Social Eatz

232 E. 53rd St., Midtown East, NY

7.4

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Neighborhood
Midtown East

Cuisine
Bar Food
Burgers
Korean

Nearby
United Nations

212-207-3339

Official Website

Twitter

By Andrew Steinthal
March 30, 2011

Angelo Sosa is kind of a weird guy, so it should come as no surprise that Social Eatz, the new restaurant from the Top Chef (and Friday Fives alumn), is kind of strange as well. The name, the excessive use of a cartoon logo as table centerpiece – it all brings a bit of an Applebees vibe to 53rd street. And 53rd St. is certainly not suffering form a shortage of Applebees vibe as it is.

Social Eatz is not what we expected from Sosa. A Bar Food joint with Sports on TV from the guy in skin tight pants and really deep v-neck? The Asian flavors, for sure. We get that. We just figured it would be in a more refined setting, serving hamachi tartare in a ponzu sauce instead of on a burger with fries. Sosa pulls it off though, proving that you can’t always judge a book by its cover. Contrary to how he’s often portrayed on television, he doesn’t actually take himself all that seriously. The proof is in the pudding. All the food at Social Eatz is nicely priced and generally quite tasty. Dude rolls up tropical Asian flavors Wiz Khalifa style.

Food Rundown

Crispy Spring Rolls
Two extra large spring rolls filled with shrimp and chicken. This is probably not quite what you’ve come to expect from the standard spring roll, and that’s a good thing. The sweet and sour duck sauce these come served with is also really good.

Smoked Ribs
We would have appreciated a little more meat on these ribs, but overall we were satisfied. The meat is tender and falling off the bone, while the bbq sauce, although heavy handed, is tasty. There’s a hint of pineapple that makes the sauce stand out.

Hot Wings
These are wings with an Angelo flair, and my head hurts from reading the menu description: “crispy wings glazed in a sauce of tamarind, garlic, shallots, palm sugar and togarashi, a Japanese spice blend of red chili, roasted orange peel and black sesame.” Right, so Asian inspired wings. We were definitely into these, we just wish that there were more. Five wings isn’t enough to feed a table of hungry dudes. Order two.

Kung Pao Sandwich
A Social Eatz signature dish. This chicken sandwich with thai flavors and roasted peanut spread was definitely tasty, but we’d suggest sticking with the burgers and tacos. The complaint on this guy is that there isn’t enough chicken, a little too much bun.

Bibimbap Burger
Oh yes. This is where it’s at. This Koren ground beef burger is smothered in picked carrots, shredded cucumber and lettuce with a slow cooked egg on top. Another signature dish, and for good reason. Make sure you ask them to cook the burger medium rare, because if the meat is overcooked, this whole burger can fall apart. It needs to be medium rare and explosively juicy.

Imperialist Hot Dog
Unimpressed with Imperial chicken dog, focus on other goodness.

Korean Beef Taco
Vintage skirt steak Angelo? Add “buttery soft” to that description and you could start making bank on Ebay selling old t-shirts. The meat we ate couldn’t have been that old, because it was really freakin’ good. We were real into these sweet sauced soft tacos – a must order.

Southeast Asian Pickles
Funny, no pickles here. Just a bunch of random pickled veggies swimming in way to much vinegar. Definitely pass.

Crispy Fries
Skinny, crispy, crunchy potatoes with a spicy kick. Yep.