Zing’s Awesome Rice

I wanted to like this place more. The rice isn’t bad at all, and it is indeed very different from conventional fried rice.
The problem is that the prices are nutty. I had one container of sausage forbidden rice and the quail egg and olive skewers, and it ended up costing me $ 15 (I also had a free shot of sake through a Unilocal coupon– thanks Unilocal!). Now I know this is the LES, but $ 15 for a ¾ container of fried rice and a small appetizer? It’s just too much money for what you get.
The rice is good though– if they could figure out a less onerous pricing structure I’d feel really good about this place.

Just ate some awesome fried brown rice and chicken.
This is a great place. They also have purple rice which is amazing. If you’re interested you should definitely check it out.

Went there yesterday. Small shop and really comfortable. Multiple choices/​combination for fry rice (and I just want all of them!!) The Cantonese style sausage brought a lot of China memory back to me. Also strongly recommend the chrysanthemum tea, really tasty. Thanks Zing for making great fried rice!

Had wanted to visit this place during each of my last four interview trips to Manhattan, being that fried rice is both literally and figuratively my favorite thing in the world. In fact, some of my favorite childhood memories were made with fried rice. When I finally was able to visit, Zing’s did not disappoint.
The place is small and intimate, photogenic décor complete with touches of cute art work. Zing and her staff were professional, pleasant and interesting to talk to; there is an ambiance of optimism that is really infectious, especially if you are also chasing your dreams.
Onto the main course — Shrimp seared rice. You could tell a lot of thought went into this dish during the planning stages. The sticky rice itself was seared just right, to the perfect degree of dryness. The celery and pepper and abundant shrimp cut to perfect sizes that nicely complete an artisan blend of color, fragrance, and flavor. To top it all off, the portion size was massive! Coming from a guy who could eat an entire cow when hungry, this is great news for those of us who eat with great inertia.
Overall top tier fried rice made by awesome people. Will definitely revisit and try out the other dishes!

Zing’s is awesome! I love the purple fried rice with double chicken. Purple rice is delicious and highly nutritious. What I enjoy about Zing’s fried rice is the quality ingredients, preparation, right amount of spice, and that it’s not too oily. Doubling the protein is great for workout days!
I’ve been ordering Zing’s for delivery since it opened. But, after visiting in person, I realize that I’ve been missing out on the how cute and cozy the restaurant is.

To day was a very exciting experience and good day for me eating at zings awesome rice the food was beyond excellent in a way words can t explain the staff there where very respectful and helpful to me and my wife very friendly and the store is always very very clean a place I would keep going back to and in encourage others to go eat there as well thanks zing and staff for the good food and respect looking forward to seeing you again real soon.

My expectations may have been too high, after reading about it in the NYTimes, but I found the fried rice itself pretty pedestrian (I got chicken, my buddy got shrimp). I wonder if it’s better when Zing is in the house?

The quality has really dipped since they first opened. The rice is no long seared and thus have lost their crispiness. The rice is way too soggy like they put too much water when cooking the rice. The flavors are lacking as well. I am quite disappointed in my order especially since i used to love this place. Both the chicken fried rice and sausage fried rice are not up to par. It’s probably worse than cheap chinese take out at this point and it’s 3x the price. Not worth your money. Zing’s awesome rice is no longer awesome. I take back my previous 4 star review.

Thoroughly enjoyed coming to Zings Awesome Rice and having the sausage fried rice. What made this place was the customer service though! Fantastic meal!

American Chinese food is often associated with the idea of inexpensive combos of egg rolls, soup, and pork fried rice. I disagree with this idea when the food is well made and the ingredients are substantial enough to compromise with the value.
I think that the fried rice at Zing’s isn’t a $ 5 meal that is often times idealized in a Chinese meal, especially factoring in the high prices of being a brick and mortar in NYC.
I had the sausage fried rice with purple rice. The ingredients aren’t skimped on but this isn’t a product that stands for awesome fried rice. There were way too many sausage disks and the size in which they were cut didn’t balance the body of the other ingredients. I felt like I was just eating sausage disks. Near the 5^th spoonful, I wanted to eat the fried rice with veggies without the sausage but the rest of it wasn’t flavored enough to stand alone without the sausage.
To me, fried rice is conceptualized as an easy meal that is leftover ingredients thrown together to make a second-​hand meal. I think to start a business and to stand for one dish is very bold, but it has to be well made and tweaked to perfection. This just isn’t there yet.

I’ve had the Surprise Seared Rice and the Bacon Seared Rice, both with white rice. It looks like Fried rice, but it’s not. I like that it’s not greasy and oily. It has a lot more substance to it.
It’s very flavorful. I’ve not tried the Brown rice or Purple rice, because I’m just not into it and I’m not sure they’d taste good as seared rice.
The order is a large quantity and is more than enough for 1 person and the veges are fresh and plentiful.
I hope this place stays around, it’s a tiny hole in the wall but it’s ok because I always get take out.

I really wanted to like this place, but I wasn’t thrilled. Ordered chicken fried rice and asked for extra spice. The woman who rung me up was slicing peppers next to the register, which threw me off — especially when she asked her co-​worker if she was doing it right? As for the food, the rice needed more flavor and more veggies.
$ 15 for a Chinese takeaway container of mostly rice? Seemed crazy exp even for LES.

It’s a casual, hole in the wall fried rice spot. Good for on the go, or pick-​up since its a small place and not very well ventilated.
The fried rice is good, freshly made with healthy options, it’s on the salty side, but no MSG. I only had their veggie fried rice, would go back to try their other dishes.

