Red Mei

This place has gotten better. I actually really like their pad Thai and some of the other dishes have been good as well. Not amazing, but pretty good food.

This is an awesome hole in the wall! The food is very delicious. I recommend it for anyone who wants to have a delicious meal on a budget. Try it, you won’t regret it.

This no thrills restaurant caters to the lunch crowd in Old Town Alexandria. Cheap, fast and decent quality food. Don’t expect to the best Thai or semi Chinese food but the dishes are cooked in high temp woks and the flavor is there. Drunken noodles and red curry chicken were decent but overly salty. The open kitchen shows off its flaws and skills since the kitchen looked organized and clean. This also shows there flaws because the wok cooks had a simple job, to balance the flavors of the dishes were not done.
Food: 2.5÷5
Service: ¹⁄₅
Value: ⁵⁄₅
The cashier yelling out dishes that are ready for pick up is part of the charm of the restaurant.

Love the couple that runs this cute joint! My husband and I can’t get enough pad sew ew! Every time I go in they are so excited to see me and make me feel so special!

So good, so cheap! What’s not to love? Definitely lacking atmosphere but for a quick bite it’s a great spot.

It used to be so much better before the previous owners sold. Everything that was unique and wonderful about the menu has been crappified into generic mediocre Chinese food. I miss the zingy freshness of the old spicy chicken :-(

We headed to Old Town on Halloween, and of all places decided to walk into this pseudo-​fast food joint. It looks like a legit restaurant from the outside… but soon realized, upon them telling us that we needed to order at the counter, that it was more of a fast food concept than a sit down dinner. That’s not what we wanted exactly for Halloween dinner…
Service was pleasant however, and the food came quickly. We were a bit surprised at the $ 3.49 phở, but upon receiving the small plastic bowl realized that price point was appropriate. If you’re not hungry, it’s the perfect size. I got the drunken noodles, and that was a more normal size and not bad for $ 7. Taste-​wise, the drunken noodles were actually quite good. Phở was not bad, but would have been better if it was called chicken soup.
If I worked around here I would probably come here every couple of weeks for their good but not great food at a lunchable price.
Table-​for-​1 Factor: Mos Def.

Very cheap eating, somewhat boring, yet somehow this sterile little Chipotle version of Thai somehow works for lunch. While Red Mei offers the essence of Thai — consider this the most basic tastes and ingredients offered in Thai cuisine. The portions are seemingly generous and the prices are ridiculously cheap — probably the cheapest of all places on King Street. However, while eating lunch here recently I definitely noticed that they have gotten a little cheap on the ingredients — my coconut curry shrimp had so few shrimps that I found myself excavating through a daunting bowl of rice and vegetables. Bad move — hopefully this was an isolated incident and not a sign of bad things to come for this resilient establishment that is now in its eighth year of existence.
Also you must avoid the «phở» dishes — very very boring and just bland. Still though, it’s worth a trip every now and again for a cheap lunch that in some cases exceeds most other enormously expensive lunch options on King Street.

The heyday of this restaurant has since passed – it used to be a shoulder-​to-​shoulder packed-​house during lunch, but is now a ghost town. When the original owner sold the joint to the current owners, things went downhill pretty quick. What used to be a surprisingly fresh menu of fusion recipes has devolved into sub-​par thai-«inspired» fare. And while the menu has tried to remain true to the original, the ingredients have been switched for less tasty alternatives. They’ve sacrificed the original «art» of the menu in favor of the cheap and easy. To be clear, the food isn’t terrible – but it’s not worth your time, either.
In the golden days of this place, the Kung-​Pao chicken was glazed with a dark, rich sauce that had a really tasty punch. Now it’s a thin and light with little taste at all. And they’ve filled the ingredients with celery – I hate that. It’s a cheap trick! The Spicy Chicken used to be full of fresh Fresno peppers, but is now swimming in cheaper (and probably easier to source) serrano peppers. But their heat is so overpowering (probably because it doesn’t taste like much anyways), I don’t want to finish it.
The way in which they serve the customer has also taken a hit. For example, I used to get a nice take-​away container that didn’t leak. Now it’s a crappy styrofoam box that does. The eat-​in plates used to be sturdy and high-​enough quality that let me know they actually cared what I was eating from. Now, again, it’s cheap and flimsy styrofoam. Hold it with both hands because you might lose your food otherwise! I know this seems petty, but it’s a small detail that underscores my point.
So what is my point? Basically, every customer touch-​point from food to service has been compromised in favor of something cheaper, easier, and requires as little artistic vision as possible. It’s run-​of-​the-​mill – at best.
Given their competition and the ever-​revolving door of restaurants along King Street, I’d say they need to get their act together, and quick. Bring back the original ingredients! Try something new! Add some excitement to the menu! I don’t see them lasting for too much longer if they stay the course, and that saddens me.

