Here’s a few pictures of the new Mekong Plaza in Mesa, AZ.
Day: October 18, 2008
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Taiwan Food Expressway to Hunger
The new Meikong Plaza (an indoor Asian mall) opened today in the hinterland of the Mesa/Tempe border just a couple blocks from the terminal Phoenix Light Rail station.
Inside the mall is Taiwan Food Express and new Taiwanese restaurant with an impressively large menu.
It’s a pity the menu isn’t edible as there wasn’t much food in evidence on grand opening day.
We wanted beef noodle soup, they were out.
We tried to get chicken curry over rice, they were out.
We tried to get xiao long bao (steamed dumplings), they were out.
I gave up and just wanted a Dr. Pepper and they were out.
My wife finally asked them what the did have and they indicated just a 2 inch section of the menu that they had. They finally got a pork chop (bland) and a bowl of noodles in broth.
We also ordered three drinks and the got one of them wrong.
Despite not having much food, they weren’t hurting for customers hoping to buy something.
We’ll give them another try someday, maybe after the trains are running. In the meantime, don’t bother to look at the menu, just ask what they’ve got.
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Indoor Sonic Boom?
Sonic Drive-ins are an interesting bit of Americana. Emulating old episodes of Happy Days, these restaurants are designed fir you to drive up, park, order through a speaker next to your car and then your food us delivered right to the car where you proceed to eat it.
Personally, apart from the novelty, I hate that arrangement. I don’t like eating in a car, which makes the experience a non-starter for me.
On the other hand, the have an interesting drinks selection and a couple food items that I quite like. Net result: I probably eat at a Sonic once a year. Considering that I eat at McDonald’s 15-24 times a year and I like Sonic’s food a lot better, I consider them to be a failed concept in fast food deployment.
Today we spied something new: a Sonic without the drive-in. It was actually an indoor restaurant with a drive-through.
You order through red Soviet Hotline looking phones on the tables and the “carhop” brings the food to your table.
Weird, but if they had these closer to my home, McDonald’s would be loosijg some business.
