Another week, another ethnic restaurant in central New York. It was my turn to treat Mom and Dad, and we opted for Vietnamese again, this time at Pho Mekong House of Noodles.
Pho Mekong is located on John Street in East Utica, just down the street from the last restaurant visited, Thuy Cafe. Pho Mekong is pretty neat in that it is set in a converted gas station, so it has ample parking space outside, and an oddly shaped interior. Tables, maybe 10 in all, run along the windows in an L-shape. The interior isn't quite as bland as some of my previous forays-photos of the menu items adorn the walls, along with some Southeast Asian art.
Despite the restaurant's full name, the menu isn't just all Pho, or noodle soups. Other Vietnamese rice and noodle dishes can be found as well, along with a smattering of Thai and Cambodian fare, meaning that Pho Mekong's menu is a touch longer than the one at Thuy Cafe. Hot tea is brought along with the menus, a nice touch not found so far at any of Utica's other ethnic restaurants. The menu also features a fairly lengthy list of appetizers, all of them $3.00. We tried the pork wontons for starters. It comes in a very small bowl, really only fit for one person, but we still shared. The wontons are little pork spheres wrapped in fat noodles. They were tasty, though a tad on the salty side. Those with high blood pressure should maybe avoid those.
Being my first time at the place, I figured I should go with its namesake, and chose Pho Ga, a chicken noodle dish. The soups can be gotten in regular, large, and extra large, though you can take my word that regular is adequate even for the healthy eater. Regular bowls start at $6.95. Mom was feeling slightly more adventurous than at Thuy Cafe, and picked the house Pad Thai, while Dad went buck-wild crazy and ordered something called the "Rail Road Fried Rice"-which was fried rice, peppers, shrimp, crab meat, and all kinds of other stuff served inside half of a cored pineapple. No idea why they chose that name (the connection isn't immediately apparent) but I don't think its something you'll see on most American dinner tables. Most items on the menu are under $9, save maybe the Chef's Specials.
Well, once again, everyone was impressed with their meals. The Pho Ga is pretty simple, but it was still properly done. The shredded chicken is high quality, all white meat, the broth was delicious, and of course slurping up the noodles with chopsticks is always fun. Onions and basil can also be found in the soup. A little plate with mint leaves and bean sprouts comes with it so you can add at your leisure, but I don't get into either item. You can try the mint leaves in the soup if you are looking for a rather peculiar taste. Mom's Pad Thai was awesome. She let me polish off what was left of her very sizable serving, and I scarfed it right down. The noodles were a bit different then I've experienced elsewhere, thinner and longer, but it had a nice, smooth peanut-buttery taste. I would put it right on par with the Pad Thai at A7 Asian. Dad's Rail Road Fried Rice not only won style points for presentation, but taste points as well. The fried rice wasn't like the fried rice you find at any Chinese take-out place-it had a sticky, moist consistency. There was all kinds of other things thrown in there, but something called Chinese sausage, diced into little slices and put in the rice, especially caught my attention with its sweet taste. Don't worry, the part of the pineapple that is carved out is also chopped up and also tossed in the mix. When everything was polished off, no extra pineapple could be taken out of the "bowl", it had been cored so precisely.
The dessert menu only advertised "fruits in syrup", so we decided to pass on that. Sorry, I'm not a very astute reviewer, but I don't think we missed much. Overall though, another Asian restaurant has left me and my companions smiling. Pho Mekong was a winner, and, once I have covered all the other ethnic restaurants in my sights, I'll go back for seconds. I give this place a thumbs up.
Grade: 4.5/5 (the wonton soup really could have been a little less salty, and the dessert menu didn't seem very interesting, so a full 5 escapes Pho, but everything else was tip top)
Pho Mekong is located on John Street in East Utica, just down the street from the last restaurant visited, Thuy Cafe. Pho Mekong is pretty neat in that it is set in a converted gas station, so it has ample parking space outside, and an oddly shaped interior. Tables, maybe 10 in all, run along the windows in an L-shape. The interior isn't quite as bland as some of my previous forays-photos of the menu items adorn the walls, along with some Southeast Asian art.
Despite the restaurant's full name, the menu isn't just all Pho, or noodle soups. Other Vietnamese rice and noodle dishes can be found as well, along with a smattering of Thai and Cambodian fare, meaning that Pho Mekong's menu is a touch longer than the one at Thuy Cafe. Hot tea is brought along with the menus, a nice touch not found so far at any of Utica's other ethnic restaurants. The menu also features a fairly lengthy list of appetizers, all of them $3.00. We tried the pork wontons for starters. It comes in a very small bowl, really only fit for one person, but we still shared. The wontons are little pork spheres wrapped in fat noodles. They were tasty, though a tad on the salty side. Those with high blood pressure should maybe avoid those.
Being my first time at the place, I figured I should go with its namesake, and chose Pho Ga, a chicken noodle dish. The soups can be gotten in regular, large, and extra large, though you can take my word that regular is adequate even for the healthy eater. Regular bowls start at $6.95. Mom was feeling slightly more adventurous than at Thuy Cafe, and picked the house Pad Thai, while Dad went buck-wild crazy and ordered something called the "Rail Road Fried Rice"-which was fried rice, peppers, shrimp, crab meat, and all kinds of other stuff served inside half of a cored pineapple. No idea why they chose that name (the connection isn't immediately apparent) but I don't think its something you'll see on most American dinner tables. Most items on the menu are under $9, save maybe the Chef's Specials.
Well, once again, everyone was impressed with their meals. The Pho Ga is pretty simple, but it was still properly done. The shredded chicken is high quality, all white meat, the broth was delicious, and of course slurping up the noodles with chopsticks is always fun. Onions and basil can also be found in the soup. A little plate with mint leaves and bean sprouts comes with it so you can add at your leisure, but I don't get into either item. You can try the mint leaves in the soup if you are looking for a rather peculiar taste. Mom's Pad Thai was awesome. She let me polish off what was left of her very sizable serving, and I scarfed it right down. The noodles were a bit different then I've experienced elsewhere, thinner and longer, but it had a nice, smooth peanut-buttery taste. I would put it right on par with the Pad Thai at A7 Asian. Dad's Rail Road Fried Rice not only won style points for presentation, but taste points as well. The fried rice wasn't like the fried rice you find at any Chinese take-out place-it had a sticky, moist consistency. There was all kinds of other things thrown in there, but something called Chinese sausage, diced into little slices and put in the rice, especially caught my attention with its sweet taste. Don't worry, the part of the pineapple that is carved out is also chopped up and also tossed in the mix. When everything was polished off, no extra pineapple could be taken out of the "bowl", it had been cored so precisely.
The dessert menu only advertised "fruits in syrup", so we decided to pass on that. Sorry, I'm not a very astute reviewer, but I don't think we missed much. Overall though, another Asian restaurant has left me and my companions smiling. Pho Mekong was a winner, and, once I have covered all the other ethnic restaurants in my sights, I'll go back for seconds. I give this place a thumbs up.
Grade: 4.5/5 (the wonton soup really could have been a little less salty, and the dessert menu didn't seem very interesting, so a full 5 escapes Pho, but everything else was tip top)
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