I had dinner with StB and the new fiance recently; she was back in town for the weekend, so we headed over to Ducks eatery because she’d heard a lot of good things about the food. Cute, right? Except the above is not what I saw when I was looking for the place (that photo was taken a few days later when I walked by and finally noticed it).
That’s what I saw. See? The ducks are on the left side of the door. Why is it called Spin? Because it’s actually the eatery inside a ping pong club. I mean, table tennis. Yes, table tennis. There were people playing table tennis all night… Apparently it’s really popular now. Balls of Fury, anyone?
I ran a little late so when I got to the table, StB and StBf had ordered the wings. I tried one, and they were ok but nothing special.
StB also ordered the cocoa + coconut popcorn, which I definitely didn’t try (I’m allergic to coconut). I know she really liked it because she took it with us and ate a lot of it 🙂
StBf ordered the Philadelphia sandwich, which he thought was good – not amazing, but solid.
StB ordered the Saigon: “It was decent but I wouldn’t order it again. It was a little too sour. The pickled veggies and lemongrass pate overpowered the other ingredients. However, I did enjoy the crispy bread and cracklings.”
After a lot of pondering, I ordered the Korean tacos. I wasn’t sure I’d like it because it listed kimchi as a topping, and I’m not big on kimchi – especially the super spicy, super fermenty kind.
But these tacos were REALLY GOOD. The tortillas used were flour (hooray!), the meat was super tender and flavorful, and all the little toppings on the side you could add really made these delicious. Soft meat, slightly tangy kimchi, refreshing bean sprouts, and a squirt of lime juice… mmm, I think I could eat these all day. But $9.50 for two… maybe not. Can someone start selling these from a truck please? Oh, wait…
StB and I ended the meal with boozy-pops, cherry vodka pops that is. Pretty tasty – very strong on the cherry – but too messy for either of us to eat that happily. The bags were pretty sticky and both of us hate being sticky. A nice little novelty, but not “OMG YOU HAVE TO GET THIS” by any means.
Yvo says: Considering our varying opinions, I definitely like the food here and the very quirky atmosphere of watching people play table tennis as we ate. Also adjacent to the eatery area were two large glass windows that peeked directly into the 28th Street 6 train station, another avenue for people watching, very nice touch 😉 for the nosy people. The food is alright, but I’m not sure I can justify the prices… maybe once in a while as a treat or if I actually want to play table tennis? (There’s so many other places in the area to eat more cheaply too!)
iffy, some hits, some misses, some alright…
TT says
hipsters love ping pong.
Peg says
Nice review. The food looks pretty interesting, but the pics came out too dark. =( If your camera has a manual mode, you can increase the ISO to 800 or 1600. That way, the pics come out a lot brighter, without having to use flash that blinds everyone else in restaurant. You do have to hold your hands pretty still, though, or else the pics come out blurry. This is something that my photographer friend told me when I was taking pics of our meal.
T.C. says
Ping Pong Playa!
The food sounds okay. Nice tacos but for 10? Ergh.
Will Sokobin says
I really love this place!!! I’ve never thought anything special of there wings but I love their Saigon (Banh Mi) I’ve always thought having the extra bits of pork belly, char sui & cracklings made it right up there with Siagon bakery or nicky’s.
The Korean Tacos are def my favorite on the menu, but you guys should really try the crab lettuce wraps and the coconut shrimp tacos they are def a close second!