Bonnie's — Restaurant in New York

The Legendary 叉燒 McRib (Char Siu McRib) lives here!

I came on the recommendation of a friend who is somehow related to the owner of Bonnie's but I came on an unexpected visit as I do not ordinarily frequent this part of Brooklyn. When he told me that there is a Char Siu McRib in existence, my mouth was agape and I had to try it for myself.

First off, let's describe the 𝘃𝗶𝗯𝗲. The very moment you walk in, there's this familiar feeling of a 茶餐廳 (Cha Chan Teng, literally "Tea Restaurant," but really is like a Hong Kong-style diner) with the New York City Chinatown feel. The layout is very simple, not too bright and not too dark. The music is a bit loud with guests trying to be louder than it, but that's the norm around these parts. It's got a young and trendy aesthetic. The wait staff are always in the groove and certainly shows.

Now we talk about the 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝! The only thing I had was, as the title says, the Char Siu McRib and I had no regrets about that being the only thing. If you haven't had the thing this remixes, just know that this is quite a lot... it's quite a lot bigger and tastier than the better-known counterpart. The barbecued park so loved and commonly eaten usually in small chunks is left with a big cut with the char, the fat and the tender meat all together and topped with sliced onions and pickles in between a milk bun blew my mind how good this could be. Don't mistake this being anywhere near the fast-food giant counterpart that kinda owns the trademark for a part of this dish's name -- but hey, under-expect so that you can be swept far far away like I did and the experience will only get better! Also, that goes without saying, this is in no way "fast" and can take a good 15-20 minutes to get to you... maybe a little longer on a busy day.

The Chow Nai Sundae, the dessert with malted fried milk, ovaltine hot fudge and vanilla ice cream topped with buttered peanuts and pork floss, was the perfect ending to the dinner! Don't let the pork floss fool you, by the way -- it adds a salty flavour and... let's be real, if you add bacon to more than just a plate with eggs, this shouldn't discourage you. I recommend this as your meal finisher!

Finally, I leave you with my 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨. Pricey, tucked into a residential area off the BQE but an experience that takes on the inspiration of the NYC Chinatown spirit for the modern-day, I am thoroughly impressed with the food and service that was Bonnie's. I wouldn't make it a habit to go very often if I were able to, but I surely have not had all that they have to offer. For instance, I will need to go there at least once more to have their X.O.腸粉 (X.O. Cherng Fun or, literally, "Steamed Vermicelli Rice Rolls with X.O. Sauce") or their 牛肉炒麵 (Gnau Yuk Chow Mein, or "Beef Chow Mein.") There's quite a lot of real Cantonese cooking, some with a certain twist, and others that would strike me curious, I'd have to make a few occasions to come out here. However, let it be known that the Char Siu McRib, apparently here year-round, is something you should definitely make it out...

I recently went to Bonnie’s for dinner, and to say that the entire experience was an utter disappointment is still too nice of a review.

Firstly, the dishes we ordered were completely stale and cold. We got the long beans with fried dough, and not only did we have to wait 30 minutes for the food, when it did arrive, it was not even fresh. The dough was completely soggy. Like it was sitting there drenched in the oils for way too long. It also came cold. So I’m really unsure why we had to wait so long for cold and stale food.

We also got the walnut and shrimp. It was decently tasting, but again, not warm and there were 6 pieces of small shrimp for $20. Too overpriced. The honey walnut shrimp from Panda Express is honestly better lmao.

Don’t even get me started on the XO cheung fun. This thing was a whopping $31 for basically 0 protein. It says there are cured pork in the dish but I swear I could not taste it at all. It was basically just noodles for $31. Nothing like the noodles you would get if you ordered from your local Chinese spot. At least there you would get a protein (chicken, beef slices, etc). But here there may have been a FEW ground pork morsels? But basically completely 95% just noodles. Completely overpriced. Also way too salty.

