Irving Cafe and Deli Too

I’ve been to this place about 8 – 10 times and all I order is a sandwich either pork or chicken. Over time this place became the place where I needed to go to get my Vietnamese Sandwich fix, with the sandwiches having fresh bread, a sufficient amount of hot flavorful/​succulent meat, and crisp fresh veggies within that all go together with their spicy mayo. I haven’t tried any of their other items. Their boba drinks are not bad either so no need to go somewhere else if craving it there.

It’s not closed! I just bought a Banh Mi from them this past Saturday. They just changed their business name to Mission Noodle House, but same owner and same menu. I love their Vietnamese sandwiches here (by far my favorite because of the crunchy but not hard bread) as well as some of their steam pork roll dishes. My husband and I love coming here and we’ve been a fan ever since they were on Irving. This is a lot closer for us. Their three color drinks is amazing too!

Glad this is not right around the corner from where I live, because i would be so tempted to eat there every day! Love the banh my and the Saigon salad. Everything is fresh and tasty. Pleasant, rapid service and reasonable prices make for an all around excellent experience.

When I had a job with weird hours, I could reliably tell it was Sunday every time I went to Irving Café & Deli Too (now Mission Noodle Bar according to their fancy new sign) because it would be closed and then I’d sigh wistfully, knowing that the hardworking staff completely deserve their day off, but that nothing I would order elsewhere would possibly measure up. Now I know it’s Sunday because that’s the day after Saturday, but that still means if you want some delicious and cheap Vietnamese food, do it on the first day of the weekend.
Their rice plates are delicious, as are any of their bahn mi. Not so crazy about their phở, which is ironic given their new name but what can you do. There isn’t anything wrong with it, I just think their sandwiches, rice plates, and salads are way better. Lastly, I haven’t seen anyone comment about these: try their shakes and juices! They use a fantastic amount of fresh produce in them, and they taste delicious. My favorite is the avocado, but the cantaloupe and strawberry are quite good as well. Add some tapioca pearls if you’re into that; it adds a nice textural element, which come out thick and frothy.

I haven’t had a chance to try their banh mi sandwiches yet but my friend introduced me to Vietnamese coffee for the first time here. It was cold and rainy yesterday thanks to the local storm but I always prefer to drink iced coffee over hot. My first sip of this caffeine packed dehydrator hit me like a ton of bricks. My inital description of Vietnamese coffee was expresso x10! After a couple sips you get used to the strength and flavor of this bold taste though so it’s not that bad [: I was only able to drink a small portion of my drink before my friend and I discovered that caffeine thins your blood (thanks Google!). Since I was only hours away from getting a tattoo at the Cow Palace body art expo this was clearly a bad idea. So I had to put the brakes on that operation and give the cup of coffee to my other friend that was back at the expo waiting for me ]: From what I hear this café/​deli has really tasty banh mi that aren’t quite traditional so I’m gonna have to come back here sometime to try it out!

This is the closest place to me with good vietnamese sandwiches. They use a different kind of bread than most places. The bread is so crunch, I love it!
Vietnamese Iced coffee… O M G… its soo STRONG! it will definitely wake u up.
Haven’t tried their other items yet, I always just want their sandwiches.

I hate to give this place only 2 stars, but I can’t give it three.
I live in the area and *love* supporting local businesses, so when my brother said, «Hey let’s go here for some Phở,» I was all in. That first time I went, the Phở was passable. It was nice of them allowing me to do all rare-​beef Phở, even though their regular beef phở has a combination of cow parts.
The flavor was a bit bland — it just didn’t hit me as particularly good, more like passable. The décor is just blech and the service was nice enough but not at all attentive. That would have been good enough for three stars, but I thought, «Let’s give them another go» and went back recently and ordered the same thing.
Much worse.
The «rare beef» wasn’t rare at all, in fact it was quite tough, definitely had been cooked. Plus it was *super* grissly, more than I’ve ever seen (Rare beef phở is my favorite thing when going to vietnamese restaurants). They put the basil directly in my bowl, which is not customary, but upon inspection I figured out why — The basil was already badly wilted, and they didn’t want me to notice. And they didn’t give us any sprouts, and only a couple jalepenos.
Anyway, I figure between the two it’s a 2 star, no matter how disappointed I am with giving a local restaurant such a low review.
Now off to write my Henry-​Hunan-​in-​the-​excelsior review to make me feel better :-)

