Joe's Shanghai, New York NY

Looking for good Xiao Long Bao, and the crab pork soup dumplings are pretty good here. Not quit as good as Ding Tai Fung. Here the dumplings are much bigger, and can not do the one dumpling one bite routine I loved at Ding Tai Fung. Menu is pretty big, and lots of other choices as well. We also ordered fried salt/pepper fish in bite chunks, had to add more pepper salt to the dish for the stronger personal taste. Fried green beans with ground beef was pretty good. Spicy chicken bits was Cantonese style instead of the Sichuan style we were expecting, but was still pretty good.

Went here once, I have good and bad things to say.
Pros: Amazing food. Amazing. While there, I couldn't rant enough about how delicious everything was. And I mean everything, especially the desserts. Their red bean cakes brought tears to my eyes. The service was great, the setting was delightful and the wait staff was on point. I left there positive I had found my new favorite spot.

Cons: For the next three days I was sicker than I had been since my last stomach flu. It was so bad I couldn't leave the bathroom at all, not even to go to the hospital. Never, ever again. Ugh. Never.

Existing as one of Chinatown's most historical restaurants, Joe's certainly has a story behind their business. And that story is all around the restaurant as photos of all sorts of celebrities and notable icons having eaten here are tacked to the walls. However, the story here is less than to be expected.

Instead, the quality of food is only slightly above par to other Shanghai-style restaurants I've visited before. Non-noodle options are drenched in the typical sauces, with absurdly large amounts of lower quality vegetables overtaking plates. My last plate was almost all bamboo shoots cut larger than a piece of Tso's chicken. Don't visit expecting many vegetarian options that even sound okay.

Aside from food, service is attentive and spot-on, but of course there's a drawback. Having little floor space, tables are crammed together very close, and eating with strangers should be expected. That being said, service is only given after someone finds your hand being held up as you then shout across the table. Be sure to order water if you're needing it, as they will be more than fine to only write down food orders in a rush and walk away.

Lastly, Joe's hasn't been renovated in some time, and its age shows. Bathrooms are quite old and not the cleanest either. The final huge disappointment was actually upon getting up to leave. Tables are cleaned by servers turning over tea kettles and opting to use tea instead of water for wiping tables off. Tea drips down beneath the rotating center piece and stays stagnant. Certainly good cleaning techniques are practiced.