Lastly, we got the dessert, ice cream sundae. It was your average vanilla ice cream with some peanut butter. The added “twist” was that you can add pork floss to it, and it had these mochi-like rice balls. To be honest, the pork floss added nothing to the overall dessert. It felt like this was just added for that “Asian” fusion theme the owner had intended, but there was no added worth in flavor or texture or anything at all really. The mochi had a nice texture, and was probably the best part of the dish, but there were only about 4 pieces of actual mochi. The ice cream itself was very average. This thing was 75% whipped cream, 20% ice cream and peanut butter, and 5% mochi. Felt like these 2 components were added just to say it was “asian” but there’s nothing special at all. You’re better off getting an ice cream cone and calling it a day.

Overall, Bonnie’s is an utter disappointment and disgrace to even call it Asian. As a Chinese person, Im actually offended. It is very evident that Bonnie’s targets a certain demographic (aka YT), given that my friend and I were the only Asians in the entire restaurant (workers and chefs included). The portion sizes were also laughable, especially given how small it was. The pictures don’t show exactly how SMALL the portions are. Your typical Chinese takeout box (which is not even that large), is easily 3x the size of the portion size at Bonnie’s. What a joke.

We ended up spending $75/pp but you’re honestly better off ordering from a local and AUTHENTIC Chinese spot for literally 1/8 of the price. Do not waste your money and time coming here.

I don’t usually write reviews but this experience completely baffled me and left me in awe with how...

3.9 Stars - really wanted to love it but probably wouldn't return for a while, not worth making a special trip for, but maybe only if I was in the neighborhood. My biggest negative point is the cost of each menu item compared to its taste despite the reputation of chef/owner Calvin Eng.

RESERVATIONS: We were a group of 6, which is really how I got the reservation on Resy. It seems that groups of 2 are very hard to get reservations for, so I got a big group together for a reservation 1 week out for a Thursday evening. Walk-ins for tables are tough but if you can also try your luck at bar seating (first come, first serve).

SERVICE: Our waitress was very friendly, hyped about the restaurant and overall had good suggestions.

FOOD: The food took some time to come out so it was hard to fill the table with all the dishes at once. If you're used to old school cantonese restaurant speed, don't get your hopes up here.

Favorites: tinned dace dip $8 (fish with saltine crackers), not fishy at all, more on the 'bean dip flavor' side of things. -long beans (got two of them), $15 each, DELICIOUS, long beans were flavorful and definitely part of the clean plate club shrimp & walnuts $16, delicious, not over abused with mayo, but the portion size was definitely lacking. salt & pepper squid $17, very good, comes with a tartar sauce on the side, very nicely deep fried/breaded clams $17, cooked with steamed eggs, very flavorful

Not so favorites: poached chicken $32, comes cold and over a bed of soy sauce rice. while the chicken and rice was good, the price is not justified McRib $21 each (got two of them), the bun was toasted and soft but the rib was a little bit on the drier side. good but not outstanding. Jook (congee) $16, paired with a soft boiled egg, pork floss and a fried dough stick, the congee was pleasantly surprising as it was not bland, but flavorful. doesn't mean that it was worth $16 though. -rice rolls (x.o. cheung fun) $21, no meat but stir fried well. this was roll shaped cheung fun, but honestly not worth it at all for a dish that was only rice rolls & no protein. deboned / stuffed fish $52, it definitely looked labor intensive and kudos to the chefs for making this. however it wasn't mind blowing. the stuffed fish had a texture of fish tofu.

They also have a to-go menu which features completely different items that we didn't get the chance to try (such as the Filet-o-Fish sandwich)

DRINKS: ribena highball msg martini (not sweet, very msg/savory), honestly not my favorite, some liked it though. budweiser (because we saw a yelp review for Bonnie's that said nobody in Williamsburg drinks budweisers)

SUMMARY Some of us came from Manhattan and others came from Williamsburg. +1 to what someone else had said in their yelp review, I wouldn't make a special trip to come here again, only if I was in the neighborhood. This place is too expensive for alot of the dishes that...