Wong

Delicious food. Friendly and helpful bartender. Def get the Red Frost again.

I pre-​ordered the «Duckavore» dinner for four, in honor of my partner’s birthday, and it was a great treat. Each of the many courses featured duck – in a rich broth, a refreshing lettuce wrap, a hearty meat loaf, the delicious duck buns, and (best of all) roast duck prepared two ways – and presented by the chef before carving and serving with a side of duck noodles. The service could have been slightly more attentive, especially because the lag time between courses was understandably a bit longer than usual. But that’s a small complaint. All four of us thoroughly enjoyed our dinner.

We came here because my Vietnamese friend wanted to try the Cha Ca La Vong, which originates from his hometown of Hanoi. Three out of four of us ordered this dish.
Breakdown of what was ordered that night:
Banh Xeo — great appetizer, crispy Vietnamese crêpe topped with cilantro, beansprouts, scallions, and shrimp. Wrapped in lettuce and then dipped in fish sauce. I loved the crunch, but it was a little bit too small to share in my opinion. The whole thing was $ 13.50 for the small crêpe and 3 large pieces of lettuce.
Cha Ca La Vong — Small pieces of fish grilled in turmeric and dill, served on a bed of vermicelli, lettuce, and peanuts. The dish is assembled in front of you by the waiters. They first place the bowl of vermicelli and lettuce in front of you before spooning the fish hot from a sizzling plate onto the bed. They finish it by pouring fish sauce on the whole thing. The three of us who ordered this dish enjoyed it immensely. Delicious flaky fish with great flavor from the tumeric and dill. The fish pairs very well with the lettuce and noodles. Very light but filling dish. It’s on the expensive side at $ 18. I’m happy my friend was able to introduce me to this dish. Would like to try making it at home.
BBQ pork ribs — One friend ordered a BBQ pork ribs, which was sub-​par and more expensive at $ 22 compared to the fish. It comes with fried green beans. Great presentation, but the sauce just tasted really strange. It was too smoky and sweet. In this case, the Asian fusion did not work. It was like regular BBQ sauce that they tried adding Asian flavors to, but just fell short. I recommend not to order this.
Entrance is easy to miss. Just look for their W logo. The restaurant itself is very clean and has great interior decorations. We made a reservation at 6:30pm on a Tuesday, but none is needed. At 7pm, we were the only ones there with a few more groups coming in later. In general, it was empty while we were there, but could be because it was a Tuesday night.

Michelin guide recommended? Really?
My biffle took me here as a surprise for my birthday after reading numerous rave articles about it. We had a reservation at 7pm on a Saturday night and the restaurant was maybe 25% full and was only 50% full when we left.
Service was good, but that’s about it. Also, I want to point out that the descriptions of the food in the menu currently posted online is NOT accurate.
We got the happy hour dumplings — both lobster and corn /​beef dumplings and neither were spectacular. The filling in the lobster dumplings was lukewarm and the beef filling in the other dumplings were reminiscent of Indian food. Sauces on both were meh, as well.
Shrimp fritters as a starter — this was quite large in size and doused in nuoc mam (fish sauce). Basically, it’s julienned sweet potato and pieces of shrimp fried into a semi-​patty doused in fish sauce. Tasty, but nothing special.
Cha Ca La Wong — essentially this is your simple bun (vermicelli) vietnamese dish. Cold noodles, lettuce, and fried fish pieces with shallots tossed in yet again, fish sauce. Too much of the same flavors, but that’s our fault. This was a disappointment, as you could get the same dish at a very good Vietnamese hole in the wall for less than half the price.
Lobster Egg Foo Young — I’m Chinese and I had no idea what egg foo young was. And I still don’t, really. This was a hot cast iron plate of what seemed like a lot of black pepper, scrambled eggs, and onion, with a — nicely — cooked piece of lobster tail and claw on top. I was a fan of the lobster but definitely not of all the extras. Just didn’t hit the spot for me.
Roast duck ice cream — really tasted like duck, from the first taste to the after taste. It was quite interesting, to say the least. The whole dessert dish did the sweet/​salty combo quite well, but I’m not sure I could get used to eating duck-​flavored ice cream. Pistachio cake on the side was not memorable.
Oolong tea ice cream — strong in the tea taste, but too similar to matcha green tea ice cream. The pumpkin cake served with it was also not memorable. What I thought were blueberries sprinkled along the dish were not — they were blackcurrants and had seeds that surprised me. Oops.
Overall, cute place, but I would not recommend coming here if you’re looking for an enjoyable culinary experience.

