Phoenix Garden Restaurant

I've been a regular customer of this restaurant in all of its incarnations, Chinatown, New Jersey, East 40th Street, and was stunned when this BYO restaurant asked $3.00 for ice to keep the beer cold. What's next Victor, charging for the ice in the ice water, or how about charging for the glass itself? Oh, the food (?), it's still good but not as good as when mom and dad ran the place. Pros: good food Cons: silly rules more

Worst food and service experience ever. The most rude and arrogant manager of any restaurant we've ever been to. We were one of only three customers, yet they took forever to come to us and wouldn't let us use a chair to put our coat on since ""people would need the chair"" -- totally classless. Pros: Near Grand Central Cons: Worst service ever more

After reading all the reviews on citysearch for Phoenix Garden, I was expecting good food, but I was waiting to either be thrown or cursed out by a waiter, or rushed through a meal. Pros: Good Food and service and a rare BYOB in NYC Cons: We only BYOB'd 2 bottles more

the food is great here. the waiters and waitresses are helpful and all friendly. cash only. no credit cards. as long as the nice brother (the thinner one) is there all is well. the fat brother is mean and unhappy, maybe because of his weight. the other reviewers are wrong about the food and service. i have been there four times in the last three weeks and everything has been teriffic. Pros: food nice waiters/waitresses Cons: the fat brother owner more

Arrogant. Unfriendly. Unhelpful. Sad, isn't it. And worse, the staff don't seem to realise the impression they create. Pros: The food Cons: The service and attitude more

The food at Phoenix Garden had been decent but it had a long reputation of a poor service. Many of my friends stopped going there but I still went because until today I didn't know the meaning of a truly bad service. Phoenix Garden has always operated under BYOB. As a service they brought out an icebox for drinks and I had never been charged. Today my bill came with unknown charges and I questioned the waitress. The son who took over his father's business responded to my inquiries with nasty arrogant manners. Because he was unbearable I told the waitress that they've just lost a customer. When I got up my seat I left my coat on my seat, the owner yelled at me and reminded me to take my coat so that I wouldn't return. Then he cursed and said, ?F*ck you Bitch, never come back again.? The waiter stared at him and froze. I said under no circumstances his behavior is acceptable and I will make sure that the world know of my experience. In this recession, I rather spend my money elsewhere. Cheers to my last visit to Phoenix Garden. Pros: No comments Cons: I was called a bitch for questioning my bill. more

I have been here twice in the past 2 months and I will be coming back again. Pros: BYOB Cons: Cash Only more

The food is awful and when i went to the bathroom there were rodents running around. Service is terrible and the owner is extremely rude. I will never go there again. Cons: dirty, rude people, bad food more

Wife and I, Chinese Food lovers, lived in the neighborhood for years, heard the food was good but the service was terrible. Well, the food was good, the spare ribs in a honey sauce especially, but the service was just kinda bad? sorta mean? not the outright misanthropic torture chamber we were expecting. The owner wasn't exactly happy to be their, but neither was he a scowling martinet, nor was the wife an invective spewing troglodyte . In short, we were after the Soup Nutsy* of Schezuan province, but just ran into a slightly churlish guy who served a mean crispy beef. Bottom Line : While it was disappointing not to have a story for the ages, we ended up with an above average meal at a reasonable price. But the owner has to be a lot meaner or a lot nicer, because right now he?s a ?tweener? with no real niche. Pros: Not horribly mean owner Cons: Not terribly nice owner more

My whole family has been eating here for many years. I don't write reviews but read them from time to time and thought I should let anyone who cares know that the food is great, the service is great and the owners (also a family) and wait staff are some of the nicest people around. They don't suffer arrogance and aren't phony but are good hearted and friendly. The food is superb and the price is right. The Pepper and Salty Shrimp or Oysters are favorites but pretty much everything is top notch. Pros: Food, service, price. Cons: I wish they were open later during the week. more

Despite the small portions and awful decor, I have been going to Phoenix Garden for the past 2 years because it is cheap and a BYOB. I will NEVER go again. I went last night with the same person who reviewed before, and he was being nice in his...I will not be. When we were done eating our food, which was shortly after we were seated as the waitress rushed us to order and the food came out too quick, we asked if we could open our bottle of wine as NO ONE was in the restaurant. The waitress said okay, right after we opened the bottle the incredibly rude manager stands at our table and tells us we have to leave. I explain that we wouldn't have opened the bottle if we knew we would be getting kicked out. He continued to tell us to finish quickly, he stood over us and as I told him that this was not very good customer service he proceeded to YELL at me and tell me that he knows who I am and will never be allowed back in. They followed us out. I have never been treated that way and do not understand how this man has stayed in business. Everytime I go he is rude but because it is cheap I have continued to go, my mistake. Do not make the trip to the restaurant as the portions are small, the service is bad and the manager makes you feel bad for even coming. Pros: BYOB Cons: EVERYTHING ELSE more

