Mekong Restaurant — Restaurant in Lakeside

Five for the drinks, only. Five for the drink prices. Five for the experience, but that was from the company we brought with us. Three for the service. I don't give a damn about the food, and neither did everyone else.

I first went to this place about 10-12 years ago with my late girlfriend and her weird friends when it was a dumpy looking-Vietnamese restaurant trying to pass itself off as a Vietnamese restaurant.

Flash-forward through 10 years of maturing....

When I decided to take my friends here for the "amazing beer selection," I had no idea that it was the same place. We pulled into the parking lot this time, I had flashbacks of moderately priced dishes with lowered expectations of quality.

When we stepped inside, it looked as if Food Network did one of those makeover episodes. But I'm guessing the food is probably still not good, because honestly no one Asian was eating the food, which is supposed to be Asian. (For those of you who don't know, that's not usually a good sign of terms of quality and/or authenticity.) In fact, I can't remember a single Asian family there, except for the one running the restaurant.

So what happened? The food probably sucked so much that the only way to get customers in the door was to deliver a product that they had no hand in making. I'm guessing they probably decided to spice up the place with beer and priorities shifted over the last 10 years. Everyone there is wearing T-shirts advertising the beer. All of the tables advertised the beer. The backs of the seats -- yeah, beer.

And really to their credit, that's a pretty good move. I mean, how hard is it to make a quality bar? Orders kegs of beer that isn't sold at Whole Foods. Mind blowing.

Either way, we got there before the dinner rush, and there were plenty of tables free. So it was a little bit jerky of them to not seat us, and make us stand in the middle of the bar area like a hobo family. I see that they wanted to seat people who were going to eat dinner, but really the food sucks. Just read the rest of the reviews. As the place filled up, it became more and more apparent that those seated were just there for drinks. But whatever. It's fine.

The drinks were great. That statement will just stand by itself.

The prices were even better. I got 3 drinks for less than $9 with tip.

The overall experience was just amazing. There's nothing like celebrating the birth or a dear friend by imbibing on the nectar that brings us all closer to death -- when consumed in massive, unholy quantities, of course.

As a note, when I said "late girlfriend," the late part refers to both the relationship and the fact that she was never on time for anything. She's still...

I’ve been going to Mekong since 2008 and it’s come such a long way since then. I still visit at least several times a year, especially in the colder months or on cold days.

The food is always solid, around the same quality as the nearby Vietnamese restaurants at a reasonable price. One thing that sucks is, you don’t always receive the bean sprouts, basil, lime, and jalapeños when you order the pho or noodle soup. A lot of times I have to ask for it. Sometimes they’ll only bring out a lime and a couple jalapeño slices, but I love the bean sprouts and basil so it can be a bit of a bummer when they don’t bring that out.

Drinks: I don’t drink beer anymore because of a recently discovered gluten allergy, but their house made beers have been some of the best beers I’ve ever drank in the past. I always loved their stouts; they had this one chocolate, coffee, coconut stout that had me having dreams about it years ago! I still remember that stout fondly and get sad that I can’t drink beer anymore. They have wines and usually have a small selection of seltzers, ciders, and/or mead for those who are also GF or don’t like beer.

Service: service can be a hit or miss here. They get INSANELY busy at times, so it makes sense that it takes your server a long time to take your order, bring your food, or get back to you. When they’re less busy, the service is great. The food comes out fast, the drinks come out fast, and your water glass is refilled really quickly.

Note: if this is your first time at a Vietnamese restaurant, you pay up front. The server gives you a hand written list of items ordered and you bring it to the front to pay. This is pretty standard at Vietnamese restaurants, although at some other restaurants sometimes the person at the cash register will memorize your order somehow. This restaurant is too big and busy so they give you your itemized list to bring up front.

Overall I always recommend this to people who love beer and also people who want some pho. I always look forward...

Mekong—a richmond institution, but not for vegetarian diners. I've been to The Answer so many times and smelt the food in the building. Smell alone could garner Mekong's food 5 stars, alas the experience was like trying to blow a balloon with knives for fingers.

The red flags were numerous:

The table we were sat at was so sticky that my partners phone actually stuck to the surface. There are (this isn't a joke, either) no Asian beers on tap or in bottle at the time of our visit. No Singha, no Tiger, no Sapporo, no Kirin, not even a Tuborg or any of the other European beers made specifically for export to South East Asia. Just nothing but local craft IPAs and the odd cider or stout from somewhere else on the Eastern Shore. The place was fully saturated with other white patrons, which honestly should raise an eyebrow when considering a restaurant for authenticity. The food is all generic American-Chinese dishes and critically underseasoned. They had no idea what salty lemonade was. Our server elected to give us minimal attention, which was fine because the restaurant was packed, but even getting a hard copy or the beer menu was a difficulty.

The televisions occupied majority of the wall space behind the bar and the carpet, bless their hearts, was visibly grimey. Bathrooms are clean and the elderly lady who never let's your water go empty is the backbone of their service and should be the model for the younger staff members as far as hospitality goes. Overall there are so many similar restaurants that simply do it better in the same general area that recommending this place is an impossible task for me. 1 star for the restaurant and 1 star for the kind, older lady with the ceaseless...