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Korean restaurant offering a casual take on refined Asian fusion cuisine. Franchia Decor is traditional Korean architecture that contrasts with elements of modernism. Dishes may include spicy duck salad, ramen with tonkatsu, sizzling bulgogi plate, and a large selection of sushi. Sister-restaurant to the venerable Hangawi vegan restaurant. Open Mon-Thu 12:00pm-9:00pm, Fri-Sat 12:00pm-9:30pm, Sun 12:00pm-9:00pm.
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12 Park Ave (at Midtown Manhattan), New York City, New York, USA, 10016
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Last update on 05 Jul 2024 by geometric-noise
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Featured Review
CelianRaimbault
Points +220
Best Vegan Restaurant! - Edit
One of the best vegan restaurant I tried so far! Both the presentation and the taste were amazing. I strongly recommend
Read morePros: Taste, Presentation, Originality
INTJ_mara
I loooove Franchia. What’s the dish in the first pic?
Read moreLidekouRashikpkps
Nice dishes
Read moreGuest
342 Reviews
First Review by Poundie
Michael X. James
Points +998
Cute Place - Edit
Walking distance from GCT, this is my go-to spot for vegan sushi. It's a nice, welcoming place with very friendly service with a smile. They sometimes run out of dessert but that's only because they're so yummy. Lots of interesting choices for food and drink. It's a teahouse so there are plenty o' teas to choose from.
Read moreGuest
O-liv
Points +100
Nice place - Edit
The restaurant in itself is beautifull, very well decorated, and we loved the 3 floors idea. The service is excellent, people are very nice and helpfull (they made my sauce pepper-free upon demand).
Read moreThe food was good, although not exeptionnal. The deserts are excellent, on the other hand! A little expensive though.
Pros: Well decorated, great service, deserts
Cons: a little expensive
Guest
mendicant_crow
Points +43
Beautiful Experience - Edit
I chose to dine at Franchia over it's sister-restaurant after reviewing the menu online, and finding it more to my liking. This was honestly the best restaurant meal I had in NYC. I imagine that, looking at the reviews, they have likely improved their menu and service since they first opened, because nothing we ordered could be described as bland or poorly prepared, and our service was very prompt. We recieved much larger food portions than at other restaurants we dined at. I highly recommend leaning towards the fresher, cleaner foods like the Bimibap bowls over the fried foods, or the heavier noodle dishes. Also, my friend tried their signature $10 green tea, and said he would pay for that tea again any day. If you want dessert though, plan to be there early, because they run out of most of their desserts later in the evening.
Read morePros: Authentic Korean flavours, Amazing teas, Beautiful atmosphere
Cons: May run out of dessert
Guest
sarahp
Points +57
Too Many Choices! - Edit
Delicious! Wonderful teahouse atmosphere, extensive all vegan menu, candlelight at your table, and little call button for immediate service from waiters. Only possible complaint could be that our waiter wasn't veg and hadn't tried the menu so couldn't recommend anything. Loved the stone bowl meals, the peking dumplings, and the brown rice "tuna" rolls.
Read morePros: atmosphere, whole grain availability, fake meat
Cons: high price
Guest
TrudiBruges
Points +28874
nice atmosphere, good food - Edit
We found this to be one of the best veg restaurants we went to during our week in NYC.
Read moreVery nice atmosphere, great food, great choice on the menu, wish I could go again and try out more things!
Friendly.
The only thing that bothered me was the airco being too cold!
Pros: nice atmosphere, good food
Cons: too cold airco
Guest
AliVegan
Points +68
YUM! - Edit
Han Gawi, Franchia's sister restaurant, has been a NYC fav of mine for awhile, so I was excited to try Franchia. I was not disappointed! The food is amazing - maybe even better than Han Gawi! Maybe. The crispy tofu sushi is an excellent starter. I typically do not like seaweed, as it tastes way too fishy for me, but the crispy tofu inside these rolls is so amazing that I can't even taste the seaweed. As a main course, the kabocha pumpkin and tofu dish is a must (unless you prefer the sizzling spinach noodles ;D ). The presentation is amazingly beautiful and the tofu is absolutely delicious, as is the entire dish. Overall this is a very stylish restaurant with excellent food, teas, and desserts... now one of my NYC favs!
