Yeah Shanghai Deluxe

This place is not the best.
My friend and I walked all the way from Financial District to Chinatown to get a quick bite. But Chinatown generally promises you a lot of cheap food. I have no idea how we ended up in this restaurant whereas we could’ve checked something great on Unilocal.
This place is sad. I’m i’m not even sure if they really make the food fresh. We ordered Singaporean Noodle and Sesame Chicken (very mainstream white people food in my opinion). Nothing authentic. The dishes came out within 5 minutes.
I’m expecting to pay as much as $ 10 for a decent to delicious meal in Chinatown. Ended up paying $ 45.
$ 45 !!!
No! Not worth it.

Old Shanghai Café
NY Manhattan Chinatown
5pm Wednesday 8^th June 2016
Four Stars
I have been here a couple of times and they have my favorite Xiao Long Bao (Pork Soup Dumplings) in Manhattan’s Chinatown. They pack them tender juicy meat. They hold a tight shape instead of those flappy, blown out wrappers at Joe Shanghai. The wait staff’s English is passable. This is definitely a more Asian place than those other places in Chinatown.

Food? Average. Good because it is open later than most restaurants in Chinatown.
Service? Terrible. My daughter and I came at 10PM on a Thursday. Restaurant was fairly busy but no one even acknowledged us. We tried to stop two waiters who said «okay, hold on» and never came back. Once we got the attention of one, we started to order. He ran off to the front in the middle of us ordering, where there was a woman who wanted to order take out. After she was done, he walked back to the kitchen– completely forgot he was in the middle of taking our order.
The food arrived quickly. After we finished our meal, not one but TWO waiters came to take our food and another came to give us our check. One of them even said to the other «they can’t even finish their food», not knowing that we speak Cantonese.
If it’s good service you’re looking for, it’s a foreign concept in this restaurant. If you want late night grub, go to 69 Bayard.

I was wondering if this restaurant is good before going because the rate is only 3 stars. However, foods are pretty good and pretty like shanghainese. Crab soup dumplings are flavorful of crabs and so tasty.

I went here with my mom and her friend, mainly because we were hungry and looking for a place to eat. This place was pretty mediocre. I’m not a big fan of dumplings to begin with. The price is decent considering they have you pretty good portions.
Their dishes were not impressionable, but perhaps it was what we ordered that wasn’t very good. There was a table near us that seemed to be regulars and they seemed to enjoy themselves. The service was good, staff was friendly.
But given there are so many great choices in the city for Chinese food and in Flushing and Brooklyn, I don’t think I would come here again.

Worst ever. I ordered two lunch dinners which was supposed to include hot and sour soup. They said they ran out and I asked for another kind of soup. They refused to give me that one too. They wouldn’t even give me anything to compensate. This was worse than the $ 15 mininum on credit cards. Plenty of places in Chinatown to go, like Big Wong. They should rename this place NO Shanghai. DO NOT GO!

Food was mediocre but that was expected. What wasn’t expected was the poor service. It was a Friday night after a long day at work and all I wanted was to relax and enjoy my meal. Clearly this restaurant did not want the same. I was rushed to order and had my dish taken away literally RIGHT AFTER I FINISHED. Immediately after that, I was presented with the check (that I didn’t ask for) and had to repeatedly tell the waiters I was not done paying after their several attempts to take away the check.
It would be more understandable if it was packed that night and they had were short on tables but it wasn’t. It would be more understandable if it was cutting close to closing hours but it wasn’t. So why the rush?
Well one thing’s for sure, I won’t be rushing back here anytime soon. Or ever.

It’s had to tell why people are so mean about this place. Except, of course, if some people cannot recognize what dishes are Shanghainese, Cantonese, or Americanese, which every restaurant in Chinatown has to put on the menu. In any case the soup dumplings are about as good as what you find in Shanghai, the cold appetizers are perfect, the crabs in egg sauce is a wonder and just about everything else that is Shanghai cooking is on a very high level. Just don’t order King Pao Chicken, Cantonese dumplings, Chop Suey or some of the other junk that might be on the menu.

