Shanghai Best

They make really good food however they’re always stingy with the soy sauce and the girl at the register NEVER smiles. Just a customer service thing.

I love love love this place! Great for big groups because you want to SHARE all your dishes family style! And the best soup dumplings in NJ! The food is very authentic and inexpensive. Staff is not high end, but you wouldn’t expect it to be so in a Chinese restaurant. I’ve never had to wait as there’s plenty of seating here! I’ve dined in as well as gotten takeout. Definitely dine in– the portions are bigger!
Must trys:
— Pork soup dumplings
— Scallion pancake with beef
— braised beef noodle soup
— chicken soup

All my good memories at New Port with friends, boys and girls, puppies and kitties. I will always remember these days in my life.

I ordered from here through
for the first time because I read the good reviews, but it was so disappointing to have our food arrive swimming in about two fingers width of oil. The broccoli we ordered was just absolutely inedible unfortunately and the majority of the food was bland and tasteless. The only two things that seemed okay we’re the flat rice noddles and bok choy but everything else (broccoli in garlic sauce and eggplant) were just not acceptable. So sorry to have ordered from this place.

Best of the best.
If you are looking for authentic Chinese, this is it !!
That’s where the Chinese eat.
I never been disappointed when I ate there.
Don’t expect a smile or greetings from the waiters. The restaurant is nice and clean.

The food was tasty and the service was excellent. For the type of ingredients and preparation necessary for the dishes, the prices were reasonable. Portion size was above average.
Be prepared for a decent amount of sauce/​gravy. All three items we ordered (tilapia, braised chicken with chestnuts and beef balls with egg yolk) came with dark thick sauces.
My only criticism is the hot (mostly cold) tea. Because they use a regular open pitcher for refill, we kept getting lukewarm tea.

The food was delicious and daring. We tried 3 different dishes and ended up sharing them between us. The pork buns (soup filled) were divine and honestly I could have just eaten about 2 orders of those and been just fine with my evening. The scallion pancakes were cooked to perfection and I would recommend them over any other scallion pancakes I’ve ever tired before. We tried the twice cooked pork which was spicier than I thought but still manageable with my mild-​favoring palate. We also got General Tso’s Chicken and Pork Belly. The pork belly was defiantly the table favorite as it was flavorful, tender and almost melted in your mouth. We would absolutely get this again.
As a slight criticism the menu was a bit haphazardly laid out and it was challenging to figure out what each dish was without any descriptions listed. Our waitress wasn’t helpful on this front either but the food was amazing so I would wager that no matter what you order you’ll end up happy.

Very good! I was browsing Unilocal before getting lunch to see how Grand Sichuan has been recently and perhaps find some alternatives where somebody recommended Shanghai Best. So glad they did!
First, the atmosphere is very decent. Server had tea out immediately
The soup dumplings are really, really good. Much better than expected. Service is quite fast and we were quite pleased with all the dishes. Despite the name, they have some Sichuan dishes as well.
They are connected to ‘Hotpot Best’ next door. We shall be trying them next.

Since my previous review, I’ve ordered from this restaurant a few more times and haven’t had any problems. Their food really is delicious! One of the most authentic in the area; reminds me of growing up in Shanghai.

Food is authentic and amazing. Definitely worth trying every dish on the menu. Prices are reasonable and dishes are filling. Staff aren’t top notch but the food and price make up for everything. Seating is cosy but ample. Try anything on the menu and it’ll make your mouth water. Food is served quickly so you won’t go hungry here. A bit out of the way so you wouldn’t notice it unless you knew about this delicious hole in the wall.

I was born and raised in Shanghai so believe me when I say this is the best and the most authentic Shanghainese restaurant this side of the Hudson River. Most of the negative reviews were most likely from Panda Express regulars. One even complained about their general Tso’s chicken. I highly recommend people to Google «Shanghainese cuisine» before they go, to avoid end up ordering pork fried rice.
After years of searching for the authentic Shanghainese experience, my family and I decided that this will be our go to spot for birthday celebrations and other special occasions. Also I am writing this review after my fifth visit.
If you are looking for something that defines the Shanghainese cuisine, I highly recommend the pork ribs with sweet and sour sauce. Their red braised pork is excellent as well. Especially if you like the fatty part of the meat. It just literally melts in your mouth. So good. Above all, you must try their soup dumplings because it’s absolutely the best I’ve ever had anywhere.

