Cafe Evergreen — Restaurant in New York

We had dinner here on Saturday, June 18 it was my gf’s birthday. The food was totally on point the service left something to be desired. We were given warm water while the other patrons had ice water. When asked for ice water it was given promptly. They put the sauces on the table w/o the fried noodles. When asked the noodles were placed on the table. When they packaged our leftovers we weren’t asked if we wanted dessert. Our server never checked to see if we were ok. The manager stopped by everyone’s table but ours to find out about our dining experience. When others exited the restaurant they were given a thank you and goodnight. When we left it was crickets. My gf was so bothered by this experience that she called the manager Frank immediately, to express what happened. He listened, didn’t offer any apology or try to make amends. He merely said “ok thank you” and hung up the phone. It was quite obvious he didn’t care about what happened. He only cared about his UES patrons. Yes, we were POC from Westchester County, and it was quite obvious we were not wanted there. If I could giver zero stars for the horrible service and the manager who is a jerk and “a banana.” I have Asian friends and Frank you know what that means. We will never patronize this...

This place has been around the upper east side for a very long time and it never disappoints! It's definitely pricier than other Chinese places in the area but they serve higher quality food that is less greasy, less sweet, and less salty. They also serve dim sum all day. With all that being said, some of their dishes are still catered to the western palate but it is still better than other places in the area.

Here are some of my favorite items from them

Fried egg rolls. Their egg rolls are legit. It's giant, filling and crispy.

Hot and sour soup. Very good and filling. Perfect for colder days.

Walnut prawns. Very big prawns that are flavored in this nice sweet and savory white sauce with fried walnuts.

Sautéed pea shoot. Very good while getting your fibers in.

Shrimp with black bean sauce and mined pork. Very good and flavorful.

Turnip cakes. Delicious and crispy.

Chives and shrimp patty. Lots of flavor.

They also have lots of gluten free options here. Service is always top notch. Overall a solid...

This review is only for the dine-in experience, not take out or delivery. Cafe Evergreen has easily the best dim sum of any place I've eaten at in Manhattan, or Queens for that matter, and I've eaten at most dim sum restaurants in the city. Coming from the West Coast, I consider New York dim sum to be a couple steps down from LA, but CE is at least in the ballpark, or maybe in the parking lot outside.

As other reviewers have warned, the prices are steep (20-40% more) compared to places in Chinatown, and the location is not convenient for those of us not on the UES. Cart service is also limited to the weekends, and then they typically only have 1-2 carts, so if you're looking for a traditional dim sum experience (lots of carts, noise, and that inattentive servers), you should head downtown instead.

However, if you're looking for some decent dim sum in a clean, comfortable environment, maybe on a Saturday morning before heading up to the MET or somewhere else on the UES, definitely check out...