Will Fong
Google
We were excited to find a Hong Kong style restaurant with great reviews so the 3 of us traveled from Brooklyn and 1 from Forest Hills to meet up at 8pm Saturday to give Yummy Noodle House a try. Once we were seated we ordered the HK milk tea, lemon tea, & 2 clay pot rice (pork & salted fish and Chinese sausage) with the female server then asked for a few minutes so we could discuss what other dishes we wanted to try. A few minutes pass and the male server approaches with a bit of an unfriendly demeanor asking if we were ready to order we finalized our selections in front of him while he grimaced - HK pan fried rice roll, HK pan fried noodle w soy, shrimp wonton noodle soup, deep fried fish skin noodle soup, fried chive dumplings, salt & pepper fish, and steamed Shanghai soup dumplings. The drinks and the dishes started to come out relatively quickly considering the house was semi full of patrons 1 hour prior to closing time. HK milk tea was average at best compared to what many HK cafe's in the east coast present as HK milk tea - there was no depth in flavors, not much condense milk flavor, and too bitter. Onto the food - we were really excited also to see they offered HK style clay pot rice which is becoming rarer to find these days. One of our excitements of the dinner to try, yet it was similar to the HK teas - just average at best compared to the others in the NY/NJ area. Lacking favor and quality in the rice base, proteins added to the clay pot were average nothing impressive, and even the flavored soy for the clay pot rice was eh. One of our litmus test items for a HK cafe or restaurant besides the HK Milk Tea is the HK pan fried noodle with soy and Yummy's version isn't exactly authentic in all its ingredients but it was tasty, had some wok hay, and noodles were proper - a decent dish here. The other stardard HK dish we rate a HK eatery on is their HK wonton noodle soup and Yummy's is another eh. The wontons were lacking shrimp and the mostly pork filling was overly salty, the soup base was lacking flavor or that umami/shrimp/seafood flavor, and the noodles weren't exactly amazing being a bit limp as well a bit soft and missing true HK noodles having that "ghan sui" flavor. The pan fried chive dumplings were very decent with flavor, fresh chives, and filled nicely. The salt & pepper fish dish was eh - nothing for us to order again. The Shanghai XLB were eh - another nothing for us to order again. So for the drink and food I would say Yummy is what it claims "HK Style" and not authentic HK food. Portions are decent but if you are looking for authentic HK food and excellent prep/flavors then it's worth a try but it's not the place.
Now, the biggest issue we had with Yummy is that at 8:20pm while we were eating and still a few other parties eating - the staff started sweeping all around us, spraying cleaners around us, and the male server asked us if we wanted to order anything else. Then at 8:30pm the male server printed out the checks for all eating patrons and placed checks on everyone's tables without saying anything. Then he proceeded to sit at a empty table across from us playing with his phone while seemingly eyeing us with another staff standing at the rear of the restaurant also eyeing us. We all felt the pressure of the staff wanting us to finish, pay up, and leave yet we were half done with our food. At 8:35pm the female server comes over to ask us if there is anything else we would need and one of us says - oh no but we know you want us to finish up and leave. The server then says - oh no thats not the case. I then ask her what time do you close? She responds with a "ummmm, well the kitchen usually closes at 8:30pm" and I ask her - but your listed closing time is 9pm isn't it? There was no confirm or response. I mean I get it - there are 2 parties left and you want to go home but the whole night we felt some unfriendliness from 1 or 2 of the staff and a lot of pressure from all staff 40 minutes before closing time. This isn't how you should treat customers.