Oriental Garden

[Gastro888]

a lot of these places have Taiwanese or Fujanese immigrants working...Mandarin seems to work better then

It's still Chinatown in Manhattan which is predominately Cantonese. 8th Ave or Flushing is a whole different story.

[Nathan]

a lot of these places have Taiwanese or Fujanese immigrants working...Mandarin seems to work better then

It's still Chinatown in Manhattan which is predominately Cantonese. 8th Ave or Flushing is a whole different story.

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I'm only basing this on eating in Chinatown with Mandarin-speaking friends...who found that often (not the majority of the time) the servers are actually Mandarin speakers from Taiwan or elsewhere....there's definitely a new recent wave of immigration.

[SobaAddict70]

You should go. I'm still dreaming of those oysters.

[markk]

And notwithstanding the many languages being discussed in the theoretical sense, I called back the restaurant in question, had another conversation with them in problem-free English, learned which night they are closed to reservations because of a large party, and made a reservation for a night when I was hoping to take some friends there who are coming from out of town.

[Gastro888]

a lot of these places have Taiwanese or Fujanese immigrants working...Mandarin seems to work better then

It's still Chinatown in Manhattan which is predominately Cantonese. 8th Ave or Flushing is a whole different story.

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I'm only basing this on eating in Chinatown with Mandarin-speaking friends...who found that often (not the majority of the time) the servers are actually Mandarin speakers from Taiwan or elsewhere....there's definitely a new recent wave of immigration.

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I'm not disputing the fact that there are Taiwanese or Fuijanese immigrants in Chinatown. I'm only citing fact that Manhattan's Chinatown is predominately Cantonese relative to 8th Ave and/or Flushing. Either Mandarin or Cantonese will get you around in any of the three Chinatowns.

Also, the "recent wave" of immigration of mainland Chinese begain in the 90's. The wave of Taiwanese immigrants started in the 70's/80's.

But I digress! Onto the food!

Good to hear that you made your res. without any problems, markk!

So raji, have you booked your table yet? Make sure you get some noodles for your birthday dinner. I'm sure they could do a really good lobster e-fu mein for you.

[weinoo]

I'm reviving this topic because we had lunch here yesterday.

And it blew. Gummy dim sum. Tasteless roast duck. Even worse choy sum; and how do you screw the choy sum up?

We couldn't get into Great NY Noodletown. Well, we could - but it was hot as hell in there, so we walked on. Mistake. I am putting this place on a serious downhill alert. Avoid overpriced, middling Chinatown food. And it signals everything that is wrong with Chinatown.

Okay - I'm lightening up. I will edit to say that who the hell orders roast duck here? I guess I was so bummed about not going to NY Noodletown that I figured I'd give it a whirl. But still, the dim sum was not as good as it used to be.

Edit: To add that last paragraph.

[SobaAddict70]

I'm reviving this topic because we had lunch here yesterday.

And it blew. Gummy dim sum. Tasteless roast duck. Even worse choy sum; and how do you screw the choy sum up?

We couldn't get into Great NY Noodletown. Well, we could - but it was hot as hell in there, so we walked on. Mistake. I am putting this place on a serious downhill alert. Avoid overpriced, middling Chinatown food. And it signals everything that is wrong with Chinatown.

Okay - I'm lightening up. I will edit to say that who the hell orders roast duck here? I guess I was so bummed about not going to NY Noodletown that I figured I'd give it a whirl. But still, the dim sum was not as good as it used to be.

Edit: To add that last paragraph.

You ordered wrong.

It's possible OG has gone way downhill since I last ate there. But then again. it's not known for its non-seafood dishes. Like Grand Sichuan isn't known for its Cantonese offerings.

[weinoo]

You ordered wrong.

It's possible OG has gone way downhill since I last ate there. But then again. it's not known for its non-seafood dishes. Like Grand Sichuan isn't known for its Cantonese offerings.

Two of the dim sum items we had were seafood. They were bad. And they're seafood dishes. I don't care what kind of restaurant it is, choy sum needs to be cooked properly and have some flavor. I'm an old jew, and I can cook the stuff and make it taste good.

So yeah, as I wrote when I edited my post above to add about my mistake in ordering the roast duck, I think for my money it's on a serious downhill slide. YAMMV.

[SobaAddict70]

A little sad.

I'll admit Chinatown isn't a nabe I get to much, these days. Not even for dim sum.

[LPShanet]

I'm reviving this topic because we had lunch here yesterday.

And it blew. Gummy dim sum. Tasteless roast duck. Even worse choy sum; and how do you screw the choy sum up?

We couldn't get into Great NY Noodletown. Well, we could - but it was hot as hell in there, so we walked on. Mistake. I am putting this place on a serious downhill alert. Avoid overpriced, middling Chinatown food. And it signals everything that is wrong with Chinatown.

Okay - I'm lightening up. I will edit to say that who the hell orders roast duck here? I guess I was so bummed about not going to NY Noodletown that I figured I'd give it a whirl. But still, the dim sum was not as good as it used to be.

