Bale Restaurant & Deli

Decent banh mi, I ordered 2 sardine and the mixed cold-​cuts (dac biet). The sardine was better, but not very much protein inside. But given the cost, not surprising. Buy 2 get one free?! That’s a ridiculous deal. Both were pretty tasty and satisfied my ravenous appetite. Good place to stop if you need a quick cheap bite. Service is pretty fast, but the place was empty. They have a decent variety of prepped foods, but nothing special. I only came here because I was at Bank of America and got hungry, but next time, I’ll drive down a bit to K-​Sandwiches.

Don’t be fooled by the Ba Le name. There’s nothing here that’s comparable in taste. I’m not sure why they’re even able to use the name in the first place. My wife & I had gone jewelry shopping in the same shopping center. By the end of it, we were hungry so we opted for Bale Restaurant & Deli, especially with the Buy 2 get 1 free offer. We ended up getting the special (dac biet) and meatballs (xiu mai). The meatballs sandwich was OK, but nothing great. The special just plain sucks. Clearly this is not the same as the classic Ba Le on University. I wouldn’t even recommend this place in a pinch as there are so many other options close by.

Stop by to grab sandwiches and they said there sold out just a order from what’s on there menu. We ordered a Che ba mau (3 color bean dessert) so not good don’t order that tastes bland and just not good.

I went here as at it was the closest place from my house for some banh mi. For the 2 for 1, we had the dac biet, sardine, and the roasted pork choices. It tasted average, as I would like more vegetables and meat in it rather than bread. Also I had the jackfruit and Vietnamese coffee with Boba (meh) I don’t know if I would go here again. I’m sure there are plenty of options here in SD.

Stopped here to get a late lunch and was happy to see they have a veggie sandwich. I asked the guy working if it was a shredded tofu style (like Lees) he said yes so I went for the buy 2 get one free. I got my order and headed home. When I opened one of them up I was shocked to see what appeared to be 3 beef sandwiches. I got back in my car and asked them what they were. He said it was mock meat and I would like it.
The first sandwich tasted good but by the time I got to number 2 and 3 the rich honey mustard esque sauce was overpowering my taste buds. While the mock meat tasted ok, I was really hoping for a sandwich more similar to Lees. It looks like they revamped their veggie sandwich as the other reviews that mention a veggie all say it was so fresh and light. This sandwich was really flavorful and pretty heavy with the thick sauce.
I probably won’t come back here anytime soon and just get my fix at Lees when I am up north more.

This MI SA TE BO is the the best soup out! Trust me on this one. It rare beef in a spicy chilly broth, This broth requires no additional seasoning, just drop in your sprouts and your will be in spicy broth, rare steak Heaven!!! This is a soup for people who love layers and layers of flavor. Don’t skip this place because of the low scores due to its sandwiches. TRY THIS SOUP! Your tongue will thank you.

Very disappointed. Banh mi with BBQ beef was SO fatty there was nothing edible on it, just blobs of gristle and fat. I actually took the meat blobs out and just ate part of the baguette with wilted veggies. The baguette itself tasted old, very chewy instead of fluffy inside and crunchy outside.
Also ordered a mango smoothie with boba. The mango was okay, very sweet, but the boba was old and rubbery. After a few gulps I tossed my drink in the trash. Not worth the calories OR $ 8 I wasted. I will not be back.

Went here yesterday for some veggie banh mi sandwiches — buy two get one free. Grabbed some coconut water too. Didn’t notice anything wrong with the sandwiches until about two or three hours after I ate one.
My stomach started twisting and turning and I got shivers all over. I felt like I was going to puke — and I did after holding it in after class. I should have listened to my friend who had a bad experience with the veggies being old, soggy and brown the last time she went there.
I had quite an eventful night tossing and turning, vomiting, aching body, and the chills. Now I have a fever. I know it was due to the banh mi sandwiches because it was the only thing I ate yesterday.
I advise everyone to be very, very cautious when getting any of the banh mi sandwiches here. It has to be the lack of cleanliness in the kitchen or ingredients. The owners and employees don’t like when people question their food or bring anything back and will give you the hardest time.
Thank you, bale sandwiches, for getting me sick and making me miss work! Food poisoning is GREAT. –_–

Wish I could give no stars.
Ordered an avocado smoothie. Noticed that there was a fly inside the drink. When I told the waitress, she told me «that’s the skin of the avocado.» My response was «umm.that thing has legs. That is not avocado peel.» I guess she was upset because she immediately brought it back to the other staff who started talking about me in Vietnamese, which I speak and understand. The other lady came out and showed me what an avocado looks like, as if I didn’t know before. So now the original waitress comes back out with a small cup with the smoothie in it to show me the «peel» and that I was wrong. If I was wrong, I would be ready to apologize, but she brought me out a small cup WITH A FLY in it. She still insisted that it was a peel when it clearly had legs and wings.
Not a safe place to eat folks. Go elsewhere!

