Pho 32 N Shabu Restaurant

One of the worst restaurants in the area in term of their food quality. Better to go to another pho place

The Russian Tea Room has been the New York City Theater District spot for elegant Russian fare since 1927. In addition to its elaborate and classic tea service, the Russian Tea Room features lunch and dinner, including a Business Express Lunch prix fixe option as well as Pre-and-Post-Theater Dinner prix fixe options. At pricier dining destinations, I often like to take advantage of these special multi-course menus since you experience several different options at a generally more reasonable price. The Russian Tea Room is no exception.

From its gilded (and quite dated) decor of gold and red embellishments to its samovars and Faberge eggs, the atmosphere screams classic Russia and definitely sets the mood in that direction. The restaurant was nearly empty during the New York City lunch rush, which simply suggests that the restaurant has seen better business in years past. It has a prime location for the pre-and-post theater crowd and probably sees more traffic during those hours, I would expect.

When we first found this Pho restaurant in Flushing area, we were skeptical because of they are also serving Shabu, a Japanese dish. On top of that, we were even more worried to realize that the place serves Korean dishes also (the server/staff appeared to be Korean). To our surprise, the Pho here tasted so good that it rivals even the best Pho in Cali or Houston. Not only that, the other dishes were all excellent. We tried a whole bunch of different dishes and none disappointed us. Our favorite was the seafood kim chi stir fried pho! We came late night around 11PM to 2AM so there was only one server running the place. I gotta say, the guy is the best server I have ever seen. Our table has 6 people and at times, there were about 5-6 other tables in the restaurant too. Yet, he still managed to serve us really well. Never missed a dish or any of our request. He ran like a machine! Definitely recommended!