If one wants terrible food delivered quickly, accompanied by several other unappetising dishes you hadn’t ordered but other diners are currently waiting for, Dadong in midtown New York is for you. While I didn’t get ill after eating at Dadong, I did feel sick about how much I’d spent on a substandard meal. I’m a massive Dadong, Beijing fan, and can wolf down a peking duck faster than you can say “Times Square”, so I awaited my Dadong “Su bu ni” roast duck – served with sugar, pancakes, crispy sesame buns and special sauce with some level of excitement. The duck was bland, dry and actively repellent. I like to think the staff made it up as a prank, and were watching to see if I would be an obedient foodie and play ball. Let us never speak again of the prime chili diced short ribs Dadong in New York, well, just don’t serve very good food. This is the true truth as I say it as it is…
Xiaozhe L.
Dadong will come back for sure. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
Cat G.
I visited Da Dong with my aunt and cousins a year or so ago. Prior to that, my mom had sent me a link telling me it was opening in NYC, as it's a famous Beijing-based restaurant. When my mama recommends visiting a Chinese restaurant, who am I to argue? The vibe is very hotel-bar, which might be someone's jam, but is all wrong for the Chinese food I grew up eating. One of my favorite things about Chinese food is that it's not about ambiance, which is refreshing in the Instagram era. Sometimes, I just want the food to taste good - I don't care if it looks good on camera, or if the restaurant's decor is cute. I recall the duck being tasty enough, but the part of the dining experience that really sticks in my memory was the (white) waiter dropping off the duck (with assorted accoutrements - pancakes, tianmianjiang, cucumbers and green onions), and proceeding to ask my aunt, cousins, and myself (all very clearly Asian, if not obviously Chinese) if we knew how to put all the components together and eat it. I remember being very amused by the question, as if a white person could best instruct a group of Chinese diners on the correct way to eat Peking duck. (Not to mention that it's pretty obvious, based on the components, how you would assemble and eat it...) I probably wouldn't recommend coming here - the food is fine, but you can get as good or better for less money.
Ivy Z.
As someone who has consumed her fair share of peking ducks in both Beijing and in the States, I have been extremely curious and eager to give Beijing-exported DaDong a try. The food ranged from decent to tasty, but definitely fell short if you take into account the steep premium in price. My group of 6 ordered dumplings as starters, shared two orders of the Sizzling Sliced Short Rib, and also got an order of the Baked Black Cod. We also ordered 2 Peking Ducks. I won't go too much into the other dishes, because they were all pretty good (I've had better, and I've had worse) but they weren't the main attraction. The most important part is the duck. All I can say is - whose vegan Crossfit-loving duck is this?! The duck was so lean, borderline dry, and kind of flavorless, given how fat is where the flavor is. The skin wasn't really crispy or crunchy, per se, but just hard like the center of a Butterfinger. Each half serving of duck was tiny, and although I appreciated the addition of sesame puffs (which I haven't really seen outside of China), they were stale. Given the quality (and quantity) of food you get, the price they charge is pretty absurd. I am a huge proponent of having more upscale Chinese restaurants in the States (i.e. Western society advancing past the misconception that Chinese food has to be cheap to be "authentic") but it must be done right - DaDong fails to be a trailblazer in this regard.
Marios D.
Went there with a group. Overall Ok A few of the dishes were Ok but the pasta was very salty. The cauliflower dish was done very well Dumplings of many flavors were great Duck was Ok.
Dauerhaft geschlossen. Wurde einem jedoch nicht mitgeteilt! Standen vor geschlossenen Türen. Unverschämt, dass keine Mitteilung an die Leite gemacht wurde, dir bereits eine Reservierung hatten!
Steven74
I arrived and the restaurant was closed and I had booked this for clients. I was too embarrassed and left stranded on a Friday night with no where to go in nyc. As you can imagine all decent restaurant at that time of the evening were booked. Bitterly disappointed that I had no communication either from open table or the restaurant itself. I am now looking at using other apps to book my dining experience that I can rely on
Funglin W.
