*Clarification : This is for the new, yellow Uncle Luoyang food truck It pains me to write a poor review for Uncle Luoyang, especially since it was one of the first of the Chinese food trucks to bring palatable, cheap food to campus. I've been to the original truck several times and the owner has always been kind and fast. So, when I noticed that Uncle Luoyang had a newer, snazzier truck, I was excited and happy for the owner. And when I noticed that the line was far shorter than the ones for the other trucks, I was excited for me. Perhaps that should've been my first clue that the new truck was not as good as the decor would make it seem. When I ordered in English, it took a few confusing minutes before the woman understood my order. This isn't surprising or too much of a negative, but I just thought I'd mention for those who can't speak Mandarin. I ordered my usual, the pork burger. It took less than the time for me to pull out my wallet for the food to be ready. Rather than coming in the wax paper envelope Uncle Luoyang and neighboring trucks have used in the past, it came wrapped up in foil. The "burger" seemed painfully thin and I became a little suspicious that the fancy new digs meant a decrease in portion of offset business costs. When I opened up the foil, these suspicions were not only verified, but were exceeded in appalling levels. The bun had less than a quarter of the portion of meat I had received from the old truck. There was not even enough pork to cover all of the bun in a single layer. The pork itself was deliciously flavored, but lacking the wonderfully unctuous fatty portions that lend moisture to the burger. As a result, the burger fell flat and left my mouth dry from too much bun. The only plus side is that if you're looking for bread, it seems the bun is thicker than ever. Just don't order the pork burger expecting any pork. read more

See all

I have been back multiple times. I have to say my favorite dish goes to its (beef or chicken) lunch special (often available through 4pm-ish)! Check out my previous reviews for more info! I will also explain its menu in details in this update for those who have language barriers when communicating with the owner. The prices listed in its truck pictures are not entirely accurate. You need to check out the small menu posted right outside his window, here is a link, http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/uncle-luoyang-new-york?select=vbGF9jptNtlzAsNKZK10Ig#nzgeHcn3lklMML_Tt_7iHg 1. For skewers ($1 each), you have the choice of: - chicken - beef - lamb He will ask you if you want "spice" added to your skewers for extra flavor. The wait time is about 2 -3 minutes if there is no line. 2. "Lunch special" is often available from noon until 3 or 4pm. $5. This is served immediately and no wait time. You have the choices of - chicken (with winter melon, carrot, vermicelli) over rice - beef (with winter melon, carrot, vermicelli) over rice - eggs and tomatoes over rice Again, your choice of adding "spice" to the food. This is a pretty good deal. Note: the menu may say it has potatoes in the rice dish, but that is not true. 3. Noodles ($5), again two choices: - hot noodles (a typical traditional Chinese home-made noodles) - cold skin noodles (the dish comes with a small bag of hot sauce for flavor) 4. Pork burger, $3. This is really good. About 3 - 5 minutes wait time if no line. 5. Chicken fries: I think this is similar to Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken, but I have never tried to it so I can't comment on this. These 5 items listed above are available daily. There are some other items such as dumplings, hot & sour soup (listed as hot & spicy soup), and Xi'an Hu La Tang Soup (listed as Spicy soup) may not be available every day. You are better off to choose any of the items from the list above. Of course, this place is cash only. read more

Uncle Luoyang - Chicken fries $5 - Food Trucks Near Me - New York, New York

See all

I was eyeing the Chicken Fried Rice, but after the cold 10 minute wait I was in, they said no fried rice today. So I asked about the noodles, and they said not that either--takes too long. At the end, I told them white rice would be fine. They said for lunch, I could choose 3 side dishes and the only thing I was feeling was fried chicken. Upon opening my box, I was surprised to find literally only white rice (I thought I would be getting "Chicken Fried Rice" but instead of fried rice, it would be white rice...) and some weird looking fried chicken, not that I was expecting Popeye's or anything, with randomly hot parts. The chicken was quite salty, but otherwise alright, but this wasn't the lunch I was craving today. Kind of a let down. :( read more

Uncle Luoyang - White rice with fried chicken - Food Trucks Near Me - New York, New York

Keywords: SALTY, FAT, SAD, RUN! Tip #1.if you see a middle age woman, please fun. She gives very little food. Literally only one small spoon of my favorite tomato eggs. Tip #2. Do NOT order the beef because it's ALL FAT and gross, or the fried chicken because it's ALL flour. Tip #3. If you want to feel happy after eating your meal, do NOT come here because their food made me super sad during and after eating. It's cheap. But next time I'd rather buy a $5 meal from the Hillel food car. Or get a burrito from Chipotle. read more