Read morePros: flavor, presentation, atmosphere
Cons: none!
Guest
natz
Points +133
Amazing! - Edit
Went here for dinner on New Years Eve and found it romantic, friendly and the food was excellent. Massive range of Korean teas so it was great to try teas we hadn't experienced before. Everything was vegan. The sushi was amazing and very well presented. Mains were lovely, mock meat sizzling with perfectly cooked brown rice (what a lovely change from white rice!) and the blueberry and coconut cake for dessert was fantastic. Massive portions (we're from the UK so they seem big to us) and reasonable price for the high quality restaurant it was. Was so good that we went here a second time on our holiday (we had gone to Hangwai but it was fully booked). Both times we didn't need a reservation. After having now ordered four main courses (two of us visiting twice) the only disappointing thing is that the sauce each of the four came in was the same (and we ordered completely different dishes each time) so if we ate here regularly it might become a bit samey. However there's such a massive menu it's not too much of a problem. The lychee wine is recommended as are the mojitos but the teas are so gorgeous that there's really no need for alcohol! Great website too. Highly recommended for vegan travellers or those that love tea and zen in equal measure!
Read morePros: large portions, friendly staff, large menu range
Cons: can be difficult to find
Guest
amysaundersbigelow
Points +55
A bit of an upset - Edit
I went here for take out because it's almost right on the way from Penn Station to Grand Central Station. The service was as fast as any Chinese restaurant I've seen (though this is Korean)-- less than 10 minutes for my entree. With tax, I paid $13 for 6 dumplings. I was glad that I wasn't super hungry before, because it left me satisfied, but not full. The dumplings themselves were a little bland. Contrary to another review, I got them steamed, and realized they tasted like "healthy food" (not that it was a bad thing). It just wasn't a special treat. I'm pretty sure all of the dumplings are freshly made. The spinach dumplings had bit, hearty pieces of spinach in them (which I liked).
Read moreThe entire restaurant is 100% vegan, which is nice. I haven't tried any of the noodle dishes, so don't know if that deal is better (or at least closer to traditional Asian take out). The waiter was also friendly and the decor was lovely. It might be a good place to go for a special, fancy event, but certainly not for quick take out. I think most of what you pay for at Franchia is the experience.
Pros: Downtown location, All vegan, Lovely decor
Cons: Food is nothing special, Expensive
Guest
jagreene3
Points +59
great for mixed group - Edit
Visiting NYC, I had to find a restaurant that would cater to a mixed group of six including teenagers, adult meat-centered & alcohol-drinking omnivores, & myself, the lowly organic vegan :) This place worked well. We were seated in the middle tier of the "mountain" which offered some privacy & lovely decor. We ordered everything from sushi to noodles, tea, sake & wine, and desserts. My 14 yo non-veggie niece raved about the soy ice cream. All eaters seemed pleased with the experience. Service was attentive but relaxed, which allowed for a nice relaxing meal. Organic wine options. Yes, pricey but worth it since it met all of my criteria.
Read morePros: ambience, varied menu, organic wine
Cons: pricey
Guest
greenjdmd
Points +69
Bland, tasteless - Edit
Ordered entree and sushi as takeout. Both very disappointing (and expensive). Sushi was tasteless and entree oddly put-together: hot food on a bed of cold lettuce, unidentifiable otherwise and I could not even tell if I was given the correct order since I could'nt make out any of the ingredients! Expected it to be pricey because of the location but definitely not worth the price.
Read moreGuest
gr8vegan
Points +2357
Not bad, but not good - Edit
We stopped off here on a hour delay coming back from Europe and took the train in from the airport and figured this was close enough to Penn Station. I enjoyed the ice blended tea, but I requested the Bim Bap bowl w/o any oil and they presented it to me covered in oil so I scrapped the poisoned veggies off and had some rice with chili paste... My girl's wrap came properly prepared, though. It seems like a nice enough place, but they are heavy on cooking oil, which is disgusting in my book and rude when cooks won't simple put the veggies on my plate w/o ruining them.
Read morePros: tea blends
Cons: don't follow dietary requests, everything covered in oil
Guest
A.Z.P.
