Phoenix Garden

My first Unilocal review. Had to do it. This place is so money. I seem to always walk away disappointed after eating Chinese food in the city. Not here. We ordered the crispy duck in scallion pancake wrap, the salt and pepper shrimp, and the ginger chicken. I’m not easily impressed but damn were these good. Damn, damn, damn. I mean it. Already want to go back. Service spot on as well. Go here. Now. Why are you still reading this? Go. My one gripe is there’s no fortune cookies or pistachio ice cream. Oh well.

don’t walk away from this place run as fast as you can like forest gump.
the owner of this so called restaurant is a liar, thief, shame on him
as the saying goes what goes around comes around, he will get his and it will haunt him.
i ordered in dinner he didnt deliver or include what i ordered, i paid by credit card, he promised to credit my card. hence he did not.
i had to take time to dispute the charge.
i owe it to others to boycott this place!!!

I enjoyed lunch 5÷18÷16 at Phoenix Garden and will return. One of our threesome brought a six-​pack of Brooklyn Lager for the table. He and I both had the squid in black bean sauce. The waiters were very attentive. The 3-​stars only indicates that the ambience was pretty basic. There’s no negative feelings. Great location.

take $ 30 from that you just got from the ATM. now place half of it in the garbage. since that is what I felt like after ordering basic noodles. Nothing special. nothing good. Thought I would give an unknown Chinese food place a try out of 7000 places in NYC. since that is what I do when I don’t have many facebook friends. But tried it. and wont go back again

I have been coming here for nearly 10 years now, but my last visit was pretty disappointing.
Our whole Peking duck (two courses) was $ 42. First course was just the duck skin and bao wraps… NO DUCK MEAT AT ALL!!! The waiter explains that’s how the two-​course meal works. I’ve never, ever heard that, and my parents are from China and Taiwan. Second course was in noodles and had maybe 5 oz. of duck total. Definitely not a whole duck. Maybe they ran out of ducks and were trying to pass off half as a whole.
I really like the owner and have come here for several large parties, but I’m done with this place. I hope you’ll see this post and respond…

We started at the Phoenix Gardens in Chinatown which closed. One day we discovered that they opened the neighborhood that I live. From that day on we ate there almost every Sunday evening and many times with our entire family. It was the best Cantonese food in New York.
Unfortunately in the past two years it has experienced a downturn. It started with excellent food on some evenings, mediocre food at other times and on rare occasions terrible food. About a year ago it was mediocre more often, terrible more often and occasionally great food. Our family stopped joining us but we continued since it’s in our neighborhood and we enjoyed the occasional excellence. In March we returned from a two months absence and could not wait to have Chinese food and of course we went to Phoenix Garden. Among other things we ate was crispy squab. After one bite it was so overcooked we sent it back. To my dismay they included it on the bill and I refused to pay for this item. They then called the owner Victor at his home and he finally agreed to take it off the bill and when I asked «why did they give me such a hard time» his response was they should have”. I was shocked and for a number of weeks did not go back.
Last evening we decided to give it one more try — the soup was just okay, the Shumai just okay and the lobster very overcooked. Of course I didn’t send it back after my last experience. Finally we decided this is no longer a place to go to. It’s like losing an old friend. More importantly from my point of view there really is no place in my neighborhood to get good Cantonese Chinese food.
P.S They raised their prices and it could cost $ 80−100+ for 2– Wow

Hidden gem if you’re craving Cantonese food! We ordered salty fish fried rice and its BYOB.

The food is alright but it was not fantastic taste. It’s pretty reasonable though. Also, it’s far away from the station, 10min walk, not a good location…

The food was decent. Skipping to the service (which is the primary reason for the one star rating) — we asked for change for a $ 50 note in order for the date We realized we only for back $ 31. Thankfully we counted because it turned out they had held back the $ 19 as tip on a $ 70 meal without asking us… when all we asked for was change. Made us feel uncomfortable and we will not be returning here again. Need I say more.