I disagree with some of the characterizations of the food here being sub-par. In fact, the food here is very passable. Yes, it doesn't exactly taste better than some of the other options on food truck row, but for value, UL is probably the best of the food truck options. What time you come here will largely shape your ordering experience. As far as I can tell, it is always the one same dude operating the vehicle. During lunch, there can be pretty long lines, so keep that in mind. Columbia's block schedule for noon time ends at 11:55, so expect TONS of people to start showing up right around 12. As a result, if you come during this peak time, I'd say plan to wait at least 10 minutes to place your order. However, once you place your order, unless you order something complex, you should get your food in under a minute. No cooking is done on board- I think all of it is done in their restaurant, which is actually located pretty nearby (106 and amsterdam), then brought over to the food truck via another vehicle. So, yes, the food isn't exactly its freshest the later in the day you get, but at the very least it's kept pretty hot. As for the food... for a safe bet, get the $7 rice box with tomato and egg, beef, and string beans. There are many other options here but until you start going several times and get a close look at some of the options yourself, don't order anything too wild. I also think the salt and pepper fish is quite good, in case you don't eat beef. I would also advise against the pork bun/burger. It's fairly filling and pretty affordable, but has very little taste, for some reason. Something important to note: these people don't have fixed hours, but generally the truck will start closing down at about 7 oclock (as per my conversation with the staff). However, they might close earlier on some days, sometimes perhaps simply if they feel like it? One of the reasons this place closes early is because they'll sell out of food on any given day, and this can happen even as early as lunch time, with regards to certain items anyway. If you're going to come, try to stick to the 11-6 window. read more

My favorite food cart at Columbia. Pretty cheap considering what is around. Cash only sadly. The guy doesn't speak English too well but that just shows its authenticity. Don't come here expecting Americanized Chinese food. I just love the skewers, fried bread stick, and lamb burger. read more

$7 for massive portion of 3 dishes over rice? Yes please. The food was very flavorful. I got the string beans, mapo tofu and pork with garlic sauce. Can def see why this is a hot spot for students. Cheap and delicious! Onto the negatives: def don't recommend the sweet and sour chicken. It's all breading and no meat. As it is a food truck, it is a bit on the polite side. read more

Uncle Luoyang - Mapo tofu, string beans, pork with garlic sauce - Food Trucks Near Me - New York, New York

I can't rave enough about this place!! Seriously one of my favorite spots to grab food in the neighborhood hands down. My favorites are the stewed pork hamburger which he makes fresh on the spot and is perfectly flavored and tender! I've also become a huge fan of the "Cold Skin Noodles" which are refreshing with a great mid spicy flavor. Their dishes over rice are ABSOLUTELY the best. I recently tried the Beef Over Rice and it definitely didn't look to be the most appetizing dish I've ever seen but the taste was simply out of this world and my bf and i literally finished every drop of rice! The beef had been stewed for a while - extremely tender and well flavored. It was cooked with flat clear noodles, winter melon and some red peppers. He also asked if I wanted it to be spicy and proceeded to add some "hot pepper oil" which only made it better! Not to mention his dishes are ridiculous cheap for the area and so delicious! The ONLY downside is his sometimes unpredictable schedule. Last time I asked him when he's there and he said that he's usually there between 11:30AM and 7:30PM everyday except for Saturdays. However, I've been there during the times he's supposedly there and to my disappointment, he was nowhere in sight! read more

See all

excellent green beans. good greasy truck food. kind server, quick service, bang for buck. i recommend.

Food truck that typically has a nice, long line no matter what time of day or night. I've never eaten here because walking to main campus for my lunch often takes way too long from my office. I happened to be walking back to the office from this truck one evening and felt a bit peckish. I ordered the fried chicken noodle a.k.a. lo mein with fried chicken bits and it was above average, but nothing stellar. Now, this is the only thing I sampled, so the rating is purely based on these chicken noodles, but they were flavorful, not too greasy and the battered chicken was a nice touch. I asked for plenty of sriracha and dug right in. Generous portion for $6 and it was ready pretty quickly, so I could sneak back to the office without being gone too long. I'd have to return and try a few other things on their small, BBQ menu to see if they really deserve to have these long lines of students waiting for their noodle and rice fare. Overall, decent meal and if you're pressed for time (or your wallet is being stretched too thin) this is a convenient truck for a quick meal. read more

Uncle Luoyang - chicken fried noodle + sriracha - Food Trucks Near Me - New York, New York

