Shiao Lan Kung

This is my family's favorite rest. in Chinatown. We have reccommend it to our other family members and it has become their fav. as well. I reccomend the fish maw soup, soft shell crab, salt baked squid, sweet and sour chicken and clams with black bean sauce. The only thing I never like is the wait time, and the small overcrowded tables and room, but if quality food is most important, this is the place to go.

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As a Chinese American from NYC, I have sampled Chinese food in some of America's best Chinatowns (NYC, Flushing, Brooklyn, San Francisco), and yet I've always had a special place in my heart for Shiao Lan Kung. Their Jiao Yan You Yu (Salt-baked squid) is simply the best. Anywhere. (That includes China and Taiwan, though I have yet to try Hong Kong). Like nowhere else, it is prepared to perfection - lightly crispy and not too salty. Do NOT however take this out... it needs to be eaten right after its prepared or it gets soggy. Try it! You won't be sorry!

I've never reviewed anything online before but the post preceding this has inspired me to give it a whirl... In order to avoid any future 'subpar' experiences at what is, arguably, the best Chinese in the city, I suggest the following: 1. expect to be cramped - the place is small and the food is delicious so it gets crowded... I have, on multiple ocassions, happily dined with complete strangers just to have a place to sit. If large parties get rowdy and make it uncomfortable, that's just people being inconsiderate, which I'm sure we can agree is not the restaurants fault. 2. don't put so much stock in your server when you're looking for good food. Some of the best grub in the city is served by some very unsavory people -- as a server, I understand the power of good quality service but I also accept the fact that in certain places, I'm there for the food, not the guy serving it to me -- this is one of those places. 3. Don't be surprised if your food comes quickly when you order the usual suspects. No offense, but dumplings, wonton soup and walnut shrimp are not the most difficult or time consuming dishes and are, by most all restaurants that serve them, prepared in advance and brought to temperature for service when ordered. Next time, try one of their salt-baked seafood selections or maybe even the double happiness. I don't want to tell you what to eat or ridicule your taste for certain dishes but I must insist that you explore some of the more complex offerings before writing them off over sugary walnut shrimp. My apologies if I've offended you at all, as this rebutle is not meant with malicious intent towards you so much as in aggressive defense of a cherished eatery... To the general public or anyone who has read this entire thing: Bottom line -- The food here is delicious. You should try it.

So based on the reviews here, I decided to go with my husband here. The place is extremely cramped! They have two huge tables in the middle. So if you're not with a large party at the two tables, you will be seated cramped along the walls. When I went there were there were two very loud groups at both tables. I noticed most of the customers were clearly uncomfortable and annoyed. Our server was super unfriendly from the get go! He didn't smile once and seemed to be very angry. He greeted us with a rude "yeah?". I felt like leaving since it was so loud, but decided to give the place a shot... The food came out very quickly (which I was happy about since I wanted to get out of there!). But it was clearly not freshly made. I have a feeling they quickly microwaved our food and tossed it at us. We had dumplings, wonton soup, and walnut shrimp. The dumplings were mediocre. The soup and walnut shrimp were simply subpar. The shrimp had WAY too much sugar in it and was extremely sweet! My husband and I ate the dumplings and left. We went home and I cooked a decent meal!

My husband and I have been going to Shiao for ten years. We always say we are going to try another place but it always turns out we are craving for something from Shiao's kitchen. After all this time there are things we seen delivered to other tables we want to try! The food is always fresh and the service very good. We've taken groups who end up making it top on their list too.

Went here on recommendation of a friend. Took my mother who was in town visiting. She's from Hong Kong and we all LOVED the food. They have the best Cantonese style fried noodles that we've had either here in NYC or elsewhere in the States. She was very impressed, and I was as well! I've definitely gone back since then. Service was very personable, friendly, and fast.