OK 218

Very good and exactly what you think it is, a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown… it is not my favorite but I have nothing bad to say about the place. The menu is extensive and the food is quite good at a fair price. (the lunch specials are a good value) If you don’t know Chinatown or don’t want to deal with the crowds below Canal st. This is a very good option.

I have only bought the crispy roast whole pork to go here and found it amazing both times. This will now be my go-​to for crispy roast pork — be sure to ask for the rib portion of the roast pork — it’s the best part!
One only needs to find the place with numerous elderly Toisan (Taishan?) regulars to know that the traditional Cantonese cooked meat providers are still around and alive to ensure that the vibe of Chinatown isn’t too gentrified. I really do love this place and hope it stays open for a very, very long while.

You want duck? We got duck. That’s the only reason I ducked in here to begin with. The roast ducks hanging by their elongated necks were a sure sign that they indeed serve duck. I was staying a couple of blocks away and was surprised to find myself immersed in Chinatown within seconds of leaving the hotel lobby. What a great city this is where you can have a cannoli on one block and a $ 6.50 plate of Roast Duck over Rice just around the corner. That’s exactly what happened on the last morning I was in Manhattan. I’m sure there are higher rated places to eat in the neighborhood, but I was sticking to my tightening schedule.
I just walked in to see most of their business focused on takeout orders. There was barely any activity going on in the formica-​laden dining room next door. In fact, the old-​school waiter had to get up from his stool and put on his vest before he came to my table. The hot tea came automatically, and that morning I needed it. Of course, I had the duck, and it was pretty good for 10 in the morning. There was plenty of duck neatly chopped and placed over cabbage and rice to catch all the grease (photo:
). The skin was crispy even if it all tasted a bit lukewarm. For a fast plate of roast duck over rice, I can think of worse.
FOOD — 3 stars… duck over rice hits the spot when you need it
AMBIANCE — 2.5 stars… old-​school Chinese café, no more, no less
SERVICE — 2.5 stars… old-​school waiter, no more, no less
TOTAL — 3 stars… wanna buy a duck?

Great BBQ duck. Think they make it on site, have big kitchen in the back. have a good variety of duck, chicken, pork in the window but only had the duck

Service is soooo bad here.
They charge extra for everything and don’t even tell you before they charge it. How do you NOT have a portion of rice when ordering a dish of chicken or pork???
We had to ask for water 3 times before getting it and then when I asked for a straw, he have me a look and walked away. HOW RUDE!!!
I guess thats just how they roll here in New York.
So on to the food:
Our food plates are tossed onto our table, I mean they might as well just throw it to our table from the kitchen.
We ordered the spicy roast pork and they brought out a cold plate of bbq pork drenched in table soy sauce.
We ordered more things but told them to hold the rest and asked for the check. This review started with 2 stars but unfortunately ended with 1.

I’ve been coming here as a kid. That is back when rice orders were between $ 2.75-$ 3.50 each. Of course times have changes but their quality hasn’t. I’ve always been happy dining in and for the most part for take out I usually order:
Scallion or Soy Sauce Chicken
Bitter Melon w/​Beef
Fried «Chong» Fish
Salt N’ Pepper Pork Chops
Buffalo Fish in Black Bean Sauce
Usually they always throw in a quart of Tofu, Pork bone soup.
A place like this you really can’t go wrong. Seating is limited but you’ll always be able to get a table as I’ve never seen it packed. It’s close to Nolita and Soho, so it makes a great spot to start the night (very) young with a meal here before heading to your favorite bar or club (if you’re into that) or in my case, Karaōke.

My apologies on a mistaken review. I found this place to be an old style rice shoppe a la Full Kee in DC Chinatown. The noodle soups were inexpensive. I had the fish ball noodle soup. I need to try a few other dishes. I am sad that many of these old school Cantonese restaurants are becoming obsolete.

One of the best meals that we had in NYC and the service is excellent. Everything had a great flavor. The Peking Duck was excellent as well as the steamed dumplings and spring rolls.

This place is terrible they served me raw chicken! I went back to inform them and they just gave me back my money and just looked at me. I mean I have seen raw chicken before but this kind of raw chicken was BAD! I’ll be posting photos to show. Terrible cook and service.

It’s been over six years since I first reviewed this place, and I am happy to note that OK 218 has been extremely consistent over the last six years. The owner, two-​person regular waitstaff, the lady behind the take-​out counter, and from what I remember, even the cooks have all not changed. In fact, this restaurant has got to be one of the few in Chinatown that has not changed much, if at all, during the last ten years.
Most importantly, however, the food has largely remained unchanged over the years. My favorite, the beef, egg, and tomato on rice, is, in my opinion, still the best of its kind in Chinatown. Their «Beijing-​style» fried pork chops and salt and pepper crispy squid are also quite good. Even the «Western-​style takeout» dishes, such as the iconic General Tso’s chicken, are well executed.
The waiters also do not forget a face. While I am pretty much a regular, eating with family friends here several times a year, I once came in with a friend originally from Toronto who had only been to their restaurant once before, and the waiters remembered him. In fact, they found it profoundly humorous that two guys they’ve met on separate occasions, the guy who frequently eats with a family that speaks Cantonese but cannot really speak it himself and the guy who stopped by a month prior that originally hails from Canada, are close friends.
As a bonus, one of the waiters is a polyglot and speaks Spanish fluently.
All of the above adds to the homeyness of this establishment. If you have never been to this restaurant or the area in general, I think it is nigh time for you to walk the extra 10 or so minutes from touristy Canal Street and grab a table at OK 218.