Hmmm... overrated, pricey, and not super authentic flavors. DaDong is a very high end Chinese restaurant that serves pretty good Peking Duck. I've been here twice, and both times, I probably spend about $100+ per person. The peking duck is pretty delicious although I feel like it could be juicier - in fact, another high end Chinese restaurant recently opened that I think serves better Peking Duck. Other than the Peking Duck, the clean and quiet and upscale atmosphere if that's what you're looking, I'd say their dish tends to be a bit on the sweet side. Another dish I liked was probably their beef with scallions.
Apparently the restaurant was closed down several days in advance of our reservation due to refrigeration issues yet we received a confirmation of our reservation with a request to confirm our intention to show up- which we confirmed only to arrive with a group of 9 (5 kids) to find out it was closed. It took several telephone calls to figure out what happened and of course we still had to find an alternative place that would take 9 the Wednesday evening before thanksgiving...not an easy task. Not sure how open table and restaurants feed information back and forth but as this was a known even at least one week in advance of our reservation, a courtesy call or email would have been appreciated...too bad, we have dined at Da Dong in Beijing and enjoyed it everytime and it's a favorite with the kids...
Terry Sun
To be fair this is a nice place to have Peking duck. I like the dining atmosphere, the service was a bit of rush. Duck was good, others were fair. If you wanted Authentic Peking duck try this place. if you just want try Chinese food, probably not.
Stopped in here again hoping the experience would be better - it was a Tuesday night, so pretty quiet in the restaurant and the bartender was friendly as we prepped for seating after everyone had arrived. The server's English was a little suspect but we managed to get the order in relatively straightforwardly. The duck - this is best if you like crunchy, but not moist. The striving for a thin, not-too-fatty duck makes for a very light crunchy skin, difficult to know, I have tried making this at home, but meat left dry and the second preparation of duck was fried bones with spice, which I would've preferred just left as soup stock and taken home, but they said they couldn't do that due to department of health concerns? (I'm also fine if they were to cook it into soup w/ nappa cabbage and tofu and then give it to me.) The lack of a bao instead using much drier wraps, sugar, or the dry puff pastry compounded the dryness of the duck and didn't really help the cause. Main dishes - the song shu (sweet & sour) crispy whole fish was a delicious dish - the best of the night, huge for the five of us, easily a 2-3lb giant with plenty of flesh and sweet sauce that lingered well over the meal. I would recommend this here. The prime chili diced short rib tasted like the dadong kung pao chicken,and both were heavy on the peppers and little left of the meat. Such a shame, but the beef was dry after cooking it - I get the szechuan vibe, but short rib should be juicy and savory. The chicken, too was dry somehow. I see a theme tonight. It was spicy enough that the Korean and Chinese at the table had a hard time eating much of it - perhaps we were unprepared for how much pepper came. Nice plating... too much pepper. The sauteed snow pea sprouts were pretty much what I expected - sauteed with some garlic and left in a clump on the plate. The pan-seared pork and shrimp steamed buns were a disappointment, something completely missing there as the taste was no where near what deliciousness I've had in Shanghai of the same kind. The crystal vegetable buns were better, but could have used a little more texture to the vegetable center using some diced long string beans or bamboo. The dessert of egg tarts was ok, they said not Portuguese, but they were burned on the top like a Portuguese version... big, but that made the crust too heavy. Would have been better done smaller, flakier, and lighter to finish the meal off (heavy as the duck was, the pastry left us feeling heavier). Overall, I'm more a fan of moist rather than dry duck, so this restaurant doesn't do it for me, though I know the skill that goes into it is considerable and some may prefer the "healthier" version of Peking duck served here as there was definitely less fat to this duck. The service was better this time - we received all 1.5 ducks we ordered quickly (only full ducks are carved at the table). Just... missed something with the food outside of the fish.
Simon She
Food is above my expectations because we read a lot of negative reviews before going. For the food alone with that price, I will give 3.5 -4 stars. However, the service is not professional at all for a high end restaurant. We got charged for a salad that they were sold out. Also, they charge a cake for $5 per person. We only have 3 people, so $15 for the cake fee, but I wonder if it's a group of 10 people to celebrate a birthday, will they charge $50 for cutting the cake?
Sally L.
Their four people set has higher price than if you order the items separately. Be aware
Ting Chi
I like the cherry fagra. Everything is really good and many of them you cannot find elsewhere. The only reason it is not five star is the price is a little high.
