West Place Chinese Restaurant 1288 Amsterdam Avenue New York, NY 10027

West Place Chinese Restaurant 

1288 Amsterdam Avenue

New York, NY  10027

http://www.west-place-indy.com/

Telephone: (212) 932-9390 and 9376

Open: Sunday-Saturday 11:00am-11:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d5065901-Reviews-West_Place-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

West Place Chinese Restaurant at 1288 Amsterdam Avenue

I came across West Place Chinese Restaurant when I was walking the neighborhood in Morningside Heights (MywalkinManhattan: Day Sixty-Nine Visiting SoHA, Morningside Heights last March). It was packed with Columbia students during the lunch hour and when I returned, people from the housing the complexes that surround it replaced them.

The inside of West Place Chinese Restaurant.

One afternoon towards my walk of the neighborhood, I went in for lunch and they have the nicest selection of lunch specials that are each priced at $6.75. This runs from 11:00am-3:00pm and the entree is served with Pork Fried Rice and a choice of either Wonton, Egg Drop, Chicken Noodle or Rice Soups. There is a dish from all over their menu and the few times I have eaten there, they have been excellent (see reviews on TripAdvisor).

The Wonton Soup is excellent

On the first trip there, I tried the General Tso’s Chicken, a combination of fried chicken pieces served in a tangy sweet/sour sauce served with a large portion of fried rice. The serving size was large enough for two people to easily share. The sauce coated a sizable portion of chicken that was perfectly cut and fried. There is a lot of flavor to their sauce and has a nice tartness to it. The fried rice is pretty standard but still tastes good. Not much as way of ingredients except bean sprouts.

The General Tso’s Chicken with Fried Rice is excellent

It was on this trip I noticed that at lunch they also have a small lunch buffet that is priced at $6.95. That is a combination of popular dishes and rice and noodle dishes as well. It seems to very popular with the locals and students alike. You might want to call the restaurant to ask what the hours of this buffet and if it is offered on the weekends.

The Roast Pork Lo Mein here is excellent!

The second time I ate here, I came for dinner on a rather cold night and the meal warmed me right up. At night, the restaurant offers a Special Combination Platter, a choice of sixteen popular dishes served with Pork Fried Rice or White Rice with an egg roll.

I tried the Chicken with String Beans with fried rice and an egg roll. The portion size of chicken with string beans was very large and even myself who has a large appetite could just about finish it. The string beans were fresh with a crisp snap and cooked perfectly with just the right amount of chicken where one did not dominate the other. It was served in a spicy garlic sauce that mixed well with the rice.

The Chicken and String Beans is really good

Their egg rolls are filled with roast pork and vegetables and were perfectly fried out. With a little sweet sauce, made a nice accompaniment to the dish.

The service here is very friendly and helpful and they get the food out quickly.

On a recent trip uptown, I stopped in for dinner and this time I tried the Boneless Spareribs with Fried Rice and an Egg Roll combination platter and the meal was excellent as usual. I had not eaten here in months and the food is consistently excellent. The portion size was larger than I remember from the last time. They really piled the food into the container.

The Boneless Spareribs with Fried Rice and an Egg Roll.

The Boneless Ribs were overflowing on the platter.

These sweet and juicy bites are full of flavor and piled into this small dish. There was enough food for two people.

The Egg Rolls are amazing.

If you are on the Columbia campus and have a yearning for good Chinese-American cooking, this is the perfect place for you.

Please call the above number for delivery. It is free in the area with the minimum of $7.00.

Cheesy Pizza 2640 Broadway New York, NY 10025

Cheesy Pizza

2640 Broadway

New York City, New York 10025

Phone: (212) 662-5223; (212) 662-6312; (212) 662-0028/Fax: (212) 665-9222

http://www.cheesypizza.com

https://www.cheesypizzabroadway.com/

Open: Sunday-Saturday-10:00am-5:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d7079166-Reviews-Cheesy_Pizza-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

*I want to note that since the Pandemic, there are new owners to Cheesy Pizza and the prices have gone up since this review.

