Friend House
Categories: Chinese, Sushi Bars [Edit]
Neighborhood: Manhattan/East Village105 3rd Ave
(between 12th St & 13th St)
New York, NY 10003 (212) 388-1838
- Nearest Transit:
3rd Ave-14th St (L)
Union Square (4, 5, 6, L, N, Q, R, W)
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Delivers: Yes
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
26 Reviews for Friend House
Quite simply THE BEST vegetarian sushi selection in all of Manhattan. My pervy-yet-picky meat eating friends also rave about their fish selections as well.
This is one of the only places I've ever delivered from and never once got the order wrong.
Awesome location, reasonably priced, great vibe and service. I recommend sitting outside or on the patio during the warmer months. Word of warning. It can get quite crowded on the weekends.
Fittingly situated near Yummy House and Village Pour House, Friend House is a more ambitious take on the Chinese + Sushi restaurant that I tend to avoid.
Their $5.95 specials are hard to beat for value. Nice sized soup + entree and rice. The General Tso's I had was tame on spice but satisfying enough. Enjoyed both the wonton soup and veggie fried rice. Tried a piece of hamachi as well. Big piece of fish. Not great but good enough that their $12.95 special w/ 3 sushi, 3 sashimi, 1 roll doesn't sound bad.
For decor, definitely shoots for more upscale than fellow Chinese dwelling-named competitor Yummy House but can't say it works for me. Feels like a bastard child of Haru.
I wouldn't recommend this for dinner but I'll give it 4 stars for lunch b/c of the value and to avoid making them an enemy....
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Who's HOUSE?
RUN's HOUSE...ooops wrong place!
Yep, the Friend House...friend to anyone who likes good food at even better prices. I haven't indulged in much of the Chinese parts of the menu because I am protesting it because of China's involvement in the Sudan and because it has the Olympics and NYC doesn't...just kidding. I mostly order the Japanese fare on the menu because the rolls, sushi, etc. is not pricey at all and is quite good.
The decor is nice. The service is efficient. Well I wouldn't say this place has you coming back for more...I would say it's always a place on my list when I want casual meal with friends, family, etc. and don't have to think about breaking the piggy bank.
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Back when I lived in the EV in 2001, this place had just opened and it was my favourite American-Chinese restaurant. They raised prices not long after opening and have kept them higher than those of the surrounding places serving similar food, which is a shame, but I'm still very fond of this place.
The food here is uniformly excellent (although I have not had the sushi); I have never had anything I didn't demolish rapidly. Service is fast and efficient, and while the restaurant is small, it's rather upscale inside - much nicer than the standard decor for such a place. It's a bit trendy, but stylish enough that I don't care.
Must haves: the scallion pancake (best in the city), beef skewer (high quality meat, perfectly seasoned), general tso's chicken (very crispy, tangy-sweet sauce, and high quality white meat chicken), any of the dumplings (tender, large, and flavourful), and if they have it (I've only seen it as a special) - the curry pancake, which is like a very crispy scallionless pancake or roti canai, with a delicious coconut-based yellow curry sauce.
I've had several other beef and chicken dishes, and they all satisfy immensely. You can't go wrong here, Chinese food-wise.
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The prices are pretty high here considering its not exactly gourmet chinese food; HOWEVER, it is nice for my food to arriving absent of a massive amount of grease and oil, like I have found at other chinese places in the Village. Delivery can take longer than it should, but the steamed pork dumplings are definitely something to write home about. I like it, but could do without the $$$ prices.
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Friend House is 5 star delivery. We have only ever gotten delivery from Friend House and everything we have had is excellent. The tofu is great and the scallion pancakes are amazing.
Vegetarian Friendly.
I love sushi, but I'm kind of a cheapskate when it comes to shelling out for sushi in restaurants (I usually get it at my local fish market). Friend House is the ONLY place I know of that offers really affordable sushi without scrimping on the fish or padding the nigiri with tons of extra rice. It's fresh and delicious. I've had the chinese food here too (orange chicken, I think?), which was also very yummy.
