62 Secret kitchen 中餐厅·私房菜 — Restaurant in Jersey City

This easily tops my rankings of best Chinese restaurants in Jersey City. Chinese cuisine is my absolute favorite and I'm so happy with the explosion of Chinese spots. I've tried all of them... Jiang Nan, Yuan, Peppercorn, Dun Huang, Shoo Loong Kan, Zhang Liang, etc. While I love most of the above for the variety of the cuisine and the variety of price points, 62 Secret is quickly becoming our go to. Generally I look for the consistency across visits, the food quality and I compare certain key dishes (my husband is generally obsessed with fried rice). In the last two months, we've ordered delivery twice and gone in person once. Every single time, every dish has been excellent. Their fried rices (the egg fried or the salted pork) are perfect in their simplicity. The dumplings are juicy and delicious. Their dim sum options are hot and super fresh. The flakiness of the red bean buns was impressive. And today, the golden beef soup sealed the deal for me. I love this dish at Jiang Nan - it's my ultimate comfort food and I feel like it can knock out any illness in one meal. I wasn't expecting theirs to match it but it was so flavorful - the perfect balance of spicy and sour. The portion size was massive (easily 3-4 servings) and they gave a ton of beef. They have a ton of options too so I will be continuing to eat my way through this menu. Please check it out - this is exactly the type of spot JC...

Oh. My. Jebus.

I found Shanghainese Pork and Cabbage Noodle Soup on this side of the Hudson. And it's not only good....It's EXCELLENT!

Yes, yes, the dish by which all Shanghai restaurants are judged is XLBs. We didn't get them (horrified gasps). Instead, we ordered this noodle soup because it is my personal Shanghai culinary litmus test--and 62 SK passed with flying colors! The noodles were kiu kiu, the pork was buttery tender, the mustard greens were delightfully crunchy--and most important of all, the broth was an umami nirvana.

I'm going to throw hands: 62 Secret Kitchen's version surpasses Nan Xiang's, Din Tai Fung's and most of NYC's Shanghainese restaurants. It's that good.

Everything else we got was stellar too. The Fresh Chicken in Wine Sauce (AKA Drunken Chicken) was tender and succulent. The Shanghai Meatball with Salted Egg Yolk (AKA Lions Head) was perfectly braised, though a tad too sweet for my liking. And the savory Sauteed Blue Crab with Rice Cake was that perfect dish to ward off the lingering early spring evening chill.

Throw in the lovely modern yet traditional Chinese decor and friendly, attentive service (despite the place being packed), and you've got what's easily the best Chinese restaurant in downtown Jersey City. 10 years ago, a restaurant like this probably never would've survived in the area. What a difference a...

I would strongly discourage anyone from dining here.

We waited over an hour just to sit and place an order. Yes, the restaurant was busy, but there was a line of 10+ DoorDash drivers waiting for pickups which made it obvious they never paused online orders despite the overwhelming in-house crowd. This completely ruined the flow of service.

When our food finally arrived, it came much later than tables around us who sat down after us and ordered the same items. To make matters worse, we were told to place our dessert order quickly because the kitchen was closing after THEY had kept us waiting all night.

The food itself was disappointing. The “spicy cold tripe” was clearly prepackaged, came out instantly, and was a tiny portion for $15; unacceptable for something so obviously bought from a supplier. The shredded beef dish was a mess: overly sweet, and mostly just shredded carrots, maybe 60% of the plate.

The final insult came at the end. After tipping $0 (which was deserved), a staff member tried to pressure me into giving them a tip anyway, and then spoke about me behind my back as I left. Completely unprofessional.

There are far better Chinese restaurants in the area: Peppercorn Station and South of Clouds treat their customers with respect and serve authentic, well-prepared dishes. Don’t waste your time or money here until management stops...