Emily Chu, OD

Dr. Chu is most patient, gentle and knowledge ophthalmologist I’ve ever encountered!
I’ve gone to her for two years in a row and have not been disappointed. There’s not a long wait time if you have an appointment and if you have any concerns, Dr. Chu will listen and give you her advice. Prior to coming to Dr. Chu, I did not know my astigmatism was hereditary nor had I ever seen images of my eyes. She has high tech, up to date equipments to better diagnose you and is able to pull up your records whenever you visit to see if there are any changes concerning your eye shape, health of your veins, etc. You also receive a thorough explanation of how/​why your vision is the way it is and tips to prevent any further damage (if possible).
Highly recommended ophthalmologist! Dr. Chu accepts a lot of insurance (I have VSP) and better yet, it’s inside Costco so you can go for a round of free samples after.

She is the best

I will join the crowd and post 5 stars. I had an appointment but arrived early –no problem! She performed a very thorough exam, I was there to get glasses, so I wanted a new prescription.
She is separate from the Costco eye ware department, but you could see there was a nice relationship between the two departments.
I picked out an incredible pair of Prada frames, finished my order, and a week later they were ready to pick up! Perfect no issues. After this experience it seems likely I would go here first, mostly because of the overall experience and cost. My last two pairs of glasses were significantly more money –and these are perfect.

Very kind, and attentive. Gives you all the information you need and the service is wonderful.

Great doctor. Very informative and listens and does everything wonderfully. I’ve been going for years now.

The reviews are accurate. Dr. Chu is extremely helpful and attentive to her patients’ needs. She is also friendly, to boot. I came here for contacts and because of the difficulty I was having putting them on, she was fine with me coming back to practice at no charge (so I did not have to worry if I’d ever get them out again). I definitely would recommend!

She is great and very attentive. She saw that I have an allergic reaction to my pets (which I will not get rid of) in my eyes. She prescribed drops and regularly checks the eye pressure to make sure that all is good.
Highly recommend her as she is a great doctor. Attentive and knowledgable.

My favorite optometrist. I believe I only have one but I bet I got the best. Totally would recommend her.

Dr. Chu is wonderful! An extremely competent, kind, informed and professional. I would recommend her to anyone looking for an eye exam.

Dr. Chu is a lovely and seemingly competent person, but I fear as of this May 2015 writing she may be depending on out of calibration, or equipment that approximates your prescription. I verified Dr. Chu’s prescription the next day by paying yet another Optometrist (where I got my glasses because Costco optical only has digital progressives). They discovered my Axis was R90 L80 not R85 R85 and my PD was unequal, but in fairness when you go to two eye doctors using different methods, it is likely you will get slight non critical variations on your prescription because they depend on your feedback.
Also keep in mind if Dr Chu volunteers Pupillary Distance number, is actually the sum of both eyes together, so you must ALWAYS get the Ophthalmic dispenser taking your lense order to independently check each eye for variations — so again it would be unfair to hold against her the fact that my own eyes had a 1.5mm variance. The reason I went to all this trouble was I have no insurance, so I was not about to invest $ 500 dollars in my own progressive eyeglasses, unless I was certain the script was right.
The main problem that would have cost part of my next lense order to be useless was; during a follow up visit (to get more lenses made) I brought in readers for Dr Chu’s to check on her lensometer, and while she caught a minor Axis variance, she completely missed the fact that they were add+100add when her own written prescription was add+200. This was a critical error as I complained to her these readers were useless for close work, so she agreed to increase my add to +300 for progressives only (which would normally be too high for someone my age and eye health). While I’m grateful she was willing to concede to my request, she did so based on her own faulty data.
So my close work complaint was not because her prescription was wrong, but because she didn’t catch the fact that the glasses themselves were made wrong. My second Doctor’s lensometer caught this +add mistake right away. The symptom of that oversight is why I insisted on getting my eyes checked by another Doctor, and am now glad I did. So to be clear; Dr. Chu may be a well qualified doctor with excellent patient rapport, but her service may be limited by the equipment she uses, and the reason most reviews written here do not catch this is simply because they may not know any better.

Wonderful! wonderful! wonderful woman! Dr. Emily Chu has been my entire family’s eye doctor for the past five years. The first time my mom tried her, she never went to her other doctor. She does not take eyemed but they reimburse a percentage per visit which is ok. I still prefer to see her and take my children to her because she is through and honest with the children. Both of my sons has an astigmatism and she explained how, why and a solution to the problem. what I love most about her is she is NOT a money hog! Her first priority is her patients.

Dr. Chu is wonderful! She really took her time to help me find the contacts that would work for me, taking into account my eyesight, my work needs, and my tolerance of different types of lenses. We tried several types in office and then she sent me home with choices to try for a couple of days to make sure they worked for me. I was able to select the most comfortable and manageable lenses for my needs. I’m very happy with my new lenses!

