On a recent Thursday at about 2 p.m., it was hard to find a spot in the parking lot adjacent Mekong Café. That is a good sign for any restaurant, but particularly for one that closes from 2:30-4 p.m. every day in between lunch and dinner service.
It wasn’t long after 4 p.m. that the parking lot began filling up again, and that’s how it’s been most of the two decades of service for the family-run Thai, Vietnamese and Laotian restaurant.
The reason, of course, is the food. Married couple and owners Somsavinh and Lisa Mahnee offer a menu that doesn’t overwhelm with you too many pages of choices but still has a wide variety of dishes.
But it’s more than the food, too. The Mahnees make sure they spend a couple minutes, at least, with all the customers when they pay at the register, and other family members work in the kitchen or as servers.
“My husband has a love for food, and my son, Andrew, is now our head chef,” Lisa Mahnee says. “Our customers are loyal. Even during COVID, our phone never stopped ringing and people never stopped coming in line. We’ve been so blessed here.”
Somsavinh, whom everybody calls “Win,” immigrated to Springfield from Laos in the early 1980s. He later met and married Lisa and they opened Mekong Café in 2007. Looking around at different tables on a recent visit, it was clear that this is a restaurant where not everybody orders the same one or two dishes.
They are well known for their various curries, though, which range from mild to two-alarm fire. The various Pad Thai dishes are a consistent choice for many.
“We’re a small family business, and we want people to feel welcome when they walk in,” Lisa Mahnee says.
This article appears in October 29-November 4, 2026.
