Joe’s Shanghai
24 West 56th Street
New York, NY 10019
http://www.joeshanghairestaurants.com/
Overall rating: 3/10
Date of visit: August 2010
I was at Joe’s Shanghai in August 2010, so things might be different now. At least I hope.
I went there with two other guys, and we all agreed about the food and the service.
We went there because one of my companions had heard that the dumplings were supposed to be really good. He had had far better dumplings in China town he said afterwards.
Overall, the food was not bad at such, but just very plain and forgettable. A dessert that my companion ordered (it was supposed to a specialty – I think it was something with red beans) was dry and basically ready for the rubbish bean.
I chose not to order any dessert as the starter and the main course didn’t make me want to endure another course.
Even though I often go to high end restaurants (one to three Michelin stars), service is not a big issue for me at all, but here it was so bad it seemed like being in a cartoon:
While we were in the middle of our starter, the waiter came in and served our main course, so now we could choose which dish should get cold while we ate the other. Then the waiter brought us water and decided to pour it all over the table instead of in our glasses. To be fair, he did try to make amends by saying “oops”.
While we were eating, the staff sat down at the table right next to us and had dinner themselves. Some people might find this cosy, but I just found it very strange to have them eat, talk loudly and slobber at the table right next to us like we weren’t even there.
When we had the bill, my companion who invited me here was paying with his credit card and didn’t understand some part of the bill. Our other companion tried to explain it to him, but he still didn’t understand. Then our very helpful waiter came to the rescue: “Just sign it”! My companion asked the waiter about the thing he didn’t understand, which the waiter of course could explain to him another time: “Just sign it, just sign it”!
It’s customary to leave at least a 10 % tip in restaurants in America, but we all agreed that this restaurant didn’t deserve a single cent in tips, but I actually can’t remember if we left a tip.
The only reason I give 3/10 is because the food was not exactly terrible, but even if the service had been like in Daniel (where it was perfect), I would never go back to Joe’s Shanghai if the food was the same.
If I was scoring food and service separately, it would look like this:
Food: 4/10
Service: 1/10