Ba-Lê French Coffee Shop

"Fails to deliver a pleasant experience. The decor is typical for the area, but the food failed to shine in the way that it typically does in Oakland Chinatown."

"Chicken pho and beef noodle soups were delicious and the fresh ginger on the side was a nice touch."

"Old school restaurant. They don't accept credit cards, so be forewarned, but the food was very good. I had a beef and egg noodle soup and it was delicious."

"This place is a home away from home. I grew up in a Vietnamese home where the food was made with honest live whole my mom talked on the phone with my "aunties" gossiping and chatting away. It's an Asian mom thing. Here, while you eat, the ladies in a single sentence will weave between Hokkien, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. Listening to the banter and laughing put me back home in my mom or my grandma's presence. It helped me emotionally during the pandemic while traveling home was a bit more sensitive or harder. Now the food. One test I like to do with pho is I'd take home the soup and refrigerate it. If the soup turns to jello it's truly made from painstaking beef broth simmered for hours. If the soup is liquid, it's powder based beef stock. Needless to say this place does it the right way with real beef broth. Come taste it, you'll see what I mean. Cash only"

"Ordered 4 banh mi, cause they have a buy 3 get 1 free deal. They were decent for what I payed for, the four sandwiches I chose we're $4 each so I basically payed $12 for 4. The baguettes we're basic, a variety of sizes and shape. As for the fillings they gave a single layer of the filling of choice, a generous spread of mayo on both side of the bread, pickled carrots and radish, mint, 2-3 slices of jalapenos and a drizzle of what I assume was fish sauce. Overall the banh mi were ok, they weren't bad, but nothing really stood out about them."