Banh Appetit

Dropped in as I live in Portsmouth and was craving a bahn mi sandwich. I'd heard about this place and finally got here and so glad I did. It's a very unassuming and simple shop. Got to speak some with the owner's daughter about the Vietnamese community in the area and she was very pleasant to tell me a bit about Portland and her goals. So weird how simple conversations are a bit treasured with the lack of contact these days. Looking forward to going back and trying the pho!

Ok, so we've been here three times now and one word can sum them up-superb. I've said it before in my reviews of Vietnamese restaurants and I'll reiterate, we've been to a great many Vietnamese restaurants, and we know what great, authentic Vietnamese food is/should be. This place is that. The bread is perfect, the meat is moist and seasoned with authentic flavour and not overly salty. The ingredients are there! Some won't understand how important this is or may take it for granted. We've been to both excellent and terrible Vietnamese restaurants and, unfortunately, even in many great restaurants they are lacking in some of the important authentic herbs and vegetables, and/or in the quantity. Banh Appetit has all of the ingredients, fresh, and in generous/perfect quantity. The portion sizes are perfectly sized and you feel like you're getting great value-unlike some places we've been, it might be a great-tasting banh mih for example but the size and price don't correlate. There's just no question, this place has it on authenticity, flavour, freshness, and value. (Sorry it took me this long-I've been meaning to give a rave review since the first visit, and I'm missing a picture of a lemongrass beef and shrimp banh mih that was so, so great.)

Love it. I wish I lived closer. I got the pork BBQ and lemongrass chicken. I've traveled to Vietnam and these are legit. I personally like a fried egg on my bahn mi so I did ask to add it to each. Not only are these exceptional sandwiches, but the staff is so nice and they are priced right. I'd eat here once a day if I were not a 2 hour drive away. Great job.

Being from Houston we have a huge Vietnamese population with amazing food. With that being said, Banh Appetite is hands down one of the best places to go for a delicious banh mi. The BBQ pork was amazing and the bread was soft and crispy, the pickled onions and carrots was prefect. Will definitely be back again and again.