Edit: To add that last paragraph.

The problem is that there isn't a place in Chinatown these days with good dim sum. There are several that on a given day might rate a B, but no one is consistent and no one stands out right now.

On a non dim sum note, I had the impression that NY Noodletown isn't what it used to be either, and that there are a lot of dishes there to be avoided.

Hoping to be shown otherwise by someone who knows of a great dim sum place in Chinatown, but so far all recommendations have met with the same middling results.

Edited March 21, 2011 by LPShanet (log)

[weinoo]

On a non dim sum note, I had the impression that NY Noodletown isn't what it used to be either, and that there are a lot of dishes there to be avoided.

Hoping to be shown otherwise by someone who knows of a great dim sum place in Chinatown, but so far all recommendations have met with the same middling results.

Re: Noodletown - I really only order a few things here and those remain fairly stellar. The roast suckling pig, other roasted meats over rice, and the various wonton/noodle soups. I also avoid it when it's totally slammed.

Re: Dim sum - totally agree. My dim sum in Manhattan is limited to 5 for $1 dumplings at Prosperity. And once in a blue moon at Chinatown Brasserie. Sad, huh?

[SobaAddict70]

On a non dim sum note, I had the impression that NY Noodletown isn't what it used to be either, and that there are a lot of dishes there to be avoided.

Hoping to be shown otherwise by someone who knows of a great dim sum place in Chinatown, but so far all recommendations have met with the same middling results.

Re: Noodletown - I really only order a few things here and those remain fairly stellar. The roast suckling pig, other roasted meats over rice, and the various wonton/noodle soups. I also avoid it when it's totally slammed.

Re: Dim sum - totally agree. My dim sum in Manhattan is limited to 5 for $1 dumplings at Prosperity. And once in a blue moon at Chinatown Brasserie. Sad, huh?

Usually go to World Tong (or whatever it's currently called), in Sunset Park.

Edited March 22, 2011 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[LPShanet]

On a non dim sum note, I had the impression that NY Noodletown isn't what it used to be either, and that there are a lot of dishes there to be avoided.

Hoping to be shown otherwise by someone who knows of a great dim sum place in Chinatown, but so far all recommendations have met with the same middling results.

Re: Noodletown - I really only order a few things here and those remain fairly stellar. The roast suckling pig, other roasted meats over rice, and the various wonton/noodle soups. I also avoid it when it's totally slammed.

Re: Dim sum - totally agree. My dim sum in Manhattan is limited to 5 for $1 dumplings at Prosperity. And once in a blue moon at Chinatown Brasserie. Sad, huh?

Very sad about the dim sum, especially when other cities (like Toronto) have a surfeit of good places. Maybe we can import some of their people, eh?

[basquecook]

I thought Oriental Garden was decent a few years ago but, having gone there this weekend, it pretty much sucked.. And it was stupid expensive. We got very basic things and not a lot and the bill was 52 bucks..

I use to go to a spot a little north of canal on Mott, it now has a new name, I don't remember it.. I will have to check it out..

But, our go to these days is Jade in Flushing. We live in BK so, it's not to bad a trip. Jade is some of the better dim sum offered in NYC.

[kathryn]

Try South China Garden for Cantonese seafood, if you're looking for a new place to try in Manhattan.

[LPShanet]

I thought Oriental Garden was decent a few years ago but, having gone there this weekend, it pretty much sucked.. And it was stupid expensive. We got very basic things and not a lot and the bill was 52 bucks..

I use to go to a spot a little north of canal on Mott, it now has a new name, I don't remember it.. I will have to check it out..

But, our go to these days is Jade in Flushing. We live in BK so, it's not to bad a trip. Jade is some of the better dim sum offered in NYC.

I suspect the spot you're thinking of north of Canal on Mott is Dun Huang seafood. I've heard a number of people say they liked it, and it was a favorite of Sietsema's. However, I have to say that the one time I went, I was very unimpressed. The items I had were fairly average, and some downright bland and gummy. Also, the selection was very limited compared to some of the other Chinatown spots, with just the standard basics (Shiu Mai, Har Gow, etc.), and not even all of those. To be fair, I only tried it once (about a year ago), and we were seated in Siberia (downstairs), so we may not have had the best experience they can offer. I'm willing to give it one more shot, but based on the visit I had, I wouldn't rate it any better than OG or Ping's or Golden Unicorn, all of which are decent (but not great) on a good day, but often have bad days. In fact, based on the one visit, it seemed worse than a good day at any of those. That seems to be one of the issues with dim sum in Manhattan: inconsistency. On one day, you might have a decent outing, on the next, everything is cold, gummy and lousy. Sad really.

[LPShanet]

Try South China Garden for Cantonese seafood, if you're looking for a new place to try in Manhattan.

Do you know if they do dim sum also? I know that's a somewhat separate discipline, but just curious.

[kathryn]

Try South China Garden for Cantonese seafood, if you're looking for a new place to try in Manhattan.

Do you know if they do dim sum also? I know that's a somewhat separate discipline, but just curious.

I don't believe that they do.