Flaming Kitchen

Had pretty high expectations of the place because of a recommendation from a family friend. As you can probably tell from the rating, the expectations were not met. I am a HUGE fan of spicy foods and everything «spicy» at this restaurant was mediocre at best. A variety of dishes were presented and everything was extremely salty and had lots of MSG. Their spice was mild at best and they covered it up with the saltiness.
I’m from Chicago and the best fu chi fei pian can be found at Lao Sze Chaun. The one at this restaurant is laughable. Only fatty meats were given and it was soooooo salty.
The jellyfish appetizer and soup dumplings were decent and would have made me give this restaurant a 2 star review. However, the boss/​manager woman there disrespected me, so no. (:

Love this place. Nice design, quite and modern. I come at least once a week to try out something different. The foods are great! It’s quite place where I can relax and eat after a day of work unlike other restaurants. I love the quite and calm atno sphere. The foods are not oily as I think of. Not all the foods here are spicy. Even for the spicy ones, you can just tell them to have it mild, less spicy, they will always do it right for you. K-​one karaōke is just right above the restaurant. Enjoy karaōke after dinner with a big group of friends!!!

Very limited menu for dim sum. We came in because the menu that was posted outside had a lot of options but then when we sat down, we were told that about 50% they don’t have anymore. Super slow service. Another reviewer said «lazy» but I don’t think lazy so much as checked out. The dim sum that we did get (juicy dumplings, mini buns) were very good. But there are a hundred places so I suppose we would try others before coming back. The atmosphere is nice, clean.

Came here today based on a TripAdvisor recommendation. I haven’t eaten in Chinatown in about 30 years, so this was a BIG DEAL. I wanted to avoid the typical Chinatown places and thank god I came here because this place wasn’t the «typical». This is a «real» Sichuan restaurant, so I was looking forward to classic dishes from that province, and I wasn’t disappointed. We split the tripe and tongue appetizer which was as good if not better than Chengdu One in Jersey. My wife had the Tea Smoked Duck which was the best TSD we’ve ever had. I had the Sauteed Lamb with Cumin which even I had never had, it was excellent full flavored and very filling. Both dishes were ample for two people. The price was 48 dollars, which was a great value. If you’re looking for cheap nondescript Chinese food then avoid this place. If you want a delicious meal, in a beautiful environment, with very clean bathrooms, please do yourself a favor and check this place out.

Ordered the following:
eggplant in garlic sauce — ⁴⁄₅
Salt and pepper «jumbo» shrimp — ²⁄₅ because it was not jumbo, shrimp was small and overcooked, not much flavor
Crispy Tea smoked duck — ³⁄₅ — duck barely had any flavor and was dry
Would not recommend this place

Spotted this restaurant as my family and I were making our way down to Canal Street. My mother-​in-​law thought the name sounded cool so we decided to give it a try. As soon as we walked in, we noticed the more modern décor compared to other restaurants in the neighborhood. We ordered whole fish in a chili sauce, jellyfish, beef chow fun, pork dumplings, shrimp hai gaw, Fish was almost $ 30bux and was super small with no meat on it. The dish appeared to be big b/​c it was covered in sauce, vegs and red peppers. A real disappointment and a waste of money The other dishes were OK but again portions way too small for the price they charge. Its a block away from a hotel so its probably catering to tourists. However, as locals, this is not the restaurant for you.

We came at a friend’s recommendation and found it disappointing. In all, it was good but it certainly didn’t blow my mind. It’s in Chinatown so, I admit I’ve set the standards pretty high. So given the locale, I was excited to find a «shu» or Chengdu themed restaurant, but I asked them if they had tianshuimian, and they didn’t, which was disappointing because that’s a staple dish of the cuisine. We had fuqifeipian, jiucai guotie, dan dan mian, and soup dumplings, all were authentic, but average.

Beef noodle was awesome, but the service sucks. I waited for a waiter to lead me for 10 minutes just because someone was ordering takeout.

This place would have gotten 2 stars if their service was better. I do not know if we came on a day where they felt lazy or if they are always lazy. The hostess and our waitress were both by the register on their phones, on Facebook, while we waited for someone to take our order.
We waited over 10 minutes to have our order taken. We only ordered 3 things from the dimsum menu, and they got one of them wrong… food is decent, for the price I expected more. You can get cheaper food somewhere else in Chinatown for the same taste, just better value.
For reference, the spare ribs are good, yet tiny. The pan fried dumplings are okay, and the steamed shrimp dumplings are frozen shrimp.
Lastly, we waited forever to pay for our food… they gave us the check only because we asked for it and they did not come pick it back up. Will not be returning.