Another great french vietnamese sandwich shop to go to. They have a wide variety of items on their menus including sandwiches, drinks, phở and other vietnamese dishes. I’ve only tried their Ice coffee (which is amazing, right up there with K sandwiches) and their sandwiches. Damn good stuff, and at a great price. Check them out if you feel like trying something different than K sandwiches.

I came here for the first time last week. I had just moved into the neighborhood and was looking for a good banh mi place. This place had a buy 2 get 1 free sandwich but to go only. My boyfriend and I did that and we each got a drink. I had the thai tea no boba but the girl put boba anyways… My boyfriend had the Vietnamese coffee and he says it was good.
The moment I opened the sandwich I was disappointed. The fact that they had the ends of the bread sliced off was a tell that the sandwich isn’t that good. I had the number 1 combination and it just looked so lifeless and boring. There were barely any liver pâté and dry. It was a sad sandwich. I had a few pieces of meat and then one big ass meat (folded) to make the sandwich bigger.
I’m not even gonna talk about my boyfriends sandwiches cause they messed up his orders lol
The two stars are just for this day and just for what we got. I’m going to give this place another chance but gonna Try some rice dishes and phở next time.

My first visit to this restaurant was excellent.
— they have a huge variety on the menu
— the prices are affordable
— the portions are generous
— the people were friendly and attentive
— the food was served quickly
I have been searching many Vietnamese restaurants to find my favorites. In the College Area I like Phở Ca Dao. In north Point Loma I like Phở Point Loma & Grill on Midway.
I’m definitely coming back to explore more of the menu at Bale’s. Their affordable prices makes it possible for me to come here often. I don’t understand the bad reviews below. Maybe some are fakes from other restaurants in the area?

In an area choke-​full of Phở/​Asian dining options, this place is a meh and a half. ‘Twas a rare cloudy summer evening when bf and I were feenin for some brothy Phở deliciousness so we dared to venture to a place in the neighborhood we had yet to try. The diversity of menu options lining the wall as we walked in seemed promising with the yum-​looking pictures and the many different menu options expanding beyond the normal Vietnamese fare and including Chinese/​Thai items as well.
When our food came out, it was okay enough, but far from the quality of other spots along Linda Vista/​Convoy, and not priced any better. Felt like the portion of meat to noodles was a bit sad. Thought the customer service was good enough, we were the only ones in the restaurant and the staff seemed eager to please. But seriously, for all the competition in the area, this place needs to step their game up. Phở-​realll!

Mostly based on service, but the quality of food is maybe a 3. It’s okay, but not great.
The phở is cheap! Like $ 5. The taste is average. However, I asked for mushrooms and they charged me an extra $ 2. Seriously! and I only got maybe 5.
They are doing some shady business in there. I wouldn’t trust using my credit card there and if you’re a stickler for clean, uh… maybe stay away. The staff seem pretty lazy and relaxed about common restaurant service and cleanliness.
Bring cash because their credit card machine is «not working today».

The food here is so un-​fresh and gross. I had spring rolls and a banh mi with pork. Spring rolls were at least a day old… you can tell because the spring roll wrapper had turned hard…[whcih means it has been placed in the fridge overnight]. I was appalled. The banh mi was puny: little meat and un-​fresh bread. Drive a few more miles to go to K’s sandwiches or something. Much better and its cheaper. Never again here!

