Hakkasan

It’s our second time visiting Hakkasan. The front desk staff was rude — when the last person in our group showed up, I went to inform them that we were all here, and I got shushed away! The girl cut me while I was talking, and said «got it, please go back and wait, and we will come find you». And guess what, 20 mins later, nobody came to us, and I had to go back to front desk and talk to a different girl. The waitress for our table was horrible as well. She had poor memory but was too lazy to write down our orders, so she forgot our wine, and a few items we ordered. In addition, she was trying to talk me over our choices — C’mon, I am the Chinese here. I know what I am doing. Will never go back again.

I had been to both London restaurants and was not disappointed. Surprise find in Hell’s Kitchen! Lovely staff and food is wonderful. Try the dim sum. Great wine selection, too.

The food is good, but not amazing. I enjoyed everything I ate here, but not the extent that I would crave/​miss it.
The décor for the restaurant part was really nice, but the bar area felt a little too generic. I would say it has a trendy vibe, but I think its location is not really near the fun/​nightlife places and so when I went, the crowd is older and more touristy. Good place to go for dinner on a weeknight or something! (Restaurant week deal is really great so come for that if anything!!!)

Very disappointing. My wife & I went for valentines day. Only reason we went there because we had to be in the theater district. Otherwise I am not a fan of dinning in theater district, I am a restaurant owner. I pay attention to details. You go to an expensive restaurant for the bell & whistles. If you want just good food you go to a joint,
1) It was a very cold day 20 degrees outside. You enter the place through the big doors door bang on us so loud.
2) Long corridor was colder the than outside.
3)Coat check girl was wearing ski attire almost because it was so cold. They kind of push you to check the coat in. I couldn’t bear the cold. Already I dont have a good feeling.
4)3 hostess. (I am not a fan of hostess. They make getting you a seat like an 8^th grade science project). They go put us on a table next to the street I am not kidding it was 40 degrees in there. Everyone around there was wearing their jackets. Other people sitting there complained about it. I requested to move out of there. That obviously to another 15 minutes (The science project).
5) Someone gave us the menu with the black attire thought that was our waiter. Took another 10 – 12 minutes to figure it out he wasn’t.
6)Eventually waitress showed up she was nice & knowledgeable. We order drinks. 2 doubles of cognac. $ 24 each. I dont mind the price. Oh my god! glass looked like they took out of the glass washer with out washing. You can see what I have been going through so far. I really lost it. Finally a manger with a British accent showed up. He was the best thing there. He was really apologetic. Took the drink back & gave us a new one. But. its too late.
7) Food was really good.
I will name & recommend few Asian fusion places that never go wrong.
1)Spice Market (jean George)
2)Buddakan
3)Tao (down town)
4Jujube tree
Also if you visit Paris go to Buddha Bar. All this concepts are Knock off of Buddha Bar.
Hakkasan can never get to that level. It might work with tourist. If you are a New yorker please dont waste your time & money.

I came in with relatively high expectations, but the experience fell short as one of those pretentious Asian fusion place. Honestly, for a place which granted one Michelin star at some point, I expect it to have some really good food: innovation, creativity with common or rare ingredients, fresh, in season local supply of food, playful yet tasteful plating were things I’m looking for. But I want to say everything I’ve had there I was able to find in one of my go to Chinese restaurant in town for half of the price. Taken I did enjoy the ambiance, decent service, nicely decorated interior (taken a point off for not so friendly door man), I’d give it 3.5 stars, but not enough to meet my expectations. I really wanted to see a Chinese Michelin star restaurant. But not like this. Not like this.

