The other day, a friend gave me the idea of putting some opinionated restaurant reviews on here, because I have apparently developed a reputation as someone who has lots of opinions on New York City restaurants. I don’t think that this is actually true, but it seemed like a fun exercise, so here we are. I mean, what else is a Gen-Z blogger supposed to do?1 Importantly, note that the restaurants here are not listed in order of how much I enjoyed them; the ordering here is a bit whimsical and arbitrary.
I will leave the detailed ranking of the desserts to Ricky, but if you’re curious, for my money, the best milk tea in the city is Molly Tea.2
Chinese restaurants
To be entirely honest, I think I just like Chinese food too much. Most of the time, if I’m at a non-Chinese restaurant, I just think to myself: “I guess the food is good, but I would have enjoyed a cheap bowl of noodles in Flushing even more.” So, I think Chinese restaurants deserve their own section of this page.
Sichuan Mountain House
One of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the city, but quite spicy. Get the hot and sour fish stew!
Chai 柴院
I went here a couple of times before it closed. The food was okay; I seem to recall the shrimp being decent. The space is (at the time of writing) now operated by Mountain House.
Kong Sihk Tong
A no-frills but solid Hong Kong-style place in Chinatown. I think I went here once with Nelson after a run.
Hey Yuet
My local Chinese place, a couple of blocks from my apartment. The food is decent enough, and I’ve had many a good conversation with a friend here.
Uluh
A “fancy” Chinese place that we once went to for a work dinner. I was impressed by the novelty of some of the dishes; I did not expect lychee and spicy peppers to go together so well. But for classic Chinese cuisine, I would probably go elsewhere.
Jiang Nan
Good food, but with somewhat upscale prices to match.
Congee Village
I’ve been to both the Chinatown and Flushing locations. Both are reasonable-quality and reasonable-price places to get food.
Blue Blossom
A relatively new restaurant, opened by the same people behind Mountain House and Che Li. The Peking duck is fine (though honestly not my favorite dish in general); the spicy and sour beef soup is quite good. I’ve been here surprisingly often because I have a couple of friends who really love it.
99 Favor Taste
This all-you-can-eat hot pot place in Chinatown is a mainstay of birthday celebrations among my friends, because you eat for free within a few days of your birthday.
Grandma’s Home
You have to try the green tea clay pot chicken. (Unrelated story time: I was once here with some friends for their Lunar New Year set menu, and the service was so delayed that they ended up comping our meal and giving us lots of free goodies, including Molly Tea! The food was excellent, too.)
House of Joy
The dim sum spot that my friends and I always go to. It’s the classic dim sum experience—really loud guy shouting in Cantonese at the front, good food on push carts, etc. If you go with a party of less than like eight, note that they will probably seat you at a table with strangers, so be ready for that.
The skewer cart on Grand Street
There’s a random skewer cart in Chinatown, on Grand Street. Really hits the spot during late nights.
The New World Mall food court
A bit of a trek, but worth it for the food. The Lanzhou la mian place is bad, but the dry pot is so good.
Other Asian restaurants
I do also eat at and enjoy other Asian restaurants sometimes, but my tastes are probably a lot less calibrated. For example, I can only broadly sort ramen into two categories: instant and non-instant. Within each category, I don’t think my enjoyment changes that much? I’ve probably just offended a lot of my friends, so I’ll stop talking right now.
Take 31
A pretty solid Korean place; have been a couple of times with friends.
Rib No. 7
I think this was the best KBBQ I’ve had in the city quality-wise, but with a price tag to match.
Wayla
Probably my favorite Thai place in the city (that I’ve been to, at least). Also just a nice vibe, tucked into a basement in Chinatown.
Olle
Good Korean food; the galbi-jjim is probably what they’re most well-known for. Also not a bad spot to book a table for a larger party; they’ve accommodated my parties of around ten on the same day twice before.