More then just, O. K.
They play top 40 music overhead.
Really good bbq and roast pork as well as duck.
The waiters speak English… better.
The clams in black bean sauce are the tits.
It’s clean. Looking.
Salt Fish with bits of chicken and egg plant? Yes, please.
The bathroom was almost 1^st world conditions. That’s huge in Chinatown.
If I lived near by, this would be my Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis hook up.

Best Chinese in the area. Great duck, hot and sour soup, and the chicken with diced peppers is addicting! I will miss this place when I move

I went here with my mom once. It was the worst experience of my life. The waiters were very rude to me and my mother.
The waiters had an attitude.
When my food came I was starving and looking forward to it.
After eating a few bites I noticed long strands of hair inside the rice.
Then I saw something stuck on the side of my plate.
I immediately left.

I ordered a sliced fish congee today since it was across the street from my dentist and it cost me $ 1.80 more than it does at my usual congee spot. Plus, it only tasted half as good.
If you asked me, $ 1.80 is a big deal if you’re buying food in Chinatown. That’s practically half of how much my congee would’ve costed if I went to my usual spot.
Absurdity. Never coming back here for congee again.

One of the better places to get the roasted pig. slightly more compared to the other places. I guess that is what you pay for. The crispy skin with the layer of fat and the tender pork itself. I am actually drooling on the keyboard. I just need a bowl of rice and I am pretty sure I will be in fat kid heaven.

I’ve been eating food here for nearly fifteen years and without this place, I could not have become the healthy and strong adult I am today.
Here is why you should eat here:
— Menu is very diverse, ranging from seafood to Congee to Peking duck. The food here is very traditional; exactly the same as the food you would eat in China.
— Clean establishment.
— Waiters are very friendly and professional, fluent in English and Chinese. One of them is also fluent in Spanish.
— Lighting is bright and air conditioning is great.
— Prices are very reasonable.
These are just some of the reasons that make this place one of the best in my book so what are you waiting for? Come and try it out!

OK is a little rice shoppe serving old style Cantonese dishes with the standard cha siu (roast pork), glistening roast ducks, and a whole roast pig hanging in the window. I would stack up OK’s BBQ items up against any of the Wong noodle shops in Chinatown. Most of their business is takeout at lunch time serving BBQ meats over rice as well as prepared foods such as grouper fillet, home style bean curd and vegetarian Buddha’s delight. If you’re feeling adventurous, you might want to sample the jellied duck’s blood.
The small adjoining dining room with wait service for about 6 tables cannot handle more than a family of 6, but with a little squeezing could handle a group of 8 if they were really friendly. Being one of the most convenient places near my parent’s apartment building, I’ve been coming here for years, but their prices have become a little steeper lately. But if you’re on the hunt for that unique «wok hay» flavor, set yourself down for some good Cantonese fare.

Note they sort of changed the name/​ownership to simply 218 Restaurant and dropped the «OK». Even though that’s what it was — OK.
First thing I noticed was the dirty tea kettle. It’s stainless steel and they can’t wipe it down? Tea was also too black so you can tell there’s no QC there. Plus side is that service is fast and the water gave a decent recommendation to a fish that needed to be steamed ahead of time. It’s also relatively inexpensive since mom and dad always like to be in Chinatown for pretty much all our meals.
So between the three of us, we had four dishes for lunch:
Shrimp with mayo/​broccoli/​walnuts. Twas perfect. I like it when they give plenty of broccoli and not too much mayo.
The Peking style pork chops was the biggest downer as they were over fried.
Bok Chow were simply stir fried with whole garlic. Generic as they come.
And the fish (cod I believe), was slightly overcooked and the oil/​soy sauce lacked a particular depth as if there was ginger missing.
Nevertheless, it’s OK. I’d come back and try the roast meats.

This place has the best roast meats in Chinatown. Go with the roast duck, soy sauce chicken, or roast pork. The fried rice is a staple and they have a wide array of seafood dishes as well (fresh steamed fish, cantonese style lobster). If you go for dinner, you get the daily soup on the house.

This place serves homestyle cooking, steamed eggs with vermicelli, eggplant with salted fish, beef and broccoli, chicken… all was very good…
Very small seating area so you must be patient, we came here after Lombardis pizza and walking SOHO, with a different group of great friends and it was very good to the stomach…
Tables aren’t for large groups but for a few just looking for a place to munch on the basics of Cantonese style, not bad at all…