21 Shanghai House

Ah! So sad that the last time we went back, the food was absolutely terrible! Everything was overly greasy, the pan fried buns looked and tasted like they were made by a 4 year old, and everything was just subpar. It was probably our 5^th or 6^th time back and we were really looking forward to a great meal. Womp womp.
Maybe I did something wrong and God is punishing me.

This is one of favorite spots to get authentic Shanghai food in Chinatown. I love that you can get the big-​name Shanghai dishes (pork shoulders) to the ones more known in America like soup dumplings.
The service is quick and sweet. I recommend everyone to check this place out, because this is better than most Shanghai restaurants.

Um… two words: soup dumplings. If you’ve never had a soup dumpling before, come here and order a basket.
I live in St. Louis so I don’t really get soup dumplings. They’re one of my absolute favorite shanghai foods. A friend took me here while I was visiting and I was so happy.
A basket comes with i think 7 or 8 dumplings. I ate 2.5−3 baskets BY MYSELF. The flavors were spot on, the vinegar sauce was plentiful, and the dumplings were fresh and juicy and threatened to burn my mouth. What? You don’t like scalding food? What’s wrong with you?
It’s been 2 months since I was actually here and I still dream about it.
I don’t care about anything else here. Just get the soup dumplings… unless you don’t eat pork… i’ll just weep a little for how much you’re missing out and eat more in the future.

I don’t get why this place is so popular. My friends and I walked by one night on a weekend and it was packed with lots of people waiting for seats. Another weekend, my friends and I stopped in between that lunch and dinner rush to finally give this place a try. There were only a couple of tables taken. We were all starving and luckily all of the dishes came out very quickly. We got one order of the soup dumplings, stir fried thick noodles, and the stir fried rice cake with shredded pork and preserved vegetables. The soup dumplings were just ok, not comparable to the other Shanghainese restaurants in Chinatown. They didn’t taste as fresh and were kinda dry, where was the soup in these dumplings?
The stir fried thick noodles tasted more like take out than authentic Shanghainese stir fried noodles… The stir fried rice cake with shredded pork and preserved vegetables was oily, but pretty good; I understand that this dish is sometimes made more oily, but it did not help the dish here. I feel that the food here is somewhat influenced by American flavors. I’m glad I got to try to this place so I can write it off as an option for Shanghainese dumplings. I don’t think I will be back considering how there are quite a few Shanghainese restaurants within blocks of this place.

Hello Chinatown, we meet again.
This time my adventures took me to 21 Shanghai House. Another authentic Chinese spot with a full menu of many many options. And you guest it, Shanghai take on a majority of the dishes.
I had the following dishes:
–pork soup dumpling
–pork/​crab soup dumplings
–thick noodles with meat and seafood
Both of the soup dumpling were awesome. The noodles were a bit too thick and sweet for me, but still tasty.
Service was fast and as «Chinese friendly» as it gets. Would come back just for the dumplings.

Peter was such a fantastic host, I am very pleased to have had my very first soup dumplings at his restaurant, he even came over to my table and showed me how to properly eat the soup dumplings. The brought from the pork is just so warm and tasty, my family absolutely loved the rice dishes. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ highly recommend. Thank you
–Terrell Bedonie

Maybe the chef was off today but everything was not so good today.
Pan fried noodles, why is it in so much grease? Not crunchy at all.
The pan fried bun was just sad. deflated, small and greasy.

I was craving xlb and came here for dinner last night. There was a but if a wait but once seated the service was quick and the food came out fast.
I really enjoyed the xlb, noodles and veggies here. So delicious and filling plus very reasonably priced. A great cheap dinner!

Ended up here by accident after a very poorly planned Valentine’s Day on my behalf. After the restaurant I planned for us to go to in Chinatown was closed, and as this was our first time at NYC Chinatown at night, we spent 30 minutes wandering around in the 5 degree weather looking for a replacement.
21 Shanghai was perfect. It certainly doesn’t hurt that they by default greet you with a steaming pot of tea, particularly when your hands went numb 15 minutes back.
The waiter then insisted we each order a beer we couldn’t quite catch the name of but it turned out to just be Tsing Tao– a good beer that also tastes exactly like Heineken.
The thick noodle stir fry is an absolute must try. Came with beef and shrimp mixed in. Couldn’t stop eating.
The soup dumplings were good, but not the best I’ve had– though I am by no means an expert there.
We ordered just those two dishes plus a general tso’s– my boyfriend’s standby– and couldn’t even finish.