I have to agree with Emily F. – not good.
It’s a run of the mill restaurant (for NYC), which means it has steep prices, ok food and dismal service.
It’ll be out of business soon soon. But then you can always drive out to Long Island and eat at a Panda Express if you want the same food for one tenth the price.
Boo

This was hands down the worst dining experience I’ve had in my entire life, and I’ve had a lot of dining experiences.
A group of 12 of us came for dinner for a friend’s birthday.
The place is very cute, I’ll give it that. It was clear upon arriving that the place was short staffed — 2 servers for the entire restaurant. It took over 30 minutes for someone to come take our drink order, and a drink didn’t land on the table until after ONE HOUR of being seated. Hello!!!
The one girl who ordered a cocktail, vs wine (which was delicious… as Wong didn’t make it) at the table found in undrinkable.
We each ordered our own dishes. Well, all dishes arrived at different times. This would be understandable if it were a family style restaurant, or if we were given a disclaimer. I actually received my veggie side of «Crispy Cauliflower» first… way before the meal. Nothing crispy about it, it was steamed cauliflower with peanut sauce on it.
My dish, Cha Ca La Wong, was inedible. A disgusting mish mosh of flavors. My friend ordered the Black Fish, which they were out of, but the Mackerel that was offered in it’s place was so salty (swimming in soy sauce), we had to drain the dish before attempting to eat it.
We bit our tongues (literally) and said nothing about the food. This is our friend’s birthday and we didn’t want to ruin her evening experience.
I won’t get into too much detail about a dessert debacle regarding cupcakes we brought and asked to be served, but the waiter was completely rude and inhospitable about the whole experience. It involved his asking the owner, who was sitting at a table nearby, and his coming back with negative replies each time. If I am the owner of a restaurant and a large party is having a terrible evening, I’m sure as hell not going to sit in my little corner like an evil emperor. DO SOMETHING.
Our friend’s special day ended up with the group of us singing Happy Birthday over cupcakes in a Chase Bank around the corner. Thank you Wong. You also gave our friend food sickness that night to further the COMEDY OF ERRORS that is your restaurant.
Needless to say, none of us will be returning. In fact, the only person that should be returning is the health department, to call you out on your clear and offensive violations that your open kitchen so thankfully showed us.

Great service, icy cocktails, and spicy savory dishes!
The servers were very attentive and friendly.
The broth with the shrimp fritters was the perfect sour zing for the fried goodness. Ribs, duck, and beef noodle were excellent (a tad too spicy on the quack quack, but so tender).
I had three Red Frost cocktails… enjoy!

For my girlfriend’s birthday we decided to do the Duck Feast Menu that Wong has to offer for groups. We were promptly seated for our 7pm Monday night reservation.
We had about 6 courses of all duck. It was overwhelming. I think I may have to pass on Duck for a few months after this dinner not because it wasn’t good, but because t’s just too much! I would suggest to switch it up and order some non Duck menu items as well.
The fried montou buns with pulled duck meat & shiso leaf was very interesting take on the NYC bun culture.
My favorite dish was the seared duck with a spicy tangy sauce.
Did not like the duck ice cream just too strong for me.
Will be back to try their normal menu.

