Golden Unicorn

Standard dim sum dishes and Tsingtao beer in one of the cleaner restaurants in Chinatown. More accessible as service is nice and speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. They also have tables for 3 – 4 so you don’t have to share tables.

Most people know golden unicorn as a good dim sum place and it surely is an accessible place to have dim sum (accessible in the sense that there will be a minimal language barrier if you don’t speak chinese and the carts roll around often that you can point to what you want). as an event space, it is is formal without being overly stuffy and each floor is an adequate size fitting about 150 – 200 or so people. I have enjoyed solid 12 course dinners here. the food here is more or less on par with most reputable chinese restaurants and the wait staff comes around to change your plate after every main course. I must say that I was impressed with the house fried chicken on this night. overall. solid chinatown joint.

I won’t post about the food as we came later in the day (2:30pm) and can only assume the ‘good’ stuff was sold out. What we did have was ok — I’ve had a lot better but I’ve also had worse.
This review is more about the service than the food. The ladies pushing the carts (white shirts) were lovely and very polite. However it was seemingly the ‘management’ — the people in jackets (red, green, and black) who were rude… I am of Chinese descent — I’ve had yum cha in many places (including Australia, London, Hong Kong, China etc) we certainly aren’t the friendliest of people but this is certainly the worst I’ve experienced.
First I asked a red jacket if we could order a dim sum item which was met with an indecipherable mutter. We then asked a black jacket, who replied with a huff, a roll of the eyes and barked at us to just order off the trolleys.
After a while a green jacket came to change our dishes for new clean ones which were basically thrown on the table in front of us.
When the bill turned up, we questioned an item which looked out of place at $ 9.95, not the vegetable dish as that was already accounted for and we only had dim sum otherwise. Another red jacket proceeded to reply/​spit with «I don’t know what you ordered!».
After all this, the red jacket had the nerve to ask why we tipped so little. I won’t be returning.

I cannot fathom why anybody would queue for yum cha at this place? I grew up in london, but have flip-​flopped between NY and london for over a decade and have never found a decent dim sum restaurant in manhattan chinatown. I’m not a fan of cart service in general, i dont see the point in sitting there twiddling your chopsticks on the off chance that what you want magically appears on one of the carts. HK and the rest of the world have moved on; you can actually sit down and order what you want in a civilized manner. That being said, old school yum cha like Lin Heung in HK can be a fun experience, so no points lost for cart service itself.
The food was (as many other reviewers have opined) «meh». Nothing too offensive, but nothing to write home about. Chicken feet and pork spare ribs were both good; siu mai were ok, lor bak gou and gou choi gau were pretty bland. All in all it’d take some effort to find dim sum that underwhelming in London.
Where this place really comes into its own is the life-​affirming, friendliness of the waitering staff. The ladies on the carts are lovely and very helpful, but are obviously limited in what they can do lest they p*ss off the more senior waiters — the ones just standing around who look inconvenienced if you ask them for something. Dare to ask them about a dish not on the carts and receive a verbal bitch-​slapping that makes you feel like you’re back in school.
I would be tempted to put this down to casual mis-​treatment of a gwai lo, but i was there with 2 ABCs and they were treated just as pleasantly. Would probably rather eat at wagamamas (if they had them in the US) and i really dont like that place.

We were able to get a table pretty quickly on MLK DAY. The food was hot and delicious. So was the tea. It is a pretty average dim sum place. The pig bun is a nice touch.

Review for the dim sum. We waited almost an hour for dim sum on a Sunday, and I would honestly say the Golden Unicorn was kind of meh. The food was definitely pretty good, but just completely forgettable compared to every other dim sum place I’ve been to. It’s cart style dim sum in the usual large banquet hall, and it’s a pretty fun experience to flag the carts down and browse through the food. Sharing tables is pretty likely if you come on a busy day.
The ladies pushing the carts here are less loud-​in-​your-​face than some other cart dim sum places I’ve been to. I actually felt this was frustrating because we constantly had to flag the carts down to see what they had, instead of having them all make a stop at the table. Quite a few times we missed carts who just blazed by us since they weren’t stopping at the tables.
I also felt for a large dim sum place with an hour wait, the selection was very disappointing. They had the usual staples — the dim sum/​chicken claw cart, the pudding/​sweets cart, the steam bun cart, etc, but missing quite a few of the less popular essentials. Where was the fried turnip cake cart? The congee cart? The tofu soup cart? Heck, try as we might we couldn’t even find the dim sum powerhouse, the shrimp har gaw — apparently they were just constantly running out before they got to us. Only shining beacon of selection was that they had a rare peking duck cart, where the lady would slice up and prepare you as many duck buns of your choice.
Pricing were reasonable. We ended up at around $ 20 per person after tip which is pretty in line with what I expect to pay for dim sum, especially given we had ordered a few ‘deluxe’ items (e.g. peking duck).
I get the sense that Golden Unicorn got popular way faster than they could adapt, which explains why the seating system was so inefficient and the carts were running out of dim sum before they got through the whole dining floor. Really long wait for alright dim sum — definitely a fun experience and solid food but doesn’t really stand out.

