WeChat Is Changing New York City's Chinese Restaurant Scene

CHINATOWN, NY — Some of New York City's restauranteurs may be seeking Michelin star status, a glowing New York Times review, or even tracking their Yelp reviews, where some restaurant-goers may start their eatery search. But for some of the most popular Chinese restaurants, mostly in Manhattan's Chinatown and Flushing, WeChat bloggers are dominating the restaurant review scene, Eater reported in a feature article on Monday.

The reviews are sometimes more akin to Instagram influencers' pay-per-post, though some WeChat accounts include unpaid posts of recommendations, reviews, listicles, or other informational foodie reads.

Chinese restauranteurs are looking towards WeChat, a social media and messaging app, for their marketing instead of hiring a bilingual publicist or attempting to land reviews in publications mostly English readers would be reading.

Targeting non-Chinese customers, some eatery owners told Eater, is unnecessary because the restaurants are thriving with enough Chinese customers.

WeChat has some 1 billion users, and, as Eater reported, the "explosive growth" of WeChat "coincided with a huge influx of foreign-born Chinese to New York City, and the convergence of the two has helped force the city's Chinese dining scene."

A scene of Chinese restaurants has grown with Chinese dishes from various regions of China that avoid the typical American variation on Chinese food, such as General Tso's chicken, Eater reported. For some of these restaurants, the customer base is largely Chinese-speaking.

WeChat foodie accounts "are a reaction to the new market," Eater writes.

These accounts — some with tens of thousands of followers — focus more on flavors, textures, and smell of the food. English reviews often focus on ambience and customer service, Eater writes.

Many of the restaurants are located in Manhattan's Chinatown and Flushing, Queens.

As Eater wrote, these restauranteurs are "shaping the dining landscape in New York, and they're doing it without most New Yorkers even knowing."

Read Eater's full story in English or Chinese.