Tipsy Shanghai 蘇杭餐厅 — Restaurant in New York

This feels like a rerun because I could swear I reviewed one of TS' other locations years ago, but I can't find any record of it and my cobwebby brain can't remember anything either. So here we go again. Ain't senility grand?

We ordered a ton as a group of 7, sharing everything family-style. Each person ended up owing $38 all included, which is practically free in these inflationary times. Gotta love that.

The good:

Osmanthus Salted Duck: Lip-smackingly umami

Shrimp Shumai: Classic and solid

Xiaolong Bao: Also classic and solid

Spring Noodles: Not as laden with veggies as I would've liked, but appropriately savory

Peking Style Minced Pork Noodles: Not my cup of tea, but well made

Wuxi Pork Ribs: Their signature dish and with good reason. Probably the best dish of our batch

Boiled Fish with Pickled Cabbage and Chili: Generously overfilled with tender fish, but the broth was a bit too oily

Salted Egg Custard Bun: Who doesn't love this for dessert?

Creamy Custard Bun: More custard deliciousness, just not as runny

The eh:

Cold Bamboo Shoots: Not tossed with chili oil like I like, so no bueno for me

Tofu Tossed with Preserved Egg: Why was this sweet? Why? Eggs should never be sweet!

Pumpkin Cake: Thought this would have runny, yolky custard too, but it was filled with red bean paste instead. Which isn't bad...just not as fun

The space is gorg, and the staff were pretty attentive, even giving us some complimentary items when they messed...

Horrible, absolute worst dining experience ever. Served completely raw shrimp within spring rolls, pictured below. Completely irresponsible management that was unconcerned and did not care about this. Our waiters were struggling to get in contact with their managers when this happened and had no idea how to handle the situation. The managers refused to acknowledge us and never showed face. Instead of acknowledging what happened, on multiple occasions after we informed them of the raw shrimp, our waiters walked away from us without saying a single word. We had to flag them down multiple times. We never received full acknowledgment of what had happened or an apology. Ultimately, our meal, which we barely consumed after this raw shrimp fiasco, was comped as a means to get rid of us without having to say sorry or acknowledge the issue of food safety.

When we went home, both of us threw up as a direct result of having accidentally consumed some of this raw shrimp before realizing the rawness and we were sick for the entire night. Nobody should ever eat here as there is no guarantee this won’t happen again since neither the chefs nor management cares at all about...

Great list of Shanghainese food. The ambience is great with red dividers that make it look like you are in little Shanghai. The tables are cozy and the place is decorated with lots of beautiful pottery. It’s a nice place to come w friends and family and to enjoy February flavorful food and dessert. The dessert spread is impressive compared to other Chinese restaurants bc most places don’t offer so many Chinese dessert dishes. You can get sesame seed balls (3) here for $6.95. The pork Wuxi ribs were tender and had great flavor. All food items were very rich in flavor and had tons of the sauce so if you want to take the sauce, leftovers home, you can make your own food with them. The flavoring is kind of salty so if you’re trying to avoid salt, then you could take half your dish home and add some stuff to it because there will be a lot of sauce left over which is nice bc you can eat more of the flavor at home. They also add sugar to the food so if this is the cuisine you enjoy, come here! It’s on 3rd avenue and 39th street very close to the UN building. Irene was our hostess and she was very sweet and attentive. if you write a review, you will get a...