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This place is a joke - head to china town for fresher food at less than half the price. We ordered three sets of "signature" dumplings all of which were hard as a rock and tasteless even after drowning them in sauce. The menu offerings are pretty limited and uninspired. Oh yeah - and on a holiday weekend it took the hosts 10 min of whispering and pointing to find me a seat in an empty dining room after a sneer for not having a reservation.

The cuisine was very flavorful, and superb. The atmosphere was chic and comfortable. Amazing service from Phil, who was courteous and recommended the pecking duck - which was very delicious! It was a great experience.

Best of the chinese food in manhattan!! Love it!!! The peking duck is amazing! I go all the time, once a week if I can! Everything is good on the menu! but my favorite: dim sum! And don't forget to finish your diner with the custard Bao! Delicious!

We order delivery frequently and have limited our choices to the things that are consistently good. Sadly, when we ordered the ginger chicken salad (described on the menu as having almonds and crispy noodles) we received a container of lettuce with a sliced chicken breast on top. All kinds of excuses were given, the most ridiculous being that they "didn't have the ingredients" anymore because the menu had changed. A new menu was included with our delivery, describing the salad EXACTLY the same as before. I won't bore you with the details of how unwilling this restaurant was to take any responsibility, apologize, etc. It seems everyone else is having the same service issues. As I say above, they just don't seem to care, which is inexcusable. I'll craft my letter to the people whose names are attached to the restaurant, and they will not be getting my money again. Beware.

Chinatown Brasserie makes fairly authentic (albeit overpriced) dim sum. But it takes authenticity a step further: the service is utterly dismal. If you're looking for a dining experience comparable to visiting a pushcart dumpling vendor under a Shanghai bridge, you won't be disappointed. On a recent Friday visit - my third and surely my last - our 9 PM reservation didn't land us a seat until 10:15 PM. In the interim we were shoehorned into the crowded bar area and offered the dubious privilege of buying $14 cocktails. None of the three hostesses made any effort to update us on our status or even apologize for the wait. Each time we asked for more information we were told indifferently that our table would open up "any minute". Other parties waiting around us were treated with outright rudeness and simply left to spend their money elsewhere (we should have followed). It was unquestionably the worst hosting I've experienced in years of frequent NY restaurant dining. The experience at table was hardly any better. Appetizers arrived almost immediately, entrees nearly an hour later. My vegetarian friend was brought a beef dish she didn't order and questioned insistently when she politely mentioned the error. Water glasses were empty for long stretches. It was unpleasant. Running a restaurant is a tough business, and even the best establishments make mistakes. But they respond by acknowledging the error, apologizing for it, and correcting it. Chinatown Brasserie did none of the above, and for that I won't be back.

I've always been curious about this restaurant because of the name, concept and location so I made a reservation for it during restaurant week. We arrived a little before 8:00 which was the time of my reservation and was told that due to the volume of customers we will have to wait at the lounge. I can see that the place was packed and so was the lounge. As the time goes, people at the lounge were called to the tables until a point where everyone was cleared out including parties that arrived after us, large and small. Having finally being fed up with waiting I asked the hostess what was going on at 8:30. What they told me was that the patrons at our suppose table have yet to be cleared out so we are unable to be seated. I don't see how this should happen as the point of a reservation is to have a table there, ready or ready in a reasonable time. Also, I have a party of 4 and that is such a common number that there should be many tables available if other patrons clear out. This experience speaks volume of this establishment's attitude towards customer service. Food quality, value, atmosphere all is meaningless if you are unable to deliver your customers to the table. I don't care if it is Thomas Keller in the kitchen (well... maybe except him), 30 minutes wait with reservations are a slap in the customer's face. There are too many restaurants in the city and much better choice providing a similar decor, theme, and culinary style as this restaurant and maybe even better. I can name two in TAO and spice market both providing the same atmosphere and quality food. The only thing this restaurant has going for it is the location and the attractive yuppies they have flocking to this place. I do not regard place as a restaurant but merely a lounge with tables in the back. NOT RECOMMENTED. (note that if you scroll around the reviews you can see that I am not the only one experiencing this)

Hardly authentic and barely edible. Very greasy dishes and aloof service made a disappointing experience.