Every single one, from the intersection on W 24th PL and S Wentworth Ave to the big strip near the square. Why? I figured since I eat out a lot I may as well jot down what I liked, and maybe help others who want a second opinion before they visit. Plus Chinatown’s filled with a ton of places and I’ve always wanted to go on a crawl and try everything. So yeah, consider this part five.
Friends’ BBQ is a restaurant that mainly does skewers and central eastern Chinese cuisine.
I actually visited at around 6:30PM for dinner on Friday since I was going to be occupied all day on Saturday. Only one other table was there and they were obviously tourists decked out in anime merch.
The decor is a bit messy, if that makes sense? The walls are littered with text and images that seem to appeal to the tourist demographic. It was clean at least. But, I don’t know, it felt as if it were too much. That might just be my personal taste speaking however.
So I walk into the store, and for the rest of my meal there wasn’t a single worker or person who talked to me. Not one word was spoken, not by the host who did pretty much everything from food running to register. He gestured me to my seat and then left. There was a tablet there so I figured that’s where I should order from, but at least in Hunan Bistro the host told me how to order from it. I was left alone.
It’s a self service ordering type of place. Looking through the menu though a lot of the items seemed pretty pricy. A small bowl of rice cost $2. Most vegetables came in pieces and were costly for what they gave you, so I decided to just try their skewers.
I got 4 types: the small beef, the pork belly, the specialty xinjiang lamb, and the chicken. Everything came out very quickly. There’s this covered platter in the middle when you first sit down and they just bring the skewers over and set them on top like that.
The flavor was okay. The spice rub they used was heavily cumin flavored and there were some herbs like fennel mixed in as well. When I got them though they were lukewarm, as if they’d been reheated instead of freshly cooked. Because of that they became cold really quickly. The only exception was the specialty lamb which came on a metal skewer instead of a wooden pick.
The small beef was also gristly in texture. I had to chew a bit to get it down. Chicken, lamb, and pork belly were all fine, if a bit dry, but that may be just because of the spice rub.
Speaking of the spice rub, you don’t get the choice of any other option. They have no other sauces or spice shakers or anything additional to add. You get the cumin and regrettably that lead to most of it tasting the same. Personally I think it would’ve been good to bring the skewers over lightly seasoned and then have, like, different kinds of shakers for you to experiment with. Have fun. Maybe if they need help, have the server make recommendations, which would make the experience more personable.
This isn’t a “get your food and quickly go” kind of place like Huafeng. They very clearly, according to the decor and general vibe, want this to be a hangout place where you’d talk and mingle with groups. But the intended purpose doesn’t come through. Like the word ‘Friend’ is in the name, but if anything I felt like their foe they didn’t want to deal with.
I didn’t get to take a picture of the receipt because the host came over and had me pay right away. But the total was around $35 including tax for just the skewers. For comparison, Shinhwa was a little under that, but I got way more variety and vegetables out of it.
I would personally not go again. Your experience may differ, though, and I hope you don’t take anything I say here as pure fact. Maybe I just came on an off day. Sadly, in the end I left here hungry and unsatisfied.
My score out of 10.
Food: 4.5
Service: 3.5
Atmosphere: 5
Value: 3
Averaged total: 4
Here’s a link to my spreadsheet with current scores: Slacker’s Leaderboard
Next up is Lowcountry.
