King Banh Mi

Located immediately across the street from Seafood Cove 2 and less than a block from the Asian Garden Mall, Westminster’s King Banh Mi picked a name that immediately caught our attention in the crowded center of Little Saigon – but it took a few years of experimentation to get there. Originally known as Yen Sandwiches & Bakery, then Vua Banh Beo and Vua Banh Mi, the restaurant rebranded from the Vietnamese word for King (Vua) to the English version around spring 2026, laser-refocusing its menu on six Vietnamese sandwiches, five drinks, and a handful of desserts.

King’s atypically large space sports only a few tables, a fridge with soft drinks, cardboard shelves with Vietnamese crackers, and an oversized counter stacked with empty plastic takeout boxes for banh mi, plus packages pre-filled with various Vietnamese sweets. Every item sold here is under $10, and as the scarce tables hint, everything is packaged to be taken out.

We tried half of King’s sandwiches, skipping the crispy pork ($9), grilled pork ($7.50), and grilled chicken banh mi ($8) in favor of the house special dac biet ($8), cha ca fish cake ($8.50), and bo ribeye beef ($9). Before discussing them individually, we’ll flag a few common threads between them: perfectly baked, oversized French bread rolls that were delicately golden crispy outside and soft inside; huge portions of marinaded or sauced meat; and separate containers of sauces, herbs, and vegetables. Signs indicate the DIY assembly approach is a recent change, meant to ensure each sandwich survives the take-out process without becoming soggy.

Each of the banh mis we sampled was pretty close to spectacular, though King uses unconventional tricks – ones we haven’t seen anywhere else locally or in our time in Vietnam – to achieve that. Our favorite of the bunch was the ribeye beef, which was packed with sliced, tender meat and pre-sauced with a bit too much mayo. Separate containers held sweet soy sauce, cucumber, lettuce, herbs, and tomato slices, which when assembled looked like a triple- or quadruple-sized burger, but had the sublime textures of far higher-quality bread and beef.