Banh Mi Cho Cu Bakery

So I was desperately craving a sandwich and had very little time. Saigon sandwich was my 1^st choice, but the line was out the door. Had to just settle with this place which was on the way to the 405. Bad idea. Very average and artificial tasting. I’m still craving a good sandwich!

Rating this place 3* because of their conceited service! but definitely a 5* for their Banh mi Xiu mai (minced pork sandwich)!!!
This place has been around for a long time!!! It is a family owned business from Northern Vietnam. They are well known for their banh mi but they also have other food and drink items available on the menu. The store is very tiny… it is old. so it does not look the cleanest. Service is NOT up to par. Variety of snacks are on display throughout the store. My favorite snacks are the bee hive crackers and the sweet tamarin paste:)
When i first came here. the older lady, which was the mom, took my order. she didn’t seem very friendly to begin with… maybe she thinks she’s the hot shot. being a business owner and all :/​. Paid for my order and left the store. I gotta admit, the xiao mai was off the hook!!! absolutely flavorful! I noticed the french bread was good. very fluffy, buttery and light. but not hot and crispy:(. i’d preferred mine like that. Second time around, the daughter (younger lady) was taking my order. I politely asked for my bread to be toasted. She immediately looked at me with a very unpleasant face: «our breads are always fresh out of the oven every morning, so there’s no need to be toasted!!» I was shocked by her attitude and fairly rude response! thinking to myself… umm. lady, that was in the «morning», right now it’s 6pm! The mom barged in and repeated what her daughter said with a louder tone of voice. Geezzz… ladies, take a chill pill. would ya??? LOL. So, you’re saying that if your customers prefer their bread toasted. you don’t happen to have a small toaster? anywho… they refused to do it regardless :((very disappointed! Very rare do i get bad service… but the service I got here at Banh mi cho cu, has got to be one of the worst. After that incident, i heard stories here and there that the reason why they are so conceited is because: a) they know their sandwiches are the best and ppl would come back for it; b) words on the street that one of the daughters is the prettiest Viet girl in Bolsa. Wow! You’re a business owner (I get that you are successful) OR you’re the prettiest of them all. it doesn’t mean you are above all! Be humble ppl :))
Every now and then, when i crave banh mi xiu mai. i’d come back here… but don’t really expect much. Just order my banh mi and go! :)

Good banh mi but my favorite item here is their coffee. I won’t drink vietnamese coffee anywhere else. It is a good mixture of strong coffee yet not too bitter. If you like strong and authentic vietnamese coffee then this is the place to go to.

Banh mi bi was nasty mostly pig skin only no meat. Also the bread hard as a rock & 2 old lady are rude. Service are terrible and no parking. If I can give this place a zero I will

The worst Vietnamese sandwich in OC. The bread is f**king dry which hurts my mouth. The way they wrap their sandwich shows that they don’t give a sh*t about what people think of them. When I break the sandwich in haft to give them a second chance, there is a long piece of hair sticking out. Just gross!!!

One of my favorite banh mi place

banh mi dac biet was nasty! the banh mi was so hard and the meat was smelly and too much fat, can’t even taste anything,
please avoid this place!!! the service was shitty too, 0 star!!!

I just happened to be in the area and stopped in since I was craving a banh mi and a little bit of caffeine. Sandwich was bigger than I expected, only $ 3, and pretty tasty (I got the #1). I probably should have gotten one of the fruit smoothies but since I needed a quick caffeine/​sugar kick, I got the thai tea with boba… not a fan. Practically the whole drink was ice and the boba was mushy/​soggy rather than chewy. But hey, it’s not like they’re advertising themselves to be a boba place. Thumbs up on the banh mi.

This place is pretty good. Cheap Vietnamese food for when you’re on the good. Very convenient. I also like how «cho cu», depending on how you place the accent marks, means «waiting for penis» in Vietnamese.

I’m 18 and I’ve been a customer here since I was 4. I love their smoothies! They use fresh fruit to blend and the flavor is amazing. Also love their banh mi sandwiches. This place never disappoints

I was introduced to this banh mi store by a friend and have been hooked! All the other well-​known Vietnamese sandwich shops (Banh Mi Che Cali, Lee’s Sandwiches, Mr. Baguette, Saigon Sandwiches, and Tip Top’s Sandwiches) pale in comparison to the sandwiches here. I’m in absolute awe of how perfectly crisp the baguette crust is even when reheated! I love that each bite of banh mi does NOT scratch or scrape the roof of my mouth and gums too! Thank goodness! So far I’ve tried the following:
Banh Mi Dac Biet ($ 3.00) — This special pork ham sandwich is pretty much delicious cold or hot. The pâté spread is melt-​in-​your-​mouth yummy!
Banh Mi Ga ($ 3.00) — Tried the chicken sandwich recently. The flavor is just right! Add in more veggies for that flavor explosion.
Rau Ma ($ 3.00) — It’s a bit watered down in my opinion, but it’s probably because I grew up drinking homemade pennyworth juice.
Thai Tea ($ 3.00) — This was probably mass purchased by the bottle, but it was still good.
It’s incredible that I’ve finally found a banh mi shop that doesn’t disappoint! Thank you, Banh Mi Cho Cu, for baking such a perfect baguette. You have scored a new loyal customer.

Just a quick advice: Don’t get the curry chicken. I came here for the curry chicken and it had already gone bad and spoiled. Not once, not twice, but three times! 3 out of 7 times I’ve gotten spoiled food. NEVER AGAIN!
…but, their banh mi dac biet is bomb! Lol hopefully, they won’t spit in my food when I go back for the BANH MI.