To be honest we were skeptical at first because the reviews were too good to be true but she had an opening, so I made an appt for my husband. She is truly the best doctor we’ve seen. Now not only does my husband go but so do I and our son (she doesn’t take my son’s insurance but we don’t mind paying for the consultation. She’s that good!!!)

she’s the best eye doctor I have ever had. She’s so thorough and very patient, I have astigmatism, and my eyes are very sensitive to contact lenses, she was very patient with me and she had me try on different pairs before deciding which trial pairs i should be wearing. She also did the eye nerve exam for me, which no eye doctors had asked me to do in the past. She thoroughly went through the results. I am very surprised how patient and diligent she is. I highly recommend her to anyone looking for an optometrist.

Shes a Very good doctor. I had great eye exam here. wait time wasn’t too lo MG. I came on weekdays half hour before the office closes.

I found Dr. Chu thru Unilocal and I cannot praise her enough. I had a very thorough eye exam and Dr. Chu spent time with me and answered all my questions. I did not feel rushed and came away very happy. My previous eye test was at Lens Crafters. and although they were ok. I will not be going back. Dr. Chu has my business. I am not the type of person who normally leaves a review. But having found Dr. Chu on Unilocal,I felt it as only proper.

I recently had the pleasure of being examined by Dr Chu. She was very affable and extremely knowledgeable. A total pleasure to deal with. I liked her so much, I brought my wife in to have her eyes examined the next week. Thank you Dr. Chu!!!

Dr. Emily is simply awesome! She looks for details that other optometrists might have missed. She is upfront and honest; she doesn’t tell you what you want to hear, but what you NEED to hear, which is what you want from any medical professional. Probably one of the best eye doctors in Central Queens. And, yes, she takes your insurance. No, you don’t need to be a Costco member to utilize her services, but it will help you when it’s time for you to purchase your contacts and or glasses, since they don’t hike up the prices like other lenses shops do. Worth the trip from anywhere in Queens.

One of the best eye exams I’ve had to date! A supremely pleasant surprise considering I was dreading just walking in to Costco and getting an exam without an appointment and never having spoken with anyone to get a vibe of the people and how well they treat their customers/​patients.
I admit, I was hesitant when walking in since it was a small, albeit bright and VERY clean and organized room behind the glasses/​sales counter area, and the receptionist (a young girl without an expression, let alone a smile) who didn’t look very welcoming, inviting, or even helpful. Usually when a front desk person/​receptionist sees you looking or lingering, they offer their assistance of some kind, or at least question what you’re doing there, lurking or whatever it may be! So I was a bit put off by that. And oddly enough, I had been going through the interview process not too long before, so I wonder how people like that (AKA zombie like, minus the mouth frothing) even get a job… but I digress; once I approached her, she almost dismissively told me to fill out a form after I said I was new to the place.
Once I saw Dr. Chu, everything changed– things moved fast, efficiently, accurately, and overall, pleasantly. She was a small woman, who was cute and non-​intimidating, and once you told her what you needed and went over a few questions, she started the tests immediately for contact lenses. It starts off with two machines, one where you look at an image, one eye at a time, and the other lense machine emits a puff of air into each eye, also one eye at a time. Then she brings you into the actual room, to read off rows of letters. She does this thoroughly, you don’t feel rushed, and she doesn’t; hurry along your sentences or elaborations, or wave off questions. And I asked plenty because I wasn’t sure of some things, and then I asked her opinions on which lenses (daily vs. two weeks or longer term) were better, and she described each one in detail, providing examples, and didn’t try to sell me things that cost more money.
Since my eyesight got worse and I have astigmatism, she suggested a test to check the inner part of my eye, and I decided to go for it right then and there. From there, I put on the contacts she had in stock, then she wrote me a prescription and said I could fill it anywhere– no restrictions, but she had heard that Costco was probably the cheapest out there. She gave me some daily lenses to try out and see if I liked them, and then said I could come back at any time to discuss/​ask questions, or even fix something. It was fast, but it didn’t feel as if it was an empty fast session, because I asked a lot of questions and felt like I had her 100% time and attention, as opposed to a revolving door of patients like larger chain establishments such as Lenscrafters (where I previously had gone). When I commented that my the lense didn’t seem to stay firmly put in my eye, she explained that the daily versions are more flimsy compared to the two week version, because of the nature of the material and such.
One negative is that they take cash or check only, which I didn’t know. I normally don’t carry much cash on me, but luckily I had my bf with me since I would have no way to pay it with my credit card! All in all, I was very satisfied with my experience and I plan to go back there to order my contacts and fill my glasses. Also, no appointment necessary, you can just walk-​in.

Great service. Emily Chu has alot of patience and explains everything to you. When I went back to ask for a new set of contacts (because I lost the one’s she gave for free) she gave new ones with a smile and took time to help me with my questions. Best experience at a doctors office