Roshan "roshanberry" V.'s Profile

There is no reason for a banh mi to cost more than $5. Sure, Bun Mee uses fresh ingredients. And yeah, they have tasty recipes that are a modern take on a classic and are actually doing something new and creative. And of course the restaurant has an awesome ambiance with a cool scooter theme and is actually clean. And yeah, they are located in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in SF and not in a San Jose strip mall. And yeah they also serve hipster sodas and are getting a beer license that no other banh mi shop has. And maybe their sweet potato fries are awesome. And sure, they actually have good service and take credit cards. None of these reasons can make my small brain comprehend why their prices are a whopping $2-$3 over a normal banh mi.

When I go to Bun Mee and look at my 5 spice chicken banh mi with an organic fried egg on top, all I can think is "Why didn't I just walk through the Tenderloin to save a couple of bucks? How dare Bun Mee try to do something new and different and tasty and have the audacity to charge for it?!"

Seriously, if you are giving them low ratings *simply because* they are "expensive Vietnamese food", that doesn't say something about the restaurant or the people who eat here, it says something about you. I've actually eaten a variety of banh mi, and this place is one of the best, and it's the only one that can say they have all of the qualities I list up top. They are trying to do something new, fresh, and creative, in a not-cheap neighborhood; but, similar to the nearby Out The Door and Dosa, it gets slammed by a few idiots on Yelp because, well, anything new and creative is of course not "authentic", and all Asian food is supposed to be dirt cheap and served at a hole-in-the-wall.

It's simple-minded enough to be offensive, but I just find it annoying that people who have no problem paying $10 for a BLT at The Grove or $20 for a hamburger at Spruce would shudder at the thought of paying $8 for a sandwich here simply because it is prefixed with "Vietnamese". Never mind that it is an Asian American owned business. What's the saying about crabs in a barrel again?

Anyways, enough with the rant. I only posted to keep their overall rating high. I really really want people to eat here and keep it in business since I live in the area and love having this as an option. Everything here is fantastic, but I really like the Sloppy Bun the most. I thought the service was a bit eh at first, but it's been great the last few times. I hear they applied for their liquor license, so it will be nice to get a beer to balance the spiciness. The sweet potato fries are a good add-on, but try their salads too. I really think this is one of the best casual places in the area, and I'm glad they bring more options and variety so I'm not stuck always eating at The Grove or Dinos.

Had one of the worst dining experiences here. The waitress was not pleasant at all, we waited 40 minutes between the appetizer and getting our entrees, and our food was undercooked. The gnocchi was completely flavorless and the burger came out completely raw in the middle. I'm almost certain they forgot to put our order in, then rushed to get it out to us when they finally realized what happened. In the 40 minutes of waiting, we never got our water refilled. After we received our flavorless and undercooked food, no one ever asked how we were doing. It would have at least been not horrible if the waitress had heard of a smile.

I live in this neighborhood and it is annoying that such a prime location is wasted on a restaurant with rude service and hit-or-miss food. This is by far the worst restaurant I've been to in the area. It really does not make sense to go here with all of the good options in this neighborhood and city.

My go to, basic, satiate-my-hunger ramen place in SF. The prices are decent, service is fine, and there is almost never a wait. Most importantly, the ramen is delicious. While they don't have anything to compare to the kuro ramen at Maru Ichi in Mountain View, their spicy karamiso ramen works for me. I like to get it with fried chicken - it's not on the menu, but definitely doable. The broth is spicy without being painful, and is even better on a foggy night.

A huge plus is that the beer is half off between 5:30pm and 7:30pm and comes in frosted mugs.

This place isn't without its oddities:
-Water glasses come about half way filled with no ice. It looks like you got someone else's drank-ass water glass!
-The Japanese programs on the TV are odd. Very odd.

