Lili’s 57

As a customer with recent diagnosis of a gluten intolerance (moderate-​severe, not a celiac), I was very pleased to see an extensive gluten free menu. They said they prevented cross contamination, and were very careful about their practices. I ordered dumplings and General Tso’s chicken with rice, both on their gluten free menu. I made it extremely clear I had a gluten allergy and they told me not to worry. I was incredibly excited when the food arrived, and it tasted delicious! I couldn’t even tell it was gluten free! That is because it wasn’t. Within thirty minutes after eating my meal, before we even left the restaurant, my stomach started having issues. I became incredibly nauseous and my digestive system compromised. I spent the next 2 – 3 hours in terrible pain and almost had to cancel my plans after I ate there. When they realized I had a reaction their response was minimal. There was the general «Oh I am so sorry,» but the check had already been paid. There was no refunds or free next visit or anything. I hate to blame this, but there was also a significant language gap, which can make it hard on a gluten free customer. If you have a significant gluten intolerance, severe like celiac disease or even moderate, DO NOT GO HERE. You will have a reaction.

Ordered pad thai, pepper steak and lo mein. Firstly, the pad thai had congealed and it was a solid mass. Plus it had absolutely no flavor. It was basically boiled noodles thrown into a takeout tray. The pepper steak basically had 5 pieces of little beef bits in it. Most of it was peppers and onions. The lo mein was greasy and was very skimpy on the shrimp. One of the worst meals. Terrible waste of money, avoid!

Real Chinese food – spareribs, General Tso’s Chicken, dumplings – all gluten free! What a wonderful return to the food I always loved before having to go gluten free. Staff (especially Alan) is wonderful and we hit Lilli’s every time we are in NYC.

A busy place for lunch — the staffs seems overly swamped. So they used a rather efficient way of communication by simply looking at me as though saying «What do you want?»
The front desk guy then took my order wrong. When it finally came, he apologized by simply awkwardly smiling…
And my friend waited for her take out order for more than 30 minutes for just a few pieces of sushi.
Food is meh. reminds me of the international section of my college dining hall. I’m pure Asian foodie, and I didn’t see many Asian customers here. You know what I mean.

Horrible customer service. FOH staff was very rude as I could barely get the person’s attention to order a bubble tea. I’m a fan of HoneyDew Bubble Teas and Lili’s was the worse, tasted like complete water! I took in bravery to bring it back to see about getting it remade, as I knew the staff would be rude. And she was rude, claiming my bubble tea did not have water. I left the tea on the counter and left. Wont ever go back, not even for food.

I’ve been a relatively regular customer for over five years. The past two years have brought with them longer periods between my ordering, as consistency and portion sizing were faltering. While the generous portion sizes have returned, taste and consistency have now been tossed completely out the window.
I order the same appetizer every time. The past three times, I’ve received three different dishes, as the sauce and composition where changed so drastically.
Received an egg roll today that was disgusting. No flavor. Over $ 2, and no protein in it. Borderline burnt. Tasted of oil which needed to be changed.
My beef pad thai was nearly inedible. Five pieces of tofu added for bulk (I’ve never had this place, or any other, add this much tofu to offset protein cost. Each piece was as large as the pieces of beef. One was even larger). No moisture (noodles were sticking together… the entire thing came up in one block when I pulled up my chopsticks). I am not a soy sauce fan… but had to add four packets (plus hot sauce) to loosen the noodles, and get any semblance of favor. And I still only ate half of it, simply because I paid for it. Co-​workers actually came to my desk to see what I was eating that caused such stank face.
Leaving a courteous two stars for the years past… but I’ll be taking my personal and word-​of-​mouth business to their competitors, who offer consistent excellence. And, for my gluten-​intolerant folk out there: you can get MUCH better gluten-​free thai/​chinese/​japanese fare elsewhere.

