Pho Please is tucked away in a shopping center on Riverside, and probably gets a lot of student traffic. It's a big airy space, very clean and hipster/industrial. I do not get the feeling I get at my favorite Vietnamese places, that grandma is back in the kitchen making magic. Instead, we got pleasant counter service from pretty girls in aprons, and ordered off a nicely organized and streamlined menu. The prices were standard for Austin these days--$9 for Banh Mi, $12 for Pho, and so on. We both ordered Banh Mi. I got the pork belly, and my guy got the shrimp. I asked for everything on mine, he said hold the jalapeño, but upon deconstructing our sandwiches, we couldn't find or see a trace of pate, which seemed odd. So both sandwiches lacked that livery undertone that makes these sandwiches special. I'd read about their house-made mayo, but there wasn't enough of it to get a sense of whether it was anything special. My pork belly was tasty, but only lukewarm, and looked and tasted more like the standard grilled pork shoulder, without that fabulous pork belly taste and texture. The bread was pleasant but unremarkable, but it didn't have that distinctive baguette crisp airy quality that the best Banh Mi have. The veggies were fresh, crunchy, very well done. The sandwiches themselves were BIG: I saved half of mine for later. My guy just said, "Too much bread!" and ate all the goodies out, leaving most of the bread behind. I asked if the shrimp was good. He shrugged, said it was fine, "but not enough--and isn't there supposed to be pate on this?" I liked my matcha bubble tea, and would declare it a pretty reasonable lunch...but my search for a great Banh Mi will continue. read more