Restaurant Review: Mekong

Oh Mekong, how I love thee. You are the best Vietnamese restaurant in town. Ok, this review might be a little biased. I've been going to Mekong for almost 10 years and I keep going back. Why do I keep going back? Well there's three reasons.

First it's the service. Since I work in the restaurant industry this is a big deal for me. I know how easy and how hard it can be to provide good service for your customers ALL THE TIME. You have to actually care about what your doing, just a little. Or at least care about getting paid... Yes, how good your service is directly effects your tip. Not only that, but how nice and charming and accommodating you were helps the person decide whether not they will come back to your restaurant!

Getting back on topic, Mekong gets the service right. I've never had anything, but nice, courteous, quick service. I've gotten much worse service in many fine dining establishments. I think the good service stems from the long term employees at Mekong that like their job. Almost everyone I see at Mekong is there every time I am. Maybe I just always go at the same time, but the same employees are always there smiling and enjoying what they are doing. This is especially true for the owner/bartender, An. An is my favorite bartender/owner in Richmond, but we'll touch on this more later.

The second reason I love Mekong so much is the food. Just like the service, it's consistently good. From the "Rocket Shrimp" appetizer, to the "Fried Soft Shell Crabs in a Ginger Scallion Sauce" (my personal favorite dish, when it's in season) , to the Pho, to the House Grill platter, to the "Spicy Crispy Chicken".... I could go on all day. It's all good, it's always the same and it's very reasonably priced (most entrees $10-15).

You would think those two reasons alone would keep me coming back, and they do, but there's a third reason that keeps me coming back on an almost weekly basis (when I can afford it). THE BEER! You would never expect a Vietnamese restaurant to have the best Belgian beer selection in town, but they definitely do! Screw Capital Ale House and their prices, at Mekong they have 50+ Belgians in the big 750ml bottle for under around $10-15 a piece. There are also a huge variety of other beers hand picked by our friend and host An. That's where this weird marriage of Vietnamese food and beer came from... An's love of good beer. In the beer menu there's pictures of An and his brother in Belgium tasting the brews in person. It defintely shows that every beer is hand picked by An himself. My favorite part of going to Mekong these days sitting down at the bar and asking An what new beers he's gotten in. There always one and most of the time there's 2 or 3 or 4... He even has a Facebook group, An's Beer club!

There you have it. Go to Mekong and have a wonderful meal with great service. Done. Sit at the bar and try some of the best beers in the world. Done. Have a wonderful meal with great service with some of the best beers in the world all at great prices! Done and done.

(No bribes have been taken for this post, but free beer will defintely be accepted.)

Mekong Vietnamese Restaurant (map it)
6004 W Broad St
Richmond, VA 23230
(804) 288-8929
http://www.mekong-restaurant.com/