Fortune Nong Jia Le — Restaurant in Denver

I've been fretting for a couple of months about revising my rave review of this place. Now that I see other folks have had bad experiences here, I think it is appropriate.

This is a sister restaurant to Fortune Wok to Table in Cherry Creek North. Clearly there must be at least two chefs to operate two locations. One chef is fantastic, but the second team is a real problem.

We thought the food was fabulous on our first visit and several other items on the menu looked interesting, so we paid a second visit after a couple of weeks. It was a disaster.

We ordered the dumplings again. They were way overcooked and burned in spots. Very unappealing. Then we made the mistake of ordering the duck. It was horribly burned and nearly inedible. We picked off the bits that we could and choked them down.

Absolutely disgusting, especially when we were so excited to try it again. I'm not in the mood to play the lottery about which chef is in the kitchen, so we won't be back. What a missed opportunity!

Original Review March 4, 2025

The former Bittersweet space has been heavily remodeled and is now a sister restaurant to Fortune Wok to Table in North Cherry Creek, serving a more elaborate menu of Shanghai-style cuisine than the other location.

The prices may seem a bit high, but all of the dishes--including the entrées--are designed for sharing and the portions are very generous, even for two. The ingredients are top quality.

We started with the fried pork dumplings. I love the dumplings at the Cherry Creek location, but these were even better: perfectly crispy and deeply flavorful.

We then shared the Chao Dover Sole. We received a huge platter with a multitude of small pieces of fried fish, lightly breaded, perfectly crispy, and in an absolutely wonderful sauce. The sole tasted incredibly fresh and was cooked perfectly. It was so delicious that we somehow ate it all. Yum, yum!

The space is quite small. There are five four-top tables and four bar seats. There is a really nice outdoor patio with another six four-tops. This place also has the luxury for this neighborhood of its own parking lot with six spaces.

The food was really fantastic, the space is elegant, and the server was kind and helpful. I've read a number of other rave reviews, so I was shocked that we were the only customers on a Tuesday night from 5pm to 6:30pm. It is Fat Tuesday today, so maybe that explains it.

Neighbors and fellow Yelpers, this is a great restaurant with many dishes that are out of the ordinary....

I try and have grace for small businesses as it is tough out there but the good reviews on here are baffling based on our one experience. Maybe it's the kind of place where it's better to dine in?

To begin, the menu online did not match what was available when we called in an order. We were also surprised that it was $7 to add broccoli to the noodles.

When we got the food home, we were surprised, again, that there were hardly any vegetables or chicken. Fried rice was mushy and overcooked. Very little flavor. Bland. Was like the Buck a Scoop places I used to go in my 20s, except it was $20/scoop.

We then called to voice our dissatisfaction with the meal, told them we wouldn't eat it, and asked for our money back. Wanted to talk to a manager but he was busy cooking. We were then asked to bring the food back so "we weren't getting a meal for free."

I imagine there are many scam artists out there who complain, want their money back, then get the money and eat the food, so I guess I understand why we were asked to bring it back to get a refund, but it's still a very poor customer experience.

No issues when we brought the food back, but I thought it was funny when the server told me, "yeah it's better to get the noodles with vegetables and add chicken." OK.

Obviously we won't be back, and I'd be surprised if this place is in business a year from now. So many better options around town for this kind of food (Aloy Thai...

Unforgettable positive experience! My family visiting Denver were looking for a decent meal and we’re having trouble finding parking on this side of town. We parked in their lot thinking they were closed, they were but the sommelier invited us in, informing us that they were prepping for a catering event the next day. He had a word with the chef and once he learned we had never tried Shanghai food, they rolled out the red carpet.

First they gave the table small samples of a Chinese lemonade with sweetened honey. Then we ordered fried pork dumplings, beef noodles, the crispy duck and the Dover sole. Jeff our sommelier recommended most of them and proceeded to treat us weary travelers with grace and understanding, especially when they had almost no service staff so late at night. All items disappeared with nothing left over and the family was delighted!

Don’t miss your opportunity to try real authentic high quality Shanghai food and service that’ll make you rethink who you pay for food and a dine in experience. These folks are the real deal! They are rare gems in a world of duds. They gave hungry people an exception with a full night of work on the docket and went beyond satisfying customers they didn’t have to serve.

My recommendation for Rudy R is to save the online ordering for Panda Express and go in to the restaurant and dine in with extraordinarily hospitable folks with an open mind and...