Lucky Plaza Restaurant

Okay let’s see this place was «ok» and I mean really «ok». It was recommended to me by some cops that loved it but I wasn’t blown away. there are just too many places to choose from down there.

We went there last night for dinner, and regret we did so. We were there around 7:30pm, and the waitress was rushing us to order quick. We picked few dishes right away, but were told half of them are out of stock… We compromised and asked what they have then. We ordered few common dishes thereafter, but most of them either taste plain or stalled. As we try to pick out what we can eat, we were told the store will close soon and we need to finish quick. It was only 8pm!!! I know there were only a handful of customers inside, but it is just rude to rush your customer. And the sight says open til 11pm!
It’s a total disaster, and we will never go back again!

In a nutshell: Reasonably priced Chinese restaurant in Chinatown with good BBQ pork.
This was part 4 of our mini Chinatown cheap eats tour. My cousin told me this is where to go for good soups and BBQ pork. The menu looks good, and the food was good as well. The highlight was definitely the roast pork.
Ambience ³⁄₅
A lot of restaurants in Chinatown are designed in a similar fashion. BBQ/​Roasted meats hanging by the window along with most of the kitchen, with some seating. Most of these spots are designed for to-​go orders, and quick turnaround.
Service ³⁄₅
OK. We got served when we needed to, but that’s about it.
Parking ²⁄₅
Why are you driving in NYC? Take a bus or train, silly.
Location ³⁄₅
In a very high traffic area near Grand St. Park. Easy to find this spot.
Food ⁴⁄₅
Soup was alright… something about some Chinese soups that I don’t like. I’m yet to figure out the ingredient that I don’t enjoy. The Peking noodle soup was good, though. Decent flavor, and the noodles were fresh. Tastiest dish of the day was the roast pork. Very tender and not too sweet.
Overall ³⁄₅
Good spot. Try their BBQ pork for sure. I’ll have to come here again to try their other dishes to get a better idea of this spot’s overall quality. Until next year!

I’m not Chinese but I know Chinese food.
If you’re into Chinese «takeout,» like General Tso’s chicken or sesame chicken or spare ribs, buddy you are in the wrong place.
This place is deep in Chinatown, so deep that I’m not sure how much English they actually speak!
I sampled a lot of the restaurants around here for lunch (I work in Chinatown a day a week). Hands down, this place is the most fresh and consistent. They’re very busy during lunchtime so you figure there is good turn around in food –not just sitting around.
Portions good as well as meat to rice/​vegetable ratio. I highly recommend the celery chicken — my goto here.
Lunch prices are a steal — $ 5.50 for most of your basic dishes, and up to $ 6.95 if you want to get fancy smancy!
If you ever down in this area, check it out — I promise, food won’t make you sick!

Worst chinese food I’ve ever had. The Sesame chicken was disgusting. I just ate around the chicken. The sauce was particularly terrible. It wasn’t just bland; it really tasted awful.
The egg drop soup was decent, but I wouldn’t recommend this place at all. It was fast and cheap but really gross.

Surprisingly delicious and authentic. I tried some veggie dishes and they are really great. Some of the prices are higher than surrounding restaurants.

I’ve been here quite a few times but never got a chance to write a review. The place is okay, just like your typical Chinese place. They have some specials and the boss tends to recommend the expensive stuff.

Nice surprise!
First, I too don’t understand the low ratings because this place was genuine and clean and delicious! Our friend, who is Chinese BTW, invites us to meet her here since its close to where she takes tai chi classes. It’s very unassuming and to most it probably reads like a fast food slash greedy and not good joint from the outside. It’s anything but that! They have ducks hanging in the window which I’ve heard means its really is a genuine place. We got cashew chicken, E-​Fu noodle with mushroom, and ginger and scallion beef, oh and Chinese broccoli. (There were only 3 of us but we were awfully hungry!) there wasn’t one thing I would change about any dish they served us. Clean, simple, light, and perfect. I highly recommend this place to anyone wanting real Chinese food!

Had to settle for this place because the other two restaurants are closed or renovating. Never really trusted this place because it doesn’t have much customers and they got a C for health inspection. Got my soy sauce chicken, brought it home and opened my rice box. I was surprised of how neat it looked. Half way through it, in between the lettuce I noticed a dark strand. I was praying to god it wasn’t a hair. Please please please let it be a yarn so it wouldn’t be as bad because i already ate half the rice! Dug into it with my fork, yup.
It’s a HAIR. The worst thing thing to see in your food because its someone else’s hair! What if it was armpit hair or nose hair or pubes. It looked about half an inch long so it could anything… Even if its my own hair in my food, I wouldn’t want to eat anymore. Never ever going back to this place. They’re very unsanitary and slow service btw.