Delicious Cantonese food! Plus BYOB — you can’t beat that! The food here is delicious, the chicken with scallions is my favorite dish. Yum! The beef with broccoli is also amazing — super fresh and delicious. Dumplings, fried rice and lo mein are also musts. The scallops dish with sweet and sour veggies was another hit. So many options and all so good (the menu is enormous)!!
Always fun to come here with a group of friends and order a bunch of things to share family style. They have a live jazz band on the weekends as well which is nice. Staff is very friendly. There’s one waitress who is very pushy and tries to get you to order the most expensive dishes but stand your ground, order what you want and it will be great. The owner is awesome, very friendly!
Definitely recommend and definitely bring your own alcohol :)

What a disappointment! Believing in some reviews, I took my friend just landed from Malaysia there for a late dinner. They are Cantonese food connoisseurs and three of us just wanted a light supper at 9pm.
The waitress was pushing lobsters and extensive dishes, even after we told her we were looking for a light meal. We eventually ordered a lobster fried noodle and steamed tofu with shrimp. She looked at us incredulously and exclaimed «that’s all?» Not wanting to be embarrassed, we added a vegetable dish. Maybe it’s a Monday night when the main cook usually takes off, the food tasted worse than a take out restaurant. The total bill for 3 dishes came to $ 57 without drinks. I will not go near that place again.

overpriced for average food with small portions.
was one time good but has gone downhill in food quality and the rude service does not help.

My overall impression — the restaurant tastes better than it looks. The Peking duck was especially good.
Went there after work with a bunch of colleagues for a late dinner. Since we were eating so late, we descended upon this place like a pack of hungry wolves, and seriously attempted to order everything on the menu. Starting from the top:
Hot and sour soup — pretty standard, but had a ton of bamboo, which I love. So plus points there.
Crab claw — it was big and meaty, but I couldn’t really taste the crab in the mix.
Vegetarian spring rolls — I’m not a big fan of fried spring rolls without meat, but these were way better than expected. Super greasy though, don’t order if you’re on a diet.
Peking Duck — highlight of the night, best thing we ordered. It was better than some Peking-​Duck-​Speciality stores I’ve been to! The skin was super crispy, skin and meat well carved and separated, the buns were soft and fluffy, and they gave you good amount of cucumber, onions and sauce to go with everything. Solid.
Minced pork with squid — too salty. Unless you have rice to go with, don’t do it.
Crab with green onions — sounded like a great idea… until you try to eat it. It was all shell, no meat. I watched my colleague slave for 30 min straight over crab shells while the rest of us polished off the other plates. He might’ve been the only one left hungry after that meal.
Ma La Chicken (chili pepper chicken) — recommended by the owner. It did not live up to its expectations — the meat was way too dry. We barely touched the plate.
Everything else: beef noodles, pork chops, fried rice, beef scallion casserole were pretty standard. Enjoyable, but nothing memorable /​mind-​blowing.

We had high hopes for this Chinese restaurant because of its more authentic menu but our enthusiasm quickly ended there. Upon ordering for delivery, I was passed no less than 6 times from one person to another to repeat my order. Not sure why no one was able to actually TAKE the order. Several of the items from the menu weren’t available.
The food arrived and after the delivery man left we realized half of the order was missing. I called and asked for a refund for the missing items and they told me they did not refund. So I insisted they bring the missing items. They came cold and far after we had finished eating. One of the missing items, the Chinese spare ribs were five short stubby burned nuggets. A total waste of $ 6.
They forgot to include utensils, fortune cookies and rice with the order. And the food was so average, so unimpressive, so NOT worth eating there ever again.
To top it all off, the bill for a few entrees came to over $ 82. RIDICULOUS for average food.
Don’t waste your time here. You’d be better off throwing $ 82 in the street.

The restaurant is open! Victor is back! Yay! We love this place, especially when you get a large group together and share the dishes. My favorite pics: squab in lettuce wrappers, salt and pepper shrimp, Peking duck (with baos), and lobster with ginger and scallion. Be sure to ask if they have any specials. This is excellent Cantonese food and you can bring your wine (you will often see lots of wine and restaurant industry people there with fabulous bottles.)

