Yang Di Chun BBQ — Restaurant in City of Syracuse

Let’s get this out of the way: the location is suspicious as hell. Smack dab in what looks like the forgotten roadside of Erie Blvd, you might wonder if you’re walking into a trap, or at least a 黑店 straight out of black myth wukong. The building looks like it hosted a buffet in 2005 and hasn’t been dusted since.

Inside? A time capsule of Northeast Chinese aesthetic: shiny brick walls, plastic plants, plastic lobsters in blue tanks, and posters of spicy dishes staring at you like propaganda. Booths give you the privacy of a mafia negotiation—fitting, given our waiter looked like a retired bodyguard from Flushing: slicked-back hair, big chin, tanned like a Hainan beach bum. But plot twist: he was incredibly kind, full of recommendations, and proudly announced he had just moved upstate from Queens.

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Now, the food. Oh, the food.

Spare Ribs with Potato and String Beans: This was the crown jewel. Hearty chunks of bone-in pork, tender but still chewy, steeped in a Northeast-style broth. Surrounding them were planks of golden fried potato, sweet corn, and green chili peppers swimming in umami and mild spice. Like a Manchurian winter stew but kissed with southern flair. Worth the price? Honestly, yes.

Lamb Liver Skewers: Charred, fatty, crusted in cumin and chili flakes. Each bite had that campfire aroma and street-food soul. You only get two per order, so order four if you have friends. Or don’t.

Cold Dishes & BBQ Menu: We didn’t try everything, but the massive menu hits every essential: from cumin pork intestines to sauerkraut hotpot and sizzling fish heads.

Prices are steep ($23–$39 for meats), but portions are family-style and flavors are deep, nostalgic, and unapologetically Northern.

The Verdict: Yes, it’s weirdly located. Yes, it looks shady. Yes, your wallet might cry. But this is some of the best, most authentic Dongbei BBQ you’ll find outside of Queens. It’s a place that rewards the adventurous, the homesick, or the...

The food itself wasn't as good as I'd hoped for but it wasn't the reason for the 2 stars. It is actually for the unbearably horrible service. Long, long wait times for someone to greet you and bring you waters. They don't even speak to you or welcome you into the restaurant. It's a very different service culture than I'd expected for the prices we were paying for food.

We ordered chicken wing kebabs (blood still running through it), spicy chicken (wasn't too bad), corn (horrible and dry), fried rice (very good) and prawns (good). The food doesn't all come out at the same time, it's like one dish at a time and a long wait time between each dish. Our waters were never filled and we didn't get enough napkins.

I was excited to try this restaurant due to the reviews. However, the service was so bad it ruined everything for me. I will never come back to this...

Food is decent if you know what you want here. There is a lot of fried stuff, and the taste is authentic. Service minimal due to likely understaffing. Went with family for lunch, in the middle of this heat wave, the air conditioning was not on, that significantly dampened the enjoyment of the food. Price is reasonable for some items, but does feel a bit high for what you get. There is also an undisclosed 15% extra service fee that is automatically applied to the bill (we were a party of 4, nowhere did it say on the menu or in the restaurant that we would be charged this fee, and certainly we were not informed.). We are not in the area much, but would probably have to hesitate before going back, even though the food overall tasted decent. (If you want a good authentic spicy fried chicken dish, the La Zi Ji...