Mr. K's - A little angry...

[Pookipichu]

At recent birthday celebration at Mr. K's, one of my favorite, or should I say, formerly one of my favorite restaurants, I received some of the most lackluster Chinese food I have eaten at a high end establishment.

I have been eating at Mr. K's since it opened and have had fantastic meals there. I developed a good rapport with the waiters and they understood my concern about "Americanized" Chinese fare.

I have had beautiful, crisp lacquer skinned peking duck. Succulent and full flavored wu-xi spareribs and have always enjoyed the pre fixe menu. Until recently.

On my last visit (admittedly I have not eaten there in years), I noticed the restaurant had changed in subtle ways. They no longer used the beautiful silverware from their inception and it was replaced by tacky, goldtone pieces.

The pre fixe menu changed as well, gone was the shrimp toast and alternate dim sum. The formerly light and crisp spring roll was more leaden and greasy. The crispy beef was cold and overly sweet (previously crispy beef was perfection, intense concentrated beef flavor at first crispy and then subtly sweet and chewy). The lover's dumpling was also cold and had an off-flavor to the meat.

The fisherman's wonton was incredibly salty and lacked refinement.

Firecracker fish had a mealy, unctuous texture and was bathed in overly sweet sauce. Pork loin was overcooked and bathed in even more sweet sauce with almost the same flavor profile.

Dessert was no longer from Payard Patisserie (yes I know they closed, there are other fine bakeries), and the cake was dry, generic tiramisu lacking in expresso or cocoa notes.

Even the service, which was immaculate, attentive, polished, equaling or surpassing service I received at Daniel, Jean George, Craft, Gotham Bar & Grill, etc., had become lax.

Mr. K's was a point of pride, being one of the few Chinese restaurants to provide the full experience of haute Chinese cuisine. I can no longer recommend this restaurant. I was greatly embarrassed as a Chinese person, and angry since I brought my best friend for what was supposed to be a special birthday celebration.

[diablofoodie]

I was trapped at Mr. K's once. It's sooooo out of date that the peach tablecloths seem almost charming.

[Pookipichu]

I actually quite like the decor and the retro quality, it's one of the few things I still liked about the restaurant. It's incredibly airy with the soaring ceilings and I am never sitting on top of another party, I feel like I can talk and dine in privacy. It actually feels like the set of a movie.

[mr_seabass]

Pookipichu, I'm interested - when was the last time you had a great meal there? I went there a few years ago and it was just horrible (and I mean horrible), and I assumed it had always been so - I didn't know there was a time when Mr. K's served excellent real chinese food. I

[Pookipichu]

I've been eating there since it opened but the last meal I had there was over 4 years ago. I think I also made a mistake because I didn't say anything to the waiter about "Americanized" Chinese food, not too sweet, yong Zhong guo ko wei "authentic flavors".

My favorite waiter, David from Taiwan, was no longer working there so I think my experience was a combination of unfortunates. It is one of the few restaurant experiences that made me angry... other than a ludicrous experience at Daniel where it took FOUR attempts to get water sans ice cubes, I flagged down a bus boy who took my water with ice and brought back another water with ice. Then a separate bus boy did the same thing. The last attempt, I said, "PLEASE, no ice, this is the third time I am asking. I do not want ice in my water. No ice cubes" (incidentally, every time I have asked for water without ice at Mr. K's, they brought exactly what I requested and remembered to fill my glass without ice the entire night, something that is sort of my benchmark for service at many three-four star restaurants. It always surprises me how miserably some places fail, e.g. Fiamma great (thanks Fred, one of the most amazing waiters ever!), Morimoto, terrible). And the most condescending waiter I have ever had the displeasure of being served by who reprimanded my friend for taking off his jacket and asked if I could afford to eat there. We left there immediately and were chased on the street by the maitre d'hotel who asked us why were leaving. I told him to tell the waiter, I didn't need to pay people to insult me, I have my mother who does it for free.

I have met Chef Daniel and he was extremely kind, generous with his time. I took cooking lessons with Andrew Carmellini in the restaurant (currently Cafe Boulud) before they relocated and Daniel ate with us and we had an amazing time.

I have not stepped foot in the new restaurant Daniel again, and never will. I will not pay people to mistreat me and any diner with self-respect should walkout if they are demeaned. Sadly, I will also never, ever recommend restaurant Daniel, in spite of the warm, gracious chef and the wonderful meals I had before they moved.