I've always been wondering about New York New York, the pseudo New York eatery that took the local dining scene by storm a couple of years back with its first outlet at Citylink mall. Managed by the same group which also owns and operates Thai Express, Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe and Pinle, queues were long and winding especially during meal times. The eatery has since expanded to 6 outlets in Singapore to cope with the demand.

The AMK Hub outlet is located at the basement of the suburban mall and operates on a partially open concept, very much like the main branch at Citylink. The walls are plastered with scenes from New York City and there are semi private booths at a corner for a cosier dining experience. I did think that the tables in the middle are spaced too close to each other, very much like fast food restaurants, which makes for an uncomfortable dining experience.

Cheese Freedom Fries - Corny names aside, the fries tasted as bad as they sounded. Soft, soggy and drizzled with cheese that tasted like Twisties (the snack). The fact that it was served hot provided scant comfort.

Chicken & Prawn Combo - I don't know what to make of this dish as the prawn batter was too thick and soaked in oil while the chicken tasted rather average - something any mom and pop stall can churn out sans the relatively higher prices. Ironically, the wedges that came alongside were the better deal - not overly fried and piping hot.

Juicy Burger - I must admit that the burger was quite a size but the patty tasted rather "macdonaldish" albeit being alot thicker. The texture also suggested it was machine processed rather than hand chopped/made. I didn't appreciate the mustard and ketchup atop the patty as well.

$46 for a 2 pax lunch of such average quality certainly isn't going to win me over and I am pretty sure that amount can be better utilized elsewhere. Service, or lack of, didn't extend beyond taking our orders and serving them to us. Our requests for ice water took a long time to arrive and after repeated reminders. Even the manager had a nonchalent attitude when showing us to our seat. Average food plus lousy service (which I have to pay a 10% service charge for) is definitely a no go for me.

See all my pictures here.

I've always wannted to try this restaurant because it looks so funky and I figured that the food will be equally good as well. It was pretty disappointing in terms of the food. The decor was really cool, very upstate New York cafeish sort of ambience. I was annoyed that the place was packed but my Bf and I got a table for two within minutes. The service was excellent. All orders were taken promptly without a glitch. The food was so disappointing. We ordered the Screaming fried shrimps for the starters and it was tasteless. It tasted floury. I guess the batter used didn't do anything to enhance the taste of the shrimps. My bf ordered Bratwurst Sausages wrapped in bacon and cheese for the main course while I opted for fish and chips. His dish tasted yummy but my the batter used for the fish was again floury and tasteless. The french fries tasted weird. Here's the best part. Dessert was EXCELLENT. Both of us ordered Deep Fried Mars Bar and it tasted divine. I guess this is a place where one would like to go for desserts and nothing else.

It was my aunt's birthday and we wanted to eat steak near my place, so we decided to try New York New York's steak. They only had one cut, the ribeye in either mushroom or black pepper sauce. I had mushroom, aunt had black pepper and we also ordered 2 mushroom cappuccinos, a glass of lime-light lemon and coffee.

Lime-light Lemon:
Pricey for a ice-blended drink. It's nothing special, but it definitely refreshes the palate during the meal.

Mushroom Cappuccino: ($5.90)
One of my favourite mushroom soups out there. Definitely not Campbell stuff. The mushrooms are finely chopped, rather than blended, so you get to chew on bits of mushrooms while you drink the soup. There's really a chock full of mushrooms in the cup! The only thing that makes it "cappuccino" is the foam they add on top, no taste of cappuccino otherwise.

Ribeye: ($23.50 each)
The Mushroom sauce didn't quite complement the steak. My aunt like the black pepper sauce though. I had my steak done medium rare, and it was done as ordered. There was quite a bit of pink juice and the meat was quite tender. Good steak, but just not amazing. The wedges that came with it were too salty.

My aunt didn't think the coffee was great.

Overall, bill for two came up to $81, which I thought was quite pricey considering we didn't order desserts or sides. I have tried their ribs and spaghetti before, but I thought they were just alright and nothing spectacular. I didn't like their brushetta. My favourite here would be their mushroom cappuccino. It might be a good idea to ask for the sauce at the side when ordering steak in case, because they put the sauce on the steak for you by default. I am also slightly annoyed by the fly... >:/

I might return probably if I want some heavy western grub, mostly because it's near where I live.

One thing that left a deep impression on me when I was there was that one of the staff was really friendly. As the restaurant wasn’t that busy at the moment, he came over and talked to us about things like operation of the restaurant, our schooling and even to service in Singapore. He was very funny and entertaining!

The food wasn’t too bad, but left no deep impression. Fried Mars Bar was too sweet!

The table that we were given was somewhat like a stall and very suitable for a gathering. If it wasn’t for the long queue during lunch hour, we would all gladly sit there and chat the afternoon away!

I'm actually very surprised to see such a low rating for this restaurant when my dining experience with them was a pretty enjoyable one...

My friend and I decided to eat there as we have not tried the restaurant despite passing by the Citylink Mall outlet many times... My friend lives in AMK and told me tat there's always a queue there so we tried to make a reservation before we go down... unfortunately, we were told that they do not accept reservations on weekends...

As expected, we saw a queue in front of us... however, since there was only 2 of us, we got a table within 5 mins!!! The bigger groups in front of us had to wait a little longer for the booth seats which could sit more pp...

It took us a while to decide what we wanna eat but in the end we decided to try the following:-
- Juicy Burger Supreme
- Fiery Buffolo Wings
- Traditional Potato Salad
- Lovers' Sunset
- Peach Cooler

The potato salad and wings (which is actually drumlets) were served first... I must say the drumlets were very tasty and pretty spicy... definitely a must try item!!! As for the potato salad, it was quite ordinary but still it managed to satisfy my craving for potatoes at the moment...

The burger was served on a toasted sesame bun, with a really very juicy burger patty dressed with cheese and mustard and tomato sauce... I was quite sceptical at first and didnt really have huge expectations on it BUT... my first bite proved me wrong... the combination of the sauces, cheese, patty and bun blown me away... it tasted fantastic!!! I'll recommend this item to any of my friends and have decided to bring my hubby here to try it soon...

As for the 2 drinks, the lovers sunset tasted strongly of orange juice and not enough of cranberry juice... nevertheless, it managed to quench my friend's thirst... my peach cooler was also pretty refreshing...

I actually accidentally left a shopping bag at my seat when i left and went back to get it... the manger (or so i think he's the manager there) immediately knew what i was referring to and returned it to me... thumbs up!!!

I guess the other reviewers here perhaps did not chose the right dishes to try and were thus disappointed...

In conclusion, i'll definitely return again to try other stuff... =)