Ollie’s

Ollie’s is a decent Chinese restaurant that has been in the area for many years. This location is frequented by many staff, students, and locals alike as it has stayed pretty consistent.
They try to add new menu items from time to time; e.g. soup dumplings, but even if they didn’t, you would still have a lot to choose from as their menu is quite large and has many options. Something to note is that there is nothing they aren’t willing to alter to your liking as long as they have the ingredients and it is doable on their end; e.g. dumplings made earlier in the day that cannot be changed.
Ollie’s was not on Seamless or GrubHub so we had to always call in our order whenever we wanted delivery. Now this can become a bit of a task as I’ve had to repeat my order several times before it was repeated back to me correctly. None-​the-​less the delivery would arrive quick with the correct food I ordered and still hot/​cold; whichever it was supposed to be. (Note: Recently saw that they placed themselves on Seamless, so *thumbs up*!!)
Unfortunately this location closed after a stove exploded, but it looks like they are working to try and get it back up and running.

I am very sorry to hear this location has closed; when my brothers and I first moved to the city, this was the place where we had our Christmas dinner. It was just the three of us and even though the food wasn’t very good, it was probably the last time the three of us were together for a very long time. For that reason, I will always have fond memories of this place. Unfortunately, this neighborhood has changed a great deal over the years and very few places from the late 90s are still open

I lived on the apartment on top of Ollie’s for a few months, and let’s just say, I gave this place a try WAY too many times. Poor service and disgusting food. My Ollie’s cycle usually goes like this:
1. Hungry and desperate so I go down to Ollie’s. I order something and hope for the best.
2. I get my order and take a bite… my stomach ends up feeling WORSE right away.
3. I feel bad but I throw the entire order away after a bite.
4. I am again left hungry, disappointed, extreme feeling of regret, and with less money in my bank account.

Ollies gave me the laziest excuse of sweet and sour chicken I think exists. I basically got chicken fingers over iceberg lettice with a side of super watery «sweet and sour sauce». I heard this placed sucked, I should’ve listened to friends instead of finding out for myself.
*about a week after this the place blew up. No kidding.

This place is a nightmare. So packed, little to no organization and the food is so average. Do yourself a favor and go up to a different Asian food joint — plenty in the area. I got a soup one time– tum yum soup I think, with vegetables. Hardly any veggies! :(

Just gross. So oily. So not worth it. I had chicken Lo mein, just walk a few blocks and go to a Chinese take-​out. Took my food to go and trashed it. Never again. At least the service was fast.

I gave this store one star because that is the lowest that I can give. I won’t comment on the food because I do not have any expectation of the taste, according to the price and conveniency. But, I can’t stand the fact that they just add more tips to my friend’s bill by themselves without my friend’s approval! Isn’t this illegal to do so? Of course when we point that out they said they made a mistake on the number, but do they make this kind of mistakes for other bills as well?
Anyway, if you choose to eat here, please pay extra attention to the final amount that you wrote on the check and the actual charged amount on your card.

I’m not totally sure why there are so many negative reviews of Ollie’s on here. Literally it is one of the only Chinese places in close proximity to Columbia University, so there aren’t many options to begin with. The place is always packed whenever I go, so clearly people enjoy it. I really like their chicken fried rice! They make it with edamame and the portion is huge and cheap — so it will last you awhile. Their chicken and broccoli was not great when I had it, but service is always very good and it is a bang for your buck!

The dumplings here are really good. It takes a while to deliver to me but that’s to be expected. I like how the veggie dumplings are full of very fresh and perfectly textured veggies. You can get them steamed or fried. The scallion pancakes are yummy and I really recommend the shrimp shumai!

Ordered beef lo mein takeout and the beef was spoiled. As in noticeably, tastes sour, spoiled. We called the restaurant to report it and the customer service was horrible. The woman came up with all sorts of excuses about why it tasted like that like «Oh they must’ve used too much vinegar in the kitchen» or «Oh, maybe it’s just wasn’t cooked long enough!» NO MA’AM. It’s spoiled. She acted like she couldn’t give us a refund, so we begrudgingly accepted the offer to exchange the beef lo mein for something else. However, she wouldn’t let us exchange it for anything that didnt’ cost the same price as the beef lo mein. I’m sorry, but if I work at a restaurant and I just served a customer spoiled meat, I would let them have the chicken and eat the $ 2 price difference myself.
Thank God for Seamless, who offered to refund our money. Never ordering from here again.

They should’ve changed their name to OILY.
Do not believe what u are served there is called Chinese cuisine. IT’S NOOOOT!

Ollie’s is a very standard/​basic chinese place. It’s not horrible, but it’s not phenomenal either. If you’re looking for unimpressive chinese food that’s cheap and has HUGE servings, this is your place.

