Lula Mae — Restaurant in New York

Here’s what we ordered: Hamachi Crudo; It was terrific, and the flavor and texture were perfect and balanced. The fried tofu was good and we liked the tempura snow, though I may prefer slightly more seasoning; 50-50 Fried Chicken, was one of our favorites, a great concept of serving 2 fried chicken recipes! Stir-fried Morning Glory, was fair. My wife commented that I make a better version.; Sambal crab fried rice, was our other favorite dish. It was spicy, with a fantastic umami flavor! The space is fun with different settings. The front bar and the galley of tables in front of the kitchen were lively. There’s a back room, where the settings were more intimate. Overall, an excellent place for any occasion. Finally, the service; I am not asking a lot because I live here in NYC (because service is HARD to find in this town) though I live in this neighborhood. And when we dropped $170 for a 2 in a “neighborhood” restaurant and the service was at best a diner experience. Here’s what happened: we didn’t get drinking glasses and a candle initially (I had to ask for drinking glasses), our waitress never asked if we have any questions about the menu, and when our dishes came, she never announced them and just plopped them on the table. She abruptly took away our plate of gone fried tofu but still, there were some fried bits of tempura snow, that was the best bite… On the bright side, another waiter came by and fixed our wobbly table, and gave us drinking glasses and a candle and when we left the chef thanked us for having us! Class act! I may come back but maybe...

Sometimes fun is enough…

First, let me say, that Lula Mae delivered a fun night out, though it left me frustrated as there were consistent and preventable issues with the food. I am not familiar enough with Cambodian cuisine to judge its authenticity, but the flavors were delightful overall. But in the end, it felt as if the kitchen had an issue keeping up with the crowd - and the execution suffered.

The misses: The Tokyo Mae cocktail, was painfully sweet – almost undrinkable, the tuna "crispy" rice lacked any crispy-ness, and the fried rice was mushy - resembling more a chunky mashed potato. Most dishes came with some seemingly preventable issues.

That said, the flavors were good - and we mostly finished what we ordered.

On the plus side: the atmosphere was boisterous and festive, complemented by fun, genuine service. They went out of their way to help us celebrate our friend's birthday - by sharing some of a cake meant for the staff - a touching gesture. Standout dishes included the flavorful beef carpaccio and short ribs – proving that Lula Mae has potential. We also enjoyed the cha kway with tom yum butter - overpriced - but still recommended.

So, would I go back? Yes… If they can tighten up the kitchen execution, this spot could easily become one better restaurants in all of...

I was very excited to try this place after all the hype. I even booked my birthday dinner there. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to the hype. It was just OK. I didn't hate it. But I didn't love it. We got the 50/50 Fried chicken ($17), the fried bread with Tom yum butter ($9 for 1 piece of youtiao and butter), Hamachi, lor cha noodles and a small side of white rice was $3, which for an Asian was pretty shocking price to me. We also got 4 different cocktails, which were $14 each. Every single one just tasted watered down. We waited well over 40 minutes for our cocktails, even though the tables on both sides of us got their cocktails already and they got seated after us. When we asked our waiter, all she said was, "the bartender is backed up." I understand being backed up but how come the tables that ordered after us got their orders first? 🤔 Weird. I have a feeling she just forgot to put our drink orders in. All in all, it wasn't a terrible experience. The fried chicken was delicious and so was the Hamachi. The noodles were so-so and the bread was just so over priced that I couldn't get over how much we were paying for it. In Chinatown, you can get a youtiao (which is exactly what this was) for $1.50. Here, it was $9. That's just...