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Home > Restaurants > Mekong

Mekong

18 King St., New York, NY 10014
nr. Sixth Ave.  See Map | Subway Directions Hopstop Popup
212-343-8169 Send to Phone

  • Price Range: $$

    Key to Prices and ratings

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  • Reader Rating:

    6.3 out of 10

      |  

    3 Reviews | Write a Review

  • Cuisine: Asian: Southeast, Vietnamese
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Photo by Konstantin Sergeyev

Hours

Mon-Thu, noon-11pm; Fri-Sat, noon-1am; Sun, closed

Nearby Subway Stops

C, E at Spring St.; 1 at Houston St.

Prices

$13-$20

Payment Methods

American Express, MasterCard, Visa

Special Features

  • Bar Scene
  • Delivery
  • Dine at the Bar
  • Live Music
  • Lunch
  • Outdoor Dining
  • Private Dining/Party Space
  • Take-Out

Alcohol

  • Full Bar

Reservations

Accepted/Not Necessary

Delivery Area

Walker St. to 14th St., Bowery St. to Hudson St.

Profile

While this trendy corner spot may prepare Southeast Asian cuisine to go, locals know the best place to sample a dish is seated inside the lamp-lit, open-air dining room or at one of the surrounding sidewalk tables. With a prime view of Sixth Avenue, you can perfect the art of people-watching over vermicelli-packed summer rolls or a chili-and-lime-splashed shrimp and papaya salad. Fresh flavor combinations abound: A spicy squid entrée successfully pairs pineapple chunks with tomato slices in a tangy Thai basil sauce; tiger prawns gently curl out of their shells into a peppery broth of scallions and caramelized onion strands. Crave more sugar than spice? The Vietnamese iced coffee sweetened with condensed milk is an ideal summer-evening cooldown. — Lauren Berger

Recommended Dishes

Shrimp papaya salad, $8; spicy squid, $10.50; caramelized tiger prawns, $19.50; Vietnamese iced coffee, $3.50

6.3 "Mixed Reviews"
Average Reader Rating
on a Scale of 10		 Write Your Own Review
66% Would you go back?
50% Would you take a date?
0% Would you take kids?
0% Would you go on business?
50% Would you go on a special occasion?
Food: 6.3
Service: 7.7
Décor: 7.0
Value: 5.3

The worst Pho ever?

gabrielz from 10019 | Posted on 3/24/08

Overall Rating: 4 (Not Recommended)
Food: 2
Service: 9
Décor: 8
Value: 4

Feel compelled to write that today's business lunch at MeKong delivered the worst Pho I've ever had (and I've eaten a lot of it) and a tepid, uninspired Ca Phe Sua Da (iced Vietnamese Coffee). While I don't expect every Vietnamese restaurant to have these iconic dishes, if you put them on the menu, you *must* do a reasonably good job of them. The bowl was small, the garnish had already been placed (ouch!) the broth tasted like dishwater and the meat was tough. It was an absolute F. Our Goi Cuon were equally insipid, and the coffee was burnt, weak, gritty and way oversized. I don't know if the cooks and owners at this place are even Vietnamese, or if they just revel in trying to pull one over on their crowd (or maybe I just ordered wrong), but this was truly awful. Just plain awful.

Choose between expensive delivery or crowded/stressed dining

hautepanda from 11215 | Posted on 3/12/07

Overall Rating: 7 (Recommended)
Food: 8
Service: 5
Décor: (NA)
Value: 5

Some of their dishes are really tasty: I like the chicken curry soup and the salt and pepper calamari (my mouth is watering at the thought of the latter). But the price point is weird: pretty expensive, as takeout goes, and I don't actually enjoy eating at the restaurant - I've found it frenetic and a bit of a meat market crowd as opposed to a foodie crowd. So I just order takeout from there on occasion.

Read All 3 Reviews >>

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