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Tom Lee
Rating Details »
- Nearest Transit:
-
Western (Brown)
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- None
12 reviews for Tom Lee
It's cheap. You get the lunch/dinner special and split it with a friend, 'cause it's way too much food. Order it takeout instead of delivery, since you probably live in the vicinity of Lincoln Sqaure.
If you're getting together with friends, this is a great place to get cheap, fast, and decent food for everyone.
Looking for a reasonable priced, flavorful chinese food..this is the place to go. Their chicken & shrimp Egg Foo Young is the BOMB...can't find any other place that makes it like they do. I order from there all the time.. at least once a week if not more. I work in the area and all of us go there. A++++ They know me just by my voice! Their lunch specials are great for the price and it comes with a pop..yum i can go for some right now.
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Tonight I ordered takeout from here, an egg roll and kung pao beef. The best part about the meal is the rice. The egg roll was mediocre. The beef is completely flavorless. I'm starving and I can't even force myself to eat this. Maybe I should've ordered something else, but I'm going to have a hard time trying anything else from Tom Lee after this experience.
Perhaps you should stick to delivery - sometimes seeing the inside of one these basic neighborhood take-out/delivery joints can leave even the most ardent Andrew Zimmern wannabes a little weak in the knees. There - you've been warned hipsters!
I've always has good results here - and the prices are very low. For example, 2 egg rolls (crunchy and fresh), 6 beef teriyaki (super tender, if not a bit slight in size), and a quart of hot and sour soup was $12. They have MANY entrees under $5, and lots of specials for lunch and dinner.
VERY friendly folks, quick delivery, great value, big taste - you want a fortune cookie with that?
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When I moved to Lincoln Square, I was hoping to find a dirt-cheap Chinese takeout joint to replace the go-to place I'd left in Astoria, N.Y. I was looking for quick order turnaround and passable broccoli with garlic sauce.
And I found it in Tom Lee.
The staff is friendly and fast, and the food is good. They've started recognizing me when I come in, which is always a nice feeling (even though it's a little sad, too). The day they know my order by heart is the day I reconsider my dietary choices completely, but for now, it's nice to grab a bite here every once in a while.
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Cheap and delicious, Tom Lee is my new chinese food staple in Lincoln Square. Definitely get take-out or delivery - the "dining area" is small and sketchy. Still, they give large portions for very cheap, and their potstickers taste the way that all potstickers should taste - greasy and full of questionable but tasty meat. Their fried rice portions are particularly huge, but I'm partial to General Tso's Chicken. Call me old fashioned.
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Your archetypal Chinese grease pit. Not the cleanest, not the healthiest, but a good amount of food for a decent price. Can't go wrong with Broccoli and Beef. Egg Rolls are sub-par; they have a unique taste to them, something in the crust. Again, I'd like to emphasize that this place is NOT health food, and most of your food will be swimming in a gelatinous goop consisting mostly of soy sauce and grease; but if you're just looking for a quick, tasty and cheap Chinese restaurant then this is the place.
My very first meal in Lincoln Square was from there and I have been a loyal customer ever since. Fast, friendly service; good cheap food in glorious amounts; what's not to like?
Lunch and Dinner combos are cheap ($4-5 and only a $1 extra after 3pm) and more than filling: a large container of a main course and Chicken Fried Rice with an egg roll and a can of soda (good variety and always cold) is more than enough for a single meal.
My favorite dishes include their Chicken Wings, Pot Stickers and Teriyaki Beef in appetizers; Spicy Combination and Shrimp Fried Rice dishes and Mongolian Beef and General Tao's Chicken (comes with broccoli, though).
But the real kicker is their staff. Friendly, efficient and always helpful; they are a true reminder that customer service is not dead in modern businesses. Their cashier; a very friendly, middle-aged Chinese woman whom always has a smile on her face; is very warm, welcoming and has an amazing memory. When placing an order, she doesn't take your name down yet never misses a single thing! And where else can you order out food for large parties, not order any kind of party platters or anything yet not only get everything quickly but also receive extra food for no extra cost?! 2 successful New Year's parties and counting!
And if you like tweaking certain dishes to your liking, no problem here! Everything is made to order and exactly to your wishes. Want a lunch combo of General Tao's Chicken without broccoli and want the Fried Rice spicy? You get exactly that at the same price and in the same amount of time.
Strictly take-out, though. The interior is below-average, city neighborhood, Chinese restaurant aesthetics: small, dingy, constantly assailed by the elements and dirty footprints and could easily pass for a hot dog joint if not for the smell of amazing Chinese food wafting out their doors.
This is my favorite neighborhood joint for Chinese in the city and I've tried many. Unless you plan on going outside the suburbs or to a P.F. Chang's, look no further than Tom Lee's.
It's cheaper than some other places, it's edible.
I agree with Renato P., the place used to be better (but never great) like 10 years ago.
The beef was always chewy, chicken dishes & egg rolls OK. The fried rice was good. Same here again- since it went from mediocre to worse I haven't been back in a long time, doubt I will.
Kung Pao chicken had a great thick sauce, not watered down at all, and was quite spicy. The mongolian beef was a bit spicy for my taste, but had a good flavor. Egg rolls were a bit on the small side but tasted fantastic. We were split on the pot stickers, I liked them, the wife did not. Either way they were a good sized. The chicken fried rice was awesome!
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Dirt cheap, decent Chinese take-out, across the street from the Western Ave. Brown Line stop.
This place used to be my favorite Chinese take out joint over 15 years ago. I worked a block away and went here at least once a week. I didn't really talk to the people that worked here but I deduced that the owner and his wife left the business (retired I hope but death could be involved) and the food quality declined. I gave up on this place around 94' so it's been a while. While I can't say it was spit out your food bad , the drop in quality was just very drastic. One example I recall is the meat got alot chewier and the beef fried rice suddenly was overloaded with bean sprouts and egg. When the shrimp in my staple dish , shrimp with lobster sauce , were suddenly smaller and way over cooked , that's the moment I punched out. Ownership could have changed hands a dozen times since I've last been there and for all I know it might be great by now. You can roll the dice here , I have new places to go.
