I Tried Struggling NYC Restaurants

Añadido: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Today I'm going to be visiting spots that you guys tip me off about that are really struggling. And we're going to find out, does an empty restaurant mean bad food or just bad luck. Starting with Cozy Soup and Burger. This video is sponsored by Surf Shark. I got a DM about this spot from a trusted source and they have a GoFundMe trying to save the business skating. They've been around for five decades. I want to be around for five decades more. Diners are my weakness. Let's go check this out. I walked in during lunch and there was only a few scattered guests, but the vibes pure old school New York diner.

[00:00:30]>> First impressions, it looks like a lot of regulars here. Like people that come here everyday, weekly for years.

[00:00:37]>> I met the owner, John, who didn't even want to start a GoFundMe, but felt like he had no choice.

[00:00:42]>> How has business been recently? Business ever since co never picked up. Before CO, there was a line to get seated in here. I've been doing this for 33 years with my father and my uncle. They were the ones that started the business. It kind of sucks to create a GoFundMe page, but when you're struggling to make ends meet and everything, it's like do or die, >> you know? What do you think a spot like this has been around since the early '7s? Like, what does it mean to New York?

[00:01:03]>> I feel like diners are comfort food.

[00:01:05]You're having a bad day. You would just come here, just sit down, have your thoughts together, eat an amazing meal, and make you feel better. I feel like we're losing that.

[00:01:13]>> I thanked him for his words and got ready to check out this menu.

[00:01:16]>> You can tell you've come to the right place when the menu is like an encyclopedia. 40 different omelets, 20 burgers. I started with their split pea soup. I mean, how good could this really be?

[00:01:27]>> I feel like every diner has that one item like that they're known for.

[00:01:31]Insisted on croutons on top. Let's see how this goes down. I haven't had good soup in a really long time.

[00:01:37]Wow. This is honestly the last thing I probably would ever order on a menu.

[00:01:41]Split pea soup, but I didn't know soup could taste this good.

[00:01:46]It's so creamy and the flavors from the vegetables here just work perfectly.

[00:01:52]I can safely say this is the best soup I've ever had at a diner. Okay, safely say that. Next, possibly the world's only gyro burger. This thing had so many ingredients I lost track halfway through. I don't know if there's any logical way to eat this yo burger.

[00:02:06]There's so much going on in here. I want to make sure my first bite gets some meat. This is falling apart as I speak.

[00:02:11]I got to eat. Less talking.

[00:02:14]two different types of beef and it's all soaking in the pita pocket here. Being the messy eater I am, half of it spilled out here. But I think they're on to something here. It's only our first stop today, but I've already realized just because a restaurant isn't packed doesn't mean anything's wrong with the food. Here are the rules for today's video. I'll be trying six struggling restaurants, ranking them on a 1 to 10 scale, and crowning the winner with a Phoenix Rising trophy. And as an extra bonus, I'll be hosting a surprise here be bar meetup at the winner's restaurant to introduce new customers to their spot. Where will Cozy Soup and Burger land? That was the perfect mixture of an old school diner that is doing some crazy viral stuff. 9.1. What an incredible meal. What an incredible story.

[00:02:56]>> A 9.1. And we've got five more spots to go.

[00:02:59]>> Now, before I hit the next struggling restaurant, a quick reality check. I've been bouncing all over New York today.

[00:03:04]Eeries, random Wi-Fi, even the subway.

[00:03:07]And that's actually where things can get a little sketchy. That's why I've been using Surf SharkVPN on the sponsor of today's video. It encrypts your internet connection so your personal data, passwords, emails, all that stays protected, even on public Wi-Fi, which is huge when you're moving around like this all day. And here's another use case that's great for travel. If you're visiting New York from another country, you can change your virtual location.

[00:03:28]So, you can still access content or sites from back home while you're here.