Cheesy Pizza at 2640 Broadway

https://www.cheesypizzabroadway.com/menu

I came across Cheesy Pizza when visiting Manhattan Valley/Bloomingdale neighborhood (the very Upper Upper West Side) when walking down Broadway for my blog ‘MywalkinManhattan.com’. What attracted me to the restaurant was a big sign in the window, ’10 meals for $5.00 +tax’, so I had to investigate. I am glad I stopped in to check it out, the food is wonderful and flavorful, and the service is always friendly.

I tried the Personal Cheese Pizza with a Coke one afternoon ($5.00) and was very pleased with the small fresh pizza that was made expressively for me. It was a nice size eight inch pizza with four nice slices, gooey high quality cheese and a very tasty tomato sauce. The sauce they make is full of spices that give a nice kick to the their pizza sauce. It made a nice snack after a long walk. It comes out hot, fresh and gooey to the bite.

The personal pizzas here are really good

The second time I went I tried the Side order of Spaghetti with Meatballs, which was a very fair portion of spaghetti with two sliced meatballs in their well-spiced sauce. The pasta was well cooked and the meatballs had a nice garlicky taste to them. It was just the right amount of food for a quick lunch.

The Spaghetti and meatballs was amazing

This little hole in the wall restaurant is right near the Number One subway at 103rd Street in the Upper Upper West Side. Check it out for their daily specials or even for just a reasonable meal on the goal. For $5.00, their daily specials are worth the trip when in the area.

*Since these reviews were done that there are new owners and these prices for the lunch specials are no longer part of the menu.

Silver Moon Bakery 2740 Broadway & 105th Street New York, NY 10025

Silver Moon Bakery

2740 Broadway & 105th Street

New York, NY  10025

(212) 866-4717

https://www.silvermoonbakery.com/

https://www.silvermoonbakery.com/menus/

Twitter: @silverMoonBakes

Open: Monday-Friday-7:30am-8:00pm/Saturday & Sunday-8:00am-7:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d1027122-Reviews-Silver_Moon_Bakery-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

I discovered Silver Moon Bakery when walking around the Manhattanville/Bloomingdale neighborhood for my walking project, “MywalkinManhattan.com” and the couple of times I have been here, the pastries have been excellent.

The selection is amazing

The first time I visited the store, I just happened upon it. I needed a snack and walked in to see what they had in the cases. This is not the ordinary bakery with the same old things that the other bakeries carry.  They are a little more adventurous in their baking and create some rather unusual pastries.

They are by no means cheap. It is not as expensive as some of their counterparts south of 96th Street especially on the East Side of Manhattan but their quality speaks for itself and everything I have eaten here is excellent (See reviews on TripAdvisor).

Delicious Danishes freshly made

On my first trip to the bakery, I had a Cromuffin, a combination of a Croissant and a muffin. What made it unusual was that it was filled with chocolate nutella and baked. It then was topped with vanilla crème and dusted with powder sugar ($3.25). It had a soft, chewy texture to it and you could taste the layers in the pastry. Each bite gave it it’s own complexity. You tasted multiple flavors in each bite depending on how you bite into it. It had a sweet buttery flavor to it and it was not overwhelming sugary.

I also had their glazed Brioche ($3.50), which again had a rich buttery taste to it. It was a large ball that was lightly covered with a powder sugar glaze and the combination of the sweetness of the glaze with the sweet butter made a sweet/savory flavor that bursts in your mouth. It is also quite large so it takes a few bites to get through this sweet fluffy ball.

On my second trip to the bakery, I made a special trip up Broadway to come here and I wanted to try something new and original but I decided on a Linzer tart ($3.25) and it was delicious. The cookie had a rich taste of sweet butter and sugar, the way a quality baked product should have and it was layered with a raspberry jelly that tasted like it was homemade.