I came across this place by accident /​lack of choice. Didn’t have high expectations for the food, but was completely taken by surprise.
I don’t eat a lot of Shanghainese food, since I’m from Shanghai and can get the authentic stuff at home /​when I go back to Shanghai. However, this was one of the few places open in NYC during the big blizzard, and the only place in Chinatown.
The décor isn’t great — ripped chairs, faded walls, semi-​clean bathroom with broker hand dryer…
I can’t comment on the service since it was unusual circumstances — they were crazy busy given that nothing else around was open, and were understaffed since some wait staff couldn’t make it in in the snow, so we had to wait a long time to get tea and make our order.
But the food came out really fast after we ordered. And most of it was delicious. Starting from the bottom was the beef lo mein — thick shanghainese noodles with beef, shrimp, and vegetables. It was good — tasted like authentic home cooking. Only issue was it was overly greasy — we left a huge puddle of oil in the plate after the noodles were done. Then there were the panfried pork dumplings. The key to these dumplings are the crunchiness of the fried bottoms — and oh man, they were just a tiny bit caramelized and super crunchy. The filling was generous and the meat tasted fresh, juicy, and well flavoured.
My xiao long bao standards are quite high, having had some really good ones in Shanghai. I was skeptical about these ones but decided to give them a try in any case. And they did not disappoint. The skin was just a tad thicker than I prefer, but still easy to chew through. There was a good mouthful of soup in the dumplings, and the filling was again, generous and delicious. We ordered the ones with crab roe in it — I can’t taste the crab so much, so next time I’d just get the regular pork ones.
Finally, there was the beef brisket soup noodles. I often order this dish in Chinese restaurants, because I love tender beef and soup noodles. This was by far one of the best I’ve had, especially considering the value ($ 7 for a BIG bowl)! They were not stingy with the toppings at all — the bowl was literally COVERED in big chunks of beef briskets. The meat was so tender and well marinaded with five-​spice, sugar, and soy sauce, and the noodles were thick and chewy and delicious even on their own. I’m drooling right now just thinking about this dish again. I’d go back to the restaurant just for these noodles and their xiao long bao.
The staff were super sweet despite their busyness. They all waved us goodbye, and one of the ladies wished us a warm and safe night in the snow. Overall, I was very happy to be

Its okay. The food is alright (not chinatown material), but the service and overall presence of the restaurant isn’t nice at all. I would definitely choose a different restaurant if I come back to chinatown.
Their portions are huge which is a plus, and its not too expensive for its location, but I still wouldn’t call this a memorable experience. I probably could have gotten the same quality food in my local Chinese restaurant. I wanted an authentic Chinese meal, not a quickly put together americanized dinner.
It’s a good thing I at least had good company

I don’t know why this restaurant got so many low reviews :(it makes me sad because I’ve been coming to this restaurant ever since they opened. I grew up eating Xiao long baos at the old restaurant (couple stores down the block.)
Their Xiao long baos are all I ever eat! The ones in flushing are absolute trash compared to this restaurant. Their nian gao (rice cakes) are amazing. These two restaurants are opened by actual shanghainese people. Their seafoods are just as amazing! All in all I love eating the food here. The service is above and beyond as well.
I actually brought two friends with me before and they loved it!

#The Soup Dumplings were alright. The location and the windows make for great people watching in Chinatown. Unless if you are seated in the middle. Then you have to stare at other customers.

Not sure why anyone would come here when there are so many authentic Chinese restaurants in the area and in the city. One good point, though, is that it opens late and sometimes that comes in handy when you just want some greasy food to calm your upset stomach after drinking. The place is also large and I imagine a somewhat good way to introduce first timers to Chinese food in a group setting.
We ordered pan fried noodles and a veggie dish. The noodles weren’t even all cooked and some were still dry, and the rest of what we got was too sweet or too greasy, packed with sodium and sugar, like what you’d expect from the worst stereotypical American Chinese eatery. There are so many astronomically better places in Manhattan — go search for them!

sure, this might not be the most authentic place in Chinatown, but I was tipsy and it was late, and I was stumbling down Mott street and it was open! actually it wasn’t, but they let me in to order some soup dumplings to go, which was super nice!
As far as xiao long bao goes, these ones weren’t the best, but certainly weren’t the worst. I ate them outside on the curb, and they hit the spot!

