East Palace

The bottom line is that this is a fast food Chinese place that only some of their dishes are hits and the others are just okay or just subpar. You have to know what you like and if they don't do it right then don't order it from this place. They make over 200 dishes and you think every single one is supposed to be great ha! Not gonna happen... This is what i know for a fact you can't go wrong with their pork dumplings since these are homemade, spare ribs, beef chow fun, eggplant with garlic sauce, ma po tofu, string beans, dried tofu with pork and sesame noodles. I'm not a fan of their soups. I've lived in the area for over 24yrs and this place is good for a quick meal. Also people say they are rude on the phone..they are trying to answer the phones and get orders in quick but they are just direct. So change up your places to order Chinese so you don't sick of the same thing.

I must disagree with the reviewer below, and further, if he thinks a lunch in midtown for less than $10 is too expensive, he has to adjust his budget for 2012 - or quite frankly anything past 2000. The food here is delicious, well priced, and not undercooked. Fried rice and wonton soup are American Chinese staples, but not really a mark of a good spot. And I think theirs is fine, btw.

I've gone to East Palace numerous times thinking that maybe there will be a new batch of cooks and the food will be better, but each time I try to make a mental note to rememember to never return. The fried rice never has any taste and is definitely not fried. The wonton soup has far too much pepper and the flavor is not like any other wonton soup I've ever had in other Chinese restaurants. It tastes more like overly peppered chicken broth than wonton soup ought to. The chicken never ever seems to have been cooked thoroughly. It is always very soft and mushy and gives me the uncomfortable feeling that I will be utterly poisoned and spend the rest of the day in the bathroom after eating it. I even spoke with a man in the waiting area who told me he asks them to over cook his chicken so that it is at least half way edible. To make things worse, the price is ridiculously high. In my home neighborhood, a combination lunch would be about $5 while at East, which is around the corner from my office, I pay over $7. There is something very wrong with this picture. My suggestion is to eat somewhere else if you don't mind walking about 10 blocks. Or else, avoid the wonton soup, the fried rice and anything with chicken.

I like the idea of this restaurant and the variety of the menu -- unfortunately, they are not up to par and although the food is cheap, it could be better. Bottom line: the service was poor and I don't recommend this experience.

The people and customer service is very poor. The delivery men they have working the are rude and disrespectful. The food isn't that great i would never eat or order anything there again!

I ordered the chicken with broccoli lunch special for $6.06, $6.56 after tax. The food tasted good and I liked how they packed the chicken with broccoli separately from the rice (the rice came in its own pint box while the meal came in a plastic container). Be aware that the lunch special includes your entree and a soup or egg roll or soda (not "and" soda). In store staff was rushed and borderline rude. The place was clean enough to make me comfortable eating there again.

OK - I admit - Chinese/Mexican takeout counters make me suspicious. I mean, which is it? And what do the 3 have in common? Why why why?? I will say, this place, however, is Chinese. I say that only because I ordered the Chinese, and not the Mexican. And the Chinese is very good. I started with the Wonton in Spicy Oil (which as many of you know is wonton in a spicy peanut sauce.) This was very tasty. It did not have quite enough peanut flavor for my tastes, but after too many samples of this dish where the wonton fell totally apart or the sauce was like Peanut Butter (thick and not spicy) I have to rank this version as one of the better ones I have sampled. For an entree I had Prawns W. Young Ginger Root (prawns served w. sweet young ginger root w. hot pepper sauce & vegetables). This was delicious! Chock full of jumbo shrimp, and vegetables cooked nicely but not overcooked. The sauce was slightly spicy and had a nice ginger finish. I totally recommend this place!