A data-driven, vibe-coded quest to find San Francisco’s best banh mi

On a bright Sunday afternoon in early November, a cluster of strangers gathered in Civic Center Park. The group settled into a loose circle, each holding a paper-wrapped banh mi. At the front of the pack was Cow Hollow native Gavin Pola, who turned to the small crowd and clasped his hands together: “Should we start?”

From there, a banh mi debate erupted.  

“It’s good, but the bread is kind of mid,” one person shrugged. 

“The pork itself had good flavor, but it didn’t really need the sauce,” said another, prompting nods and hums of agreement. 

“There’s no daikon either, that’s missing,” someone chimed in from the back.  

“But there is daikon. I had one long piece!” 

“The workers might’ve liked you better than the rest of us,” another joked. 

And so went the first meeting of the San Francisco Banh Mi Club. The group continued to go around, dissecting the strengths and weaknesses of their Vietnamese sandwiches, sharing laughs, strong opinions, and the small joy of dining together. 

It all started on Instagram, where Pola, the club’s organizer, saw a video about the Marin Burger Club, a group of food-obsessed North Bay dads. The group, established 12 years ago, meets each month to calculate bun-to-patty ratios with a special “burgermajigger” measuring tool, then compiles the ratings into spreadsheets.

Inspired by the idea of using data to evaluate a dish, Pola started his version, dedicated not to beef, but banh mi. He hopes members will meet monthly at various Vietnamese sandwich spots until they’ve tried every one in the city. Pola acknowledges that this could be a years-long undertaking, but the point is less the destination than the journey itself. 

“I’ve always been really into food my whole life,” he said. “I think it’s one of those great art forms that really brings people together.”

Pola chose to focus on the classic Vietnamese sandwich because it’s accessible, affordable, and consistent enough to compare, while leaving room for restaurants to showcase some personality — perhaps with an extra generous portion of protein, or the addition of a housemade sauce.

Pola vibe-coded a website, accessible only to attendees, so club members the group can log and aggregate scores across a range of custom criteria, including flavor, baguette quality, value, overall execution, and whether or not the sandwich appears neatly assembled or sloppily rushed. 

“I was going to use Beli, a very popular restaurant reviewing app, but what I really want to do is have very tailored, specific metrics,” Pola said. “With Beli you can give it a score, but it’s very subjective. Whereas with this, we’ll have key metrics that we’ll use across all the restaurants we rate.” 

He organized the first Banh Mi Club meeting for Nov. 2 and asked attendees to bring cash and their appetites to Saigon Sandwich, a decades-old institution in the Tenderloin, on the border of Little Saigon. But he didn’t anticipate how quickly the Partiful invite would gain traction. Within two weeks of posting about the event, he had 110 RSVPs.

“I put it as a public event, and a lot of people started reaching out,” Pola said. “You never know what the actual conversion rate will be between interest versus who will actually go. But it was pretty insane.” 

Saigon Sandwich’s menu is straightforward, with all six banh mi options — including the house favorite, Thit Cha, or “fancy” pork and roast pork combination sandwich— priced under $8. Some attendees loved the creamy pate, but thought the bread lacked crunch; others found the lack of spice underwhelming. Still, most agreed that for the price, the shop’s banh mi was hard to beat. 

“I think the sandwich is good. I’d rate it high because of the value,” said Hector Miramontes. “I was able to buy three sandwiches for $20, which is wild to me.” 

As an event planner for tech companies, Miramontes embraces the city’s “996” mentality and keeps his calendar full with tech-related events. He found Pola’s club while scrolling through Partiful and was interested in what he saw as a low-pressure opportunity to meet new people. 

“I was just looking for something different,” Miramontes said. “I’m still working on building community, so I really liked how Gavin’s club is super casual and based around banh mi.” 

This isn’t the first time Pola, who works as a management consultant by day, has turned his love for food into something beyond a personal pursuit. At 10, he competed on Gordon Ramsay’s TV show “MasterChef Junior”, where his chocoholic delight cake and sage butter tortellini earned him a fifth-place finish and plenty of compliments from the famously tough celebrity chef. 

“I think there’s been a huge movement toward online communities and virtual communities, and the amount of time we’re all spending in virtual environments is pretty insane,” Pola said. “If you have any interest in trying some cool food, meeting some fun people, definitely come out. Food is only great when you share it with others.”