Restaurant Review: Baguette Express in San Francisco, California

Baguette Express
668 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA
(415) 345-8999

* No credit cards
* Parking - There's usually something open on the street, it's not in a busy section
(not too bad of a walk from Civic Center MUNI and BART station)
* Limited eat-in (three tables indoors and one outside)
* Probably best to take out instead, though it's actually possible to get a seat here unlike at Saigon Sandwich

Baguette Express is one of the numerous Vietnamese sandwich (banh mi) shops in the Little Saigon area of San Francisco, on Larkin just a few blocks from the Civic Center. What these sandwiches are, are basically warm French bread stuffed with a meat of your choosing and thin pickled carrot slices, cucumber, cilantro, and jalapenos (optional) as well as possibly other things depending on the type of sandwich. The prices range from $2.50-$2.75, yet one is big enough to usually be sufficient for a lunch (unless you're really starving). Among the options at Baguette Express are BBQ chicken, shredded pork, meatball, sardine, roast pork, vegetarian, as well as some others I've forgotten. They also have drinks such as sugar cane juice and iced coffee, and Vietnamese desserts that I can't even begin to try to identify (but they're good).

Service is always great, the girls that work there are always so sweet and friendly. Unlike Saigon Sandwiches down the street, this place hardly ever seems to be too busy. At least, I've never seen a line out the door here. Most of the business seems to come from Vietnamese residents of the local neighborhood, which leads me to believe this place makes a more authentic banh mi than it's main neighborhood competitors Lee's and Saigon (which seem to mostly be patronized by anglos). I think their bread is definetly the best of all the baguette places I've tried in the city, and while Saigon packs their sandwiches a little fuller I think the ingredients here are a bit more fresh and tasty. So basically, it's my favorite banh mi place in town. I've been stopping in here regularly since 2005.