Ew. MSG Headache. Don’t eat their soup in your car.
When you go in there is seriously a panel of 4 young girls ready to take your order. It’s THAT busy. Walking by to the bathroom and looking at plates let me know this was your typical chinese place, with a spiffy exterior.
I got the «Little Bit of Everything» Soup and I guess I got what I deserved. A kind of egg-​drop soup goop with floating bits of various shrimp, chicken and crunchy vegetables so hot that I could use it as a foot warmer in the Arctic but not anything I would have willingly opened unless I was very hungry. I was. As careful as I was to open the to-​go container, spills everywhere since they filled it to the brim.
That was good, since it was so expensive. «Give me grade B food and LOTS OF IT!!»
The tasteless noodles NEED the broth to be good, and they were separate, to keep them from absorbing too much liquid.
So I guess if you order takeout, have really big bowls available for the soup. And ask for «No MSG»

Not the worst and not the best. The store was clean and the service was fine but the food wasn’t worth going crazy about. They have free hot tea which is nice but that was about the extent of the experience worth talking about. The noodle and soup dishes look better than most of their other stuff. We got the mu shu pork and a specialty dish. The quality of meat on both were not to my liking.

If I could give zero stars I would.
Most of my reviews are zeros, but that’s often because I can’t stand bad service, especially since I have worked in the food service industry for over a decade.
The service here is awful, not even 5 people are in here and you can’t wait for me to finish asking you a question before you walk away? Unacceptable.
The portions are meager and not to mention obviously pre-​frozen and reheated. The best thing here was the beer.

Decent place with very filling Dan Dan Mian (white rice noodles in a soup with soy sauce braised ground pork) at a reasonable price ($ 7 – 8). But I think that it’s a bit much for their lo mein/​something you can make on your own, 3.5 stars.
And the won ton soup comes in an itty bitty bowl.
The staff were very friendly and kind, all said «bye» on the way out.
Not the cleanest though. It does feel sticky. But great Kung Fu chef wallpaper.

Above average taste. The Kung Pao dish might be too sauce-​heavy. Vegetable might be too oily, but tastes fresh and good. Very quick service.
Best location

Place looks great on the outside and has decent ambiance. 2 stars for mostly service and parts food.
Food: I ordered the spicy fish cutlet Szechuan specialty — I’ve had this dish at numerous other places and I’d say the tenderness of Ollie’s fish is very up to par. The fish is also slightly sweet which is a nice flavor, but it’s almost unpalatably salty and doesn’t have the characteristic spicy-​numb kick. It’s also super unauthentic, which was a bit to my dismay since the variety of dishes here is enormous, many of them my favorite traditional Chinese dishes. The portion is otherwise enormous and price very fair.
Service: not good. The waiter who took our order was wonderful and gracious, but we were left the check when I was only halfway into my meal. Staff members then tried to retrieve the check a few times during the meal which was… not welcome. One redeeming factor about the service is the water is frequently refilled, which is nice.
This place has a lot of potential to grow into a wonderful establishment. The restaurant is cute and cozy, well-​lit, and has spacious and clean bathrooms. Food is also almost there, but just needs some tailoring when it comes to altering spice balance. Lastly service would be better if more consistent (ie. if one waiter could gain service ownership over the same clientele) and checks were dropped at the very end.

Gut, ich war nur einmal hier und werde nicht wiederkommen, und daher ist mein Urteil vielleicht voreilig. Dennoch, das ‘Porc sweet sour’ (lunch 8,95 $) ist so furchtbar, dass der bisherige worst case übertroffen wurde. Und dies war 1995 in Eisenhüttenstadt — btw: Nichts gegen Eisenhüttenstadt, hat viele gute Seiten !

I came here at lunch time with two others on a Friday. It was pretty packed. This place looks more modernized that a normal mom/​pop Chinese place. We didn’t have to wait for a table, but that was just luck. The people after us had to wait about 10 minutes. Food here is decent, nothing that will blow your socks off.
Service is normal Chinese service. Better ask for everything in the beginning otherwise you’re going to be in trouble if you want their attention before the bill comes around. Well maybe it’s not that bad.
I got the beef stew. The presentation was a little different than Chinatown beef stew. Check out the picture I uploaded. I would say it’s pretty good. They put a little spiciness in it w/​out prompting. Meats weren’t too fatty.
Scallion pancake was «ok.» In my opinion it was a little too fried. It tasted more like the fried dough that gets broken up into congee, and lacked a strong scallion taste and was missing the meatiness/​chewiness that I’ve come to expect.

New York is famous for certain foods: bagels, pizza, and… CHINESE. Ollie’s, you should be ashamed.
One very long Sunday, as I was slaving away at school preparing for my finals, my friend and I were getting hungry and wanted to order some bad-​for-​you-​and-​artery-​clogging food. She lives in the area and suggested Ollie’s. I had eaten at one of the downtown locations over a decade ago, and even agreeing to this so much later, I was skeptical. Why would I order from a sit-​down Chinese restaurant when I know those hole in the wall take out ones are so much better?! Not wanting to bother finding a place like that on Seamless, I hesitantly agreed.
Honestly, if it weren’t for how quickly the food arrived this review would be one-​star, but they were speedy. Everything else, inedible. Stay away.