Dining at Hakkasan in Manhattan’s Theater District is more than just an experience — it’s an exquisite culinary journey through the restaurant’s innovative dishes that showcase traditional Cantonese cuisine with a modern twist. This year, I got to partake in Hakkasan’s celebration of the Year of the Monkey by attending its Chinese New Year dinner, which featured a limited edition menu created by International Executive Chef Ho Chee Boon.
Double Boiled Fresh Ginseng and Chicken Soup
Designed with the hope of bringing joy, luck, and prosperity to the diners, the elaborate pre fixe dinner began with a bowl of Double Boiled Fresh Ginseng and Chicken Soup. The soup was an excellent start to the meal as the flavorful broth enriched with ginseng, tender chicken breasts, bamboo pith, and wolfberry warmed my soul.
Diced Wagyu Beef & Pine Nut Golden Cup
The next course of «Small Eat» included Diced Wagyu Beef & Pine Nut Golden Cup and a selection of Hakkasan’s signature Steamed Dim Sum Platter. The finely diced, juicy wagyu beef and pine nuts were piled on top of lightly fried, crispy cup. Beyond the complexity of flavor and texture in the dish, I was impressed with the beautiful plating that highlighted natural colors of pomegranate seeds, micro greens, and flower petals.
Steamed Dim Sum Platter
There were four different varieties of dim sum in the Steamed Dim Sum Platter. My favorite was the Scallop Shumai. Wrapped inside chewy dumpling skin was a plump piece of shrimp and scallop with a scoop of caviar roe on top. The only disappointment in the platter was the Duck & Yam Bean Dumpling; the gravy-​like, thick sauce on top of the dim sum, as well as the combination of mushy yam and salty duck, was not pleasing to the mouth.
Pipa Duck and Roasted Chilean Sea Bass
The shareable «Main» course featured a generous portion of four dishes and fried rice. My favorite was a tie between the Pipa Duck and the Roasted Chilean Sea Bass. The Pipa Duck had beautifully crispy, golden skin with juicy, albeit fatty, meat. The hoisin sauce at the bottom added pleasantly sweet end note. The Chilean sea bass, glazed with Chinese honey, was so succulent that it just melted in my mouth. I particularly enjoyed the tempura battered mushroom on top of the sea bass.
Wok-​Fry Lobster, Hericium Mushrooms, and Scallop & Crab Fried Rice
Other dishes in the «Main» course included Wok-​Fry Lobster in spicy truffle sauce with asparagus, mushroom, and carrots, and the vegetarian Hericium Mushrooms stir fried with lotus root, asparagus, and lily bulb in black pepper sauce. The Scallop & Crab Meat fried rice was the perfect accompaniment to the generally salty main entrees.
Golden Halo
To sweeten the palate, the dinner concluded with Golden Halo, an intricate dessert of soy caramel, cubed banana with edible gold flakes, chocolate truffle, and candied peanuts. Oh, and don’t forget about the dust of gold on the plate! At the end of the dinner, I also got to write my wish on a gold ribbon to hang in the restaurant and received a farewell gift of Year of the Monkey gold coin as a sign of good fortune. I have a feeling 2016 will be a prosperous year after this delicious Chinese New Year meal at Hakkasan!

We went to Hakkasan for the Sunday brunch. The interior has a great atmosphere and décor. Lots of blue light, and the music is subdued, but upbeat enough for bunch. Food was great and really well presented, though the sizes of the portions for items at brunch are quite small. Both the dumpling-​style items and noodle-​based items were good. Drinks here are excellent, though even by New York City standards they are on the expensive side. The Macaroons they serve as a desert item with brunch were some of the best anywhere.