This restaurant is so unreliable and unprofessional! I have no idea what has happened to this restaurant. As others already mentioned, it’s been closed for days without any notification. We had reservation in the evening of December 20, but when we arrived, the restaurant was closed. We’ve been calling them countless of times, but couldn’t reach them at all. They might have been out of business, or needed to close the shop for some emergency reasons, however, they should have called us at least to cancel our reservations! We somehow needed to find other place… carrying the bottles of beers and wines we prepared for BYOB. Sign…

We made a reservation about three weeks prior and visited on December 18^th.
And when we arrived at the restaurant… It was CLOSED!
No telephone call, no email, nothing. It didn’t say anything on the front door either. Just CLOSED.
I am sure we were not the ones mistaken for not only our group but also other people came continuously and gasped and mourned while we stayed in front of the door having nowhere else to go.
I don’t know if they are out of business or had to close down for some other reason, but this is definitely super rude.
Everyone who wish to go there, rethink (even if they are still in business).
And everyone who already made their reservation, check again!
We were forced to refuge to dunkin donuts on the corner of that street and make countless calls to get a table on Friday night, which we had no success.

I’ve ordered from here quite a few times and it was good in the beginning but the last 3 times ordering from here has been disastrous. Their food is overpriced but it being the only decent Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood i just accepted it. Last night it took them 90 mins to deliver our food, and when it finally got there it tasted like leftovers from 2 days ago. Stringy chicken, the shrimp was ice cold and rubbery. Not sure what happened but I won’t be ordering from here anymore.

Incredible bargain: healthy, plentiful, tasty Cantonese with a manager who noticed we aren’t locals and showed us the ropes. Great service and made us feel very welcome. And a Japanese jazz band playing on a Saturday night. Good and inexpensive food in midtown Manhattan.: very hard to beat.

Pretty good Cantonese food!
I ordered the lunch special: Chinese Sausage And Pork Belly Sauteed With Snow Peas for take-​out ($ 11.98 incl. tax). The sausage was very flavorful but there were small pieces of the pork belly and not too many for me to remember the taste. The sausage looks oily but it was not — the sauce that it came in was also flavorful. I let my rice sit in it for a few minutes to soak up the flavor. The lunch special came with a small soup and a veggie spring roll. The spring roll was cooked perfectly — maybe a little too oily for some — but it was crunchy and flavorful.
They are now on seamless so I did not have to pay with cash.
I’ve been here before on a weekend and did BYOB. I really enjoyed the Peking duck and the salt and pepper shrimp. Probably the best Cantonese you’ll find in Midtown, Manhattan.

By far the worst «Chinese» Restaurant I have ever eaten! Peking Duck? Was that really what I ate? It tasted like the chef just got it out from the garbage. I have eaten many Peking ducks in many parts of the world including Beijing. The food is way too salty and it has been kept in the fridge for days. Most important! ITS OVER PRICED! Not worth it!
Service: …really really bad.

Decent cantonese food in new york? Yes pleasee.
Got the duck soup noodle today for lunch and while it was $ 9.80 with tax, it was still pretty good. Even though it would be like $ 7 in chinatown, but chinatown is surprisingly not as good as it is here. So all in all, its worth it.
The soup was tasty and the noodles were not bad. Though they serve it to you in a tall cylinder, which makes it hard to eat. After a few stabs at my «hor fun» it kinda just broke into pieces. Wish they gave a wider bowl.
Overall I would go back for lunch.

Finally made it to this place after so many years of wanting to try it. The food was great with the exception of the Peking Duck. While it was decent, it is grossly overpriced. Stick to the seafood items. Salt and pepper shrimp was delicious as were many other seafood dishes including the soft shell crab. Sizzling beef casserole was fabulous. While the BYOB policy is now $ 5 per bottle, if you behave yourself they will waive it. I’m definitely coming back. Loved the retro atmosphere.

I was starting to think the only Chinese food that existed in this part of town was the oily kind that came in little take-​out containers!
Was really craving some real Chinese food and after some research on Unilocal and google, settled on this place. I came with a group of 3 at around 7pm on a Saturday. There was a duo playing live jazz which is so not what you’d expect from a Chinese restaurant but it was really nice!
Service: compared to the Chinese restaurant experience that I’m used to, I actually thought the service was pretty good. We always had full water glasses, didn’t feel rushed, waitress was polite and gave suggestions for dishes. No complaints there.
Food: We ordered the Peking duck wrapped in scallion pancakes to start ($ 12.95), which I highly recommend! Its a great app you could share with ²⁄₃ people. We also ordered salt and pepper scallops which were good but nothing too special. The scallops were battered which we were not expecting. Sesame chicken was great, broccoli was really good (cooked just right so its crunchy but still cooked).
Overall, this is a great Chinese place with food that’s not too oily or over flavored. Will definitely be back to check out their other seafood dishes.
Make sure you bring cash as this place is cash only!!!