Gonna jump straight into the review — here we go…
Service — it was average. We were the first table and were the only ppl there for a good 15 mins but the server seemed a bit preoccupied with whatever was going on at the bar to take our drink order or food order. She seemed to also be one of 2 servers in the restaurant when the traffic finally picked up… Not sure how she could actually be attentive even if an effort was there.
Food: inconsistent and somewhat offput. Ordered the shrimp fritters which was fresh, crispy, delicate, & well seasoned with some interesting garnish (procuitto, pear, sprouts). Razor clams were bland and worst was the kitchen did not clean the intestines well bc there was brown goo coming out of it… I think you know what I am talking about? I really don’t want to pay to eat $h!t!!! Cha Ca La Wong was my favorite. Really great south east flavor with a bit of curry thrown into it! Lobster Egg Foo Young was creative but I was expecting something more Asian tasting instead it was more marinara tasting with eggs & lobster.
Price: Quite expensive for the quantity and inconsistency…
Glad I tried it but probably won’t return since there are too many places to check out in the WV.

Dinner at Wong in the West Village on Saturday, April 5, 2013
Wong, New York, NY
Food: Asian.
Overall: 6.9÷10 vs. restaurants priced $$$/​5.
Ambiance: Good.
Food: Very Good.
Service: Very Good.
Wine/​Drinks: Good.
My rating scale: Exceptional, Very Good, Good, Ok, Needs Improvement, Terrible.
Overall Comments: I arrived without a reservation so I was happy to get a table. The overall dining experience was a good one but not a must-​go-​back-​soon experience.
Ambiance: the restaurant seats only 36 people at the tables and 14 on bar stools so it’s small. It doesn’t feel crowded, but instead feels cozy. The walls are white brick tile and the kitchen is open to the restaurant which reveals the frenzy that typically takes place behind a wall.
Food: The food is unique for the West Village given the strong Asian influence at Wong. The sauce on the mackerel was exceptional. The sweet soy lime vinaigrette and carrot ginger purée were very good. The shrimp dish is a must order — cilantro, pear. The scallops were not bad but not great, which was surprising given how other reviewers raved about the scallops. The short rib could have been better; it was quite dry.
Service: The staff works hard, which I like to see. The hostess was very pleasant and accommodated my request to sit at a table rather than a bar stool seat. No real connection with my server but she did an acceptable job.
Wine/​Drinks: Extremely limited wine options, but Wong isn’t meant to be a place for fine wine. The cocktails were good.

Wandering around the WV on a Thursday night, everywhere seemed to have a wait so I decided the next spot we’re walking past, we’re going into. Wong was the next spot, ugh, I usually walk out of these Asian fusion spots thinking I just got ripped off… I could’ve spent a third of that and had better food down in Chinatown. But I can say I was actually pleasantly surprised here
Started with the duck buns… meat was ok, but the way they toasted the buns was a definite winner. Next up was the turnip cake noodles which seemed to just have a bunch of flavors jump out at you with each bite, definitely recommended. Finished off with the crispy cauliflower which is basically deep fried vegetables… how can anything not taste good like that? Now if it were only healthy…
Overall, a good spot, and something that should be considered if you’re out and about in the WV without a reservation.

I’m not usually a fan of Asian fusion but I was pleasantly surprised by Wong. Plus, I love how reasonably priced their bottles of wine are.
Duck Bun: Cucumber, Chinese Celery — These were my favorite things here! They are SO good – you must try them if you’re a fan a duck. The meat is so incredibly juicy, it just bursts with flavor as you bite into it. The buns are fluffy on the inside and perfectly golden crispy on the outside. Yummm…
Hakka Pork Belly: Taro Tater Tots, Pickled Turnip — great little flavorful bites of pork belly but much smaller than I had anticipated and not as fatty as some pork belly.
Lobster Egg Foo Young: Leeks, Salted Duck Egg Yolk, Dried Shrimp Crumble –I’m not sure why everyone raves about this dish. Don’t get me wrong, it was good but not «omg it changed by life» good. I think it could have been a bit flavorful but overall still tasty.

