| rev:text
| - I actually stumbled across this place by accident. For some reason, I've never really been a big fan of Mesa and I'm not exactly sure why. I had even dated a dude who lived in Tempe and whenever we went out, I'd always choose Scottsdale/Phoenix/Chandler over Mesa. Weird.
Anyway, it just so happened that my aunt and uncle were down here visiting and for whatever reason, they needed to go to some place in Mesa - so my mother and I tagged along.
We were looking for a place to eat when we drove by the Mekong Plaza. Curious, we pulled a U-ey and checked it out. One end of the plaza was virtually deserted, but once you rounded the corner, we found the main entrance and some little restaurants. We ended up deciding on Chinese food for the afternoon - oops! I mean, "Taiwanese" food. I dunno how I could've gotten those two confused. Heh. Anyway, I'll review that place later...
After lunch, we decided to look around while we were there...
A lot of the retail space was vacant, but they did have miscellaneous lessees, such as: a barber, cell phone shop, various small restaurants, a gift shop, a nail supply store, a dentist, and of course, the supermarket.
The gift shop was small and quaint. They had some cute little trinkets. They were super expensive, though. They had this Hello Kitty case that was identical to one that I bought from Target. I paid about $4.00 for mine, but they were selling it for $17.00.
They were also selling faux Coach bags. I still don't fully understand how that appreciates Chinese culture - maybe there is pride in manufacturing pieces of *bleep* that look like the real thing from a distance, but are so poorly constructed that your hands actually feel dirty after touching them. Not only that, but they were selling them for $70! That's way too much for fake (unless we're talking about my blonde highlights)!
I wasn't too keen on a dentist's office being in what is basically a strip mall. "Honey, I'm going to the Mekong for some Orange Chicken and oral surgery!"
Now, onto the market!
When you first approach the market, it's kinda impressive. They have some items on display outside of the store, so it's kinda like you're walking through an indoor street fair to get to the market.
There are two very distinct things you notice when you first arrive and stand in the entrance:
1) The store carries so many products! You could probably find just about any South East Asian food item you were looking for, plus some traditionally Western items like Heinz Ketchup and Campbell's Soup.
2) The STENCH!
From the entry, there was a foul odor of rotting flesh and fish hanging in the air. Now, don't go stating the obvious "Well, it IS an Asian market, moron!" I know that. However, there is no excuse for that type of "aroma" polluting the air. The fish/butcher counters are not close enough to the front door to warrant such a concentrated pungency. As a result, I'm left to question either the cleanliness of the market or the freshness of their meats, and if I have to do that, I will err on the side of caution, therefore, their meat/fish departments will not receive my business.
Other than that, the store wasn't bad. They had a nice produce section that had a reasonable variety of veggies and herbs. The items that they placed on sale had kickass prices (i.e. Chinese eggplant $.69/lb., patis $.89/bottle, coconut milk $.69/can, etc.). Aside from the items on sale, I think their prices are mediocre, if not on the higher side.
As I was checking out after buying a few cans of coconut milk, a bottle of patis, and some canned sardines, I asked the cashier how long they had been open, since I saw "Grand Opening" signs hanging from the ceiling. She didn't speak English, at least, not English I could understand, so the previous customer was kind enough to stay and translate for us. Apparently, the store had been open for six months, which still makes it relatively new, I guess. Too new, IMO, for that foulness to be permeating the air.
It was nice to visit the Mekong Market, but it's not any place I'd go out of my way for. If you're closer to a Lee Lee or one of the other ethnic markets in the valley, they would suffice just as well. If you feel the MM beckoning to you, though, make sure to take advantage of their bargain sale prices, and use your own good judgement when venturing to the land of meat and fish.
While I think the store in and of itself rates 4-stars, I'm assessing three because there is no excuse for the poor air quality. At the very least, they could invest in some better ventilation or fans (or gas masks)!
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)