Ok, I’ve been driving by this place a few times and thought, «Ok, I’ll give it a shot.» 2 for 1 sandwiches, why not. More on the Vietnamese sandwiches later. When I got seated and saw the menu I changed my mind to get the wonton egg noodle soup instead. Everything on the menu was fairly priced and had lots of pictures.
Service:
It’s ok, don’t expect them to go above and beyond to do something for you. I had to go to the counter to get my check after sitting there for a good 5 minutes after I was done eating.
Food:
Looks good, but… My wonton egg noodle soup was ok. The broth makes everything and this was lacking something. The wonton itself was good and overall it was still a meager ok tasting dish. The Vietnamese sandwiches are ehh… they’re a bit skimpy on the meats. There wasn’t a single carrot in the pickled carrots and daikon topping and half the sandwich was daikon. I had a very skimpy helping of super thinly sliced BBQ Pork in my sandwich. Haven’t tried the others, but from the looks of things I’m not too happy or looking forward to trying.
Drinks:
Lots of «boba» style drinks here.
Overall:
This place has lots of flashy blinking lights to attract people. It’s pretty much an all show and no go kind of thing. They had decent priced food and tastes ok. So let me get back to the Vietnamese sandwiches and how I «had» to get them. As I walked up to the counter to pay they told me that there is a minimum $ 10 charge for any card transaction. My wonton soup came out to $ 6 plus change I decided to get the 2 for 1 sandwiches and take it back to work. The sandwiches turned out to be pretty weak. So for that, I became furious. I don’t think I’ll be back. There’s others around here with better food and service. I’m not a huge fan of K-​Sandwiches, but they are way better than this! More bang for the buck too since each sandwich is like $ 3 something a pop here. They get 2 stars because it wasn’t terrible, I just felt like I got dupped with the sandwiches.

BF was hungry after we were done grocery shopping over at Thuan Phat. We decided to walk over & check this place out.
Okay no wait, not busy at all. We ordered a Banh Mi Dac Biet & a cup of Che (dessert).
They were pretty quick at making the sandwiches.
But we witnessed the lady making my BF’s dessert. This is my gripe about this place. The lady didn’t have gloves on when she was making the CHE. The cup fell over when she tried to seal the lid & it spilled out everywhere. So instead of starting over she used a dirty rag to wipe the cup & attempts to reseal it for the 3^rd time. Now I loss my appetite & told the BF to forget about the dessert. But he’s a pushover so no he paid for it then threw it away.
Made us think if they did this in front of us, what would they do behind the kitchen hmmm???

Came here to order a café sua da & an avocado smoothie. There was only 1 customer in front of us. We sat & waited for several minutes, thinking why it is taking so long for 2 drinks. The cashier later asked, «what did you order again?» Then, after awhile longer, they hand me my avocado smoothie — his exact words were, «we ran out of boba. sorry about that.» Umm… ok. Well, wouldn’t you tell me that WHILE making my drink or even BEFORE?!
Anyways, the café sua da was the weirdest tasting café sua da ever. I can’t pinpoint what’s so different — maybe powdered coffee? a diff kind of coffee? or even milk? It just did not taste like café sua da — –c’mon, how can you screw that up? My avocado was the worst one I’ve had to date. It tasted like powdered avocado, or even half an avocado with a ton of milk and sugar. It left a weird aftertaste in my mouth. I only had 1 sip and threw the rest away. What a waste of my ~$ 3. Not going back here again.

Can’t beat their buy 2 banh mi sandwiches and get one free. Their sandwiches are a little more expensive than K Sandwiches, but this deal helps. Their baguettes are a bit softy and not as crusty, but still delicious. The filling is generous – we got some flavorful grilled pork, lightly pickled carrots and daikon, and strips of fresh cucumber. Their spread is more butter, less aioli, than other sandwiches I have had, which is totally fine. I have not tried other items on their menu, but you can order a banh mi at the cashier and take it to go, or you can sit in the restaurant and eat like a civilized diner. Their boba drinks are a miss, so I would just stick to the sandwiches.

I was very excited to have a Ba Le open up near us. The first time I went, we got banh mi. They were doing a promotion for buy 2, get 1 free. We got 2 dac biet and 1 lap xuong with egg. The banh mi was nothing to write home about. I am biased because I am used to the awesome banh mi in Orange County. My friend got their avocado shake, which was impossible to get through the straw the first time. The waitress was nice enough to have it sent back and gave us a new one. She thought the second one was too icy, and the cup was so thin we were afraid it would break.
On my second visit, I decided to try their com tam since everything in the menu was $ 5. What a steal, right??? Unfortunately, no! I brought it home and was extremely disappointed. You can look at the picture that I posted. I got the com tam suon nuong, tau hu ky, and cha. The suon nuong (pork chop) was beyond ridiculous. It was all bone and barely had any meat on it. I don’t even know if I would give it to my dog since it was so sparse. They only give one piece of tau hu ky and one piece of cha. I understand that it was only $ 5, and I wasn’t expecting much. However, what I got, I wouldn’t have taken it for $ 1 considering it went right into the trash after 2 bites. I would recommend going to the other Vietnamese restaurants in the area and pay another $ 2 to get a substantial meal that has enough for leftovers.
Don’t get me wrong, this place does have potential, but I sadly will not return. The people working in the front are very nice, but it is not enough to make up for the poor service in the back.