THIS REVIEW IS FOR TAKE OUT ONLY —
Kudos to Mark C for finding Lili’s 57 which served as my pre-​marathon meal the night before the 2015 NYCM.
Headed there about 5pm on Saturday and were greeted by a pleasant employee whom gave us a menu when we asked about their take out options. The menu was extensive and if I was feeling more adventurous I would have tried one of their many, many sushi bar options that were being made before my eyes as I waited for my meal.
I ordered a wonton soup (which they were nice enought to add vegetables too) along with steamed shrimp, non spicy garlic sauce on the side and brown rice. We took it back to our hotel room and dug in. The won ton soup (my gold standard take out dish) was on point and dare I say some of the best I have ever had — flavorful, not too salty and chocked full of dumplings, the soup did not stand a chance. It’s hard to go wrong with steamed shrimp and mixed vegetables but it’s the garlic sauce that can be hit or miss — either by being too sickingly sweet, too salty or just not flavorful. I don’t know what Lili’s 57 does to their garlic sauce but its flavor was spot on.
I have to say my only complaint (and really it is more of something that I am used to) is that there were no fortune cookies in our take out bag BUT by the end of the meal I was so pleasantly full that I had forgotten about them.

This place has quality chinese food — not yucky bad dark meat chicken all grisled up and gross. They deliver really fast and it’s overall yummy. I once got a migrane though possibly from the msg…

This was awesome food and reasonably priced too. Atmosphere isn’t the greatest, but the food was delicious.

As we are gluten free eaters, we were thrilled to find out that they have an entire Asian GF menu. We were in heaven with tasty dim sum, crunchy and delicious sesame chicken, and a sushi roll made with rice tempura and mango – crunchy and sweet.
We had great service, our ice teas refilled quickly and definitely a stop we will be back to when in NYC!

Wow… we’re in town from Los Angeles and this place was round the corner from our hotel. So this being a rainy night, we decided to give it a try to avoid commuting in the rain. BIG mistake. We ordered a Tom Yum soup, something we eat regularly. This was not Tom Yum, it even had okra in it. We sent it back. Next we tried a couple of sushi rolls, these didn’t fair any better. The rolls all consisted of copious amounts of mayo, rendering them inedible too. For those looking for a quick Asian meal, look elsewhere, this place simply can NOT cook!!!

This place is hard to find at night… After a concert at Carnegie Hall we tried to find it and failed.
But the next day we went to get bubble tea. The milk tea was relatively good!

Lili’s 57 gluten-​free menu is not short. It has every option you could imagine from General Tso’s crispy chicken to fried noodle and rice dishes and those who do eat gluten won’t feel like they are missing anything. While the food is good and portions are hearty, the prices are a bit inflated for the quality. We ordered two sizzling platters of shrimp and vegetables, which came with small portions of rice for $ 16.75. The food was decent, but the price point could be lower.

Here’s what happened that caused me to never want to eat at this restaurant ever again:
My girlfriend and I decided to eat here after hanging out in one of the Museums because it was one of our go-​to places for a decent meal in NYC.
We placed our drink order with Allan (more on him in a minute), and it took quite some time to get our drinks because instead of getting a Coke and a water like we ordered, we got a glass of Coconut Water instead. For some reason Allan did not deliver our drink order, so when we were telling our waitress that we received the wrong drinks, Allan decided to chime in by raising his voice in a demeaning manor from across the room by saying to us, and I quote, «What do you mean you didn’t order the coconut water?». I tried to tell him that it wasn’t a big deal and that we just wanted the correct drink order. This didn’t sit well with Allan for some reason to which he said to us, «PLEASE…be clear with your order!», as if we insulted him for just asking to correct a simple mistake. Keep in mind, Allan was on the other side of the room, which was full of people trying to eat their dinner.
After we uncomfortably finished our dinner, we asked to speak to the manager about what had happened and this interaction blew my mind because Allan, who is now eavesdropping on the conversation I’m having with the manager, told his boss that my girlfriend and I, «accused him of not taking the correct order.», which we didn’t. I told the manager that the issue wasn’t so much the incorrect order, rather it was the fact that one of his employees was rude to his customers.
Having worked in customer service for 5 years, one of the things you never ever do, even if you hate your job, is be rude to a customer while they are in the same room as you are. You just don’t do that.
Allan was rude. The manager didn’t care that one of his employees decided to shout at us in a room full of people and defended his employees actions.
The food is decent, but the staff and service are the worst.
Man, that review made me parched. I think I’ll have some coconut water.

