Mei Shi Lin

Really 3.5 stars.
Came by recently and had the chow fun with dried squid. It had a mellow taste but it was good and did not taste artificial. It had a home-​made taste about it, which I can appreciate, especially for Chinese food.
The spare ribs in black bean sauce was a bit salty (expected) but again, I could appreciate that the taste was sort of home-​made. Not the greatest dish but not bad.
I think this place is more known for their seafood, actually.

I don’t know about all these mix reviews for this place, but for all the times I’ve been here it’s been great. Service could use a bit of work, but you’re not really here for that are ya? What I like about this place is that all the seafood is still fresh (alive for a better term) and the meats too. Especially the chickens, they get them from a live slaughter house every couple of days (The owner told us once while he was talking to us at the table). He even said they were free range lol.

Stumbled upon this Cantonese restaurant with Dave today while strolling down the streets of Flushing. It’s a huge restaurant but it was quite empty when we got there around 8pm. The restaurant felt really cozy to me and it kind of makes me want to bring my family here for dinner one of these days! We ordered the Dungeness Crab with Ginger & scallions as well as a vegetable dish — string beans with some minced pork. The dishes were amazing! This dish is crab paradise for any crab lover! The rice cooked witness the crab goes really well with it! The string beans were probably the best string beans I’ve ever had. I think it was particularly of the flavorful sauce that it was cooked in as well as the very little minced pork. I really enjoyed it. Overall, everything was delicious; even the peanuts they served at the beginning was awesome because they were like sugar peanuts (most Chinese places have the plain ones) The service was also great and attentive; they were quick with the orders and would change our plates frequently as needed.

This is my story and I’m sticking to it…
Reading the reviews for this spot is a roller coaster ride; one marks it as high as some of the 3 Michelin star restaurants of manhattan while others practically want to burn it to the ground… Here is what I observed:
Food — By no means a 5, 4 or even 3 star establishment. In an area awash of options, this is an uninspired establishment for taste, creativity or even authenticity.
Service — Not atrocious by any means, then again not fantastic. Usually I overlook service for quality of food, but since the food was lacking it just made the level of service that much less impressive.
Ambiance — Again, this is something I will trade in for amazing food, but this spot offers little to no comfort in its surroundings.
I see a lot of complaints about smoke, I didn’t smell/​see any.
I saw a few rave reviews, I don’t agree with those.
I even read through a few reviews which spoke from an «Asian» perspective, and though I don’t appreciate labels, I being of «Asian» descent really don’t see any authenticity to their offering or even on the counterpoint to say they were down right offensive to my culinary sensibilities.

This place allow smoking, for a noon smoker like me u may want to go somewhere else. I only came here because it was a business dinner… man my friend had a big ass worm in her dish, extr protein maybe but sure not something u want to see… This place is for Chinese people who does not enjoy American life style. If u are an American, sorry, not for u … If u r Chinese just like me, but u want to eat some thing good not just the portion, go somewhere else.

Allows smoking even though it is against nyc law. Not impressed with atmosphere. It’s a typical cantonese style restaurant. Could feel cleaner in the place. I don’t think I would go back given a choice.

I’d really want to rate it 2.5.
I came here late one night with a couple friends and were seated right away. The menu looked great and the prices seemed reasonable. Ordering was a bit tricky tough as the server did not understand much English. Even something as simple as ‘beef and broccoli’ was beyond comprehension and required pointing the menu.
The food came out quickly and was clearly freshly made. Generous portions too! The sliced beef chow fun was tasty but had very little beef :(At one point the manager came over and asked if we needed anything. My friend asked for rice and the manager didn’t really understand.
We did witness the staff bagging a live fish for some customers to take home. The seafood is definitely fresh! Unless you speak the language, I would probably avoid this place. There are definitely better options in the area.

Food here is alright, but sometimes, it could be better. Overall, good for a cantonese seafood restaurant. Came here a couple times with family because it is close but never was that amazed.

