Red Sorghum 夜宴 — Restaurant in New York

I made a last-minute reservation here, drawn in by the intriguing ambiance. The interior is stunning, with decor and an atmosphere that evoke the charm of ancient China. Unfortunately, the flavors didn't quite live up to my expectations. Sichuan cuisine is known for its bold and spicy profiles, but most of the dishes I ordered were surprisingly mild. I was also disappointed that the Forbidden Romance cocktail wasn't available during my visit.

Here's a breakdown of my experience: Young & Mei Cosmo: A solid cocktail--light, refreshing, and not overly sweet.

Hengyang Brine Rice Noodle: A simple yet satisfying dish with sliced beef and chopped jalapeños. Pretty good overall!

Double Cooked Pork: Very oily and just okay. It lacked the spice I was expecting and wasn't memorable--I could've skipped this one.

Peppercorn Fish Stew: This dish had potential, but it fell short. The fish wasn't fully descaled, and the skin was left on, which detracted from the experience. The flavor leaned more sour and pickled than spicy, and it was overly oily. I was highly disappointed.

Phoenix Spiced Chicken: Despite its three-pepper label, this dish was shockingly mild. It lacked the signature Sichuan peppercorn kick I was hoping for--another letdown.

Sautéed String Beans: My favorite dish of the night! You can't go wrong with this classic.

Brown Rice: Slightly overcooked and starchy.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this place or return. It's slightly overpriced. The flavors didn't capture the essence of authentic Sichuan cuisine. For a much better experience, I'd highly recommend Szechuan Mountain...

We had really high hopes for this new place in our neighborhood but were unfortunately let down for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, drinks are all more than $18. Our friend didn’t like her drink at all, so we politely asked if she could exchange it for something else and were told no that they wouldn’t take the drink back. It was definitely a bummer as she spent so much money on a cocktail and ended up not drinking it, and at an expensive nice place you’d think they’d be able to take a drink back no problem. Also, we asked for a straw for someone else in the group twice and never got it.

We then ordered one appetizer and 3 main dishes, with 4 sides of rice. The appetizer and 4 sides of rice came out first.. we thought it was odd the rice came out without any entrees. Then one entree and after another 10 minutes the second entree came out. Then they weirdly brought us a dessert (??) and said it was because we didn’t like the drink so it was free.. but we saw them try to give the same dessert to a table near us which was turned away. It was also bizarre, because my friend who didn’t like the drink hadn’t even received her entree yet and they gave her a free dessert before the entree came! Finally after 45 minutes our final entree came out.

The food was okay - nothing special and not worth the $30 per entree that we paid for it. We left feeling super unsatisfied and ordered takeout from a very good, more affordable Szechuan place down the block called Jing Li.

Bummer as we had high hopes but for anyone who wants yummy cheaper food just go to Jing Li - it’s much better and...

My party and I were unreasonably rushed out of the table during my last visit with no apology by the staff.

We had made a reservation for 6PM and was told upon being seated that we had 90 minutes for our meal. Not a problem. At approximately 6:45PM, our server informed us that we have 15 minutes left. I was surprised by this and asked if they could double check that our reservation had started at 6PM. The server returned by confirming that yes, our reservation did indeed start at 6PM but they still have a 7PM reservation coming up for another party, and that they thought they had mentioned this to us when seating our party. When I said ‘no, you told us we had 90 minutes’, the staff told us that there’s nothing they can do given it’s a busy night and that they would appreciate it if we can finish our meal in the next 5-10 minutes. There was no apology or further explanation. I did not understand why my party was shooed out for a mistake clearly made by the restaurant and its staff, and why they did not seem to be apologetic of the situation. Even if they had mentioned that we needed to give up the table in an hour when first seating us, I did not understand why that is something they would wait until my full party arrived at the restaurant to inform us of. It should have been something that they called us about before the day of the reservation or else I would not have eaten there given I was entertaining guests from out of town. Our party of four spent $280 there and was eating till the very last second. Overall a very frustrating and...