Yao’s Diner

Yao’s DIner is an unimpressive-​looking section of a small strip mall borded by a pupusa café on one side and a bodega on the other. Don’t come for the décor (though it has been improved lately) — come for the food. I’m addicted to the fried fish filets with cumin. I usually order it with a plate of hand-​ripped Napa cabbage for a low-​carb meal, but left to my own, I can and will eat both plates of food because they are SO GOOD.
Fish filets with cumin are (catfish?) filets dredged in spices, then pan fried with green onions, garlic, dried peppers and a big handful of cilantro. If you love cumin, cilantro, and white, flaky fish, you will become addicted to this like I have been. I confess to getting my husband addicted also in a selfish bid to get over here more often. I suffer no guilt over this.
My husband sometimes orders the «pig’s blood pudding and beef omasum in spicy broth», which comes in a large metal dish heated from underneath. I can’t identify most of what’s in there besides the aforementioned ingredients, but he loves the unique, spicy flavors and gets enough in the order to make a 2^nd meal.
This is authentic Szechuan food, not Americanized Chinese food, though they do list menu items that will be more recogizable to the average Chinese food fan. There is a section with booths on one side of the entryway, and a section with tables to the other side, presumably for the sharing of «hot pots», a style of dining I will try soon.
This is a CASH ONLY business, with an ATM near the restrooms if you need $$. And apparently it’s BYOB!

Good place to go for authentic Chinese food. They were very busy during Chinese New Year. The staff is very polite.

This is the best chinese restaurant I would ever had before in this local area. Even better than those one in China town. it’s classic and traditional chinese cuisine. which makes me think of my home town. highly recommend

Drove by this place so many times. Finally stopped in. I ordered chicken without bone and I got chicken with bone. Tried to explain it to them. They guy said English no good I’m sorry. The rest of the food was decent. Staff is rude. Would not eat here ever again.

Good Schezuan food here. If you order spicy items, be prepared with a large bowl of rice and a tall glass of water. I will definitely return here for more food. Huge portions!

Luv this food. Small unassuming place But food was outstanding! Fish fillet with chile was intoxicating! Hot and sour soup, out of this world! OMG! Heaven! Can’t wait to go back. Thanks Yao’s!
Different and fantastic!

Went there as a celebration of my first two-​year after I settled down in NYC. The food is above average in the Long Island area, but for a New Yorker, the food is tasty outside, but inside the raw material may not be fresh.

Came back yesterday and it was perfect for the cold weather. Called ahead and they were ok with BYOB! And we all know how well spicy Chinese goes with beer!
The hoppy ipas were a little potent after the tongue was numbed up from the spices. Our favorite pairing was an IPA blonde. I think an amber would go nice as well.
I ordered the cabbage, sliced beef with tripe and the fish fillet with cumin. Sorry it was only two of us and I wasn’t feeling that adventurous.
Another tip would be to leave the dry-​clean only apparel in the car. It will soak up the spicy aromas like a sponge.

Pretty good Szechuan place near Stony Brook. Approved by my wife who is (Chinese) from that region and a fan of all things super spicy.

The best place to eat on Long Island!
Especially if you love spicy food, Yao’s is definitely the place to go!

Hands down the best Chinese restaurant in the area. Go there about 3 – 4 times a month to satisfy my Chinese food cravings. Hits the spot every time! This place serves AUTHENTIC Chinese food, something I’ve been looking for a while. This place’s food is generally on the spicy side, about 75% of things on the menu are spicy. If this is what you like, then highly recommended. Downside to it, is this place continue to raise the price every few month or so, I remember it used to be a lot cheaper, but now you are look at around $ 15 – 20 per person for dinner. Regardless, food and service are awesome!

9 dollars for a small dish of food… Bought it off the lunch menu and got no rice or egg roll… Just a small portion of food worth about $ 2 for $ 9. They got me!

A few years ago, I mentioned that I «wanted» to give Yao’s 4 or 5 stars, but couldn’t.
Well, in a few years, things have changed — and mostly for the better. The food is STILL some of the very best I’ve had anywhere on the Island — but if you’re looking for «standard» Chinese food (General Tso’s, Beef & Broccoli, etc) go somewhere else. This is the place to enjoy something more traditional — and expect ingredients you wouldn’t usually expect. Expect HEAT as well — Yao’s is never lacking in spice.
Things have improved a great deal. Seating is more comfortable, the heat/​cold problem has been solved, drinks are available, and the deafening silence is gone.
So check my previous review for all the good stuff, brave the horrific parking lot, and get yourself some VERY delicious food!

