Megan W.'s Profile

So many things to try, it was hard to narrow my list down...I ended up ordering almost $100 worth of food, and there's still more I want to try. It's great for a vegetarian tired of eating the same brands of veg meat from the grocery store. I live in MD and the food was shipped to me within two days of placing the order. Probably best to order in the cooler months, as I didn't see any dry ice in the styrofoam package (but maybe they alter this dependent on location and season.) The chicken legs are amazing (you can order a huge bag for $40, or a smaller bag to sample). Great with bbq sauce, and I have plans to fry them, create buffalo "wings", etc. Even my carnivore gf likes them. The bacon has a good texture if you fry it for a while, but no seasoning...I sprinkled mine with bacon salt and was happy. All varieties of "ribs" are good and meaty, the gong bao chicken works well in a stir fry. The tuna is a bit more chewy than actual tuna, but works as a tuna or chicken salad sandwich. Chicken nuggets are super greasy but tasty...satisfies my occasional protein cravings. Not always the healthiest things to eat, but delicious.

Good place to stop after a show at the Hammerstein Ballroom (although after reading about it on here, I want to check out the Skylight). They were out of waffles (?!?) so I got chocolate chip pancakes, which were really good and light and filled with mini chocolate chips. One friend had a decent BLT with a bit too much iceberg, the other had a hamburger which was thin but still weirdly pink in the middle. Expensive sodas and no refills, but that's not outlandish in NY. And even the $4 bagel with cream cheese seemed like a deal to me after the $8 bagel with cream cheese at the Roxy.

I know you spend a lot of money on food in NY, and I know you pay for the location and convenience if you eat in Times Square. And maybe the outlandish prices are worth it for giant deli sandwiches or dinner, but my friends and I went for a basic breakfast and all went silent...the prices on the menu stunned us. We watched another party walk out. But we had a train to catch and were tired of walking. So...$5.95 for a croissant in NYC, I get that. But add American cheese, and now it's $11.95? Nearly $20 for blintzes or potato pancakes or an omelet, around $8 for a bagel with cream cheese, etc. etc..

This isn't a fancy 4-star restaurant with nice decor and pretty china. Charge $25 for your giant pastrami, but give people a break on the basics, you know? We could have eaten in the super swanky restaurant of the hotel where we stayed and spent less eating eggs benedict and brioche and fresh fruit while sitting in plush chairs at a table overlooking Times Square. Instead we ended up just feeling swindled.

I tried this buffet for a weekday lunch, so the price was low, but my guess is that the selection was also limited. I'm a vegetarian, but I've had luck with Chinese buffets in the past.

I went in the late afternoon (2 pm), so the place was nearly empty. Quick service, though the decor is pretty dated and a bit grungy (handwritten signs, smudges on the wall, torn vinyl booth). Salad bar with the standard iceberg lettuce, olives, croutons, etc., though there was some interesting cut fruit, including tiny peeled lychees. Decent selection of dumplings, though they weren't all labeled, which made figuring out which ones had meat fillings difficult. The sesame dumplings and egg custard tarts are safe bets. The egg rolls and spring rolls also weren't labeled, but I tried the spring rolls and they were fine, no shrimp or pork in site. There were only three types of sushi, two with seafood (well, crabstick), and the third filled with avocado and creamcheese.

The standards were greasy but otherwise fine...vegetable fried rice, mei fun noodles with egg, and vegetable lo mein. I stayed away from the more Western options, but there were a few without meat (mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, spinach with cheese, garlic bread, corn, cheese pizza). There was a huge platter of vegetable egg foo young patties (with separate gravy, which is good because I'm never sure if there's beef or chicken stock in egg foo young gravy). But the egg patties tasted surprisingly eggless...maybe they used some sort of a Korean-pancake flour as filler? Not bad, just not the tasty egg fu young goodness I wanted.

For dessert there were the standard tiny cakes with creamy icing that I'm never into, the aforementioned fruit, a big sad bowl of chocolate pudding, and a soft-ice cream machine. I enjoyed doling out huge quantities of rainbow sprinkles for myself, but the ice cream itself was lacking...not at all creamy, no flavour (both chocolate and vanilla tasted identical) and just very...icy. Like, sort of crunchy. Anyway, for $7 it wasn't a bad deal, but no one dish stood out. The lady in the booth across from me had a huge plate of mussels and shrimp though, and there were plenty of Chinese food meaty standards, so maybe it's a bit more enjoyable for carnivores.