Inside: Mekong River

If you're in the mood for Thai, head to Cleveland Heights, which seems to boast a Thai restaurant in just about every main section of the city. One in particular, Mekong River, is often referred to as the best in the area as well as a favorite take-out stop for several area chefs.

Food: Thai and Cambodian are the focus of Mekong River, named after one of the world’s longest rivers. There’s no shortage of choices here, with several tempting pages ranging from starters, soups, curry, Thai and Cambodian entrées, noodles and fried rice specialties and a lengthy offering of vegetarian choices.

On our visit, we started with an order of the crab Rangoon ($4.99), wontons filled with cream cheese, crab meat and seasoning and Thai curry puffs ($5.99), ground chicken, sweet potatoes, onions and cilantro wrapped in a puff pastry served with a thick peanut sauce. Entrées included seafood samlaw machu kreoung, a sour pungent Cambodian stew with ground lemon grass, celery, eggplant, jalapeño, garlic, galanga, tumeric and tamarind sauce served with white rice ($13.99), and pad Thai, perhaps the most often ordered Thai dish with noodles, bean sprouts, scallion, eggs, bay scallops and shrimp ($13.99).

The star of this outing was definitely the appetizers, particularly the Thai curry puffs. These thick, small pie-like starters were savory and beyond satisfying. A trip back just for this is in our future.   

Dinners were not as favorable. We’ve sampled pad Thai at just about every Thai restaurant around and this version was not among our favorites (though if you like your pad Thai a little less sweet and light on the peanuts, you might want to try this). The samlaw machu kreoung was much more memorable. This heavily fragrant dish is a one bowl wonder with many layers of flavor, including tangy, sweet and spicy. It’s an impressive dish, especially how it all seems to work so well together.

Libations: Mekong River offers a full bar though it’s often the non-alcoholic choices that really shine, including bubble tea—a sweet tea made with tiny tapioca balls mixed with fruit, and Thai iced tea; both staples in most Thai restaurants.

Décor: We’re not going to lie, it isn’t pretty. It appears nothing has been touched with the décor since the day they opened. There’s much wear and tear (as evident by the heavily-torn carpet) and even layers of dust on the many knick-knacks. If the place was freshened up, including replacing and/or updating items like carpet and furniture, it could have its own unique charm.

Service: Service is friendly, though a bit on the slow side. If you’re not familiar with some of the offerings, they’ll gladly spend time with you reviewing the menu and seek out something that fits your tastes.

Insider tip: Portions are rather large and definitely enough for two. Go with friends and order several dishes and dine family-style. It’s also a great way to experience several flavors.

Bottom line: While the Heights has no shortage of ethnic eats, we’re not yet ready to crown Mekong as our favorite for Thai. It does, however, offer wonderful options and is worth checking out—for takeout.