Chubby Skewers｜Authentic Chinese BBQ — Restaurant in New York

I'm so tired of places being overhyped on social media - this is one of those overhyped places.

I came once prior and there was a wait of about an hour - meanwhile theres a sign that says to just walk in for bar seating. The staff handling seating and the wait are not very hospitable, you have to join the waitlist in person via a Yelp QR code despite there being seats at the bar and the sign. I was on the waitlist and had my entire meal at Kajiken nearby and was done by the time I got the text to go back here.

I should've took it as a sign from God not to come back but my friend took a late bus in from DC and I thought we could try since it was open later and close by. I got there earlier and went to go check if there was a wait. I verbatim asked "Is there a wait for 2?" She goes "We only seat full parties" Did I ask?? I asked if there was a wait, not if they seated full parties.

There was no wait at 10pm on a rainy Thursday and it was reasonably full - I randomly bumped into the friend I had originally been with the first time I tried dining here, and they also did not have a good time.

The pricing here is all out wack and misleading. They advertise $1 skewers online and in the restaurant but it's actually $1.30 per skewer unless you buy a $58 membership on the spot, which they try to push on you after being seated. Why would I buy a membership if I haven't tried the service yet? Then there's an undisclosed "seasoning charge" of 99 cents per person which obviously isn't a lot but I didn't use any of the seasonings that they provide at each table. They charge you regardless. Lastly, the waiter told me to "don't forget to tip" and I only realized after that I don't know what I'm tipping for. I got my own water, skewers, and cooked it myself so what exactly am I tipping for? The waiter counted my skewers at the end, so for that? Am I subsidizing their costs of running the restaurant? Honestly it's pretty ridiculous.

First of all, why are all the seats so low? There's barely any space to maneuver between tables and if you're over 5'9, good lucky being comfortable. The actual table that "seats 4" can honestly only fit 1.5 people on each side of the table. It's very cramped and there's no table space.

Secondly, it's basically self service - you get your own water and have to walk into a narrow aisle with fridges on both sides. If one fridge door is open, the other sides can't open so you basically have to wait in a line until the people in front of you picks their skewers. The spice selection is messy and unhygienic - the spoons just fall into each spice and I didn't even bother.

Why is it called Chubby Skewers when each skewer is honestly tiny? Some have 2 skewers attached to each item for "higher value" items. You then cook each skewer and they have a cooking time chart and that's basically it. Everything is reasonably tasty after being grilled although valuing the beef and other proteins the same as a broccoli doesn't really make sense to me. It's a little frustrating to have to wait for each skewer to cook considering they all have different cook times and the grill doesn't fit more than 8 skewers, some of which the protein falls off the skewers from being improperly placed.

I will definitely not be back. Not worth it in any way - go get yourself some tacos or better yet,...

Not a good experience, and felt like the owner/management lacks experience and knowledge in so many important details in terms of customer experience. Two words to summarize the theme of this experience: Inconvenience and Inconsiderate.

The line outside of the restaurant was very long, but it was because the staff were letting people in at a VERY SLOW pace even though there were more than enough available seats inside. It's not because how good of an experience it was. We think not a lot of people who dined here would go back again.

The line design at the bbq skewers self-select fridge was horrible. Once someone opens the fridge door and picks skewers, other people weren't able to walk past that person or get food from the other side, so people just had to wait to pass the other person in line and it was very inefficient in this crowded space. The fridge doors should be designed otherwise, maybe like slidedoor or let it completely open so it can allow more people to pick skewers at once and not worry about bumping into each others' sharp skewers and raw meat.

The bbq stations on each table were badly designed. First of all, it took longer to cook through the meat than the instructions said. Secondly, we accidentally dropped 3 skewers down to the bottom of of the bbq stand after we spent forever to cook them, and could not retrieve them at all because they fell too deap and because of its bad design. Lastly, the bbq stand cannot hold many skewers so it takes a long time to wait for the food to be cooked and for you to cook a new round of food.

The music played was horrible. It was House/EDM, which I get is intended to make this place feel new and cool and modern, but trust me, the music taste and selection was really bad, and made us feel embarrassed listening to it. They are not trendy music, but like outdated, corny and cheesy that are not fun to listen to, and made us feel so tired and intense the whole time.

Not worth the price/effort. The $1/skewer advertisement was not true unless you download an app and sign up for their membership. Otherwise it's like $1.2/skewer. We even felt like $1 was not very worth it given how little and small the meat were on each skewer. The effort it took us to grill the meat was a lot and we felt like it was troublesome to a point that we'd rather go to a regular Chinese bbq restaurant where they already grill the meat for us, or a K-bbq restaurant where larger pieces of meat are grilled more efficiently.

Health hazard & contamination The self-select skewer section were full of raw meat and skewer handles were contacted with raw meat, for sure. The water station was right next to it and the the button of the water bucket was pressed constantly by people who just touched skewers with raw meat, and felt oily when I touched it. There was no hand sanitizers or protocols of hand cleaning or disinfecting before or after touching these skewers, which can cause disease and infection with all of...

Being a Chubby Rewards member, I was eager to give Chubby Skewers a try. I have had Korean Chinese skewers before, but never a fully Chinese style, which was an exciting prospect.

The vibe is definitely there, with a Chubby Skewer holding statue and a well thought out interior featuring metallic tables with red chairs. It makes sense for the concept. I will say, the music was loud, and I wished the playlist could be different. We had a hard time hearing each other talk.

We were greeted by the host and taken to our seats on the second floor. I personally found that annoying since it meant we had to walk downstairs to get skewers from the fridge. Moreover, the table was very narrow, making it uncomfortable to sit. My friend claimed this was authentic, as you had to split your legs out, but I saw this as an accessibility issue.

The ordering system was mobile based, typical of several other Chinese establishments.

The food experience involved bringing your own skewers from downstairs and cooking them yourself, which is the highlight of the visit. There was a great variety of skewers, ranging from meats and seafood to vegetables and fruits. I had no complaints and enjoyed most, if not all, of them. I cannot even pick a favorite one since all of them were good, but I do want to recommend getting a pineapple skewer to grill and eat at the end to digest the red meats.

We also ordered several other items. My friend got us what I can only describe as a fish skin fillet situation, which I had never had before, and I thought it was interesting. It was vinegary and salty with a good texture. While I do not have the specific name, I would recommend it for a new experience. The guobarou came in skewers, and we thought it was good. It was definitely not the best we have had, but still enjoyable and more proportionate than versions found at Korean Chinese places. Lastly, we got the mala tang, which I thought was good, but a bit too peanuty. For drinks, we got two Tsingtao beers, which is a great and safe option. I do want to try another Chinese beer brand next time, which I believe they also had available.

The service was also good, but tipping is always tricky in places like this. We had to venture down to get skewers and cook them ourselves, which, as mentioned, is the highlight of the experience. Our server was nice and served us the a la carte dishes and beers. However, I am unsure about a 20 percent tip in a restaurant system where guests are so hands on. Nothing was wrong with his service, but it makes you question the tipping structure.

I did not go to the bathroom because I did not want to get out of the crammed seat.

I will return to have this again to try other plates and beers, and hopefully we will not be seating on the...