[00:03:31]It's also super easy to use. Literally one tap and you're connected and you can use it across all your devices at the same time. So whether you're doing a full NYC food crawl like this or just visiting and hopping from spot to spot.

[00:03:42]It's just a smart thing to have running in the background. Go to surf shark.com/jbar or use code johnbar to get four extra months for free. Link down below in the description. And they also offer a 30-day money back guarantee. So there's no risk to try it out. Now let's get back to eating. Next, a little restaurant with a lot of heart at >> Pronom. I got a DM about this Indo-Chinese Nepali restaurant in Queens that apparently is amazing, but just does not have a good location. The reviews on Google are almost perfect. We've got to investigate this. I walked in and I was literally the only customer, which is crazy because this place is beautiful inside. This is the like the cutest, emptiest restaurant ever. Like I love the decor in here. It's awesome. I mean, looking at the map over there, we've got India, Tibet, and China. I've actually never quite heard of that fusion before.

[00:04:33]Like you would think in New York it would exist. Of course in Queens they have everything but I'm excited for this. I have a question. How did you become like three different uh types of food?

[00:04:42]>> All those place those are neighborhood.

[00:04:44]>> Yeah. Where are you from?

[00:04:46]>> Nepal.

[00:04:46]>> Nepal. Cool. I decided to order one dish from each country. First fried momos from Nepal. These look nice and crispy on the outside. We have beef on the inside. So, something touh factor in here is I feel like the whole restaurant is listening to me right now. So, I'm on the spot.

[00:05:03]You see the beef is minced up here. Some spices inside. It's very hot. So crispy.

[00:05:08]I'm drinking Indian mango lassi while eating Nepalese food. This is such a queen's moment here. Okay, these hit.

[00:05:15]But quick warning, do not bite into these like I just did. So juicy. It just We might need an instant replay for my next butter chicken mac and cheese. I don't even know what category this is anymore. All right. I was I think most excited for this right here. The butter chicken mac and cheese. I saw this listed on some reviews. Indian and American. I don't know. It's mac and cheese American. I guess it is at this point.

[00:05:41]I think this just ruined mac and cheese for me. I honestly find mac and cheese kind of boring. This with the spice from the butter chicken, just a little kick.

[00:05:48]They hit the spices, you're out of the park. Just because you see it's empty inside does not mean anything about the food. Then General So's chicken representing China and somehow America.

[00:05:58]So I did pick the most Americanized Chinese food. General Sew's chicken. I mean it's New York. This stuff's popular here, too. Yeah, you can get super authentic Chinese food all over the place, but this is this is fun to eat.

[00:06:10]Juicy. It's flavorful. Probably needs some rice with it, but yeah, this is so much better than your like run-of-the-mill Chinese American spot giving you General So chicken. They they elevated this a bit. Special shout out to my viewer who recommended this spot to me because, you know, it's easy for me to miss the the little mom and pop shops deep in Queens that maybe don't get the attention they deserve. It's it's someone that's eating all the time around the city. This is quality right here.

[00:06:32]>> They even brought out their signature Nepalese tali. At this point, I didn't feel like I was at a restaurant. I felt like I was at someone's home. I talked to the owner's son and he told me they've been struggling. our like first time in business and it's been a struggle I would say but we've been hanging on and we'd love for people to come and try Ron whose family owns this business said I should just use my bare hands to eat it problem is I'm messy as is with a fork with my bare hands this could get ugly chicken is nice moist juicy like the spices on the cauliflower if we weren't eating so much today I would go to town on this but I can only take a few bites just to be honest >> how would prrenam rank >> that was some uh serious hospitality at a business that I really think like needs support. That food was absolutely fantastic. These are the types of places that I just love to cover on this channel. 9.3. Pam comes in at a 9.3 and takes the lead with four more restaurants to go and a big surprise for the winner at the end. Next, I headed to East Harlem to one of the most unique restaurants I've seen in a while at Banklin. And I got a DM about this spot.