The amount of self control exhibited on this night, at Hakkasan, just two weeks back, is a far cry in relation to the lack of it just this past Friday (as far as restaurant week outings are concerned… please refer to my Capital Grille review if you’d like clarification). This was my first 2016 Restaurant Week stop… a citywide tradition that I don’t find myself engaging in all too often; in the mind of this particular Unilocaler, it is a generally deceptive business practice that doesn’t entirely eliminate high costs associated with the participating restaurants. Given Hakkasan’s polarizing review average, I would venture a guess that this Michelin Star sporting, high-​end Chinese serving joint gets most of the hate from those who «spend too much on what is being offered here.»
Myself and my (very beautiful) dining partner for the evening managed to secure a same day reservation at 7:00 pm on a Monday, in the aftermath of the blizzard of 2016 (thanks Jonas for scaring off whoever’s table we took). She had been intent on dining here for sometime (at least that’s what it appeared to be, and whether or not that was the case, I was more than willing to indulge her).
Upon entry, we were welcomed into a long corridor; stylistically sleek and modern… and indicative of the kind of interior the rest of this place was sporting. After dropping off our winter-​wear with the coat check, we were then met by the two hostesses (who proceeded to be the only on-​floor-​staff to be female, as far as this particular Unilocaler observed anyway); for the rest of the night, the servers, busboys, management, etc. were nothing but dudes (let’s work on creating a more aesthetically appealing workforce for your clientele who are more appreciative of the female form…). Thankfully, as previously mentioned, the cosmetically blessed tandem of the modern interior, which was still woefully outshone by the lady sitting across from me that evening, were more than sufficient enough to distract me from the sad fact that there was a lack of lady folk (read: unfortunate sausage fest) on the floor staff; to their credit though, all the dudes provided friendly and efficient service.
That evening, my dinner companion and myself opted to forego alcoholic beverages. Perhaps we wanted to be at the height of our faculties in order to enjoy each others’ company… or maybe we were still grasping at our resolutions to be less spendthrifty in 2016 (so far, kinda failing there)… or maybe a combination of the two. That’s not to say that the breadth and selection of the cocktail menu didn’t look impressive (perhaps we can look to sample a few libations next time). Despite not ordering booze, a quick look at the drinks served to the tables adjacent to ours revealed quite the fancy presentation (lots of smokey dry ice). Very cool stuff indeed.
I’m happy to report that the trend of pretty things at my table also extended to the visual presentation of the dishes we ordered. From the Restaurant Week menu, we started with the fried and steamed dim sum samplers; all hand crafted, all stunning to look at… these initial offerings may very well have stolen the show just on looks alone. Crystalline and translucent rice wrappers on the steamed dim sum pieces, with some hues of color thrown in for good measure, and served in a traditional steaming basket… bravo on arrangement. The fried dim sum had quite a showpiece as well. The fried shrimp dumpling, with ribbons of fried spring roll wrapper protruding from the top (doing its best impression of a bonfire), while not the easiest thing to eat was certainly an impressively crafted piece of fried food. And everything was tasty to boot.
The entrees, though not served in as masterful a package as the apps, were still pleasant to look at. The bright purple of the aubergine (eggplant) in the tofu dish popped out, and the red chili flakes in the lamb dish provided the same flare as demonstrated in the aforementioned dish. Both were tasty, but the award for better bite would go to the tofu and aubergine (eggplant).
The mousse that was served for dessert was quite a looker as well, though the tapioca and coconut concoction was probably the most homely dish that was presented that night. Oddly enough, I enjoyed the taste of the tapioca better than the mousse; looks aren’t everything I suppose.
In the end, despite the dubious reputation of this joint when it comes to pricing, I must say that myself and my lovely dinner companion that evening made it out of there like bandits. The stalwart resolve that we displayed in not ordering booze was a thing of mythic proportions. Less than $ 50 to (not) wine and dine on tasty edibles, with a pretty lady, in a notoriously pricey establishment to boot??? Seems impossible… but it happened (and you can do it too).

Excellent service and authentic Chinese food. I was visiting NY and my friend decided to take me to a nice Chinese restaurant for Lunar New year dinner. It was such a great experience the drink was sweet, the food well decorated and the taste was traditional.

