New City Kitchen Express

Excellent cheap eats. Food is tasty and fresh. I see they have renewed their lease and am happy to know they will remain on Vernon Blvd.

Best Chinese in LIC. Been here forever. 5 stars of what you expect for Chinese take-​out. Fast, cheap, good, lots of flavor for everything. I hope they don’t close or end up moving!

I’m so glad they are sticking around. This is one of the last cheap eats on Vernon Blvd. left, and we should hold on to it for dear life.
I like the chicken kung po. The Sichuan beef is good too. Sure, it’s not fancy, but I’m glad to have a solid cheap NYC style Chinese take out on Vernon Blvd. And without bullet-​proof glass like I’ve seen in so many other places in NYC. hahah. Where else can you get a plentiful, heathy lunch for less than 10 bucks on Vernon?
I love the fact that they sell the books in there. I’ve bought a couple meself, and I always get a kick out of seeing the extremely varied selection. It’s kooky!
The staff there has always been nice to me.
Their won ton soup has comforted many a bout of the cold in my household.
I’ll be going back. A lot!

*OPEN* = Dispelling The Rumors
You can still get Chinese food on Vernon Blvd. New City has a note in their window that they are «staying in LIC» and have «renegotiated their lease» so DON’T PANIC. Was very busy at lunch today (mass craving?) and they sold out of Sesame/​Gen Tso chix because of a large to-​go order. I ordered soup — it’s hot and tastes fine. No complaints… Nice staff here as well.

The shrimp with curry sauce would have benefited from more ingredients that weren’t onions. I recommend the spare ribs, a meaty and messy delight.

I’m saddened that New City is getting priced out of their location. LIC is getting a little ahead of itself with gentrification. There’s always room for a typical American Chinese take out restaurant and if this place relocates there wouldn’t be a neighborhood cheap eats spot anymore.
While it was never gourmet, it knows its role and it’s one that is more than necessary.
To quote a super hero movie: New City isn’t the hero we deserve, but the hero we need!

This is by far the worst Chinese food i ever had
Save your money their food is real bad

The food here is totally bland. The customer service is horrible. They ask you to pay for the food before you even receive it.

I feel compelled to write a review for New City Kitchen after seeing all the negative ones. New City is the perfect neighborhood Chinese take-​out place. When my husband and I are in one of our «let’s just eat whatever we want whenever we want» phases we ordered from New City about once a week. My order is the large sesame bean curd. It’s always hot and delicious and it feeds me for two meals. The broccoli that comes with it also tastes pretty fresh. My husband either gets the boneless ribs combo or the general tso’s chicken combo.
Don’t let the haters deter you — New City isn’t gourmet but it is solid. I second Mimi C. in that it feels like a Chinese restaurant in the middle of a sitcom. Plus, I once saw the owner (maybe?) and her son fighting pretty intensely behind the counter. Love these people.

To all the haters out there… I’m sorry you had a bad experience. I can only review the General Tso’ chicken, but it’s great. I like it better than SHI. SHI is all doughy, no meat. For lunch you can have a meal for $ 6. Sure, the place looks dumpy, but the food is good for the price. I get some food here once a week.
Also a plus, they speak English well here, so if you make an order they understand you!

Barely edible, no redeeming factors — the worst Chinese food I’ve ever had.
We ordered takeout by phone, and walked on over to get some dinner. Walking in, it looks very little like a Chinese restaurant– they have boxes of used books for sale even! There are tables, but I wouldn’t want to eat here to be honest — felt a bit like a set for a lowbudget movie that was 75% set up, just didn’t feel like a real Chinese restaurant.
We got the food, walked home, and opened the packages.…
First, the egg drop soup — the worst egg drop I’ve ever tasted — not a lot of egg, strange texture, just not good at all.
Second, my chicken lo mein — opened the package, to be hit with a funk. Just a nasty, odd smell, almost with a touch of eau de sewage. I tried it anyway — just no flavor, bad texture, just not good at all. Added soy sauce, no improvement — 5 bites in and I tossed it.
Third, her chicken with broccoli — she described it as «slimy, the way it would taste if it was 3 days old.» It looked underwhelming and smelled a bit off too.
Net net, it is possibly the worst Chinese food I’ve ever had. I wanted to like places in my neighborhood, but I’d rather eat Top Ramen packets for a week before coming back here — dine at your own peril.

