I will start out by saying that I'm very glad there is a Chinese restaurant on 72nd St. So this place is not it's not cheap for the upper west side. Everything is 20 bucks basically every entrée some are a little less some are a lot more. I ordered the hot and sour soup which was really not good so I do not recommend it. I ordered the chicken with vegetables, which was very good and the mu shu pork which was very good The portions are very generous for the main courses. When I told them that I thought the soup was not very good instead of taking it back right away they just walked by me, but that's what you've come to expect in a lot of Chinese restaurants in Manhattan. So don't expect to be treated like you are that important there. I had to ask for things like soy sauce and when I asked if they had little crackers for the soup, he walked by me and they said no crackers It is a great place for sharing entrées. It is much better than any of the other Chinese places in that area if you have two people to share an entrée. read more

One of the better Sichuanese restaurants I've been to in New York! We came for a quick dinner before a show nearby and thought everything was delicious. The interior of the restaurant has plenty of seating, which meant we were seated promptly on a Friday night. Service was attentive, and they refilled our water often. We also happened to catch happy hour ($8 cocktails and $6 beers!), which runs all the way until 8pm -- a nice surprise! The menu has a surprising number of authentic Sichuanese dishes that aren't super common in the states (e.g., frog and rabbit), so I'd love to come back and try more things. For food, we ordered the Szechuan Style Green Bean Noodle to start and split the mapo tofu and blistered green beans, along with two portions of white rice. The Green Bean Noodle was served warm, which isn't typical, but otherwise had a good texture and tasty sauce. The mapo tofu and green beans were surprisingly delicious -- the mapo tofu was layered with different spices, and the green beans was a perfect balance of salty, sour (from the mustard greens), and sweet (probably a dash of sugar. My only complaint is that the prices are on the higher side -- the food, plus two beers at happy hour prices, came out to about $90. But could be just a symptom of the area! read more

See all

This is their Chicken Kung Pao.It is $22 if you go with dark meat, as I did or $23 with white meat. I also got this cucumber salad for $13 which was fine. Perhaps a bit on the small side. This kung Pao was not all that good. To me it's almost like a general Tso's chicken more than it is a kung pao. The chicken was breaded which is ridiculous , the sauce was far too sweet, no sichuan peppercorns and not enoughs chilis. Was it god awful? No. There was a good amount of ginger and garlic but it wasn't very good read more

Legend 72 - Chinese Near Me - New York, New York

See all

I agree with Jane D that Legend72 is a 3.5 star restaurant. I will start with the positives: +decent scallion pancakes + attentive service Negatives: - dishes not always as described on menu - meat used for our Beef short rib on sizzling iron plate was very tough, low quality, hard to eat - duck tasted ok but a bit drier than expected, the presentation was also lacking as you can see in the photos The table behind us seemed content with their more Americanized Chinese food dishes, perhaps we ordered incorrectly. read more

See all

Terrible general Cho's chicken, mediocre service, mediocre ambiance. I don't understand where the high rating comes from.

We were huge fans of the Legend restaurant in Chelsea-- for its authentic food, its atmosphere and service. Ordering up from Legend 72 was a disappointment. Dumplings were doughy and tasteless; dried sautéed beef had only one flavor-hot; chicken with peanuts was tasteless and soggy. Maybe the food is better in the restaurant than ordered up, but it was pretty awful the other night. read more

We've been on a quest to find good Asian food on the UWS. The reviews are either lies or planted reviews. The general Tao's shrimp came with 3x the breading that it needed. I actually choked on it. The cold sesame noodles are sweeter than eating a spoonful of sugar. This place serves crap, not food. read more

Legend 72 - 81. General Tso's Prawns Larger. Than life!!! - Chinese Near Me - New York, New York

Generic, No Flair, Spicy is Not Spicy, This is Greasy Food, No Chop Sticks Included, You think they might ask? No way, No Chili Oil, No Hot Sauce, You are on your own, The Food is Blah, Mediocre at best. Prices way too high for this quality, they rush the food to get it out the door, little care for the customers. Higher and higher prices, smaller and smaller portions, no flavor! read more

