Shanghai Dumpling House

The best dumplings I have ever had. Beef tendon was delicious. Rice cake dish was pretty good. Very authentic no frills type of place. We went on a Tuesday night and had a 20 minute wait. Totally worth it.

I love the food here. I am satisfied every time I am here. Soup dumpling is always a must. I usually always order the Pork ones as well as the 五香牛肉，basically cold slice with a cold sauce over it along with cilantro. Only thing I dislike is this place doesn’t sell rice dishes. Other than that, it’s awesome.

We were seriously shocked at how great this food was. Went here around 2pm on a Saturday and there was still a 30 minute wait for lunch. Once we were seated, we ordered the beef scallion pancake, the crab and pork juicy buns, and the Shanghai style rice cake.
The beef scallion pancake was the star of the meal. The pancake is thin, crispy, greasy, and delicious. It’s stuffed with sweet hoisin and savory beef for a perfect flavor combination.
We really enjoyed the juicy buns, though I found them a little bit bland with regards to filling. I just thought they could have been a bit more… meaty tasting. However, they were huge and the skin didn’t break, which was a definite plus. Also: WARNING. They’re crazy hot. Not just hot, but bite into one too early and your tongue will be burned for three days hot (learned from unfortunate experience).
The rice cake dish was great. It was super flavorful. I liked the sauce a lot. I wish there’d been some more meat and veggies though.
Seriously, this food is amazing. It’s a gem in Edison. Super authentic shanghainese food. I can’t wait to go back and try more of their amazing-​looking menu items.

I’m a white dude reviewing a really authentic asian place, so take the review as it is. I really enjoy their xiao long bao (soup dumplings). I have had a few other places and theirs is always really good. They speak limited English but you get by easily. They don’t discriminate either like some other places.
It’s a really small place with say 15 or so tables? Prices are really really affordable. We usually leave with $ 15/​per person pretty full…
My advice is to Google how to eat soup dumplings, it takes an art and practice to master it.

Favorite restaurant in Edison, and favorite place to get authentic Shanghainese food (period).
This place is a true gem, that’s located in the middle of nowhere. I believe I was driving around Edison, looking for the now defunct Sake Bomb, all you can eat Asian buffet, when I stumbled across this hidden gem.
I’ve tried everything on their menu, and I haven’t encountered anything that wasn’t simply great. Their soup dumplings never fails to impress, as they are made fresh. Their spicy beef tendons are just right. Cold peanut butter noodles are spectacular, and something I’ve never came across anywhere else. Spicey wontons are best I’ve ever had. Taro rice putting desert is made to perfection. This place is gold.
For entrees, my girlfriend and I usually order their noodle soups. She raves about their fish fillet and pickled cabbage noodle soup, where I love their minced pork noodle soup. When I’m not in the mood for soup, I usually order their Shanghai rice cake. One time the dish was sandy, which happens when the vegetables aren’t cleaned right, but I overlooked it.
This place also makes great bubble tea! If you’re a fan of Shanghai cuisine, you definitely need to check this place out. I live in Staten Island, and will routinely commute to NJ just to eat here.

Delicious and affordable authentic Chinese food. No frills or thrills here, just good food that’ll leave you extremely satisfied.
Went here for a hearty lunch based on a family friend’s recommendation. We were definitely not disappointed! We came during quite a busy Sunday afternoon. For a table for 5, we ended up waiting about 40 minutes. It’s a pretty small restaurant with only about 8 tables. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of space or any waiting area, so we were cluttered by the door and front tables trying to stay out of the cold/​rain outside.
We ended up ordering family style to share and try everything together. Pork soup dumplings (we downed 3 orders, and if you try them you’ll understand why), fried pork juicy buns, spicy beef noodle soup, jellyfish and turnip, short turnip cakes, and cold seaweed salad. After all of that food, and 5 full bellies later, the bill only came out to $ 55 ($ 11/​person). I’m not complaining there. The spicy beef soup was my favorite dish. Extremely flavorful with a kick of spice, tender beef that melts in your mouth, perfect for a cold day! The soup dumplings were my second favorite dish, definitely the reason we chose to eat at this spot. They aren’t quite as good as the soup dumplings you find in NYC Chinatown, but they are the best I’ve had in NJ thus far. The rest of the dishes we ate were enjoyable, but I’d probably try some other options next time I go. And there will certainly be a next time!
They also serve bubble tea, tons of flavors, but we were too full that we didn’t get a chance to try any. Overall, I will be sure to stop by here next time I’m in the area or need to get my soup dumpling fix.
Hours:
Tues-​Sun 11:30am-11pm
Closed Monday

