The Bao

I love the Bao. Best soup dumplings in NYC hands down (and I’ve been to a LOT of places to get my hands on some quality xiao long bao). My top three things to order: classic xiao long bao, scallion pancake with beef, and rice cake with pork. … Also the three pepper noodle soup is AMAZING. amazing. So affordable, so delicious. Thank you Bao
Food aside, I’ve been to the actual restaurant multiple times (rare for me) because it is my sanctuary. They essentially play my Telepopmusik pandora station (dreamy, loungey synthpop) which is my favorite, and the place emanates this clean and relaxing aura. All the furniture is dark wood with live edges, the walls are dark, the ceiling is unexpectedly cool looking, and there is this one funky pop of color painting that I love (i basically involuntarily stare at it the whole time I’m there because it snags your attention). The whole wall of the restaurant facing the streets is one big window, and I get so excited to be seated next to it and stare out at rainy, lit-​up NYC while I slurp down some soup dumpling nectar of the gods
This place is my favorite restaurant to go to in NYC.

My friends highly recommended this place so I had to check it out.
Ordered the following items:
Dan Dan noodle — simple yet refreshing dish
Beef noodle soup — soup was delicious. Noodles are chewy. Well flavored. Broth salted just right. Loved it!
Crab XLB — strong, real crab flavor. Lots of broth. Very hot.
My favorite dishes here were the crab XLB and beef noodle soup, which I thought were the best I had in all of NYC. Definitely check this place out!

Pretty good and tasted better than Joe Shanghai’s Xiao Long Bao, with its flavorful broth and perfectly done pork inside. Only thing I don’t recommend is getting the Champagne Milk Tea as its only milk tea in a bottle…
The space is pretty big, the service is quick and overall a great dining experience. And after you are done you can go downstairs to have deconstructed dessert!
Highly recommend this place for everyone that wants soup dumplings /​xiao long bao!

I don’t really like to rate places based on never being inside the joint, but it needs to be mentioned that The Bao has provided some of the worst deliveries I’ve ever experienced in NYC. Maybe they just haven’t figured out how to make their food ‘to-​go’ or just have some delivery guys who like to violently shake your food before knocking on your door, I dunno. I don’t even want to rate the food, bc most of the things were leaking or eaten sans sauce (it was spilled or not filled) when I tried it. For curiosity purposes, I’ll stop in for a meal here bc the reviews seem positive, but as for delivery… 86’d!
Protip: the chicken soup is pint sized and $ 8. Stay away.

Three things things to get here: Xiao Long Bao, the Spicy Wonton and the Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup. I’m pretty sure I can eat these three things straight for many consecutive days. :)
The dumplings are super juicy and comparable to the famous Ding Tai Fung in my opinion. Be careful to not take too big of a bite too quickly because these things pop and the broth inside is hot! The wontons are small, but have great spicy flavoring.
Last but not least as a Taiwanese person, it’s always a struggle to find authentic Taiwanese beef noodle soup. This one was pretty spot on, besides for the fact that they put an egg in it (not typical ingredient). The soup is definitely the highlight here.
Friendly staff and we haven’t really needed to wait too long if any. Definitely stop by if you’re in the area.

Oh The Bao, how did I not notice you earlier? I’ve always walked past you and hang out in the vicinity at least once a week and never noticed you. I’m glad to have finally met you and I will never regret it !
This was probably the best Steamed Crab Xiao Long Bao I’ve had outside of Nan Xiang from Flushing. The soup filling inside the thinly outer layer is amazing. Just thinking about it while crafting this review makes my mouth water. The soup has this sweetness to it that just induces a smile and no one will fault you for ordering a second round. My fiancé and I were feeling adventurous and ordered the Chocolate Xiao Long Bao as well. It was different but not something I’d order twice.
The scallion pancake with sliced beef was good and the beef plus the sweet sauce was a good dish to try while waiting for the main entrée.
Their lunch special is available Mon– Sun and comes with the same portion size as the regular menu options. This is almost unheard and a steal for such a location. I recommend the Szechuan Chili Fried Chicken and the Dried Orange Peel Chicken dishes. The Chili Fried Chicken is my absolute favorite. The spiciness of the dish along with the flavorful perfectly fried pieces of chicken is amazing and a must try. The Orange Chicken is great with it’s sweet sauce and cooked perfectly which makes it very juicy.
I’ve had the Spicy Jumbo Shrimp which was also really good except that it understandably only comes with 4 – 5 pieces of shrimp.
The Bao is such an amazing restaurant and is an absolute gem !