Tasty Szechuan restaurant. The fried fish was my favorite dish of the night. The fried chicken morsels with chilies were also good, but lacked the numbing peppercorns that I love. Fine atmosphere, restrained service. read more

This spot has earned my complete loyalty through consistent quality. They treat customers well in a stress-free space. The meal components were properly cooked. Staff members create a comfortable atmosphere. My visit was characterized by excellence. read more

Humongous menu of options at Legend 72 -- the beef, pork, chicken, seafood, and vegetarian sections all came with what seemed to be at least a dozen options, and that didn't include the appetizers, noodles, and other specialty dishes. I got the chicken with spicy peppers and was blown away with how quickly my food was brought out: a whole plate in less than five minutes. The food was tasty, though not extraordinary. But with how big the menu is, I'd like to come back and try something else! read more

I've been to Legend 72 many times, and it never disappoints. This is one of the best Chinese restaurants in the New York. The food is consistently delicious -- I always order the sautéed snow pea leaves, spicy Chengdu fish fillet, scallion pancake, and the fish fillet soup with pickled vegetables. The menu is huge, with so many options that even after multiple visits, I still haven't tried everything. Every dish is flavorful！ The owner is incredibly warm and welcoming, and always makes you feel at home! If you love real Chinese food, this place is a must! read more

they are attentive and make food fast. the ambiance is quite nice as they have a seating area in the front with magazines for pickeruppers to read. would order from here again. read more

Legend 72 - Chinese Near Me - New York, New York

Ordered the egg drop soup (not as salty nor flavorful as every other one I've had), vegetable spring roll, sesame cold noodle (didn't taste any peanut sauce, and it tasted more acidic and didn't really like it), shrimp Shumai (twice the normal size, shrimp was chunky [not a good or bad thing]), vegetable fried rice (not salty and a little flavorless), bok choy with mushrooms (one of my favorite dishes), and the BBQ pork ribs (my other favorite). Although the bok choy with mushrooms and BBQ pork ribs were good, the other food didn't make up for the whole order. Everything was pretty bland, which some people might prefer, but for myself I had to add a lot of seasonings. The Shumai was also luke warm and not hot, despite this place being right around the corner. Overall not bad food at all, just not my favorite. read more

Legend 72 - Chinese Near Me - New York, New York

My favorite local restaurant. Amazing sichuan dishes that you can't get near by and incredible quality always. The ingredients are so fresh. I always opt to dine in just because the service is so great. Some of my favorite dishes are the soup dumplings, dry pot, cumin fish and the snow pea shoots. Love taking friends here too :) read more

The food and the service leave a lot to be desired. it has been open for many years, but I do not know how they say business judging from the results of what is served I refuse to return due to two. Poor experiences I've had. Upper West Side has so much better to offer. read more

This place is now a 3.5 star establishment (but given the pandemic, I'm rounding up to 4). It's been a while since we've eaten here, and previously noteworthy dishes are now just ok -- fair to good for the UWS, but no longer swoon worthy as they once were. Beef Tendon with Spicy and Peppery Flavor ($12.95) was once sliced so delicately thin you could read the NY Times through it, and the mala spicing was once authentically potent. It is now much more thickly sliced, with a unidimensional spicy heat predominating, but only a tinge of mala heat, too little salt or other flavor components, despite the addition of thinly slivered scallions. Bean Curd Mixed with Chopped Green Onion ($8.95) was similarly disappointing. The last time we got this, it was made with a Michelin-worthy scallion sauce, bright green, probably meticulously chopped by hand, perfectly seasoned, which elevated a humble dish of neatly small-diced silken tofu to something fit for food royalty (e.g. Ligaya Mishan, my favorite food journalist). The scallion sauce is now watery, pureed, a shadow of its former self. The diced tofu you now get is large and uneven -- which doesn't of course affect taste, but does affect aesthetics and maybe reflects the amount of attention this kitchen takes to detail. I may have been content to settle for this dish if I hadn't had it in all its former glory. Chow Fun with Beef ($13.50) was competent, a mild dish for the kids, made with tender-textured wide rice cheun fun noodles, slightly velveted beef and sauteed onions and napa cabbage. It was undersalted and underspiced, but enjoyable for the children we ordered it for. Little Juicy Pork Buns ($11.50) were competent as well, the bun as thin-skinned as any you'll find on the UWS. They arrived to us with a few torn open, soup escaped, but the intact ones provided our littles with that fun, authentic xiao long bao slurping experience. Crunchy Woodear and Cucumber ($8.95) was another simple, formerly wonderful dish that really needs excellent ingredients and execution to work. Instead, there was more of that watery scallion puree gunk where there should've been some acid, sesame oil, heat, salt, something. This is a dish I dearly love (high up there with the silken tofu with scallion sauce dish) and it was such a disappointment to have this wimpy, bland, dumbed down version. The Smoked Tea Duck was pleasant, OTOH, slightly too salty for our tastes, but tender, nicely smoked. It was about 1/10th as delicious as a favorite version we had at a wonderful little restaurant near West Lake in Hangzhou a few years ago (next to the tea plantations that sourced the tea for the dish) -- but Legend 72's was competent for NYC. I'd try these again. Fast delivery by a really nice human in under the estimated time. Will give this place a few months before trying again. Hope they bring back the awesome! read more

