Xi'an Famous Foods Upper West Side
Contact Info:
Address: 2675 Broadway (102nd St)
City: New York, NY
Zip: 10025
map: View the Map
Phone: xxx-xxx-xxxx
Website: http://xianfoods.com
Hours:
Sundays Through Thursday
11:00AM-9:00PM
Friday & Saturday
11:00AM-9:30PM
Food Info:
Menu: View the Menu
Cuisine:
Chinese
Cititour Review:
Xi’an Famous Foods opened its newest location on the Upper West Side last Saturday. To drum up attention, they ran a like-gating Facebook promotion that generated a coupon for a free burger or noodle dish. My curiosity was piqued, and apparently so was the curiosity of many New Yorkers, because when I arrived at the joint at noon there was a line out the door and down the sidewalk. It moved fast, but when I got inside, I realized that there wasn’t much of a burger to be had.
Xi’an serves a stewed pork sandwich and a spicy cumin lamb sandwich, both of which it tries to sell under the guise of being a burger. Now whether or not you think these live legitimately in the burger category is determined by your definition for a hamburger. My most basic definition is that a hamburger is a patty of ground beef (though other red game, and pork meat patties are acceptable) placed inside a sliced bun (though sliced bread is sometimes acceptable in the event of a patty melt). Thus, I don’t consider a Sloppy Joe a hamburger, nor do I consider a pulled pork sandwich or a shawarma in a pita to be sandwiches. Those criteria, under which I have always felt very comfortable, determined for me that Xi’an used a bait ‘n switch tactic to get me and others to come to their opening.
That said, the line moved quickly and the two sandwiches were actually quite tasty. I have to give the place credit, as my tolerance for spicy foods is rather high, but the lamb sandwich had me making a trip to the nearby Duane Reade to get something to quell the fire in my mouth. I would even go as far as to recommend Xi’an Famous Food for a quick and cheap snack; I just wish that they’d advertise their chopped-meat sandwiches as such.
Review By: Brad Garoon