Shanghai You Garden — Restaurant in New York

Since we had a fairly large party we were taken to a private room that had a large circular table with a huge glass lazy Susan - a la Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. There was a beautiful chandelier above us and it was a large but also cozy room if that makes any sense at all?! We were nearly immediately served tea and once the commotion around the restaurant was bit more tame, we put in the first wave of our order.

The entire (large) menu here looked incredible and we ended up ordering quite a bit of different dishes but there was one major reason we came here. The Giant soup filled crab bun is the attraction that caught our eye! This thing is the size of a softball and is filled with huge amounts of crab meat and broth. The way to properly consume these is to stab the doughy flesh with a straw and drink the broth until it is gone and then eat the rest of the crab meat and the dough. It was not only incredible and everything I had hoped it would be, but it proved to be a really fun experience and also at a very fair cost. Each huge soup dumpling I believe came in just under $4. Not only will I guarantee we will be going back here many more times, but we have already been back once.

First, I will say that the Sweet Purple Potato Mochi with Salted Egg left much to be desired. It was in no way poor, but it was just bland. I expected a lot more out of that knowing how strong salted egg can be. The Red Bean Puff's however were the exact opposite. Flaky crust almost like a croissant and the paste was super flavorful. If there was a "winner" from our "appetizer" style items though, it is 100% for certain the Scallion Pancakes. These are NOTHING like the ones you get from most Chinese take-out places and they were incredible. Hot, light, flaky, full of scallions...delicious!! Highly Recommended!

For more of the "main" style items let's start with the Peking Duck. This was super juicy and the skin was extra crisp. They served the duck with a thick and pungent dipping sauce that was perfect and they also sent out some flat bao that almost looked like mini flat taco shells but with more body. You could make a little sandwich bao or just eat the duck. It was good either way but honestly just dipping the duck in that sauce was 100% good enough for me.

The Garden Special Soup Dumplings were also very good. These are more bite size type dumplings that you bite a small portion of and allow the broth to run onto your soup spoon and then you drink the broth and eat the dumpling.

The Pan Fried Pork Buns and the Pan Fried Dumplings were exactly what I expected. Picture any of the fried dumplings you've ever gotten at a take-out place and then picture them five times better. The filling was delicious and the dough was still pliable on one side and crispy on the other.

The Diced Beef with Black Pepper Sauce was like a significantly better version of any Pepper Steak you've ever gotten from take-out.

Honestly, I feel as though Grandma's Braised Pork was a miss. A near miss, but a miss. The quail eggs that came with it were tasty and a fun addition but the pork belly had practically no sear on it whatsoever which texturally was a turnoff. It made the fattiest portions have a poor mouth-feel and the meat itself was also just not as good had it been seared hard and then hit with sauce.

The Pan Fried Noodles with Shredded Chicken was also a miss for me. These noodles had the texture of being deep fried so they were very hard, genuinely reminded me of a package of ramen noodles that had not been cooked yet.

This was one of the best Asian restaurant experiences of my life. If you know me at all, you'll know that's a very bold statement. I have dined in many different Asian restaurants from Chinese, Thai, Korean, Japanese, and many more backgrounds and I feel this was in the top 3 I've ever been to. Not only have we already been back to You Garden, but I'm 100% confident that we will be going back...

I love the food here...some of our favs that we always order are soup dumplings, Peking duck, sautéed snow peas leaves, and scallion pancakes.

We've been here countless times, and the food gets high praise. It is both authentic and delicious. The portions seem to have slimmed, however. The Peking Duck slices appeared to be very small, and few, as we had buns left over with no duck. It's very tasty, however. The service is attentive and food comes out fast. I recommend you keep a menu and order only 2 dishes at a time. Whenever we order several dishes, they will bring them all out at once, in royal fashion, and struggle awkwardly to fit them all into our little table. If you're at a large table with one of those spinning center pieces, this is not an issue. This tip applies to most Chinese restaurants here in Flushing. They aim for quick service, sometimes foregoing the comfort of such.

Why are napkins so hard to attain? I know it's another expense in business, but it's sometimes necessary for extra when dining on certain dishes.

I'm sorry to say this, but You Garden needs to step up their game in cleanliness. The tea pots and those condiment jars that remain on the table all had sauce or drippings on them. Those plexi-glass dividers were splattered all over with something which I hope was a sauce explosion and not something else.

It may sound like I don't recommend You Garden but that is not the case. I've been a fan since before they arrived to Bayside, often frequenting their other restaurant off MaIn Street, in downtown Flushing. I am hoping the management finds this and looks to improve upon what is already a great restaurant. If they address the cleanliness issues and stop pinching pennies, they could very well be crowned one of the best Chinese restaurants in...

Wow, having frequented Chinatown in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Flushing, the quality of the dishes here far exceed standard "Chinese" foods.

For example, the sweet and sour fish, is semi sweet, not like ketchup found in other Americanized places. But the true beauty is the way it was prepared. The chefs must have been formally trained.

The fish was first butterflied filleted and the spine and bones discarded. The fillets themselves were then sliced into strips, while still attached to the skin. It would then appear to have been flash or deep fried (possibly in a wok in an inch of oil), causing the meat to "roll" around the skin. Turning it into an inverted fish "roll," with the crispy skin as the center, holding the crispy meat facing outwards. These two rolls were then placed behind the head, which can be seen in my photo, where it must have then received it's sweet and sour bath. Absolutely amazing.

The Peking Duck also met my expectations and was in line with ducks I have had in Hong Kong and Beijing. Timing is an issue as it does cool very quickly, so wrap them up into a little, duck bun/burger before the AC cools the meat down.

Heh, I don't know how to name the other dishes in English, but overall, the foods seemed to be very low on MSG (if any) and sodium, which probably appeals to the large number of seniors, who live in the area, along Bay Terrace.

As for the atmosphere and appearance, heh it's a busy Chinese family restaurant, busy, high turnover but clean. Not exactly a fine dining experience.

Come for the 5 star food, pay a 3 star bill,...