Vina Bakery

Their sandwiches are decent. It’s an old place. Rude, old, outdated, and dirty. Got a sandwich for my dad and I Was going to get the tofu sandwich but when I was looking at the tofu, it was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. Didn’t even look like tofu. It was brown and it looked like it had hairs on it. Idk, but u can tell it has been sitting out. They reheat the meat in a microwave and put it in the sandwiches. And the lady that served us took 10 mins to take our order. And me and my boyfriend were the only ones there. An Asian guy came out from the back to check us out with his phone in his hand watchin a video. Typical lol hate this place

My go to spot before hitting leg days! The banh mi is the sh*t from the homemade crunchy bread, fresh cuts of meats, pickled carrots and fresh jalapeño… it keeps me fueled and fat lol. Oh yea, and you know us Asian folks do CASH ONLY.

The sandwiches are delicious but there is this rude ass lady owner behind the counter who gives people an attitude when we she up charges people on purpose! Beware and make sure you do the math!!!

I usually get my combo bread from here. The bread is not too stiff like other places. It is soft and crispy just the way I like it. Eating the bread alone is good too.

This is an old school shop with old school service. Don’t expect much, if anything. I don’t think you can even get a cup of water here. The sandwiches here are also somewhat expensive at $ 4, cash only (or card with a fee under $ 10 I think), for a smaller than average sandwich.
What Vina Bakery excels at is bread and mayo. The bread here is always warm and toasted perfectly, with a browned, crispy outside and chewy, soft inside. It’s one of the best traditional style baguettes I’ve had in town and definitely the best part of the sandwich. In comparison, the baguettes at nearby Nguyen Ngoc (formerly Nguyen Ngo 2) are larger and fluffier, but also usually too crispy and inconsistent.
The mayo I think I like only because they spread plenty of it here. It’s decent, but the mayo at Nguyen Ngoc is much better.
Unfortunately everything else about the sandwich is awful. The vegetables (cilantro, carrots, and cucumber) never taste fresh. You can smell the pungent odor of Maggi before even eating, which means they use too much of it. And the meat is just revolting. The BBQ pork is always very dry, stale, and hard. It’s so stale that it actually tastes like jerky. By far some of the worst meat I’ve had in banh mi.
Unless it’s past 6 pm, stick with Nguyen Ngoc /​Nguyen Ngo 2 in the same plaza. Their bread isn’t as good, but everything else is far superior — from the mayo, meat, fresh vegetables, to the service, prices, and cleanliness.

This was my first time coming here and I didn’t have a problem with customer service I ate inside And I didn’t see anybody wait to take their order. They do only have one lady making a sandwich but that’s not a big deal. The only time I didn’t see anybody in the front is because they were all busy in the back. I guess I need to come more often to see the negatives but my fist time was good. Food was good, price was ok, portion on my sandwich was ok.

Like everyone else, the bread is delicious but customer service is horrible.

I used to like this place, but I can’t get over the customer service. The main guy is rude and judgmental. He is always on his phone. The last time I ordered there, I ordered two sandwiches for my boyfriend and I. He assumed they were both for me and made rude gestures on how hungry I was. Completely insensitive.

Only thing good is the breads. Thats it. The meats are yucky
The OWNERS dont know how to say «hi, hello or thank you «even they see you or on the phone.

Vina bakery, what is there more to say about a place that is known for that bread. You can read about it, try it, and love it. Everything else you put in a Vietnamese sandwich is the same everywhere else depending on the freshness of their product. I do say their meatball is quite flavorful, but nothing extraordinary. The four-​star is for the bread and everything else seems meaningless. It’s all about the bread here!!!

I see that this place has a wide range of reviews. I would hope that those who gave them 4+ stars did it out of loyalty to the owners, or something, as I can’t see how in the world this place could garnish that kind of honest review. I will start off saying I’m Vietnamese so I would hope I know a thing or two about ‘banh mi’ when it comes down to it. This place has the worst banh mi I’ve ever had. Houston has tons of great Vietnamese sandwich shops, so do yourself a favor and try other places. (There’s actually a place literally around the corner from this — mentioned by other reviewers — that has good sandwiches and reasonably priced too)
To start off, my ‘banh mi ga’ (chicken sandwich) had hardly any meat, or vegetables, or herbs. At $ 4 each, I would expect more filing to my sandwich, as other places charge .50-​$ 1 less, and are overflowing with meat/​veggies/​herbs. Secondly, the bread was so dry and crumbly it all fell apart after a few bites. Finally, they have smaller sized bread than the competition as well it seems like, though I can’t say 100% as I didn’t have another to compare to, but visually, it seemed smaller to me.
Also got some almond cookies which were bland and tasteless. My usually banh mi shop around the corner was closed when I was around the area, so I gave Vina a try, but I won’t be going back. If my other place is closed and I’m in the mood for sandwiches, I’d rather drive 30 – 40 minutes away to the Bellaire area for banh mi instead eating here.
It’s a good effort, I’ll give them that, but being in Houston where there are so many great Vietnamese eateries, I don’t see any point in visiting Vina, especially for their Vietnamese sandwiches. Maybe management recently changed, I’m not certain, but my recent visit here was disappointing and I would not recommend it to others.

