The Short Version:
Tasty and inexpensive (for these days) banh mi. Friendly service.
The Long Version:
My husband and I love banh mi (Vietnamese submarine sandwiches), so when I saw online that Pho Cristal had them for $6.45 each, I knew we had to check it out.
Now I'll be aging myself, but I remember a time when banh mi were $1.50 apiece (in Toronto at Nguyen Huong, the OG banh mi shop in the city, lol) and it was only available in Chinatown. It wasn't trendy and gastropubs didn't even exist, let alone have their filet mignon with truffle aioli versions of it and charging exorbitant prices for it, lol.
The banh mi at Pho Cristal brought me back to the simpler times of banh mi. We got the traditional cold cuts banh mi. We requested no cilantro and it came as ordered. It had assorted Vietnamese cold cuts, but I mostly tasted Cha Lua and Pâté. It came with pickled carrots and daikon, and a bit of cucumber. The filling was generous and the bread was crispy and the crumbs made a mess (but that's how it's supposed to be, lol). They were a little too generous with the mayo for my tastes and the mayo was a bit sweet, which is not my preference. However, I still enjoyed it.
The banh mi was a good size too. It was a great deal seeing as how most places charge $10+ for banh mi, with some hipster places charging $20+.
They had some pre-packaged ones that you could just grab and go, but I prefer for them to make me a fresh one so I can customize no cilantro and so they can toast it up.
They also sell bubble tea. And I noted they had exotic canned drinks like tamarind, pennywort, guava and others. They are a sit-down restaurant so also sell pho and other Vietnamese specialities. We got our banh mi to go though.
Service was pleasant.
The restaurant is small.
I noticed that the Yelp listing says this restaurant is called Cristal No 1 but I think it's called Pho Cristal, as that's what the sign says, but their website says Cristal No 41. So I really don't know what the true name of the restaurant is. Lol. I think it's changed hands several times over the years and each time has changed its name slightly. Our visit was in October 2025.
Review #206 (2025) read more