Elaine's Asian Bistro & Grill

My favorite chinese food in great neck more

Let's face it - it’s difficult to find appetizing and reliable Chinese food and restaurants. Elaine's is a chic looking restaurant in Great Neck; the dinnerware is attractive and the tables arranged to give some privacy. The split levels give it an architectural touch and a sense of space. After 10 PM on a Friday (when you’d be hard put to find a restaurant open on Long Island) the place was still humming with locals – always a good sign. \r \r The waitress, hostess and owner were all very welcoming. The waitress was helpful in ordering the food and drinks. I assumed that the lobster roll was all cooked but it did have raw tuna (which I don’t eat) as a topping. The hostess herself came to handle this little fracas, separated the raw fish, and re-presented the dish (as the kitchen staff had left) and did not charge for it. She did also offer alternatives that were available at that time of the night.\r \r My husband ordered mainstream Chinese dishes, which tasted fresh, were flavorful, but a trifle sweet. Good but not exquisite. My rolls could have been more of a blend of crisp and melting in the mouth. The dessert menu is comprehensive. My chocolate mousse, which the waitress said was made in-house, was well presented and delicious, with enough body and air and a hint of chocolate graininess. \r \r As I read the reviews, Elaine's seems to be inconsistent. I had a good dinner and a positive experience. A pleasant place to bring guests; I’ll definitely visit again. Pros: Great, friendly service, eclectic menu Cons: Food can be improved on more

Vistited for lunch 4/8/10. I found a MOSQUITOS on my seafood salad. It was a HORRIBLE experience and will NEVER return again. Please BE AWARE! MOSQUITOS flies all over in the restaurant. As you see their decoration is dark please pay attention on your food you will see flies on your food. Complain to the manager DIDN'T apologize and didn't waive for the mosquitos salad. Claimed it's normal to have mosquitos due to summer is coming. Exterminator can't even controlled. Manager doesn't really care anyway. FOOD is okay but with the MOSQUITOS just blew me off. The manager is defitnitely FOB in the USA. Waiter was being nice to offered me an ice cream when I RETURN next time but how come you can't even offer this time. Why bother to say it? It's BS! \r Pros: Nothing Cons: MOSQUITOS in the restaurant. more

I love this place, and recommend it to anyone who is thinking about trying it. Pros: wonderful service and great food more

This was the most tasteless, bland food I have ever been served in an Asian restaurant. I ordered the garlic sauce. It was brown and I could not taste garlic or even salt. I asked for something spicier. I was given another tasteless brown sauce. I was there with a large group so the slow service was forgivable but it took about three hours to finish dinner. Three hours is not really forgivable. Go someplace else. Pros: Attractive restauarant Cons: horrible food more

Well first off it has an awesome decor and the drinks were Fab!! We sat in the lounge area and started off with some Edamame and a few of the special rolls. The Crazy mexican roll w jalapeno was awesome we had to order more. We had spicy crunchy yellowtail, duck wraps, rainbow roll and white tuna tartar.....all fantastic.. this place is way under rated.\r I hope this was helpful Pros: Best Crazy Mexican Roll more

My sister and I went to Elaine's a week or so ago, and were looking fowards to having a decent asian fusion meal. While the food was mediocre, it was the unprofessionalism that turned me completely off from ever returning. We gave a 15% tip on our bill (which was generous because the wait staff was terrible; they never checked us and it was hard to even get our water refilled), which I thought was very fair ( we were 2 people!) however I guess that wasn't enough. We went to use the bathroom and were very unpleasantly surprised when we got out to leave; the host and our waiter were waiting for us to come out so they could harass us about the tip. They told me they wanted a few dollars more and harassed me so much about those few dollars. I told them the service wasn't great and I thought 15% tip was more than fair. However they harassed us so much my sister eventually gave in and handed them a few dollars (I wasn't happy she did that either). Once she handed it to them they were very rude and ungrateful. Needless to say, I will definitely not be returning to Elaine's ever because of this ridiculous incident. I wouldn't have given it a star ( but that was the lowest I could give). There are many other better Asian-fusion places around. Pros: decent ambiance Cons: everything else more

This place was quite a disappointment. The food was overpriced especially because the food was just average, at best in taste. We ordered a tofu special which consisted of deep fried tofu that was clearly spoiled ( the sourness of the tofu indicated that it was past its expiration date). We also ordered the miso chilean sea bass. The sea bass was grilled instead of miso style. When we indicated this to our waiter, he claimed that there was only one type of chilean sea bass, despite the menu citing two. The manager said they could give us the Miso seabass and returned the same grilled fish we previous had with a sauce on top of it that tasted like alot of cornstarch mixed with soysauce. I informed the manager that there was no Miso in the Miso Chilean sea bass, and that it tasted aweful and he still claimed that there was Miso in the sauce . I am asian and use Miso all the time, and have had the NOBU miso cod and I am alarmed that the manager of the restaurant woud lie about this and be very unsympathetic for a dish that costs $33! Its bad enough when the food is horrible, but even worse when you pay for horrible overpriced food accompanied by bad service. Pros: nice ambience Cons: overpriced poor to average asian food more

""Was"" because it's closed. What a shame! Real Szechuan cuisine (don't be fooled by those other fancy Chinese restaurants claim to be Szechuan cuisine. If your tongue wouldn't feel numb, you don't feel like to drink a ton of water after the super spicy taste, then the food is just made as ""western"" style Chinese"") served in the wrong neighborhood. I had been to Szechuan province few times in the past, and I have to tell you, there are few places I know in New York served the real Szechuan cuisine, and Camellia was the only place outside of the city. In fact, the food was so authentic that I knew from the first visit that they will eventually close down - they were preaching to the wrong choir!!! Pros: Authentic Chinese food Cons: Too authentic to the non-asian resident more

With so much competition for Chinese food, how can a place like this survive? I guess it has to do with the ambiance. It has a very pleasant interior with soft lighting, but the food is very oily and disappointing. more