What to Order at Tolo

Tolo is chef Ron Yan's Chinese restaurant and wine bar at 28 Canal Street in Chinatown, and the dish to build the table around is the sweet and sour crispy fish.

What should you order at Tolo?

Order the sweet and sour crispy fish, the seared scallops with puffed rice, and at least one vegetable dish, then let the wine list carry the rest of the night. The restaurant earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2024 and kept it in 2025, The Infatuation scored it an 8.2, and every plate on the menu comes in under $40 per that review.

1. Sweet and sour crispy fish. The signature: a whole branzino fried golden and sauced tableside. The Infatuation's Will Hartman praised its "very satisfying crunch", and it anchors nearly every table in the room.

2. Seared scallops with puffed rice. Golden scallops over garlic purée and seafood soy, with puffed rice for texture. The Infatuation called this its favorite of the larger plates.

3. Salt-and-pepper tofu. Fried cubes with what Hartman describes as a great crust. His review calls the vegetable dishes consistently impressive, and this one leads them.

4. Water spinach with fermented tofu and garlic sauce. Hartman compares it to the garlicky broccoli rabe pastas of old school Italian restaurants, which is exactly the comfort register it hits.

5. Cold "mouthwatering" spicy chicken. Cold-poached chicken under a numbing chile oil, a classic Sichuan preparation.

6. Seaweed shake shake fries. A $9 pile of fries dusted in savory nori powder. This is a wine bar at heart, and these are the bar snack.

What should you skip at Tolo?

Skip nothing for quality, but do not build the whole meal from snacks. The wok dishes and the fish carry the menu, so treat the fries and raw plates as openers. The string beans with gingery minced pork and the crab and Chinese broccoli fried rice round out a bigger table.

What about the wine list?

The list is the other half of the concept. The team at Parcelle, the wine shop nearby, curates it: the restaurant's site counts over 300 selections leaning natural, The Infatuation puts bottles at $60 to $335, and Eater NY highlighted its rare by-the-glass pours under $20. Ask for a funky bottle to cut the fried fish.

How do you get a reservation at Tolo?

Tolo books through OpenTable, which makes it an outlier: only 3 of the 224 hard-to-book NYC restaurants DinnerElite tracks live on that platform instead of Resy. The room on Canal Street is small, with counter seats facing the open kitchen, so prime dinner slots go fast. Friday through Sunday the doors open at 3 PM per the restaurant's site, and those off-peak hours give walk-ins their best odds.

Frequently asked questions

Who is the chef at Tolo?

Ron Yan, a Chinese chef who spent the previous decade in New York kitchens before opening Tolo in late 2023, per Resy's profile of the restaurant.

Does Tolo have a Michelin star?

No. Tolo holds a Bib Gourmand, the Michelin Guide's value distinction, earned in the 2024 edition and retained in 2025. Esquire also named it one of the Best New Restaurants in America.

How expensive is Tolo?

Moderate for its acclaim. Every dish comes in under $40 per The Infatuation, with snacks like the seaweed fries at $9 and the raw tuna bowl at $15. Wine bottles run $60 to $335, and by-the-glass pours keep the floor low.

Getting in is the harder half of the plan. DinnerElite tracks when Tolo releases reservations and how far ahead it books, and it emails you the moment a cancellation opens up. Start from DinnerElite's Tolo page.