Good stuff.
Came here 30 mins after opening and were seated immediately. Shortly after, the restaurant started to get packed quickly. Employees are friendly and attentive. I like the ambiance of this place, relaxed and modern. There is one restroom towards the back left.
From the dishes we ordered, our favorites were the Scallion Pancake w/​Sliced Beef, Shanghai Pan Fried Noodles, Steamed Crab Meat Pork Buns (XLB’s), and Chocolate Steamed Buns (for dessert). The Chocolate Steamed Buns are excellent and are filled with banana and nutella. Mmmmm dessert mini buns!
The wonton skin in the Pork Vegetable Wontons in Spicy Sauce dish was a bit too soft. It would have been nice if there was a bit of a bite to it. Flavors were good though. Their Crispy Duck had a nice crisp skin but the meat itself was on the drier side and there wasn’t a whole lot of flavor to it. I dipped the duck into some leftover spicy sauce from the pork vegetable wonton dish, which added some flavor. The crispy duck dish comes with a mixture of salt and pepper on the side but it only added a bit to the flavor profile of the duck. I do appreciate that this dish wasn’t greasy.
Overall, we left full and happy. Glad we tried The Bao out.

Kung fu xiao long bao + extra spicy xiao long bao + water spinach sautéed in garlic.
Surprisingly a pretty authentic Taiwanese restaurant based off its menu and tastes of the food. A pretty tight space so try to go early in the evening for dinner. Also had a really cute modern feel to the décor

I’m the biggest sucker for anything that says «bao» in it. So walking along St Marks, I HAD to stop into The Bao. Boy am I glad I did!
First off, we ordered way more than we needed to, but what’s new there. Three orders of xiao long bao: regular, spicy, and crab. All were fantastic! I particularly loved the spicy one, because I can never get enough heat when eating any type of food. This one was just enough to satisfy! The wrappers were so wonderfully thin that it just made the dumplings melt in your mouth that much more/​better/​faster.
From there, we also ordered spicy wonton (good, but not as memorable as the dumplings) and the Dan Dan noodles (again, good but I’ve had better). Looking around, everyone ordered such different things that I wanted to try everything!
I’ll definitely be back soon to try out more dishes, and eat my weight in xiao long bao!

ARE. Y’ALL. FOR. REAL?
No no… NO NO NO. You would think in 2016, «restaurants» would know better than to put noodles AND soup in the same container. «I just LOVVVVE my noodles all soggy,» says NO ONE ever! Not to mention the fucking container broke, soup got all over the bag and rice. Like this is UNACCEPTABLE. I’m not calling y’all because the delivery took long enough. I’m hungry and I’m not waiting another hour to get a new batch… which y’all shady bitches would probably stir with y’alls dirty fingers. I’ve attached photos… y’all are kidding me right? Y’all think cuz I’m white y’all can play me like that? No, FUCK y’all. This is BULLSHIT. Just letting y’all know, if I accidentally swallow a piece of broken plastic from the cap, I’m suing. Just you WAIT.
This is BULLSHIT.

The Bao is a great option for some hot and tasty soup dumplings. They do serve other food, but I was all about trying their dumplings. The atmosphere is more chic than your hole in the wall soup dumpling place and the prices are relatively reflective of that.
My friend and I shared an order of the crab soup dumplings and the super spicy pork ones. Both were great. The crab ones have a more subtle and comforting flavor and broth. The super spicy ones are just that loads of heat along with great flavor. The dumpling skins thickness can be a matter of preference. These are pretty thin and delicate. Be careful as they could tear easily.
They were pretty busy when we I was here, but service wasn’t bad. Plus the host who may also be the manager or owner was really nice. This city has no shortage for quality soup dumplings. The Bao is definitely on that list.

We were seated right away on a Saturday (or Sunday?) afternoon. The Shanghai dumplings were better than Joe’s, but not as good as Asian Shanghai Manor’s. I ordered a fried bean curd soup and it was really plain. Basically bean curds in watered down chicken stock. I will say that the chocolate dumplings were unique and pretty good. However, I wish they offered a strawberry option as well. I don’t like bananas and even removing it, the taste lingered. Although the chocolate dumplings were good, I wouldn’t buy it again. I think they were $ 7 for four and it just wasn’t worth it. It’s a one-​time try thing for me. This place is too pricey for a Chinese place, but it IS located in hipster central, so what do you expect?