Restaurant week bought me to Hakkasan. The service at the front desk was prompt and we were seated as soon as our entire party arrived. They seated us very close to the kitchen and we didn’t care too much for the smell of boiling seafood but they couldn’t move us as they were fully booked. For a place that charges as much as Hakkasan I feel they should pay more attention to things like this.
We started off drinking the infamous Smoky Negroni, while the process of preparing it was very entertaining, I didn’t care much for the drink itself, the aftertaste was too strong for me. The table also got a few China mules which they enjoyed.
We got both the steamed as well as the fried dumplings and that’s where the magic is I guess. They have the best shrimp dumplings, har gau I think it’s called I have ever had. Absolutely delicious. The fried dumplings were also pretty great. We even got a steamed veggie dumpling platter for the table and it was simply out of this world. They gave us this really yummy chili sauce with the dumplings that was the bomb, don’t miss it.
For main course, we tried the tofu aubergine claypot, the pork tenderloin and chicken claypot everything was delicious. The egg fried rice is really yummy.
For dessert there was tapioca pudding, which I was not a big fan of and chocolate mousse which was again spectacular.
They are very good with dietary restrictions and allergies. The service is good. They also have a wall of wishes, they ask you to write your wishes for the new year and tie it up on this wall. Nice touch.
I am in love with their dumplings, but I guess I am not going to run back to this place anytime soon.

My husband and I have been here twice and we always get the same appetizer: the Hakka steamed dim sum platter. If you come here, this is a must. Every table around us had also ordered the same thing and this is definitely their signature dish. The rest of their entrée dishes are also good. This time around we tried a new chicken dish that had kumquat sauce and it wasn’t my favorite although my husband loved it since it’s the closest thing to orange chicken on their menu. We both loved the chicken and crispy fish fried rice and this was served in large quantity! Can’t wait to go back even though it definitely hurts our wallet at the end of our night!

This is really Cantonese at its best. We thoroughly enjoyed every part of every dish we had — and we had the restaurant week menu. Hidden behind a dark, low-​key door, I walked right past the restaurant, even if I’ve been living next block to it for over a year.
I LOVED the décor. While waiting for my friend, I took advantage of their creative Chinese style cocktails — these don’t come by a lot! It was delicately made and super delicious. The bar tender had the best smile and was the most courteous.
For starters we had the prince mushroom salad and the steamed dim sum. Neither one of us had tasted a better shrimp dumpling in our life, and we’ve had a lot of them between the two of us. The prince mushroom was also superb — crispy but juicy at the same time.
The second highlight of the meal was the chicken claypot. OMG — I doubt you can make chicken tenderer and juicier than that. The sauce was amaaazing. Asparagus was refreshing and delicious too. Even the fried rice was way above par.
The third highlight was the chocolate mousse — the pomegranate tapioca was great too, but the chocolate cake base in the mousse was second only to desserts made by Chika in the east village. I could’ve died for that mousse haha.
Overall, this was the rare (Michelin) experience where there’s not one thing you don’t like. Especially during restaurant week. Bravo!

