Nan Xiang Express — Restaurant in New York

I had an unusually mediocre experience for lunch, and I think it's because I didn't do the soup dumplings. The beef noodle soup was labeled as recommended, so I decided to try it here. Big mistake - the beef was chewy and a bit dry and not terribly flavorful rather than tender, and the broth had really muted flavors despite the very appealing color. Unfortunately the noodles were seasoned mildly under (I think) the assumption that they'd soak up the broth, and as a consequence of the weak broth the noodles were under-flavored. Chili oil and some vinegar helped but not enough. The bok choy, however, was really good quality, and I really enjoyed the separate order of garlic bok choy I had as well. Get the bok choy! But maybe not the beef noodle soup.

I have no complaints about the employees, who efficiently tried to solve problems, but some other things were odd. There didn't seem to be chopsticks at the utensil, water, and condiments bar, and only a soup spoon and fork came with the meal, which might be regionally appropriate and I might have needed to ask for chopsticks at the front counter. The music was pretty good, and the decor was serviceable but not anything that got me excited, which is fair if you're in and out for lunch. There's a promotion to get some dessert-type drink or something if you leave a good review, which you may want to take advantage of.

For me, while the quantity of food you can get for the price is fine for the neighborhood, the quality was underwhelming outside of the veggies. If you come, maybe stick with the soup dumplings, which are wonderful at the full-size Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao restaurants and are probably really great here, and...

While I still prefer their OG location in Flushing, this is THE spot if you want to skip the line and taste the famous Nan Xiang dumplings. This is their sister brand which focuses on fast service, takeout, and delivery.

Don’t miss out on their soy milk – sometimes I stop by Nan Xiang just for their soy milk.

＊Pork & Veggie Wonton in Spicy Peanut Sauce $9.95 * Spicy Peanut Sauce Wonton was my top pick – very peanut-y and not overwhelmingly spicy.

＊Chicken Soup Dumpling $10.95 * ＊Crab Meat & Pork Soup Dumpling $10.95 They served the soup dumplings in bamboo baskets, just like when you dine at NXXLB. Chicken XLB was better than the crab one imo, as I couldn’t really taste the crab. Their meat fillings were super juicy.

＊Pork Crispy Bottom Bun $7.95 Sheng jian bao was fluffy, which also means their wrapper was on the thicker side. It was bursting with meat juice. The bottom could also be crispier.

＊Scallion Pancake $6.95 ** Didn’t expect I would love this so much! Very crispy on the crust and slightly chewy on the inside. Loved the aroma from the scallion.

＊Cucumber Salad $7.95 * I couldn’t stop but kept digging into the garlic cucumber salad. Very garlicky and refreshing.

＊Shredded Beef & Pepper Noodle Soup $14.95 ＊Shanghai Beef Stir-fried Noodle $14.95 ＊Shrimp Spring Roll $7.95 ＊Soy...

Food was decent (they forgot to give us one of our dishes), but the customer service was extremely poor. It all began with their promotion for a free drink with a $20+ purchase. I was finally able to flag down an employee to ask how we might be able to redeem this offer. My friends were paying separately and their total was $40+ so I asked if it was necessary to just do separate orders for two free drinks. She said no, we didn’t have to break down the order. When I did my own order, I decided to spend $60+ for three free drinks. When I asked for the free drinks, the employee said she only made an exception for my friend and I was only eligible for one free drink (despite telling me 10 min ago it was okay to not have to do separate $20+ orders). I didn’t press the issue because they were very busy and she looked stressed. But I do believe it was very poor customer service when making an exception for one member of your party (party of four) but not the rest. It was hard to find any silverware since the food didn’t come with silverware. And it was not the most eco-friendly store which was a tad...