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    Mekong Café

    3.8 (274 reviews)
    ModerateVietnamese, Thai, Laotian
    Open 11:00 am - 9:00 pm

    Mekong Café Photos

    MEKONG CAFÉ ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Quiet
    Casual
    Good for groups
    Good for kids

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    Recommended Reviews - Mekong Café

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    Sticky Rice Pudding with Mango
    Calvin Y.

    Buffet is really good. Love the curry, pork, and the mango sticky rice. The food in general has good variety. Server kind of rushed us when it was a slow lunch day (only us and 1 other table out of the 16).

    Buffet
    Norah T.

    I have been going to Mekong Cafe for years, but finally tried their lunch buffet! For $18 this is a steal. They had a wide variety of their popular dishes. I loved the pad see ew and Mekong chicken. There was such a wide variety, the only thing I would say was that the dumplings were luke warm. Definitely recommended checking out this small business!

    Aubrey G.

    Haven't been here in quite a while, maybe five years (or more?) because of the change of ownership and because it kind of became a market instead of a restaurant. Recently, I'd seen posts on Yelp and TikTok that the restaurant is serving food again and have seen the female chef discussing what she makes, thus deciding to give it a try. Mekong Cafe identifies (first) as a Thai, Laos and Vietnamese cuisine; thus, I ordered my favorite Thai dish; Pad Thai. Unfortunately, 'cuz I really wanted to like this place since it is so close to home, it smelled horrible when it was placed in front of me. The color of the food on the plate was a dark brown and had a terrible, unappetizing odor, so I decided to leave. I left money on the table and as I was walking out, the chef asked me what was wrong. When I told told her, she said it was the fish sauce. Well, fish sauce smells delicious and is normally savory and has a umami flavor. This was something that was (putridly) the opposite. To add a comment about my unhappiness with this place, upon walking into the restaurant, the "gentleman" at the register glared at me instead of greeting me as a normal service industry employee would. I stopped and waited because the sign in front said, "Please wait to be seated." I did so. The man ignored me. I was about to leave when I saw the above referred to female chef, who greeted me; so I decided to stay. I ordered from her right away and forgot to ask for something to drink because I wasn't asked what I wanted when I first ordered. Minutes later, I saw another, young man delivering food to a table. When he walked by, I asked him what kind of beer they have. He said to me, "I don't know," and walked away. I didn't follow up on this faux pas. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed and will not be returning.

    Pad Thai and Grandma Chanta s Special
    Jennifer N.

    Looking for a new dinner spot? How about one with a built-in grocery store? This place serves you Thai, Lao, and Vietnamese food for when you don't really know what you're feeling for dinner. I came here thinking it was a Thai/Lao restaurant, and was really pleased with what I got. The service is okay, but I come to these places for the food anyway. We ordered the pad thai and grandma's sausage platter. It wasn't my favorite pad Thai in the city, but it wasn't bad. The sausage platter sealed the deal for me. The hot and juicy lemongrass-y pork sausage chased with the spicy and funky papaya salad.....chef's kiss. Grandma knows what she's doing, and for that, I will be back for the lunch buffets!

    Menu
    Tippy P.

    We stopped by to check out their Lao buffet, but didn't realize it ended at 5pm. We ordered from their menu instead. Restaurant is located in the corner of a busy street, we parked down the street. When you enter you'll see the counter and groceries. They had rice crispy treat with thai tea and ube flavors. The server told us to sit anywhere we like. The restaurant is quite spacious.

    Fresh spring roll, crab ragoon, green beans, massaman curry with chicken, and noodles.

    The food was so flavorful! I went during the lunch buffet. The noodles were a bit dry but they have a separate section of sauces so I added a little bit of ginger sauce and it did the trick. I would definitely be going back! If you pay with a card, there is a small processing fee, so bring cash if you can.

    Rick R.

    The Mekong Cafe lunch buffet is back as of earlier this month, and I am THRILLED! I love their food, and it's hard to choose one or two items from their menu, so their buffet lets me try a little of a lot of options! Weekends offer premium items added to the weekday staples. Buffet runs 11am-4pm Tuesday through Sunday and open for dinner until 9:00. They are closed Mondays. Go!

    Ka V.

