Lee's Sandwiches
- Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: No
- Parking: Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: No
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol: None
13 Reviews for Lee's Sandwiches
It grew on me. No, not the sandwiches from Lee's, which I will only eat if I'm truly desperately starving. I'm talking about their chicken wings. I love to eat them, dozens of them, if possible. Crispy when fresh, good seasoning, small kick in the end, dark orange-y red colored, and not terribly large in size. They have a similar flavor to the hot wings at the Albertson's deli counter, but those are huge, somewhat pricey, and many times full of fat chunks of fat. You'll feel stuffed after eating about five. Not so with the Lee's hot chicken wings. Order a few dozen and enjoy those wings while watching your favorite television show. Go ahead, you know you want to. You deserve it.
People thought this was:
Useful (2)
Funny (1)
Cool (1)
is it me or has Lee's gotten more expensive? but their sandwiches are still good. and their bread it delicious. crispy and flakey crust with a soft and chewy inside. mmmmmmmm. *drool*
Hi Mr. Lee, it's me drew and i love you.
I assume Mr. Lee is always present, in spirit, becasue i can taste him in every bite of his tastee baguette. mmmmmmm..... Cash only place, makes it neat. Lee's smells weird but the sandwiches are on great bread. you can press it thin and make it a tasty treat for lunch under $5.00. The best way to do lee's is to bring $4.00 and not get a drink. you'll just amaze yourself at the price. the dell monitor says "$3.44 please!"
The number announcer thing is creppy. It sounds like military camp. I think because i'm a gringo i pay more because the asian sandwiches are like $2.20 but the tuna is like $3.60
its great and you should try it.
I was so happy when the Lee's opened in Lake Forest but for various reasons I hadn't been able to actually go there and try the sandwiches. Today finally I had the opportunity.
To put this in context, I've had vietnamese sandwiches at the Lee's across from UCI and I've had them at Banh Mi Che Cali in Westminster and I've occasionally tried them at restaurants and pho places, but I'm not a huge connoisseur. I like Lees, for me its sandwiches are second only to the ones I got at Bahn Mi Che Cali and that is too far for normal use, plus the stress of trying to figure out what to do to get them to wait on an outsider is a pain.
So, how does Lees of Lake Forest rate? First the bad news: it's not open late, never mind 24 hours; they are kind of slow - the sandwiches were made fast enough but my honeydew smoothie appeared to need the Smoothie Expert in the back to come back from their lunch break - it added another 5 minutes at least to my wait (I saw my sandwiches sitting pathetically on the ledge the whole time). It's small inside so don't plan on hanging out there (but the outside plaza is really nice with plenty of seating and fountain).
Now the good - the sandwiches. I got a #4 and a #5 (grilled chicken and pork) and that was lunch and dinner today. I hadn't eaten solid food in a day and a half and boy was I ready, and these sandwiches were totally satisfying. The crunchy pickled veggies are delicious, the grilled meat is plentiful and tasty, the bread was fresh and soft. And although prices have gone up a tad, you get two large sandwiches for about $5.00 which is hard to beat.
Avoid the thing that looks like a pork bao unless you already know you like pork and egg buns. I don't like eggs and it was too weird for me.
Granted there may have a been a ton of Lee's Sandwiches closeby in my last place of residence, yet I have never been to one. I've had Vietnamese sandwiches from Vietnamese pho restaurants, but never at a stand alone place that serves solely their Vietnamese sandwiches. I decided to come down here on my way from getting my car smogged.
The place is located in a nice big shopping plaza with plenty of restaurants and little shops. The inside of the place is nice and clean with two computers that paying patrons can use since they have to enter their receipt number into the computer before it allows them to use the internet. They have plenty of seats on the inside as well as an array of outdoor seating in the plaza center with shade and all. Very very nice to sit outside on a cool breezy sunny day.
The menu consists of many combination of sandwiches in the form of baugettes as well as croissants. They also offer smoothies and tea drinks. They also have steam buns that you can buy that has pork, eggs and sausage (the ones my mom use to make! that i miss). The prices are pretty cheap, everything is usually under 5 dollars per item. I ordered their grilled pork baugette. I guess from the pictures, the sandwiches look a lot more full with more filling than when it came out. That was kind of a disappointment. I wish it would have had more meat, veggies etc. But then I guess for $2.75, you get what you pay for right? The grilled pork was thinly sliced and wasn't too hard. It had enough thinly sliced pepper to add some spice.
Overall, I enjoyed my sandwich while sitting outside in their plaza section with the wind blowing and people watching.
People thought this was:
Useful (2)
Funny (1)
Cool (2)
I definitely like the food/price ratio. For sure.
I am not going to talk about it here, just because everyone else covered the food thing - I agree to all aspects.
