Chai 柴院 | Authentic Chinese Restaurant

The food at Chai is wonderful, and that’s the only aspect I enjoy. But, the service left much to be desired. We were twice asked to wrap up our leftovers, even though one of our guests was still eating and drinking. In our culture, interrupting someone while they are drinking (especially alcohol) is considered very rude. After we paid the bill, the server “politely” asked us to leave, even though we had only been there for an hour. We understood that many people were waiting, and we were preparing to leave, but being asked three times spoiled the mood. Interestingly, the manager told us we could stay as long as we wanted to enjoy the food, yet others asked us to leave. This experience was disappointing, especially since I had brought my parents. I won’t be recommending Chai to others anymore.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 2

Food was excellent & service was impeccable!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I need to rant (吐槽） about this place! I was influenced to go to this Beijing restaurant, ignoring multiple red flags (times square location for one). It’s somewhat pricey so I reserved it for a special occasion.The atmosphere and interior design is great, but the food is disappointing. The menu missing some key classic Beijing dishes and of the food we ordered, I wasn’t impressed by any of them. We got the seafood soup, baked lamb and duck rolls. The lamb was flavorless, fatty and too gamey for even a lamb lover like me. I assumed the duck roll was going to be made with Peking duck but it ended up being these fried rolls and I couldn’t taste any duck from it.Lastly, I laughed when they brought up “Chinese noodles” as the appetizer. It is not a thing in China (pretty sure they only have it at Chinese takeout places in the U.S.) and just feels cheap and doesn’t go with the upscale vibe of the restaurant.Again, the restaurant presents itself as an upscale authentic Beijing restaurant, but ended up being pretty mediocre for $50+ per person.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 2

Service: 4

Idk, this wasn’t great, felt super rushed the whole time. Food is meh, why wouldn’t a $25 beef dish include rice on the side? No adjustments or additions, dinner came out in 5 minutes, apps took 20? Why? Cocktails were okay and our server was nice, but won’t be coming back.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 2

Best ever authentic Beijing food on the east coast!!!!!! Approved by a local beijinger.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Zhajiangmian, Chai's Treasure Platter, Pear Soup

Bad customer service

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Great food and customer service is top notch! I had the general taos chicken with white rice and it was really good and fresh.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I visited Chai and experienced significant miscommunication. I ordered 水煮鱼 (fish fillet in chili oil), specifically asking if the fish was live or frozen, as live fish is traditional for this dish（if I was told it’s not prepared with live fish- I’d been fine and just simply not order it). The lady assured me it was fresh, yet it turned out to be frozen. When I pointed this out, another employee merely confirmed it was “冰鲜” (ice-fresh, essentially still frozen) without addressing the misunderstanding.When paying, I expressed my disappointment, but the lady didn’t respond or acknowledge the issue- she simply went mute and did not respond a word…. Despite the decor being quite inviting, and a helpful interaction with another server over the 爆肚 (a different dish where the server was attentive in assisting with the sauce), the overall service left much to be desired due to poor communication and response to feedback.I’m giving 2 stars for the moments of good service and the decor- I gave 18% tips because of the good part, but I was let down by the overall experience.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 2

Service: 2

We had dinner yesterday and ordered about 10 dishes. Food was ok, nothing special. I have to think twice to remember what we ordered, so nothing impressing, but not bad taste. The worst part was that the waiter was asking us whether we want to box the food even though we still had two dishes that we were working on, and we had been there for only a little over an hour. A few minutes later, another waiter gave us the bill. I was very unhappy about their practice. I saw a couple of people waiting in the entrance, but we had friends coming from California.

Parking: Very busy street. Find parking yourself.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 2

Another NYC Chinese restaurant experience from 2023-2024 and I came to the conclusion for the post-Covid era: decent food quality, unique cuisine family (somehow we chose Beijing cuisine), comparable ratings (cannot decide which one is better), and at much higher price.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 5

I am on a mission of finding hidden Gems in NY and this restaurant had good reviews. Wanted to find out for myself and we made a reservation for dinner. Upon arrival pleasantly surprised by the quaint ambiance and it was packed. There are about ten tables to seat a variety of x number of people. The upstairs was fully booked for a larger group of 10. We had to wait about 15 min before we got seated. The hostess was very caring and lovely. While we waited(standing) we went through the menu. The dished are typical for the Beiing region. I am more fond of Cantonese. We ordered several dishes, shrimp fried rice, pea shoots, salt and pepper prawn etc. We had high hopes, but this is my honest experience and will not be returning. The shrimp fried rice had only 4 small shrimps. We asked the waitress and she said yes the shrimp are cut and showed us pieces of carrots, claiming those were shrimp. Plus the rice was very blant. The pea shoots were also very blant and some of the stems were really tough to chew. The shrimp looked amazing and presented lovely. Upon first bite it appeared to be fried with skin and all. They tasted great except for the skin( not used to eating shrimp this way). We also had a braised pork belly, which was about the only good dish. So sorry, but we are foodies and unfortunately left most of the food untouched. If one prefers quiet this is not the place to be. Just our luck we had someone sitting next to us who tried talking and laughing louder than all the chatter in the restaurant.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Braised Pork, Roll

The place is really cute. I loved the decor. That was the only thing I loved - the interior decor. The food was meh. The Crispy Duck was not crispy at all. The Mushu Lamb was so sour you don’t even taste the lamb. Not impressed and would not come back again.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 2

Service: 2

This is my fifth time here I ordered same thing every time, and every time their spoon always cracked first time I got cut and I told server pls make sure there’s no crack spoons but it

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 3

Service: 1

Amazing Chinese restaurant outside the hustle and bustle of Times Square. 100% recommended. Safe bet without having to go to

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

One of the best Chinese I had in the city. Also super

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Duck Roll, Seafood Bisque