Oliver Atkins
Absolutely delicious, the service was great the food was yummy and the atmosphere was very , cozy and comfortable.
If one wants terrible food delivered quickly, accompanied by several other unappetising dishes you hadn’t ordered but other diners are currently waiting for, Dadong in midtown New York is for you. While I didn’t get ill after eating at Dadong, I did feel sick about how much I’d spent on a substandard meal. I’m a massive Dadong, Beijing fan, and can wolf down a peking duck faster than you can say “Times Square”, so I awaited my Dadong “Su bu ni” roast duck – served with sugar, pancakes, crispy sesame buns and special sauce with some level of excitement. The duck was bland, dry and actively repellent. I like to think the staff made it up as a prank, and were watching to see if I would be an obedient foodie and play ball. Let us never speak again of the prime chili diced short ribs Dadong in New York, well, just don’t serve very good food. This is the true truth as I say it as it is…
Dadong will come back for sure. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
I visited Da Dong with my aunt and cousins a year or so ago. Prior to that, my mom had sent me a link telling me it was opening in NYC, as it's a famous Beijing-based restaurant. When my mama recommends visiting a Chinese restaurant, who am I to argue? The vibe is very hotel-bar, which might be someone's jam, but is all wrong for the Chinese food I grew up eating. One of my favorite things about Chinese food is that it's not about ambiance, which is refreshing in the Instagram era. Sometimes, I just want the food to taste good - I don't care if it looks good on camera, or if the restaurant's decor is cute. I recall the duck being tasty enough, but the part of the dining experience that really sticks in my memory was the (white) waiter dropping off the duck (with assorted accoutrements - pancakes, tianmianjiang, cucumbers and green onions), and proceeding to ask my aunt, cousins, and myself (all very clearly Asian, if not obviously Chinese) if we knew how to put all the components together and eat it. I remember being very amused by the question, as if a white person could best instruct a group of Chinese diners on the correct way to eat Peking duck. (Not to mention that it's pretty obvious, based on the components, how you would assemble and eat it...) I probably wouldn't recommend coming here - the food is fine, but you can get as good or better for less money.
As someone who has consumed her fair share of peking ducks in both Beijing and in the States, I have been extremely curious and eager to give Beijing-exported DaDong a try. The food ranged from decent to tasty, but definitely fell short if you take into account the steep premium in price. My group of 6 ordered dumplings as starters, shared two orders of the Sizzling Sliced Short Rib, and also got an order of the Baked Black Cod. We also ordered 2 Peking Ducks. I won't go too much into the other dishes, because they were all pretty good (I've had better, and I've had worse) but they weren't the main attraction. The most important part is the duck. All I can say is - whose vegan Crossfit-loving duck is this?! The duck was so lean, borderline dry, and kind of flavorless, given how fat is where the flavor is. The skin wasn't really crispy or crunchy, per se, but just hard like the center of a Butterfinger. Each half serving of duck was tiny, and although I appreciated the addition of sesame puffs (which I haven't really seen outside of China), they were stale. Given the quality (and quantity) of food you get, the price they charge is pretty absurd. I am a huge proponent of having more upscale Chinese restaurants in the States (i.e. Western society advancing past the misconception that Chinese food has to be cheap to be "authentic") but it must be done right - DaDong fails to be a trailblazer in this regard.
Went there with a group. Overall Ok A few of the dishes were Ok but the pasta was very salty. The cauliflower dish was done very well Dumplings of many flavors were great Duck was Ok.
Dauerhaft geschlossen. Wurde einem jedoch nicht mitgeteilt! Standen vor geschlossenen Türen. Unverschämt, dass keine Mitteilung an die Leite gemacht wurde, dir bereits eine Reservierung hatten!
I arrived and the restaurant was closed and I had booked this for clients. I was too embarrassed and left stranded on a Friday night with no where to go in nyc. As you can imagine all decent restaurant at that time of the evening were booked. Bitterly disappointed that I had no communication either from open table or the restaurant itself. I am now looking at using other apps to book my dining experience that I can rely on
Hmmm... overrated, pricey, and not super authentic flavors. DaDong is a very high end Chinese restaurant that serves pretty good Peking Duck. I've been here twice, and both times, I probably spend about $100+ per person. The peking duck is pretty delicious although I feel like it could be juicier - in fact, another high end Chinese restaurant recently opened that I think serves better Peking Duck. Other than the Peking Duck, the clean and quiet and upscale atmosphere if that's what you're looking, I'd say their dish tends to be a bit on the sweet side. Another dish I liked was probably their beef with scallions.