Judging this based on contentment factor. Pretty Damn happy right now.
I waited an hour after my dentist appointment cause he told me I had to do so. Was craving banh MI and haven’t had Cho cu for awhile so why not?
I didn’t experience anything in terms of negativity so I can’t touch on that. Got my banh mi xiu Mai, two eck rolls, and a sticky rice with mung bean and fried onions plate. The total damage was $ 6
Eck rolls were 2/​$ 1.they’re predominantly porky. Not much shrimp if any but then again I think my tongue isn’t all that sophisticated. They were warm and the wrapper was light and flakey, just the way I like it.
The banh mi made me understand why I enjoy it so much. I felt as though I was looking at my significant other and could list off all the reasons as to why I like that fucker. For one, the bread isn’t as fluffy as say Saigons bakery, but it’s just. Good. I ate the whole thing in like 5 minutes just enjoying being in the moment. The bread wasn’t too thick, it’s actually more on the thin side, but it has all the elements of good bread. Chewy, crusty where it needs to be, and buttery =) pickled veggies were plentiful, and they even added cucumbers. The meat ratio to bread I thought was pretty good. Mouth was happy. The jalapeños made my nose drip so that’s cool.
One thing though: the sauce for the xiu Mai is so artificially colored and kinda on the oily side. But it was yummy nonetheless
I haven’t tried the xoi yet. Places like this make me appreciate sandwiches in general =)

My bf used to eat here. Im not a fan of those hard sandwiches so I’ve never tried. I did come in to pick up some dried pork and according to my friends its super good.

I used to love this place, but the food has not been very consistent in quality overall. My favorite is Banh Mi Thit Nuong (Grilled Pork). However, my recent visit here, I was very disappointed. The meat was cold and still had the pork smell to it. It was also lacking in flavor and made me want to gag. I do not know why they did not make sure that the food was ready before it was served to me. Did they expect me to eat cold, smelly food or what? I have put up with sometimes nasty attitude from the owners, their daughters, the workers, but it was only for the good tasting Banh Mi Thit Nuong. I will NOT come back here for a long while.

the absolute best banh mi xiu mai (vietnamese meatball sandwich) lives in this little hole in the wall vietnamese bakery!
the end.

First off. To all my fellow vietnamese Unilocalers… Am I the only one that pronounced cho cu as (translated) dog penis at first?! LOL! Besides that, I haven’t tried the banh mi here but I always go here when I’m craving egg rolls. So good and usually its hot too! They don’t give you nuoc mam though so that kinda sucks but it’s okay; it’s easy to make or I’ll usually have some laying around somewhere at home anyways.
The people are pretty nice, unlike some other vietnamese shops. Oh and of course, cash only!

I get a huge craving for banh mi on a monthly basis. The fresh French bread, crunchy pickled carrots and daikon, sweet and savory BBQ meat, smooth pâté, and the occasional mouth-​on-​fire pepper… I am pretty sure I could eat banh mi every day of the week and I wouldn’t ever get sick of it.
My de facto solution to this craving used to be Banh Mi Che Cali, which is just down the road from Cho Chu. But then I was introduced to Cho Chu and I haven’t looked back!
Cho Chu’s banh mi has a creamy, almost buttery spread on the bread that makes it more moist and flavorful than Che Cali’s. Their banh mi is also bigger and stuffed with more vegetables and meat, a wonderful value for the incredibly low price (buy two banh mi, get one free — for $ 5 total). I went back to Che Cali just once last month but found it disappointing compared to Cho Chu’s. Not only were the banh mis smaller in size, they definitely didn’t have as much vegetable or meat and they were also significantly drier than Cho Chu’s.
My favorite banh mi at Cho Chu is the Chicken, but I love the House Special and the Roast Pork as well. I gotta branch out more from my Chicken obsession here and try the other options on the menu, but for now, I definitely recommend Cho Chu’s banh mi to you. :)

I enjoy their banh mi! Though lots of prissy female hormonal attitude are usually thrown around in that small space. Pretty stressful to watch.
Remind them to put mayo on your Cha Lua sandwiches. And smile. Isn’t that the standard?

Immediately as we walked in an older Vietnamese lady began speaking to us in Vietnamese. But… we’re not Vietnamese. Eventually when she learned we did not understand, she began saying buy 2 get 1 free. But she said it so fast with a thick accent, we didn’t know what she was saying. She sounded like an auctioneer.
Then a younger Vietnamese lady who spoke English came & we ordered the barbecue pork Banh mi. We asked for pâté & extra veggies & cilantro, extra charge no problem. She agreed to both, but a minute or two later said, «we don’t normally put pâté in the barbecue pork,» she sounded annoyed, we knew it wasn’t normally included, that’s why we requested it lol.
We didn’t want ordering a sandwich to be so difficult so we were like; fine, whatever. We left there with a sandwich that did not have pâté, & had very little veggies. But overall, it was a great tasting sandwich for a cheap $ 2.50 price. The pork was super delicious & soft, the few veggies that were in it were scrumptious, & the bread was pretty good. 1 star removed for service only.
Apparently little Saigon has a ton of Vietnamese places and we only tried one! There is so much food out there to be eaten and I don’t feel like I am getting my fair share. Back in PDX the Banh mi options are so limited. Thank god for Best Baguette.