Savory Kitchen

This place wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t bad either. My friend and I were looking for some place for a late dinner and this happened to catch our eye. Everything about this place was mediocre. The food was alright and the service was a bit slower, but nothing I would get too worked up about. I guess if you’re looking for a nice quick meal, this would be it.

We were in NYC for a short visit and found that Prosperity Dumpling was closed due to rat problems. We went here instead since we were nearby. The food was okay, nothing spectacular. I thought it strange that they had signs posted all over urging patrons to tip after the meal is finished. What got my goat was they illegally added an 18% tip to the tax. It was never listed as a service charge. I didn’t noticed and tipped on top of that for some pretty lackadaisical service. Phooey on them for dishonesty.

Worst customer sevice in chinatown, i should have read Unilocal before checking in. Waitor was not responsive even if it was already eight pm and the restaurant wasnt busy at all. My order was missed and the waitor kept arguing it was my fault. The other dish that made it to the table was just okey.

I have to agree with the others. The quality of the food has dropped significantly. Today we ordered four dishes:
— deep fried flounder: the fish was NOT as fresh as we would like, but still not bad;
— Veal chop with BBQ sauce: it used to be really good. This time the meat wasn’t fresh and the snow bean was over cooked. we didn’t even want to pack the leftover
— frog with ginger & scallion: they put tons of ginger and scallion on the bottom of the dish. I think it only had two frogs on that dish
— fry ho fun with beef (干炒牛河）: it wasn’t as good as before but it’s still ok.
We weren’t very happy with the quality of the food, then the situation became worse. They gave us the bill with the 18% tips included along with the tax. They only take cash and we were never needed to pay extra tax (tax was included in the dish price) in the past. And, I heard the waitress told the other customers who sitting behind us that she has waived their tax from the bill. So I asked «why you tax my bill when the other don’t have to pay the tax», the owner (I assumed she is the owner, judging by her attitude) screamed at me «I gave the others discount because I know them. Do I know you? I don’t know you…»
What a turn off!!!
We paid our bill, then left with disbelieve.
We will never come back!!!

We were first gravitated towards the roasted duck displaying on the window. Then we ended up coming here two days in a row!
The food was hot, fresh, and delicious! We ordered so much that it almost didn’t fit our table (refer to pictures).
Things I have tried and recommend:
* Snails with black bean sauce-​savory and flavorful, has a peculiar taste if you’ve never had it before, but definitely something fun to try. C’mon it’s snails!
* Roasted duck-​beautifully roasted, skin is crispy and light, meat is tender and not tough, the sauce is so good that I want to drink it, and the natural oils from the duck oozing out completes the dish.
* Green onion pancake-​request hoisan sauce to go with it, trust me it is 10x better. Chewy and fun to eat, great for a light meal.
Overall, I will definitely be returning!
PS — The waiters might seem sleazy, but that’s how they all are in Chinese food standards. Don’t expect them to attend to your every request and they won’t. They won’t come towards you, in fact you’ll have to haul them (shout even). Don’t take it personally!

It wasn’t an enjoyable experience dining there. And they asked for tips like the end of the world. You get what you paid for, before tips.

Well they went from a pretty decent place to somewhere I never want to see again.
They made changes and it is for the worse. The quality of the food dropped dramatically from the last time we were there last. The portions are much more skimpy now while the prices went up. To me that is not a combination I would want to order! I was not happy with the quality of the meat either. Meat was very dry. I don’t think I will be coming back here anymore. They are even skimpy with their air conditioning in 90+ degree weather. COME ON! What reason is Savory Kitchen providing for me to go to their establishment to spend money there. NOTHING! Savory Kitchen is just giving me every reason to not go there.

Their quality really dropped.
This new set of young waiters are totally unresponsive. They have their eyes glued to the TV instead of noticing customers requiring their service.
The food is also much more skimpy.
I ordered the three roasted meats on rice and the quantity of meat was small. They throw in end pieces full of fat. Totally not worth the price of $ 8.
Not the same place when they first opened.

I wanted something family style, so we decided to come here since it was so close by.
We ordered the
1. Beef with Eggplant. Some parts of the eggplant were a little bit bitter to me. Otherwise some flavorful beef.
2. Pork Chops with Peking sauce. This was an average Pork Chops with Peking Sauce. It was a bit on the the dry side for me.
3. Shrimp with Walnuts. While the shrimp was jumbo, it needed more sauce from the fruity mayo.
4. Ho Fun Noodle Soup with Duck. Good portions of duck meat. Juicy duck. Good soup stock. Lots of Ho Fun noodles.
Prices are decent here for family style. Lunch time specials is where you get your money’s worth.
If you want a bowl of rice, it’s $ 1 per bowl.
I have tasted better from other restaurants, but who am I to argue since I was hungry and wanted family style.
FYI: When you ask for the check, they will include the gratuity into the total for you.

DONT GO, force tip on the billing, service is not worth 18%. Seem to cater toward foreigners then to chinese. WTF, why is it under american (new)?
Average at best for roast pork and their food is so so. Rice noodle with wanton and beef stew took 15 mins and cost $ 8. Services is below average.
Very very old school Chinese thinking if you’re not customer you have to pay $ 1 for to use the bathroom.
NEVER GET THE SHANGHAI SOUP DUMPLING, its froze not fresh. Took 20 mins for it to show up.