Service sucks, food sucks.
Had banquets here, and dined here. The staff rushes your food and tries to get you out. Barely had placed the plate down, when in less than 3 minutes (I timed it after getting frustrated of dishes being taken away before we could eat them) they would take away the plate, and not even try to serve it to us. The food quality is horrid. Not much tastes fresh, and is a bad rendition of Cantonese food.
Their Shrimp and Walnuts in Sweet Mayonnaise Sauce and Fried Milk is some of the most horrendous I’ve ever eaten. Too much baking soda added to puff up the shrimp. Signs that it had been sitting around for a while was a lukewarm plate and the oil starting to separate from the mayonnaise and shrimp.
The Garlic Ginger Lobster was small and again not served hot.
The Sea Bass and Flounder both taste dried as if they were not fresh but rather frozen fish.
Eating the Crispy Lemon Chicken with Pringles Chips was again a recurring theme… luke warm, and the chicken not tasting it’s freshness.
For the veggie dishes, far too much oil is used and the oil tends to get your face feeling it’s been out in the subways too long… dirty, sweaty, and nasty.
The Peking Porkchop uses the red cheap sweet and sour sauce instead of the freshly made type of brown sauce. The fried batter part also was soggy and was more like mush than fried batter.
Ironically when cooking some Taiwanese dishes, it’s actually decent. I think they missed their calling.

Food is ok for the most part. Decent. Squab/​Pigeon was a little dry, cold, and bland. Definitely had been sitting out for a while before being served to us.
But OHMYGOD the SERVICE SUCKS.
We got lobster of course. And we asked for the Cantonese Salt & Pepper style. What did we get? LOBSTER TEMPURA that tasted like those lobster/​shrimp chips! What the heck?!? And so we thought they gave us the wrong dish. But no, they said that this is what we ordered and this is how it’s prepared. It’s Cantonese.
EXCUUUUUUSE me??? We’re cantonese. NO place has EVER served us something that sucked to this caliber. Wow. They live and eat in NY. They know this is not how it’s prepared. They just kept saying that it was. Wow. We’re not stupid.

I’ve come here with a bunch of my friends many times and it never disappoints. The food here is always excellent. This restaurant would probably be the best on 40^th Rd if they had roast pork (cha siu).
The shrimp and walnuts with fried bits of condensed milk is really good. There’s a fair share of other great Chinese dishes including the peking porkchop, sauteed eggplant with tofu in garlic sauce, and sizzling pepper steak just to mention a few.
On one unfortunate occasion I came with a group of friends and a very deranged friend of ours. After our very delicious meal was complete she was tossing the peanuts given to us as appetizers at one of my other friends. The waiters didn’t mind that she made a mess.
Overall the service is great and the waiters are very nice. The place is very clean and the food is very good. Not to mention this restaurant closes at 2am, so if you’re hungry late into the night, give this place a shot and be sure to get the shrimp and walnuts.

my favorite chinese restaurant… great price for great food. Everything is done superb. For non-​chinese people, just be patient, not all waiters speak English… but they will try to accomodate u. Menu has pictures. this rating is for food and service. The restaurant itself is just plain… a regular clean chinese restaurant. my favorites are twin lobster onyl for 25.95 (you cant beat that!), chicken pan fired noodle, steak in black pepper sauce, calamari (chinese style). after a good dinner… i will walk to Quickly for a bubble tea for dessert. a great way to end a great chinese dinner.

Lobster over noodles in XOXO sauce. Delish! Right to my hips! This was my favorite dish out of all of them. We ordered shark fin soup, shrimp with walnuts, sauteed fish with beef and celery, leafy veggies with garlic, and fried dunguness crab! Shark fin soup served for 10 people for $ 56. That is a deal when the soup usually cost over $ 100.
We ordered these dishes to celebrate the mister’s mum’s b-​day. She was happy with all the dishes. Mum even told the waiters that I was going to take pictures of the food and post them on the Internet. The wait staff all laughed!
This place is away from the crowded street of Main St, which is refreshing. Mum frequents this place during lunch because seafood dishes are much cheaper and the portion is the same for dinner. They also have a section by the door for takeout meals to go. Delicious food and a great setting. For a Sunday night, this place was packed for dinner.

Very nice décor, clean. Wait staff was pretty nice & relaxed. We have a 2 yr old and they didn’t mind that she made a mess.
We ordered 4 (very big) dishes with 2 bowls of rice for $ 37.
The bbq pork (like bacon strips but about ½ inch thick) was delicious.
Looked like there was an upstairs area & a downstairs for more private parties.
We’ll be back a lot.