Blue Willow was a very good choice. The restaurant is intimately dimly lit, has a speakeasy charm, and clean throughout. The service was exceptional. Our server, Nam, did a fabulous job at making us comfortable, answering all of our questions, and keeping our glasses full. Both of our drinks were incredible... Empress Wu (Empress gin, lavender syrup, lemon juice, sparkling, dried flower) and the Bird's Nest (Haku vodka, pear, osmanthus, lollipop). The presentation was commendable and both were strong. That lollipop was a nice touch to a nicely crafted drink. All of the plates that we shared were delectable, the optimal amount of SPICY kick, flavorful, and savory... Cucumber Salad (chopped cucumber in garlic, chili vinaigrette), Steamed Vegetable Dumplings, and Spicy Chicken Skewers (seasoned with mixed spices and crushed peanuts). The spices from the Chicken Skewers were flavorsome and sent us to spicy heaven. I highly recommend Blue Willow and it will forever remain on my to-go, and recommendation, lists.

The porkbelly and tofu are amazing! The classic old fashioned cocktail was very tasty!

We had several unique and delicious dishes. Highly recommend. Ambiance is low lit and lovely.

really good food, aesthetic drinks and really fast service. i got the spicy lady, chairman mao pork, ginger chicken, beef fried rice and dan dan noodles

This is my favorite spot that I've had during my visit to nyc! Down to the service, the food and ambience ! We did not have any reservations and the hostess was nice enough to seat us at the bar. The bar service was super friendly and attentive. We got the pork soup dumplings, salt and pepper calamari. I checked in on yelp and got a free chrysanthemum sweet tea! (Shoutout to yelp). The pork soup dumplings were sooo good! The soup was flavorful and juicy, the skin was not too thick or doughy. Definitely some of the best dumplings I've had in a while. The salt and pepper calamari was flavorful and had a little bit of a kick to it. I definitely will add this to my list to come back to next time I'm in nyc!

I found this place because they make dishes from my hometown (hunan vs. just sezhuan cuisine). My town loves the dry heat stir-fry dish (no numbing). People around us got dim sum dishes but we went with entrees. We got (a) shredded beef (extra spicy), very tasty and great quality of meat; (b) Xiang River fish (extra spicy), great pickled red pepper exactly like what I remembered, nice tender steamed whole fish (c) cabbage, great but could be more spicy and crispy. I would definitely come back and try other dishes.

I've heard of hot pot and clay pot dishes, but dry pot? The decor was on the dark side. Not easy climbing 20 stairs in the dark, when the stairs were painted black. Lighting was dim at our table, and could barely read the menu, let alone pick our food from our dish. Tried the Mala dry pot dish. Customer picks a minimum of five ingredients to add to the stir fried dish in spicy chili oil. The $6 Konjac noodles and $6 bok choy were overwhelmed by the soaked chili sauce, which made the dish very salty. The $6 cauliflower were undercooked but still tasty. The $6 enoki mushrooms were overpriced because they were so small in portion size. The $7 fish fillet also on the salty side, but still flavorful. The $7 white chicken also had a distinct taste. Finally the $8 shrimp came with six huge savory butterfly shrimp, and were the highlights of the added ingredients in the stir fried dish. Fortunately could read the lighted credit card reader sufficiently in the dark to tap on the appropriate tip amount.

Stopped by for lunch at Blue Willow and it was delicious! We ordered from the regular menu as it is better to share. We started with the xiao long bao, scallion pancakes and fried chicken wings. All of them were delicious! But beware of the chicken wings, there are huge pieces of chili peppers! We then ordered the prawns with duck egg yolk, water spinach, green beans and braised beef to share. The prawns with duck egg yolk is certainly a dish for acquired taste, my colleague was not fan of the flavor of this dish. We all loved the green beans, as it was perfectly wok charred. The presentation is certainly a much more upscale cooking, all of the dishes are delicately placed and designed. And the flavors, very authentic. Overall service was attentive, food was delicious. Look forward to returning!

This review is for weekend dinner with their private dining room. Overall, great ambiance and good food. However my main qualm was the timing for the private dining, so if you decide to book this I would be very mindful of the time you book because they are very strict on their closing time and do "last call" almost 40 minutes before closing time. Private Dining: had a group of 8 with an 815 reservation. Showed up early, but got seated around 830. They did "last call" for food and drinks around 920 and closed down the restaurant right at 10pm. Luckily I knew ahead of time what I wanted to order so I could place it immediately. But all in all, this was not sufficient time for a group this size. It felt rushed. Our bill was almost $1K and it wasn't a great customer experience to have last call 50 minutes into sitting down and be rushed out after only 1.5 hours. Aside from that, pricing is very reasonable. Room is pretty standard (round table with lazy susan). Ambiance / Service: great ambiance. Casual, but our group dressed up and it didn't feel out of place. Feels like you're transported back in time. Service was good, but slow. Food comes out super fast, but drinks took forever. We had to check in several times about the status of our drinks. Food: not the best I've had, but it was good and I think it's well priced for what you get. We ordered A LOT of food. Some fan favorites: -Garlic Sauce Eggplant -Hunan Stir Fried Noodle -Salt and Pepper Calamari -Xiang Xi Fried Rice (this was very spicy!) -Changsha Spiced Chicken -Roasted Peking Duck We got the Blue Willow Spicy Bean Fish - this was decent, but has a lot of bones. I'd pass on the Blue Willow Lobster. I also didn't love the Golden Prawns, despite all the other good reviews. There wasn't much flavor.