Points +639
Overpriced and ehhh - Edit
I can't say the meal was awful, but boy do i think this place is overpriced and over rated. My wife and i got had a lunch consisting of 1 cup of tea each, a noodle dish, a tofu dish and an assorted dumplings which we shared... All this at a bargain price of 26 dollars each!! (FOR LUNCH!!!) The tea, which is supposedly this restaurant's trademark, was so sweet it made Snapple taste authentic. For 5 dollars a cup i can't believe that I was longing for an Arizona. Smehow the main dishes were even more disappointing though. If you consider a big portion to be an enormous plate with 10 times the amount of sauce neccesary, than this is the place for you, as far as food goes, if there are 10 bites on each plate I would be shocked. The noodles were almost non-existent as it was mostly very American vegetables with a few noodles mixed in. The tofu reminded me of the last time I tasted a sponge that fell into, overly sweet, sweet and sour sauce. Lastly of the dumplings the green tea were the best, but my wife thought they all tasted the same. The most embarrassing part is my best friends wife made dumplings for the first time in her life that night and we thought they were of higher quality. As for the other elements of this restaurant I can't complain. The presentation was beautiful from the cucumber flowers to the carrot roses. The restaurant itself through music architecture and atmosphere brings you a peaceful taste of Asia, and the service was quick and impeccable. Yet for 30 dollars a lunch I think you have the right to expect a better meal than the tiny westernized unsavory portions of Franchia, because say what you want about atmosphere, but there are plenty of places in NYC with higher quality vegetarian Asian food at more tempting prices.
Read morePros: Very good service, Great atmosphere
Cons: Mniscule portions, Underaverage food, EXPENSIVE
ghelfling
i totally agree with this author. we ordered the assorted dumplings, steamed, the meatballs and curry noodles. the dumplings and meatballs all tasted the same -- bland! the noodles were okay, but not worth 16.95. we went for dinner. needless to say i wouldn't recommend the place, not worth it. it wasn't atrocious, but it just wasnt worth what they were charging.
Read moreGuest
captown
Points +60
awesome restaurant - Edit
The service was quick and friendly, the food was incredible and the portions were large. Overall it was a great deal for the quality and quantity of food. I would highly recommend the sushi combo platter, also the pumpkin noodles and kimchee tofu dish.
Read moreGuest
OneChubbyVegan
Points +24
Amazing! - Edit
On a recent trip to Manhattan (I grew up on Long Island but never went to Manhattan much until recently!), my husband and I had lunch at Franchia. I can't wait to go again! Having an ENTIRELY vegan restaurant is so very relieving when dining out. I did not have to ask 200 questions or have to dissect the menu to find hidden animal products. We had the fried dumplings to share. I had the lunch portion of the pad thai, and my husband had a dish with tomato, coconut and dill that was intensely delicious. I had the plum iced tea, and my husband had the iced chai tea. This is a great restaurant to bring a date.
Read morePros: Informative staff, not too expensive, fresh delicious food
Cons: uncomfortable seating
Guest
condekedar
Points +10030
Nice place for tea - Edit
This is a nicely decorated, quiet place to meet for tea and snacks. I didn't try any entrees, but the dumplings were decent (if a bit bland) and the tofu cheesecake was tasty, but not the best I've ever had. I did like their extensive options for tea and the great ambiance and decor inside.
Read morePros: Tea selection, Ambience
Cons: A bit bland
Guest
philjdomm
Points +945
love it - Edit
like the tea sister connection as well as the quiet upstairs.
Read moreGuest
beelover
Points +44
Soooo Good! - Edit
We stumbled on this restaurant because it was close to our hotel and we loved it so much we ate there two out of the three days we were in the city. The food is delicious. It is such a comfortable space to be in we lingered for a few hours over tea and the best asian food I have had since becoming vegan. Even our 18 month old daughter enjoyed the flavors. Try the first pick green tea, it is worth the experience!
Read morePros: Warm environment, Excellent service, Inovative flavors
Cons: none
Guest
Poundie
Points +19668
One of the best - Edit
This is fun by the same folks that run Hangawai. Although the atmosphere is simpler and the prices are a bit cheaper, the food here is of the highest quality: everything on the menu is good. I eat here regularly, and have brought many friends, too: everyone agrees that this is a great vegan restaurant. The location (near the Empire State Building) is also great.
Read morePros: Great food, healthy, clean
Cons: a bit pricey
Guest
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