MASSIVE portions, but the waiter denied us ever ordering one of our dishes, it was cheap though, so can’t complain too much.
Also there’s a required tip of 15% (doesn’t say it on the receipt), we tipped just under that despite them messing up our order and the waiter shouted at us and got a calculator out until we tipped them enough.
Scallion pancakes and soup dumplings were delish.

Decent chinese food spot. The restaurant was pretty packed on a Friday night but my friend and I were able to get a table right away. All of the big round tables were packed with huge groups of both Chinese people (always a good sign) and everyone else so the place was noisy. Service was good, food arrived quickly, and price point was as expected. For some reason we didn’t end up ordering dumplings so I’ll have to re-​report on that when the time arrives. The highlight of the meal was the HUGE bowl of chicken corn soup for $ 5. I must have a strange affinity for this soup but a good chicken corn is hard to find. My friend and I have already discussed coming back here just to have a second dinner of soup. Everything else was good but not great.
Homestyle braised pork– really good flavor, tender
Preserved vegetable with tofu skin bean — this was a giant globby disaster. Too much cornstarch made everything stick together
Fish fillet in spicy chili sauce — mediocre frozen fish fillets

This place is great! We walked in as Unilocal recommended. We weren’t hungry so we just want to try something light… We ordered the Steamed pork dumpling (or soup dumpling)… and it was delicious… i only wished that i did 2 order instead of 1… this is just amazing… we sat at the back so i watched the lady making these dumpling by hand one by one and put in the steamer… and man that was good… probably way better then you know what the other popular place out in chinatown…
We also got 2 different kind of noodles but we couldn’t finish them because we were really full… service was good, and i know i will be back again in the near future…

My initial visit at 21 Shanghai House was a couple of weeks following their grand opening. My first impression was: small space, decent food, but slow and occasionally rude service. I thought it seemed rather unfair to review them so soon (how nice of me!), so I am writing this review upon my 2^nd visit, a year or so after their opening.
I am glad that I waited to write this because they surely redeemed themselves by acknowledging and correcting areas that needed improvement (with the exception of one, which I’ll get to in a second). I went with my entire family for dinner on a Saturday and ordered practically the whole menu. Every dish we ordered was pretty flavorful, especially the soup dumplings (both pork and crab), rice cakes, fried fish, scallion pancakes, steamed chicken, etc.
It was a large group of us, with kids, so we had a lot of requests, but the wait staff was quick in meeting them. The owner of the restaurant, whom I believe is the man always sitting behind the counter, and a male waiter (tall, friendly face and demeanor) provided professional and praiseworthy service. On the contrary, this female waitress (who I recall being extremely rude during our first visit) was still rude and needs to crack a smile! Seriously, woman, just slightly move the ends of your lip upward and voila — you have a smile! It’s not that difficult.
I must say that the restaurant is on the small side, but they utilized the space as much as possible and customers still wait in line for a table… on a cold winter day! That tells you a lot … for a restaurant in Chinatown, on Division Street! Other than the rude waitress, they’ve got a lot going on for them and I hope they stick around!

This looks like a fairly new restaurant. It’s clean and comfortable. Friendly servers and the food came out quick. I had:
1. Steamed pork & crab bun — Very juicy, it was good, but not the best. Just needed a bit more flavor.
2. Scallion pancake — This was great, it was crispy and the sauce was awesome.
3. Stir fried thick noodle — It had pork, beef, chicken, and shrimp. Noodles were tasty. Large portion.
4. Fish with pepper — It’s fried crispy with some spicy spice. Very delicious. Need some rice to go with it, which is a dollar for a bowl of rice.

Stopped here after a very early morning of white water rafting. We had stopped here for a early dinner.
Service was fast and prompt or maybe to fast. It felt like we were being rushed out the door. One of the waiters were standing right behind us as we were eating.
The XLB were very good. The scallion pancake and chicken was decent.

I’m a fan of Shanghai food and when I heard of this relatively new place from my colleague, I had to come to try it out.
With all new restaurants, it’s clean looking. The service is very good as well.
The kau fu was one of the best I had in Chinatowns shanghainese restaurants. However, the soup dumplings are a bit lacking. The taste is a bit bland and lacking in flavor. The fried pork buns are just ok.
All would have been well if both my friend and I had didn’t have diarrhea that night.
Skip this place and go somewhere else.