Ever since I came to the City all the way from Canton/​Guangdong, I’ve been relentlessly searching good Cantonese food…
Phoenix Garden is an amazing find!
My father used to be a chef and «stir fry crab w ginger and scallion”(薑蔥炒蟹) is one of his signature dishes. The lobster at Phoenix Garden very much reminds me of my father’s cooking… Lobster was super fresh and It was so flavorful without being overly greasy and «msg-​y».
Siu Mei (Cantonese bbq/​rotisserie food) is an absolute Cantonese classic, yet not a cuisine that’s easily done right, even in some good resaurants in Guangdong. So I was happily impressed by the «siu ngaap» or bbq crispy duck at Phoenix Garden. It was really good — Skin was crispy and meat umami and flavorful w five-​spices and herbs. (Note: the best part of all siu mei dishes is the crispy skin. you may want to avoid it if you don’t like the skin or a small amount of duck fat.)
The winter melon soup is the weakest among those we ordered. Like in most Chinese restaurant, they put lots of msg in their soup… And it had some canned veg in it… I normally avoid soup in Chiense restaurants, but if I really crave some, next time I’ll try their Chinese Herbed Soup…
The steamed sea bass at our next table looked delicious… will definitely try it next time…

Pretty authentic Cantonese food. Great meal suggestions from Victor. Our favorite dishes were the «Three Treasures» veggie dish and Fish paste stuffed veggies in chili black bean sauce. But to top it all off it’s BYOB and we got complimentary jelly fish to start. I will definitely be coming back.

Absolutely worst service in NYC.
Went to have dinner with a friend on a rainy night. Place was empty. My friend and I hung our jackets on an empty seat beside us. Manager comes over and says we have to keep our jackets on, as our jackets are wasting the use of a chair — even though that chair was an extra chair beside our table in an EMPTY RESTAURANT that could seat around 40 – 80 people.

We thought maybe we misunderstood so we asked politely if it would be okay to use the unused chair beside our table, especially since no one else was in the empty restaurant. He rudely said no and said that the chair could be used to seat customers. We said we’d be happy to move our jackets out of the one chair if other customers needed it – he said no.
WTH?
Have never been treated so rudely and so unreasonably by any restaurant in NYC.
Absolutely the biggest jerk working in the NY restaurant scene.

Victor Chu’s masterpiece is tucked away inside an east side building next to a firehouse. Sure, you don’t know what you’re getting when you look at it from the outside, but once you sit down and are served wave after tasty wave of authentic Cantonese cooking, you know you were on the receiving end of something special.
I went there on a recent Saturday night with a whole mob of friends (40-​plus counts as a mob… yes, it does!) and were treated to their banquet dinner: 9 courses of stuff that I don’t think I’ve ever had before, but now can say that I’ve had it and found it to be delicious. There was jellyfish, crab, shrimp, duck, mushrooms, various vegetables in all manner of preparation… it all just kept coming. We were fortunate to have Victor’s brother at the table to guide us, though that everyone was determined to try something they had never tried before helped make the night so much fun.
As I told Victor as I was walking out into the night, «There wasn’t a bad bite in the bunch!» Yep, definitely a place to visit again.

Pretty average, possibly a little lower than 3 stars. Had the special seafood fried rice… decent, but TINY shrimp was all that was seafood in the sauce. Chow Fun 8 way was not so great. More soupy sauce than anything and noodles were gummy and tasted like old fryer oil. For 3 dishes… $ 51 was a bit pricey for carryout.
Strange, they only took cash.

I’ve only ordered from here since I live less than 1 block away. I am very impressed with a couple of the dishes that I have tried. The wonton soup was fantastic. It is not the free with a combo meal style you see elsewhere. These are honest to goodness Chinatown style wontons with shrimp in them and they came in a delicious broth that also had watercress in it. The beef chow fun with gravy was was also delicious. Sadly, the yang chow fried rice was not good at all. The flavors as others say are pretty authentic, but even then, choose your dishes wisely.
Also, when I stepped in to order take out once, the lady behind the counter said it was cold and gave me a cup of hot tea while I waited. That was nice touch. I wish they accepted Seamless (cash only joint), but I’ve found that many places charge more when you order through Seamless to cover the fees.