Must order: the BREAD, combo banh mi
Tip: Buy 5 sandwiches, Get 1 free
This place has the best bread for banh mi sandwiches. Their fresh bread has the right chewy texture, yet not soft, yet not dry and crispy to the point it crumbles all over the place. So even if you do not order the sandwich, the bread rolls alone are enough to drop by.
As for the banh mi sandwiches, I have always ordered the combination banh mi and have had consistently great results. One star off only because they skimp on the pâté and meat, but it is a good light option if you need a snack :)

Ordered 4 sandwiches and 6 buns to go. I asked for no veggies. They served veggies on all 4. The bbq pork had questionable meat, the taste was horrible, the kitchen was very dirty, the egg on sandwich was served like scrambled eggs, very small portions of meat which by the way we had to throw all 4 sandwiches to my dogs. Once again people I have to tell you stay away from businesses that the owners are extremely stingy with their food, imagine what goes on in the kitchen if their that cheap with their products.

I had my heart set on grabbing some banh mi’s at Nguyen Ngo 2, but they were closed before the posted closing time. So Vina Bakery got my business by default since they were still open. Of the two sandwiches that we tried, both were disappointing.
1. BBQ pork & fried egg sandwich: the pork was dry and tough and the egg was cooked like an omelet rather than sunny side up as I was expecting.
2. Meatball & ham sandwich: the meatballs had all these tendons and gristly parts that my husband had to spit out (and the guy usually eats anything).
The only saving grace was the bread. It’s light and airy and not doughy at all which would let the fillings shine through. But in this case, the bread was the star.
At $ 4 a piece, I was expecting a better banh mi experience. Not to mention the size… it was one of the smallest banh mi’s I’ve had. Even by California standards, it’s pricey for what you get. Not worth it!
I would come back just to buy the baguette and make my own banh mi.
Bön appetit!

The pork and beef sandwiches are excellent ! So much flavor and very tender. I tried the chicken sandwich the other day and it was horrible. Stick to beef or pork and you will love this place. The owner refuses to give paying clients free glass of water which is against the texas food code. Coconut cookies are excellent as well.

The hell? I ordered a Vietnamese sandwich with BBQ pork and all I got was bread and some pickled veggies in it.
Joking but they skimp big time. I usually go to Nguyen Ngo 2 and they aren’t open on Monday. :(

So to start off I love eating banh mi. Mira because this place and it’s sister store vina deli that has caused me to get into Vietnamese sandwiches
But as you can see I gave it three stars namely for them forgetting to take out the jalapeños when I asked them to and also not adding siracha sauce (which I highly suggest to try with your banh mi).
Other than that I usually get the pork and egg or beef. I absolutely love the extra sauce or whatever is inside the sandwich when they make it. It tastes sweet/​sour kinda taste.
The beef and pork are soft enough that you can bite into it with out worrying it will all come out.
The bread is fantastic; not too hard not too soft.
Overall it’s a decent place with prices $ 3-​$ 5 on most sandwiches.

A little over price for the Báhn Mi but I’d pay it again for this sandwich.
I tried the beef sandwich and a pork with egg sandwich. The pork with egg was super tasty.
If you like Vietnamese egg rolls, get there early because they sell out.
I want to go back now…

Still good! The soft French bread they bake for the sandwiches are still good. The inside is very soft and will get soggy if you don’t eat your banh mi right away. Other places might have long crusty baguettes.
The meatballs (xiu mai) are good again. They now have a hot bar where you can buy items like grilled chicken, grilled pork, meatballs, (& other stuff I can’t remember– egg rolls). I saw them grab the meatballs from the hot bar for my sandwich. So, stuff there = some stuff that goes into the sandwiches. Maybe you can check how the chicken, pork, beef, or meatballs look before you order them.
I haven’t gotten the grilled pork and egg sandwich recently because the last times I got it, they had a pan fried scrambled egg instead of a sunny side up egg like the pictures showed. They now have new pictures of their sandwiches and it still shows a sunny side up egg– maybe they do that again.
I agree with some other reviews, the guy working here wasn’t very friendly; no response when I say thank you. And instead of handing me my sandwich, he hung the bag from his finger and pointed it at me, wth… The lady who works here was super sweet, she thanked us for waiting and took the time to label the three sandwiches we got.
My meatball and white ham sandwich is $ 4. now #13.

I kid you not when I say that this is hands down the best banh mi sandwich you will ever have! I know what your thinking a sandwich is a sandwich but I have to agree with Scott M.‘s review, there is something special about their bread. Nice, soft, flaky, crusty deliciousness. They have so many different options you can pick from, such as the original, to ham only, chicken, bbq pork, bbq pork and fried egg (my favorite) and even something for vegatarians.
Tips: Bring cash, they do no accept cc. They have a pretty good bubble tea joint next door. Buy 5 sandwich get 1 free.
Do yourself a favor and try it if you’re in North Houston area.