Typical Cantonese restaurant. We used to go there a lot for quick weekend lunch right after there grand opening. But later found the food quality going down. Now, we only order take out.

I stopped by here because Wah Fung fast food is closed on mondays.
I came here in search of crispy roast pork/​pig? I’m not sure what the difference was when ordering. there’s 2 different menu items.
I figure that instead of asking the waitress what the difference was, I’d hedge my bets and order a plate of rice with multiple meats. Roast pork, roast pig, and soy sauce chicken.
It was pretty standard, but I didn’t think it was that great. I’ve had better at sun say kai on Canal st.
They put me in front of a fish tank full of live catfish, so if you enjoy seeing your food seeing you, you should request a table in the back.

We went to Lucky Plaza today because the place we normally meet at on Saturdays at 83 Chrystie street is being renovated (translation: going to be more expensive).
Anyhow we went in and found the place to be clean and the waitstaff relatively friendly. Looking at the menu, I spotted my all-​time favorite dish, roast duck lomein. I ordered it of course with the highest of expectations. Not a good move. When the lomein arrived, the noodles were cold and from the smell I would surmise were those dried noodles that are always on sale in Chinese supermarkets. The duck was likewise cold and there was a huge quality difference between the pieces on top and those underneath. Guess where the good pieces were! It is not very often that I do not finish a meal at a restaurant (I’m usually more likely to lick the plate clean), but I did not finish today.
My friend had the scallion and ginger lomein and was similarly disappointed. No second chance for this place. The food was awful!

Mediocre food and a very long waiting time. The restaurant was dirty (I saw part of the food being dropped and then being picked up again and placed in the platter — eww) and service was rude too. The food wasn’t terrible and I actually liked my ginger and scallion noodles, which were just $ 4, but I probably wouldn’t visit again.

The real winners here are the specials written in Chinese on the walls in the back section of the restaurant. When you walk in, Lucky Plaza appears to be a typical BBQ Chinese quick/​fast food joint but if you want a nice sit down meal, walk towards the back to be seated-​it looks like a more casual banquet area. My parents work in the heart of Chinatown and I asked them why they decided to eat here. They stated that it’s one of the places where they don’t know a lot of people and can eat in peace. I thought it was hilarious. Anyway, two of the waiters looked familiar and we asked them if they worked in another restaurant and yes, of course they worked at a few restaurants that they would go to quite often. One other thing, when I asked my dad what his opinion was regarding the front seating and back seating area, my dad replied, «front seating less tips, back seating, you tip more, nicer.»
So back seating we went and they have a few lobster specials. We ordered 2 lobsters for about $ 18. They also had 2 lobsters for about $ 13 but they said those are smaller. One of the waiters grabbed a plastic bag and scooped up two lobsters from the tank and into the kitchen. After getting our other food which included, house special casserole (chinese sausage, smoked duck, pork over rice), walnut shrimp mayo broccoli (too much mayo-​would have preferred the mayo on the side), chinese veggies with garlic, steamed tofu, fried flounder (delicious-​brought me back to my childhood) we finally got the lobster!
The lobster was so fresh and the meat was so easy to pull out of the shell! Excellent price!
The reason I am giving Lucky Plaza 3 stars is because although they have great specials, I don’t think their food is spectacular compared to other Chinese restaurants. This would not be my preferred place to do but it’s definitely a place I would hit up once in awhile if my party wants lobster.
Oh and I forgot to mention, my dad talked his way into getting free veggie soup. At the end you get complimentary oranges and sweet soup as well.

My favorite Chinatown spot at the moment. Can’t beat the 2-​lobster deals they always have going on, prices may vary from $ 11−18ish depending on the season, but a great deal nonetheless. Other dishes are solid too. Ginger and scallion lamb chops and salt and pepper pork chops are among my favorites.
Been there probably a dozen times now, and never had a bad meal.