My sister and I came here to scratch an itch for spicy Sichuan food. It was a late lunch on a weekday and the place wasn’t crowded. She lives in the area and says it is often slammed at lunchtime.
We ordered the water boiled fish and tofu with hot peppers and Sichuan peppercorns. It was excellent except that when it first came out, the tofu was still cold. However, the waiter set up a sterno burner on the table so it heated up quickly. The flavor was excellent and the portion was huge. We got dry cooked string beans to go with it. They were perfectly done, richly seasoned with just the right amount of snap vs. give.
I ordered beef chow fun so we’d have something un-​spicy to balance the other two dishes. Rookie mistake; I should know better than to get a Cantonese dish in a Sichuan restaurant. The noodles were falling apart and not especially tasty. Well, they made a nice foil for the spicier dishes and were OK reheated.
Our waitress spoke almost no English so I ordered in Chinese. This is a shameless trick that usually assures better service for large white Americans in Chinese restaurants – and it worked here, too. Prices were good and portions large. We had enough to take home for a second full meal.

We came here on a Saturday night at 9pm. They close at 10pm. The food came really quickly so one star for that. The food was good as well and authentic. But they went to all extremes to try to get us to leave before 10 even though we ate everything in less than 30 minutes. Check came to us even before we ate and they started to close the lights at 9:40. Horrible service didn’t acknowledge us or thank us for coming. Not coming back there’s better places around here.

Firecracker Chicken and the Lamb with Cilantro are no joke. I could eat these two dishes weekly and never get sick of them.

First and foremost, the food is delicious. We’re talking about authentic Szechuan food. Typically I get the lotus/​walnut dish, cumin lamb, beef with scallions and some other vegetable dish. Occ., get the duck which is great.
Price per dish is about $ 15 average (¹⁰⁄₁₁ for veg. dish and $ 20 for duck) so for two people we usually spend about $ 60.00 for four dishes which lasts us two dinners.
Second, service is getting better. It was previously not the greatest (waiting for order placement, water, tea).
Lastly, at some point I hope they start taking debit/​credit. I know I have to walk with cash so usually not a problem but for people going, they either have to use the ATM inside or bring cash.

****Authentic Szechuan Food in Suffolk – Enough Said****
I’ve been here a couple times and the food is great. Pretty much everything I’ve had here is good and quality-​wise what I would expect from a restaurant in Flushing. While there aren’t in-​depth descriptions of the menu items in English, most of the dishes are pretty standard if you’ve had this type of cuisine before. Just be aware of the chili peppers on the menu, as spicy really means spicy, although nothing I’ve had has been too overwhelming. Portions are pretty large – they do have large circular tables with rotating centers for large groups — it’s best to come to share! Otherwise, you may not get as much variety since the main dishes are typically a meat or vegetable served with a small rice bowl.
Service can really be hit or miss. Its not as much demonstrating rudeness as more just indifference to pampering the customer. However, the wait staff does seem to show an annoying pattern of forgetting items for the table.
Some of the negative reviews seem to go in expecting more Americanized chinese food. While they have a small menu for this, potential patrons hoping for orange chicken are probably best served by driving west all of another 5 minutes on 25 to PF Changs. Just saying…
Just a note on the pumpkin cakes appetizer, since another reviewer didn’t enjoy it: at 2 for $ 1.50 I think this is definitely worth trying for the curious. They are sweet and soft and not overwhelmingly pricy for an appetizer. Also, while I am no expert on the authenticness of Mapo tofu, others have said the version here is very good. I also particularly like the chicken dishes with peppers which are both done very well. The fish dishes here are also delicious.
FINAL VERDICT: If service was better and food was a tad cheaper, I would give Yao’s 5 stars. Otherwise, very solid 4 for finding delicious Szechuan cuisine in an otherwise Szechuan foodless place.

Yao’s Diner is possibly the best Chinese food in the area. By area, I mean central Long Island.
I went with a group of friend’s and ordered a little bit of everything.
My favorites were the green beans, the sizzling beef, and the house tofu.
I will definitely be going back to Yao’s.

Went back for lunch with 2 friends and had the most fabulous crab dish ever! It was crab with ginger & garlic, absolutely delicious. So good in fact I didn’t even want to spit the shells out. I also ordered the cellophane noodles with pork intestines, OUTSTANDING! I love this place although the service was slow & needs to be improved. Also my friend kept getting warm soda. Will go back as often as possible.