It was pretty lame we seat more than 5 people because of the house rules, so our party had to split up and 2 people sat at the bar. The food was okay/​pretty good — not really for spending a ton of $ on Asian Fusion. Not sure why my friends love eating Asian Fusion.
We had a bunch of the dishes and shared. Will I go back? Probably not. I did like the décor and interior though. Aside from the manager who wouldn’t seat our larger than 5 party, the staff was very attentive.

Why have Asian-​fusion when you can have authentic Asian and a fraction of the cost? My curiosity got the best of me and we ventured to Wong a few weeks ago.
Cocktails were creative and refreshing — they used Pimm’s, cucumber, and ginger beer in some of the concoctions. Appetizers definitely out-​shined the entrees. We got the scallops and shrimp fritters, they were both delicious. The lobster egg foo young reminds me of something that I would get during brunch, with the retail value of lobster at under $ 5 per pound these days, the entrée should have more than 3 small pieces of the crustacean. Cha ca la Wong had a neat presentation, but it was too salty although it was the best main course of the night. There’s also a specials menu that changes frequently, I remember wanting to return for some more appetizers. The friend that ordered the entrée off that list was not impressed with his fish dish.
I wanted to come here to try the Duck a la Plum. It was very interesting to say the least, but I wish it had more of a duck flavor.
The décor reminded me of a rustic shack by the water in a small fishing town, chairs and tables were not designed for long lingering conversations or intimacy and romance. If you are in the area and in the mood for Asian fusion, I’d recommend the spot for snacks and a drink… otherwise there are plenty of other choices in the area /​NYC for meals and a date.

Birthday dinner #2:
WONG!
Appet-​h-​to the-​izo:
Scallops: Crispy Duck Tongue, Cucumber, Jellyfish $ 16
Duck Tongue = tiny, crispy, essentially good, scallops big scallopy, jellyfish???
³⁄₅
Entrezzee:
Lobster Egg Foo Young: Leeks, Salted Duck Egg Yolk, Dried Shrimp Crumble $ 25
Maaann, why you gotta be fancying up egg foo young! Cook it Chinese carry-​out-​style, and just add lobster! Why does this look like a bowl of sunny side up had a threesome with tomato sauce & crustacean??? And to my dismay, no leeks.
3.5÷5
Desserto:
Duck a la Plum: Roast Duck Ice Cream, Star Anise-​Poached Plums, Crispy Tuile, 5-​Spice Cookie $ 9
Fkn DUCK ICE CREAM, yo!!! :D :D :D And not sure what star-​anise is, but that shit sounds awesome. And did they mention this dessert comes w a fkn DESSERT SAKE?! I’m not an alcohol fan ever really, but that was the fruitiest, awesomest shot of awesome EVER! Ice cream was divine (make pints!), and cookie was as bad-​ass as you imagine it to be.
⁵⁄₅
Extra: I’m giving an extra star for the water pitchers on the table that look like giant chemistry flask.
Think they’ll fill one up with more plum sake for me?
WHAT!!!

I’m usually scared of Asian cuisine catered to the Western crowd. This place calmed my fears a bit. Why? It’s fusion. And the open kitchen is great for viewing how your food get from there to your table.
I think the presentation was the most impressionable. The food itself reminded you of the original dishes they were modeled after, but the tableware, plates, and the arrangement of each dish is the cherry on top.
1. Shrimp Fritters — looked like fried pieces dough. Tasted addictive.
2. Cha Ca La Wong — the name was silly to me, but the taste was a reminisce of Banh Hoi.
3. Lobster Egg Foo Young — fresh lobster, somewhat of a noodle gratin, if there’s anything like it.
4. Duck a la Plum — Duck ice cream. Savory, fatty, and confusing to your taste buds.
Bathroom? Really nice and spacious single stall.

Rich, unique flavors that are at times a bit too overwhelming. Nonetheless, the combinations are interesting, and they do not skimp out on size.
The space can get a bit loud if it’s full, so I’d suggest a smaller party if you’re looking to try it out.
Our waitress was really nice but a bit spacey. I wish we had known about the Duckavore dinner, too, which needs a 24 hour in advance ordering.
Lastly, the menu changes from week to week, so don’t expect to see exactly what they post on their website. We were a bit bummed — though, again, what they ended up serving up that night was good.
Great wine list.

