Joe’s Shanghai

My California cousins were in town and on their last night, we had a nice family dinner on a Friday night. You can make reservations, but they will not sit your table unless every member of your party is there. Everything is served family style. We went with the scallion pancakes (Yum!) soup dumplings, beef, string beans, and another meat dish. Obviously, I chowed down on the scallion pancakes and ordered some steamed vegetable dumplings. For vegetarians, the choices are limited, but they did have some good options on the menu so I’m thankful for that. For dessert we shared mochi and red bean ice cream. Yum yum!
All in all a great evening. Good service, coat check downstairs (it gets hot upstairs!), and clean bathrooms.

Super crowded and can be noisy. I felt rushed from the staff to eat and order quick. I am from Irvine, so we have several Chinese restaurants nearby so their menu really had nothing special. They do, however, make great soup dumplings! I highly recommend ordering a variety of them.

Came for lunch with 2 friends saturday. First time at the midtown location after years of going to the flushing one.
I just love this place. The soup dumplings are the best thing I’ve ever eaten (maybe an exaggeration), and the rest of the food is great too.
Just be prepared to wait a little bit at the typical meal times…

I don’t think the pork they cook with is of awfully good quality. As a shanghainese, I suspect this place is overrated.

I got A mixture of crab and pork meat which was a little different from the basic pork soup dumpling I usually get. The dumpling was thin so it broke easy and all the broth would leak out b4 you ate it. So treat the dumpling like a lady and be gentle unless she (dumpling) likes it rough lol then just shove the whole thing in your mouth lol, but be careful the juices and broth will burn you.

Surprisingly for the hype we only waited around 20 minutes for a table for 3 on a Saturday noon. The staff was pretty friendly albeit a little impatient. They kept checking on us to see if we were ready to order (we were slow because we were surprised at the ridiculous prices described below).
The soup dumplings here are pretty worth it. They were very well made with thin dumpling wraps and well seasoned filings. I would say that the dumplings are pretty worth it as they were able 9 dollars for 6. However, that’s about the only good thing about this place. Everything else on the menu was basically a tourist trap (25 dollars for like cashew chicken???) and all of the entrees are way overpriced. If you come here, JUST get the soup dumplings and you’ll be fine.

Came in with low expectations after reading all the bad reviews here, but I ended up liking this place a whole lot more than I expected. My boyfriend and I arrived around 5PM and were seated immediately at a nice private little table upstairs. We were only here for one thing – soup dumplings, so we put in an order of crab and pork dumplings and an order of just pork dumplings. Other Unilocalers had mentioned the scallion pancakes, so I decided to order one of those as well.
The scallion pancakes were first to arrive, hot and freshly fried. They’re extremely crispy and oily, so if you’re looking for the more bread-​y kind of scallion pancakes, these are not the ones you want. I wished the scallion flavor had been more pronounced, but we still enjoyed them especially when dipped in the sweet soy sauce served alongside. 4 stars for that appetizer.
The soup dumplings were the real star, and as soon as I took my first slurp of the soup inside, I was in heaven. Rich, flavorful broth exploding with porky essence. Even once I had sucked all the soup out, the filling inside was still plenty juicy and the skins perfectly thin. Out of the two, I preferred the crab and pork by far. There was a generous amount of crab roe inside each one, and it gave the soup a wonderfully complex flavor that I couldn’t get enough of. My boyfriend wasn’t as enamored with the fishiness and preferred the plain pork ones more. I recommend ordering one of each since they do taste pretty different in my opinion, but next time, I want a whole basket of crab and pork ones to myself. At $ 9.75 for 6 of the crab and pork ones and $ 8.25 for the just pork ones, they were definitely more expensive than Chinatown, but this is Midtown after all. Our dinner came out to be a little under $ 25 for 2 people, so it wasn’t like the prices were outrageous. I also wished they had laid the dumplings a little farther apart in the steamers, as they stuck together as they cooled, making the task of taking a dumpling out a real pain. We broke a few that way, which is always the saddest thing when soup dumplings are involved.
Service was surprisingly good. Our waiter was very polite and attentive. Our water glasses were refilled often and when we were done, he was at our table immediately with the bill. I appreciated the efficiency, as we were in a bit of a hurry as well. Overall, I thought the soup dumplings were excellent (better than ones I recently had at a well-​regarded Shanghainese restaurant in Flushing), and this is a great option for dinner if you’re in Midtown East.