[00:07:40]I was told that it's amazing Thai food, but they need more exposure. I saw photos and reviews. It looks exactly like my type of quirky spot. Let's get in there. Walking in, there were only four tables and it felt like a vintage clothing store met a tiny Thai cafe.

[00:07:54]I've never seen anything quite like this before in New York in a nice change of pace. The menu is actually not that overwhelming. There's not a ton of options. I like that. I think that the owner here knows what he's good at. He's going to make you it. According to reviews, one guy runs the whole place.

[00:08:09]And let's just say he's not known for being chatty. So I stepped up to order trying not to say the wrong thing. You ever feel like one wrong word and you're getting kicked out? Yeah, that was this moment. You can do a two chicken pad thai and one order of spring roll, please.

[00:08:22]>> Can I try chicken >> and one spring roll? But somehow I survived. That was a little intimidating ordering. I'm not going to lie, man. And then I watched him cook everything solo.

[00:08:31]No help. Just grinding. Out came the spring rolls and pad thai with fried chicken. That took about I think 20 minutes. And the owner was only working on our meal here. It's so quiet here.

[00:08:42]I'm like, I feel weird even talking my normal tone. But these are like the thickest looking spring rolls I have ever seen. These look so cool. I feel like everything here is either going to be really amazing or not. Like this is going to go one way or another. You can just I get that vibe.

[00:08:59]It's a tasty spring roll. Wow. If this was in the East Village, I think they'd be mobbed. Then fried chicken with pad thai. I've never seen this combo in my life. I've only been to Thailand once. I don't know if this is a thing, but I've never had patai with fried chicken on the side. So, I think what I'm going to do is take a bite of the noodles and then I'm going to take a bite of the fried chicken and we're we're going to see what it does for me.

[00:09:21]The seasoning of the peanut dressing.

[00:09:23]It's really good. Like very flavorful.

[00:09:25]I've had a lot of pad thai in New York that's been drier than this. This is moist, soaked. And now let's see fried chicken.

[00:09:32]Fried chicken and waffles. Fried chicken and pad thai. What can't you do with fried chicken? Nice and crispy. Kind of getting this now. You know, maybe you don't get the friendliest customer service. The owner is busy. He's cooking, but I don't know. I think sometimes we might put too much steak in that and not enough steak in the actual food and the actual experience. And what I'm feeling right now is a complete New York City experience. By the end, I realized this is the kind of place where if you come enough times, he'll remember you. How would Banklin land? Now, at the end, the owner actually cracked a little smile and said, "Thank you." I think he's just a busy guy. A little gruff on the exterior, but I thought the food was fantastic. 8.5. Banglin gets an 8.5 with three more struggling restaurants to go.

[00:10:12]Next, a restaurant that under normal circumstances I'd probably never consider at Caravan of Dreams. This is New York's first vegan restaurant they opened in 1991. I got a DM about them.

[00:10:23]They had a GoFundMe up and they raised $300,000. Talk about community spirit for a place. Let's see what's going on.

[00:10:30]I walked in completely empty, but it had this time capsule feel. This feels like an East Village restaurant, like to a tea. Very artistic alternative. I love it. All right, this isn't the typical spot that I would go to. And I mean, they just check so many boxes here.

[00:10:46]They've got organic, vegan, and kosher at the same time. They've also got a bunch of raw food. I think we are going to try some things that we don't normally eat in this channel. I've had a lot of vegans complain that I don't eat enough vegan food on these videos. Well, this one's for you.

[00:11:01]>> The owner told us about the challenges and how hard it is to survive in this city, even with history.

[00:11:06]>> Thank you to everyone for the last 30 years. It's a good time to support Car of Dreams, to get another 35 years here, because I believe it's a good service.

[00:11:16]>> Something that I think is actually really lacking in the New York restaurant scene. Let's be honest, people don't usually talk about health before they talk about taste or how viral, how crazy something is or how popular it is. Like, I respect that. I think I need to make some better decisions about my diet from time to time. The food came out and I'll be honest, everything looked very green.

