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Kowloon Cafe
Rating Details »
- Nearest Transit:
-
25th Ave (D)
Bay Pkwy (M, D)
- Attire:
- Casual
- Parking:
- Street
- Price Range:
-
$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- None
10 reviews for Kowloon Cafe
If you noticed, quite a few of the reviews only talked about the bubble teas at this place. The reviews don't fully reflect what this place has to offer so I'll try to write a more unbiased review.
This place is definitely not for bubble teas. If you want better bubble teas, Quickly, Tenren or Vivi's in Chinatown would be better choices. They don't make good mixed drinks here, that's a fact. Also you can see the prices on the menu before you order, I'm not sure why so many people complain after they ordered. Anyway, I would suggest their Chinese style drinks as an alternative, namely the bamboo sugar cane OR prunella (Ha Goo Cho) drink.
They've added a lot of appetizers and new dishes over the years. I suggest the following:
-Stewed oxtail with white rice (you can also get the baked one with cheese but they use fried rice with that version, you might find it too heavy).
-Imitation shark fin soup.
-"Spanish"-style seafood w/ linguine. (the sauce is very tasty).
-Clam Chowder (I had it a few times, it's actually not bad).
-Fried pig intestine with the sweet/spicy sauce (not healthy but it tastes very good)
-Squid ball with lettuce in soup (very HK style, I like it).
-Hammer wings with that sweet/spicy sauce.
I used to love their baked spaghetti, it was very Hong Kong style, exactly like the one you'd order at the Spaghetti House in Hong Kong. But unfortunately, they changed the chefs at least once and the quality is no longer the same.
This place can be inconsistent at times when they're busy. Sometimes they make the food very hot, but other times not hot enough. It still needs to be improved in this aspect. But service-wise, the place is quite friendly and sometimes they even give frequent customers VIP discounts.
They have hot pot rice on the weekdays and also sizzling steak plates daily, maybe you can also give them a try as well.
Wow, I do not understand the previous bad reviews.
The food here is quite good. We ordered the cheese and crabmeat triangles and the pig intestines for appetizers. The intestines were not like what I've typically seen - they actually remove a lot of the fat! The spicy sauce with it is ok - it's like a spicier version of duck sauce - from a jar, not fresh.
The duck gizzards are ok, as was my pork and vegetable macaroni soup. The best dish was the beef stew over broad rice noodle. Very nice and just the right amount of beef to tendon.
If it weren't for the prices, I would've given it 5 stars. For the quantity and quality, they should have been ~ 5-10% cheaper given the location.
No! Seriously, just no. The drinks are expensive and the dishes are decently priced I guess. About a quarter or two more than other Chinese restaurants on 86th street. For three people, drinks were about 11-12 dollars and everyone hated theirs. Mine was the coconut coffee smoothie and others were blueberry or sesame. GROSS.
Everyone's ordered EXCEPT for MINE was correct. I ordered something that started with eggplant...I wanted it with minced pork and I said minced pork, but apparently the waiter has selective hearing and thought I meant eggplant and salted fish. So I was there innocently eating and thought to myself why there was so little minced meat in it and I bit the little piece of "meat," which was salted fish...I was NOT happy. Everyone left their dinner half eaten and we jet. I don't ever want to come back here again.
Nice Cantonese food! Recommend their fried fish filet and rice in the pot!
I don't recommend this place for the Bubble Tea.. or food. The drinks are pretty expensive. if you want quality Bubble Tea, and for a good price, your best bet is going to 8th Ave in Brooklyn, or Chinatown.
I don't entirely regret coming here. The food was mediocre, but at least it provided me with a new experience.
This place is like Hong Kong Tea & Sushi with the baked rice or spaghetti. The portions are definitely smaller but the taste is there. The prices are a little higher than HK Tea & Sushi. I don't like cheesy things so I wasn't a huge fan. The service was decent. The seating is a little tight but I can deal with it.
Okay So I've been here before and the food was okay. Meh.
However, when I ordered drinks here one night.. Okay you tell me if this is ridiculous.
3 drinks. 11 dollars.
And it was only DRINKS.
Okay so I've checked the menu and calculated the amount it would be like give or take 7 dollars atleast. And they charge tax for the drinks so..that's like a few cents.
So we complained and they refused to give our money back. Apparently a milk tea costs the same as a bubble tea. Sadly ours had no bubbles in it.
It wasn't even that the drinks (that were so sweet, it was like drinking a cup of diabetes, I swear), it was the fact they charged us the same amount of one drink minus the factor that makes it "the" drink . $3.25 for a bubble tea and $1.75 for a milk tea. That's $1.50 extra coming out of my pocket for the same shit I would get for $1.75.
Who does that? Seriously.
This place is ridiculous. So blantly ridiculous. Needless to say, never coming back this joint.
Reminds me of HK, but I guess memories are always better than the real thing
I'm reading the Paradox of Choice, and If you thought McDonald's had a lot of options, you will have nightmares about this place.
Choice overall, is a good thing, but when you given 34 different types of appetizers to choose from, that's a bit overwhelming. I wasn't timing it, but I think we spent 20 minutes talking about what we wanted to get. We finally decided on:
Curry Fish balls - a HK street vendor classic, this place does a decent job of replicating the curry flavor in the sauce, but the fish balls weren't as plump and juicy as the ones in HK
Beef Tripe HK style - This one is common in NYC, and its on par, tender, but I guess I like the stomach (which they don't have, and I mistaken this for) better. More meat.
Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings - Easily my favorite dish, you can't go wrong with frying dark meat and adding the right amount of seasoning, although only 6 wings, I wish they had more than that per plate
Special Fried Instant Noodles - as quantity goes, this is the best dish. Instant noodles but fried instead of boiled, tasted perfect with tiny strips of ham and green pepper
Hammer Wings - This is a partially de-boned wing, with a little aluminum foil wrapping around the bone and the rest of the meat tied together to form what looks like a mini drumstick. It was good, but I like the regular wings better
Red bean and grass jelly drink - Its good, but too much ice
taro and green tea ice cream - um, the taro was kind of weak in flavor, and I don't have a strong desire for green tea ice cream
Overall, the place was nice and clean (including the bathrooms), and the design is interesting. It does give you a HK Cafe feel to it, and specifically Kowloon (part of HK) since its not very high-end (like the ones in HK Island.
I think if they paired down on the menu, which sounds crazy, but I was really overwhelmed by the menu. I didn't even dare to try a lot of the western style dishes fearing that they wouldn't be as good as from a western restaurant. But I won't know, unless I go back...
This is one of the only bubble tea places in the area. I NEED my honey green tea! Bubble tea prices are a bit steep, but as a monopoly, people will still go there. Aside from drinks, food is good and cheap at this sit down restaurant. I think the quality of the food is much better than the other chinese establishments in the area.
This place is small and cute. Simple decoration. This is like a Hong Kong type of cafe that serves both western and Chinese food. I like this place for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert! But mostly I go here for dessert after dinner since they have like 5 pages of desserts and drinks (non-alcoholic). I really love their red bean ice drink. I never found another place yet that serves such great red bean drink. Now I crave for one =]