We came here on a Thursday night a few weeks back and the place was pretty crowded. They have a lot of options on the menu but, the menu is a little difficult to navigate– there are tons of photos but nothing seems to picture what you actually recieve. I would suggest asking own of the servers for a recommendation as we did. We had the soup dumplings for an appetizer and I have to pork and string beans for an entrée. The dumplings were nicely done and a unique option for an appetizer. My entrée was pretty oily so I wouldn’t get that again.
All in all the servers were attentive and helpful (even through a bit of a language barrier). The BYOB option was a nice feature, though no one else in the restaurant appeared to partake in this. And the food on a whole was average in flavor and too oily for our taste.

I was in Jersey to meet a friend and she recommended this place. It was a great recommendation. We came around lunch time. It was not too packed and we got a seat near the front.
I ordered a chicken lo mein w/​baby bok choy and a strawberry milk bubble tea. My friend ordered mixed veggies and rice with a mango milk bubble tea.
The food was good, service was decent and we were in and out.
Great place to stop if you are in the area.

Street parking is cheap and easy on the weekend, 75¢/hr.
Walked in and this place was bustling. Seating quick and simple, tea and water came quickly, too. Waitress took our order and then we sat back and waiting on the food to arrive! The wait staff was busy, didn’t come back to fill water or tea over the course of dinner…
They have some small dimsum selections, Szechuan and Shanghai food selections and the generic Chinese food, too.
My selections:
— Pan Fried Pork Buns were good (wife said they sort of reminded her as the ones that she had in Shanghai).
— Kau Fu was okay, but was more sweet and sticky than I’d normally have it.
— Shanghai Fried Noodle — fried noodle (almost udon but thicker wheat) and pork. It was not the beef that we ordered, but was okay.
— Spicy beef & tripe was spicy, but not much less. not enough ma-​la (white pepper spice).
— Shanghai Shao Mai — not a fan of this rice inside a dumpling skin, but others at the table liked it.
Overall an interesting mix and we’ll probably be back to try some more dishes, but definitely some good and some meh so far.

Alright I see the hype, after battling 10 pm holland tunnel traffic I totally get why people are excited about having a reasonable legit soup dumpling place on the jersey side.
Grant it, my dad was right about not to have overly high expectation.
Between me my dad and my bf, we got about 5 things. Mostly are supposed to be pretty traditional shanghainese stuff, like things my dad cooks at home.
The noodle that has fried green onion and oil was probably the highlight of the meal, very tasty.
Chinese spinach (??) was okay. A little less salt would make it perfect. The spinach itself is quite tough to eat.
Soup dumpling — well, not bad, but the meat texture isn’t what I remember growing up having; it kinda fell apart rather then stick together. Ginger piece were not finally grounded, only chopped.
The chicken fermented in wine… oh god it was bad. Yo would never use chicken breast to make them (though this is us…) but chicken leg. The skin due to over boiling was all soggy. DO NOT ORDER.
I think some dude maybe even the owner is actually from Shanghai. Overall, not shabby for maybe jersey people or people who don’t want to travel across the Hudson, although calling itself the best is sure overrated.

Shanghai Best — I had such high hopes for you. When you first opened a few years back, you filled a great niche in downtown JC. The Chinese student and young professional diaspora no longer had to trek into Manhattan (or farther) for authentic Shanghai food nor settle for overpriced, substandard fare at more local places (looking at you, Confucius Asian Bistro).
When you started out, you stuck to the basics — and you still do them well. Your xiaolongbao, while not as good as Joe’s Shanghai (and really, despite the attestations of many Unilocalers, what non-​Flushing restaurant does compare), were pretty awesome. Thin but not easily breakable wrappers, plenty of soup, just the right balance of pork meat and fat, good size. And, your other Shanghai dim sum/​cold appetizers are solid — from the classic youtiao and soy bean milk pairing to the kao fu (fried gluten).
But then, you decided to go upmarket, to diversify. You added more Shanghai specialty dishes like and even hot pots (even spinning off a sister store — Hot Pot Best). I don’t fault you for trying, but let’s face it, your kitchen/​chefs couldn’t handle the diversity of the expanded menu, and that’s led to a decline in the quality/​consistency of the dishes. Even with your increased popularity, the increased turnover (and hence repetition/​opportunities for learning) hasn’t translated into basic things like: marinating the dongpo pork longer so that the meat absorbs more of the flavor.
And, you decided that you could get away with charging Lan Sheng /​Café China prices despite being in Grove Street/​JC, not midtown Manhattan.
Anyway, I hope things turn around. I hope the increased competition from new neighbors like Taste of North China (as well as old stalwarts like Grand Sichuan) galvanizes you to return to your former best.

