394 W University Ave
St Paul, MN
(651) 290-2585
Category: Vietnamese, Chinese
Rating (Scale 1-10, with 10 being the highest):
Food: 7
Service: 6
Ambience: 9
Recommendation: Very Good. Great Vietnamese restaurant with excellent décor and leisurely family style dining options that you can enjoy with a group of friends or family.
Mai Village is located on University Avenue in St Paul, which is now home to some of the Twin Cities’ best ethnic restaurants… Krua Thai, Ho Bien, Va Lor, and Little Szechuan to name a few. If the Twin Cities had a Chinatown, this stretch would be it. The first reaction when you enter Mai Village is WOW!! The décor is just simply fabulous. Waterfalls, a koi pond with fish swimming among Lotus flowers, an actual wooden bridge that you cross to get to the restaurant, and wooden carved sculptures…simply great.
The menu is pretty large and has a ton of options ranging from standard dishes such as Beef with Broccoli and Hot and Spicy Chicken to several Vietnamese specialties. Mai Village is known for its Bò 7 món, (seven courses of beef - $16.95 typically served over 2 hours), which is a selection of beef dishes – coleslaw type salad, beef broth, meatballs, minced beef in grape leaves, marinated beef on griddle to name a few.
The Goi Bo was a special Beef salad (if you get the Bò 7 món, it’s the first course) that was like a Vietnamese coleslaw with beef. The sweet vinegary flavors complemented
well with the chopped mint, lime, cilantro, and cucumber. The beef itself was dry and lacking flavor but the rest of the salad was delicious. The Saigon salad came with a tender and juicy beef tenderloin served on a bed of sautéed watercress. The beef was delicious but the watercress was very bitter. Combining the salad from the Goi Bo and the beef from the Saigon salad would have made a perfect dish! The Chicken with Asparagus, Basil, and Shitake Mushrooms was excellent and our favorite dish of the night. The vegetables were fresh and the dark drown slightly sweet sauce was amazing.
We tried two large family style, do it yourself type dishes whic
h were also great..if you don’t mind doing all the work yourself! The #89 ($30) came with a meat and seafood platter that you cook yourself on a griddle they bring to your table. It comes with rice paper that you dip into water to make your own spring roll that is then stuffed with noodles, the meat, and vegetables such as lettuce, mint, and pineapple. While the dish was great and the seafood represented a wide variety from shrimp to squid to scallops, the gingery sauce that was provided was a bit underwhelming. A hoisin type sauce along w
ith the ginger sauce might have been nice. The #90 Ta Pin Lu Thap Cam ($30) was a Hot Pot style dish. Hot Pot is like fondue and consists of a simmering pot of stock at the center of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table by the diners. We were provided thinly sliced beef, chicken, lettuce and basil. The salty broth was just delicious and didn’t really need any add-ons. It tasted like Pho soup, which is a classic Vietnamese dish.
$$. Free parking lot in the back.
Category: Vietnamese, Chinese
Rating (Scale 1-10, with 10 being the highest):
Food: 7
Service: 6
Ambience: 9
Recommendation: Very Good. Great Vietnamese restaurant with excellent décor and leisurely family style dining options that you can enjoy with a group of friends or family.
Mai Village is located on University Avenue in St Paul, which is now home to some of the Twin Cities’ best ethnic restaurants… Krua Thai, Ho Bien, Va Lor, and Little Szechuan to name a few. If the Twin Cities had a Chinatown, this stretch would be it. The first reaction when you enter Mai Village is WOW!! The décor is just simply fabulous. Waterfalls, a koi pond with fish swimming among Lotus flowers, an actual wooden bridge that you cross to get to the restaurant, and wooden carved sculptures…simply great.
The menu is pretty large and has a ton of options ranging from standard dishes such as Beef with Broccoli and Hot and Spicy Chicken to several Vietnamese specialties. Mai Village is known for its Bò 7 món, (seven courses of beef - $16.95 typically served over 2 hours), which is a selection of beef dishes – coleslaw type salad, beef broth, meatballs, minced beef in grape leaves, marinated beef on griddle to name a few.
The Goi Bo was a special Beef salad (if you get the Bò 7 món, it’s the first course) that was like a Vietnamese coleslaw with beef. The sweet vinegary flavors complemented
well with the chopped mint, lime, cilantro, and cucumber. The beef itself was dry and lacking flavor but the rest of the salad was delicious. The Saigon salad came with a tender and juicy beef tenderloin served on a bed of sautéed watercress. The beef was delicious but the watercress was very bitter. Combining the salad from the Goi Bo and the beef from the Saigon salad would have made a perfect dish! The Chicken with Asparagus, Basil, and Shitake Mushrooms was excellent and our favorite dish of the night. The vegetables were fresh and the dark drown slightly sweet sauce was amazing.We tried two large family style, do it yourself type dishes whic
h were also great..if you don’t mind doing all the work yourself! The #89 ($30) came with a meat and seafood platter that you cook yourself on a griddle they bring to your table. It comes with rice paper that you dip into water to make your own spring roll that is then stuffed with noodles, the meat, and vegetables such as lettuce, mint, and pineapple. While the dish was great and the seafood represented a wide variety from shrimp to squid to scallops, the gingery sauce that was provided was a bit underwhelming. A hoisin type sauce along w
ith the ginger sauce might have been nice. The #90 Ta Pin Lu Thap Cam ($30) was a Hot Pot style dish. Hot Pot is like fondue and consists of a simmering pot of stock at the center of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table by the diners. We were provided thinly sliced beef, chicken, lettuce and basil. The salty broth was just delicious and didn’t really need any add-ons. It tasted like Pho soup, which is a classic Vietnamese dish.$$. Free parking lot in the back.
2 comments:
I ate here for New Years Eve and it's true- very lovely decor. And a large list of items to choose from. I had the seared beef noodle salad and it was very good. The service was lax - we could have used some attention at the last 1/2 hour of our 2 hour meal (friends had the cook-it-yourself dish), but overall, a good experience.
Try dim sum here -- very good. Comparable to Jun Bo and Mandarin Kitchen, but in a much nicer room. Ups to the chicken feet, Chinese broccoli, shark fin dumplings and fried taro root.
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