Wu's Wonton King — Restaurant in New York

Wu’s Wonton King is special. It’s that place where parents bring their kids because their grandparents brought them for classic Chinese food. It’s that place where you go with your family - your place - to celebrate a birthday or a milestone where families come together - great grandparents, grandparents, parents, children…for a casual but incredibly meaningful classic dinner. The four immediate large tables in our area were filled with families - lots of children - all well behaved - grandparents- parents, older “kids” with their significant others. Celebrating. Wu’s offers several extraordinary main course items - whole succulent piglet 🐖 $250 which they have hanging in the window - and massive King crab. 🦀 $600 for larger, family style dinners (they said feeds 4-6 but the tables ordering had at least 10 each and there was an abundance of food.) Each of their extraordinary dishes comes out with the servers bringing to the table to view and take photos:) before a procession leads to the kitchen where each dish is prepared at least three different ways and served. After seeing the piglet, we saw a huge platter of buns stuffed with meat, riblets and crispy pork and what appeared to be at least 2 other dishes! All to the delight of the table, especially the children. Grandparents nodded in approval at the piglet, while the adult “kids” put the king crab (fresh out of the tank) around their necks and posed for photos. It’s that kind of special, my father, an immigrant from the islands, would have LOVED it all. And these dishes aren’t even what they are famous for!!! Their specialty is the “Number 1 Wonton Soup” which my dumpling 🥟 and wonton connoisseur BF thought was just “okay!” “above average, but not the BEST” I ordered the crispy noodles with shrimp and vegetables and LOVED it! The noodles were crispy (and still are, the little bit I brought home and just took a bite!) the shrimp 🍤 were super fresh and the snow peas large and bok choy soooo fresh. This place seemed a little pricey, given our journey through Chinatown’s restaurants and this was a little on the outside, more lower east side of Chinatown than deep in the heart of Chinatown. Still the two times we visited, the restaurant had a full house, with people waiting for a table. Also, we only ordered two dishes - total with tip $50 - wonton soup $16 and my crispy noodles $22, with tax and tip $50. They provided tea for our enjoyment. I would go back to celebrate and order the crab, it was casual and clearly a special place for families. My bargain loving BF isn’t as keen :) also, for island families - the whole piglet is a thing. While I don’t eat meat and definitely not piglet, my father and father’s side would have LOVED the piglet. They end your experience a little rectangle of mango jello which I loved! If you are hoping for a glimpse of the traditional family dinner and good, home cooking - go! If more upscale, Din Tai Fung is your thing, this isn’t your place ;) but after you leave your fancy fancy, this is the kind of place you end up, for that little taste of...

From now on, I'll definitely boycott this restaurant and never come to this place again. By the way, please make sure your restaurant pays ENOUGH TAX to the city government.

On 5/30/2023, my mom, my husband, and I went to this restaurant to eat lunch. The bill was about $105 including tax. Before paying the bill, one of the waitresses came to our table and gently said, "If you pay cash, we don't charge you the tax." Then, I paid $96 cash (before the tax, the subtotal was about $96), and gave 15% of $96 as tips, which was $15 (I rounded it up already). In total, I paid $111. While we were leaving the restaurant, the staff were polite to us and said "Thank you" as well.

Today, 6/4/2023, my mom and I went to this restaurant to eat dim sum. The bill was about $26.5 including tax. Before paying the bill, I asked one of the waiters, "If I pay cash, is it tax exempted? Because last time, the waitress told me that tax is not charged if I pay cash." The waiter brought the bill to the manager and the manager didn't charge me with the tax. I also paid 15% of the subtotal as tips. In total, I paid $28. Before leaving the restaurant, the tallest waiter in the restaurant stopped me and asked me to pay more tips. I told him that I did pay enough tips and showed him how I calculated the tips on my calculator. The tallest waiter said, "I know, I know. But we didn't charge you with the tax." I said, "If you charge me with the tax, charge me with the tax. Keep the store policy consistent. Tuesday, you guys didn’t charge me with the tax. But Sunday, you guys charge me with the tax. In addition, I did pay you enough tips. I paid 15% tips already." Next, I took $2 out from my wallet and gave it to him. I complained to him, "It's not about money. It's about the store policy."

I am very angry with this confusing store policy. The amount on the bill is big, the restaurant wants the customers to pay cash and exempts the tax as so-called discount. The amount on the bill is small, the restaurant wants to charge the customers with the tax. Tax is tax. Discount is discount. If this is the store policy, I believe that the audit tax department of NYC must be very interested in this type of store policy.

I am always willing to pay 18% of the bill as tips if the bill is printed as "suggested tips 18%". Otherwise, I only pay 15% of the bill as tips.

Personally, I will never come to this restaurant again. However, I wish Wu's Wonton restaurant could make more money so that it can pay enough tax or more tax to the government.

Yes, please make sure that your restaurant must pay ENOUGH TAX to the city government....

I came here with four grade 8 boys that I was chaperoning. We came here because it was recommended by one of the boys' moms.

The restaurant appears to be on the outskirts of Chinatown and it took awhile to find. My boys were not happy about the long walk and kept questioning my sense of direction. 😅

The clientele here is both Chinese speaking Cantonese and local business people. I heard one man describe to his coworker "This place is much different from any place you've been to." He was probably comparing to Panda Express. 😄

The service was your typical perfunctory, all business, no pleasantries Chinatown service. The waiter who served us the most was a large, imposing man who looked like he could take out ten men. He didn't smile until the end when he presented the check. 😀

We ordered five dishes which turned out to be two too many for our group of five.

The arrogant sounding New York No. 1 Wonton Soup 🥟 really did seem to be aptly named. The waiter served it all in five equally portioned bowls. The wonton reminded me of dim sum because the skin was so delicate and there was so much shrimp inside. The soup was light yet flavorful and I appreciated the greens in it.

The Ma Po Tofu was also very good, not as heavy tasting as I am used to.

The Beef Stew in Special Broth came with a lot of beef which tastes good but was not really my style.

The Soy Sauce Half Chicken 🍗 was very good, very juicy. One of the boys was convinced it was duck.

Finally the Famous Golden Fried Rice was also good. Besides the Wonton Soup, this was the only dish we finished.

And finally we were given a free dessert along with a surprisingly low bill and the leftovers packed up for us. Unfortunately the leftovers started dripping juice as we walked around Chinatown afterwards. 💧😬

One word of caution. If you are squeamish at all about seeing live animals just before they are cooked don't come here. At the table where the man said this restaurant is much different a very large live crab was presented. As the men gawked at it for several minutes I stared at its face which was as large as a dog's and I...