Shanghai 21,

21 Mott Street, Manhattan, New York 10013

"Came here after reading all of the positive reviews. I was hoping for an outstanding Chinese dinner and unfortunately that didn't happen. The service was good but the food was typical American over sauced Chinese dishes. I have eaten in Chinese restaurants in LA, Las Vegas, London, Paris, Abuja, Tokyo and even in Xiamen, China. (London still has the best Chinese by far!) This restaurant is nothing special and I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to go there."

"One sunny, blustery winter day, three friends and I came here in search for a wonderful authentic Chinese meal. This place was anything but that. We walked in to a bustling restaurant, and were seated relatively quickly. The interior is bright and cheery and decently decorated, and the menu, while riddled with common “fake” Chinese staples like orange chicken, did have seemingly enough authentic Chinese variety. So why did I rate this place one star? Let me explain. The truth is shocking! We ordered two dim sums and three dishes. The steamed buns and shrimp dumplings were satisfactory but not very special, passing the bare minimum perhaps. However, the other dishes were extremely disappointing. The gan bian si ji dou (green string beans) were not crunchy as they are supposed to be and not flavored, and the fried squid was flavorless and over breaded. The duck had an extremely overpowering star anise taste and was slightly off-putting. I tend to enjoy all types of food, and can still find lots of satisfaction within varying qualities of food, so while this food was quite mediocre and could have earned this restaurant a healthy three stars, what happened next brought it down to only one in my heart. My friend had her foot on her chair unintentionally when the waiter walked by and dismissively told her to put her foot down. While we understand that this is a perfectly justified request, the manner in which it was communicated was extremely derogatory and caused my beloved friend severe emotional distress. When I asked my friends how they felt about the restaurant, they told me they were “flabbergasted,” “disgusted,” and “mortified.” Then came the worst of the worst. They applied a near 20% service charge, and still expected us to tip. This restaurant ruined the entire trip for our group, and our faces, once filled with childish expectance and a zest and zeal and life became mere vestiges of what the once were, a hollow shell devoid of emotion. While the atmosphere of this location may at first lure you in and make you think it is a wonderful authentic Chinese restaurant, you will soon realize once you eat here that this place is neither authentic, nor Chinese, and has left a devastating impact on our lives. I highly recommend anyone reading this review considering this restaurant to go someplace else. Possibly top 5 worst restaurants I’ve been to in my life."

"We went here Christmas Day. A lot of the other restaurants had long queues outside but, rather than making you wait, this restaurant was taking names instead and asking you to come back in a hour and half/two hours. We went back an hour and a half later and were seated straight away. The shredded beef is the best I’ve ever had! I’d also recommend the steamed pork dumplings."

"A group of friends and I came to Chinatown for a day and wanted to find a good sit down restaurant, and we definitely did! We had to wait maybe 30 - 45 mins for a group of 8 on a weekend, which isn’t too bad, given how busy they were. The soup dumplings are definitely a must try, they were delicious. The scallion pancakes were also great. Prices were affordable given the sizes were bigger than expected. I would totally dine here again if I’m back in the area."