This place is okay. Not the greatest Shanghainese restaurant there is in Chinatown but I go here because of the big space.
The service isn’t that great. A lot of the waiters are rude. Pictured is the Sweet and Sour Fish. It is fried and then drenched in sauce. The portion size was kind of small for the price and the sauce gets kind of gross because it becomes too sickening sweet if you keep eating it.

A restaurant for people not familar with Chinese food.
As someone who grew up on Chinese food, this place was horrible. The sauce on the dishes had almost no flavor, and honestly the dishes just did not taste very fresh.
The service was not that great. l asked if they can add bok choy in one of the dishes, the waiter ask the kitchen and came back to me with a yes. When the dish came, there was still no bok choy. After asking for it again, the waiter told me they are out of it…
I can see how this place would be a pass for tourists or someone not familiar with chinese food. But if you are looking for a good chinese meal, avoid this place!

When the spot I really wanted to go to was packed and I didn’t feel like waiting, I strolled in here to give it a go. All I ordered were the Steamed Juicy Pork Buns (a.k.a. xiao long bao or soup dumplings) and Shrimp and Vegetable Dumplings (the closest thing I could find to har gow on the menu). Pork buns were okay. Flavored well, but the skin up top was thick and dry. Juicy, but not as soupy and juicy as I’d like. The shrimp dumplings were pretty bland. The wrapping was soft, but thick and the meat-​to-​skin ratio was off. Way light on the meat. I didn’t hate my meal, but I think I’d rather wait on something good than come back here. Maybe their non-​dim sum food is better, but I don’t care to take the risk.

A bit of a bate & switch. The large menu at the door had means at $ 4 – 6. When I got in at about 9pm I was told it was for lunch only. The cheapest thing was $ 8, was small & oily and ended up paying $ 12 with tax & tip. The upside is the place is well located, clean (ish) for Chinatown and not crowded.

Is anyone confused by the name yet? They went from Yeah Shanghai Deluxe Corp (
) to Old Shanghai Deluxe (
) back to Yeah Shanghai Deluxe. They went from a legit Shanghainese contender on the west side of Chinatown to continuing the tourist trap legacy set by Mr. Tang’s (
). Securing a prime space and obliterating the menu for more touristy palates is a surefire way to lose an entire customer base of locals.
For starters, the food is abysmal. Soup dumplings (小籠包) seem blander than other spots in the neighborhood and rarely have I seen them uniform. The skin is back to being thick again and the misshapen ones are as consistent with their fried dumplings. A big disappointment was their scallion pancake (蔥油餅), crispy but doughy (ugh) at the same time. Their nian gao (年糕), Shanghai style is also a mess, looks like beef chow fun (乾炒牛河) instead.
There is also a smattering of Canto cuisine represented throughout the menu, with classics like Honey Walnut Shrimp (合桃蝦仁), Peking Duck (北京鴨), and Yangzhou Fried Rice (扬州炒饭). Had all the aforementioned and only enjoyed the fried rice, which was surprisingly tasty, despite being a tad greasy. Thank goodness rice is filling.
Then there is the service. I know Chinatown and most Chinese establishments will never have the reputation for high level customer service but each time the staff is apathetic and borderline rude. Everything banging dishes on the table to groaning over substitutions to confrontations over gratuity. Again, service is never a strong suit for these establishments, but they’ve taken it to a whole new level.
Random: One time a waiter was insistent on why my group and I didn’t order Orange Chicken or General Tso’s insinuating that we had made a mistake instead of ordering $ 8 baskets of soup dumplings. Would we really come to a Shanghainese spot to order price inflated American Chinese fare? I’m sure even the takeout Chinese spots would be insulted by this. We never ended up caving in to the pressure.

This review is for my
orders only.
I don’t know why there are some pretty bad reviews here. Maybe they’re not ordering the right dishes?
I always get their lunch special on
. My favorite is the shredded pork with peppers and sliced tofu. I’ve also had their general tso’s chicken and sesame chicken (when I’m really craving fake chinese food!) which are both decent as well. Their diced chicken in black bean sauce is pretty good, too IMO. The lunch special comes with white rice and a side of soup.
I also really love their soup dumplings. Best delivery soup dumplings I’ve ever had haha. They’re small but the flavors are good and the pork doesn’t have weird chewy stuff inside and it’s not too fatty.
I’d recommend getting their lunch specials here!