Lians by Kontiki — Restaurant in Mérida

Delicious Thai and Vietnamese dishes, fresh dumplings! Well appointed interior. Disorganized service

We went to Lians as a family and have eaten asian food in Asia, the US, UK, Australia and other places. We ordered steamed shrimp dumplings, steamed pork dumplings, rumaki, bahn mi, vietnamese spring rolls, and Tom Kha Kai. The 12 dumplings of each kind were fresh, well seasoned and steamed perfectly. Fresh shrimp, crispy lettuce and delicious noodles filled the well wrapped spring rolls. Delicious! The Bahn Mi(Bahn Bao) was the highlight! Tender pork seasoned to perfection, served with pickled cabbage, sweet pickles and carrots. All this ready to be put inside the incredible steamed buns that are light on your palate and melt in your mouth. Lechon, watch out!

The Rumaki was tasty and is a nice starter if you like fried food. The Tom Kha Gai was overly salty, but otherwise passable.

Unfortunately, the service was not commensurate. While I can't say it was bad becuase the waiter was attentive the experience can be significantly improved. We were given 1 menu to share amongst the 4 of us and when requesting additional menus, were given 1 more. Our food took a long time to come out, but luckily it was worth it! The wait staff seemed to be in disarray with a fully packed dining room. The owner/manager was doing his best and clearly demonstrated interest in quality. They weren't short handed, just under trained.

We'll definitely be back...

All around 3 start experience. I think the place wants to be a little more high scale especially for the price point but that mission is not accomplished. They also include a 15% tip on the check without telling you so beware. I asked about it when I saw it on my check after paying but he didn’t ask about a tip during the check out experience nor was it on the itemized receipt. He also took the itemized receipt so we couldn’t review it at the end. Food is high for the quality...

Desde hace tiempo tenía ganas de probar la comida de este restaurante y ayer por la tarde lo hice. Te sirven de botanita los clásicos churritos de harina con salsita agridulce que servían en el kontiki, y siguen estando ricos los churritos pero la salsa agridulce sabe más a catsup que a salsa agridulce. En cuanto a los alimentos, pedimos de entrada tacos schezuan, y de platillos fuertes: Res mongol, pollo spicy y arroz frito con vegetales. En cuanto a los tacos, estos se hacen con lechuga, la cual nos dieron en un plato aparte y las hojas estaban sucias, tenían tierra. El pollo schezuan estaba seco y duro y tenía sabor a carne vieja, además de que estaba frío. Misma historia con el pollo spicy, de aspecto nada apetecible, textura y sabor a suela de zapato, la carne dura y seca, sobrecocida, acompañada con brócoli y ejotes pasados de cocción. Respecto a la res mongol tenía buen sabor, los vegetales cocidos en su punto, la salsa muy rica pero tenía muy pocos, de verdad muy pocos trozos de res (era más bien vegetales) y varios de ellos fibrosos y como decimos en Yucatán "cichosos". El arroz fue lo único que estaba rico, y servido generosamente. El lugar es pequeño pero agradable, y la atención de los meseros es muy amable, sin embargo, dudo mucho regresar y definitivamente no...