Blue Willow 夜来湘 — Restaurant in New York

Blue Willow makes a strong impression from the outside. Its low key facade has a strong presence, doing a great job of mixing Asian design cues with Western ones.

The host nicely greeted us and led us to our seats. This was my second time back, and the consistent experience has been great. Inside, the restaurant is notably darker than typical Asian restaurants. While I don't usually prefer a dark atmosphere, here it added a sense of intimacy and mystery, which I thought would be great for a first date dinner. There were many cute interior and brand details throughout the restaurant, clearly showcasing thoughtful branding and design. Our seating included a booth situation and regular seats, and the chairs were comfortably cushioned, which was a nice touch.

The menu photos on Google Reviews were up to date, so I'd refer to those for current offerings. The navy teal cover on the physical menu was particularly memorable.

We ordered two cold dishes: the wood ear mushroom salad and the garlic sauced pork belly. For our main, we chose the chili oil braised beef, along with two orders of brown rice.

The brown rice had an interesting texture. It fell apart easily but was round, reminding me somewhat of farro. I was a fan, though my friend was not.

The wood ear mushroom salad was interesting; I expected a sweeter sauce but found it more tart, which we surprisingly liked. It was refreshing and a good dish to start with.

The garlic sauced pork belly was good. I wasn't a big fan of its sauce, but it was still a solid choice to ease us into the main dish.

Lastly, the chili oil braised beef was a solid choice. It wasn't my first preference and wasn't super memorable or mind blowing, but it's a safe option for those who want to ease their way into authentic Szechuan/Hunan cuisine.

The service was great. There was no "fake smile" situation, which I appreciate, as is common in most authentic Asian restaurants. The servers did their job efficiently, checked on us frequently, and even went above and beyond by canceling our initial transaction when I used the wrong card and helping me pay again. I also appreciated that they employed Asian servers, which aligns well with the cuisine.

I didn't like that the bathroom was downstairs, but that's a New York reality and a personal preference. However, it was not only clean, but I actually liked that it was slightly dark. The bathroom is a place where you sometimes don't want to see all the details. The design inside was also well aligned with the overall branding, even down to the soap dispenser (as shown in my photos).

While the dishes we ordered this time weren't the most exciting, I'd happily come back to Blue Willow to try different, more adventurous or experimental dishes with friends who are open to it, especially given the pleasant ambiance and...

So very, very happy that we found this place. The original plan was to go to Dim Sum Palace, which we did, however, to be honest, I was a little deflated when we walked in, and I was running out, not soon after. This review is not about Dim Sum Palace though we CAN thank them for finding Blue Willow, which was an absolute dream. In fact, the restaurant is so nice. We actually passed it a couple of times since we had just left such a dump. The decor inside is warm, welcoming and cozy; it is very nicely decorated. Now onto the food, absolutely amazing and delicious, we greedily ordered half the menu. The service was outstanding. I dropped a chopstick and before I could even look up the waiter was at the table with a new set, plate, and napkin. They were incredibly patient waiting for our order. My friend had never been to a restaurant as good as theirs, and could not decide as to what she wanted to order. They were incredibly patient, though, and readily explained, and answered any questions she had. You're so greedy and ordered so much we could not eat it all so we asked to take the rest home, you CANNOT leave something so good behind. The bus boy came with the containers, packed it up for us right there and asked us how we wanted it packed. He was incredibly gracious. The bathroom was nicely decorated, extremely clean. Thank you Blue Willow and thank you to Dim Sum Palace for being so terribly bad that we fortunately went to Blue Willow.

I had high hopes for Dim Sum Palace which should be called Dump Palace. It has an A rating, great. I asked to go to the bathroom got upstairs and I saw that there were tables upstairs as well so I asked one of the Weight staff if we could get a table upstairs instead they said of course I went to the bathroom. I was absolutely disgusted absolutely disgusted I cannot even tell you how bad it was. There was about 1 inch of urine on the floor urine all over the toilet seat that was up put the toilet seat down with my foot there was urine all over the toilet seat on top. I just couldn't. I decided I couldn't even go to the bathroom. I washed my hands. I walked out Stopped by a female wait staff, and said the bathroom is incredibly dirty. She just nodded, and okayed me like "yeah, yeah". When I got back to the table, my friend asked what happened? I said go in the bathroom and I don't think I want to eat here so she went to the bathroom. She came back out and she said disgusting. I said dirty bathroom, usually means dirty kitchen. We both agreed we couldn't do it. I don't care what the reviews say. Urine everywhere! Ewww But the silver lining WAS happening upon Blue Willow, with a great warm atmosphere, staff, service and very tasty food. A dream after a nightmare. We can definitely thank Dim Dump for...

We went here to celebrate a special occasion with my mother, my partner, and me.

We ordered 北京鸭 Peking Duck, 长沙辣子鸡 Changsha Spiced Chicken, 小炒黄生肉 Yellow Beef, 麻婆豆腐 Mapo Tofu, 湖南牛肉卤粉 Beef Brine Rice Noodles, and 葱油饼 Scallion Pancake.

Overall, the food was super tasty and flavorful. You can taste the high quality of the ingredients. We recommend trying the Changsha Spiced Chicken. It was super delicious, the crispy and spicy of the dish made us mouthwatering. I can still feel the chicken now. The Yellow beef was also amazing. The meat was extremely tender and juicy. The beef brine rice noodles were okay. It was spicy which we love. Apart from that, we didn’t think it has any special elements. We don’t recommend it. The Mapo tofu was so silken. It melted in our mouths.

Even though the Peking duck was very tasty, we think it was a sad experience as we expected to see the server cut the meat and skin at our table. It was kind of a disappointment because Peking Duck is the main reason we were attracted to this place. Furthermore, the way they cut the meat was bad. It is supposed to have more skin than meat. In other restaurants, they will serve the skin (a little bit of fat and meat) with wraps and they will use the meat to cook fried rice and soup. Here the duck was very small and the price was very expensive, which made our experience bad.

For the drink, we ordered a teapot for our group. And, we must say 鐵觀音 Iron Goddess tea was very soothing and cleansed our palate, which made the food taste even better.

The service was fast and the staff was very attentive and thoughtful. Our server tried his best to help us choose our food. The ambiance in the restaurant was very cozy and chill, which is a perfect spot for the special occasions.

We will come back here for other amazing dishes but not the Peking Duck. It is a huge...