My reviews are usually based on the food taste. The Shanghai Dumpling house will not be confused for fine dining or wow you with the décor. What you will get is really good dumplings and shanghaiese food.
My family tried to arrive before opening at 11:30, but missed it by 10 minutes. When I peeked in, I noticed that all the tables were full and many people already have food on their table! I told the employee that I had 4 people and proceeded to wait for about 40 minutes before getting a take of my own! That really pissed me off. All I was saying was this place better be good…
What mostly everyone come here for us the soup dumplings, which are dumplings that have hearty soup in it and when bite into it, it releases its contents into your mouth and sometimes misses onto somewhere else. The food didn’t disappoint! We really enjoyed the pork juicy dumplings, pan fried dumplings, aromatic beef noodle soup, sweet tofu pudding, and the scallion beef pancake wrap. It’s not really a wrap but looks like sandwich. It had a nice crusty exterior with scallions, hosein sauce, and beef. It was yummy. My wife and kids said that the tofu pudding was excellent and they are harsh critics. There also serve bubble tea here which is average at best, so if you crave it, there’s that, but if you can wait there’s Kung Fu Tea nearby.
General observations: 1) food comes out quickly. 2) employees don’t speak English well and with heavy accent but service is ok 3) tables and surroundings are not that clean. When a customer leaves, they get wiped with a cloth to make it seem like it’s clean because the table to brown.
I definitely would come back, but it’s best to try to come before it opens or get take out.

Shanghai Dumpling House, you have impressed me as one of the best authentic Chinese food I have had in Central Jersey. And that’s hard to do, because there’s a lot of competition in the Edison area.
I have to admit my first impression of the place wasn’t great. Small, limited seating leading to a long wait. Reception service was missing. I stood literally by the host station for 10 minutes while one of the waitresses pulled up bills and receipts without a single acknowledgement. It was cold, even for a Chinese restaurant. Thankfully, the other staff were better in terms of courtesy and service.
Once the food arrived, my previous misgivings drifted away as I lost myself in the super crispy scallion pancake, the beef tendon, spicy dumplings, lion’s head, and jellyfish. The rock star was the beef tendon — a touch of spice with an aromatic, almost sweet overlay of flavor. Jellyfish was great, but a little too much radish and not enough jellyfish. The spicy dumplings left a slow but steady burn so I couldn’t have more than one. It came in a sauce that tasted like it had a peanut base. It was a favorite with the table. I’m not a fan of meatballs, but the Lion’s Head was HUGE and I had to sample a bite — it was the softest, most fall-​apart good meatball I have ever had (so soft, I don’t think I actually needed teeth to eat it)!
Next came the main draw — the soupy buns. The skin was on the thicker side, but not dry and very moist. The buns were sufficiently ‘soupy’, the meat tender on the inside. Between the crab and pork, I favored the classic pork option. With the vinegar, the soupy buns were heaven.
We also sampled the House special pan fried noodle. This dish easily goes for $ 15+ at other restaurants, and here it was under $ 10. The noodles were great, and although the dish had a little too much sauce, it was still a great bargain and I was super happy with it.
Boba tea was fine, good for the price (under $ 3 for a medium).
I wish they had more seating but other than that, I would definitely come back again. A meal for four of us totaled around $ 80.

This is hands down the best place to get soup dumplings in this area. They give each person their own little thing of vinegar and ginger strips which I deeply appreciate. There is plenty of soup in the dumpling and the skin is decently thin. Just elastic enough to not break yet delicate enough that you still have to be careful lest the skin tear spilling all the previous soup out onto the other hapless dumplings.
Service is unobtrusive, allowing you to fully savor each bite.