The crab roe & pork steamed soup dumplings are still the bomb but at $ 9.25 for SIX dumplings at this location, one has to admit that is more than a little absurd. Like hurt my soul and douse it in gasoline, absurd.
It looks like I’ll have to be on the look-​out for another soup dumpling place, soon. I wish Din Tai Fung (famous soup dumpling chain) would come to the city already.
The Chinatown location might have a better price on the dumplings. Someone let me know!

No reservations for lunch and you best be ready to wait. Actually we only waited around 15mins and we were position 15 in the queue. Pretty fast turn around.
We just had the Xiao Long Bao and the pea shoots. Both were tasty although I have had better XLB in China town it was a good second and closer for those of us working in Midtown.
Pea shoots were yummy and came with a bowl of rice which I have never encountered before. Maybe they used that to justify the $ 17 price tag for them.
The menu was quite substantial so will have to come again to try more with a bigger group.

Great place for lunch and the dimsum isn’t bad at all. I came with two other people and the three of us shared:
4 orders of Pork soup dumplings
Mai fun with chicken
Fried rice cake with vegetables
Seafood fried rice
I think my favorite was the pork soup dumplings. The Mai fun noodles were too.

The delivery man who has bad service!
The delivery man who has bad service!
The delivery man who has bad service!
The delivery man who has bad service!
The delivery man who has bad service!

I was brought here by a few friends that really put this place up on a pedestal so maybe I went in there with very high hopes but the food left me wanting more… And not in the «20 minutes later» way that Chinese food usually does. Don’t get me wrong the food was good, but nothing spectacular… Especially not with Chinatown only a 20min subway ride away.
We had a wide array of food off the menu: Cold sesame noodles (on of my favs), soup dumplings, peking chicken, and pork fried rice. All of which were good, but 3 star good.
Like I said, maybe I just went in with high hopes, but it just didn’t deliver.

Too bad it’s reputation is better than the food. It’s also located in Midtown so I didn’t expect the authenticity of the sister locale in Chinatown, and sadly I was right.
Gotta order the soup (Pork) dumplings. It’s their signature dish. I did enjoy their double cooked pork over rice. But the daily lunch menu is just your basic Chinese fare (ie chicken with broccoli). If you can take the heat, order spicy as they’re known for it. And for the price in Midtown, steps from Tiffany’s and Harry Winston, it’s a passable budget friendly lunch spot. Gets crowded at lunch time but it’s also the name. Gotta try it but I’m not rating it high because it’s just a money making machine. Not fit for a foodie.

3.5 stars
I didn’t know this place was a critically acclaimed one when I visited here.
I thought this was a regular chinese/​dimsum place with a better sanitation. They brought shrimp dumplings, which was actually good. We liked the fried rice and pork dishes. However, I didn’t think they had the impact for me to say ‘wow I would like to come back’.

The soup dumplings were the best we have had since we left Singapore! The place was crowded but the line went fast. The service was excellent. The portions were big. We now have a great dumpling destination when visiting NYC.
A plus four our 14 year olds was sitting next to Megan Trainor.
We went back for lunch the next day!