This place is hip looking from the outside and difficult to get a booking. The wait staff mean business as you expect.
Pork Bao soup dumplings — hot steamy and delicious.
Scallion pancakes — great flavors but so thin and over priced.
Veg spring rolls. Average.
Shanghai noodles — 3 ingredients I felt like it was their version of American noodles and didn’t feel it was authentic
Dry pepper chicken — dry
Han dynasty is a better more expensive option but one I’d rather have.

Warning: The soup dumplings you’re about to enjoy are extremely spicy.
My friends and I were in the mood for soup dumplings but we were too lazy to go all the way to Chinatown so we found ourselves at The Bao. Were our XLB cravings satisfied? Absolutely. We got the standard pork XLB, steamed crab XLB, and super spicy XLB. All were delicious. I really enjoyed the super spicy flavor but it was a little too spicy for some. We also ordered the scallion pancake, sauteed pea shoots with garlic, and spicy pot.
I will be back for everything and the Wasabi XLB.

The food here is ok.
If you want soup dumplings, i do prefer Joe’s Shanghai. The ones here are ok, juicy delish, but felt bit oily and i don’t like the ginger taste.
We ordered another dish which is crispy beef, i saw there a thumb up sign on the menu with it, so i thought it should be good but turned out very disappointing! It’s just fried sliced beef, with some sesame on top. The point is we didnt even tasted the beef, it felt like a dish of fired flour dough!
It’s ok to try if you are around and feel hungry at that area, and the price here is reasonable, but i won’t go back especially for this restaurant.

Everything here was delicious! Didn’t wait too long and prices were decent.
1. BAOS! I love xiao long bao!!! It’s one of my favoritest (this is totally a word) things to eat. Aka pork soup dumplings. I felt that for my first time, I had to go basic and get the OG kind, but this place has SO MANY TYPES! you can get chocolate (I have no idea what that means but I think the dumpling skin had chocolate infused with it), spicy, steamed crab, and wasabi XLBs! I will definitely try the steamed crab next time. Around $ 8
2. Scallion pancake with beef (often known as NIU ROU QIAN BING) was yummy, but definitely on the smaller side and seemed a little anorexic. I’ve definitely paid for some at the same price with a lot more. Around $ 8
3. My friend got the SA CHA NOODLE. Pan fried but yum. Sa cha is a type of sauce often used for dipping sauce in hot pot. They don’t overwhelm the noodle with it so it tastes great. Around $ 16. Portion size around 1.5−2.5 servings depending on the person
There are some very reasonably priced dishes so it’s friendly for the people like me who want to save some money. The dim sum and various dishes can be anywhere between 6 – 10 ish dollars. You can also find some other entrée (noodles) that can fall in that price range. After that costs go up as I high as $ 17 if I remember correctly. However portion sizes are decent and it’s meant to be family style! I love that this place is innovative and clean. And the taste was actually quite good. I love the ambiance (except I’d love if it was brighter). Definitely want to try the champagne milk tea too! Sounds interesting! I recommend that if you can, come with 3+people to share family style. You can try more things and split the costs!

