Cuisine: 7
Service: 6
Decor: 7
Value: 7
Overall: 7
Yang Dong Jia 羊东家 just opened on 4/9/2025 in the former space that was occupied by HK Seafood Cafe, which has a small parking lot for customers. This new restaurant focuses on Dongbei (northeastern China) cuisine, which is somewhat lacking nowadays in NYC. Therefore, it is a welcome new addition to the downtown Flushing landscape.
Once you walk in, there is a large display case with many of their popular menu offerings. This is a common practice in China, but rarely seen here. Since their current digital menu is only in English, this will be very helpful if you do not read Chinese. Well represented was the specialty of the region, everything lamb. That was the main reason why I brought a group of eight friends to come try a good array of dishes on its third day of operations. Here are the good and the bad.
Roast Lamb Ribs (7.5/10) - Surprised they were able
to cook this item within 40 minutes, but I believe they likely steamed or boiled the lamb first. Unfortunately, whatever they did, they did not remove much of the fat that was left over and also created a product with less flavor than expected. This was not bad, the meat was tender, but still quite a letdown since it's their specialty and we were expecting to be blown away.
Lamb Soup (4/10) - Although the large serving vessel looked impressive, this was definitely the biggest disappointment of the night for our group because it simply lacked the strong lamb taste we were all looking for. Super light in flavor. Everyone had to add salt and pepper to make it decent. You could find better versions all around Flushing.
Lamb Tripe Money Bags (7/10) - This Mongolian dish takes chopped lamb pieces and stuff them inside a wrapper shaped like a money bag made of lamb tripe. The exterior is quite chewy as expected, but the filling was pretty good. Floating in a large plate of lamb broth, this was an interesting dish that most of my group enjoyed.
Tree Mushroom w/ Preserved Pork (8.5/10) - What a delicious dish full of flavor! I absolutely loved it upon the first bite. I enjoyed both the texture and taste.
Shredded Potato w/ Celery (6/10) - Common dish served in the north. The crunch was there, but unlike what I'm use to and prefer, this version lack a bit more vinegar.
Seafood Medley Appetizer (7/10) - The slightly spicy and sweet sauce on these little critters were really addictive. Sadly, the crawfish tasted frozen to us. Whelks were my personal favorite and the baby clams were pretty solid too.
Mung Bean Noodle w/ Scramble Eggs (8.5) - I have never had these noodles hot before since it's usually a cold mixed version. I would say that this was one of the best things from our meal. If you like your noodles with a good chewy texture, then this dish is a must order.
Dongbei Style Braised Rooster (6/10) - Honestly, I could use the spicy soy based sauce from this chicken dish on rice all day. Absolutely finger licking good. Too bad the chicken pieces felt overcooked, especially the white meat.
As for service, you can see that being their first Friday night with a full house, they were out of sorts. However, they were polite and extremely friendly. All of the servers did their best to keep us happy. I believe they will eventually get their acts together.
Decor of the main dining room and private rooms were nice. However, they were packed, so we had a large table setup in the outside covered extension area, which felt colder as the night went on. I would not advise to sit in that area during the winter.
After our first experience, I would say that I really hope they can improve their lamb dishes since they are a Dongbei restaurant. With that said, I liked the other dishes enough that I would certainly come back to try more of the menu soon. read more