Mekong District - Nyack — Restaurant in Town of Orangetown

Overall, this was a solid restaurant, conveniently located in downtown Nyack adjacent to the village municipal parking lot. The menu is pretty authentic but also includes many Asian fusion dishes. In general, the dishes felt like a hit or miss.

We ordered 3 appetizers, all of which were okay but not really impressive: Green Papaya Salad: The vegetables were pretty fresh, but the shrimp was overcooked and didn’t taste very fresh.

Duck Bao Bun: The buns were soft and the duck was well-cooked, but it was pretty bland overall and definitely could have had packed in more flavor.

Mekong Roll with BBQ grounded shrimp: These wraps tasted fresh and were well-wrapped, but the ratio of vermicelli noodles to meat / veggies was off. There was not enough meat and veggies, which made it taste kind of flavorless overall.

For the entree, I ordered the Triple Treat Fajita, which I would definitely recommend as an authentic dish to try! The meats were cooked very well— extremely juicy, tender, and flavorful— and they came in good portions too! However, the vegetable portions were much skimpier, and I wish they provided more of that. The experience of making your own rolls was fun and enjoyable.

Other dishes we got were: Garlic Noodles: A fusion dish that was just okay, nothing special.

Honey-grilled chicken Banh Mi: tasted great and fresh! The bread was soft, pillowy, and fresh; the chicken was tender; and the vegetables were crunchy—a great mix of textures.

Grilled pork belly with rice: Didn’t try this one, but from what I heard the meat didn’t taste that great and it also went really skimpy on the veggies.

For dessert, we tried the Pandan Layer Cake and Sticky Rice Banana. Both had a strong mung bean flavor, similar sticky textures, and the coconut cream on both added a creamy, sweet touch. Both were sweet enough without overdoing it. I personally enjoyed the pandan cake more, though you can’t really taste any pandan flavor.

Overall, the service was quick and friendly, and the ambience is very quiet— there were only 1-2 other parties there for a weeknight dinner. The space is pretty small with cohesive decor and a setup that feels intimate.

I would say the prices are pretty expensive ($14-16 for a banh mi is QUITE steep), but it’s on average pretty reasonable for the portions and...

I grew up eating Vietnamese food in SoCal from my friends’ mom’s kitchens and I’ve been to Viet Nam to visit family (who brought me to their favorite places), so here are my thoughts on Mekong Grill. If that isn't enough street cred, I'm Southeast Asian and eat Thai/Indo/Filipino/Viet/Cambodian/Singaporean/etc food like it's nobody's business.

Pho (3.5 stars): Firstly, the portion is huge which is nice. My boyfriend and I split this and we couldn't even finish it. There were tons of noodles and some meat, which was placed on top of the noodle and not completely submerged in the pho broth as traditionally done. Seems like they cook meat separately from the broth here instead of let the broth cook the meat. It came with sprouts, basil, and lime -- but no jalapeno. The broth was really really(!) salty and made me reach for water multiple times throughout the meal. I also found the broth to be lacking in herbal flavors -- perhaps masked by the salt? Anyway, even though it was generous, the flavors were pretty lackluster.

Shaking beef (1 star): I've tried this dish, shaking beef/bo luc lac, at many different restaurants and I am really sad to say that this is one of the worst that I've tried. First, for $16, I would've expected enough to feed at least 2 people. I thought this entree would be mostly the beef and maybe a side of rice -- instead I was served Vietnamese picked carrot+radish, fried rice, sweet potato fries, and a small side of the beef. Moving on to the actual beef, it was diluted with a lot of nontraditional veggies (white mushrooms, raw garlic cloves?!, lots of onion, etc.), when I know that this is usually marinated beef over watercress greens. Finally, the beef was kind of tough and not that peppery. The fried rice was very salty (again), and I don't even know what to think of the sweet potato fries, but I ate them because I was hungry.

Average of 1 star and 3.5 star = 2.25 stars. I rounded down to 2 stars because of parking is indeed difficult. It's metered and even hard to find a meter. There is also a paid lot a block or two away.

Anyway, if I'm in the area, I'd come back for the pho ($10) but I still can't believe that shaking...

I’ve been coming to this pho spot for quite some time—what used to be a weekly routine has become less frequent, and after today, I’m not sure I’ll be back at all.

The customer service has gone downhill over time. It now takes 20 minutes or more just to be acknowledged or offered a drink, and the friendly greetings I used to receive have completely stopped. But today was the breaking point.

While dining with friends and my daughter, someone we are very familiar with at the restaurant told us that if we didn’t want to tip, we could leave. The tone she used was aggressive and completely out of line. My daughter was so upset by the interaction that she actually ended up crying at the table. No one deserves to be spoken to like that—especially loyal customers who have supported the business for years.

To add to the frustration, they also charge to split checks, which feels unnecessary and makes group dining awkward.

I’m extremely disappointed and hurt by how we were treated. This used to be a place I looked forward to visiting, but after this experience, I’ll be taking a long break—and I truly hope the management reevaluates how they treat people who have supported them...