If you’re coming on a weekend, come right when it opens at noon. Otherwise the restaurant fills up extremely fast and you’ll have to wait. Come here for their Dim Sum section and avoid ordering anything else. The xiaolongbao was good, but the rest of the food was so mediocre. The restaurant has Shanghai, Hunan, Sichuan, and Taiwanese dishes. I think they try to offer too many cuisines but are good at cooking none of them, except for the xiaolongbao of course.
Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao (Soup Dumplings) — I’m not too picky about soup dumplings. I love all of them, even the frozen ones you buy at Asian grocery stores. But I guess if you are one of those picky soup dumpling connoisseurs, these would probably be good with the nice thin skin and soupy meat. It probably could use more soup since whenever I eat soup dumplings I usually accidentally squirt out all the soup with my first bite. No soup spillage with these dumplings.
Taro and Sweet Potato with Sugar Coating (拔絲芋頭番薯) — I haven’t had 拔絲地瓜 in so long, so I was super excited to see it on the menu here. But wow, I really wish I didn’t order this dish. The taro and sweet potato were supposed to be crispy but instead they were mealy. The sugar didn’t really coat the pieces well and there were a bunch of ugly bare patches. When you pulled the pieces apart there were also none of the candy floss for which the dish is named for. You are supposed to dip the pieces in water with ice cubes so the exterior turns hard and crunchy. We got lukewarm water instead which turned a murky brown when dipped. Also not supposed to happen. This was so badly made, it’s kind of an insult to this dish.
Minced Pork with Leek and Hot Pepper (蒼蠅頭韭菜花) — This was okay, but not very authentic. Kind of boring in taste with not enough flavor or spiciness.
Szechuan Chili Fried Chicken (重慶辣子雞) — There was basically no chicken in this dish. Just breading wrapped around air and a bunch of chilies. Sure, I like fried doughy things, but it would have been nice to have some chicken in this dish if we’re paying $ 15 for it.
Sauteed Water Spinach (空心菜) — Good but the portion is so tiny and the price is so expensive.
Dan Dan noodles (擔擔麵) — Okay for noodles, but not the best version of dandan mian. These were just noodles with chili oil with a very tiny tiny bit of meat. No sesame paste, peppercorns, or anything else.
Although the food is mediocre, I did like the service. Food was brought out in a timely manner and the waiters were nice. One even lowered the blinds for us when he saw the sun shining directly in our eyes. So one star for the xiaolongbao and one star for the service.

Solid xiao long bao at a good price. We ordered their kung fu xiao long bao, green beans, chicken soup, and baby shrimp fried rice.
Xiao long bao was very soupy and the skin seemed thinner than I had seen anywhere else. But that’s not a bad thing! On the contrary I liked it more than others! If I had to put it among the other XLB spots I’ve tried, it definitely stands out. When I go back I’m definitely going to try their other XLB, particularly that spicy one!
Green beans were on point! Green, garlicky and good. Baby shrimp fried rice was good too, but nothing too special. Disappointing one was the chicken soup. In my defense, it was cold outside and we just wanted something hot.
All in all, the food was worth the price, but as with all places like this, watch what you order… cause your eyes might be hungrier than your stomach; stuff adds up fast!

J’ai découvert ce restaurant à l’aide des réseaux sociaux, vu les commentaires je souhaitais découvrir leurs bao.
En arrivant dans ce restaurant je découvre un cadre indiquant que ce lieu avait été désigné meilleur restaurant chinois de New York par le NY Times, ceci présage bonne augure pour la suite.
Leur carte est variée bao, dim sum… Nous faisons les gourmands en commandant plusieurs plat.
Nous né regrettons pas notre choix, leur dim sum étaient divinement bon, je dirais même les meilleures que j’ai mangé. Il en est de même pour leurs baos.
Un restaurant que je vous conseille vivement.

As a general rule of thumb, I don’t trust a skinny guy for food reviews and I don’t believe in upscale Chinese food. I can get similar or better Chinese food in Chinatown for half the price, so why would I change what I’ve known for 30+ years?
The Bao’s xiao long baos keeps up with the best of them, but at 6 soup dumplings for $ 8 the pricing is a bit steep. The skin is thin and the filling is tasty. The spicy Mapo tofu dish missed a key ingredient of ground pork, which was nowhere to be found. The restaurant seems way newer and more modern than the rest of its St. Mark’s counterparts.

ASIAN FUSION that is darn good (even for SoCal standards) located on St Marks!
on a saturday for 3 ppl the wait was 30 minutes, they give you a specific time to come back to check on your RSVP instead of taking your number down
not at all a large restaurant, there are some tables and one large communal table in the middle which we were seated at
–kung fu xiao long boa: THIN SKIN & tasty soup, yum! i think Din Tai Fung (the US version not taiwan version) has been beat!
–scallion pancake with beef: YUM, fried crispy pancake with slices of stewed beef. still thinking about this dish
–spicy eggplant: standard eggplant dish
–dan dan noodles: nice firm noodle texture. it’s meant to be simple but make sure to mix with the meat sauce well!
definitely want to come back to try more! too bad these aren’t chinatown prices
NOTE: limit of 2 credit cards per bill & white rice is $ 1.50 for a bowl on the side!