli noodles until almost finishing it because there were so many veggies… I like that though, makes it lighter. The fish sauce is of good quality also, not too smelly. Fresh rolls were good too, a little more expensive than most places but if the quality is good I’m willing to pay extra. Next time I’d get a fresh bowl and a side of soup for $ 3…hopefully it’s a phở-​like broth! They are obviously famous for their bahn mi which regrettably I didn’t get, but really want to try next time.

I was hesitant about this place at first — banh mi that costs slightly more than usual — but I grew to like it a lot and I’ve tried just about everything here now. Both the shrimp and tofu fresh rolls are delish. The Vietnamese coffee is made strong. The soup of the day is usually a clear broth with some kind of greens, think hot kale water. The duck sandwich is the best item on the menu I think. The pork meatball runs a close second. There are two types of chicken — butter chicken and 5 spice chicken. I recommend the 5 spice and pass on the butter. With the sandwiches, you can choose from the entire protein line-​up. But with the bowls, you only get pork, chicken, or tofu. The bowls are lighter on the noodle and heavier on the greens. I suggest putting an order ahead of time.

Had been meaning to check out this place for a while since I live nearby, but I was sorely disappointed. Wanted a quick bite to go so ordered a fresh shrimp roll for $ 6.50. Unfortunately she handed it to me right after I ordered it, meaning that it wasn’t fresh; I know that if fresh rolls sit for even a short while, the wrapper becomes gummy and stale, and that’s exactly what happened it. Ingredients seemed of high quality but the roll wrapper was incredibly stale and I didn’t enjoy it at all. The peanut dip was also thin and soupy like a runny sauce, and I prefer them thicker and creamier. Bummer!

Delicious bahn mi’s in Hayes Valley. Pretty quick service and plenty of seats. Cucumber water is a nice touch. Love the duck bahn mi here. Other options looked really good as well!

My friend and I shared the roasted duck and roasted pork banh mis and enjoyed both! The meat in both sandwiches was tender and flavorful, and all the fresh garnishes cut the fat nicely. At $ 6 each, they were a relatively cheap and satisfying meal.
While eating our sandwiches, we noticed everyone who came in after us ordered the bowl, so I’ll definitely be back to try that!

I’m addicted to bahn mi, so much so that I once considered getting it for 8 € in the Milan train station. Just for the flavor, that sweet, sensual tang and healthy zest of fresh, robust veggies.
Yes, I said «sensual.»
DragonEats is the happy medium between cheap (Saigon Sandwiches) and overpriced (Bun Mee). Service is friendly and they have a rockin’ salad for when you want to go lighter.
Yes, I said «rockin’.»
$ 6 for most items on the menu with no need for add-​ons. You and your wallet will leave satisfied.

This place hit the spot today.
So I Unilocaled «cheap food» that were located around work today, and I’m really happy I found this place!
It’s pretty small but it’s really clean and cute and I appreciate the simplicity of their menu. The workers were also really nice and willing to answer questions. I got the teriyaki tofu fresh bowl and a 5 spice chicken banh mi for later; the fresh bowl was bomb though. Super flavorful and light, which is good for a work day lunch. The service was also HELLA fast, another plus for anyone in a rush.
The only thing I didn’t like was that my sandwich was kinda dry and the bread wasn’t as soft as I like it to be. But, i will definitely be back for more :)

Much better Vietnamese food can be found in the city.
The search for a good lunch spot near my internship continues. Came a little after 12:30 and the place was packed! If you are looking to sit down for your lunch break, this may not be the place – there are only two or three tables, and extremely limited counter seating. The menu and photos looked promising, and I ordered a five spice chicken fresh bowl. To their credit, the ingredients were very fresh. But, the chicken was surprisingly bland. The fish sauce was also not as flavorful (huh?! how is that even possible?) Banh mi is $ 6 a pop, which seems a little exorbitant. The bowls are the same price and more reasonably priced, in my opinion. This place seems to be more Americanized Vietnamese, and with the great places in the sunset/​TL (and across the bridge in Oakland) this place fell short on my list.

I was in the neighborhood and was starving, so I decided to check Unilocal and see what was nearby and fast. I’m so happy it led me to DragonEats. I came with my mom and since we were quite hungry, we ordered a good portion of the menu.
We got shrimp spring rolls, 5 spice chicken bahn mi and a shrimp cabbage salad. All the food was extremely fresh and delicious. I found the salad a bit small but the rolls were quite large on the contrary. The bahn mi sandwich was BY FAR the highlight of my meal. I also ordered a delicious Vietnamese iced coffee– definitely recommend it.
This place was also really cheap. They are unfortunately cash only– so make sure to visit an ATM ahead of time.

We were in the neighborhood for performing arts and Unilocal had many stars on this place.
Food was OK. Quantity was small for the price. But we need to keep in mind that we are not in Little Saigon.
This could be called Fusion; after all, this is Hayes Valley. Rent is high.
Ginger chicken soup with kale for $ 3. It was good, I liked it.
Shrimp papaya salad for $ 6. The shrimp was fresh and cooked perfectly. The sauce could use more kick.
Chicken noodle bowl for $ 6 It was also good but used to getting more.
The place is clean and bright.
The food was good, but had better.
I think Asian would not appreciate this place because they are used to getting more and better food for same price.