Zon Baguettes

Meh

I came here with the gringo and the redneck. They have never had a banh mi before. The gringo was adventurous and let me order for him. I ordered the special combo for both myself and him. The redneck didn’t trust me and ended up getting a ham and cheese or grilled steak or some kind of redneck sandwich. The gringo liked his special combo, but, he kept on asking me what was in his special combo sandwich. I told him that he was eating mystery meat. I don’t remember why he couldn’t turn around to read the menu.
The banh mi is decent. It not bad if you don’t want to drive to Westminster. Zon’s is a banh mi joint. You really should order the Vietnamese banh mi’s, not the American or Mexican sandwiches.

Decent bahn mi joint right. This was right next to the salon I went to, so I stopped by to get a Vietnamese sandwich after my haircut. It was pretty empty and the girl at the register was blabbing away on her phone while trying to take my order. Not the best place if you want good customer service, but it’s not like I was dining here, so I didn’t care.
Got a grilled pork bahn mi to go. It’s a little pricier than I was expecting ($ 4), but that’s still pretty cheap for a sandwich. I think it’s like a fancier version of Lee’s. The meat was alright, and instead of just cilantro, jalapenos, and pickled radishes and carrots, they also top it off with a cucumber and some of that fishy soy sauce. I’m not a fan of that sauce but they don’t go crazy with it. It was pretty ok. If I’m ever in the area again, I may stop by. But nothing worth going out of my way for.

After many mixed reviews on this place, tonight I finally tasted for myself. The food was FAST and the cashier brought it to our table — an unexpected gesture of customer service. BF and I were happy with our BBQ pork and grilled pork bahn mi sandwiches. Grilled pork was tastier. I expected skimpier portions of meat after reading some bad reviews, but I was content with the amount and quality of food for the price at such a convenient location near my home. Of course, you can get more quantity and quality for less elsewhere. I’m not interested in «elsewhere» on a weeknight when I have a craving and know my trip to Zon is less then 5 min. with easy parking and a clean, modern, comfortable dining area. I feel lucky to have adequate bahn mi walking distance from my door.
I ordered mine with the mayo on the side (due to one reviewer warning of the bread becoming soggy too quickly), which worked out fine, but probably unnecessary. I also ordered extra veggies, at no charge, though I wish I got DOUBLE extra veggies, cuz I’m crazy for veggies in every sandwich I eat (though I’m far from vegetarian). I was wary of the jalapeño burning my lips as usual, but these were really mild, or my tolerance has increased. Next time I will get extra jalapenos as well.
They were out of tapioca pearls for the day (20 min before closing, no biggie), so we ordered Thai iced tea anyway and were happy with it. Not the most amazing Thai iced tea, but satisfying and complemented the sandwiches nicely.
One sandwich filled me up, but BF prefers larger portions for dinner, so next time we might split 3 sandwiches between us or go for one of their other dishes. For the price of their spring rolls (which don’t have the best reviews), I’d rather just get another tasty sandwich to help fill us up.

Decent banh mi place and it is conveniently close to my workplace. No way I can drive up to Little Saigon/​Westminster area during lunch break.
Fresh ingredients, but the baguette was overly flaky, dry, and stale. I coughed a few times while eating it, the bread really needs improvement. Not even close to Lee’s Sandwiches or mom and pop joints around Little Saigon. Price is fair because it is in an expensive location.

By far the worst Vietnamese sandwich shop I’ve ever been to. Horrible service, and over priced food that is not worth it. Let’s start with the service…
I was greeted by a teenage girl working the cashier, kind of has an attitude and is literally always on her cell phone. Anyways I ordered before 4 people and my order was for to go. I noticed that the other 4 people behind me all got their orders as I waited for about 10−15min. I finally asked her what happened with my order while interrupting her phone call on her cell. She didn’t realize my order has been sitting right behind her the whole entire time. Apologized and thanked me for understanding. umm understanding what? That you can’t get your job done because you’re chatting away on your cell phone non business related? FYI I’m pretty ticked off at this point because it took up nearly my entire lunch break from my work!
Now my complaint on the food I had ordered. I ordered the shredded chicken sandwich and a French onion soup. The sandwich barely had any chicken in it when I got it but was stuffed with veggies instead. For $ 4 I just paid for bread and a bunch of greens. The French onion soup was nothing but a tub of grease… literally. $ 3 for a tub of oil. I couldn’t even touch it.
So in all, I will NOT be returning here, I rather stick to authentic style Vietnamese sandwiches that are truly reasonably priced. Most of them are $ 2 and you can buy 2 and get 1 free with more than just veggies and grease. Now that’s a deal.
I’ll post pictures…

I was getting an oil change across the street and had come here to grab some coffee and decided on getting a sandwich too. I went with the Fried Tofu Vegetarian sandwich b/​c that’s what I always get at Lee’s and I love theirs.
This one was alright but nowhere on par with Lee’s. The bread was good but the tofu was in big chunks and soggy. Also I didn’t care for the mayonnaise they put on it. The bread got very soggy towards the end and I ended up throwing it out.
Also, the girl at the counter was more interested in chit chatting w/​her friend that came in to visit then actually working.
Oh, and the coffee was nothing special, I was literally done with it in 3 sips, definitely not worth the $$…

Great Bahn Mi, quick service, amazing bread, even better pricing. ($ 3.25 for a sammy)
Highly recommend.