The excelsior/​outer mission district has a bunch of quick-​eats — Superstar, Batter-​up, El Farolito — and Irving Café and Deli Too just adds another option to the mix. I’m a big fan of the original Irving Café and Deli, so it was great to have one open up nearby. I certainly don’t crave ICDToo’s sandwiches, but it’s good for a quick Bahn Mi fix. I normally order the Fancy Pork Sandwich w/​Pâté here, but if you’re not having a lazy sunday, I would just drive out to the sunset location instead.
One thing I do crave from IDCToo — AVOCADO SHAKE. Try it out and let me know what you think! =D
Highlights:
— Avocado Shake
— Fancy Pork Sandwich w/​Pâté

I used to go to the one that’s actually on Irving, but lately I’ve been coming to the one on Mission since my boyfriend lives closer to this one. This place is pretty small, but not a lot of people come here anyway. This place is known for it’s Banh Mi (Vietnamese Sandwich). The portion they give you is pretty small, but for someone like me. it will fill me up. I came here last night with my boyfriend to try out their Bun Bo Hue and I ordered a Che Ba Mau (Three Color Drink) also. The three color drink was good. But for the Bun Bo Hue, it wasn’t what I expected. It’s supposed to be a spicy beef /​pork noodle soup. What I wanted was spicy, what I got wasn’t spicy. It’s good if you don’t want it to be spicy, but I would just say that it’s okay… ish. I guess I will just stick to the Banh Mi here! It’s really good! They give you a lot of shrimp paste :)

This place is overrated. Most of the time Unilocal reviews don’t let me down but this time it was a huge miss. The first boo boo was that it was Chinese owned… Should’ve just walked out then. But I decided to try it anyways. Had the vietnamese sandwich which everyone raves out… the vegetables weren’t marinated and had no flavor. but the bread was good. It didn’t taste like a vietnamese sandwich but it’ll pass for a regular sandwich. The phở didn’t taste like phở but like chinese onion noodle soup. The spring rolls had the wrong sprouts… basically it didn’t taste vietnamese at all.
Prolly won’t be back here for food.

With much anticipation given the other reviews, this place really falls short.
One of the first things I noticed was the mix of vietnamese dishes with Thai dishes with Chinese desserts and drinks. Big red flag. Doing all of these different types of food means they do none of it well.
In short, the vietnamese food here does not have any of the attributes of the vietnamese flavor profile. The spring rolls did not have any mint or basil. All you get is noodle, shrimp and lettuce. No depth of flavor outside of the peanut sauce.
The phở had not chilis or basil or mind or pea spouts and the broth was chicken stock at best. No hint of fish sauce or lime juice to give the fresh brightness of flavor.
For the banh mi, the vegis were not pickled, no chilis and the pâté was underseasoned. The bread was pretty good I will admit, but this sandwich did not have any of the signature elements of the banh mi.
The dessert was pretty good. Coconut milk with lychee and sago. Not bad, but this is a chinese thing.
The only reason why I am giving this place two instead of one star is because the staff was super nice and the dessert was OK. I am shocked that so many people rated this place as high as they did.

This place is perfect for Vietnamese sandwiches. The service is mostly friendly and when I make a phone order it is always ready to go when I arrive. I see loads of people eating one of the many soups offered here, but I usually just order sandwiches to go.
Must try: BBQ Pork or BBQ Beef sandwich
Super tasty sandwiches made with the typical carrots, cilantro, and delicious meat mixture inside a fresh baguette. I think there is a secret sauce of sorts and the Beef one has red onion and tomatoes in addition and adds a nice touch.

