Barrio Chino — Restaurant in New York

I was on a call wearing headphones when I walked into this restaurant, which in fact, has been one of my favorites in the neighborhood for the last few years. A person who I passed by on the corner of Orchard who seemed to have some mental issues started to threat me and followed me to the restaurant as I’m attempting to order lunch. He started screaming calling me names from their window and as he noticed an African American inside the restaurant who seemed to be one of their employees, and told him I called him the N word. I was literally on a call with my Therapist. I’ve been a non-regular but a customer here for 3 years and don’t get me wrong, the food and the cocktails are fantastic but Im afraid I’m never coming back due to the way the manager handled the situation. I was asked to leave the restaurant and without hesitation did what they asked me. I walked to my friends shop around the corner and the person who was threatening followed me pulled a razor he was wearing and attempted to cut me; threatened to kill me. I had to run and get into my friend’s business to protect myself, and hide from him. Thankfully I have a lot of friends that work at the local retail stores on orchard. Now, I’ve worked in customer service/bars and restaurants for half of my life and I can assure the way they handle this situation, putting me in such a risk was unacceptable. I don’t care nor do I believe in most reviews. Although I felt like was a must to share this awful experience. I sincerely hope that the owner handle this situation better then their staff and give them a proper training before some here hurt and a law suit bites him in the a$$. I’m still in shock and so disappointed. I called the manager to discuss the situation, I’m not asking for a meal or any sore of arrangement all I wanted was for her to acknowledge the situation and apologize. She was extremely rude and defensive, and hang up on me. Lost me as a customer, the two ladies who were seating at the bar are probably not coming back as I spoke to them afterwords; and all my friends who work on Orchard, Ludlow, Essex are not longer stepping in this business. How embarrassing

REGARDING YOUR RESPONSE BELOW? I WAS YOUR CUSTOMER! I WALKED IN AND WAS ABOUT TO ORDER LUNCH! AS THE BARTENDER HANDED ME THE MENU. DID YOU CARE TO PROTECT ME FROM A PERSON WHO WAS NOT CUSTOMER AND CLEARLY HAD MENTAL ISSUES, HARASSING ME? AND AGAIN. IT’S NOT LIKE I WALK INTO YOUR RESTAURANT SMELLING OR DRESSED INAPPROPRIATE, AND EVEN IF I WERE YOU SHOULD NEVER ASSUME I WAS SKETCHY. THE TWO LADIES ACKNOWLEDGE THE SITUATION BUT YOU WHOSE THE MANAGER, IGNORANTLY ASSUMED THE WORST AND EASLY BELIEVED THE GHETTO A$&HOLE SAID ABOUT ME CALLING HIM A N WORD WAS TRUE. I AM BRAZILIAN AND I AM JEWISH. NOT JUST THAT BUT AGAIN, I WAS ON THE PHONE WITH MY THERAPIST, YOU TOLD ME TO LEAVE THE RESTAURANT AND I PUT ME IN THE RISK OF BEING SERIOUSLY HURT BY THAT PERSON WHO ATTACKED ME WITH THE RAZOR. SO YOU, THE MANAGER IS THE TYPE THAT THROW PEOPLE OFF THE BOAT. I WASN’T EVEN THINKING OF A POTENTIAL LAW SUIT BUT NOW IM GOING TO CONSULT MY LAWYER. WHAT YOU SHOULD DO IS APOLOGIZE FOR YOIR MISTAKE AND STOP BEING SO DEFENSIVE. I HAVE RAN BARS MANY BARS AND CAN EASILY TAKE YOUR JOB IF I WANT, VENUES AND RESTAURANTS FOR 20 PLUS YEARS AND WHAT YOU DID WAS CARELESS AND UNTHOUGHTFUL. ZERO CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILL. WORST THAN YOU IS THE PERSON...

Kitchen and food was 10/10

My girlfriend and I pulled up at 11:50p on a Saturday night. Francisco served us at the bar while we waited for the food order. He was incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about Mezcal, which I normally appreciate because that's all we drink. We ordered mezcal with grapefruit and a splash of soda, but made the mistake of asking what the bartender recommended (because the cocktails looked beautiful!).

He told us they didn't have grapefruit or anything similar, then went into a lecture about the cultural problems of how the US consumes mezcal, as well as the logistical issues with making it. The gist was that it's essentially 'mezcal blasphemy' to drink it any other way than neat and if we order what we ordered we were part of the problem.

We love and respect Mexican culture. I'm always grateful to learn anything new and I appreciated the opportunity to learn from him. I'm also sure he deals with a lot of unsavory people and had tried too many drinks by that point to keep it inside. It may not have been his intention, but his arrogance and resentment was uncomfortable and we certainly felt minimized by it.

I understand that neat is the only proper way to drink good mezcal...BUT you also have to know who you're selling to. We wanted to buy drinks plural, not nurse straight mezcal. My gf is in sales and entertains large groups for a living. She's been there about a dozen times and recommended the bar in the first place.

We picked some really good stuff and paid $62 (about 1/2 the bottle price) for two small glasses of mezcal with a splash of soda. It was great, but we wanted the cocktail we ordered. They easily could have squeezed another $62 out of us if we enjoyed the drink.

We put our jackets on to leave before we were even half done, and then he began to unwind his judgement. He offered to go cups which was a nice thought, but by the time we got home they were watered down and it was too late to save.

We wasted a lot of money and didn't enjoy our time because of it. Plenty of good mezcal bars out there who won't make you feel responsible for the US improper mezcal...

“Limey! Is that Mexican Chinese grub?”

Barrio Chino bills itself as serving up Chinese influenced Mexican food but that combination doesn’t really come out in its cuisine. The location is cosy and romantically lit; floor to ceiling windows look onto a quiet LES street and small candles light tables for couples. A few larger long tables (that double as communal) sit up to 8. You can hear the conversations of lovebirds next to you over the urban soundtrack in the background. Although the urban feel pervades the place any theme in the décor isn’t really noticeable nor adds to the dining experience.

Served on heavy, Chinese adorned porcelain plates the grub doesn’t have the explosion of Chinese flavor that you would expect from a fusion joint especially since Mexican flavors are bold in their own right. The guacamole was fresh and plentiful for two and comes with very salty homemade (thick and crispy) tortilla chips. We had the Enchilada Verdes which was melt-y and tasty but not mind blazingly good. If anything, the dominant Asian flair in the dishes we tried was a strong and lingering lime taste but that isn’t too far-fetched for Mexican food either. The grapefruit margarita was ok: balanced but weak on the alcohol and flavor aspects. The strawberry tacos for dessert were affordable, fresh, and an amusing end to the meal but again doesn’t shatter the culinary arts. I can say that the ingredients, in general, were very fresh and of high quality, characteristics that don’t usually accompany the $6-7 authentic variety (say, like DownTown Bakery). For that reason the prices seem slightly justified but any hunger for Mexi-style food can easily be satiated at places like DTB. Barrio Chino feels like a place for locals to come and have a quiet dinner together but I feel that the pricing isn’t on par with the atmosphere or food complexity.

Food: 5/10 for quality but pedestrian food at a quality price Drink: 5/10 for variety but a flat grapefruit margarita experience Atmosphere: 5/10 for a pleasant dining experience that fades quickly with time Meh: 8/10 for leaving underwhelmed but not...