Lee Sandwich
625 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA
415-929-6888
* No credit card
* Everyone is usually available on the street
* Lots of seating, which is unusual for this area
* No delivery, but you can call for orders
The Lee Sandwich is like the McDonalds of Vietnamese food. No matter what you say, the sandwich at Lee’s is much tastier and healthier than any fast food joint any day. These $2.50 baguettes are really popular, so I guess someone had to give them the corporate franchise treatment and try to take over the world with their delicious bahn mi. These are all sprouting up around California and about a year or so ago one appeared on Larkin Street just by the Civic Center.
Anyway, this site has a huge menu. There are about a dozen traditional sandwiches, like BBQ pork and chicken and veggie and such alum. These usually come with cilantro, thinly sliced carrot, onion, sometimes mayo and daikon. They range in price from $2.50 to $2.95 depending on what you get. There is also a separate menu of Americanized deli sandwiches, with typical meals such as ham and turkey. These are upwards of $4 each….why go to the bahn place to get something from Subway? I don’t know, but they are there. Lee also has many sides such as fried bananas, pork rolls, chicken wings, rice plates, beans and Basque stuffing drinks. Not to mention the coffee drink and the smoothie… It’s all a bit overwhelming for someone to use the hole in the wall baguette places.
Lee’s Sandwiches are very different from competitors Saigon Sandwich and Baguette nearby Express. Long lean bread is significantly longer than other places, but also much thinner. One of these doesn’t seem to me to satisfy the way the sandwiches of other places are made, probably because they can’t put enough ingredients into the thin breads. I had there BBQ Pork, which was quite good, and the combination was decent, but it used a piece. The pork loin was really tasty and chewy. I would stick to shredded pork or chicken here.
Lee is basically OK, but I don’t see the point in intercepting this one when you’ve got Saigon and Baguette Express inside the trunk. Service is also kind of slow, still probably faster than waiting in line at Saigon Sandwich, but slower than Baguette Express. One positive I can say this is that there are tons of seats on this site. You can also sit down, so if you don’t get your sandwich in this one thing it might be better just to have somewhere to eat. Personally, I’d rather have a little extra legwork and a better sandwich.