The food here is authentic Szechuan. Everything I've tried has been amazing. We moved and I still come up to get it. Spicy beef jerky Double cooked bacon with leeks Shredded beef All the soups in winter Glass noodles with pickled veg and mushrooms Upper west side best read more

I've been trying cumin lamb all over town. This place had the flavor but really missed the mark by having some sort of price discrepancy between the paper "takeout" menus and their in-house menu. I've never been before so I didn't even imagine it would be different for a full-priced entree. $3 difference! The waiter replied it was a takeout price. But I imagined that my tip for waiter service is enough to bring me one dish and one glass of water, instead of me taking the dish out. It wasn't a volume issue like lunch portions v dinner. I don't like bait-and-switch. They get two stars for including a small portion of white rice instead of. Hanging extra on top of the entrée--a horrible trend. Note: this was a $23 (or $26!) dish. Not an economy meal! read more

I really appreciated how helpful our waitress was in helping us decide which frog dish we wanted (soupy? dry? spicy? fried? braised?) but unfortunately the frog dish we got was pretty overcooked, and despite being $32, didn't have that much frog meat in it. It was spicy, which was good (we asked for it) but often it felt like we were just eating straight peppers and bones. When the eggplant came out, my partner said 'smells like Panda Express'. I 'tsk'ed him, but sadly he was right. There's this dish in Chinese that translates to 'fish-fragrant eggplant' and a lot of the time in Sichuan restaurants, they translate the English as 'eggplant in garlic sauce', which is what we ordered. That was not the case here - the sauce was brown and sugary. I should probably have clarified with the waitress, who I'm sure would have been happy to point me in a different direction. read more

This is one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in NYC. In the photos, we ordered braised fish with spicy sauce and a side order of steamed mixed vegetables. The braised fish was huge!! I love their chicken with spicy green peppers, Dan Dan noodles, and scallion pancakes. read more

Legend 72 - Steamed Mixed Vegetables!~ - Chinese Near Me - New York, New York

See all

Ordered food here the first time to go. Got home and was very disappointed. Small portions, no flavor, and way over priced. Do not waste your money here. The Singapore dish was terrible. Maybe 2 babie shrimp in it. read more

Today, I have enjoyed some delicious food with my family at our favorite restaurant we go there about 3-4 times a week, sometimes more, it is recommended to try. read more

Legend 72 - 4. Tomato with Egg Soup 19. BBQ Pork Ribs Beef Tendon with Spicy and Peppery Flavor water spinach soybean milk - Chinese Near Me - New York, New York

Quality has gone down over the past few months, sadly. Chicken was more flour than meat :(

This top restaurant in up west we've ! Food is very delicious and the manager Mary is outstanding host for all of her customers! She is very friendly and caring about what we like to eat . She always provides the highest quality food for everyone! She also brings the Jazz music to her restaurant so we really love this restaurant so much !! read more

favorite neighborhood chinese. their soup dumplings and cumin fish dishes are excellent. Service is great and attentive. It isn't anything fancy just great chinese food. read more