Cho Dang Gol
Really popular Korean tofu place, and for good reason—the food is very good. Unfortunately, they don’t take reservations, so getting a table involves a long wait (unless you’re Amy, apparently)
DubuHaus
Beautiful décor, but disappointing food. The tofu ice cream that they served at the end was perhaps the only redeeming dish.
Senya
Pretty expensive Japanese place, but at least the food quality matches the price tag. Ivy called it the best sushi and the best bone marrow she’s had in the city, which I think is saying a lot.
Kame
A ramen spot nearby my apartment. Good food and a slightly more upscale vibe.
Tonchin
Yet another ramen shop with “upscale” vibes. They honestly all feel equivalent to me, though perhaps Japanese food connoisseurs would have stronger opinions here.
Ippudo
Good quality ramen. I remember that our new hire orientation guide included the fun fact that many people at my firm consider this their favorite ramen shop in the city.
Thai Villa
Decent enough Thai food, but nothing particularly special (sorry, Adam).
Wayan
Really good French–Indonesian fusion restaurant in Nolita. The skewers and the lobster noodles were especially noteworthy, and the corn fritters were just plain addicting.
Izakaya Seasun
Decent food, but unsure if worth the price. The seafood portions in the seafood tteokbokki were generous, at least.
Izakaya MEW
I thought the preponderance of Murakami posters was a little bit weird, but the food was good, so I won’t complain.
Non-Asian restaurants
Of course, I also eat at non-Asian restaurants. This includes some nice-ish restaurants, mostly for dinners with coworkers. I’m not that into fine dining, and generally don’t go unless the firm is paying for it.
Contra
I remember when I was an intern, my team took me out for dinner here. Maybe I was just easily impressed because I was a college student and this was my first Michelin-starred restaurant, but it was quite an amazing experience. I remember the dessert was especially impressive—it was the first time I really understood how textural contrasts can make a dish shine. Sadly, the restaurant is now closed.
Thalassa
I had another work dinner here as an intern. I actually really enjoyed the seafood here.
Ubani
Fun Georgian restaurant in the West Village that I went to after church once. I didn’t realize how cheese-heavy Georgian cuisine is.
Don Angie
I went here once for my birthday, after a coworker kindly secured a reservation for me. The whole table agreed that the caramelle with black sesame was super impressive.
L’Artusi
Another work dinner. The food was honestly just okay—I think fancy Italian places just aren’t really my thing.
Ci Siamo
I went to this Italian place with my family once; it was fine as far as nicer Italian places go.
Pera Soho
The site of another work dinner. This one was honestly not that memorable.
Blackbarn
Yet another work dinner. Food was solid.
Del Frisco’s
I went here once with some friends—the steak was really good! (Random story: a friend told me that the Boston location once comped his entire meal because a mouse ran under his table. So, uh, bring a mouse if you want free food?)
Crown Shy
I’ve had two work dinners here. The food is fine, though frankly not like mind-blowing or anything. I feel like I’ve had better food at lots of places without Michelin stars.
Essential by Christophe
Work dinner. It’s nothing innovative, but it’s classic French fine dining done extremely well.
La Grande Boucherie
I went here once for a birthday dinner. The setting is immaculate (which I kind of ruined by wearing a camel t-shirt…), but the food was honestly just okay. Both the steak and the duck confit were incredibly fatty.
Empire Jamaica Fusion
An unassuming little restaurant in Poughkeepsie run by the most amazing Jamaican grandmother. We once stopped by here on a trip to upstate New York, and I had the best Jamaican food of my life. I still think about that fish to this day.
Third Kingdom
A vegan restaurant that I went to with some coworkers once. The food—based principally on mushrooms—was playfully presented, and the dining room decor was quite cozy. But I found it a little weird that there was almost no one else dining there that night.
Artesano
A neat Peruvian restaurant that we went to for a work dinner. I thought that the appetizers were really good, but the main courses were just okay.
Actually, I should probably just get on Beli with everyone else.↩︎
I actually developed a bit of a reputation among my friends because I went three times in the first like ten days after the Chinatown location opened…↩︎