On another trip, I tried their French Meringue ($2.85), which was light, fluffy and sweet. It melted in my mouth with every bite like a piece of cotton candy. It broke apart with each bite but still the sweet crunchiness was amazing.

When I visited the neighborhood again (which I have to admit in just a year keeps changing), I tried the Blueberry Danish ($3.95). It was delicious. The pastry was perfectly cooked with a chewy caramelized outside and a soft buttery consistency in the middle. It was studded with fresh blueberries and vanilla cream in between the pastry dough. It was delicious.

It is such a nice neighborhood bakery

I was in such a good mood that day, I even bought a homeless woman a cupcake ($3.95), which I thought was odd of me but could tell the woman was not faking it. There was something about her that rung through me and I bought her one of the pink sugar cupcakes. I am not sure how she liked it but I saw her taking big bites out of it and had a smile on her face. Every once in a while it is good to do a good deed.

On another recent trip to the bakery, I tried the Apricot Danish ($3.95), that was a swirl of pastry dough with cinnamon sugar with a delicious center of apricot puree in the center and with each bite you could taste the sweet fruit. I also tried one of their California danishes ($3.95) which was brioche dough with cinnamon sugar rolled into the swirl of the dough and then topped with more cinnamon sugar. Each bite had a sweet caramelized flavor to it and there is a nice richness in the buttery brioche dough.

Cinnamon Pastries

The best part about Silver Moon Bakery is that the staff is really nice and helpful. A big change from some of the French bakeries on the Upper East Side of Manhattan who act like you are buying a diamond ring from them. They can get very snooty when you question why this tiny pastry is $10.00. Not here.

The staff is very friendly and engaging. They come up with good suggestions when you are not sure what to decide to buy. Most of the time, I just buy both if I am hungry. The best part is that their product always tastes fresh no matter what time of day you go in. Some bakeries in the city, the product has been sitting around  all day and even though it looks nice, its hard or dry. Not here. Everything I have had tastes like it was just baked or baked in small batches.

This little ‘gem’ should not be missed when visiting Manhattanville. If you are visiting your children at Columbia University, take the walk a few blocks down south and stop at Silver Moon Bakery and try their high quality pastries.

 

Koronet Pizza 2848 Broadway New York, NY 10025

Koronet Pizza

2848 Broadway

New York, NY 10025

Phone: (212) 222-1566

Fax: (212) 212-0664

https://www.koronetpizzany.com/

Open: Sunday-Saturday-10:30am-11:15pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d426021-Reviews-Koronet_Pizzeria-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The original Koronet Pizza at 2848 Broadway

The sign and selection of food.

Koronet Pizza was established in 1981 and is located right on the border of the Columbia Campus in Morningside Heights and is known best for having ‘New York’s Biggest Slice’. I have to admit that the slice is huge.

The pizza cases with the giant pizzas.

I stumbled across Koronet Pizza when I was walking around the Columbia campus for my “MyWalkinManhattan.com” project and needed a quick lunch. The giant slice is part of their 32 inch pizza that they sell for $38.00.

The pizzas are really that big.

An individual slice of their delicious pizza is $6.00 and is about the size of two normal slices. You only need one to fill you up. When I ate there, customers got a big kick out of downing one of these slices.

The slice size is worth the money.

The pizza is excellent. Their sauce has a spicy tomato taste to it and is full of flavor. They load on the cheese so every bite is delightful. It is so big that you have to eat it in stages and its fun to watch the other customers do the same.

This is how big the pizzas here are

Their prices across the board are very reasonable. The 18 inch pie is $18.00 and $3.00 per slice and the 16 inch pie is $16.00 and $3.00 a slice. Other items include their beef patties at $3.00, chicken and sausage rolls at $6.50 and a cheese calzone at $6.50. With a can of soda at $1.50, it makes the perfect lunch for a hungry college student or a starving alumni.

The slices are huge!

