Andy’s Seafood & Grill 95-26 Queens Boulevard, Rego Park, NY 11374 is kind of a mish-mosh of Taiwanese, Cantonese, Szechuan, and Shanghainese so it’s no surprise that some dishes rocked, while some dishes fell short. Still, in Rego Park, right on Queens Boulevard, close to subway access, there’s not all that much to choose from, so we still welcome the addition to this area.

While my mom ordered, we noshed on peanuts, pickled veggies, and spicy marinated broccoli stems. We loved it and asked for another plate of these complimentary starters. They offer a special combo of 2 dishes + a soup for $15.95 (additional dishes can be added for $7.25). It’s a steal and encourages over-ordering.

The Tea Smoked Duck is one of the best I’ve tasted. The meat was juicier than most, while the skin was crisper than most (though a few pieces were charred), and the smokiness really permeated throughout.

tea smoked duck

The Stinky Tofu, a dish I’ve never really cared for, finally caught my attention. It didn’t stink repulsively, but really had a distinct flavor. They were crisply fried so that each bite crunched.

stinky tofu

It just so happened that the first two dishes were the best, and after that, things weren’t quite as exciting. Scallion pancakes are fried dough, which can’t be all that bad, but didn’t reach the full potential they could. They were flat, the layers blended together, and no scallion flavor.

scallion pancakes

Lon didn’t like the fish ball soup, which lacked flavor as a whole.

fish ball soup

I’ve never seen this dish of bean curd sheets, edamame, and snow cabbage served this way and there’s probably a good reason for that. It ended up burning on the bottom and giving off a strong burnt odor. The sheets were getting mushy and over-cooked.

bean curd sheets, edamame, and snow cabbage

Things picked back up a bit with the Pork and Fresh Young Bamboo. This was a well balanced dish, while everything was tender and moist, thoroughly and evenly seasoned.

pork and bamboo

The Water Cooked Beef, one of my favorite Szechuan dishes, was not at all what I expected. It lacked the numbing spiciness that this dish is known for. Aside, the beef was tender, and if it was called something else, I probably wouldn’t have been disappointed at all.

Water Cooked Beef

The Whole Fried Fish wasn’t as fresh as it could be, but the Hot Chili Sauce was delicious and it caused me to eat more rice after spooning the sauce all over.

Whole Fish

The Preserved Turnip Omelet was very skimpy on the preserved turnips, which is where most of the flavor comes from, so without enough, it just tasted like over-cooked fried egg.

Preserved Turnip Omelet

We forgot to take a picture of the Vegetarian Hot & Sour Soup. It was heavy on the white pepper and too sweet, not something I’d order again.

Though it seems like this was hit or miss, it was about $73 (including tax and tip) for 6 people, which is so incredibly cheap, I’d be willing to do a couple of trials to figure out which dishes are best. Normally, price isn’t enough to sway me but since the first two dishes were so stellar, I’m willing to give them another chance.

posted by jessica at 06:20 PM Filed under Asian, Restaurants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.