Lotus Banh Mi - Vietnamese restaurant in Chicago - 719 W Maxwell St, USA

It’s good if you work or are going to school in the medical district but I wouldn’t go out of my way to get it. I like getting it for my work lunch because it’s light and filling. $10 for a sandwich and they don’t skimp on the meat!

Quick and light dishes. Great place for sandwiches (Banh mi) or salads, spring rolls. And my ultimate favorite crispy wings!!! The soy glazed wings are to die for. With your choice of mild or hot spice!!! I now order delivery so my pictures you'll see are from delivery only.

Food was not as good as I was expecting. I have been here several times prior to COVID. We ordered 5 sandwiches. The French bread was not fresh and crisp. Instead, the bread was soft, which takes away from Banh Mi expectations. The ingredients were good on all the sandwiches though. We also ordered an order of the shrimp spring rolls. The menu indicated 4/ $6.95. So this usually means 4 rolls... the size of a wrap. However, what you actually get is: They served 2 rolls, cut in half for $6.95. See photo. Those are actually half rolls. This is a small restaurant with three tables. Two tables seats 2 persons. One table seats 4. There's window seating, but that would be tight especially with social distancing. There is street parking- metered. Safe area.

Was really excited to try this restaurant based off the reviews but was ultimately disappointed. I ordered the classic pork belly bahn mi sandwich. Everything about it was soft. The bread, the meat, the veggies. It just tasted like a mouthful of mush.

Pretty decent food. My only complaint- and I hope Lotus Cafe sees this- but PLEASE CLEAN YOUR SITTING AREA! In these crazy times, why keep such an unkempt space? Before opening the front door, I was unsure if the Cafe was even open because the grime on the windows obscured the workers standing inside. There are cobwebs and dead bugs on the window sill and the tables felt like they were washed off maybe last week. This is just unacceptable- it's the very least the workers should be expected to do.

This place is amazing! Affordable, tasty, has this local community feel. Wings were the best!

Banh mi and wings are great here. The food comes out fast and fresh. The jasmine iced tea is also really good.

Lotus has excellent seasoned dishes. Overall, tasty food, prefect banh mi bread, delicious pho, could use a better Vegan banh mi option, clean and cute atmosphere. Highly recommend for a Vietnamese craving without having to drive all the way to Argyle. The Seared beef pho was very tasty! They didn't skimp out on the herbs needed in the broth. It was almost perfectly seasoned how I make mine! Veggiecado banh mi was very filling, they sure stuffed a lot in that thing! Although it was tasty and we are very thankful for a vegetarian banh mi, we still prefer Ba Le's vegetarian sandwiches. Classic Belly banh mi was actually really good. The pork belly was seasoned well. I do think they needed to add more of that.