Un Bien provides high quality food, sacrifices convenience

Jake Rehfeldt and Nolan Baker
Originally published November 18, 2016

If you live in Seattle you’ve almost definitely heard of Paseo. Un bien is the same menu, including, as the man at the counter was sure to remind us, the number two sandwich in the country, the Caribbean Roast. We decided on the Caribbean Roast Sandwich, and the West Caribbean Bowl. Although the service is very personal and fun, it takes 15-20 minutes to get your food. For a 30 minute lunch, speed of service is important, and if you eat at Un Bien, you’ll be hustling to get back to your next class in time. However, the quality without a doubt overshadows the wait time. It’s worth being late to fifth period. It’s worth being late to the SAT.

The Caribbean Roast came on a baguette from Macrina Bakery, and the pork shoulder is by far the best you can find in Ballard. The Caribbean Roast oozes aioli sauce and stray pieces of pork or sauteed onions, so much so that the two layers of paper they wrap around it seem like a sort of joke. If you don’t come out of it with a stain on your clothes, you ate it wrong.

Unfortunately, the price range at Un Bien is not marketed towards broke high school students. If you want to get anything on the menu for under $10, your choices are corn or black beans and rice. For hungry Beavers looking for a cheap lunch, they will be forced with the eternal question: quality or quantity? There will always be cheap tacos at El Camion, a $5 burrito at Taco Del Mar, or a small pizza for $5 at Mod. It could be in Un Bien’s best interest to come up with a cheap meal for ballard students only, like at Morsel or Benito’s.

Although there is so much right about Un Bien, compared to other restaurants around Ballard, it is lacking in convenience. The burden all Ballard students carry is that we only have a half hour for lunch. The drive to Un Bien is three blocks north of the school, on 73rd and 15th, and they don’t have any parking to speak of, so you have to go off 15th to hunt for parking, pressing for precious time. Expect lines, it’s one of the most popular sandwich shops in Ballard, and know that this isn’t Dicks, the creation of the Caribbean Roast is a labor of love.

Top Picks:

Carribean Roast- $10.50

Press – $11.25

Black Beans & Rice – $7