Mahjong Cafe & Bar 麻将茶餐厅&酒馆 — Restaurant in New York

The restaurant is still new so I will go easy on them. First off, the decor is very nice. The wall of mahjong catches your eyes right away. There are magazine and posters of old hk stars on the walls. Seating was comfortable with large booths along and the perimeter and circular tables for smaller parties in the center. It was extremely hot in the restaurant the day we went so it was very uncomfortable especially sitting in the vinyl booth seatings. Air conditioning needs to be stronger.

We came at the height of lunch hour on a Saturday so the wait for a table was about 15 mins. They don’t give you a number or ticket. You just gather by the entrance, hoping no one cuts you. The wait staff doesn’t acknowledge you until there’s a table free.

Once seated, we waited for 5 mins to get menus. They were apologetic about it as they are very busy. Right off the bat, the prices are high. Even my 10 year old were taken aback by the prices. “$13 or instant noodle?!”

Long wait again to order. The waiter was very nice and polite when he finally came around.

Food and drink: Iced Hk milk tea was not good at all. There’s a bitter/sour after taste. The tea was not creamy nor smooth. There needed to be more evaporated milk. A mini pitcher of liquid syrup is given on the side so you can sweeten your own tea. This made the tea worst than it already is. Most hk milk teas are already slightly sweetened with condense milk. The tea came in a tall spout-less vessel in which you pour into another cup. We kind of made a mess but props on cool presentation.

Here comes the pricey instant noodle with 1 egg, 1 thin slice of spam, and 1 hotdog. The noodle lacked taste or seasoning. The soup flavor wasn’t right at all. $13 for instant noodle is outrageous. My daughter said the best thing was the slice of spam.

Vermicelli with pork and preserved veggies was actually good. Portion and flavor was great. This was also $13.

Stir fried instant noodle with grill chicken was just so-so. The chicken was fine but the noodles were dry and also a bit flavorless. This was $13 as well.

The original French toast was okay. The middle was a bit soggy but it wasn’t bad and the taste was authentic. This was $6.

Hk cafe food is meant to be affordable and quick but this was far from it. The manager or owner came and asked for honest feedback which we gave. She was extremely kind and personable. She apologized and said they will use the feedback to improve upon. I truly think there’s potential in this cute eatery especially when it’s only opened for 2 weeks. Will have to come back in a month or so to see if there are any changes. Hope the food will be better matched for the price the next...

🚨Soft Opening🚨 @mahjongcafe.nyc - 135-15 37th Ave . Chicken Fillet served on a Cast Iron Plate with Spaghetti - Tomato Sauce - $15.95 - this was very good, the chicken was cooked on the cast iron (I believe) so it has that smokey flavor, and the chicken was skin on so it had the crispy skin. Not very crispy like fried chicken - it was definitely not soggy and chewy… the plate of spaghetti is a big portion. As for the veggies, the tomato could have been cooked/grilled a bit longer, it wasn’t soft enough for my linking. The broccoli and corn is always a good/safe veggie… In all, a nice dish.. . . Baked Pork Chop with Cheese over Spaghetti - Tomato Sauce - $15.95 - this one was a bit disappointing. The pork chop was baked in as well, so it tasted like steamed pork chop vs grilled… no smokey taste.. they didn’t put enough cheese IMO… . Golden Jade French Toast with Peanut Butter $7.95 - it’s thicker than most HK Style French toasts, not as wide. The middle did have peanut butter but it wasn’t enough. I think they could have added more for a stronger peanuty taste. I did like how they cook it though, crisp on the outside… . In all, the food was good. But I do find their prices a bit on the pricy side. HK Café food is typically affordable… Try to go during bfast/lunch to take advantage of their combos. I’d like to go back and check the bfast sets… . They have a very extensive menu. I like that they offer many items, but it did seem at the time we went, many ordered the Westen menu items more than the HK menu items… it’s very spacious and...

Once I walked in, I like the special interior decorations that connects to the mahjong theme cafe. Aside from the gimmick, personally, I think the food here is average, not too banging, but not the worst.

They have lunch specials on a certain category of food that allows you to add $1 for hot drink and $2 for cold drink. My family ordered HK style cheung fun (A7), which the sauce is good amount but the cheung fun itself isn’t soft and smooth enough imo. The shark fin soup was a bit disappointing, quite below my expectation. Satay beef instant noodle has a good satay soup base but the instant noodle is a bit overcooked that it’s not like hk style but a bit soggy. My fish cutlet spaghetti with white sauce was alright. The fish cutlet was pretty crunchy. I believe the best dish was the baked pork chop rice with tomato sauce. That one was pretty good! My husband ordered a coffee milk tea (yin yeung) which was tasty. I had a hk style ice milk tea, which has a good strong tea taste but a bit too sweet on the other end. Overall, my meal was average.

The restaurant looks clean to me though, much better than other places I’ve been to in NY. And the waitresses were pretty friendly too.

If I was to suggest a thing they could improve or add to their cafe, I believe would be include some mahjong tiles look into their food, either decoration or edible food to match up with the theme. I think this way will capture more people to come and visit for...