25 Hidden Gem Restaurants Only Found In Louisville Strip Malls

Mai’s Thai

1411 E. 10 St., Jeffersonville, Indiana
Most Louisvillians swear by Simply Thai, but there’s an equally great Thai restaurant across the river in Jeffersonville, started by Mai Kungkran (now Meyers), who learned traditional “home style” Thai cooking from her father while living in a suburb of Bangkok. You’ll eat your Pad Thai and curry surrounded by scenes of Thailand, making you feel far away from the H&R Block next door.
Photo via facebook.com/Mais-Thai-Restaurant

Gourmet Provisions

9407 Westport Road
Gourmet Provisions was started by veterans of the Louisville restaurant industry who have worked at some of the city’s finest restaurants, including Jack Fry’s. They wanted to do something different with Gourmet Provisions, which sells chef-forward bistro fare for carry-out or delivery — served from an inauspicious East End strip mall.
Photo via Gourmet Provisions

Bombay Grill

216 N. Hurstbourne Parkway
Bombay Grill is an East End restaurant with a menu that covers a wide variety of Indian regions and dishes: There are more than 150 items to choose from, many of them quite affordable, with none over $15.99.
Photo by Robin Garr

Bodega Mi Sueño

3645 Mall Road
Bodega Mi Sueño is a Cuban grocery store and bakery but you can also stop by for a meal, served cafeteria style. You’ll find your Cuban favorites, including lechon (citrus-marinated, roasted pulled pork), maduros (fried plantains) and steamed yuca with red onions.
Photo via facebook.com/BodegaMiSueno

Brix Wine Bar

12418 La Grange Road
Here’s one that really fits the term “hidden gem”: a wine bar in a strip mall. Brix features a large selection of wine and a few, carefully selected entrees, appetizers and salads. This low-lit restaurant is perfect for a surprise date night.
Photo via facebook.com/Brix-Wine-Bar-and-Bistro

The Charcoal Restaurant

2805 N. Hurstbourne Parkway
In the style of Jerusalem street food, the chicken at The Charcoal Restaurant is rotated over natural wood charcoal and served with a powerful garlic sauce.
Photo via facebook.com/TheCharcoalRestaurant

La Chapinlandia

1209 McCawley Road
La Chapinlandia is a grocery store/restaurant, as all the best strip mall restaurants are. It serves Latin American food from all over but specializes in Guatemalan fare, including their pacaya envuelta en huevo, a date palm cooked in an eggy batter and served with rice, frijoles and crema.
Photo via facebook.com/Lachapinlandia

Clay Oven Restaurant

12567 Shelbyville Road
Clay Oven is a restaurant that LEO food critic Robin Garr dubbed a bright star “in the Indian-restaurant galaxy,” which is saying something in Louisville. Its menu features Indian food from all regions as well as Nepal.
Photo via facebook.com/clayovenlouisville

Cafe Thuy Van

5600 National Turnpike
Head to South Louisville for a family-owned authentic Vietnamese restaurant with a bowl of pho that locals swear by. Cafe Thuy Van is cash only, but reviewers say you’ll find an ATM at the gas station next door if you forget your bills.
Photo via Cafe Thuy Van

Corner Cafe

9307 La Grange Road
Corner Cafe has lasted for a reason. The family-run New American restaurant opened in 1986 and its shrimp and grits and Irish pork are award winning. It’s located, not on the corner of anything, but in the middle of a Lyndon strip mall.
Photo via Google Street View

El Mariachi

9901 La Grange Road
At El Mariachi, you can find your Tex-Mex favorites, but the restaurant also has Guanajuatan roots. Our food critic Robin Garr praised the restaurant’s complimentary chips in particular, which he called, “thick and crunchy and full of the flavor of masa, Mexican cornmeal.”
Photo by Robin Garr

Vietnam Kitchen

5339 Mitscher Ave.
Vietnam Kitchen is the longest-standing Vietnamese restaurant still open in Louisville, and it’s stuck around for a reason. The menu is extensive, with more than 100 dishes, categorized by an easy-to-use letter-and-number system. The most popular dish is the K8, a spicy rice noodle dish with saté chili oil sauce, broccoli florets and your choice of meat or fried tofu.
Photo by Robin Garr

Hyderabad House

12410 Shelbyville Road
Hyderabad House is one of Louisville’s newer Indian restaurants, specializing in biryani. The restaurant serves over 35 variations of the hearty rice dish and even more on the weekends.
Photo by Robin Garr

La Lupita Mexican Restaurant

827 Eastern Blvd, Clarksville, Indiana
There are several Mexican restaurants along Eastern Boulevard in Clarksville but La Lupita is special: This strip mall taqueria praised for its authenticity serves food from Mexico’s culinarily famous Oaxaca region.
Photo by Robin Garr

Borsalino Cafe & Deli

3825 Bardstown Road
Borsalino Cafe & Deli in the Beuchel neighborhood serves a small menu of Balkan European favorites including a savory Bosnian pita, made with phyllo dough, and cevapi — a grilled sausage. You’ll also find coffee drinks and pastries.
Photo via Google Street View

Starving Artist Cafe & Deli

8034 New La Grange Road
The Starving Artist is a hippie-themed cafe with an ever-rotating menu, filled with sandwiches named after creative geniuses.
Photo by Robin Garr

Jasmine Asian Bistro

2420 Lime Kiln Lane
Jasmine Asian Bistro is the increasingly rare sit-down Chinese restaurant that offers a menu of American favorites, along with an array of authentic dishes, such as hong shah rou, or red braised pork belly. Here, the focus is on dishes from the Sichuan region.
Photo by Robin Garr

VinBun Vietnamese Bistro

12422 Shelbyville Road
This brightly colored Vietnamese restaurant specializes in bún, thin rice vermicelli noodles that are added to bowls and soups.
Photo via facebook.com/VinBun-Vietnamese-Bistro

Babie Bac’z

8533 Terry Road
Babie Bac’z started as a small shack on Terry Road in Pleasure Ridge Park and has since graduated to a small storefront in a strip mall on Terry Road in Pleasure Ridge Park — and it’s been delicious in both iterations. The family-owned business says its been perfecting its barbecue technique for 20 years, and it shows. The menu features smoked meats (as well as smoked nachos) and homemade sides, including cornbread muffins and “Shut Ya Mouth” chips.
Photo via facebook.com/babiebaczgoodgrill

Funmi’s Cafe

3028 Bardstown Road
Louisville has only one Nigerian restaurant, and thank goodness it’s Funmi’s. The restaurant, tucked into the back of the Gardiner Lane Shopping Center, features an extensive menu with around 24 entrees. First time trying Nigerian cuisine? Try their $12.99 appetizer combo with ewa, dodo, moin-moin, samba and more.
Photo via Facebook.com/funmiscafe