Shanghai Pavillion

3.5 stars.
Only ordered delivery — which is typically pretty fast. Overall very good dumplings, and the typical Chinese dishes range from average-​to-​decent.
Unfortunately the person (people?) answering the phone occasionally misunderstand or mishear the order, and sometimes (like when asking for brown rice instead of white) someone in the ordering chain messes up. But I keep coming back for the dumplings and a few dishes like shredded pork with dry bean curd.

Always good Service! Nice and fresh food! Never disappointed ! Usually freight to order any Chinese food but this place is awesome !!

Order confirmed for 45 minute delivery 30 minutes after ordering. Who would want to wait over one hour for Chinese delivery?

Argh! I was very excited to get my delivery of beef with Chinese broccoli delivered so quickly. However, the actual dish was one of the most disgusting looking and tasting things I have ever had. It truly was inedible. Medallions of fatty, grizzled beef coated in a thick nasty sauce with some poor, wilted broccoli soaking underneath. Puh! Couldn’t eat it and I went to bed hungry. Also, the dish had cost $ 22.

This is an interesting Chinese restaurant, not the typical Chinese style. I like the won ton soup and cold sesame noodle. The food. was not as oily as other Chinese food but fresh. I like their modified style. They serve even seaweed salad which is more common in Japanese restaurant. The deco was good and the staffs were kind. I would like to come back and try some other menu.

DISCLAIMER: If you are looking for general tso’s chicken and beef and broccoli, this is not the Chinese restaurant for you. Those who have a hankering for shanghainese cuisine on the upper east side, look no further.
Having lived in Shanghai for a few years/​being a lover of all Chinese food, I am pretty picky about eating Chinese food outside of China. Having said that, the shanghainese dishes I had at Shanghai Pavilion were pretty spot on.
Appetizers
«Roast pork» 叉烧– I was craving some Cantonese roast pork, but this isn’t one of their specialities. I would steer clear of anything veering too far away from shanghainese flavors
Kaofu四喜烤麸-​Served cold just like the shanghainese aunties make it. Sweet and succulent like it should be.
Soup dumplings 小笼包– pretty good! I’ve had better (joes Shanghai takes the cake) skin was a little bit too thick and too much sesame oil in the filling.
Entrees
无锡排骨-​wu xi spare ribs were great. Beef ribs braised in a sweet, soy based thick sauce over steamed spinach. Very rich but oh-​my-​god those ribs are good. The sweet-​fall off the bone-​goodness will be a sure crowed pleaser.
蒜炒豆苗-​pea shoots. 16 dollars per order, but good as always. Crunchy, fresh, and a nice clean addition to an over all «rich» meal.
葱爆羊肉-​Lamb with onions– not a dish native to Shanghai, but an authentic Chinese dish nonetheless with a very distinct, bold flavor. A bit greasy but definetly a must have.
Look to spend around 50 dollars per guest without alcohol (I eat a lot so this number may be lower for the average person). The restaurant is on 3^rd avenue on the upper east side, one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Manhattan, so expect to pay top dollar. That is why I recommend those who want a more standard American Chinese experience to search elsewhere.
Staff/​atmosphere
Staff is always friendly and loves to chat with me (being that I speak Chinese). You definitely get a more welcoming experience than you get with some Cantonese run restaurants in NYC. Great place for a date, business lunch, or anyone craving real shanghainese food. 3 stars because I’m a stickler when it comes to «authentic» Chinese cuisine.

I’n biased because I need Sriracha with Chinese food and this place has none. Lo mein with chicken lunch specials was mediocre. Nothing worth coming back for.

My review is mostly for their soup dumplings. I get intense cravings for them and this place doesn’t dissapoint. We start with a few orders of the dumplings, which our daughter loves too. They are juicy and the dough is perfect. The chili fish is really good, as is the garlic bok choy and their fried rice a family favorite. The rest of the menu is ok. They could improve their service to be a little more friendly, but we’re satisfied with their attentiveness.