    Service was okay. There wasn't that much people, there was one person attending to everyone. Brought us a large jug of water after we were already all done eating.. Ambiance was a cute little mom and pop shop. Came for their buffet option. Food was sadly okay only. I've been seeing ads everywhere and was super excited. A lot of the food were cold or just room temp. Noodles were broken and the curry noodle was super dry. Really disappointed with the "dessert" options. Shrimp chips, sugar cookies, and canned peaches. I wouldn't say the food was terrible but it wasn't great either.. probably would not come back.

    Kandi H.

    Both great food and service. Will definitely return! They were very accommodating, great flavors, reasonably priced. Sandwich skimpy with the meat...

    Crab Rangoon (so good)

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    1 year ago

    The absolute best Thai food in Milwaukee. Their panang curry is unbelievable. Nice staff.

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    2 years ago

    We had a group of 8 and tried many dishes. Excellent service and the food was delicious.

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    Page 1 of 7

    Ask the Community - Mekong Café

    Is the lunch buffet back?

    Yes today is the first day 11:00am-4pm

    View All 2 Questions

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    Sweet Basil - Sesame Chicken

    Sweet Basil

    4.7(218 reviews)
    9.5 mi
    $$

    Delicious food, amazing atmosphere, and such kind staff. Also, the service is amazing, and they are…read morehonest about when your food will be ready.

    Food, service, and atmosphere were all fantastic!…read more We were greeted immediately when we walked in. The place was packed on a Saturday afternoon, so the greeter gave us some menus and let us know we could order and he'd find a table for us ASAP. We got to the counter and the cashier told us it would be a 45 minute wait. We accepted this and ordered anyway. We picked a curry, a noodle dish, and a Thai beer each. The cashier was very friendly. The original greeter found us a table almost immediately after we paid and mentioned the beer is especially nice over ice, so we took his recommendation. Beers came quickly, but food did take at least a half hour, as the cashier mentioned. Table and dining room were clean and nicely decorated with warm lighting and relaxing music. Bathrooms were also clean. Food was very good and flavorful. The portions were decent. We were full, ate most of our dishes, and didn't take anything home. The original greeter came back and checked on us while we were eating. Service was fantastic throughout the experience. The food was pricey, but aligns with other Thai restaurant prices in the area. Dishes were around $20. The whole experience was worth it. We will be returning!

    Photos
    Sweet Basil - Self service counter

    Self service counter

    Sweet Basil - Panang curry with chicken

    Panang curry with chicken

    Sweet Basil - Mango sticky rice!

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    Mango sticky rice!

    DanDan - Sesame Chicken Bao: I guess it's  "American Chinese" because it's like a burger instead of a traditional Bao.

    DanDan

    3.8(588 reviews)
    4.7 miHistoric Third Ward
    $$$

    The food was delicious and as a plant guy, I absolutely enjoyed walking into the space, seeing the…read morevibe and the ambiance. They were able to work with my shellfish & tree nut allergies and had great recommendations for me. Once seated, we spent an odd amount of time waited to be greeted and begin table service. Just keep that in mind when you plan your visit.

    Wanted to try something new in Milwaukee, and I kept seeing Dandan pop up on social media--so of…read morecourse, we had to try it. We got there about 20 minutes after opening. The minute we walked in, a man sitting next to the hostess--who appeared to be part of the restaurant, not a customer--just stared at us. No greeting, no smile... just staring. The hostess also seemed a bit confused when we walked in. She asked if we had reservations; we said no. Then she asked if a high-top table was fine, as if the restaurant were packed. We agreed, assuming there would be a long wait for a regular table. But as she led us over, there were plenty of regular tables available. So right off the bat, the vibe wasn't particularly welcoming. As for the service, the waitress did a great job with the welcome and checked on us at a perfect pace. We also liked the decor--plenty of cute design elements that would make for great photos and draw people in. The menu was well done too: not overwhelming, just the right amount of variety in each category. Honestly, this part is why I gave the place more stars than I probably should have. As for the food, it was just okay for us--though that may have been due to what we ordered. There were only two of us, and we got three dishes: shrimp fried rice, beef chow fun, and kung pao chicken. We thought that would give us a good variety. The food had good flavor, but all three dishes tasted very similar. If you try these same dishes elsewhere, the flavors are usually more distinct. I do wish we had tried more of the appetizers and drinks--maybe that would have changed our rating a bit.

    Photos
    DanDan - Inside

    Inside

    DanDan - Smashed Cucumbers

    Smashed Cucumbers

    DanDan - Outside

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    Outside

    Mekong Café - vietnamese - Updated May 2026

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