Chinger
“Between the pork and the beef, the pork squeaks out a small victory but like previous posts have mentioned, the cumin beef is where it's at.”
“Born in Xi'an, I cannot count how many Rou Jia Mo I have had.”
“I loved rou jia mo when I was living in china and haven't found a place that did it well.”
Chinger
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
8 reviews
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Dry meat, dry buns… Not a fan.
I gave Chinger the benefit of the doubt when I tried their buns again since I was planning to give them a review now that I am more active on Yelp. It seems like the reviews are very split for Chinger here. Okay, so I gave it a second try to do my own investigation… unfortunately, it didn't change my opinion the first time.
Both times, I ordered the Spicy Cumin Beef – very tasteless, dry – like it's overcooked. More like, it's greasy on one side of the bun and super dry on the other half. Lacking consistency here. What made it worse is the buns… super, super dry and hard to chew on. My companion ordered his Pork burger like last time – same answer as me, very dry on one side and very greasy on the other half. Very little meat – pork was not seasoned very well. Not impressed and disappointed.
Worst of all? No lamb option. We're SO done here.
Overall, I gave it the benefit of the doubt to try it twice. Unfortunately, it's as bad as it is. I would avoid getting the burger here.
While deciding where to eat, my husband and I had the following exchange:
"Hey, what about Chinger?"
"That's not cool. You shouldn't use that word."
(After a pause) "NO! I didn't say 'chink'. The name of the place is Chinggggg-ger."
While portmanteaus typically make for clever food names (cronuts, appletinis, and frappuccino, to name a successful few), the amalgamation of 'Chinese' and 'burger' end up sounding unfortunately similar to a racial epithet.
Qualms about the branding aside, the idea of a Chinese burger is an inspired one that unfortunately falls flat in practice. I ordered the veggie burger, which emerged from the kitchen on a small plate with a spilled mess of vegetal filling that the smaller bun seemed to have given up all efforts to contain. Heaps of shredded cabbage, picked daikon, and seaweed salad made up the lion's share of this burger but provided minimal flavor participation. Thankfully, pieces of well-marinated wheat gluten made their shy appearance in random bites. These were passable in texture and taste, but even they were almost immediately dominated by the dense buns. Stiff, dry, and chewy (in all the wrong ways), it was a terrible carb vehicle for a truly mediocre filling. Perhaps the other meat-filled burgers are better but I can't imagine that they would be much of an improvement if they use the same unfit buns.
Though the namesake dish is clearly off key, there are other things on the menu. Look around the small restaurant and you'll find more people slurping down bowls of noodles rather than the sandwiches; I would recommend following suit. Chinger also has a few promising over-rice dishes that look promisingly palatable. While the meal was not the greatest, the space is cozy and the service was warm and helpful.
Last time I went they told me they don't have bubble tea anymore?! If that's the case then I'm done with this place!
well this is my first time having a Chinese burger. I came here because I work in the area so I had my lunch here. I had the Meat and Veggie Chinger with the meat being beef instead of pork. It was good to me I liked how they seasoned the meat and vegetables. They are messy but in a good way. I see a lot of bad reviews but this is my first one and mine was good. I guess I have to try others from different places to compare if I can every find another place that serves them. But I recommend Chinger the place is decent and the service is fast.
If it wasn't for my bf, I probably would have never set foot in Chinger even though it has been around in my neighborhood for quite some time now. Not only is the name unsettling, but also what the name stands for – Chinese Burger.
The thing is I don't really have anything else to compare it to as Chinger is perhaps the ONLY Chinese Burger spot there is in Queens, if not the entire New York state. Nonetheless, I did not like it one bit.
My bf had the Pork and I had the Meat & Veggie chinger. He also ordered the Baby Octopus which looked like red squiggly worms on the picture and seemed even more unappetizing in reality. I did not realize the Meat & Veggie chinger came with seaweed salad, which I am not a fan of. Some seaweed salads I can handle, but this was too fishy for my taste. So my bf and I switched. His tasted the same as mine, just without the veggies. I added vinegar, soy sauce, and whatever red paste thing they had on the table because the chinger on its own did not have much flavor. Even with these condiments, my taste buds were not agreeing. I went up to the counter and asked if the octopus was raw. She looked at me – confused. I asked again, "Is it uncooked?" Again, still confused. I gave up and said, "Never mind."
Does the owner think that only one type of race goes there? It's fine if you don't speak English perfectly, but you'd think they would at least comprehend terms that are food related. Unfortunately, Chinger is probably not the only place whose employees do not speak/understand English well. It's an Asian neighborhood. What can I say… Regardless, it becomes frustrating after a few encounters.
This review is not based on the worker's performance per se, but on the food alone. Nonetheless, I think it's fair to mention this part of my experience because as a customer, whether I am in an upscale or a downscale place, I expect to be able to communicate and have my questions answered (esp if it's about the menu).
Meh. Food is OK, nothing I would really go out of my way for. Just something you might want to hit that has different flavors if you're coming out to queens to explore different types of food.
Chinger = Chinese burger. This place specializes in the roujiamo, which is popular all over China. I have had it at a couple places in Queens before. The one offered here is above average and this place is as good as any to try it if you've never had it before. Their flatbread was warm and crunchy (not old and dry like some places). The meat was also very juicy, especially the cumin beef flavor with its slight spiciness. This place is tiny and has a limited menu consisting mainly of the burgers with your choice of meat and some noodle soups.
I want to rate them -5 stars if I can. I had my most disgusting meal this year here: a veggie chinger. It is hard to image how they could come up with the horrible idea to put seaweed salad into a burger. And their buns were extremely dry, hard, and tasteless. Furthermore, the waitress was really rude to me. I have no idea about their meat burgers but I definitely will not come back.