Every neighborhood needs a go-​to Chinese take out. LIC has the rather appropriately named (for the time being) New City. LIC-​ers, consider yourself lucky!
Here’s five reasons why:
1/​Super friendly service. Polite, fast, and quippy. Yes, I said quippy. The guy behind the counter has a witty sense of humor.
2/​Good food. I’ll update after we try more dishes, but the singapore meifun was chock full of shrimp and pork shreds and super tender chicken. The chicken and broccoli was excellent. Neither dishes were dripping with oil or other health nasties. The food actually tasted fresh.
3/​Clean space. Nicer than most Manhattan take outs and well ventilated. You won’t walk out with smelly clothes. They take a disciplined approach with seating; they could cram in twice the amount of tables but have opted to retain space instead. Better feng shui!
4/​In store «bookstore». There are a bunch of miscellaneous books for sale. I enjoyed browsing a 70s design Taschen book while waiting for my order. Tons of current fiction, a random Greg Jeffries photograph that I would have walked out with but alas, it wasn’t autographed.
5/​They have a bathroom!
Cash only, and they have an ATM inside so it isn’t a horribly inconvenient ask for you cashless card carriers.
There’s a also a secret Chinese veggies menu if you know what to ask for ;)
There was a steady stream of diners coming and going, so it looks like the nabe is wise to the goods. I look forward to returning!

This place would get 4.5 if i could give it to them.
Food is great for takeout Chinese.
I recommend when you have that craving.

If ur looking for a quick, cheap meal you could do worse than New City… That being said, the only thing that really shines is their delivery speed. The counter staff is pretty friendly also.

C’mon people with your 1 star reviews of this little delivery/​take-​out Chinese Food joint. Really, give me (and New City) a break. I used to do a lot of yoga around the corner and would regularly stop in for steamed chicken, broccoli, brown rice, and a little brown sauce on the side, and for about $ 6.00 I could do no better. I stopped yoga and forgot about New City until recently when I walked by and said, «Oh yeah. .. «I just ordered Shredded Beef Szechuan, Chicken with Dried String Beans, Mixed Vegetables with Tofu («Fried or steamed?» they asked), and brown rice. Everything arrived lightening fast and having just sampled each, I’ll tell you the food is more than passable for what it is. I’m enjoying it this very minute.
Yes, I’ve had better (in Sunnyside, in fact), and that’s why I rate New City 3 stars, but these 1 star ratings are pure drama, not to mention unfair and inaccurate. Danny, you hit it right on the head: great review. The only reason I didn’t add a star for the cheerful service is because New City specializes in delivery, and service isn’t as critical as it would be if, say, you had a lazy hipster waiter ruining your dining experience. Being a former hipster, I can say that.

:O — This is me horrified at the terrible reviews for New City.
When I walk in, I feel like I’ve stepped into a sitcom about a Chinese take-​out restaurant in the middle of a town, on its way but not quite there, that’s too high-​hat for Chinese take out. It looks a little odd that there are books everywhere. It makes me wonder if the people taking your order are secretly writers only working there as a way to gather material, chronicling the time you came in drunk and tried to order croque madame with your egg roll. You probably can’t tell but I LOVE THIS PLACE for its idiosyncrasies.
Now, I have had bad, disgusting, worthy of one-​star reviews type Chinese take-​out places. It tastes like someone heated up a bag of fake chicken and stirred in rubbing alcohol. It won’t kill you but you don’t feel well afterwards. This place does not deserve one-​star reviews.
Depending on the dish you order, the food ranges from average to great. I like that I don’t have to spend a ton to get full and that I don’t have to go to the greasy pizza fried chicken place down the street that advertises «chicken thais» instead of «chicken thighs».
3 stars for food and 5 stars for service averages out to my 4 star rating. Enjoy!

Food is ok, a little bland but what really annoyed me is that I got take out and the rice that came with it was the small half pint. Is rice that expensive that you have to be cheap with it? Charge an extra .25 cents and give me a decent amount of rice so I don’t run out.

Blah. Gross. Eek!
Moving from Sunnyside to Long Island City my digs are nicer… but the take-​out food is definitely a step down.
You think your local Chinese food take-​out is sub-​par. This place takes the cake! I order a General Tso’s Chicken House Special. (This is the dish I judge the quality of a fast food restaurant with). The sauce was runny, the chicken pieces were over fried and dry. The white rice tasted gummy. Eugh. Just bad. I also order the spring rolls –that were veggie filled but quite small –actually they weren’t that greasy.
The order came only in a white plastic bag with NO utensils or napkins and the lids were not securely in place.
The place also keeps spotty hours. I’m now wondering if my Sunnyside Chinese locale is willing to delivery to my far away place now :(