In the UWS, it's slim pickin's when it comes to good Chinese food. I have yet to find a really great authentic Chinese restaurant in the UWS. I mainly come to Legend 72 for their Szechuan food (definitely not for their regular dishes like chicken w.broccoli, etc, etc, etc). Their Szechuan dishes are the must have's at this restaurant. But honestly, they can't compare to other great Szechuan places in Queens or Chinatown, but for the UWS, it is probably one of the better restaurants in the area. If you stick to their "Szechuan dishes" and "New Szechuan dishes" on the menu, you can't go wrong. Service was great - I asked them the bring out the dishes slowly and not all at once; and then gladly accommodated. This is the menu that 8 ppl shared: Lamb w/cumin - great flavor; one of the best dishes of tonight! Chendu spicy fish filet - great dish but not enough fish Chongqing diced chicken w/chili peppercorn - good but too little chicken Ma Po Tofu w/minced pork - just ok Sautéed pig's kidney - this was a great dish! Dry sautéed string beans w/minced pork - just ok Stir-fried lotus root & lettuce stem - dish was ok but very small portions! Choice of white or brown rice - nice to have a choice! The food was tasty and spicy, although not really THAT spicy, considering the numbing effect some of the dishes with peppercorns had! The size of the dishes tend to be small for family-style dining. Also, I found the food to be way too salty...next time, less salt and more spiciness, please! :) Would I return? I probably will if I'm in the area, but I wouldn't go out of my way. Again, great for the UWS area! read more

See all

March 5, 2020, 2pm. I walk in and place a take-out order for $9.75 and hand her a card. The woman (not very friendly) says, "There's a $10 minimum for cards." I say, "It's only a quarter difference." Her: "Sorry." I pay cash, wait for my food and say, "You know, it was only a quarter difference - I don't understand why you couldn't have just let me pay with a card." Her: "Sorry, thank you." in a rather dismissive way. To the manager: Do you think you'll build a business and community following by being ungracious about things like this? It's called "BEING FRIENDLY and GRACIOUS to the customer." Now I won't return. Had she said, "Sure, no problem." I might have returned. Also, the soup container was only filled up 3/4 of the way. Another minor detail but contributes to the overall stingy experience. The food was average (at best). The broccoli in the"chicken with broccoli" did not seem very fresh. Suggestion: Have one of your staff go around the city and order chicken with broccoli and see how other restaurants do it. Also, there were only two people eating in the whole restaurant. read more

Legend 72 - Soup only filled up 3/4 of the way. Small detail, but adds to the overall stingy experience of this restaurant staff. - Chinese Near Me - New York, New York

I've been coming to Legend 72 for years now for really quality Chinese food, and it's almost never disappointed. The staff have also been very kind to my family and I and it feels very comfortable coming here for dinner - great service! If you come, definitely try the Mapo Tofu and the Fried fish with sweet/sour sauce - it's one of our favorites. read more

We were in the mood for an Asian restaurant close to the Beacon Theatre. Found this one on Yelp and definitely coming back. Lots of tables, fast service. The food is spicy and good! Will definitely go back one day! read more

See all

Extraordinary Sichuan cuisine embassy at the UWS. Sichuan's food is rich and refined. As a region it is composed by the accumulation of very diverse ecosystems. Conifer and bambú forest, sediments and rivers, rice fields. This is reflected in Legend's menu. Don't miss the mushrooms, mostly in soups. And don't be scared of spicy, which here is taken to a new level. Decoration could be seriously improved. Service is nice and professional. read more

This is my favorite spot in the UWS for Szechuan food -- and my weekly go-to! The staff is friendly and gets to know you, it's never crowded, and they have a large variety of authentic and delicious dishes -- especially if you like spicy food. Dry Spicy Tasty Chicken with Ginger and Peanut is one of my favorite dishes in the world! Also great: Soup Dumplings, Green Beans, Cumin Lamb, Shredded Chicken with Green Peppers, Spicy Fish Fillet read more

