Bao Bao Cafe — Restaurant in New York

My fiance and I were in lower Manhattan looking for something delicious to eat that wasn't far from One WTC and wasn't expensive. We found this place online. It was less than 10 minutes walk. It wasn't busy when we arrived on a Saturday at 2pm. Upon entering, I'll see the menu is on the wall. It's not extensive. There were about 10 meals to pick from. The pork belly meal caught my eyes but my partner chose it. So of course I had to pick something else so we could try each other's food. I chose the bao bao rice. Both meals cost $9.75 each. We did not have to wait long for our meal. We sat at the small table near the counter. There are more seatings in the back. I wasn't sure we could freely go back there and sit. The staff in the front told us to sit in the front. Maybe the back was full. I didn't get to see it so I can't tell how big or how many seats there were. Back to the food. The food was absolutely delicious! Great portion for the price. Definitely filling. The food was flavorful, nicely seasoned. My partner and I really enjoyed our meal. Definitely will be back next time we are in...

After ordering food, and eating alone I was asked to move to another table to accommodate a larger group.

When I arrived at the restaurant it was already crowded and I was sharing the table with a different group who had already left. So in this scenario the larger group would have been fine to wait a few minutes to sit and space had become available.

I understand that you want to satisfy the larger group however that larger group is likely not to return as they were tourists and I was a returning customer.

This is not a good business practice. As an African American male, and a Native New Yorker I was made to feel like my presence was a burden and I was not a valued customer to the restaurant.

I will say that the restaurant has good food, but I will urge you to take care on how you treat your customers in the future.

I will not return, and sadly I will not recommend this...

Visiting New York for the 1st time from Northern Ireland and returned to have dinner two nights in a row takeaway to have in the hotel.

First time I had the pork belly meal. Pork belly was delicious and tender, maybe slightly salty for my taste but loved it nonetheless, the lettuce under it soaked in the great sauce! Never had a tea egg before and it was delicious with the broccoli having a hint of sesame oil, all of it went well with the fluffy boiled rice.

Second time I had the little hot pot noodles and added the octopus and popcorn. The soup with the noodles a bit too salty for my liking but the little hot pot noodles overall was great. The octopus sitting on a little seaweed salad was fantastic and along with the popcorn chicken made for a 10/10 meal.

Will definitely return if I visit...