Came here for dinner with a Shanghainese friend, and we both left impressed. I was happy with the taste while she was happy with the authenticity, so it was a winner on both counts.
We were both craving xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) and really didn’t want to go to Joe’s or somewhere similarly overrated, so we found this on Unilocal and decided to check it out. Fun fact: Upon walking in, this place immediately reminded me of a place back in the LA area called Mama Lu’s! The exact same setup, food options, and feel. And I love love love Mama Lu’s, so I took this as a good sign.
SOUP DUMPLINGS (XLB):
Our pork soup dumplings arrived hot and steaming, and I definitely burned my mouth in excitement (as always…) on my first bite. The dumpling skin here is on the thinner side but not so thin that it easily breaks. There’s tons of soup inside and the meat is very flavorful. Overall, definitely some of the better xlb’s I’ve had in New York.
PAN FRIED PORK DUMPLINGS (SHEN JIAN BAO):
I love these and get excited when they’re on the menu anywhere, so I’m happy to say they were great. Nicely fried on the bottom, pillowy and slightly chewy on top, and filled abundantly with juicy pork.
SHANGHAI RICE CAKES:
We got these with pork and preserved vegetables, and they were different from Shanghai rice cakes I’ve had before. These were much more «fresh,» if that’s possible. Rather than being a bit greasy and heavily pan-​fried (though I love that variation as well), these were much more lightly fried, enough that they were still white. The preserved veggies were my favorite part, as they were plentiful and just sour enough.
MYSTERY 4TH DISH:
I really wish I could tell you the name of this one, but my friend ordered it and I happily ate it. It consisted of wood ear mushrooms, shredded lotus root, and spongy gluten cubes in a sweet-​ish sauce. It’s not very pretty to look at, but the combination was surprisingly refreshing and made for a great appetizer.
Overall, I will DEFINITELY return here when I’m craving some authentic, affordable Shanghainese food in a quiet setting. It got a little bit busier as the night went on, but still nowhere as bad as some of the more popular places in Chinatown. Service was very friendly and efficient, and our total bill came to about $ 15 per person including tax and tip. A great value for filing portions.

Ordered from here for lunch via door dash! First, the lunch specials are such a steal. $ 6.50 for a rice dish with a side of egg drop soup! I work in FiDi, where lunch options are pretty average to mediocre, so I am so glad that I found a tasty and cheap option.
Vegetarians, order the mapo tofu. Though this didn’t taste like the traditional mapo tofu, I was impressed with the sweeter spicy taste. It was a pleasant surprise for my taste buds. Also, the quality of the food is fantastic, not greasy like most Chinese take-​outs.

This is my new favorite Shanghai restaurant in Chinatown. Came here for lunch based on the good Unilocal reviews and it certainly didn’t disappoint! Upon entering, it’s a warm, old-​school vibe. Smaller restaurant compared to others in the area but good enough! It definitely doesn’t feel like you’re on Division street.
We were seated right away. Staff works very fast! Good service. The chairs are the most uncomfortable I’ve ever sat in but maybe they just want us to sit straight and have better posture.
Pork and crab soup bun — Always one of my favorites because of that flavorful soup. It is delicious! I love how thin the wrapping is. You can tell how delicate it is because it bursts when you pick it up; not because it sticks to the paper but because it’s so thin (which is what you want for soup buns).
Lobster soup bun — highly recommend if you like lobster. It was so good! There were real pieces of lobster, not the imitation crap! Good soup, nice flavor. Thumbs up!
Shanghai noodles with chicken, pork and vegetables — I was expecting this to be the regular stir fry with soft noodles but we think it was udon noodles. It was harder than we thought. Still good with good flavor and yummy meat but the noodle texture didn’t win me over.
Preserved vegetable and pork noodle soup — very good. Great for a cold day! Big bowl of soup with lots of noodles, veggies and meat. I loved the broth — wasn’t salty or overwhelming, just right. Good dish.
I like it! Definitely coming back when I’m craving Shanghai or those delicious soup buns.

Ordered from here today via DoorDash. I’m impressed by the quality! Most Chinese takeout ends up being extremely greasy and while good during the process of eating, not so good after a few hours.
I got the steamed pork buns and the green beans. The pork buns were very fresh: the dough was fluffy and soft and the meat inside was savory and not overbearing. This is an appetizer so in total there were 4 medium-​sized buns-​definitely enough to get you to 50% full. The green beans were not extraordinary but they were good. I liked that they came with some pickled radishes, which added an extra layer of flavor.
Definitely want to try some other stuff on the menu next time! Or maybe go in person for some dim sum, since that’s what they seem to be known for.

Super rapport qualité prix staff sympa, le midi une carte de plat a 5,50 $ est proposé avec du riz du the et une soupe en accompagnement rien a dire.
A 2 19 $ pour 3 plats du riz du thé et de la soupe …