Radiance Tea House and Books

Besides from milk tea adffogato and sa cha beef, other dishes are quite mediocre.
However, it has a clean, serene environment good for lunch with coworkers. I do think that this place is better than any other tea houses I’ve been to.
Service was basically nonexistent. Our server is busy chatting and very clumsy.
I hope they can improve on their food and service quality.

I like this place! It’s a little pricey and there’s no wifi though. Although most things are good, I got a vegetable and noodle soup once that had no flavor.

I had the pork soup dumplings and the bbq pork buns. The soup dumplings were pretty good except that they were not hot. I’d expect dumplings to be piping hot, so this makes me question how fresh they actually are. The pork buns were flat out bad. They barely had any meat and the combination of the sauce and bun made it really sweet. Not worth the price. I did not try the tea, but everyone else in the restaurant seemed to be drinking it. Might be worth to get tea there only. The inside of the restaurant was nice and clean. It felt very quaint.

The place is relaxing and the food is delicious. The soupy pork dumplings and the lychee lady iced tea are my favorite.

I only drank their oolong tea and I didn’t order any food. The kitchen closes at 9:30pm. The is fresh and delicious. It’s a quiet serene place to read a book or eat solo while being surrounded with lots of vintage Chinese décor like wooden chairs and landscape sculptures of streams of water flowing through. Service is fast and the waiters are all polite and accommodating.

Very good food, small portions do you can order more dishes. All of them are yummy! Been back multiple times, will come back again.

Great place for some food and a wide variety of teas. It’s a little hidden, it’s easy to walk right by it if you aren’t looking for it. We loved the atmosphere!
The service was pretty easy going, wasn’t in a rush to get us out and you can peruse the store while your food is being prepared.

A True Gem! Hours drifted on by without me noticing! Wanted something different in meeting up with my NYC family and friends! This was it!
Great atmosphere, wonderful service; delicious small plates; and, absolutely well brewed teas!
With five of us, we each chose a different tea to be brewed in five medium sized teapots! Mine being the lightest, chrysanthemum tea — loved it!
Our table was a hungry table! We ended up ordering 18 small plates to share! With the spices they used, not one tasted the same — incredible!
Their dan-​dan noodles, flower & dates steamed chicken, pork belly buns, spiced beef stew, shrimp balls, and spareribs steamed with black beans are still standing loud and clear in my mind!
I’m positive I’ll be coming here years to come! It is that great! Cheers!

I loved this place! Of course, checking Unilocal to find the perfect spot to meet up with a old classmate and catchup. Low and behold this quite gem. Perfect ambiance, intimate but open. I loved the open library concept. For dinner I had the shrimp with flat rice noodles! Absolutely EVERYTHING! I couldn’t stop eating, which was also dished in the perfect serving size, ya know not too little but not too much… My friend one of their popular casserole with Tofu and veggies with ginger tea. I would definitely stop in again!

Make sure that you come in with the right expectations and you’ll definitely enjoy this place. This is meant to be a pleasant environment with extremely high quality Chinese/​Taiwanese teas and some food to match. Thus, you’re not going to find dirt cheap entrees or heaping portion sizes. If you understand that, the menu will make sense to you.
I enjoyed the Midtown East location and this location did not disappoint. I really like that the whole place kind of looks like a library, with its bookshelves and stacks of interesting teas. We ordered the Dong Ding Mountain (oolong), which was very hearty and had an interesting sweet/​smoky taste. We also got the spicy fish and tofu casserole and sha cha shrimp, both of which were excellent.
It is definitely on the pricier end, but if you’re looking for a healthier/​higher quality Chinese food and tea experience, this is definitely a great option!

I came here for lunch with a friend and we decided to split an order of soup dumplings and each get something from the lunch special menu.
The soup dumplings were okay, average taste but slow to come out.
I got the Chicken Dan Dan Noodles. This was terrible, I couldn’t even force down more than 5 bites before I stopped eating. It is not like traditional Dan Dan Noodles, the chili sauce taste is to heavy, the noodles soak in excessive sauce on the bottom, and it’s too salty. I definitely would not recommend ordering this.
My friend got the Beef Noodle Soup and said the noodles were too soft and the taste wasn’t great.
For the price, I definitely would not recommend this place. Our waitress also just took our order and gave us our check, no refills on water or checked on why I didn’t eat any of the terrible noodles. I will not be coming back here.

Tourist Trap $ 14 for a small box white rice and teriyaki food was terrible
Not that interested in writing more dont eat here.
Go to joe shanghai or hells kitchen

I visited tonight for dinner — we were seated and did not receive our menus for at least 20 minutes because they forgot about our table (great start). We ordered an herbal tea (an evening in paris), dan dan noodle, the chicken and earwood mushroom dumpling, and the soupy pork dumplings. The dumplings were below average and tasted as if they came from a package. The dan dan noodles were about average — they were not as liberal with their use of sichuan peppercorn.
The herbal tea was very good and I would say was the best part of the meal. However, I cannot say I will be returning here for the food — only the tea. The service was not great having waited 20 minutes for menus.

