Good Vietnamese Dining in New Brighton

Names can be deceiving.  The Mirage Bar and Grill sounds much like many sports bars with bar food that come and go and it appears that the bar and grill did go.  Fortunately the south half of the building at 400 Old Highway 8 in New Brighton offers quite good Vietnamese fare.

Pork Chop with Broken Rice

Marinated Pork & Eggroll Salad

Now if you are looking for atmosphere, which is often a cover for less than good food, you are not going to find much.  This is definitely a re-purposed space and parts even look like demo or re-construction in-process.

We are always looking for 'good food in the burbs' and this is a nice gem.  Linda ordered the 'pork chop on broken rice.'  The pork chops were delicious, marinated and delightfully moist throughout, grilled to perfection.  One of them ended up in the 'to go box' given the generous portion.

John ordered the marinated pork and egg roll salad.  Likewise portioned the pork was generous and flavorful.  The egg roll, while not up to our egg roll standard of Pink Flower,was good and large although flavored a bit more toward Chinese than Vietnamese.

The service was attentive and prompt.  Language issues were well handled on this and a subsequent visit with a numbered and pictured menu.  As we finished our meal we had a nice conversation with three young men, who like us, always put University Avenue's Cheng Heng near the top of Asian dining.  They, like us, felt that the Vietnamese experience at Mirage Bar and Grill to be a great value and worth regular visits.