I just want to say that for some reason, the service here is slow. Maybe it could be inexperience. I am not sure. But I have been to the one in Garden Grove and UCI and the time for it to pop out is pretty decent.
Here...is just crawls. Oh well. And on top of that, its not open as late as the others...probably the cities' fault...but I'm just sayin'
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
+ Cheap sanwiches
- Cash only.
What gives this the 5 stars is the HONEYDEW SHAKE. mmmm. Somehow, the texture is always perfectly smooth and the flavor is tasty. Just like a melon bar but better.
It's so good it hurts.
Anyone who has ever tried a Vietnamese sandwich is familiar with the "bite into the baguette and tear up the roof of my mouth" experience. Sounds unpleasant? It is after a couple of hours, but the moment you dig your teeth into the flaky, crispy crust of one of those sandwiches, followed by the crunchy pickled vegetables and flavorful meat, you tend to forget about all of its precautions.
I have tasted a variety of these sandwiches from many different locations, and they have all been consistent in providing me with the same satisfactory experience (or at least I thought). It was not until my sister had taken me to this particular Lee's that I had realized what I was missing. However, it was not the ingredients or the bread that made this visit better than the rest, it was the large portion of chicken that was served in between. Bite after painful bite, my mouth was filled with a combination of bread, chicken and vegetables, rather than just one or the other.
Unfortunately, I was soon to find out that this generosity only applied to the chicken sandwich. I was fairly disappointed when I had ordered the pork sandwich rather than my usual poultry. Not only did it lack the quality of having more meat, but it also lacked freshness. The "pork" was imitation and had an unappealing grayish tone.
However, this fallback will not discourage me from continuing to support this location. After all, my number one preference is the chicken sandwich, and as long as they continue to pile it on, I will remain a satisfied customer.
Awesome place for vegetarian sandwiches.. I'm drooling just thinkin about them.. When they call out your order # over the loud speaker here it's freakin hilarious.
I went to this Lee's Sandwiches right when they opened. Granted, I get very irritated by the Lee's Sandwich franchise because they generally don't even know what they are talking about. I am Vietnamese so i do know how un-authentic some of their food is. When I went, I ordered a baguette- the guy didn't even know what a baguette was. Don't work at Lee's SANDWICHES if you don't know what a baguette is...
People thought this was:
Funny (1)
Yes, yes, yes Lee's Sandwiches is in South Orange County! I was so psyched to see Lee's on my way to BevMo. Liquor and Vietnamese sandwiches, yes!!! The emergence of a Lee's in my area perked up my week.
I know, I'm probably a little too excited but the nearest Lee's had not been so near (15 miles or so) before this Lake Forest location.
My favorite items here are the egg rolls (pack of 5 for $2.50) and the Grilled Pork sandwich (#5 I believe). I take out this green sliced pepper (I'm not sure what it's called) because it is too spicy for me. The pricing here is reasonable and the bread was very fresh. The bread (french bread) was softer than at the UC Irvine location and the meat seemed tastier to me.
The Lee's Cafe drink (Vietnamese coffee and condensed milk) is tasty and potent. There are two internet terminals, an internet code is printed on the receipt. The wait was slightly long, but they've only been open for a short while so that's to be expected. It did help that we had the egg rolls to eat while our sandwiches and drinks were being prepared. Remember, cash only but there is an ATM in this location.
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Cool (1)
Mmm, Lee's right near home. Better than driving all the way to UCI, BUT they close at 9 pm!! The whole point of Lee's is that it's available all the time! Oh well, other than that, it's fantastic. The lines are long, and they accept cash only, but the food seems fresher than larger Lee's locations. Love getting it to go then carrying it home and enjoying it there. :] I usu. get the Turkey/Cheese baguette sandwich.
Oh yeah, and free samples of Deli Manjoo B:
I used to be addicted to the Lee's across from the campus of UC Irvine, and this location is MUCH smaller. There is a tiny dining area, with about three tables. You can sit outside, but make sure you are within earshot of the droid who announces numbers. I wouldn't come here if it was raining though. I have seen that during the lunch hour they open the front doors to accommodate the line of people.
Anywho, the food, fantastic, abundant, cheap. The reason the store is so small is because the kitchen takes up 90% of the space, they still have all the bread-making equipment the bigger Lee's have.
People Who Viewed This Also Viewed...
Related Lists
-
I want to go back here
Life has been very busy lately, but once I have…
Hot and New
- Lulu's Creperie Cafe
28 reviews
Laguna Hills, CA
- Cho Dang Tofu & Korean BBQ
17 reviews
Irvine, CA
- University of California,…
35 reviews
Irvine, CA
- A & J Restaurant
128 reviews
Irvine, CA
- Tea Station
41 reviews
Irvine, CA