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This venue is closed.

The antithesis of the Meatpacking District’s mega-restaurants a few blocks north, this unassuming Chinese eatery is a locals-only place where customers ask the owner about the kids (who beam from large color photos over the cash register) while picking up a batch of wontons or after finishing noodle soup. The menu hews to familiar standbys: ginger chicken, basil beef, hot garlic shrimp, and so on. Flavors—like the furnishings of wooden tables and chairs—are super simple. Although this isn’t strictly a Cantonese joint, entrées designated by a spicy chili icon raise barely a flicker of heat. The vegetable dishes are the most successful and if you ask about the rotating cast of seasonal offerings, you just might luck into fresh water spinach or crisp slices of chayote to nibble under the few red paper lanterns and amid the glow of the aquariums. — Jennifer Paull

The lunch special is a good deal for this neck of the woods: choose from over a dozen main dishes, all for $5 or less.

Chinese home-style bean curd, $8.75; vegetable dumplings, $4.75