Cha Kee — Restaurant in New York

Worst service I had in a long time. Stoped by for brunch / lunch with family. Ask for a table but wasn’t able to get one until the party was fully there. I understood and waited out side. Once my party arrived I was ask the same question. This time around my party was fully there. We were seated at the nearest table with bar stool. There were other option open seated tablet with chairs with back or the open booths. Not to get into issue with the hostess we just sat down at the location provided. We waited for a few minutes trying to figure out how the system worked. Thinking there would be menu bought to us but no one came by after that. We noticed a QR code on the table and had to assume that was the only option to order. Lucky we all had phone but I can assume if you didn’t have one you had no other options. After selecting from the digital menu we hit the submit button and waited. 15-20 minutes went by and the staff didn’t ask any questions and we thought this is strange. We then reopen the app and notice the submit button had failed due to some error on the portal. We went ahead and re selected the item and submit again. This time it seems to have submitted successfully. We wait another 15-20 minutes. As the first part of our order arrived which were appetizer placed on our table were looked at each other as the waiter walked away after placing the food down. We were thinking that where is the silverware napkins and plates would the staff bring them by. It took another 5 minutes to flag someone down to get those items. I assume they thought we should eat with our hands. After a few more minutes our drinks came out we also ask for water. After another 10-15 minutes our food started to come out first main dish. Pork-chop with onions with white rice. Pork chop was whole piece cut in half to make it seems like it was two in the order ok. First bite of the pork chop little to no or zero taste. Onion tasted like they were soaked in oil. Steamed White rice still had slight hardness due to it not fully being cooked all the way. It’s took 4 refill of the water to get half way thru my meal. My other guest order twisted pasta with steak and cream pasta spaghetti. The steak had zero taste and was hard as a rock with red pasta sauce which was runny like they added water to the sauce. Picture of the steak below. Cream pasta with spaghetti sauce was very runny also zero flavor to the taste. One member of my group is a chef and would never serve food that awful. After 1 1/2 hour my group decided not to finish the food since it was horrible. It was strange since other people were ordering similar dish that we had ordered. I seen at two of the other table customer were smothering there food with condiments. Location seemed nice 2-3 stars maybe staff 1-2 stars food 0 stars service 0-1 stars will never come back again to this location. I don’t see why there are so many people willing to wait for awful food and service at this location. It may look fancy food may look good but I had better food at other location...

To give this context- the beautifully renovated space belonged to Pho Bar (RIP), an upscale Vietnamese pho restaurant that did not survive the pandemic. Cha Chan Teng used to be next door, serving authentic Hong Kong cafe style food. I am not sure why they decided to use the related name Cha Kee, which literally is a colloquial way to call a HK style cafe. Aside from the milk tea and lemon tea drink, there was nothing on the menu that reflects Hong Kong café cuisine, it was misleading. We decided to try the restaurant due to a nostalgia for HK food, thought we saw on the description that it is fusion Japanese. The menu was ambitious, everything from sweet and sour pork to a special $80 A5 wagyu steak. Here are the pros and cons in a nutshell: PRO: Sweet and sour pork was exceptional, to a level that can be found in the good restaurants of Hong Kong. Very nice interior (credit to the former restaurant). They checked all COVID passes of clients- cannot say the same about the other Chinatown restaurants. Tables were socially distant. Price point was reasonable, nothing over $20 on the regular menu.

CONS: Overall the menu and direction is a bit confused. OK it is fusion, but some items are questionable- the special bone marrow ramen tasted like a pho broth with tare added, to no advantage. The Dan Dan noodles used ramen noodles- again, why? Why is there an $80 wagyu steak aside from the wow factor? It did not look anything special at the next table. Hit or miss service- the waitress described the specials but not in detail. We had to dig to find out (does the uni noodle have broth? Is it mixed in, or just on top? What is the weight of the steak and what cut? When asked about the pricing of the specials, she said, $20 'something'. Wait staff should know menu facts by heart. Service is a little slow. Some of the waitstaff did not wear a mask. BIG NO NO.

I really really wanted to like the place, but found myself missing the two restaurants that used to be right there, the original Cha Chan Tang and Pho Bar, both serving the rightful cuisines they were named after, and doing them well. For now, I would only go for the sweet and sour pork when...

. The food was not very good quality and was overpriced.

Don’t go this horrible cafe forever! We (2)went to eat dinner yesterday. We were told they switched the menu for dinner,( I used to have a lunch before, and saw the price is reasonable), the waitress showed us the dinner’s menu is doubled price compared to the lunch price , we thought it would be okay then decided to eat dinner at the cafe.We ordered two courses : 1/ Black pepper beef lion $25 ; 2/ Xo shrimp $21 ; a bowl of rice $2 ;two cup of tea ( they charged us $3 each cup) . After 10 minutes, the waiter took the beef which was cut into 4 tiny bites to the table, we looked each other said the food was a small portion ; we felt disappointed, unacceptable and not satisfied with the tiny beef of course. The second course was Xo shrimp ( only 4 middle size shrimp in the plate ). No waiters come over to refill tea for us, they just standing at the counter and talking about something . As a consumer , the restaurant, managers and waiters should always treat guests with respect. Courtesy ,Keep it friendly to the customers. No matter how much overpriced the restaurant charged , but the food should be as much as the price , We complained about the food was not enough for the adults , small portions (4 tiny bites beef cube ; 4 middle size shrimp) are very overpriced,We were not satisfied with the waitress responding to us. The waitress said: “ Well, many people said our food was too much,so they couldn’t eat all the food throughly ! After hearing what she said , we got shocked, I said:" OMG , are you kidding me? You said your restaurant’s food is too much to eat? You knew the beef is a tiny cube, only for the baby not for the adults! How come your customers told you the food is too much to eat? Finally, she did not say apologize. We are not satisfied with the food, and your responding is unacceptable. That’s why only one table to eat dinner at your restaurant!" Bad, bad,bad, we won’t be back !!!!!! Don’t waste your money on this such horrible, not authentic,not friendly customers service, not...