The service is friendly and be expected to wait as the whole neighborhood has discovered this restaurant. Being right near the One subway line, it tends to get busy. The service is very quick though and you will receive your food with a big smile. I think the owners and cooks get a kick out of watching the customers tackle that giant slice.

The pizza selection sign.

*Authors Note: because of COVID-19 there are now tables outside the restaurant as well as inside the Morningside Heights location. This continues on into 2024.

SheShe Pizza 961 Columbus Avenue & 107th Street New York, NY 10025

SheShe Pizza

961 Columbus Avenue & 107th Street

New York, NY  10025

Phone: (212) 222-7201/Fax: (212) 222-7203

http://www.sheshepizza.com

https://www.sheshepizzerianewyork.com

Open: Monday-Thursday: 11:00am-12:00am/Friday: 11:00am-3:00am/Saturday: 11:00am-2:00am/Sunday: 12:00pm-11:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d5007563-Reviews-Sheshe_Pizzeria-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

SheShe Pizza at 961 Columbus Avenue (Currently closed for renovation)

I came across SheShe Pizzeria on my walk around Manhattan Valley (Between 110th Street-96th Street and Riverside Drive and Central Park West) for my blog, “MywalkinManhattan” when I was walking Columbus Avenue. This little ‘gem’ has one of the best lunch specials in the neighborhood. I am surprised that the Columbia students have not discovered this restaurant.

I stopped in for lunch twice and was very impressed that such a good quality lunch can be had for $5.00 (tax included). The first day of my ‘walk’ in the neighborhood, I tried the personal pizza with a Coke. It was delicious. The owner makes the pizza fresh for you and it comes out piping hot and gooey from all the cheese that he puts on it.

The Cheese pizza is wonderful.

You have a choice of mushrooms or pepperoni for a topping and they do load it on. The sauce is flavorful with a rich tomato taste and is on the spicy side. The whole combination just worked. This fresh pizza is a nice alternative to two slices that are made. With four large pieces per pie, it is enough to feed two pretty hungry people (if they want to share).

The Pizza here is amazing!

My second trip to the restaurant I tried the side order of ziti with fresh meatballs. It was hardly a side serving. I got a nice size portion of perfectly cooked ziti with about three large cut up meatballs, which I could tell were homemade. It was delicious!

This is a full size portion of well-cooked ziti smothered in the owners pizza sauce. Not quite what I would have topped it with but it was still good. A traditional red sauce. The meatballs had a nice cheesy and garlicky taste to them and were rather large for a lunch portion. They baked it off in the oven so the pasta had a crisp topping to it.

I had also tried the Spaghetti with meatballs as well.

Some of the other lunch specials for $5.00 are:

*Two slices of cheese pizza with a can of soda or water.

*Personal pizza with one topping (pepperoni or mushroom) with a can of soda.

*Three piece chicken fingers and French fries.

*Three piece wings (BBQ, Spicy or Plain) and French Fries.

*Hamburger and can of soda.

*Roll (with one topping either pepperoni or meatball) and a can of soda.

*Cheese slice with a small salad.

*Any side order (meatball, sausage, eggplant, spaghetti, chicken or ziti) and a can of soda.

*Side order of spaghetti and meatball. Add cheese for $1.00 extra.

For you hungry college students, this is the place for you. It’s just a short walk from the Columbia campus and for everyone else, if you are looking for wonderful food and friendly service at a reasonable price for either a late lunch or an early dinner, SheShe Pizza offers this and a lot more. Check out their menu online for more choices.

(Prices, selection and hours of operation can change in the future)

Hunan Chen’s Kitchen 1003 A Columbus Avenue (Between 109th & 110th Streets) New York, NY 10025 (Closed January 2022)

Hunan Chen’s Kitchen (Closed January 2022)

1003 A Columbus Avenue (Between 109th & 110th Streets)

New York, NY  10025

212-222-1118

https://www.hunanchenskitchen.com/

Open: Sunday-12:00pm-11:00pm/Monday-Thursday-11:00am-11:00pm/Friday-Saturday-11:00am-11:30pm

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d4980909-Reviews-Hunan_Chen_s_Kitchen-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

I discovered this little ‘gem’ of a restaurant on my travels to Harlem when walking the streets of SoHA (South of Harlem) in the Morningside Heights section of the neighborhood. This little ‘hole in the wall’ you will miss if you are not looking.