When I found this place after doing a search for «Vietnamese sandwiches» on Unilocal a few weeks ago, I almost fell off my chair! All this time and I never knew this was in mah hood!!!
So they don’t make the best Bánh Mì I’ve ever tasted but this place is so easily accessible to me and the prices are decent.
On that first visit, I decided to try their House Special Breakfast Sandwich (to go) because I wanted the biggest sandwich they had. It turns out that they give you all the ingredients (in a box) to make this particular sandwich and they also give you the empty sandwich bun. The box consisted of cha lua (Vietnamese ham), pork with rind, liver pâté, pickled veggies AND an over easy egg!!! Let’s just say I had way too much fun sitting in the car assembling this monster and making a mess of myself!
Second visit there, I figured I would just order a regular Fancy Pork Pâté sandwich. Not quite sure what was so fancy about it. All it had was the cha lua, liver pâté and veggies. In any case, it was still good.
I might just come here every weekend ;0)

Irving Café and Deli Too, just like Irving Café and Deli [One], has your basic sandwiches, noodle plates/​soups, rice plates, and desserts. I particularly go here for the sandwiches. If I want phở, I’ll go to an *actual* sit-​down restaurant with a larger selection.
I ordered a Fancy Pork w/​Pâté Sandwich and a Three Color Drink w/​Coconut Milk, all for about $ 7. My sandwich was very satisfying — the roll was very soft on the inside and crispy on the outside and they didn’t skimp on the meats. However, I would’ve liked my carrots and cilantro more evenly distributed. I’m very picky with each bite of any sandwich — I must have every ingredient per bite. The three color drink was alright. It was very coconut-​y and in general, more of a dessert than a drink. Basically, it’s not something I can finish on my own ‘cus it’s too creamy.
Less crowded than the one on Irving St. More tables and chairs to dine-​in. Huge menu on the wall. A few more food items at this one. What’s not to like about Irving Café and Deli Too instead of Irving Café and Deli [One]?

So my neighborhood is the outer mission district and like many i dont like going somewhere far or congested especially in San Francisco for good food. So one day me and my boy riz were in my neighborhood and decided to grab some Vietnamese sandwiches.
Now as many know here in SF the BEST vietnamese sandwiches is the saigon sandwich shop on larkin hands down BUT sometimes its all about LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. Now if i had a pocket full of quarters and TIME i would gladly go to larkin and go get a BBQ pork sandwich GLADLY but its not worth standing in line (becuz from 11:30AM-2:00PM that place is packed a line outside guarenteed) ordering there is pure chaos. But God bless those old vietnamese ladies for making such delicious sandwiches at a reasonable price.
Now the Irving Café and Deli too has the 2^nd most tasties vietnamese sandwich i’ve ever had in SF (#1 being saigon ofcourse) no line, no crazy tendorloin crack head tryin to get a bite of your food, parking is not that bad compared to downtown and the prices are more then reasonable. So if you looking for CONVENIENCE and a good vietnamese sandwich go to the Irving café AND DELI TOO! try it with a lemon coke hella good :)

I’m really saddened to write this update but Irving Café has unfortunately let me down on a couple of recent occasions.
1) I found a piece of plastic wrap in my bahn mi as i was biting it. It’s a bit disappointing that the restaurant microwaves their food as well as forgets to remove the plastic wrap after they heat it up.
2) I finally decided to try their phở, specifically phở with five spice chicken. Once again, the chicken was a bit dry and chewy where you could tell it was just reheated in the microwave. The soup did not have the flat phở noodles, it was quite flavorless, and oddly enough, it was topped with romaine lettuce. It came with cilantro but no basil. Also, the cashier/​waitress became quite rude after my bf almost spilled his water on the table. After my bf apologized, she didn’t give us that «no problem, it’s ok» shrug off. Instead, we got a mean mug and diminished customer service.

