The Western Chinese restaurant chain Bites of Xi’an is opening up its first Upper East Side location at 1711 Second Avenue (between 88th and 89th streets). The restaurant offers “home-made noodles, hand-pulled noodles, Rou Jia Mo [a Chinese hamburger], hand-made dumplings, home-made sauces and more,” according to its website.
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This will be the franchise’s sixth location and its fifth in Manhattan (there’s one in Brooklyn).
“With our chef’s expertise and our use of high-quality ingredients, we guarantee a delicious and unforgettable dining experience,” Bites of Xi’an’s website states. “Our menu covers a variety of dishes, all of which are made fresh to order.”
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Food in the Xi’an, a city in the province of Shaanxi, is known for its spice and its lamb and mutton. It’s a unique blend of Han Chinese and Muslim flavors with hearty broths and incredibly flavorful cold offerings like cucumber salad.
The chain garners consistently strong reviews on sites like Yelp.
“This place is a hidden gem for noodle lovers. The service was quick and efficient, with plenty of seating available. The noodles were impressively bouncy and juicy, hitting all the right textures,” one reviewer wrote.
Another said, “[This is] delicious guilty pleasure Xi’An street food. I had the hand ripped oil seared noodles topped with cumin lamb. It was great. Super flavorful. Not overly spicy.”
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Despite the similar branding and name, the chain is not related to Xi’an Famous Foods, which also has an outpost at 328 East 78th Street (between First and Second avenues).
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“This is an unrelated company, biters of Xi’an,” a rep with Xi’an Famous Foods told East Side Feed via Instagram.
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East Side Feed reached out to Bites of Xi’an to ask about a definitive opening date but did not receive a reply by publishing. At this point, the Upper East Side location is only “coming soon,” according to the restaurant’s website.
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Hooray for a little Chinese food comeback in the neighborhood.
If only there was still somebody who knew how to make a decent egg roll.