I love the Bean Curd Homestyle.
Of course I ask for «No MSG, please» and brown rice
The décor is modern. Three large TV screens are always on, but their sound is muted. The music playing on speakers overhead is kept at a reasonable volume– no shouting required to communicate with your dining mate

All good here, Just not the best one for spicy dishes I’ve ever had.

This was a solid dim-​sum place, for sure. But I’ve had better dim-​sum in Chinatown. The prices, however, were great. We had the noodle soup with chicken, which was light and delicious, and the juicy pork dumplings. Definitely a solid place to go.

Ok, reviewers here seem to not realize that this restaurant specializes in Sichuan food and even more so, many don’t seem to know what to expect when it comes to Sichuan cuisine. It means especially oily cuisine with mind-​numbing spices (via the Sichuan peppercorn). If you don’t know or don’t appreciate Sichuan food, I would definitely not recommend this place.
Note, this review is for a seamless order. Compared with other Sichuan locations on Seamless (and in our neighborhood), this place is one of our favorites. Offers a great variety and quality for the price. If you’re just looking for cheap «traditional» Chinese (i.e. pan fried noodles, salt and pepper squid, etc), go somewhere else. And for the love of god. go to a Shanghai restaurant for proper soup dumplings!
Recommended dishes:
Ox Tongue and Tripe with Chili Sauce
Fresh Fish Fillet with Spicy Chili Sauce
Doubled Cooked Pork
Cold Sesame Noodles

Best Szechuan food in town! Great service and wonderful atmosphere. I definitely recommend this restaurant if you are in town!

We had the chicken lo-​mein and chicken with garlic sauce. Both dishes were delicious. The chicken with garlic was very spicy, though which was fine for me but who knows for others. The restaurant was clean. The only issue was the waitress, she was inattentive and didn’t ask us for drink orders. We had to ask for beverages. Overall, the prices and food were great. The service was not the best.

Bei der Flaming Kitchen in der Lower East Side NYC ist der Name Programm. Es ist ein Restaurant, welches sich auf Szechuan Küche spezialisiert hat. Schärfe muss man also abkönnen! Die Standard Vorspeisen kommen in mächtigen Portionen für kleines Geld. Eingelegter Kohl in Chili Sauce, ebenso die Gurken und auch Zunge/​Kutteln in Chili Sauce zeigten mir, dass hier nichts angepasst/​weichgespült zubereitet wird, sondern von Chinesen für Chinesen gekocht wird.
Ein Hauptgericht ‘Lammfleisch mit Szechuan-​Pfeffer und Kreuzkümmel’ überzeugte mit einer tollen Fleischqualität und einer wirklichen MENGE an getrockneten Chilies. Die Rippchen mit Salz und Pfeffer fielen dagegen eher zurück. Service war top, Tsingtao-​Beer gab es. Jederzeit gerne wieder, meinerseits eine Empfehlung.

Best Sichuan Hot Pot in New York and I have been to a few. I lived in Hunan for two years in the 1990s so I have had my fair share of spicy food. Not sure about other comment as I would like to know what they think good Sichuan food is.

Save your money — had better and for a lot less $$ in chinatown. This place does get kudos for a nice atmosphere, anddd… that’s about where it stops…
The fried diced chickens with chilis that they advertise in the window… never again — it was like flaming kitchen should have been named flaming mouth & (@$$ for later) — that was disappointing :(i really wish i knew that type of spice/​pepper they used is the mouth numbing type — i really never liked peppers that numb — spicy is ok, numbing is not ok. and at about $ 17 for this dish — it was totally not worth it!
after that — it was hard to enjoy the rest of the dishes, although, i wasn’t impressed with anything else we ordered. the spare ribs seemed to need another 10 min in the steamer — we couldn’t even chew through it — bummer… it seemed so promising…

Mediocre Chinese food, it’s not bad, it’s decent enough, but not some place I would be interested in trying again.
The inside of the restaurant is nice, clean, and has a modern renovated feel.

Our trip to Flaming Kitchen was fabulous. My husband and I love Szechuan hot & spicy food that has great flavor. This restaurant serves it. The spice levels of the foods with a hot pepper next to them are spicy! Fair Warning!!! These dishes have earned the red pepper designation. That is what we searched for and found at Flaming Kitchen. When a restaurant cooks a food with real Szechuan peppers there is a fizz to the taste as well as a hot burning of the tongue. You could taste the fizz and heat in the cold dish Ox Tongue with Chili Sauce. We savored each bite. Along with this dish we ate the dim sum Ox Tripe with Scallion & Ginger. The two dishes offset each other perfectly with complimentary flavors. For our third dish we tried the Spicy & Sour Black Fungus. Black fungus is a tree mushroom that works well in many flavor combinations. We’d not tried the spicy and sour and to our delight we now have another dish to try and mimic at home. It was yummy. For our fourth and final selection we had the Pan Fried Pork & Chives Dumplings. These dumplings had taste and the filling enhanced the wrapping. The dipping sauce was good. As dim sum goes these are winners. I would recommend all four dishes. Our server was fantastic and kept the hot green tea and ice water coming. I would eat at this restaurant again if I were in China Town NYC. It was a delightful two-​hour lunch before we made our way to La Guardia airport for our flight home. And probably the best part… the food was so amazing and freshly prepared it settled well on our stomachs. But fair warning… if you don’t like hot and spicy… order the entrées without the red pepper next to them. Those Szechuan Peppers are serious business and it takes a while to build up a tolerance.