Bit surprised with the $ 16 charge for a portion of rice (Chinese sausage w purple rice — $ 12.99 plus $ 1 for special rice + tax) — which you can essentially get in Chinatown around the corner for $ 5. It was «homemade» style — so really something I could make myself — chucking in the eggs, celery, peppers and carrots. Healthy tasting and would be «awesome» if the price point was more like $ 8 — taking into account LES location premium. And after all $ 16 swallowed I was still hungry Trying not to think abt how it’s equivalent to 16 $ 1 slices!

I was in the LES and wanted to get dinner there because I’m rarely in the neighborhood. I remembered I had this place bookmarked and had high expectations. It’s a small place with a few seats. There really isn’t a kitchen – just a counter and a stove. It was really quiet. It was just the owner, two employees, and no music. If you’re Chinese, you’re familiar with this type of rice. I ordered the bacon seared rice. It was good, but way too oily. When I got to the bottom of the container, there was just a puddle of oil. I’m sure I can get better at a real Chinese restaurant, but I like the concept of this specialized takeout place that’s meant for late-​night eats.
Also – I asked for the free hot chocolate with the Unilocal check in. I don’t recommend. They just use packaged hot cocoa and microwave hot water in a bowl – not good at all. I took a sip and threw it away.

I came to Zing for a relatively early dinner and found the entire place empty. It was so quiet I wish they would play some music. It was odd because the NY Times article was positive but it felt like a place going out of business. But once I tasted their food, I understood their niche.
The fried rice was not greasy at all like those at take out Chinese restaurants, but full of vegetables and meat so not over carb-​y. The appetizers tasted even better– tomato coconut soup and cucumber in peanut sauce. In my opinion, the main drawback is the price given the portion size ($ 25). But I give it a weak 4 star rating for taste and healthiness. I enjoyed the marketing within the restaurant, open kitchen layout and the fact it’s open until 5am on weekends for those who don’t want to feel gross the next morning. They still need to work out the kinks (water jug didn’t work, everything was in takeout containers) but I look forward to coming here rather than mikeys down the street at 4 in the morning.

Finally made it to Zing’s for a quick bite after work with my brother and I’m mad at myself for waiting this long! My date and I ordered sausage with brown rice and shrimp with purple rice. Oh boy, is this rice fantastic. Perfectly seared, bursting with crunchy veggies and egg and a very generous portion of protein.
They now have a liquor license (as of 1÷13÷15), so we enjoyed a few sakes — olive sake for me, and cherry/​plum sake for my date. Both rices and 2 sakes came out to $ 25.
Additional non-​biased side note — I know Zing personally and she’s the sweetest chick you’ll ever meet. She’s there everyday and puts in a lot of work into this little shop. Make sure you say hi!

An appropriate name for this tiny operation serving fresh cooked fried rice made in front of your eyes.
They have a couple appetizers (Quail Eggs, Tofu, Cucumber Salad), but it’s all about that awesome rice, which make up the rest of the menu options. You can pick either white, brown (+ $ 1) or purple (+ $ 2) rice to accompany one of the several choices of proteins (sausage, chicken, bacon, shrimp, tofu or «surprise», which was ham on the day I went).
Purple rice is apparently the healthiest, as well as having the lowest calories, so it of course doesn’t taste as good as the plain old white rice, which is the way to go, unless you are really trying to tell yourself you ate a healthier meal. It is good too, but just not as tasty as the higher calorie alternative.
Get the Sausage Seared Rice with White Rice ($ 13) for an excellent, very satisfying meal. Several people are complaining about how pricey it is. While $ 13 is a good deal of money, it is totally worth it because you get A LOT of rice. You know it’s high quality and fresh too, as they prepare it in the open kitchen just a few feet away from the register. It’s more than enough for one meal, so it ends up being a decent value actually.
It’s a tiny spot with a few stools around the sides and a small table in the middle for eating. This is not a problem, as the Chinese takeout containers the rice is served in make it a perfect, portable option to take on the go.

EXPENSIVE RICE. When I was stumbling around drunk on the LES, looking for late night grub and checking Unilocal,I wish I saw the prices. By the time I got there, it was too late to turn back. After tax, my shrimp fried rice cost about $ 15 after tax ($ 13.99 initially).
However, it’s expensive because it’s HIGH QUALITY. Not greasy — you could taste the difference — they obviously use quality oil. The veggies were crispy and it tasted healthful overall.
Still, it wasn’t that amazing. Not amazing enough to pay $ 15 for. The shrimp was very tiny and some had poop veins still. I would have honestly preferred the cheap, delicious, greasy fried rice esp. in my drunk state. I guess this place is great if you are trying to eat healthy but really miss the joys of Asian fried rice… and also don’t care about $. Not for me.
The restaurant was very cute (with some minimal inside seating) and the staff was friendly.
TIP — check in on Unilocal and get a FREE tomato bisque.

Went right to the Seared Rice section on Eat24 («Each has at least 4 fresh veggies, cooked with olive oil») and skipped the mysterious secret protein, which they rotate (fish on my visit).
Tofu Seared Rice $ 11.99 (Smoked Dried Tofu, Carrot, Green & Red Pepper, Celery, Sushi Rice, Scallion) was really good, and quite filling. Friendly staffers were glad to honor the Unilocal check-​in special for a free very tasty Hot Tomato Coconut Bisque (VG), which they dutifully warmed up and sent me on my way. I wonder if they’ll struggle to get repeat customers based on the price point for glorified rice; hope they’ll last.