Lee’s Restaurant: Welcome to Enjoy!
Welcome to enjoy excellent cocktail at Lee’s Restaurant! — Photos by Scarlett Lindeman
Lee’s Restaurant is nothing you haven’t seen before. With thirty years under its belt, Lee’s is a step up from take-out joints with a menu heavy on Chinese-American standards like chow mein and egg foo young. Customers dip complementary fried wontons into dyed cornsyrup while workers sit around a table shelling beans. A sole turtle paddles around a half-full aquarium. And then there is the bar.
|
Back in the corner is a large mirrored bar, stacked with 99 Bananas and coconut rum, like something your Uncle Lenny installed in his bachelor pad circa 1970. Lee’s serves special drinks in the tiki style — mai tais, zombies, and pineapple paradises served in a pineapple (NOTE: it’s ceramic, not fresh like the menu says). On the wall hangs a large wooden plaque which reads more like bordello options than actual beverage, including blow job, wet pusy, thug passion, and a woo woo. There are three dozen other offerings but unless you favor Robitussin as an aperitif, sip on something basic. A dram of Hennessey is only $5.50.
The egg drop soup tastes like a liquid omelet and there’s something faintly medicinal about the chicken chow mein but the shrimp are plump and the eggrolls are as big as chimichangas. With comfy booths, neon green track lighting, and Taylor Swift softly wafting through the air, Lee’s transports you to a different place and time, where going out for moo goo gai pan is an exotic endeavor. “I feel like I’m in the middle of Arkansas” a friend remarked. Pure America.
Lee’s Restaurant
1546 Myrtle Ave. | 718-366-0114
Food: $6-$12,
Drinks: $6
Lee’s is the ish! Every time i go back I get an egg roll from there. FYI…believe it or not, they re-did the place a few years ago. All in all, it’s a decent spot to sit and chow…
Great to see this article. In my District Manager days in the late 1970’s, Lee’s was just about the only restaurant – besides a couple of Italian places on Knickerbocker and a greasy spoon diner that was demolished to make way for the new Wyckoff Ave. station – in Bushwick. The fact that they were able to stick it out through the many lean years is remarkable.
A month or two ago, I dropped in and enjoyed a very fine lunch – the shrimp was really good. And the bar is certainly a great addition. My only complaint was that the only white wine available at the time was “white” zinfandel. But nobody’s perfect.
Here’s to another 30 yearts for Lee’s!
Lee’s is awesome. I rarely eat their food but their drinks are awesome. We tend to do a Friday nite special every week and have Lee’s deliver us a few Zombies with an extra shot
LOVE THAT PLACE, GREW UP GOING THERE.. I MAKE A VISIT EVERYTIME I’M IN NYC… SHOUT OUT TO MY COUSIN JESUS WHO WAS THE ONLY PUERTO RICAN WORKING IN A CHINESE RESTAURANT (MR.LEES, THEY’RE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER LOL) BACK IN THE DAYS LOL..
Mr Lee’s has great food… I would stay away on friday/saturday late night. Too many Tony Montana wanna be’s thinking they own the joint.
Lee’s resturant is not only friendly, but also family oriented. They have the best staff ever. I have been going there for over 20 years. The decoration is new and the ambiance is great!!! P.S. Try those pineapple drinks… WoW! Madera and Manny
Never has a restaurant gotten such reviews from longtime locals on this site — I’ll definitely have to get over there.