I wanted to write a review because of how many seemingly great reviews this restaraunt has gotten. I recently moved to the neighborhood and have been looking for a good place for a sit down Chinese Food experience. From reading the reviews, I thought this would be a great place to try out.
The first thing that drew my attention was the price of the entrées. I believe it was 16 dollars for one order of General Tso’s. I was a little taken a back when looking at the menu outside but, I figured the meal had to be well worth the price. Spoiler, I was surely mistaken. First, the fried dumplings we had tasted like they came from a Trader Joe’s frozen package. Then, we had the scallion pancakes which, although sopped in grease, were the best part of the meal. Finally, we had the General Tso’s and friend rice. The General Tso’s was cold and the chicken pieces were like little pieces of burnt popcorn. The fried rice was generally underwhelming.
Please do not make the effort to go here. Find a local Chinese Food take out place and get double the food for half the price of this place.

Never again.
We came here because of the very misleading Unilocal reviews so i feel compelled to review. The place has a B sanitary rating, which was a warning from the start, but we proceeded anyway.
Came here for dinner one night. The place is pretty big, but they insist on putting everyone on top of eachother near the window, which fascilitated every table being able to hear every word of eachother’s conversations and an old lady sneezing all over our entire table. Food included. The staff totally saw it and offered no assistance. Of course we stopped eating and kindly asked for the bill.
From what we had a chance to eat without phlegm, the food was ok, but TERRIBLY OVERPRICED. youre getting the samw as you would from your run of the mill chinese takeout spot with cloth napkins and a high price tag. 16 bucks for a single portion of general tso?!! Rediculous.

The soup dumplings were surprisingly delicious! They were not perfect by any means. The skin overall was on the thick side with the closing bunched up. However, the flavor was on point. I don’t like my soup dumplings oily and these little bundles of joy were not oily at all! Might be the best option for XLBs on the UES. They are a bit pricey tho. $ 9 for 6 of em. So if you’re used to China town prices, you might be in for a surprise.

Not sure what they want to be when they grow up. They have a little bit of everything. None of them is really good. Lunch specials are tolerable due to the lunch special prices. Otherwise, it’s not worth going. If you want bad American Chinese food, there are plenty of them in UES that will cost you less. If you want authentic Shanghai style food, this is not.
The service was friendly. Deco was pretty good for a Chinese restaurant.

The waiter has the worst attitude ever. Doesn’t look at the customer in the eyes when talking. Will never come back again

The best Chinese place in New York!
We came over from Staten Island and were very pleased by service, food and relaxing atmosphere. Special thanks to the Owner and Chef!

Sesame noodles were embarrassingly poor. Soggy noodles and a scoop of peanut sauce, unmixed. Bland. Pork dumplings were tough and without flavor. Totally unacceptable. There are much better options on the UES than this, like Wa Jeal.

Don’t go guys they r horrible. their worker don’t know any about dish and don’t give respect and they have anything their dishes are without description and they don’t make good. This is worst worst worst

The food was alright, definitely not the best option for Chinese food on the UES, I much prefer Wa Jeal or even Lili’s.
We ordered the soup dumplings, which were fine, but the skins were a bit thick and tougher than I would’ve preferred, with that little nub of extra skin at the top which the best soup dumplings won’t have.
We also got the eggplant with garlic sauce which was ok, have definitely had better, and the lionshead meatballs, which I actually really enjoyed. That dish was probably my fave one, although I wish they gave more meatballs!

Pros: great xiao long bao, lovely staff, cozy ambiance, decent veggies, solid fish dish.
Cons: what in the ever-​loving heck was that mango chicken?!
DON’T ORDER THE MANGO CHICKEN. It’s just a world of weird.
Pistachio ice cream was top notch.

Don’t order the magno chicken unless u have a bubble gum fetish. Asked to switch they refused!
Skewered beef was on verge of spoiled.
Other stuff gets 6 from 1 – 10
Sweet and sour chicken was decent

MEH.
Tangerine Chicken — sugar and salt but missing the flavor
Cold Sesame Noodles — something tangy that shouldn’t be
String Beans — actually these were good
I got delivery from seamless web which came pretty fast but I wouldn’t order from here again. If I weren’t so hungry and hadn’t already spent the money, I wouldn’t have eaten anything but the green beans.