Apparently the restaurant was closed down several days in advance of our reservation due to refrigeration issues yet we received a confirmation of our reservation with a request to confirm our intention to show up- which we confirmed only to arrive with a group of 9 (5 kids) to find out it was closed. It took several telephone calls to figure out what happened and of course we still had to find an alternative place that would take 9 the Wednesday evening before thanksgiving...not an easy task. Not sure how open table and restaurants feed information back and forth but as this was a known even at least one week in advance of our reservation, a courtesy call or email would have been appreciated...too bad, we have dined at Da Dong in Beijing and enjoyed it everytime and it's a favorite with the kids...
To be fair this is a nice place to have Peking duck. I like the dining atmosphere, the service was a bit of rush. Duck was good, others were fair. If you wanted Authentic Peking duck try this place. if you just want try Chinese food, probably not.
Restaurantji Recommends
Stopped in here again hoping the experience would be better - it was a Tuesday night, so pretty quiet in the restaurant and the bartender was friendly as we prepped for seating after everyone had arrived. The server's English was a little suspect but we managed to get the order in relatively straightforwardly. The duck - this is best if you like crunchy, but not moist. The striving for a thin, not-too-fatty duck makes for a very light crunchy skin, difficult to know, I have tried making this at home, but meat left dry and the second preparation of duck was fried bones with spice, which I would've preferred just left as soup stock and taken home, but they said they couldn't do that due to department of health concerns? (I'm also fine if they were to cook it into soup w/ nappa cabbage and tofu and then give it to me.) The lack of a bao instead using much drier wraps, sugar, or the dry puff pastry compounded the dryness of the duck and didn't really help the cause. Main dishes - the song shu (sweet & sour) crispy whole fish was a delicious dish - the best of the night, huge for the five of us, easily a 2-3lb giant with plenty of flesh and sweet sauce that lingered well over the meal. I would recommend this here. The prime chili diced short rib tasted like the dadong kung pao chicken,and both were heavy on the peppers and little left of the meat. Such a shame, but the beef was dry after cooking it - I get the szechuan vibe, but short rib should be juicy and savory. The chicken, too was dry somehow. I see a theme tonight. It was spicy enough that the Korean and Chinese at the table had a hard time eating much of it - perhaps we were unprepared for how much pepper came. Nice plating... too much pepper. The sauteed snow pea sprouts were pretty much what I expected - sauteed with some garlic and left in a clump on the plate. The pan-seared pork and shrimp steamed buns were a disappointment, something completely missing there as the taste was no where near what deliciousness I've had in Shanghai of the same kind. The crystal vegetable buns were better, but could have used a little more texture to the vegetable center using some diced long string beans or bamboo. The dessert of egg tarts was ok, they said not Portuguese, but they were burned on the top like a Portuguese version... big, but that made the crust too heavy. Would have been better done smaller, flakier, and lighter to finish the meal off (heavy as the duck was, the pastry left us feeling heavier). Overall, I'm more a fan of moist rather than dry duck, so this restaurant doesn't do it for me, though I know the skill that goes into it is considerable and some may prefer the "healthier" version of Peking duck served here as there was definitely less fat to this duck. The service was better this time - we received all 1.5 ducks we ordered quickly (only full ducks are carved at the table). Just... missed something with the food outside of the fish.
Food is above my expectations because we read a lot of negative reviews before going. For the food alone with that price, I will give 3.5 -4 stars. However, the service is not professional at all for a high end restaurant. We got charged for a salad that they were sold out. Also, they charge a cake for $5 per person. We only have 3 people, so $15 for the cake fee, but I wonder if it's a group of 10 people to celebrate a birthday, will they charge $50 for cutting the cake?
Their four people set has higher price than if you order the items separately. Be aware
I like the cherry fagra. Everything is really good and many of them you cannot find elsewhere. The only reason it is not five star is the price is a little high.
Absolutely delicious, the service was great the food was yummy and the atmosphere was very , cozy and comfortable.