[00:11:36]The channel was approaching its 10year anniversary and I can safely say we have never had something quite like this before. A raw appetizing platter and you know the waiter was going through everything. This was some sort of like a cucumber wrap. It caught my attention.

[00:11:52]I never thought I would say that vegetables melted in my mouth, but that just melted in my mouth. tasted so fresh. Feel like this is a um villain art for my channel compared to what I normally eat. We're eating this, but I'm enjoying it. Let me try something else.

[00:12:06]A term I use in the channel a lot is guilty pleasure. Like something is a guilty pleasure. This is a pleasure that you don't feel guilty about and it's tasty. Avocado and cream on top is delicious. They said there was some sort of a meat substitute. Don't know what it is, but it's going down smooth. All right. Strawberries, flax seed, and all sorts of goodness here. This tasted like a super healthy breakfast. Then I took a bite of this side salad.

[00:12:29]>> I thought this was one of the main courses. I do not come to vegan spots often enough. The creamy ramen surprised me with some sneaky flavor. And these croquette things really hid. This place reminded me even restaurants with great food and decades of history aren't guaranteed to survive in New York. Where would Caravan of Dreams land? Amazing experience. The the tastes were different than a lot of things I've ever had. 9.0. Keep supporting these guys. A 9.0 Coming over for Caravan of Dreams with two more struggling restaurants to go. Will anyone overtake Prenam? Next stop, a little mom and pop eery at Shoe Cafe. This is a family-owned business in Chinatown. I had two different YouTube people send me this. And then I found an old Reddit thread from the daughter of the owner saying it needed more exposure. I am definitely in for this. I walked in, no line, but not empty either. This felt like a true local spot. You could see the family in the back hand making dumplings. So, first impressions here. This just feels super local and the prices are insane. Food came out in under five minutes. This is efficiency at its peak.

[00:13:30]>> It was, I think, 325 for the wanttons, 325 for the noodles with peanut sauce.

[00:13:36]Fast, efficient. What else can you ask for here in Chinatown? This is completely my vibe. Little hole in the wall. See how my chopstick skills are?

[00:13:44]All right.

[00:13:46]I'm a huge fan of peanut noodles. I've had this in other spots in Chinatown and like this easily holds up against some of the more famous spots that I think have longer lines. I think this quality alone could bring people in. Look how much food this is for 325. Like I don't I don't know if you're getting this much food for 325 anywhere else in New York City. Now the wantton soup. So this is the uh Fuja wantton soup. And this place is supposed to be Fujian region of China. It's their street food. I don't know if I've ever actually had wontons quite like this before.

[00:14:17]M I think there's a little pork in the middle. Nice warm broth, good texture.

[00:14:21]I've actually talked to some Chinese American friends of mine about how Chinatown can keep these prices so low and they say they do it for the community. Like this is exactly the type of restaurant that's the backbone of New York City. They need a line out the door. Seriously, >> we got James the camera guy here and I want his opinion on the food and the vibe.

[00:14:39]>> You know, the vibes here are immaculate.

[00:14:41]It's like your Asian parents are cooking this for you. Food here isn't a Michelin grade, but it's definitely good enough to fill you up.

[00:14:47]>> I felt great after this one. How would Schumé Cafe land?

[00:14:50]>> That is exactly the experience you want when you come to Chinatown. Love the food. Love the family there. Love the cost. 8 out of 10. An 8.0 for Shumeé Cafe with one more struggling spot to go. And I saved the wildest one for last at Fresco's Grand Cantina. I got a DM from this Mexican restaurant a few months back. The owner was telling me how they've had some struggles. They have a GoFundMe page talking about how important they are to the community, a 4.8 on Google. We got to check this spot out. I walked in and it felt like a party waiting to happen. The murals and decor struck me like a place where you just let go. The owner, Brian, told me how tough things have been. How has business been lately? What's been going on?