I’ve been here twice already and as an Asian who grew up on plenty full of Chinese food, never have I ever thought I would pay absurd prices for Chinese food let alone even actually enjoy it. Hakkassan is a true gourmet-​fancy-​fine dine-​chinese food. I totally underestimated Hakkassan. It is an art, from their modern upscale take on Chinese food, to the beautiful desserts, and to their top notch cocktails. The staff has been super professional, all the waitress I’ve had before has been so knowledgable and informative on the food and accommodating. Restaurant interior is spacious, nice, and trendy.
**Hakkassan is undoubtedly delicious that I would’ve gave it all 5 stars, but the real Asian in me is still kind of finding it a little crazy on the thought of the price.
COCKTAILS: I love watching them make the cocktails such as the smokey negroni, and the presentation is too pretty that it makes me not want to drink it! For all the ladies who loves a fruity cocktail that’s not too sweet either, you must get the floating goddess! All my friends ended up ordering extra rounds on it. And if you’re a whiskey lover, I highly recommend the blood&sand; its a tad strong but so perfectly made with a tad lightly smokey taste on some 12yr scotch and little orange zesty infusion taste
THE FOOD: You are out of your mind if you don’t order the Chilean sea bass and the truffle duck from here. The Chilean sea bass is so delicate yet grilled perfectly with a delicious sweet glaze that just over-​all melts in your mouth. Truffle duck is boneless and roasted Chinese style… Except the skin is super crispy like never done before at any standard Chinese restaurant. Crispy duck salad is also another top must. Pretty much all other entrees I’ve had here that was even on the restaurant week menu was superb; spicy prawns, San-​Pei chicken clay pot, wok-​fry lamb tenderloin (which by the way my group loved this so much because it wasn’t a bit gamey and was super tender and flavorful). The only passable dish was the sweet and sour pork which was nothing special. I say if you do plan on taking advantage of trying Hakkassan during RW, do come with a group and still order the truffle duck and Chilean Seabass on to the table… It is not to be missed.
DESSERTS: I’m a dessert lover, and not only is their dessert so appealing… But the two times I’ve been here it has always exceeded my expectation. There’s so many macaron shops in NYC now, and Hakkassan should definitely open up their own! The macaron she’ll is well formed, soft, flaky but yet still has a chew to it like it should… Not too sweet either! Their carrot cake is nothing like your usual carrot cake that you don’t enjoy eating. Unless you do then this will blow your socks off even more because their carrot cake is DELICIOUS! I also really enjoyed the chocolate mousse, coconut tapioca pudding, and pomegranate & chocolate bombe.

I had a pretty solid meal here with a friend on a semi busy Thursday night. We started off with drinks by the bar, which is long and sleek, with a lot of tables and booths in that room. As soon as my friend joined me, we were seated quickly. Our waitress was very attentive to begin with, but the service for the rest of the night left more to be desired.
As far as the food… The duck spring rolls were perfect to start with. I recommend 2 orders of these if you are greedy like me. I had the corn and crab soup, with was delicious. Corn purée base, with shredded crab throughout. Very delicate, highly recommended as well.
The one dish I’ll come back to get would be the fried chicken with kumquat sauce. It was flavorful, light, and easy to share. The kumquat was like sweet and sour sauce on citrus steroids. I would put this on any and everything (I mixed some in with my rice). A very bright accompaniment to the chicken.
Next in my mouth were the Singapore noodles, which was the only disappointment of the meal. But still only a slight one! Flavors were good, I just expected a bit more umami.
Chicken and crispy fish rice was good, but there was a bone in the rice. I guess there could’ve been worse things, but that’s definitely a choking hazard when you’re shoveling rice down your throat.
To complete our meal, we had the fanciest piece of carrot cake I’ve ever eaten. But undernearth the frou frou, it was damn good.
Everything I had I would recommend. But our waitress had no soul and disappeared on us multiple times. That’s just as memorable as the food!

I knew coming into this place that I was going to drop some cash. Hanging their hat on a Michelin star, two doormen for a relatively unmarked and unassuming door, and a massive granite lined restaurant. You can just feel the overhead dollars this restaurant is seeking to cover by their listed price points.
Service was on point, and even when it wasn’t on perfect it was addressed pretty darn quick. My water was empty twice, and I caught the waiter motioning for it to be filled within one minute of it being empty. Our cocktails were constantly checked on.
The price here takes a bit to get over, but once you’re over that you can thoroughly enjoy almost all of the offerings. I highly recommend the Grilled Chilean sea bass with Chinese honey. My wife said it was probably the best fish she has ever eaten. I saved as much of it for her and did my work on the crispy duck salad, which was equally amazing. The two dim sum sampler platters were good. I don’t know if they were 2 – 3 dollars per dumpling good, but good nonetheless.
The only miss of the night was the dessert dumplings I ordered. The black sesame and chocolate filling was great. The strange part was the jasmine and yuzu tea that the dumplings were in. There were too many flavors that didn’t meld well. The yuzu was very citrusy, and the jasmine didn’t cut through the acid enough to help carry it through with the chocolate and sesame. So you had this sharp citrus flavor attacking the sweet and silkiness of the dumpling filling.
I can consider this place a special event, possibly once in a lifetime meal. Given the mass amount of other establishments in NYC, offering items along the same thread for a quarter of the price, I might opt for them over Hakkasan.