Literally it is so small that no more than three people can stand in the restaurant  before you have to wait outside to order. It is hidden between a Spanish restaurant and near a pizzeria. There is one table in the restaurant with only two chairs and trust me, it is busy so you don’t want to eat there.

What it lacks in space and atmosphere, it more than makes up for in the quality and quantity of the food. I have had several wonderful lunches during my walks in the neighborhood and it has filled me up for both lunch and dinner. I am lucky that the walk is working off all this good food. The food is Chinese-American but what it lacks in authenticity it makes up in flavor and portion size especially when you are on a budget.

First off, for such a small place the selection of dishes is extensive and in the three meals I have had here, I have not had a bad meal. The service is low key and very friendly and the food comes out quickly but not rushed.

They make some of the best egg rolls around.

The best part is that the prices for the lunch specials do not go above $6.75. This includes an entrée (that can feed two people), served with fried rice and you are offered a choice of either egg drop or wonton soup or an egg roll or a soda. Bring a beverage with you and get either the soup (the wonton soup is excellent with a rich broth and large wontons  served in a generous pint container) or the eggroll. The eggroll is good, stuffed with cabbage and other vegetables and roast pork. Not mind blowing but still good and they are homemade at the restaurant.

The Wonton Soup was excellent.

The entrees are where the place really shines. The portion sizes are large for a lunch special and every time I order here, the food is steaming hot out of the wok. You have to let it cool down a bit before eating or you can burn the roof of your mouth.

On my first trip I tried the Roast Pork Lo Mein ($6.25) served with a large mound of fried rice. The Lo Mein was cooked fresh and was straight out of the wok when I got it. When I opened the Styrofoam container, the steam just rolled out of it. The dish is flavorful loaded with large pieces of roast pork and a selection of julienned vegetables.

The Roast Pork Lo Mein is excellent

The fried rice is good but would be better if they put a little roast pork into it. It still has a nice flavor to it with small pieces of vegetables in it. The wonton soup was delicious. The broth is rich with a deep chicken flavor and large wontons filled with pork inside of it.

On my second trip, I tried the General Tso’s chicken ($6.25) , which they are noted for on GrubHub, winning a reader’s award for it. You get nice size chunks of batter fried chicken with a sweet, tangy hot sauce. The chicken is fried perfectly with no greasy after taste that you get in some takeout places. Its sauteed with small chilies that give it its fiery taste. The combination of sweet and spicy hot really works in the dish and I can see why their customers rave about it.

The General Tso’s Chicken lives up to its reputation

On my third trip, I tried the Orange Chicken ($6.25) with fried rice. This was a similar batter as the General Tso’s with a sweet, pungent orange sauce with pieces of rind for that extra flavor. The portion size could have fed two people comfortably and sizzling hot when I ate it. Again the eggroll was pretty standard.

This place is close to the Douglass Houses Housing Project and is obviously very popular with their residents to walk two blocks over when there are three other Chinese restaurants right near the buildings. I am just surprised the students and faculty from Columbia University are not lining up for a meal here especially when students are trying to find reasonable meals on a college student’s budget. It is right near the tip of the southern part of campus on 110th Street.

The best part is that I got to take my meal to the benches of corner of Morningside Park and eat my lunch outdoors watching the kids and parents play soccer and baseball in the park below. As the neighborhood has changed, the park is now a magnet for the neighborhood and much safer to use. It is nice to sit on the benches and watch the world go by with all the other students and residents eat their lunches and watch me with much envy chow away at my mouthwatering meal. On a beautiful warm, sunny day there is nothing like it.