Let’s start off with how my intentions of trying this restaurant was purely to try and to take cute pictures of the pig shaped steamed buns. Attempted to stop by for dinner on a weekday, only to find out they only serve dim sum during lunch time. Secondly, you’ll enter through the first level to a weird hall way, with a hostess standing near the elevators leading you to a haunted old looking elevator. Fear not, because it’ll take you to the main restaurant. Lastly, those cute pig steamed buns are only sold on weekends! I repeat, for all those traveling to try the pig steam buns, weekend lunches only!
–Food: I love dim sum, so it’s really hard to make me not like it. The food wasn’t the absolute best I’ve had but it was decent. If I had to wait in a line, I would’ve passed this opportunity cause it wasn’t worth a line for. I love how they have huge pieces of shrimp in their shrimp item foods.
–Service: I love how they have visors under their mouths for hygienic purposes! I did not like how almost everyone spoke no English… the people in the black jackets were the English speakers while the red jackets were Chinese speaking. Good thing they have those poster displays on their cart to display the food items they have.
Overall I wasn’t too impressed nor discouraged during my experience here. Locals may love it, but as a tourist with great dim sum from home, I wouldn’t waste me time here when I rather try other food.

Dim sum brunch here was very good. We had a pretty big group and went at a very busy time, so we had to wait about a half hour or so to sit down, since it gets ridiculously packed. But that in itself tells you something — they have several massive floors, and they turn tables fairly quickly, and there are still people waiting that long to get in.
The food itself was very good, definitely among the better dim sums I’ve had. We stuck to the basics for the most part: lots of shrimp and vegetable dumplings, pork buns, etc. Nothing in particular stood out, on either end really — everything we ordered was perfectly good, but nothing was incredibly memorable. We got a ton of food and no drinks, and it came to around $ 25/​person after tax and tip, which is more than a lot of Chinatown dim sum places, but still perfectly fine.

Four and a half stars, would’ve been five if not for the rushed and semi-​rude service
My boyfriend and I discovered this place when in search of a groupon for NYE dinner. With the strange name and the amazing price of 49 $ for an 8 course meal we were immediately drawn in.
No regrets at all!
The food was all wonderful, they keep it coming right as you finish (and even before if you’re a slow eater like myself). Everything was excellent and fresh quality, only the duck was a bit fatty however that is to be expected of Peking duck.
Got a decent Chardonnay (One leaf) for 20 $ it was also very good!
Overall go here for a great meal with decent price!

4 Steps to dining at Golden Unicorn:
1– Send a friend to arrive 15 minutes early. Try to avoid the hours of 11:30am-1:00pm. Once the individual is at Golden Unicorn, he/​she should approach the lady and ask for a number and tell her your party size. Always ask for an estimated wait time. It keeps both parties honest with their communication. Be prepared to share a table if your party size is less than 5. Usual wait time is around 20 minutes. Rush hour wait can be 45 minutes to an hour.
2– Tea is provided. No worrying about selecting your choice of tea (this might be a good thing and a bad thing). The tea is what I consider a low quality and nothing magical. It is usually loose tea– Don’t freak out when you see tea leaves in your cup. Actual whole tea leaves are better quality than those tea bags. When your teapot is empty, just lift the tea lid slightly so it rest on the edge of the rim. It’s a sign for the serving staff that it is empty– otherwise they wouldn’t know.
3– Item purchasing. The ladies will come around in push carts with the food. The popular items are shrimp dumplings, pork bites, vegetable dumpling, and shrimps in rice noodles. Dim sum are usually judged by the quality of their shrimp dumplings. Items vary in prices. Expect each dimsum plate to be a couple of dollars. The lady will stamp your food card when ordering. Never lose your food card! You can usually order by pointing and saying how many quantities that you want.
4– When you are done w/​your meal. Just get the attention of one of the staff and point to the food card or you can do the check sign. They will calculate how much you order. You can pay via credit card which is a major plus. Once you pay and tip, you are set to leave.
I think the dimsum menu options are limited. There are other establishments that offer more variety. The overall food is so so. Nothing is speculator. Nothing is terrible. I haven’t had amazing dimsum for awhile– I think the overall quality of dimsum in nyc is getting diminished. They offer what I considered americanize dimsum options as well like bacon wrapped shrimp and pringles.