Been dining and ordering in from here for years. Yesterday I ordered spare ribs which were ok. Also ordered the cucumber appetizer and the Chow Fun with Beef which were tasteless. Fortunately I had a jar of Black Bean sauce and added it to the Chow Fun...Made all the difference. read more

I ordered sauteed fish for lunch from here two weeks ago. The dish was super salty. They seem to have pretty good reviews on many of their dishes. I think the chef might have made a mistake. The customer service was great though. read more

Legend 72 - Very salty fish sauteed. Ask for less salt - Chinese Near Me - New York, New York

Nice service and very nice food. Very friendly. I like the spicy fish and Chong qing chicken. The strbean is very tasty

this is for take out only - the quality of the wrappers for peking duck is subpar. They obviously don't care about the actual experience of eating the food - it's just about getting something out the door. read more

Legend 72 - T14W. Peking Duck (Whole) The peking duck is delicious, the wrappers they send are unacceptable. - Chinese Near Me - New York, New York

We ordered a whole bunch of food for a family gathering. In particular, the eggplant in garlic sauce was amazing. Wasn't so crazy about the spring rolls, but all in all the food was very good. read more

Best local Chinese on the UWS. The extensive menu means some dishes are better than others, but that's true of any Chinese restaurant. Prices are a bit higher but so is the quality, and I speak as someone whose spent the pandemic scoping the delivery apps for new Chinese options as the bright spot of my workday... A Chinese restaurant's dumplings are a good barometer of what's coming next, and this is true here. Veg and pork steamed dumplings were light and flavorful. Shrimp with lobster sauce is very good. Fried rice is good and portions are big. I'm not a fan of greasy take outs and this place has that freshness factor that's hard to quantify sometimes but keeps you coming back. read more

Spacious restaurant that provides cozy dining environment. Food is very friendly to local people. Also did a good job to preserve the authentic Chinese food flavor. Picture shows a duck I ordered recently. I also ordered personalized bean jelly. Chef did a great job to satisfy my taste and requirement. This is one of the few places that I go to on a regular basis. read more

Legend 72 - Smoked Tea Duck - Chinese Near Me - New York, New York

I am a regular customer of legend 72. Last week, when I was dining at legend 72 with my friends, I encountered an unusual incident: a lady lost control of her emotions and got angry loudly . At that time, there were two tables of guests in the restaurant who were enjoying their food. They were all startled by the sudden noise. The waiter and the manager tried to explain it to her, but in the morning end, she still didn't care about the dining experience of other people in public places. She walked out of the restaurant noisily and declared that she would give the restaurant a bad review on various websites and platforms. After they left, I learned from the manager that because she had two children, one of whom was sleeping in a stroller, the waiter arranged a quiet table for the five of them where the children were not easily disturbed. She got angry because she was dissatisfied and didn't listen to the explanation. In fact, as an old customer and someone who happened to encounter this incident, I just want to say a few fair words. If you accidentally see her or his bad reviews, please analyze rationally and don't be misled by one-sided and personalized comments and miss a good restaurant where you can enjoy authentic Sichuan cuisine. 我是legend 72的老熟客，上周和朋友在legend72用餐时，遇到了一件不同寻常的事：有一位女士不知何因情绪失控大发脾气，这时餐馆里还有两桌客人正在享用他们的美食，都被这突如其来的吵闹声一下子惊到了。只见服务生和manager在好言解释，但最后她还是不顾忌公共场合其他人的就餐体验， 吵闹着走出餐馆并宣称要在各个网站平台给餐馆差评。她们一行人离开后，通过给manager了解得知，因为她带有两个孩子，其中一个睡在婴儿车里，所以服务生给她们一行五人安排到小孩不易被打扰睡觉比较安静的桌位，她因不满且不听解释而发脾气。其实做为一个老客户和碰巧遇到这件事的人，只想说几句公道话，如何你无意中看到她或他的差评，请理智分析不要被片面的个人化的评论所误导而错过一个可以享受地道川菜美食的好餐馆。 read more