Ta40 Cafe

Another much needed local spot for the Bay Parkway Chinese community. A pretty well rounded if not slightly pricy Hong Kong café menu sit-​in. Spacious yet can be pretty packed during busy hours. The claypot rice are their focal highlight, however with the new shift of focus/​menu, they try to flush out the pricier alternative claypot dishes (sans the rice) for a slight premium, so thread carefully as you navigate the newly lay-​out menu.
Flavorful range of HK café menu stables from French Toast to lunch variety entrée, there will be no surprise there (do try their crispy fried fish skin though, and be sure to dip it in the provided soup for 1.5 seconds for personal preference). They do offer a few varieties of claypot rice, and do try to put in the order as soon as the menus are delivered, since it does take quite a bit of time for it to be prepared to be served. Food taste and seasoning/​ingredients are on point with all of the food we’ve experienced, as a mainly vegetable eater I am not even upset with the meat to vegetable ratio of 1:3; but something to be mindful of if you are expecting giant piece of protein being presented.
Personally I can recommend it for a good lunch gathering; A solid offering menu, the laid-​back waitstaffs, with good loops of HK-​TVB shows on the LCD TV screens; surely the mid price point have driven most budgeted patrons away since the initial opening few years back, but for now I will say it is (almost) justifiable for being one of the only few quality spot to indulge within the greater area of walking distance.

Ordered their «rice casserole» which is usually called claypot rice elsewhere.
It was okay. The wait was really long. The rice was not as burnt on the bottom/​sides as I would like. The rice had an almost soggy feel to it. Maybe from the chicken marinade? Not sure.
It was okay overall. Nothing spectacular. King’s Kitchen claypot rice is better.

Good food, good price, what else is needed? I had chicken with mushroom rice hot pot $ 6.00

Ate in a few times, ordered out maybe a dozen.
Service is average, nothing you’ll remember.
They specialize in the clay pot rice dishes, but those take a while to come out (longer than usual in my opinion). My favorite dishes there include their Shrimp & Pork Wonton noodle soup (might be the best cheap one I can remember) and the Fish & Corn Cheese Baked Spaghetti. The Octopus w/​Black Pepper sauce is a bit on the salty side, but sometimes they get it done right.
It’s a solid go-​to if you’re hungry and just want to wolf down something Chinese.

Ordered through phone and she is so so so freaking rude! *phone call was spoken in chinese” The first thing i say was «hi i would like to make a DELIVERY order» Then she say something but i didnt heard what she was saying so i say excuse me and she shouted «i say pick up!» At this point, i was kind of irritated by her behavior. i was like «i say delivery, not pick up» and she got all mad at me and was like «you should have say so in the beginning!» WHICH I FREAKING DID! and then she continued on the entire call with a very rude tone. at the end i ask her the total of the order. and she reply «i dont know» and hang up.
The food was below average.
the HK style milk tea was too sweet and almost taste like thai tea, so weird.
The clay pot rice was cook in the containers that they delivery in, so is basically steam rice. we ordered 2 different claypot rice, both tasted exactly the same.
Also ordered a curry fish ball, which is not authentic at all, it come with bell pepper and onion in the sauce, also very sweet.
I only give this place 2 stars, because the delivery man was so nice.

Food is horrible. A few items I ordered were decent but a majority of their food were honestly terrible. The last time and very last time I went there my beef stew noodles tasted weird like it was left out in the heat for 10 hours after its been cooked and it smelled spoiled. When it first came it looked like they literally threw the beef stew into the dish from 4 feet away. (Not exaggerating, I would upload a picture if I took one.) Been here 5 times and 4 out of 5 times left me extremely unsatisfied. First time I came here I ordered pork chop with onions over rice and an appetizer for myself that ended up being decent therefore making me go back since it’s one of the few Asian spots to eat at on bay parkway) Don’t usually give detailed written reviews but this place needs to either close or get their shit together…