Eating in Morningside Park on a nice day is fun!

The entrance of the park by the benches.

Dining on a Shoestring in New York City and Beyond: Finding reasonable meals and snacks for around $20.00 and under

Blogger and Culinarian (and Firefighter) Justin Watrel of DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com

*Bloggers note: prices have changed since many of these posts were created and since COVID have gone up a few dollars but are still fairly priced.

Hello everyone! Welcome travelers to New York City and the surrounding suburbs!

My name is Justin Watrel and I created ‘Dining on a Shoestring in New York City’ (DiningonShoeStringinNYC.wordpress.com) as an extension to the blogs: ‘MywalkinManhattan’ (MywalkinManhattan.com) along with ‘VisitingaMuseum’ (VisitingaMuseum.com) and “LittleShoponMainStreet” (“LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com), in search of a delicious meal for $20.00 and under.

It is difficult in an area as expensive as Metropolitan New York but many restaurant owners are paving the way with small, innovative menus at a fair price.

Sweets Bakery in Chinatown, NY

I created this blog when I discovered all these wonderful small restaurants, bodegas and bakeries that were fantastic both in that the quality of their food and the prices that they cost. I also looked at atmosphere and cleanliness of the establishment. Most cost under $20.00 (USA) for their main food items and provide small places to sit down and eat.

Since the COVID pandemic though, many of the places mentioned on this blog have either closed up shop (I have noted the months and years they closed up) or the prices have risen, in some cases significantly so please be aware when you visit these restaurants. I have tried to revisit many of them since the pandemic and prices have gone up by three or four dollars. I still continue to look for restaurants in the $10.00-$20.00 range that are of high quality and fair portion sizes.

Here and there  I found these eating establishments tucked in corners of the City, hiding on side streets or across from the schools where they were populated by students looking for a quick bite. I also found them near public housing or near the hotels where people were looking for a quick meal or a reasonable snack.

NoHo Juice Bar & Deli in Greenwich Village/NoHo

The signs I looked for where they accepted EBT (Electric Benefits Transfer) cards or where I saw the doormen, construction workers and cabbies eating. They always find the most reasonable places to eat and this is a group that will not tolerate food that doesn’t taste good. They would be too vocal about it (As I found on several trips to the same establishment where people would be talking about why they keep coming back and how bad the local competition was around the corner).

With everyone on a budget, I thought this would cater nicely to the traveler or NYC resident, who is looking to save some money while enjoying a quick meal or a snack when in New York City. I have extended the blog to outside New York City to all the surrounding places I have traveled on my blog, “MywalkinManhattan.com”. So you will see places in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Delaware now.

Blue Sky-Harlem Taste Deli/Grocery in East Harlem, NY “Home of the Chopped Cheese”

In the era of COVID, I am finding that many of these places are either changing hands or are closing permanently. Please call ahead or Google the establishments to see if they are still open. It has amazed me how many of these once vibrant businesses closed their doors due the lack of customers. The pandemic has wreaked havoc on our industry.

Please share with me on the blog posts your insights on these establishments and let me know your recommendations. Please join me on the travels as I walk all the streets and avenues of Manhattan in my quest to walk every street of the Island of Manhattan in ‘MywalkinManhattan.com’. In many cases, I have cross-referenced these reviews to my TripAdvisor reviews so you can get other people’s opinions as well.

Cheesy Pizza on Upper Broadway in the Upper Upper West Side

I hope you get a chance to travel to some of these locations and try these delicious and reasonable restaurants. Since the Pandemic some prices have gone up but for the most part all of these restaurants are still reasonable and under the now $20.00 limit that I put on them. There are still many on this list that are under $10.00 but that is getting harder to find.

Dining at Barcelona’s Restaurant & Bar in Garfield, NJ

So join me as I make my way around the City and to surrounding areas to find delicious food that can meet a limited budget.

Happy Dining!