Actually never eaten in the place, but I come here to get my banh mi to go. Service is always good and fast. And their banh mi are awesome. Good amount of meat, amazing crusty bread, good pickled veggies. They also have lots of chips and bottled drinks to pick up to make a complete meal.
I have often checked out the menu while I am waiting for my banh mi and it looks really good and the prices are very reasonable. I like.

Perfectly acceptable place for the SNA traveler who craves bahn mi but doesn’t have the time or energy to make it up to Westminister. Would earn a 4^th star except the fillings are too skimpy. This is a clean and pleasant shop in a quiet strip mall, nice place to sit a spell.
Traveler bonus: after your snack, head north on Newport Ave for ½ mile, turn left on Main St and go back 100 years as you pass the Victorian mansion and workers saltbox houses left over from the citrus grove days. When you reach the freeway underpass, retrace your steps or else use your GPS which will soon reconnect you with the 55 freeway.

Yeah, just okay. The menu was decent, they really had all of the same bánh mì that every other place does. I was a bit nervous when they took credit cards (somehow this is bad juju in a Vietnamese place), and even more so when the female cashier didn’t speak enough Vietnamese to know the real names of the sandwiches. I ordered what I thought was a bánh mì thit nuong (grilled pork) and an iced coffee and used the restroom.
Came out and it was already waiting for me, which was nice. But I saw why… it was the cold BBQ pork (tht ngui). I didn’t realize until I was a few bites in… so it was sort of my fault and I let it slide. It wasn’t very good though, even for tht ngui. The pork was a little tough, not particularly flavorful, and the bread was just okay. Not bad. Not amazing.
The coffee was very strong… and I mean, for Vietnamese coffee. It got the job done (woke me up), but wasn’t as sweet and enjoyable as most Vietnamese coffees.
Bottom line: If they were the only place open, they would satiate my bánh mì craving… but it wasn’t particularly memorable. I’ve had lots of better ones.

I happened to just past by this place and although other places had higher Unilocal ratings nearby this one just sounded right. It’s best to go with your gut so I did.
I’m not Vietnamese but I’ve had bahn before in both Vietnam and locally in So Cal so I have pretty familiar with it. What made this place a little different are the it wasn’t a dive and the people working weren’t Vietnamese but Hispanic. Neither turned me off… I ordered the grilled steak and waited to see how it compared.
I loved the bread, the meat was lean and good, and the veggies were fresh. The taste was spot on and the size was about what I expected it. It may have been a bit more in price than other places I have been to but still cheaper than a lot lunch options.

I love just about everything on the menu, but their standout items for me are the bahn mi style sandwiches. All are delicious and all are priced in the $ 3.95 to $ 5.95 range. The meats are lean, the vegetables are fresh and the rolls are soft inside and deliciously crunchy on the outside.
I have eaten here and at Lee’s several times, yet I keep coming back to Zon’s. The pricing may be a bit higher, but the quality of the food is definitely worth it.

Okay, it isn’t Little Saigon quality, but it isn’t horrible. Actually, aside from the pricing-​I think this may be better than Lee’s Sandwiches.

Still just A-​OK. They have a pretty solid menu. I really wanted some phở but I saw their rice dishes and got the grilled chicken with rice instead. It’s sprinkled with peanuts with a side of lettuce, cucumbers, carrots and daikon.
The chicken is cooked with fried shallots to give it more flavor. It tasted weird to me at first but you get use to it after awhile. The chicken portion was acceptable and the sliced meat was very juicy. You get a small cup of fish sauce with chili sauce (includes seeds). Make sure you use every drop of that to give your rice and that chicken a nice flavorful punch! It gets pretty busy during lunch but the service is great. It seems like a lot of regulars go here because the people working the registers seemed to know everyone by name.
Tons of better alternatives in the area. This place would not be my top choice.