CAN I SAY HELL TO THE YES??? WOW. AUTHENTIC, GREAT, CHEAP CHINESE FOOD RIGHT OUTSIDE COLUMBIA! To get preliminaries out of the way, service was fast and owner is really friendly. So for the food, I ordered the cold noodles and chicken skewers. Words can't describe.. DELISH! Usually I'd fly all the way to China just to eat some street food but now it's right near the corner. :) The cold noodles was just a little bit different than what I'm used to, probably different provincial cooking styles, but it was great nonetheless. You can control how much of the sauce you want to add because he gives it off to the side. The noodles, cucumbers, bean sprouts took me back to China. The skewers were amazing. As said before with the lamb skewers, this is the real deal. It's only $1 each so the portions are a bit small, but it is so flavorful and tender. I think what makes it so great is the cumen(?) taste. Will definitely come back as a regular! read more

Uncle Luoyang - Mixed cold noodles - Food Trucks Near Me - New York, New York

See all

This is a low cost option near Columbia for lunch or dinner that is worth getting. I actually get food from this cart for lunch and always have a significant portion left over for dinner. Viewed like that, I am paying $3.50 for lunch and $3.50 for dinner. Like others have said, you pick 3 options that go over rice. I recommend the salt and pepper fish, the braised beef (it's fatty though) and the tomato with egg. Food is not fancy or gourmet, and that's OK, I plan to be back. read more

Definitely a fan! $7 for a massive lunchbox of decent Chinese food from a food cart is a great deal. They definitely pile on the food, so you get the whole worth of the $7 you're spending. There's usually a long line here, but if you go at the right times (after the 5-7 rush), then it's a quick stop. Shout out to their braised beef which is pleasantly tender, and not overcooked! Note: CASH ONLY! read more

Uncle Luoyang - $7 for all this food! Braised beef, string beans, tomatoes & egg, and rice! - Food Trucks Near Me - New York, New York

Wow, so things started out pretty badly for me here. I couldn't understand a shred of Korean and the women behind the cart had issues with understanding English. With the help of a kind Columbia student who translated my (food) desires accurately to the other side, I could finally get to dissect the food on the steps of Columbia campus. The food was a pleasant surprise. It looked bland but tasted pretty decent and flavorful. read more

Uncle Luoyang - Spicy tofu, egg with tomato and cabbage over rice - Food Trucks Near Me - New York, New York

I haven't tried this place recently but when I used to get it, I always got a stomachache which can only mean one of three things: the ingredients are old/spoiled, the ingredients are not washed properly, or there is chemical leeching from plastics or other materials. read more

Salt and pepper fish. Do it. $7 for an overstuffed to-go box of rice and 3 entrees in the Asian food desert that is Columbia? Can't beat it. I get a good 2 meals out of this. String beans also good. I get the same thing, salt and pepper fish and two portions of string beans, once a week. Great deal. Real Asian food which you can't get in the dining hall. Nothing gourmet, nothing frilly, just some pretty good eats for $3.50 if you split it lunch and dinner. read more

I've gotten food before at the original Uncle Luoyang cart many times, and especially liked the pork burger, cold skin noodles, and grilled skewers. But it seems that Uncle Luoyang eventually couldn't resist selling combo plates like so many of the other carts nearby, a profitable formula that includes a big filler portion of rice topped with premade dishes. I decided to give it a chance. The new menu allowed a choice of 13 dishes and I got chicken gizzards (daily special that was off menu written only in Chinese), tomato and egg, and seaweed salad. Food was tasty enough and had authentic homemade flavor, but was cold by the time I walked the 2 minutes back to my dorm room. I noticed the lady was both touching money and scooping food into containers without gloves, which disgusted me a little. Did not receive a soup with combo like some nearby carts offer for the same price. Overall, good for if you're craving Chinese food from home. Taste is good but quality and cleanliness very mediocre. read more

Uncle Luoyang - Permanent menu on truck - Food Trucks Near Me - New York, New York

This food truck is fantastic. The hot and sour noodle soup was AWESOME. It comes with pork and peanuts (bleh). The guy doesn't speak much English, I asked him for no peanuts and instead, he gave me no pork. I ended up Googling "peanuts" and showing him an image so he could fix my order. This was the closest thing to Pho in my neighborhood so I loved it. It came with rice noodles and some great soup similar to Bon Bo Hue. read more

DONT DO IT! Just continue walking down the street because it's not worth stopping for this food. The Kung pow chicken was waay subpar and the beef dish was just inedible. read more