2.5 stars
A small place but its pretty busy… it is not a bad place to hangout~ food is not the out of the world but comfort Cantonese food… their specialty main dishes are claypot rice with Cantonese/​HK flavor toppings… keeps disappointing me…
Small place and noisy, not dirty… yet due to still new.
Food is okay, but expected a little better since they raised the price!
Portion is small considering the price for each dish considering a Chinese（Cantonese/HK ） food place.
After you get seated and you won’t get much interaction… there was three staff on duty that day and I need to keep my hand up for them to come over and want to add or ask for something.
I won’t recommend it to others, even if its just a quick bite…

This is a small hong kong inspired café. When they first opened the menu was quite limited and they were quite popular for their claypot rice. Then they revamped the menu and added a lot more dishes. I thought the food had worsened throughout the years and they increased the prices. I’ve had from here their wonton noodle soup, a few claypot rice dishes, and their hong kong style ice milk tea. It’s nothing amazing, just average.

There were only two waiters and about 10 tables so the service here is pretty slow. The portions are small for the price you pay and you can definitely get your money’s worth around the area so this was unusual. Hot plate rice dishes take a longer time to come out so make sure if one person is ordering that, they are prepared to make everyone else wait for them.

I used to love eating here but ordering take out and having to deal with the cashier/​manager is a pain. She has quite an attitude and I heard her complain to another employee about someone who called in an order and it was over something petty.
Once I ordered ice coffee to go and it was a bit dark to me so I asked if I can have more cream. That same cashier looked at it and muttered under her breath that it was not dark. Really??? I don’t care if it’s not dark to her but I am the one drinking it. She had some nerve.
Another time I ordered through their website. It says minimum delivery is $ 10. When I called to make sure they received the order (because one time they didn’t) she said minimum is $ 15. I told her that the website says otherwise and she said well it’s wrong. Regardless, my order was $ 14.75. I hope they get rid of her.

Very slow and it isn’t best. Not saying it’s expensive but for what we paid the quality of the food isn’t the best. I orders a black pepper sauce pork chop with spaghetti and the spaghetti was plain, there’s was only a little bit of sauce on the pork chop. Other places they mix the spaghetti with the sauce so it isn’t dry or tasteless. I finished my dish way before my brothers dish arrived.

I hate calling in orders (to any Asian take out) because something ALWAYS gets lost in translation.
I placed order online, within a few minutes I get a call saying that there is a $ 20 minimum on all orders (My order was $ 15). I said that’s not what the website says ($ 10) and she said the website was wrong. She then kept asking if I wanted to add to the order. I said no and she hesitated to put the order through and said next time take note of the $ 20 minimum.
The delivery guy came by and I apologized to him that my order was under $ 20, I gave him an extra tip. He said it’s fine and wasn’t an issue.

When this place first opened, it was the popular place to go to on Bay Parkway. People were even waiting in line! My friends and I finally tried it since we heard good things about them.
The interior is simple. Nothing much to expect, but not dirty or run down. There are places that make you question the restaurants hygiene, but this one, not so much. They have a TV, but usually play Chinese entertainment since their restaurant is geared towards Asians.
The customer service is decent. It depends on the waiters and waitresses sometimes, but I usually don’t expect high customer service from restaurants like these.
As for the food, it was decent as well. The clay pots are the most popular dishes people talk about and it was good. The curry chicken I had here was pretty delicious too. As for the other foods, they were average and nothing to be wowed about. Besides those two dishes, everything else was alright. Everything is decently priced and not too expensive. Affordable.
This isn’t a place I would die to come back to though. Maybe for a quick fix if I didn’t know what to eat, but wanted somewhere close by.

