Cafe La Vie

Great place for brunch, Vietnamese style. Delicious and affordable Vietnamese coffee and food, especially the banh mi and bun rieu oc. There's free hot tea for every dine-in customer, sports on TV, and a lottery vending machine to kill time. There is outdoor seating, but it's usually filled with smokers.

If you are looking for good authentic Vietnamese food this is the place! They open super early and you can get your Vietnamese coffee there too!! I needed to find a place to eat before my 10 am dentist appt and called this place to make sure they were opened and the man answered the phone saying he opens “6 am to 6 pm every day.”!!! I walked into there and there’s options for indoor or outdoor seating. Their menu seems to be limited but it’s all the food you wouldn’t normally find at allot of other Vietnamese restaurant. I ordered the bun bo hue and chao long (no pic because I ate it all). Their bun no hue was very flavorful and had everything you would expect a real bowl of it would have. So good! I need to go back and try other things on their menu!

I was looking for a good banh mi spot in Tacoma and came across Cafe La Vie. As I entered, there was a lady that was busy prepping something in the front, but I was greeted by an elderly man who took my order. I ordered the BBQ pork banh mi and the pork meatball soup. I stood and waited about 7 minutes since there were no chairs around, but the man went up to me and offered a chair for me to sit which was nice of him. I received my order soon after and went home ready to eat my soup and banh mi. The soup was amazing and it even came with extra bread for dipping! I was tempted to add my own noodles, but the soup with the meatballs by itself was delicious. The broth was very light and flavorful, and the pork meatballs were juicy and tender. The level of sweetness of the meatballs was a tad too much for my liking though, but everything else was very good and satisfying. The banh mi didn't "wow" me, but I enjoyed every bite and I liked how they didn't include a lot of jalepenos. I think the prices here are very affordable; both the banh mi, meatball soup, and extra bread came out to $12. I will come back for the meatball soup again and try their pho next time!

This is a little gem in the Lincoln International District. I come here often because they make the best Vietnamese sandwiches I've ever had!! Here, they toast their bread, and ingredients are always fresh. Their other dishes are also delicious 😋. When dining in, tea is complementary with your meal. *Keep in mind, this is a café out of someone's house. Because of this, parking can be limited, but you can always park a little whiles away. Coffee made here are going to be in Southeast Asian style, so they use evaporated milk as their dairy/sweetener.*

I love this place. They make the banh mi's (Vietnamese sandwich) fresh to order. They have your typical cold cut, and BBQ pork. All the noodle soups are all delicious and rich in broth. Its not listed but they do have Thai teas, boba and kid size pho. Parking here can get a little tight since its located in a neighborhood. There is usually older men outside smoking and playing scratch tickets (there's a lotto machine inside) don't let them scare you from coming in. You won't see a huge variety of different people besides Vietnamese and Cambodians just a heads up. But for sure stop by and get a fresh brewed Vietnamese coffee with a banh mi.