My only real complaint about this place is the decor. I love the water feature, but the drab gray walls and heavy wooden chairs give the place a dreary feel. It does look like a more expensive restaurant, but I am so over that minimalist, modern, uncomfortable decorating style. Not the greatest atmosphere (though it's better in the summer, when you can sit in the back garden).
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Pretty decent food, and reasonably priced. I had the veggie dumplings and veggie udon. Atmosphere is fine, staff are speedy, other clientele didn't annoy me, which is a surprise and a plus..
I would give this place 4 stars but I had to take away one star after they changed the cook or perhaps the recipe of this one favorite dish of mine.
I used to order from this place all the time for their Spicy Tuna and Avocado Salad. It was so freaking good. It was chunks of perfectly sliced tuna and avocado with spicy dressing on a bed of mixed greens.
But now it looks sort of like tuna tar tar mixed with the spicy dressing. I don't order from here anymore.
P.S. Their chairs are freaking heavy as hell!
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I love the sushi here and the fact that they really don't mind about us doing messy Sake bombs makes this place that much greater. Came here for a group dinner too and they sat us outside in the back which was pretty cool. Just a great place if you're looking for some great cheap sushi.
Friend House has been a favorite for years.
They have some wonderful dishes ranging from great sushi to mouth watering dumplings and the most amazing spicy beef with chilies. The staff is amazing, very attentive and warm. The owner is around often and you can see him eating his own dinner from the restaurant, always a good sign in my opinion.
They've got a great little outdoor garden area which is a must in the warmer months. For delicious fresh and vibrant Asian fare Friend House is a must eat!
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Chinese/Japanese Fusion Cuisine
I would've gave this restaurant 3 or 4 stars, but you will know why after I'm done with the review.
Came here with a group of friends, the decor is nice and the menu is full of many choices of dishes to choose from. If you are feeling japanese food, you can choose from a large amount of combos and sushi dishes. However, I cannot vouch for how it tastes because we ordered from the chinese menu.
For appetizers we ordered the shrimp balls and the fried squid. The entrees we ordered were the mango beef, veggie delight, pork in spicy peking sauce, seafood noodles with xo sauce and the chicken casserole.
Overall the food was very good. I have to say that some of the food is not really all too fusion, but it was good for chinese food. The mango beef was really tender with a good hint of sweetness to it because of the mango. The pork in peking sauce was alright, it wasn't the peking sauce I was expecting but it was still good. We didn't know the chicken casserole had rice on the bottom, so in ways it was somewhat of a wasted dish, but that was alright. The noodles were good, cooked right and very flavorful.
However, to cap the night... and to downgrade the restaurant... just before we left, I saw a nice mouse scurry across the floor of the restaurant, and it just totally made me think twice about coming here again.
Come at your own risk.
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Friend House is a good choice for lunch if you are in the area and you want something Asian, but you're not sure what. I actually hate sushi (it's a texture thing!), but found Friend House to have a good selection of non raw items.
The service was friendly and fast and the decor is better than what you would expect for this part of town.
YUM. I have been wanting to come here for a long time! Let me tell you -- I was not disappointed! For one, the place has a trendy and cool vibe. The decor is modern and stylish, and the back yard garden area is very nice and cute. Also, the service was friendly, polite, and attentive.
Since I was here, I can't stop thinking about Friend House, and wanting to go back. Aly W. and I are always on a hunt for "pink seaweed." Here, it is made with soybeans, and it is very yummy -- numerous rolls are made with it! We sampled the three pink seaweed special rolls, and found that each one was more delightful than the next. The fusion-y style makes for really interesting sushi... one roll (our favorite!) had a piece of orange in it!
Anyhow, I'm definitely coming back. Preferably -- as soon as possible!
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I grabbed a bite to eat here last night (1 piece of tuna nigiri, general tsos) and it wasn't that good. The place is tiny and cute and the service is decent. The nigiri I got was blended fish in a blob on top of rice (similar to how you usually get uni). It wasn't very good, and I was disappointed. The general tso's was tasty, massive and reasonable ($11). The asahi I had was tasty and reasonably cheap ($5).
For some reason the wind kept blowing in and it was freezing.