I have certain staple restaurants I go to in Chinatown, but every now and then it’s worth trying a new place to get a sense of what’s around. Chrystie Street is not one of my usual haunts. For those not in the know, this is the block that is right off the Manhattan Bridge, where many of the infamous Chinatown buses gather to whisk people off to Boston and other places on the cheap.
My visit to Lucky Plaza was actually at the suggestion of my mom and her friend, who had both eaten here previously and had positive experiences. Add to that a deal of two lobsters for $ 13 and it wasn’t a hard sell.
The front section of Lucky Plaza is quite deceptive. The front has a standard Chinatown area for roasted meats and rice dishes to go. Beyond that are several tables seating anywhere from two to six people. However, if you keep walking towards the back of the restaurant it opens up to an entirely larger area where traditional round tables that can accommodate about ten to twelve people are situated. The restaurant was as clean as any other standard Chinatown establishment, and I didn’t see any creepy crawlies or dust bunnies for that matter so I was happy. Indeed, aside from an odd assortment of wood and plastic chairs the restaurant looked really nice and normal.
I let my mom order so we got the following dishes:
Salted Roast Chicken
This chicken may look bland with just yellow skin and some scallion oil sauce on the side, but it was SUPER tasty. They salted this chicken nice before they roasted it. The chicken was beautifully cooked, with the white meat nice and tender and the dark meat nice and juicy. You barely needed any sauce as it was so good on its own.
Lobster
Two lobsters cooked Cantonese style (scallions and ginger) for $ 13? I didn’t expect much. What we got however were delicious lobsters with super tender meat. The sauce was delicious and I gobbled all the scallion up. I was very happy with this dish and would get it again any time.
Cod fillets
The cod was cooked with a sauce partially derived from preserved vegetables. The sauce was tangy and sweet and the fish was wonderfully tender. Throw in a piece of fresh cilantro with each bite and it was pure awesome.
Asian Spinach with preserved bean curd sauce
This is one of my favorite staples in any Chinese restaurant. I love cooking it, I love eating it. It’s pure yum, but some restaurants either over or under cook the vegetables or they don’t use enough bean curd sauce to give it that fermented flavor. Lucky Plaza nailed it with just the right texture on the vegetables and enough sauce to get a taste but not overwhelm the dish.
Dessert
A category in itself, dessert was given to us complimentary as part of our meal. First were orange slices, which were juicy and fresh. Next was a warm sweet bean soup that was delicious! Many restaurants have stopped giving this as a dessert free with meals, so this was truly refreshing to see and experience!
So all that food above and a bowl of rice came out to $ 47. This food easily fed four people and had we ordered a bit more rice, I’m sure we could have fed a fifth. An absolute bargain considering the type of food we ordered and the quality.
The service was very good, with our tea constantly being refreshed and our plates full of bones and shells being taken away twice during the meal. The entire staff was very responsive to all our requests as well.
Okay, I’ll say it because I’m not afraid to be cheesy — I’m luck y to have discovered Lucky Plaza! It’s a great place to eat that won’t break your wallet.

I’ve been here twice since Sunday and the food is very good. They have a lunch special where there’s a special menu and almost every dish is $ 4.95! The plates are on the smaller side but for $ 4.95, you kind of expect it to be a little smaller. But since it is so cheap, you can also order several dishes and share.
We ordered enough for 4 adults and 2 kids and the bill was $ 50! I was stuffed to the gills after lunch but everything was so tasty that I couldnt help it!
Definitely worth a try.

$ 3.50 for a plate of meat with rice? Whoa! Sure enough, the rice was dry and the meat either dry (char siew) or overly bony (chicken), but I don’t think you can get a better deal for the same meal. The deal only applies before 5 pm though. And you can also swap the meat for pork belly or roast duck.

My thirteen continuous hour day ended at Lucky Plaza with fellow Cantonese classmates/​friends at Lucky Plaza for dinner on a Saturday. Despite of the individual dishes ordered, the good company of a (party of five) presence balanced the equation for merriment which comforts the heart. My Peking Pork Chops with rice was plentiful for dinner and the house special Chinese sausage and minced pork of rice casserole was intriguing amid the fifteen minute preparation time. The spare ribs with bitter melon with rice was an acquired taste but the meat balances the taste. Lastly a fellow classmate’s Curry chicken was light and airy without the intense heat of curry, which a non-​spicy gal like myself, enjoyed. Price is reasonable from the lunch specials at a dinner meal.
Service is attentive. Facilities are minimal with only one stall for the women as I nearly waited until the sky fell watching three women exited from my seat simultaneously. The stench in the facilities is of something that died with the added chaos of paper towels and toilet paper plastered all over the floor.

3 I usually don’t order rice from restaurants so IDK if they’re good in here. I ordered «3 see chow lai fun» from them for lunch 2 times consecutively from the lunch special menu and it’s quite good. Yesterday, there were too much meat (chicken, ham, roasted pork) than lai fun. And today they put less meat and more lai fun. And they come with a soup in paper cup.
Sometimes you gotta ask them twice if your order is ready or not because when it gets overloaded with take outs and carry out… they wont tell you if your orders done. You have to check with them. The cashier who answers the phone is polite too.