Cafe Yu

I found myself starving near Madison Square Garden (again).  Luckily my good friend guided me to a local Chinese restaurant.  I've walked by Cafe Yu hundreds of times in the past few years around lunch time and always noticed it was packed but never considered walking in.  In desperate need of immediate sustenance, we turned to Cafe Yu.

Cafe Yu serves Chinese American cuisine at a reasonable price.  The restaurant is cleaner and slightly better decorated than the average NYC Chinese restaurant.  The service lackluster, which was surprising because by the time we were seated a little after 9pm, the restaurant was only half full and there was a handful of waiters clustered towards the front of the restaurant, chatting away.  You had to ask the server for water, to order, etc...But what Cafe Yu lacked in service, it made up for in high quality ingredients and speedy food delivery to starving patrons.

Somewhat typical (and fabulous) of Chinese restaurants, the menu featured dozens of options and the portions were large.  We had a difficult time narrowing down what to eat because there were so many appetizing options, which in my book is always a good problem to have.  Every thing we ordered was incredible and I would definitely go back to try different menu items (who am I kidding, and order most of the same items as well).

What to Eat:

Instead of ordering appetizers, we went with a family style feast, allowing the kitchen to bring out food as it was ready.  Start out by ordering the Fried Rice with Chicken and Pineapple.  I was (happily) surprised by the curry flavor, more commonly found at Thai restaurants.  This dish is a very satisfying way to fill a hungry stomach.  Despite the large portion, there were very few pineapple chunks in the fried rice.




For  an entree, definitely order the Prawns in Lobster Sauce.  This was delicious!  The large, fresh shrimp were coated in a thick lobster sauce.  Even though I love peas, I thought it was great that Cafe Yu swapped out the peas for a ton of edamame!














Also, for the somewhat less adventurous, try the Chicken and Broccoli.  When feeling the need to incorporate vegetables into my Chinese feast, I usually order Chicken and Broccoli.  To be fair, this is a hard dish to screw up. Cafe Yu used fresh, moist chicken and perfectly cooked broccoli.  Also, it wasn't oily, which is were most Chinese restaurants go wrong.  I would definitely recommend this to someone looking for a slightly healthier dish.

Starving near MSG/Penn Station?  Cafe Yu help you escape the crowds,



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