This review is for their brunch, which shouldn't be called brunch, that's why it gets two stars. I have no idea why they are buying Yelp ads for the keyword "brunch", which is how I found them, but they shouldn't because it's not brunch. I don't know why they have a sign outside advertising their brunch, because it's just not. It's a normal taqueria where you order at a counter and they bring you food. That's not brunch. That's just a normal fast food place. It's like if Burger King started serving something called brunch but it's just their normal menu between the hours of 11am and 2pm, and they throw in a fake mimosa that's made of Sprite. Oh, Burger King does that???

Anyways, the Chilaquiles I ordered off the "brunch" menu tied with Mijita in SOMA for the worst Chilaquiles I've ever had. No flavor or texture, just a pile of soggy chips. If I'm going to take such a calorie hit, it better be on some damn special Chilaquiles!

Definitely wouldn't go out of my way to come here.

I called yesterday to make an appointment for today at 5:30pm. Today I come in for my appointment and wait at the host stand, get ignored for 10 minutes, and when finally someone talks to me they don't have my appointment anywhere. Instead of apologizing, they instead tell me that I probably meant to go to the place upstairs (I didn't) and then walked away.

Crappy rude service.

Good sized drinks, but had a few problems with the place:

-Kinda dead on a Friday night. I came here for a friends birthday party, and I think we knew most of the people in here. There wasn't much foot traffic.

-It looks totally dead from the outside.

-The bathroom situation (which compelled me to write this review). They have 2 bathrooms, one of which was taped off. The line to get in went around the dance floor and it took about 15 minutes to get in. The first time I used it, they were out of soap. The 2nd time, someone had opened the door to the formerly taped off door, and I went in and was glad they had soap. Unfortunately, someone had puked all over the toilet. So they really need someone to make sure these things are clean and stocked, rather than just taping it off for most of the night.

-They don't take American Express.

I would come back to grab a drink before heading to SIP or another place in NB/Chinatown, but I wouldn't plan a night out here.

If you're coming here for the giant pretzel from that stupid 7x7 list, you'll probably be disappointed because you just spent 30 minutes to get to the Mission (no one in the Mission reads 7x7) for a pretzel. I mean, it's a good pretzel, but a good pretzel is pretty much like a bad pretzel. It's just a pretzel.

But this place rocks for their beer selection and pairings. The first time I came here I had the lamb burger, which was pretty decent, and the aforementioned pretzel. Having dinner here gives a good opportunity to try different types of beer. Pretty much the only purpose of dinner here is to drink beer.

I came again last night and had the Aphrodite, a stout with cocoa and vanilla bean. It was AMAZING! The funny thing is, my friend tried it and  wanted to get the same, but I got the last bottle. He got another choice, but it couldn't compare to the sweet sweet Aphrodite. If you come to Monk's Kettle, get it instead of the pretzel.

I like any place that serves melted cheese with their fries.

The burger was good, but doesn't compare to In-N-Out or Fatburger. There, I said it, New York. You guys have great pizza, California wins in burgers.

I came here on Saturday for their World-Class Belgian, German & New Orleans Craft Beer & Cheese Tasting event and will definitely be returning for my beer and wine needs. Christine and everyone else who worked here were really nice and helpful, and obviously had a deep knowledge of the beers and cheeses they had on hand. We tasted 12 or so beers including Chimay, Schneider Weisse, and Abita, as well as some Chimay cheeses that paired very well with the beer.

I ended up leaving with $50 in beer and root beer that should last me a few weeks :) The prices seemed fair, and you can't beat the service and info they provide.

The only thing I would fault the place for is not having enough air conditioning for the 100+ degree day. Hopefully the next event isn't on such an abnormally hot day!

This place had everything I liked:
-Friendly and chatty bartenders who made good drink recommendations.
-Signature drinks based on one alcohol, in this case gin. I got a tasty Rangpur Gimlet.
-Awesome music that pushed them from 4 up to 5 stars. We came in and they were playing Pavement, with Le Tigre queued up next. On the way out, My Bloody Valentine was on.
-Good mixed crowd.
-Nice hidden entrance gimmick. I am so over bars with normal entrances.
-Extra bonus for a clean bathroom. The lighting at the bathroom sink mirror also made me wish I had my SLR with me.

I'm definitely going back next weekend.