I went here had dinner with my girlfriends, everything was pretty awesome!!! The décor, lighting, and atmosphere just make me feel so comfortable and relax. The hostess was friendly, the server was very professional and able to explain foods to us.
I read some of the comments that people complain the price. No doubt the food is pricy, but this is a chain/​fine dining restaurant; you cannot compare the food/​price with what you can get in Chinatown.
Highly recommend for the soft shell crab and truffle duck, very tasty!!!
Overall my experience in this restaurant is very great, would definitely recommend (if you don’t mind the price).

Vegetable and steamed dim sum platters were a good variety– each came with two of each dumplings.
For entrees we tried the pipa duck (a small portion of the pecking), wok fried ginger seafood, wok fried duck with tangerine and tandoori chicken all with a side of rice
Recommend the pipa duck it had a great crispy skin and tender meat on the inside. The ginger seafood was also delicious generous portion of seafood
For dessert the fruit platter is amazing with some exotic fruits and beautiful display. But if you prefer ‘real’ dessert– the pomegranate chocolate dessert is amazing on its own but with the suggested wine pairing is amazing!
The wine list at Hakkasan, in general is amazing… it goes on and on and on and on.
Service was friendly and attentive

I’ve been to the Vegas location a few times, and dream about the crispy duck salad. So naturally I had to have dinner here while in the city, and of course I ordered the crispy duck salad.
I had a 9:30p reservation, but while out and about we were hungry early, around 6:30. The hostess said there weren’t any tables available, but we could sit in the bar/​lounge area. This was fine. There’s a very large table and chairs in the middle of the lounge, so a friend and I just sat at the end. We ate our meal here, and still had excellent waiter service.
There was a dj spinning, and it got louder the later it was. This would be a nice lounge for drinks and apps as well, but comfortable enough to have dinner.
Yes it’s pricey, but the service and food are excellent.

Hakkasan
311 West 43^rd Street between 8^th and 9^th Avenues, New York, USA
13 Nov 2015
Pan-​seared Shanghai dumpling — good but vinegar sauce not strong enough
Spicy lamb lupin wrap — nice
Guilin fried quail lemongrass with Mandarin pancakes — a bit too saltish
Salt & pepper squid — too much batter; complained and they took it off the bill which was nice of the Assistant Manager
Sesame prawn toast with foie gras — nice but foie gras is melted and very little
I have dined at Hakkasan in San Francisco before but had different things (mostly steamed) and I think overall their steamed food was better.

I came here for restaurant week with my friend. The place was fully booked even two weeks in advance so I was expecting it to be packed! But the night of our reservation, the place was empty! It’s definitely on the pricey side, it’s only worth it during restaurant week! People keep saying that dimsum should not be this expensive, but the dimsum was actually very good! The presentation was great and it tasted great! We tried both the steamed dimsum platter and the fried dimsum platter, both amazing. As for entrees, we ordered the sanpei claypot chicken and the ribeye beef. Both orders came with jasmine rice and a side dish of veggies. Both dishes were very tasty and the meats were really tender!
The place is huge and the décor is beautiful. It’s very neat and calming. The wait staff is very attentive and nice. I would definitely be returning, maybe wait until the next restaurant week!

Saindo de um show na Broadway, em uma sexta feira chuvosa, descobrimos esse excelente restaurante. Equipe super educada e atenciosa, ambiente agradável e a comida maravilhosa. Sem nos Dimsum de comer chorando… Super recomendo