I came here with a friend for dim sum last saturday and it was our first time. There were a lot of people waiting in the lobby and we waited about 30 min for a table. For those who don’t know, you must get a number first as soon as you get inside then she will call your number for seating. Overall the food was good especially the clams. By the time we get the bill the server said free of charge for the tea. yayyy!
So I dont know if they really do free tea or depends on the amount of your bill.

Manhattan Dim Sum Tour Stop #2:
Golden Unicorn is another classic giant dim sum hall with carts kind of joint, like Jing Fong. Both of these places are great dim sum experiences to show out of towners, but the food is nothing amazing.
Wait time: they have an organized system but the wait is usually lengthy — at least half an hour.
Dishes: the cart ladies here were kind of hard to flag down. The dishes are the standard: roasted pork bun, shrimp and veggie dumplings, rice rolls, lotus leaf sticky rice, sticky rolls, egg tart. I enjoy the lady pushing around the cart frying potstickers. Golden Unicorn also probably had the least vegetarian options (and most waitresses who did not understand the definition of a vegetarian).
I would say the food here is decent, nothing exceptional — although overall the food here has a leg up on the food at Jing Fong.

This place was SO GOOD. My standards with dim sum are usually pretty high but I did a lot of research and chose this restaurant. Obviously chose wisely.
The food was great quality, brought around pretty frequently, very warm hosts for us. We didn’t wait very long to get in (around 11am, 30 min wait). It gets packed early and continues all day so work with that. I’d definitely be back again with a big group.
Thankful for the great experience.

Um, have any of the raging «best dim sum place ever» reviews even had dim sum from Hong Kong or Vancouver, or even Flushing? Eww. so what went wrong for me:
*Food was cold, cold veggies WOKed up in oil is so off-​putting, my dad (cheapest man on earth) didn’t even bother finishing the plate.
*Cha Shao Bao didn’t even taste like Cha Shao sauce
*The same cart of stuff we didn’t want kept coming around and around while the stuff we wanted took 20 minutes to come out of the kitchen on a busy Saturday
On a slightly more cheerful note, the hostess spoke great English to accommodate (to my surprise) the mostly non-​Chinese crowd, I mean there were an abundance of man bun collegians and non-​man bun collegians.

This is probably the best dim sum I have ever had in New York. Though, I haven’t had dim sum in any other city. It’s also not something I make a regular habit of but of the half dozen places I’ve tried out — ding ding ding — we have a winner! The only catch is that there is a bit of a wait when you first arrive and everyone speaks Chinese. You are given a thing like at tgi Fridays that beeps when you are allowed to go upstairs. But my sister and I kept panicking as we saw countless people go upstairs and our thing still not beep. So naturally I kept pointing at my device saying things like: «beepy? I go upstairs now? Yes?!» Okay, it was only like a twenty minute wait. Not too bad.
Multiple floors are packed in with white linen tables and very elegant dining sets. A really amazing and aromatic jasmine tea was presented. (Oddly the tea costs a dollar or two extra even though they set it down like its complimentary). Also, they never at any point asked us or brought us water which was rough. But those are the only downsides I could really elaborate upon.
My mind is twirling at the vast array of delights we grabbed off the food trolleys. It was an endless flow and perfect seam of continuity of delicious smelling treats. Pork, veggie, shrimp dumplings of a huge and different variety. Larger ones that were more like buns stuffed with a meat paste were amazing. Soup dumplings, shumai, shrimp rice noodle rolls (Which may be one of my favorite things ever). I think the only thing we skipped on was desert mostly because dim sum desert items are just never my thing and I don’t think my sister minded at this point because we were insanely full off of a cheap amount. Don’t forget also that there is a small Unilocal discount (10%) for checking in off of your bill. So many plusses!

I came here for a wedding banquet and it is located on the 2^nd floor. It is big enough to house about 30 tables. The food preparation was ok, they served typical banquet food.
They serve dim sum also but I have never had it here.