I walked in for a table and the whole place was filled but I didn’t have to wait long for a table. The girl that served us was nice. But there wasn’t much interaction after that so I’m not sure how service really goes down.
As for food, I didn’t really know what I wanted to eat. I didn’t have a huge appetite, I just wanted a fast and quick dinner.
I ended up trying the chicken wings, dumpling noodle soup, beef stew noodle soup and chicken steak spaghetti.
YUCK! I don’t like their noodle quality. I’m a big fan of egg noodles and the one they use just tastes really cheap. The dumplings and wonton was just okay. There was shrimp and chives inside, nothing special. The soup base could’ve been better. The chicken wings were the tiniest wings I had and I can make it so much better at home.
I probably will not return.

This place is the worst. The food service was super slow and the food prices are over price. For a regular size normal bowl of curry noodle soup is 12.95. And every where else you could get it for 7 bucks and more ingredients.
And the dishes were small. Like the pig’s intestines for a few small pieces. Cost about 8 something. Yes it was yood but not for that price.

I’ve found something I love here! It is a tofu dish that’s in a clay pot. I don’t actually know the real name of it, but it’s tofu with mushrooms and it’s stewy. If you order, make sure you get a side of rice so you can scoop and mix!
Service has gotten better since it first opened. dishes come out quicker. but it might be because we just stopped asking for the clay pots!

My mom suggested this place after she heard raving reviews from her housewife circuit. It’s a very typical HK-​Style Café but supposedly specializes Clay Pot Rice dishes. Firstly I think we waited about 20 – 30 minutes for a seat after arriving a little after 8. I’m not too keen on waiting that long for a table Chinese food. But hopefully the lines will die down when this place settles in more.
The Clay Pot dishes take significant longer to cook up than their other dishes. My brother pretty finished up ¾ of his Portuguese Chicken Baked Rice when our Clay Pot rices came. :/​
I had they Salted Chicken Clay Pot Rice. It was a pretty bland. But the rice came out alright. My mom’s Chicken and Mushroom Clay Pot Rice was much more flavorful. The portions are a little smaller than I’m used to seeing but it was acceptable for me. There was a lot of rice compared to chicken though.
Don’t know if I would come back here. Maybe if I’m craving HK Milk Tea.

I came here with my friend Liana L (she wrote a prior review — it’s the longest one on this page) before we decided to hang out at her place a couple blocks over. She raved about this place and about how she was going to be the first person to review it ever since she saw the «Opening Soon» sign (I think she was there the night it opened).
Their English is pretty poor. They had a hard time understanding our orders and such so it was a bit annoying. Thank goodness my friend speaks Cantonese.
— baked chicken and ham spaghetti: pretty typical casserole dish, but so odd that it is served at a Chinese restaurant. I think it was one of the better tasting dishes, but the fact that it didn’t really fit the rest of the ambiance of the restaurant made it a little less appetizing, know what I mean?
— beef brisket noodle: I think this one was the best. We tried to split it into separate small bowls. Don’t. It’s cheap enough to get one for yourself and it tasted great!
— fried flounder with bell pepper: this was an appetizer that wasn’t on the menu. Pretty standard, tasted like it came out of a box…
— fried spare ribs: yummy, but didn’t wow me at all
— curry chicken with spaghetti: it’s spaghetti. With curry sauce. And chicken. I could make this at home in 15 minutes.
— babao rice: I think this was the most interesting dish conceptually, but the taste didn’t really work as well as it looked.
Overall, this place is on the opposite end of the train tracks from where I live and it’s not nearly good enough for me to make the 1+ hour trek to get the food. It’s cheap and a lot of it can be eaten family style, but the confusion in its identity makes it a hard place for me to solidly recommend.