Came here food was mediocre had 2 dishes total came out to 25. Which is fairly expensive for Chinatown. To add insult to injury there is an automatic 18% tip added to the bill. I attempted to leave 15% for the barely existing service but they came back and said I was missing $ 1. Suffice to say i am never going back.

Once upon a time, I wanted wonton noodle soup. $ 5.25. Then I decided to kick it up a notch and ask for roast duck. (If you have never had wonton soup with roast duck, you’re missing out.) The cashier told me $ 2.00 please. Not a problem! So $ 7.25 for one container of noodles, 3 pieces of wonton, and a couple pieces of roast duck.
Mind you, the noodles that they love to use is what’s called wonton noodles, or thin egg noodle. One handful, doesn’t fill ½ the container. Only ¼. But that’s not a problem for me. It’s typical. The only thing that bothers me was the head chef or the boss, old scrawny man, pretty tall though, told the person who was cutting up the roast duck to cut the end pieces. The end pieces might be amazing for some, but it barely contains any meat. Only bones. Now I’m paying $ 2 for bones? I don’t think so. Never again will I come here for noodle soups or any roast meat. They save the good ones for themselves. Try Great Noodle Town.

Not great but not bad either. Ordered this combo of duck, chicken, and roast pork, they were served cold and a bit too oily for my preference but it tasted good.
Young chow fried rice proportion was reasonable for its price and it tasted as good as any decently made fried rice would taste, maybe a bit better.
Pork and preserved eggs congee was alright, its slightly cheaper than other restaurants but the egg was not as creamy as it is suppose to be.
Best dish there was mayo shrimps with sweetened walnuts, not because it was particularly made well but because it is one of my fave dish.
I disapprove of the in bill tipping, tip should be based of customers satisfaction not forcibly added into the bill.
Funny that on the window it mentioned something like «great reviews on Unilocal» because that is not what i see.

DONT COME HERE!!!
seriously the worse place you can ever get yourself into. The service was HORRIBLE and on top of that they were speaking behind our backs thinking we don’t understand Chinese. We ordered the beef tendon and beef Brisket over noodle, when we got it there was only tendons, we politely asked if they can change it and they laughed and said we’re stupid and we don’t know how to ‘eat’ because apparently Everyone goes for the tendons. And according to them it’s the most expensive part of the meal. The worse part was there was signs saying please tip after your enjoy your meal. And when the bill came gratuity of 18% is included. There were choices of 15,18,20%. Why am I being forced to pay 18%? When my service was shit. Zzz I gave them $ 20 and I circled the amount Im paying on the bill before tips was added, hoping to pay the tip I wanted too, which is 15% but they were like whatever the machine prints out im just going to charge that and im like wtf? And they gave the wrong change and I walked up to the cashier and told her and she gave me attitude thinking she didn’t give the wrong change and I had to pull out my phone calculator and show her. Seriously this place is SHIT. I don’t recommend this place to anyone.

We ordered ¼ duck and plain porridge. Plenty enough food for two. Both were amazing. Nice and to-​the-​point service. Lots of Chinese were eating at the same time, which gave us even more confidence.

I took my mother here for a late lunch. We ordered a bowl of thousand year old egg/​pork congee, beef/​broccoli and chicken cashew nut/​snow pea stir fry. The beef and broccoli and chicken cashew were lunch specials which mean it came with rice. The total added up to $ 14; each lunch dish is $ 5.25. My mom is a picky eater; however, she couldn’t stop saying how delicious the food was. I have to admit it was well seasoned and I didn’t taste msg. I saw a sign posted in the bathroom stating if you are not a customer and using their loo, the charge is $ 1.

Flies flying around… not appealing at all. Only ate here because I needed to use restroom, so I figured I eat here. Congee soup is okay. The scallion pancake barely had any scallions in it.

expensive bad Chinese restaurant force-​charge you 18% of tip despite I was alone by myself eating a bowl of effing noodle! will not return. they can rip others off until I one returns.

I really wanted to give this place five stars as the food was great! But unfortunately the service and the lack of meat on the duck would not allow. I got the roasted duck with rice and cabbage, at least four of the pieces of duck had no meat at all just skin and fat and bone, I was sadly disappointed, because the meat I did have was great.

Absolutely would not return again.
Not overly concerned with hygiene, to say the least. They take the trash out the front door, passing every customer on the way.
I ordered a conjie, and they got my order wrong. Well, okay, not a big deal. I told them and they switched it (extremely reluctantly).
They brought back the wrong order again. I complained, but they absolutely refused to switch my order again. A rude lady who worked here yelled at ME, saying that I couldn’t return the order every time I felt like it. She yelled at me loudly and thoroughly humiliated me. This lady has no respect for customers. She had medium length brown hair. cI asked them to wrap it up for me to go and just left.
Is it my fault they kept getting my order wrong? The service was absolutely horrendous.
The waiters kept watching the TV, and they had no respect for their patrons.
Their motto is, «The customer is always wrong.»