Delicious — love the dumplings! Especially loved the shrimp wonton and the Asian shrimp summer roll — second visit just as good as first

Cute, quiet, and spacious place to grab a pot of tea, study and eat. I prefer coming here whenever I want tea or am in the mood for a light dinner or some snacks (mainly dumplings). Most Chinese food can be on the oily side but the food here is refreshingly clean and soupy.
Came here for the second time tonight with a friend and it was just as cute as I remembered. My favorite tea here is the chrysanthemum, popular in Chinese cuisine (my parents love it as well) but hard to find at other cafes. Their dumplings and soups are also very good. We ordered the shrimp dumplings (I actually thought they were going to give us the crystal shrimp ones but these were good as well), the seafood soup and the mushroom salad.
Note that if you are allergic to gluten: while they may have gluten free items on their menu, my friend who has eaten here and is allergic to gluten sometimes feels sick after. This is most likely due to a cross contamination issue in their kitchen.

It just so happen I was walking around the city like a maniac this day and suddenly the group I was with (visiting from Texas) decided they wanted Chinese. So… Unilocal’ed that and ended up at this place. As soon as I walked in I was a little hesitant since it wasn’t very crowded for a Friday evening but regardless we took our seats and prepared ourselves. The menu was strictly traditional Chinese so please do not look for Americanized fast Chines. We decided to all order something different so we can do a family serving style dinner.
Well played! Everything that came out was amazing! The brazed beef was falling off the chop sticks, the Pork was tremendous, the Curry chicken was so tasty and the drinks topped it off nicely. This is hands down a gem for Chinese food. They are traditional in the sense that they bring you what’s ordered and leave you alone. You need to get the attention of a worker if anything is needed after the initial drop off.
a must try New Yorkers!

Felt like some authentic Chinese food at noon so came here with my colleague.
Both of us tried something different. I got the seafood vegetable pot and my colleague opted for chicken dumplings and Dan Dan noodle. Food came in pretty quickly. Cannot find a better day to enjoy the pot given the freezing weather outside!
Plenty of space inside with cute decoration (teapot display). Should give a try on their hot tea next time!

Three years ago I would have given this place five stars for ambiance, food, location, and service. It has a unique experience to offer the harried midtown area, particularly if you are looking for a serene place for lunch.
I took a friend here in November for his birthday, and it was probably the worst service I’ve experienced in a long time.
My meal arrived at least 20 minutes before his did. Our meals came with various appetizers, and they were thrown on our table, after which servers practically ran away without explaining whose appetizer. We had to flag waitstaff down for nearly everything. The check was also unceremoniously shoved onto our table. I really felt as though we were in a restaurant in Chinatown, where at least the abrupt service is expected.
The food was fine, but nothing especially exciting and certainly overpriced. You were paying, in theory, for the ideal quiet oasis in midtown. I would not return after my last visit.

This place is adorable. It’s on the pricy side with regard to portion size, but the ambience is quite unique. It’s a mini-​book store as well as a tea house, with the nice wooden Chinese tables and chairs. They also have some displays of nice tea sets. I stopped by on a weeknight, and it was relatively empty.
1. Aged Pu’er tea: I ordered the 2-​person portion for $ 14, which is on the pricy side. It poured a good 6 tea cups, which was plenty. It comes with two small crackers. The set-​up is very cute.
2. Tropical Salmon Salad: This was so good! The salmon was cooked, but still flavorful, and comes with mango and avocado slices on a bed of greens. This is $ 9, which is pretty cheap.
3. Soupy pork dumplings: Delicious! Really well made, but quite tiny. You get 5 of them. Make sure to put the dumpling in a spoon, bite off the top, and pour some soy sauce into them. It’ll tasted better that way.
4. Sa-​cha beef: I love this Asian BBQ sauce. You get a moderate amount of beef and cabbage over glass noodles. It’s in soup form. Very satisfying. Not too spicy.
Wander over to the other side after eating to check out some of the eclectic books. Some are obviously geared toward Westerners, but they have some pretty stuff to glance at.
I would say the only issue I had was that the sink they were doing dishes in was in the dining area, not in a back kitchen. They were really really loud with the clanging, so at points, I had to stop my conversation to wait for the bowls to be washed.

Had this place bookmarked for quite some time and finally found the perfect opportunity to come here not so long ago. Decided to come here for one of the activities to do for my girls bachelorette since she loves tea and doesn’t drink.
I loved the large variety of teas that I saw on the website so I booked a reservation online. Booking reservations was very easy. Not only does Radiance have a large variety of teas to select from, their food menu is large as well and not just little itty bitty finger foods you get at afternoon high tea. We were able to get really full and order multiple teas and paid less than we would of if we went to high tea.
As soon as we walked in, I immediately felt relaxed. The ambiance is very serene, calm, beautiful and spacious. We came here during Sunday lunch and it was not packed at all. The décor is absolutely stunning — gorgeous teapot sets everywhere, books on tea, and much more other items you can buy. I wanted everything!
Onto the food now. We ordered the Dan Dan Noodles, Green Tea Soba Noodles, Cha Shui (BBQ Pork) Buns, Pork Belly Buns, Steamed Baby Bok Choy, Steamed Chilean Sea Bass, Mango & Shrimp Summer Roll and shared it family style. I loved almost everything. The only thing I was not impressed with was the Cha Shui Pork Buns. The dough portion was extremely thick and dry so I just ended up eating just the pork inside. Everything else was delicious and I would totally order it again. For dessert we had Mochi Ice Cream (Red Bean, Green Tea, and Black Sesame) and the Matcha Affogato. The mochi is just like anywhere else you can get it but the Matcha Affogato was amazing and super refreshing!
The service was excellent too but the restaurant was also not busy at the time. However, there are so many food items and teas that I still want to try so I definitely will be back! This is a great place to go if you want to relax and get away from all the NYC craziness.