Updated July 1, 2023

We came here around 8:30 PM on a rather cold Saturday evening. Typically there is a long line outside, but today people were crowded and bundled up inside. I put my name down for 2. The wait was approximately 40-50 minutes. We had contemplated leaving when we heard the wait time, but we decided to power through and wait. It was worth it.

On July 1, 2023, we visited this restaurant again, and it has moved from it’s previous location. For a table of 4, we just had to wait approximately 30 minutes on a Saturday around 7:30 PM.

Updated May 30, 2022

This is an updated entry to Dun Huang. The original East Village location is closed, but they opened another location out in Long Island City. They have several locations spread throughout the city. Dun Huang advertises itself as authentic Northwestern Chinese food. The menu at this location pales in comparison to what we got in the East Village location, so I’ll still share the differences for reference.

Ambiance

The decor at the Long Island City location is pretty no frills. It feels they have two rooms: one “main” dining area and another dining area next to the window.

June 2, 2019

Summary

I’m not a big fan of venturing out to deep Queens. The trains out here are probably not as bad as going into Manhattan, but it sure feels bad. The E trains today were barely running, and the R trains were making local stops going towards Flushing.

However, today was one of those days where we felt like grubbing some all you can eat hot pot. Instead of Chinese style, we heard of this place in Jackson Heights that was Thai style. It was pretty interesting.

May 20, 2019

Summary

Astoria is not really a place known for having typical Shanghainese food. I always think of it as having more latin and mediterranean influences to those respective demographics in the area.

This restaurant though was surprisingly pretty decent for this area.

The drunken chicken I normally don’t find in many restsaurants. Here, it’s not as good as my cousin’s or my mother’s version as it’s WAY too salty, chicken pieces don’t appear cut right, and it doesn’t seem like it was marinated well. Some parts were very soaked, and other parts had next to nothing.

May 4, 2019

Summary

This is a very clean sushi spot close to the Broadway subway station off the yellow N and W line. Instead of going all sushi, I decided to mix it up a little with standard Japanese snacks over straight up sushi cut rolls, sorta.

The sea snails were cooked in a dashi broth, and were pretty tasty. I think my piece wasn’t cleaned entirely properly because there was some grit, but it tasted ok.

April 19, 2019

Summary

I’ve been to this restaurant multiple times in various neighborhoods, but I haven’t documented it till now.

I usually get the spicy tingly beef. It’s pretty good, but to be honest I do like Very Fresh Noodles in the Chelsea Market more. However this place was next to me, so the convenience is much appreciated.

The spicy and sour spinach dumplings are also really good too. I love the vinegary taste wih everything.

Updated March 24, 2019

Summary

The vibe in this place was pretty cool. It reminded me of being in one of those Lord of the Rings tavern.

The poutine was pretty salty, but it was a good match with the beers. I wish the cheese curds were a little warmer and more abundant.

The savage is actually regular hot wings. The hot wings tasted like they were fried first then doused in sauce after. It’s a nice texture combination, and it’s how I prefer my hot wings. The wings themselves didn’t seem to have a lot of flavor outside of the sauce though. There are some french fries that the wings sit on that soak up the sauce and oil.

Updated February 17, 2019

Summary

It’s a bit of a trek, but it’s a much cheaper place for Peking Duck.

The whole peking duck was actually pretty good and reasonably price. The skin was a nice crisp, and the duck was pleasantly fat.

The fried shrimp was mistakenly ordered. We thought it was going to be the whole pepper salted shrimp with head. Even then, it was also decent.

Updated January 21, 2019

Summary

The place was pretty dead when I went, but the pizza was excellent. In some ways I actually liked this more than Lombardis.

Got a margarita pizza with pepperoni on it, and it was tasty.

Would love to go back and try their stromboli or calzones as well.

Overall Impression

It’s a nice addition to the sparse Long Island City neighborhood. The pepperoni pizza quality and ingredients tasted really good.

December 28, 2018

Had the churrasco here, and it was pretty good. The chicken and sausage was good. Make sure the steak is ordered medium rare. We ordered medium, and it came out borderline medium well. The caipirinha was really good too. Get the passion fruit and guava. Avoid the kiwi.