This open kitchen restaurant caught our eyes the moment it first opened its doors, and we were finally able to try it. The décor is your typical open kitchen concept with old english décor. The food is clearly asian fusion. The bread they served us first was a naan with curry sauce which was reminiscent of a naan canai. The appetizer we had was the shrimp fritters which was a pretty massive dish, The dish itself took up our entire small table for 2. This restaurant has to seriously reconsider the sizing of their plates if a plate for 1 appetizer takes up the entire table. We also ordered the duck meatball with tomato sauce and for entrée we split the lobster typhoon. And of course for dessert the infamous duck ice cream
Appetizers were good, but the entrée was too hard to eat. It was a lobster with shells intact but they didnt give us the proper utensils to get the meat out. They did try and pre-​crack the shells, but didnt do a sufficient enough job. The duck ice cream is really the only reason to come to this restaurant. will not be back.

After much skeptic curiosity (mostly stemming from seeing roast duck ice cream on the menu), I decided to surprise my boyfriend by making reservations at this newly opened Chinese restaurant on the lovely, café-​laden Cornelia St.
We were awarded two seats at the counter, a scenic spot overlooking the unexpectedly harmonious orchestra of chef, cooks, and sous-​chefs.
Boyfriend ordered the Silk Root cocktail, a ginger-​root-​beer concoction that was surprisingly delicious. I stole a few drinks whenever I could
Instead of the western bread basket, we were offered a thin piece of crispy naan, and a very savory pot of paneer curry. Was never a fan of paneer before tonight, and thankfully no one told me it was paneer; somehow I mistook it for cauliflower curry, and I kept scooping up the chunky white ‘flowers’ until the waiter kindly replaced our pot of curry with a new one. Delicious.
For appetizers, we ordered the pork belly with taro tater-​tots. Nothing special about the dish, and it was a bit smaller than we expected, but it was tasty and the tater-​tots were a nice starchy touch (especially since I’m currently going through a taro phase). We also got the duck meatballs, which was basically one huge meatball in a tomato-​based sauce, with two squares of butternut squash. Boyfriend liked this appetizer more; like the pork belly, it was good, but nothing spectacular.
For our entrée, we shared the lobster egg foo young. It came with a lobster claw and half a tail, with lobster pieces mangled into two sunny side up eggs, and firm dices of salted egg. Flavorful dish that would have made a rich breakfast was my opinion — it didn’t really remind me of the ‘traditional’ egg foo young (oxymoron, I know!), but it grew on my boyfriend, who said it tasted more and more like egg foo young with each bite.
Dessert was the highlight, really. Roasted duck ice cream with five-​spice shortbread and a shot of sweet sake. I didn’t care much for the preserved plums that accompanied the ice cream, but the flavors in the three small scoops were immense. Salty and sweet with traces of fat — I would have loved to try (and fail) a blind tasting of this ice cream. Somehow, despite my skepticism, it actually works.
Service was warm and friendly, and I loved the communal nature of the restaurant. Chef is Malaysian-​Chinese, yay!

Interesting menu and great flavors, but all the dishes weren’t executed as well as I would have hoped, even this close to opening. Plus, found most of the portion sizes small for the price.
Shrimp Fritters-​Great flavor combination, generous portion
Scallops-​Not the highest quality scallops, jellyfish underseasoned
Beets-​Very good, but very small portion for the price
Noodles with Sea Cucumber and Pork Ragu-​Has a ton of potential, but the egg on top, which was an interesting and tasty way to do this dish, was burnt and undercooked at the same time, and I was very surprised they served it frankly.
NOTE that there is a menu available on the Internet that is not reflective of the current offering, which is much more limited. I was very disappointed to find Fluke replaced Bonito on the crudo, and no monkfish liver!
Service was kind, but not the most competent. Décor was very nice.