I really wanted to love this place, but I can’t. The food was good. As one should, I started out with the soup buns. They were good, but definitely nothing more memorable than others I have had. The other appetizers and entrees were good, but again nothing memorable. Overall, the food is not better than your counter Chinese restaurant by a large enough margin to pay the much higher cost.
What really ruins it for me is the restaurant itself. The carpeting and décor is older than their soup bun recipe. The interior looks like it hasn’t been dusted since they opened. It also smelt unclean, which is definitely a turn off.
Lastly, the staff seems very scattered. The only person who was attentive was the water server. Our waiter forgot one of our entrees, even though we only ordered 5 things and it was his «favorite entrée» which we had to try.
Overall, the food is not better than your counter Chinese restaurant by a large enough margin to pay the much higher cost. The interior will remind you why you prefer your Chinese delivered and from the cleanliness of your own couch.

In Seattle we have Din Tai Fung. Having tried the XLB at both Din Tai Fung and Joe’s Shanghai, in my opinion, Joe’s Shanghai wins a close battle. For me It comes down to the slightly thicker wrapper and more soup in each dumpling. These little purses of pork and soup are magical.
Came here at the tail end of lunch and the wait was only about 10 mins. Restaurant is standard Chinese restaurant décor. Could be much better, but not a dump by any means. Restaurant was packed, but service is efficient. to say it nicely, which I like. Just give me my dumplings and leave me alone. A little over $ 10 for dumplings and a beer make this a great lunch spot while walking around midtown.

People say Joe’s Shanghai has one of the best soup dumplings? How can I not try them out? On the first day in NYC, we made our way down for lunch. During the rush hour, you better be prepared to get cozy with the other diners. We were a party of two and sat directly next to another two-​top. I’m saying we could extend our elbows without touching. It made an interesting scene as our neighbors were having an intense business conversation while we were freaking about soup dumplings. We all gotta live our own lives.
We ordered the Crab Meat with Pork soup dumplings, Pork soup dumplings, and Scallion Pancake. A simple, yet satisfying lunch.
The soup dumplings were terrific! The Crab+Pork and the Pork soup dumplings tasted similar to me, but she felt the Crab+Pork were noticeably tastier. So much liquid in each dumpling and the temperature was just right. I really haven’t had a lot of quality soup dumplings prior to this, but I’m definitely a huge fan of Joe’s. Their Scallion Pancake, however, were less of my kinda thing. I love the crispiness, but I personally prefer them to be thicker.
Looks like the hype is real.

A solid four stars!
Of course we had to order the xiao long bao! It was my first time trying the xiao long bao and I enjoyed it. I will admit that I still like good ol’ pork and shrimp shumai better. I wouldn’t have known how to eat the xiao long bao to properly enjoy the soup unless someone told me — scoop up the dumpling in your spoon, take a nibble and suck up the soupy goodness. We had two orders of the xiao long bao, black mushrooms with bok choy and chow mein. Filling meal under $ 50 for a party of three.
My sister, boyfriend and I managed to come here around 5pm for an early dinner which was the perfect time. I understand that Joe’s Shanghai gets busy. The servers were attentive overall — they filled our water and took away dishes as needed.
I’ll be looking to compare xiao long bao in the Bay Area and will definitely return next time I’m in New York.

Let me say that I love the Joe’s Shanghai in Chinatown and still think it is one of the best soup dumplings I’ve ever had. Joe’s Shanghai at this mid-​town location? Their soup dumplings were the complete opposite.
The soup dumplings are served cold and tasteless– not steaming hot, and it was dry and bland. It saddens me that the soup dumplings also barely had any broth. You only get 6 soup dumplings in one order at this location, as opposed to 8 in Chinatown.
In addition, all the other dishes ordered were not good and overpriced, especially for the quality of food that you get. I definitely do not recommend this place. Too many other restaurant in the Chinatown area to waste a meal with this one.

Ein sehr zu empfehlender Chinese in NY. Die Portionen sind total ausreichend und mega lecker. Zur Mittagszeit sind die Lunch-​Gerichte zu empfehlen, bei denen es eine Suppe als Vorspeise gibt. Der Laden ist gut gefüllt, die Wartezeit hält sich jedoch in Grenzen.