I apologize in advance for this honest entry about my experience at TA40 Café, which some may agree or disagree.
After many weeks of anticipation for Ta40 Café to open, my mom, sister and I finally ventured here to try their foods this past Sunday. One word that would be used to fully describe the experience we had was «disappointment». The mediocre foods and especially the slow, unattentive service was a major letdown.
I understand that newly opened restaurants may encounter lack of organization, however, it should not be used solely as an excuse. Organization is one of the most important factors in operating a good & successful restaurant, which Ta40 did not possess. Long waits (more than 20 minutes to get seated), unattentive waiters & waitress (sat down to review menu and was ready to order. Waited for someone to serve us, but after 5 minutes of being ignored by the staff we got the waitress’s attention after my mom loudly verbalized it. And, the same thing happened when we asked for the check as well), and delayed food orders (staff forgot to give us the ordered HK milk tea (which should be given first before any meal arrives) after we realized it was missing when all the foods came. And, the claypot rice we ordered came out 25 minutes after all the meals were eaten).
It was not just us who were fed up with the service, other patrons there were as well. Many patrons were complaining to the staff about missing or delayed food orders. Ta40 is testing one’s patience to the point that the most patient individual becomes impatient.
Regarding my opinion on the food items we consumed are listed below:
Hong Kong Milk Tea — It did not taste like the ones from Hong Kong, and it was not the best I have tried in NYC. Chinatown’s Cha Chan Tang’s HK Milk Tea is the one that closely resembles what a HK Milk Tea is like. The HK Milk Tea at Ta40 did taste on the sweeter side as one Unilocaler highlighted.
Peanut Butter + Condensed Milk Toast — Large portion, and tasted average. It was lacking because there was not enough peanut butter & condensed milk on the toast. Overall, it was edible.
Beef Brisket Noodle — I did like this entrée, as the beef brisket was very tender & the noodles maintained its elasticity. However, questioning if the soup contained msg.
Boiled Wonton (6 pieces) — Noticed that each wonton consisted of shrimp, shredded carrots, and some greens. Each boiled wonton was very filling, but was lacking in taste. The ingredients combined in this wonton did not enhance our tastebuds. My mom was quite disappointed with this item, right along with her criticism of the claypot rice.
Spare Ribs w/​Sausage Claypot rice — This is the most disappointing claypot rice we have ever consumed, especially if the restaurant markets it as one of their speciality. I felt that because of the time constraint and possible stress (having to cook so many food orders in such a short period of time) the cooks were encountering, the claypot rice became steamed rice w/​spare ribs & sausage in a claypot bowl. It was lacking in flavoring, which is usually evidence that it was not cooked enough to allow the flavors to intensify. I would recommend claypot rice done correctly at LP28Cafe (8^th avenue), or at Yummy Noodle (Chinatown).
Chicken Wings — Pretty tasty, but did not like that the chicken wings were served lukewarm, and was dabbed with a lot of honey.
P.S — If you order any baked food items (claypot rice, baked rice, or baked spaghetti), be sure to be patient as it will most likely come out after 20 minutes.
The staff looked very overwhelmed. The servers did not appear to be that friendly, especially the guy with the tattoo on his arms. He seemed a bit mean because when my mom asked for the check, he saw her request but ignored her. His deamenor was not acceptable. If service (food being delayed) is slow, at least alleviate the situation with better customer service.

Waited half an hour for seats even though the waitress said 10 minutes. By 8:30pm they switched the sign from 9:30 PM close to 9:00 PM close because they were out of chicken, frog, fried pork intestine, wonton, etc. The menu offers a wide selection from baked rice/​spaghetti, congee, claypot rice, spaghetti, toast, etc etc etc… so many to choose from!!!
It was the third day of their grand opening. Tried their dumplings with chives, chicken wings, beef with egg clay pot rice and spare ribs and chinese sausage clay pot rice. Their dumplings was delicious! 6 for $ 3.50 (grand opening special)! It was huge and filled with pork, shrimp and vegetables. The soup base was not those typical msg soup base but was a clear mini dried shrimp chicken soup base. Their chicken was delicious but 4 middle pieces for 3.95 was pretty expensive. I absolutely love their spare ribs and chinese sausage clay pot rice but it took forever to get on the table. The spare ribs were well marinated and delicious! The beef with egg can pass because the beef barely had any flavor. It didn’t taste that great.
Overall, I really like this place and would like to try their other stuff on their menu. As long as they maintain their quality and have the same price, I will be coming here very often!