[00:15:30]>> It's been difficult in general. The economy is suffering right now, but we're super involved with the community.

[00:15:34]We're proud to be a safe space. We have all different types of fundraisers.

[00:15:38]>> Tell me about the food and the atmosphere here. What are you guys most well known for?

[00:15:41]>> So, our food is Mexican fusion. So, it's not like a typical Mexican restaurant that you're probably familiar with. So, if you've never been to Fresco's Grand Canino or Fresco Cantina, you're missing out. You know, there's an invitation personally from me, Brian Martinez, the owner, to come and check us out.

[00:15:53]>> The food and drink started coming out fast. First is huge Moscow mule. All right, since this is a party spot and it's happy hour, I got a fresco mule.

[00:16:02]Now, trivia, my favorite drink all time is a Moscow mule. Um, this is a little bit bigger than I was looking for, but when in Rome, this may not end well tonight. Well, it's official. This is happy hour on steroids. We have chicken nachos. Then we have sliders. This is the kind of food you need alcohol with.

[00:16:23]That is good. Pure guilty pleasure food here. Next, a Venezuelan Caribbean fusion of chimi sliders. These look insane.

[00:16:33]Like this is exactly the kind of food I was expecting from a place like this.

[00:16:36]Like over the top, full of flavor, bold.

[00:16:40]I'm loving the plantains as like the burger buns. At some point, I lost track of everything, but I was having a great time. So, we got chicken fajita. We have their three bestselling tacos.

[00:16:51]Super solid fajita. I'm finding a way to get some of this down. These tacos are absolutely insane. Just like drenched in sauce and guac. This is crispy chicken.

[00:17:01]Little sneaky spicy kick here. Yeah, this fits the vibe. Bold and in your face. There's nothing boring about this spa, that's for sure. And then something happened that I definitely did not expect. Bingo. But not just bingo. Drag queen bingo. I had no idea what I walked into, but somehow I was fully in it.

[00:17:29]>> And that's when it hit me. Restaurants aren't just about food. They're about experience. And even the most entertaining spots can struggle, too.

[00:17:36]Now, what would I rank Fresco's Grand Cantina? Fresco's Grand Cantina. Where do we rank them? Well, I don't even know where to begin. That was a lot of fun.

[00:17:43]That was more fun than this boring dad deserves. 8.8 would definitely come back. Support them for sure. And 8.8, which means our winner is Prrenam. And they don't just get the Phoenix Rising trophy, they get something better. I sent out an invite to you guys to have a little meet up for the winner.

[00:18:00]>> We're lining up some of my subscribers right now. I'm a little nervous. All right, we are lined up and we're about to surprise them. I had my subscribers ready and I walked in to surprise them.

[00:18:10]>> Hello. Do you remember me from Friday?

[00:18:12]>> Yes.

[00:18:12]>> We want to support you guys, so I brought some people.

[00:18:14]>> As a line of people flooded in, she was in shock.

[00:18:18]>> I'm going to pay for everything on my card, so everyone's on my tab. Your food was amazing. I wanted to come back. The meal went awesome. Rave reviews all around. And what do you guys think of the food so far?

[00:18:26]>> It's really good. Um visiting over the Philippines. One of the best meals from our trip.

[00:18:30]>> Hear that? One of the best meals from a trip from the Philippines. You like guys like supporting restaurants like this?

[00:18:34]>> Absolutely. 100%.

[00:18:36]>> This has been very heartwarming seeing so many people from all over the world enjoying the food. As far as I'm concerned, they're the most popular restaurant in Queens right now.

[00:18:44]>> Because sometimes all a great restaurant needs is a second chance. Thanks to Surf Shark for sponsoring this video. Don't forget to click the link in the description for an amazing discount. And if you like videos like this, in this one we visit street food that had absolutely no lines.