I would like to address the incessantly covered issue of quality of service at this establishment. Yes, today I found the servers as not to be going out of their way to be overly friendly but the at the same time they were definitely not rude either. This place reminded me majorly of a typical Chinatown restaurant establishment. Figure out what you want to order, order it, and don’t waste the time of the workers. If that is seen as rudeness to you, I have to be honest in saying that it may be more of an overall cultural exchange issue than an actual issue with this restaurant.
Let’s be real… The food here was INCREDIBLE and the service was definitely more than acceptable. If you want service with a huge smile accompanied by pleasant conversation, a franchise brick and mortar establishment may be a better choice for you. In the end, I would definitely go here again and did not have any trouble at all with quality of service.

The four stars is only for the food here. This is probably the best soup dumpling place around the area. We ordered the crab/​pork soup dumplings and I thought they tasted really good. Portions are generous and all the dishes taste authentic. We also tried the stir fryed yaki udon, the beef tendons (pretty spicy but it’s definitely worth trying!), and the rice cakes. The yaki udon was just alright– this was probably my least favorite dish. It didn’t have enough flavors and the noodles were cooked a little too long.
The tendons were marinated & cooked in hot chili oil. If you can’t handle spicy food, I’m not sure if this dish would be a good option for you. It was pretty spicy.
The rice cakes and the soup dumplings were my top favorite. The rice cakes ARE pretty oily– but they even taste great the next day.
I would definitely come back for the food. But like everyone else had mentioned– prepare to wait a long time to get a table (even if it’s just for 2). I probably would not come back on a weekend.

I’ve been looking for a place to get soup dumplings, I realize that it’s NJ and sometimes good food is hard to find unlike NYC or Philly.
So a friend of mine from work told me about this place and was raving about how good the soup dumplings were.
I was very intrigued and craving soup dumplings at the same time so I went the next day. The location for this place is really not far from H-​mart in Edison.
So I ordered so many different things like marinated sliced beef tendon, fried pork dumplings, scallion pancakes, soup dumplings. They were all so cheap and good! The place is kinda small so on weekends you probably have to wait in line to eat here.
The only thing that would make it even better, I wish this place open late at least on weekends. Imagine you’ve been drinking all night and you need something like a closure that will make your sleep better, what could be better than eating a soup dumplings!

F (ood) — Great selection of very authentic Shanghai food. Just what I was looking for when I moved to the East Coast. It’s not dim sum style, but carries a lot of the food you’d expect. There are some items I normally get. The beef noodle soup is always comforting as well as the juicy pork buns. My girlfriend loves the cucumber salad as it is extremely refreshing, crisp and cool. If you are new to this type of cuisine, look stuff up since most of the waiters won’t be able to explain these dishes to you.
A (tmosphere) — It’s a small place. Can get really cramped during the late night hours and during dinner time. Plan on waiting 20 – 30 minutes then. Once you get seated, things coem out pretty quickly. It’s not an intimate place as you can tell by photos and it’s not the best for large groups. 4 is really the max here.
C (ustomer Service) — They do lack in this department. Waiters are not the best, but get the job done. Don’t count on them. Any of them will help you if you grab their attention. It’s an asian restaurant, they don’t really fill your water cup back up, the little things and finesse they lack.
E (xperience) — If you’re looking for an authentic Shanghai food. This is your place. Additionally, if you can bring someone who speaks mandarin, that will be extremely beneficial to you. Overall experience is really based on the food. They lack ambiance and professional staff, but the food for me personally makes up for all of it. I’ll wait 20 minutes if need be and it just makes it that much better.

Small seating area with very authentic feel. Workers speak in broken English and you can see an old Chinese man cooking up your meal behind a window.
I got an order of soup dumplings and regular pork dumplings, along with scallion beef pancake. My girlfriend ordered the lion s head soup.
The soup dumplings were something I’ve never had before but we’re absolutely amazing. They came in an authentic wooden steaming pot and were piping hot!
The regular dumpling were potstickers with a very good filling and super crisp outside.
My personal favorite is pictured. The beef scalion pankakes were one of the best dishes I have ever tasted. The beef was cooked perfectly moist with a great combo of sweet and salty when marinated in the sweet sauce. The pancake was golden brown, flakey, and crispy.
The pricing is reasonable. All of the above orders came out to be about $ 28.