This review is for a seamless order.
The prices are slightly higher than your typical Chinatown take out places, but you do get the food portion and quality to compensate for it. I ordered a pan fried noodle and the noodles and toppings were packed separately. There was a lot of the gravy and toppings provided. The delivery came at the early side of the estimated time and the delivery man was friendly and courteous. Most importantly, the food tasted good.
In summary, I’d definitely order from them again. Good food, timely and friendly delivery, reasonable prices — everything I like!

I came here because the BF saw a good review of this restaurant on a food blog and wanted to try. I didn’t realize until I was here that this sits right under K-​One Karaōke and used to be a different restaurant (don’t know if they switched owners, or just rebranded). While the restaurant looked decked out, I’m not a fan of the décor. A lot of TVs, a lot of decorations, sleek furniture, but I felt like I was paying a premium on my food because of the furnishings but it wasn’t a fancier atmosphere.
For a table of 3, we ordered the crispy skin duck, chili fish hotpot, and seafood stew over crispy rice. The fish hotpot was definitely my favorite, lots of flavor, good spicy kick, and really fresh fish. I thought the duck was a little too salty, but the BF really liked this dish. The seafood stew was the biggest disappointment. I felt like I could’ve made a better dish with better ingredients for a cheaper price. The crispy rice definitely came right out of a snackpack you can buy at the chinese supermarket, the seafood was frozen and precooked, the flavoring was also very lacking.
Overall an okay experience only because the fish was so great and duck was okay, but is overpriced for what it is and don’t think I would be coming back.

There is a reason why I usually stick to the restaurants I know and this was one I stayed away from for a long time until my friends wanted me to try it today. (it was also her first time).
Very modern and spacious atmosphere with flat panels and a 2^nd floor. But the traditional music definitely doesn’t match the décor.
Sliced beef ruined the entire dinner and it was the first thing they brought out. It was so salty that I needed 3 bowls of rice just to neutralize the taste. I mean its saltier than the combined taste of fermented tofu paste and salty shrimp sauce-​those by itself being heart attack inducers. I was convinced the chef either wants something bad to happen to the patrons as he kept staring over at me with a get the hell out of here look and/​or it is that he is not skilled at all.
Then came a bizarre cold sweet noodle dish in hot oil, though it sort of alleviated the extreme saltiness. Followed by a mixed mushroom dish in a flaming wok that was tasteless (thank god) and to top it off, 3 Cups Chicken though overcooked but very tasty.
Service was surprisingly satisfactory since there were only two parties to cater to which by the way is what the 2 stars are for. The reason they’re still in business is because K1 Kareoke upstairs covers their losses. I won’t be going back as it’s an embarrassment to all Cantonese people for opening such a place where they should have stuck to Cantonese cuisine to begin with and its an embarrassment to Sichuan people and its food.

Terrible…
I wanna let people know that this place was a waste of money and health.
My girlfriend and I got some «food»: jellyfish — which I later threw up, eggplant in garlic sauce — which was the most oily eggplant I’ve ever had, and my grilfriend got some beef noddle soup thing — which she said was alright.
People. Beware.
That’s all i got to say plus: IM NEVER COMING BACK!

Flaming Kitchen is unlike most Chinese restaurants I’ve been to. From the outside, I was sure that we were going into the wrong building. It looks more like a hotel than a restaurant from the street. As others have said, the décor is a bit swanky and the restaurant is very clean. Everything looks very sleek and there are even TV’s embedded in the walls around the perimeter.
The food is generally quite good, but more expensive than your average Chinese spot. They must be putting the extra money they charge for the food into making the appearance of the place, what it is. The Scallion Pancakes were probably the best I’ve ever had and the Eggplant with Garlic Sauce was better than most eggplants dishes at Chinese eateries. The service was quick and mostly impersonal, which is the norm. It’s a good spot that I will definitely be going back to.

