Cafe Mingala

This is a little out of our neighborhood but we still try to go here often. The place is tiny and the waitstaff listless, but the food is tasty and generous. Try the Rangoon Night Market Noodles.

Everything I ordered, and I did not order any of the meat or fish dishes, was excellent. I highly recommend the Rice Salad. Also, don't forget to eat the Mango Ice Cream desert, it really has the fruit pieces in it. The saffron rice is also great.

We live on the UWS, but regularly make the cross-town trip to eat at Mingala. A few disclosures first: 1) I love SE Asian food (and prefer the more authentic variety), 2) I greatly appreciate high value restaurants that boast a very high quality of food for reasonable pricing; I tire of often getting mediocre food in NYC, but paying high prices for the "atmosphere." The food at Mingala is both unique and fantastic. It's become a favorite of our larger group of friends as the word has spread. Favorites include the mango chicken, m0-goke pork, papaya salad, and the night market noodles w/ duck. I also cannot say enough about the value and service. The dishes are very reasonably priced. The place is run by multiple generations of an extremely pleasant Burmese family. It certainly has no frills and is not "the scene," but the simplicity along with the murals of Burmese scenery make it quite charming. This may be my favorite discovery since moving to NYC 3 yrs ago. If you like SE Asian food, but want to try an underrepresented variety, definitely give Mingala a shot.

We ordered foods from Cafe Mingala for a staff party at work. Ginger salad is my favorite. Most of my friends like chicken chili, chicken curry with potato and yellow bean soup. The lunch specials are only $6.79 with a side (salad or soup). You should try it.

I highly highly recommend this place. It's my favorite restaurant above 14th St. All the mango/red curry dishes (chicken, soybean, or veggies) are excellent, but I particularly love the northern Burma phet-htoke, with seafood dumplings. It's amazing if you like lemon grass flavor and seafood. And so different -- I haven't found anything quite like it. I always get two meals out of one order. I like taking visiting friends here, because most have never eaten Burmese food before. They always rave afterwards. The atmosphere leaves a little something to be desired, however. Other items I've had and loved are the coconut rice (oh my god, so delicious but so bad for you) and the green papaya spicy salad (they mean it when they say spicy, so don't order if you have mild tastes). I also appreciate that they will deliver to me even though my apt is 15 blocks north of them. The only thing I don't recommend is their lunch specials. Definitely not rave worthy. Hope everyone reading this will give Cafe Mingala a try!

Not only is this only is this one of the best deals in town it is the only Burmese restuarant any where near NYC. If you order the right dishes you will be delighted. The salads: Tea, Mango & Tomato are wonderful. The Coconut rice is perfect. The Rangoon Night Market noodles are just great. The Ginger Duck is very good. The staff are wonderful and very friendly. Really a very special place worth a trip!

not very good...