Shi

Located inside a shiny LIC condo development, Shi—an ambitious Pan-Asian eatery—is predictably chichi. The music was thumping, the DJ booth is illuminated with purple light, and the servers are clad in all black. The food is less polished. A fried crab claw appetizer was all batter and no meat, while lettuce wraps stuffed with hoisin-drenched ground chicken were oily. An entrée of basil beef was better, if a little conventional—tender strips of meat in a spicy, herbaceous sauce. Despite the ho-hum food, with a little sake you should be able to enjoy Shi’s main draw: the stunning view of the Manhattan skyline.