I wouldn't immediately go back given all the other Japanese/Korean/Thai/Chinese places near by.
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ate here last night by chance - was hungry after getting out of a movie, and wasn't in the mood for cosmic cantina or anything else that was nearby. we wandered in to a ghostland - they werent due to close for about an hour or so, so we shuffled in and looked for tumbleweeds. maybe i would have felt differently if the place was bumping, but i just felt weird about how deserted it was; made me question why nobody was there. we got our waters and our drink orders taken promplty, but everything else was kind of slow. The food was decent - the 2 entrees were solid, but the sushi was very mediocre at best, and the pork buns tasted a bit 'off,' like the meat was on the verge of expiration. maybe monday nights are a risk in this respect. at the end, our server dropped the check and said, 'do you need anything else? because we're closed.' which was awkward. we didn't, but giggled at the thought of the fact that it didn't matter if we did, b/c we weren't getting it anyway.
this place was fine, not bad, not good - but with so many great thai places and sushi places in the city, i wouldn't bother going back. oh that was another thing. this place seemed to have a bit of an identity crisis. its like lazy-fusion. they kind of threw on some japanese food, some chinese food, and some thai food. it was too much. none of the entrees were actually fusion, just everything in that hemisphere was featured on the menu in an americanized, straightforward way.
I've had delivery from Friend House at my friend's apartment before. The food was great but I never expected the restaurant to be nice. So imagine my surprise when I entered the restaurant to see a trendy decor and outdoor patio.
The scallion pancakes are great. The chinese dishes taste authentic and even the sushi rolls were delicious.
Definitely a place worth checking out.
This is my favorite sushi/fusion place in nyc...
It consistently has the freshest fish, an extensive menu, and everything is sooo delicious.
also will deliver to pretty far areas....
mmmm
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A great place to grab a quick bite with friends and the occasional date. Great interior and a cool out back courtyard Friend House serves up great rolls and decent cheap sushi. It's perfect when you want Sushi, but don't want to spend Hama prices.
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go for the trendy decor and chill atmosphere, but probably not so much for the food. this is not to say the food isn't good, it's just that it's neither here nor there. Nor is it a good example of Asian Fusion. You can tell that it is primarily a chinese restaurant, although they try to vary it up by adding sushi, pad thai, clay pots, and vermicelli noodles. I just don't think it really works. I also don't think it's that cheap for the quality of food that they serve.
As a general rule, there is no place better for Chinese food than Chinatown. The rule applies here. It's aite. I don't think I would go again.
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Really good sushi, very cool atmosphere. The servers are ultra friendly and attentive. I love their vegetable dumplings. The chic setting may make you think they will overcharge you, but their prices are just right.
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I had a particularly good date with a hot stranger here once.
Over rather formulaic Asian Fusion cuisine, we decided to go back to my place, which is always a good way to end the evening.
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One of my favorite Sushi places. It's inexpensive as far as sushi goes and it's damn good. The place itself is rather narrow, you might miss it going down Third Avenue, but it's worth looking for. It's got a cool Modern Japanese design with square plates and square chairs. There's an outside seating area that's served expertly by the ultra friendly staff. A romantic place to take that special someone for an evening out.
Food here is expected of the LES, dont expect melt in your mouth sushi,,, but its still really good and the fusion ahem chinese food is also good!
I give this place 3.75 stars (what can I say, I'm anal) hehehe
I had the chicken skewers, edamame, Valentine's roll, and salmon skin roll.
The skewers were pretty good, thicker chunks of chicken than I normally get when I order skewers. The Valentine's roll consisted of white tuna, charred tuna, eel, avocado, tobiko, and tempura flakes, and was wrapped in a pink soy bean seaweed, and came with a sweet wasabi sauce and ikura. Both rolls were fresh and tasty.
My friend had the tofu shiitake casserole, which was also pretty good.
The 2 (or 3??) bottles of Riesling we had weren't bad either =)
Good service, decently priced, dimly-lit with a chill atmosphere. A cool place to go with a small group of friends.
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cute trendy inside - and they have a little backyard area as well. the sushi is good and cheap. nothing out of this world - but i'd go again for a quick dinner once in a while
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