Ordered: Shrimp Spring Rolls
It has green onions, vermicelli noodles, shrimp, pork, dipped with peanut sauce.
The peanut sauce was a little spicy just the way I liked it. I liked the combination. The rolls tasted fresh and light.
Grilled Pork Sandwich: grilled pork, jalapeño, carrots, cilantro, daikon, baguette sandwich
Sandwich was good. The grilled pork was made to order and was hot!!!
Price: both items was $ 8.59
A little pricey for Vietnamese food but it’s in Tustin so the price was reasonable.
Will come again because it’s close by my work.

I’m gonna be honest, it doesn’t take much to please me when it comes to banh mi… But still I have to say that this place was great for satisfying my craving for banh mi and various other Vietnamese goodies.
The bread is fresh and the type of crunchy that won’t tear up the top of your mouth… But it is also nice and soft once you get past the crispy. All in all a good bread experience. The meat is like any other meat that you would find at a banh mi restaurant, but the best part about this place is that they have a nice clean sitting area with lots of TV’s to watch!

Since I am not too big a fan of Lee’s, I stepped into Zon for a change,
but stepped out expecting more.
Zon’s wall is piled with recognition from the OC Register, and various articles and awards for their quality and taste. Quality was definitely there, as the bread was warm and crisp, and had a upscale standard compared to the bread at Lee’s, but everything else inside the bun was pretty much the same. It just wasn’t so much an improvement from Lee’s.
The thing I did like about Zon though is that it’s boba was actually good. Not great, again, but at least it was chewy and the mango smoothie was yummy, a lot better than most boba at sandwich delis.
At last I aplaud them for their diverse chips selection, which ran from organic potato chips to Asian shrimp chips. At least it’s aware of it’s multicultural location.

i’d actually give it 3.5 STARS, their friendly service upped the rating just a wee bit more.
drove by this place a gazillion times, and kept wondering if i should try this over my usual lee’s sandwiches. my curiosity piqued when Unilocalers said that the bread was bigger and softer since my usual lee’s sandwich bread always scrapes the roof of my mouth. no bueno.
decided to order for takeout and realized that when we called our order in, the website said the restaurant closed in 10 minutes! the girl who took our order was super friendly on the phone and said the food would be ready in 10 minutes. ahhhhh, just in the nick of time. got to zon’s within 5 minutes and as promised, our food came out 5 minutes later. no lie≠P
i apologized to the cashier for calling our order so late, but she informed me that they actually closed at 8:30pm. good to know!
our orders:
grilled chicken sandwiches
–the bread was softer as Unilocalers have mentioned so that’s a plus
–they give you a good heaping of pickled veggies
–if you’re not a jalapeño fan, don’t forget to inform them of no jalapenos!
–but if you’re like me and like the spice… just an fyi that they don’t slice the jalapenos thinly like other sandwich shops. the jalapenos are your typical round slices full of them spicy seeds… so it’s a bit spicier than lee’s.
–i did wish they put a bit more meat in there. from what i did have, the chicken was good. just didn’t seem like there was much filling.
sardine sandwich w/​extra pâté (for our brave friend=P)
–according to my friend, the sardine sandwich was a thumps up!
shrimp & pork spring rolls
–just okay. probably wouldn’t order it again. rolls were kind of bland. and while yeah, sometimes spring rolls are normally bland… and the sauce usually makes up for it. but the sauce from zon’s was kind of bland too.
would i come back? yeah most likely. thought it’s about $ 1 – 1.50 more than that other sandwich shop… it’s closer to me and the bread & service were good.

I know I should’ve tried one of the banh mi because it’s what they’re supposed to be famous for given their name, but since I’m not a huge fan of banh mi, I decided to forego that and go for something else. I ended up ordering the #48, Com Ga Ro Ti (deep fried chicken with Vietnamese fried rice). From the photo up on the wall, it looked rather appetizing.
For $ 6.25 it was double what one would pay for the famous Nha Hang cornish game hen and rice at various locations ranging from $ 2.75 to $ 3.25. Still, when it was finally ready, it looked really good. I got half a very small chicken sitting atop red rice with shredded lettuce, 2 slices of tomatoes and 3 slices of cucumber on the side. Now, according to the photo, it looked like there was some pickled daikon/​carrot a la Vietnamese style but I never got any.
I had expected a sauce to come with this, but there was none. The chicken was crispy — crispy to the point that the chicken was dry in more areas than one. I think dude left it in the fryer a little too long. The rice was pretty dismal. It was really dry and it wasn’t hot — not even warm for that matter. C’mon dude, did you nuke it too long and then left it sitting on the counter while you waited for the chicken to fry? It was dry, hard and cold. Kinda disappointing when you’re paying over $ 6 for it. Still, having said that, I wouldn’t mind coming here for a fast meal when I’m in the area (I was at Cream Pan buying bread) but I wouldn’t make a special trip here. Best to drive out to Westminster for that.
2.75 stars for the meal I had.