I was visiting Rutgers so my friends and I decided to check out this restaurant.
When I first walked in I already knew that this place was going to be authentic. The big window where you could see the workers and the limited amount of seats had indicated that this place was ran and owned by Shanghainese people.
Do not count on being seated right away because there will be a 15 – 30 minute wait time.
Things to order: beef scallion pancake and soup dumplings.
It was imperative that we got the soup dumplings. I haven’t had good soup dumplings in the states that reminded me of Shanghai, not even joes Shanghai in NYC, but this place hits the nail right on its head! Savory and juicy, these xiao long baos makes me wanna go back to suburban jersey. The cold noodles was light but filling and had a good ratio of peanut butter to sesame oil. One regret I have is not trying the pan fried soup dumplings!

Overall, very authentic Shanghai dim sum style with some appetizers.
The restaurant is too small, only first come first served, so most time have to wait for the seat. Not so many choices on the menu and the food quality is not consistently good when all the seats are occupied and waiting line is quite long outside of the restaurant.
Too many things need to be improved. However, the owner doesn’t really care that much because the business is too good. Very interesting situation!!!

Great service soup dumpling is awesome, lots of fresh dumpling juice! I always get few order of their soup dumpling! Their soup dumpling improve much better than last year for sure. Come and try again u will love like I do :)
Wish their menu is little bigger

This place is fantastic. I really love dumplings, but really hadn’t found anywhere within half an hour of my house that made their own, did it right, and didn’t just serve up some frozen tiny dumplings that were reheated on a flat top grill.
Shanghai Dumpling House passed my test with flying colors. We had pork soup dumplings, pork wontons in a spicy chili peanut sauce, a scallion pancake wrap with beef inside, and fried udon noodles with pork… all of which were delicious.
Service was quick, friendly, and efficient… and for all of that food it was ONLY $ 26! This place is random and in a mini strip mall, but it was packed with happy patrons for lunch, and served up great authentic dumplings, noodles, and more. I hope everybody gets a chance to try this place, and if you do… enjoy!

One of my favorite places to go for a quick yet full-​filling meal!
Their foods are AUTHENTIC, DELICIOUS, HUGE in portion, and very affordable.
I haven’t tried most of their menus yet, but I would definitely recommend Unilocalers to get pork Jucy buns! I’ve tried soup dumplings from many different places, but definitely Shanghai Dumpling’s juicy buns are one of my favorites.
I love their soup noodles as well. So far, I tried the lion head’s noodle, and the spicy noodle. Speechless. They are sooo goooos! Very favorable, authentic, and beyond delicious!
Today, for the first time I tried shanghai fry pan noodle. It was my first time trying non-​soup based noodle, and it was very tasty as well.
All of the menus that I tried so far seem to never disappoint me. I love this place!

Mixed feelings and reviews. I’ve came here twice. The first time with my two friends. I had an overall great experience. Decent tasting food. Friendly, quick and efficient service. Clean environment. Because I had such a great experience the first time, I decided to take my dad and sister to dine here, but this time around, it did not feel the same whether it was the quality of the food or service.
Certain dishes were very tasty and fresh while some were lacking. During my second visit, I noticed that my the front entrance, you can peek into the kitchen and I saw this chef rapidly making dumplings! I guess it’s a sign that the dumplings are most probably freshly made!
We got the pork and crab meat soup dumplings, and the dumplings were okay. The dough was a little too thick — well, at least, the dumplings won’t pop or break and let the juice out. Even so, the dumplings weren’t very juicy. The meat was good.
Our favorite and a MUST-​GET is the fried dumplings! Those are really worth getting! Pan fried on one side until its crispy and tasty while the other side of the dumpling skin is soft and slightly chewy offering various textures to the dumpling! The most memorable part was the taste of the meat — it had a very fresh, meaty taste making the juice/​broth in the dumpling very delicious and flavorful.
A few other dishes that we tried include the beef noodle soup, scallion pancakes, and soy bean milk. Don’t get the soy bean milk! Way too watered down so that there’s barely any soy bean flavors. The beef noodle soup is mediocre. I love scallion pancakes, so I might be a little biased, but it was crispy and generous will scallions… and not too oily, but you can always de-​grease it with a napkin!