This seems to be Richmond’s favorite beer bar.  Anytime I asked someone about it, I would see their face light up before regaling me in stories.  The tales have turned into hyperbole as people would exaggerate the amount of beers they actually serve.  Reality is that they have about 40-50 craft beers on tap.  There’s no Bud Light here thankfully!  The best part about their taps is that they feature some of the most popular and hard to find brews. I can’t speak for all of the staff, but my bartender was quite knowledgeable.  Mekong has earned the title of best beer bar in the nation for two years in a row.  The bizarre twist is all of this is in a Vietnamese restaurant.  It looks and feels exactly like a Vietnamese restaurant too.  The only difference is the big bar, huge beer board, and numerous taps.

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With all of the hype I heard, I knew it was going to be tough for the reality to live up to the legends, and that is exactly what happened.  While I certainly enjoyed all of the variety and the uniqueness of the setting, I just couldn’t understand how this could be the best beer bar.  Take a step away from the actual bar and you are now just standing in a restaurant.  I imagine the best beer bar to be a place with enormous screen televisions wallpapering the walls and some variety of beer games such as pong, pool or darts.  And the best beer should allow you to sit at a table with a bunch of your friends getting loud and rowdy, but here your only option is to sit at the bar and see the person to your left and right.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but that should not be the only option at the best beer bar.  Of course there are many tables at Mekong, but these are for restaurant seating.  For the nights you want to get wasted and act like a loud db, well, you can’t do that at the restaurant tables.  My last disappointment was that I expected the best beer to have selection after selection of beers.  Ask anyone in Richmond and they will brag out how endless the selection is at Mekong.  And yes, there are 40 to 50 and that might seem mind-blowing to Richmond, but I can easily find a dozen bars in my hometown of south Florida that easily sell way beyond 100.  Best craft beer bar in Richmond?  Probably.  But not outside of Virginia.