I heard good reviews about this dim sum place, so of course our first meal will be Dim Sum at Golden Unicorn on a saturday during lunch. Oh wow the line is soooooo long, but once we got the number, it was around 45 mins away. The staffs were extremely friendly. We asked if we could use their restroom right after got our number, they escort us up to second floor, usually chinese place will say no.
Around 45 mins later, our number was called (very precise about their wait time). We got escort to third floor and sat at a round table for around 6 people. Very spacious. The dim sum was hot and extremely flavors. We like their fast services and also very attentive to our needs. We ordered the usual «siu mai, ha cao, pork buns, chicken feet, etc». For 4 people, the bill came out to be around 50 dollars, pretty cheap compare to Northern Virginia.

Grew up eating dim sum at this place. Always will be the best dim sum place around town. Large selection, very authentic and very yummy.
This place gets crowded on the weekends, and they don’t take reservations. You wait on the first floor and they’ll take you to the second floor once a table is available. They offer tea for your table and the numerous number of carts that circle the place have so many different selection and variety of small eats. Most of the waitresses pushing the carts just speak mandarin or Cantonese but you can always just point to what you want from the cart. As you select plates off the carts, they stamp your little paper and then charge you for all the stamps at the end and you bring it up and pay at the counter (tip with cash by leaving it on the table). It’s a very interesting dining experience, the place is definitely very large, with many tables and quite noisy but the dim sum is unbeatable.

I dont really get why this place is so popular…
The dim sum is pretty average and the wait is usually long. If you get here before 10 there is a guarantee no wait. The service is good. Everything is pretty standard across the board.
What does stand out is the cute little baos that are shaped like pigs. Whenever one dish is instagramable– it goes viral.
But overall, I wouldn’t go out of my way to come here.

It was very busy when we showed up at 11AM. It was admittedly a bit later than we had planned, but fortunately there wasn’t much of a wait for two people. We were taken to the second (or third?) level and sat at a large round table with three other guests.
We gathered the usual suspects: Baked Pork Buns, Shrimp Dumplings, Shrimp and Spinach, Shrimp or Pork Shu Mai, Ham Siu Gok, Shrimp Roll, and my favorite, Daikon Cake. Everything was delicious. However, nothing really stood out against other Dim Sum establishments I’ve visited. I did really enjoy the Daikon Cake as it was more daikon than starch and it was freshly pan-​fried before my consumption.
Everything moved quickly and we were in an out right around an hour. Service was fine, although it was difficult communicating with some of the servers (thank goodness for my Chinese-​speaking friend!). Also, the Daikon Cake cart lady was so elusive! We tried approaching her when flagging her down wasn’t working and she insisted we wait until she made her way to our table. We finally received an order at the end of our meal (so, it took us almost an hour to get her to come to us).

Excellent restaurant! Facile à trouver au cœur de Chinatown.
Nourriture excellente. Nous avons été un surpris car le concept nous était inconnu, celui de la nourriture sur des chariots mobiles. Les serveuses passent à votre table avec des chariots qui contiennent différents de mets. Ces derniers sont indiqués sur le devant du chariot.
Les prix sont très corrects.
Une super adresse, où l’on mange super bien, pas cher et totalement dépaysant.

Tout simplement excellent.
J’ai déjeuné dans ce restaurant après avoir fait une recherché sur Unilocal.Je né suis vraiment pas déçu.
La nourriture est excellente et le service rapide. C’est un système de buffet mobile. Les serveuses passent dans la salle avec des chariots de Dim sum et vous propose. Vous devez juste choisir à chaque fois ce que vous voulez.
Seul point négatif les prix né sont pas communiqué avant. Vous découvrez seulement lorsque vous recevez l’addition. Plutôt bizarre.
Je vous recommande cette adresse.

Das Golden Unicorn ist ein recht typisches chinesisches Dim Sum Restaurant. Eine Speisesaal, der an eine Bahnhofshalle erinnert und Damen die ihre kleinen Servierwägelchen durch die eng gestellten Tische manövrieren unf auf schlechtem Englisch ihre Speise feilbieten. So wie es eben sein muss. Die Dim Sum Speisen sind sehr lecker und die Auswahl ist recht ordentlich auch wenn ich schon Dim Sum Restaurants hatte, die mehr geboten haben. Trotzdem kann ich das Golden Unicorn weiterempfehlen. Nur sollte man keine zu hohen Ansprüche an die Atmosphäre haben.

Bön beaucoup de personne trouve ce restaurant bon, je suis allé aujourd’hui en groupe et bien je né suis pas emballé du tout, accueil froid pas de sourire du tout et on était comme même 35 personnes réparti en plusieurs tables. Pour ma part on était seulement 6 sur 8. Donc tous les plats amenés il y avait seulement 6 donc pour les grands mangeurs allez voir ailleurs.