Advertising

Clear 62° » 5-day

You are not logged in

New York Magazine

Skip to content, or skip to search.

Skip to content, or skip to search.

Home > Restaurants > Joe's Shanghai Restaurant

Joe's Shanghai Restaurant


Send to Phone
See all locations >>

  • Price Range: $$$

    Key to Prices and ratings

    Upscale
    • Almost Perfect
    • Exceptional
    • Generally Excellent
    • Very Good
    • Good
    Cheap Eats
    • Best in Category
    • Excellent
    • Delicious
    • Very Good
    • Noteworthy
    • Very Expensive
    • Expensive
    • Moderate
    • Cheap
  • Reader Rating:

    7.0 out of 10

      |  

    5 Reviews | Write a Review

  • Cuisine: Chinese

Official Website

joesshanghairestaurant.com

Special Features

  • Lunch
  • Take-Out

Alcohol

  • Beer and Wine Only

Profile

The name Joe's Shanghai is inextricably bound to the restaurant's famous soup dumplings—little doughy beggars’ purses filled with pork or crab meat plus soup (the soup is inside the dumplings). Wonderful as these morsels are, though, the rest of Joe's admittedly pricey menu should not be overlooked. The subtle and sophisticated cuisine of Shanghai makes a mockery of the Hunan/Cantonese/Sichuan hybrid glop served at most Chinese restaurants. With the opening of so many branches, consistency has suffered somewhat, and the Midtown outpost lacks the character of the others, but Joe's remains among New York's top Shanghais. — Steven A. Shaw

Extra

How do they get the soup inside those dumplings? Easy: They thicken it with gelatin and put it in solid. Then, when the dumplings are steamed, voila: soup!

7.0 "Recommended"
Average Reader Rating
on a Scale of 10		 Write Your Own Review
80% Would you go back?
20% Would you take a date?
80% Would you take kids?
20% Would you go on business?
40% Would you go on a special occasion?
Food: 7.4
Service: 3.6
Décor: 2.6
Value: 7.4

I Dream of the Food at Joe's

lornajane from 11211 | Posted on 12/24/08

Overall Rating: 8 (Recommended)
Food: 10
Service: 7
Décor: 1
Value: 8

Going to Joe's, you have to know certain things. You will wait. The decor is awful. The service (if you can call it that) is crazy. It's a long walk from the subway. But as soon as you take a bite from a juicy pork bun (soup dumpling), all of this triviality melts away. The food is amazing! I've tried several restaurants in Chinatown, but they all pale in comparison to Joe's Shanghai. My favorite dishes are the Szechuan string beans, which burst with salty flavor and contain a mystery vegetable that we think is pickled cabbage, Shanghai fried rice, chicken and corn soup and the Kung Pao chicken. The chili prawns are also delicious. I cannot say enough good things about this restaurant. Go, as soon as you can!!

Poor service and poor food quality

NYfdfn from UK | Posted on 3/25/08

Overall Rating: 2 (Not Recommended)
Food: 2
Service: 1
Décor: 5
Value: 2

My wife and I went to Joes on the back of all the great reviews out there about this restruant. As we were not too hungry we tried to order an entree and a main to share. The waiter told us in an incredulous tone "Thats all!?" Feeling pressured, we ordered a fried rice as well. The entree arrived...pork dumplings. It was at best average. The pork filling was rather chewy and it had a strong pork after taste. The fried rice was terrible! We could only taste spring onions and raw seafood from the mix. Upon mentioning to the waiter about the terrible standard of the fried rice, the waiter gave us an annoyed look and told us a haughty tone "Well...different people have different taste." He was not even interested with why we thought it tasted terrible! My wife was half way explaining in an even tone when the waiter rudely walked off. Overall very poor service and poor food quality.

Read All 5 Reviews >>

Advertising

Latest News Near

Advertising
Advertising
Advertise on this Site