Banh Mi By Rice And Spoon - Newark

Maybe the best bbq pork bahn mi I’ve ever had to be honest.

I've only had a few of their sandwiches and the Vietnamese coffee. Loved them every time. Only complaint is they're closed on Tuesdays and I'm hungry on a Tuesday! Lol. Would def recommend for a quick easy and cheap lunch.

Banh Mi By Rice and Spoon is right next to/shares a space with Rice and Spoon. They are located in a small plaza with plenty of parking. Service is eh and food takes a while as well, even though it is not busy when I come here. I ordered their Classic Banh Mi which is their version of a combination. Price point was not too bad at $9. There was a decent amount of protein in the banh mi, but it was kind of dry (not enough pate or condiments? . I noticed that they have a new banh mi that caught my eye the Pho Dip (brisket , so I might have to come back to try that.

Very disappointed in our Banh Mis. We ordered the chasu Banh mi which they advertise to be Japanese style but it tasted like the meat in bo kho (beef stew). The meat was tender but the overall sandwich was very dry. We also ordered the grilled beef Banh mi which didn 't taste like bo nuong but more of a Vietnamese beef jerky (Viets will know this reference). Again the taste of the meat wasn 't bad but the sandwich was very dry. Neither of the sandwiches use pate or Mayo but instead use a house special sauce but I didn 't taste or see any sauce in the sandwich. I am wondering if they only use pate and Mayo for their classic Banh mi. However a Banh mi missing these ingredients make it taste very lackluster and dry. In addition the bread tasted chewy and not fresh. And the pickled veggies were not very pickled the carrots taste like regular carrots. For $9.95 a sandwich the quality and taste is not there or justified.

What happened to this place? Used to be a loyal customer all throughout Covid. Stopped by today after a few months hiatus and ordered the chasu pork and grilled beef banh mi. Both sandwiches were incredibly dry. However, the bread is still top notch. It was $20 for both sandwiches which is the most I've paid for any banh mi, as most places range from $5 7. I don't mind paying $9 for a banh mi as long as it's super fire, but this was not the case. One easy fix I think they should implement if they don't want to improve the quality of the meat, is to add pate and Viet mayo to the sandwiches. Both of the banh mis I ordered today did not have it and therefore contributed to the overall dryness. For now, I will stick to Cam Huong.