How sad. I just really wanted some not good for you, Chinese food. First off, I wrote on the instructions, buzzer is being fixed please call. I get an angry call saying «I’ve been waiting 10 minutes buzzing!» then I buzz the guy up, then he pounds on my door and continues to yell at me in not English, until I slam my door.
The food was nearly inedible, and I was hungover and just wanted something greasy. I wasn’t looking for fine dining. It’s also 2x as expensive as it should be.
So, rude service (even as a take out option) and really bad food…

Literally my new fav place in NYC. I’m gluten intolerant not celiac so cross contamination isn’t an issue to a point. I have been craving general Taos chicken for months. I wanted a crispy fried chicken nub that wouldn’t make me sick and this place delivered! We dined in. Gluten free peeps get a separate menu which is extensive. The prices are on par with most take out places but this is a sit down cloth table covers kind of place so it’s a step up. Gluten free steamed dumplings were great and off course my crispy sauce covered chicken was awesome
Gluten free soy sauce on the table and the portions were huge. My new go to when I want my General Taos.

Dear god, I used to love this place. I ate here every day when I worked in the area. As a vegan with Celiacs, it was an absolute delight to find a place where I could get gluten free Chinese food.
My parents are in town, and we’ve been looking forward to it — my mother also has Celiacs, and hasn’t had Chinese food since her diagnosis a few years ago.
Among other things, we ordered the gluten free general tso’s tofu. When the food arrived, we served up heaping plates, and started chowing down. I immediately spat out the general tso’s. It was chicken, not tofu. Grubhub took care of it, and we had tofu within 30minutes. Hurray.
Now my mother and I are taking turns being horrifically ill while my father cancels our evening plans.
In addition, the delivery guy was the rudest, surliest delivery guy I have ever encountered. After not following the instructions that I put in the order initially, he actually threw the bag of food in my face when he redelivered. What?
I’ve never had an issue before. I’ve also always done take out, not delivery, so maybe that’s the issue. However, I probably won’t be returning ever again. Poor service and poisoning aren’t really a repeat.

I was impressed with the gluten free selection. I had the Thai fried rice which actually tasted like it had a bit of sweet and sour sauce in it. My boyfriend had the mee goreng and thought it was too oily. The food was ready very quickly. I could have done without the Kenny G style music but otherwise atmosphere was fine. 4 stars for the gluten free selection, quick food, and price/​portion size. I think we would try different dishes next time, though.

Me and my other half ate dinner here. Great ambience, super fast and attentive service, plus delicious food with sizeable portions. We opted to get orange chicken and General Tso’s chicken to share. We both also went with just steamed white rice. The orange chicken wasn’t overly sweet and it managed to have a little bit of a bite. The General Tso’s chicken was spicy, though I would have preferred it to be a bit more so, with great flavor. Solid eats!
One big negative: no fortune cookies. :(

I used to work in this area and would often order their lunch specials. They have the best wonton soup I’ve ever had in my life!!!
Went for lunch yesterday and the place wasn’t busy at all. I blame it on the snow. Standard service — nothing exceptional but the food was great as always. I had the shrimp and chicken in garlic sauce and a cup of green tea.
Delish!!!

Il s’agit d’un restaurant asiatique à dominance japonaise, situé dans le quartier Midtown West, juste en face du Carnegie Hall, à 2 rues seulement de Central Park. Ce restaurant est facile d’accès: une bouche de métro des lignes N, Q et R se trouve pile devant la vitrine.
Le menu propose les classiques du genre: maki sushis, nigiri sushis, sashimi sushis, ainsi que des ramen, et de nombreux plats à base de poulet ou de porc.
Les prix sont dans la moyenne: compter 3,95 $ pour un rouleau de maki avocat par exemple. Leur site Web (
) affiche tous les prix.
Le serveur est un jeune homme sympathique et discret. La nourriture est fraîche et bien cuisinée. Un bon rapport qualité/​prix en définitive !