I was pleasantly surprised beyond my expectations about the food here. The pork Xiaolongbao (to the uninitiated, steamed soup dumplings) was one of the best I’ve ever had — at the same level as Chinatown in Manhattan and Flushing. The soup was burn-​your-​mouth hot, as it should be, and very flavorful. The meat portions were substantial.
We also ordered the spicy boiled fish, which was insane beyond description. Spicy, yes, but your mouth does recover within a few seconds and you crave another bite. You just can’t stop eating it.
Sadly, I can’t give this place five stars, even though I really want to. The problem is that they’re not very sanitary. Our sweet ball soup dessert came with a few extra bugs of some sort, most likely fruit flies. Gross. The waiter took it off the check after I pointed it out, but that still didn’t take away the gross factor.

We were duped! Ok partially it was our fault but we were trying to go to Hot Pot Best but I guess we roamed into the wrong restaurant. What threw us off even more, there were Hot Pot Best menus on the table. We only realized that we were in the wrong restaurant when we tried to order hotpot and the waiter told us that Hot Pot was next door… ok. then why are you displaying their menus??? Anyway, since we were already seated and happily sipping our tea we opted to stay.
Dishes on their menu are meant to be served family style, which works out best anyway so you get to sample a little bit of everything. We started out with the beef and pork tripe, it looked a lot bigger in the photo than in person. It was served cold with ground chili, cilantro, chilis, sesame seeds smothered in chili oil. Be careful the spice in this dish sneaks up on you — not that it isn’t plenty spicy to begin with it most certainly is. Not being a fan of spice I was not the biggest fan, but what really turned me off was the excess of chili oil that the dish had. It left coating on my tongue that i just couldn’t shake for the rest of the meal.
Next came the double cooked pork, I wish the photo provided a clearer picture so we knew that we were ordered thinly sliced pork belly. Meat was fine, heavily seasoned and dry fried with plenty of dried chili peppers and an assortment of strange vegetables that I couldn’t name for the life of me and tossed in you guessed it. chili oil.
The rice cakes with pork and cabbage was an interesting dish. It contained thinly sliced rice cakes fried in a salty gravy with toothpick sized pork with bits of cabbage. This was a savory dish that was balanced with the rice cakes and bitter cabbage. My problem with this dish was the pork to rice cake ratio, it was probably 1:10 — I had a great time playing find the pork.
My favorite dish was the soup dumplings. They came out fresh and hot, each plump with juicy pork broth and steaming hot to the touch. Do yourself a favor and let it cool down a bit before you try to take a bite unless you don’t want to taste anything else for the rest of the meal.
Service was great and waiters were very attentive but the food just wasn’t doing it for me. Unless you are cool with your food slathered with chili oil and then have that stuff coating your tongue then I advise you to look elsewhere.

Quality has gone down. They weren’t consistent with their quality before, but this visit was really a disappointment. Food was very salty and oily. Even soup dumpling doesn’t taste as fresh as Grand Sichuan’s. I don’t think I’ll be back, at least not for dinner any more.

I declare this as the best Shanghai /​Asian joint in Hoboken /​JC (until something better comes along).
We ordered the following:
Xiao long bao (soup dumplings) — decent size soup dumplings with lots of flavor.
Shanghai xiao mai (sticky rice dumplings) — amazing things! My friend devoured 2 of them before I even saw them!
Shredded pork noodle soup — just ok. I’ll pass on this and try their beef noodle soup next time.
Ribs with turnip soup — tastes just like my mom’s soup. I will get this when I feel home sick.
Service was a bit lacking. They forgot two of our dishes and they were included in our check. When we told the waitress and asked to adjust our check, the two tables next to us chimed in and states that they were missing dishes as well.
Overall I will be returning for the food!