The Uncle is the best cheap food option around here, and among the elite of food carts. After plodding through the muck across campus on a cold and soggy day and out through Earl Hall Gate, a 3 dollar pork burger is a cure-all. the Western Chinese grilled bun is just like xff, but the chopped pork is not. It's flavorful, not spicy. It's one of my perfect comfort foods. The other thing of note, are the cold noodles, which are totally vegetarian and come with the infamous bag of scarlet oil. Remember Slayer's "Bag of Blood" promo that came with the limited edition Seasons in the Abyss/Aggressive Perfector single that had little skulls floating in it? That's what the oil looks like, minus the skulls. After puncturing the bag and spreading it throughout the cold skin noodles and cucumbers and seitan etc..., it's fantastic, and when the heat kicks in, is pretty Metal. There are other good sounding items on the menu, but I stick with the 2 items above, because I know they are exactly what I am needing when I walk down that stretch of Broadway. read more

I tried this food truck for the first time this week - and will never be back. The food was atrocious. I got the $7 set with one main over rice and two sides. The main was fish with pickled greens. The so-called fish was of a slimy, reconstituted texture and had a strong unnatural chemical odor to it, as if it had been doused in some kind of disinfectant. I took two bites, and that was it. The other sides of tofu and cabbage were hardly better. Both seemed like they had been re-warmed way too many times, and were essentially tasteless. I have to believe this is an imposter truck, given the rave reviews that I read for the "original" Uncle Luoyang. Stay away. read more

THE PORK BURGER YES The dumplings are pretty good too. The meat over rice thing is mediocre read more

It may be a bad timing I went to the truck. The sir was kind to me, and I was able to order rice with fried chicken and pork. When I took it home to eat, I found that the fried chicken was cold and hard to eat. When it came to the pork, it seemed really watered down. I ended up getting an upset stomach from the food, and haven't gone back ever since. Might be a singular unlucky experience, but would not recommend the truck. read more

Love this place and happy to see all the good reviews! There's a severe lack of good Chinese food around the Columbia area so I'm always happy to stop by Uncle Luoyang's. I always get a lamb skewer and beef over rice (sometimes to treat myself I get a pork burger). Uncle Luoyang is super nice and always makes conversation while you wait. He even remembers you if you frequent a lot! Sometimes he undercharges me for food and waves me off if I try to return a dollar or two. The only problem with this place is there is always a massive line, but I'm happy to see Uncle Luoyang's place bustling. read more

AWESOME Food!! AWESOME restaurant! I thought that I can't find a good barbecue place in New York, but turned out there is one amazing one ! It is so famous and I was recommended by a friend that I must come to try it out. So, went there and tried out. The place is decorated so beautiful. Food comes really fast and the serving size is great!!! The service is so good and the whole experience is just amazing... read more

Now...as far as food goes, this place is a five. The menu is a limited-version (with some of their own additions) of the menu at Xi'an Famous Foods. It's nice to be able to get cold skin noodles without going to Flushing or downtown. However, like any establishment in Morningside this suffers from the symptom of resident tourists unaware of how to order food in the city. In the winter and summer when school is not in session? Great. Otherwise it is impossibly frustrating to try to wait on this line. Rather than order food and step aside for the next customer, everybody stands and waits, blocking the window, while their food is being prepared. You can expect a line of five people to take well over twenty minutes. read more

Holy cow this is pretty traditional stuff. Love the beef noodle soup. Quantity is good and feels like I'm back in Asia

You know how you walk past a truck and there is a line that takes up the entire fricking sidewalk which makes you utterly annoyed? Yea. That was me up until today. There was no line in front of the Uncle Luoyang food cart so I figured let's give it a try and if I hate it, then I can continue to dislike the lines and walk around the slew of people waiting for street food. Well my friends! I ordered from the lunch special menu, not to be confused with the actual dish "lunch special", it was a deliciously affordable (cash only) $5, vague description of a Noodle dish. I'm not sure what I was expecting except perhaps a bowl of carbs. The take out dish included fresh thin noodles, green beans, pork, the oily hot sauce (which btw, yum .. in small quantities) some bean sprouts and julienned carrots. Enough for 2 meals. Maybe 1 if you were super duper hungry. Bottom line- the food is delicious and the older food truck owners are super sweet and cute. read more

Bento box only $7. You can pick 3 dishes and they give you white rice. Portions are big. The only complaint is have is they run out of food really early. I was there a little after 6 pm. They had already ran out of a few things. read more

The choose 3 for $7 option is a good deal but the food is too salty for my taste. If you're craving Chinese food and looking for a quick meal, I'd stop by, but otherwise there are better options near by. read more

Yay! Finally I've found good sushi in this city, that isn't ridiculously overpriced and comes with friendly service. Thank you! And sorry about the dog barking :/ read more

They served tasty beef, tomato with egg for the first time. But for the second and third time, the food they used might not be fresh, could really felt my stomach then. read more

The food is truly authentic. Pork burger is the best. Even newspapers in China reported about The Uncle. Everyone asked me about him when I went back to China for the summer and I told them he and his food are great! read more