They have a bigger menu and a real kitchen if compared to the sister joint in the Sunset, which mainly prepares sandwiches. So, in a way, it makes sense that banh mi is not their specialty…
Now, this doesn’t excuse them from leaving an entire pork bone in my banh mi…
No, that wasn’t fair… and charge $ 4.40, while in the Sunset you get a nice $ 3.75 deal, with more veggies and love in it.
Definitely not worth the schlep if you live in the city.

Go give them a try, as there’s only one other VNese eatery nearby (though that is more of a phở-​joint). Me, I’m giving this place two stars but could return if friends wanted to (place does have a four-​star average). Didn’t like their version of two VNese favorites:
— Banh Cuon Cha Lua may look good (
), but it was doughy and the nuoc cham was all fish sacuce and not very flavorful.
— Bun Rieu may look good (
), but it had too much crab-​shrimp paste flavoring — not diluted enough. Smelly and salty.
Located in the Excelsior District in the City and out of the way when compared to other SF neighborhoods with similar eateries. Mostly metered parking in the area, and meter maids are like hawks.

Lookie what we have here!
While on the way to get the best super quesadilla suizas /​super burritos in the whole wide world at El Farolito there’s a fairly new, clean, not as divey kid on the block.
Irving Café and Deli Too
Actually, it should be Irving Café #2 not «too». But Asian menus and typos work hand in hand. The more typos, the less Americanized, thus — the more tasty. Your tastebuds don’t know what they’re missing unless you’ve had Egg Poo Yung and Crap meat fried rice before.
Irving deli too’s menu didn’t offer any of that but did present various Viet rice plates, noodle soups, and vermicelli dishes. They even have mango/​avocado milkshakes and even a taro w/​milkshake for you taro fans out their (Daniel L). I settled on their speciality, Banh mi sandwiches. Hell yeah, finally some bang me love for the Excelsior.
I suggest the mambo #5 — Fancy pork with pâté.
First impressions, smaller in size from the banh mi’s down in SJ but these are really good, packed with the fillings and flavor. 5 star taste for a 2 star price.
And a #18. Viet combo croissant.
Delicious — buttery, flaky, and a recognizable flavor. They must have used the Costco 24 for $ 5 croissant packages.
It’ kinda cool how they rep Irving St. on Mission. Kinda like when I rock my Giants gear down in LA.

I came to try out this new place a couple of weeks ago. It replaced the old Excelsior Chinese Food. It’s great to have some more variety of cuisines in the Excelsior area. It’s not as good as what you can get at places in the Tenderloin area of SF. But something is better than nothing. So they get extra points for that (2 stars bumped up to 3 stars). I’d rate them lower is there were any decent nearby alternatives.
Here’s a list of the food I’ve tried so far:
–BBQ chicken sandwich (banh mi) — I was disappointed, ¼ of the meat was just chicken skin.
–Cha gio (imperial rolls) — it’s fried food, what’s not to like.
–Cold rice noodles with BBQ pork & egg rolls combo — good to average.
–Beef noodle soup (beef phở) — good to average.
–Flan — familiar texture and flavor, but weird color. Must be artificial, will never order that again.
Phở is northern style, so it doesn’t come with the standard side plate of vegetables, bean sprouts & herbs that you get at other Vietnamese places (southern cuisine). Menu is large, so it can be confusing. They have many pictures of the food, but it might still be confusing for people unfamiliar with Vietnamese food. The layout of the restaurant was poorly designed. The kitchen space is larger (and mostly unused) than the dining room space.
In general, the staff is friendly, but the woman in charge is usually on the phone taking to go orders, so there might be a short wait to get service.
Some pics of additional purchases:
Cha gio — imperial rolls
Fishcake banh mi sandwich
BBQ chicken phở (in togo boxes)
Assembled bowl of soup