Mai Village: A Review

Today has really been fun. We took this morning kind of slowly and we were able to get some chores done. I hate doing them, but it always feels great when they're done. Then Panod made the kids some lunch, while he and I discussed going to a Vietnamese restaurant for the two of us. With the kids already full from their lunch, we went ahead and decided it would be fun to go, and the kids could order a dessert. We went to Mai Village (great article about it here), and we picked it for several reasons:

1. We (the kids and I) had not been there before.
2. The place is supposed to be decorated to the hills.
3. There's a bridge that goes over a pond with fish in it, and the pond has a working waterfall! What kid wouldn't love that?
4. The food is supposed to be good.
5. With it being a Sunday afternoon, it probably wouldn't be too crowded.
6. Feed the blog! Feed the blog!

Wow! Mai Village did not fail to impress! They spared no expense when it came to decorating. The kids really did enjoy the waterfall and the fish pond - letting them wander over and watch the fish made waiting for the food seem like half the time. And the food!

Here's a rundown on what we ordered and how it was (with the menu numbers):

#2 Egg Rolls - Excellent! The sauce was just what I had in mind and the order came with two egg rolls and two bowls of sauce to dip them in. (I'm a sauce queen. I can face my faults.)

#7 Spring Roll - Panod really enjoyed these. The order came with an amazing peanut-based sauce and again, it came with two spring rolls and two bowls of the dipping sauce.

#63 Hot & Spicy Chicken - This was Panod's order and it was impressive. The order was enough to feed at least two people! Served over rice, it was spicy, saucy and full of flavor. Truly, we could have done with just this one, wonderful dish.

#76 Curry Mock Duck - But no! I needed to try the Curry Mock Duck! Good-ness! It was amazing and once again, it could have fed at least two people. This too was a spicy dish, but not quite as spicy as the chicken. It was full of mock duck, mushrooms & onions, and the flavor from the sauce was right on.

We ordered a dessert called a Berry Blossom for the kids, and had them split it. It was yogurt with fresh berries on top & it too was something that I will likely be craving in the not-too-distant future.

The bill was something slightly more painful than we had anticipated, so maybe next time we'll split an appetizer & main dish. But we will definitely be going back.

Mai Village
394 University Ave. W
St. Paul, MN 55103
651.290.2585
Great food & service; kid friendly - highly recommended


The other news of the day is our current weather. They say we may get upwards of 9+ inches by tomorrow afternoon! That would make this our biggest snow maker of the season. I'll be sure to post some pictures of the snow tomorrow! Click here for the latest from NOAA's site.