A group of friends and myself decided to get together after work to catch up and have some dinner. KEEP in mind that this place is a BYOB. There were 5 of us; we brought in 18 beers and a bottle of wine. Completely reasonable for people that aren?t light drinkers. We ordered 6 apps, and 6 entrees, so it wasn?t like we didn?t eat our moneys worth. They ?politely? asked us if we could hurry up our drinking, an hour after we had been there. 8 minutes later, they told us they needed the table, even though there were 7, we counted, 7 tables open in the cheaply decorated basement restaurant that we were nice enough to give our business to. After I kid you not, ONE more minute, they told us never to come back. It was the most ridiculous treatment I have ever seen in this city, in which I have been dining for over 15 years. The food was fine, but small. The service was fine, but somewhat rushed, but overall attitude of this place was beyond detestable. 0 out of 10. Not worth the trouble. Pros: taste of the food, not quantity Cons: everything else....EVERTHING more

So, we order delivery from them often, and their food is good. It's not the best I've ever had, but it's good. Every time we ordered from them on the phone they were rude but we let it go and didn't start a fight. Cons: Rude and extremely unfriendly people more

Phoenix Garden's gaudy green awninged entrance belies a nice little cozy brick-exposed interior. Waiters and waitresses despite other reviews are good. I think they provide pretty decent if not overtly charming, falling all over themselves to please you service. Food is great and authentic. The salt and pepper shrimp, the peppersteak beef and the pan friend noodles with beef are awesome. I'm sure your standby Chinese favs would be just as good. Portions are on the smaller side with a guy needing about 1 and a half orders to be full. Prices are great and best of all, it's BYOB. more

Best Chinese I've had in New York. Get the salt and pepper shrimp, shrimp and shark fin dumplings, scallop. more

Best Chinese I've had in New York. Get the salt and pepper shrimp, shrimp and shark fin dumplings, scallop. more

best cantonese outside of china - service is as if you were in china, lots of yelling & curt nods. if you... more

best cantonese outside of china - service is as if you were in china, lots of yelling & curt nods. if you don't mind rude & loud chinese waiters, a... more

I can't believe Zagats sent us there! And rated their food higher than Shun Lee Palace! Someone's taste buds have died and gone to heaven. Pros: nothing Cons: food inedible more

From the minute we walked in, the place gave us an uneasy feeling.They 1st tried to give us a table in the front by the door which we politely declined, and then tried to stuff us in the back(basically in the kitchen), which we also declined.So we sit down with our bottle of wine that we brought for the occasion, which is 1 of the saving graces of this rstrnt...and instead of opening the bottle for us, the waiter brings us a corkscrew to do it ourself which is fine, but it just struck me as a little weird.We were seated for literally 3 min. before the waiter was all in our face asking us what we wanted.The menu is HUGE, so we were casually flipping thru the pages while sipping our wine.No joke, he came over every 3 min asking us if we were ready to order, and when we said we were still looking he would hover over our table giving us dirty looks. This got old real quick, so we ordered an appetizer just to get him out of our face for a few minutes so we could talk behind his back about how annoying he was being.We finally ordered our dinner, which came out really fast...actually before the appetizer which was annoying.At about 10:15...EARLY for a Saturday night, they started to (I swear) flick the lights on and off. We TOTALLY got the hint, but chose to ignore it while we finished the wine. After about five minutes of ignoring, the owner came up to us and said ""you know we're closed right?"" There were 2 other tables there with us at this time, and they were all weirded out by how rude the owner was being. We told the owner that no, we weren't aware that you were closing, but is it alright if we finish our glasses of wine? With a pained look on his face, he said ok.We left this restaurant with about 3 glasses of wine left in our bottle, along with the other tables who also had unfinished wine. As we were walking down the block, we could only laugh at how rude the entire staff at this restaurant was. I would definitely recommend the food, but only if it's takeout Pros: Good food, BYOB Cons: Horrible, horrible waitstaff more