The first thing you notice when you enter Flaming Kitchen is how the interior looks rather swanky, definitely different from the average Chinatown joint. There are also several flat screen TVs, which at the time were broadcasting college football games. Luckily they are kept on mute.
As expected from such a pretty-​looking place, the food is also more expensive than at the average Chinatown joint. The food, albeit not amazing, is perfectly fine. Of the 3 dishes we ordered (pancakes, salt & pepper squid, string beans & eggplant) the string beans and eggplant dish was the one I enjoyed the best: slightly spicy, and with a nice balance between the crunchy string beans and the soft eggplant.
Service was good, even though for some odd reason we got the pancake as the last item, long after we finished the other two dishes.
Overall if you want to meet friends or family in Chinatown in a nice-​looking environment, with plenty of seats, a quiet atmosphere, and no pressure to rush through your food, this is the place for you.

Ok, so came here with a few friends to check the place out. I agree that it’s very clean looking, relative to most Chinatown eateries and would therefore be a good choice for those not used to «grimy» looking places.
I would give it a 3.5, if possible.
Most of the food was decent.. nothing was outstanding, well except the chrysanthemum tea, which was wonderfully fragrant. On the other hand nothing was terrible. The soup dumplings were decent, as were the spicy dumplings and the Dan Dan noodles. The ox tongue was good, the chili fish was okay. The crispy tea smoked duck could have been more moist, but it had good flavor nonetheless.
It was pricey for Chinatown, but not considering the ambiance.

Distracted by the wonderful photos of food I was…
If you have a really good tongue for tongue-​numbing spices– then this is the place for you. I unfortunately could not stand any of what I ordered, thus making it almost difficult for me to eat.
There are some dishes that are good though– the soup dumplings are awesome. They have 6 for a good price and taste close to the world famous Joe’s Shanghai. They also had sesame chicken, not bad I would say. In addition, we also ordered some home-​cooked vegetables which were just so reminding of home.
The crab and conch… hard to eat just because they are mind-​numbingly spicy.
The service was pretty quick though. And the dining room is also very pretty– it used to be under different management but the newest one has kept the white, pearly tables and added bonsai, tea sets, and flowers to our dishes. Made it very upscale and classy– also a good place for tourists I would say, just because I’m not sure as a tourist I’d want to go to a lot of the less chic and total downscale restaurants in the area.

Flaming Kitchen just opened up on the corner of Bowery and Hester, specializing in Szechuan like firey flavors. The in laws took us to dinner here and overall, food was okay.
The dining room is pretty, with chrysanthemum motifs, tea sets, bonsai, and lots of ivory. It tries to be modern and upscale, which successfully attracts non-​Chinese diners. (There were three tables of tourists here). They have a mezzanine level, where they will seat reservations and larger parties.
We ordered:
Crispy duck with salt and pepper
Scallion pancakes
Ox tongue and tripe in chili sauce
Xiao long bao (pork soup dumplings)
Noodle soup with pork chop
Fried diced chicken with spicy chili
Kung Pao Chicken
In order of spiciness, the ox tongue in chili sauce was «flaming» with the Chinese numbing pepper. The fried diced chicken was next, where you can pick out the peppers, and then the kung pao chicken. All three were tasty, but not special. The diced chicken is one of my favorite dishes and I wished for maybe some scallion or cilantro to break up the crunchy, spicy tedium. I echo Rich W’s review — the dishes are kinda plain and lacking in personality. The crispy duck and scallion pancakes were lame. The soup dumplings were par.
Prices were high for Chinatown, but on par with what you’d expect to pay for a place that is decorated the way it is. Service is better than average Chinese restaurants. I’d recommend it for a not Chinese person trying Szechuan food for the first time and who finds authentic places too grimy.

I too stumbled upon this restaurant during a very rainy day. I’m pretty sure it’s new as there is only 1 Unilocal review at the time of my visiting the place.
It is nicely repainted since the last restaurant that used to stand here (Full House Café). The room is nice because it’s spacious.
The food we were disappointed by the the fried tiny buns. It was not hot enough.
We also ordered the sweet and sour fish. It was overpriced for the portion size. It was also to gloppy with corn starch. There was nothing accompanying the dish as a garnish it was pretty plain.
The Chicken Lo Mein was small for $ 7.95
Overall it was okay but I do not think we will be back.

Hmmm… What can I say… this place really isn’t that good. We had
–cucumber starter– ok but pretty hard to screw up I feel
–Mouthwatering chicken– Ok. Just ok… MSG much?
–Broiled fish– my friend said it tasted like it was microwaved… yes sort of did
–Veggies– I mean. no comment
These are dishes any chinese person orders at any Sichuan restaurant and yet I felt like this place cannot even begin to compare to uptown restaurants despite the good rating. I had been wanting to check this place out and after getting there, I thought that I wanted to go back in time and reverse my decision to come here… if you want authentic good Sichuan food, try La Vie en Sichuan or Ollie’s