Le’s Vietnamese Subs

This place was terribly bland. I ordered vegetarian salad rolls, raspberry fresh fruit bubble tea, and a vegan «king pao chicken» vermicelli bowl.
The salad rolls literally only had rice noodles, carrots, and cucumber. Nothing else. No sauce. No flavoring. They had a peanut dipping sauce which didn’t help much.
The bubble tea was not fresh fruit, it was frozen. And it also tasted very bland and watered down. I could barely taste raspberry.
The vermicelli bowl was the only reason they got 2 stars not 1. Whatever they used for the vegan «chicken» was actually really good, great texture, tasted like real chicken. I really like that but the rest was shit. Just plain white rice noodles and carrot and cucumber. That’s it. All together came to 20 bucks for the same rice noodles cucumber and carrots I have at home in my own fridge, plain. Ya. Great. And they take cash only which is stupid the booths on all sides around take debit/​credit too.
This will not be a repeat visit ever. Unless to try and find out what their fake chicken is made of haha.

It’s awesome that you can get hearts choices (vegan) meat on it. I thought it was a pretty good sub. Could have had some more veggies on it though. Solid choice for lunch. I will be back for sure.

I have eaten here on several occasions, but have recently added this place to my list of boycotted businesses. They make a good «vegan» vietnamese sub (vegetarian if you add cheese) — which is hard to find, though the name they chose for it is perplexing: «Vegan Kung-​Pow Chicken Sub». Huh? What the heck? Why do they even use the word chicken. Anyone considering ordering it would balk. Why not just call it tofu and be clear about it. This just perpetuates the myth that all vegetarian/​vegans want fake meat. Poor souls!
But I digress. That is the more minor issue I have with this place. Their service absolutely sucks. If you see more than one person in line, go somewhere else. In fact, if there is anyone else in line go somewhere else, because sometimes people are waiting further away at nearby tables for their order, and you cannot tell how many orders are ahead of you. I have never seen anyone take so long to make a sandwich. They are usually slow, but my last trip was ridiculous. I waited 23 minutes (I timed it). There were two women working, and only 2 or 3 people ahead of me. It was painful… especially because I was starving and this is supposed to be quick take out. What was worse, is that they were totally oblivious and did not even say a word about the wait or apologize. I actually told three potential customers about my wait time and they lost three customers as a result, since no one wanted to wait that long.
Get your act together ladies.

November Challenge — ⁴⁄₃₀
I have an aversion to Soy «Chick*n.»
What’s that you say?
«But it tastes like chicken! So it tastes like everything!»
«Soy Chick*n and Soy Pork are the same things!»
«What’s wrong with you! You already eat grass, just eat the damn Soy Chick*n and STFU.»
Many vegetarians (unless they were raised in a veg household), start the lifestyle by giving up red meat. For some it’s pork. Then they give up poultry, and then finally, seafood. Then, they are either perfectly happy in Ovo-​Lacto land, or they cross in to Veganism.
But for me, the journey started when I was 9 and I walked in on my Mom in the kitchen with a cluck-​cluck. Prior to this encounter, all my experiences with meat involved it being cooked already or feather-​free, headless and wrapped in plastic. The knowledge that what was now in my soup bowl had hours before, been happily clucking away in a pen somewhere in town was too much for me and I never ate chicken again. It was a gradual process of elimination from there, and I’ve been Vegan for many, many years.
I don’t mind faux meats, but for some reason, I cannot and will not put Soy Chick*n in my mouth. Maybe because it does taste too much like the real thing. Maybe because for so many years, my Grandma would try to trick me in to eating Chicken by telling me it was Soy Chicken.
TL;DR, I came to Le’s with a grumbly belly and I saw that their only Vegan option (with protein) available was a Soy Chick*n sub.
*I don’t count the «veggie sub» as a second option, because while technically it is, it’s the cop-​out option you could get anywhere else. Like Subway. Or Quizno’s. Or every other stall at the market. I’m not an asshole that thinks everyone should cater to me, but I also don’t expect salad on bread to fill me up for lunch.*
I told myself this was mind over matter and I should just suck it up and try it, tell myself it was Soy Pork and eat it because I was hungry and had a busy day ahead.
JUST DO IT!
So I did. The sub was pretty ordinary, and the bread tasted like day-​old baguette, but you know what? I ate Soy Chick*n and liked it. It wasn’t bad. The service here is pretty friendly, lots of smiling faces, and very efficient. The faux meat comes from a supplier a few stalls away from them, and the rest of that supplier’s offerings are pretty tasty as well.
I might come back. Maybe. I should also point out that on top of my aversion to Soy Chick*n being an issue for me, the lady handed me a REAL CHICKEN sub, and almost let me walk away with it until the other lady working there pointed out her mistake because mine was still in the toaster.
(It’s Soy Pork, soy pork, soy pork…)

I first tried out Le’s in the summer, and was happy to try them out again while having a lovely Farmer’s Market Sunday. First, I just wanted to clarify a couple things. Le’s actually does have more than one vegan friendly option. The first, is a veggie sub, sans any soy meats (so you aren’t forced to eat them, if you just want a vegan sub). Another, is the veggie chicken sub, and another, is vegan salad rolls. Considering that not a ton of the vendors at this market serve up items actually marked as vegan, I am pretty happy with these selections.
My sub was fantastic. The baguette was crusty, but tasty. It was loaded with pickled carrots and cucumbers, and I enjoyed the addition of the «chicken». At around $ 6 I found it very filling, and I managed to enjoy it out on the patio by myself since it was a nice November day and I wanted to hide out from the swarms of yuppies.
The staff is very friendly, and quite a few rows away, you can buy the vegetarian and vegan faux meats if you would like. I usually just buy the gluten itself and season it my own way, but it’s a nice option.
I would definitely recommend Le’s Vietnamese Subs. I can’t stand nor trust Thai Tai (they have non vegan sauces and I am not sure about their bread), and there isn’t really anywhere to sit and enjoy my sub at Kim Anh’s. Therefore, I will continue to visit Le’s as a good alternative to the other options in the city.
*Review ⁵⁄₃₀ of Unilocal’s 30 Day Challenge 2012