Poor customer service. Very unfriendly. I asked them to cut my tofu into smaller pieces while stir frying. How difficult is that? They won’t even busy. I was told that this was fast food and they couldn’t do it which is fine except that they had an attitude Tossed. Won’t go back. Don’t need attitude when I’m purchasing something. The pad Thai was not very good

Good for take out or quick munch only. This is a fast food restaurant, don’t compare it to sit down restaurant presentation! Rating only on flavor and speed, pad Thai was good and worth the meal. Do not get summer rolls, they are nothing like the Viet kind.

Quick, fresh and always delicious. Very kind and friendly owners. Been coming here for years.

The good:
— Food here is cheap. Entrees are all about $ 7.50, soups and appetizers are in the $ 3 – 4 range. You simply cannot get prices that low in touristy Old Town.
— They make the food right in front of you, the kitchen is up front and they hand you food straight off the stove top.
The bad:
— Once you factor out the giant pile of rice that comes with each plate, portion size is quite small. There’s not much meat, mostly vegetables and rice.
I want to give this place 4 stars on account of price, but as a carnivore I’m gonna need to see more meat before I can issue a higher rating.

Don’t do it. This place is gross. The food was sour – the pad Thai and ginger chicken. Go to Caphe Bahn Mi a couple blocks down.

I really shouldve read the reviews first. Left church service starving and wandered in here. Ordered the green curry w/​tofu. The presentation is very sloppy and instantly unappetizing. Tasted a few bites and pretty disappointed. Curry sauce is very very watery… unusual consistency. Sigh, overall disappointed. Im always looking for affordable decent food on King Street… and even better if its not a ‘chain restaurant’. I love to support mom & pops but think ill have to stick to La Madeleine and Nandos for now when I need a quick bite after church. Wrapped the food to go hoping I can salvage it at home. Didnt bother complaining. First and last visit. No wonder it is always empty when I pass by.

So I’m running around King Street trying to finish my grocery shopping, and I’m getting really hungry. I was in the mood for something fresh, yummy, reasonably healthy, and cheap. I was going to settle for a Chipotle salad yet again, and then I saw Red Mei. I must have walked past this place a hundred times and never noticed it, since it’s sort of tucked away. I am so excited that I found it!
The menu has a lot of America’s Asian food favorites: phở, drunken noodles, summer rolls, curry, etc. I’m eating veggies and chicken cooked in a delicious coconut curry sauce and served over white rice, for about $ 7. Plus, the place is clean and inviting. It’s a Christmas miracle!!!

Came here for a quick lunch since I was working an event and only had 30 mins. I will say that surprisingly their service is super quick for Thai food. I ordered the Panang curry with chicken. One complaint is that the portion size is really small. Luckily I’m pregnant and don’t have much room in my stomach anymore otherwise I would have had to order two dishes! Not much décor inside and definitely doesn’t draw you into the place from the outside. But very quick, decent Thai food.

Great food, terrible customer service. Normally eat there, but this time I got to go and the portion and amount of sauce were much smaller. Walked back over from my apartment to ask for more sauce and was told no, that’s just the way it’s served which is false from my experience eating here. They just lost a loyal customer /​advertiser. Will not be returning after being treated antagonistically by staff

The people were nice and the décor was cute… but thats about it.
I could only taste ginger un the mongolian beef and their chicken pad thai had way too much fish sauce.
There air conditioning was a weak so it was hot and humid. Unfortunately I will not be back

I have eaten in and had delivery from Red Mei, and I can say that it is a solid option for a quick fix of Asian food. Nothing fancy here, just solid noodle options. I really think of this place as more of a delivery option than a dine in choice. Also, the prices are very reasonable for what you get, and one of my favorite selections is Red Mei’s Pad Thai Chicken, which is a good option for a quick bite.
I will say that I would not order the phở soup for there are so many places in the area that specialize in phở to settle on Red Mei’s version. No, stick with their noodle dishes, and you will be happy.