I have been craving for Shanghai food for a while so I suggest coming here tonight after hitting the gym. I arrived early and was on the phone while walking inside, the male host/server saw me trying to open the door and he actually came out and opened the door for me. Wow. He promptly seated me near the middle and poured me some hot tea.
So my group of 5 decided to order a few shanghai style dim sum and a few other dishes to balance it out. Ordered the Xiao Long Bao - obviously! It was great, the exterior is really really thin and when you pick it up you can swing it and it won't break. Delicious soupy interior and I didn't even need other condiments as it was already really tasty.
Leek patties were a let down, they forgot our order so we had to wait an extra 10 minutes for them and it came out oily. It also had a very thick exterior and was quite oily. The filling was mediocre, a little boring and bland to be honest.
Friends also ordered a few cold apps that was organs/intestines which I'm not a fan of, according to them it was mediocre and was bland as well. Either it lacked the correct spices or it wasn't sour enough.
The beef noodle soup had a very strong cumin smell to it and I was expecting it to have a strong bold taste, again it was bland.
The snow pea in chicken broth was pretty standard.
Fried Tofu was good, nice crispy exterior and soft on the inside without being too dry or bland. The spicy dipping sauce was way too oily and wasn't spicy enough.
Spicy chicken smelled amazing and I see a lot of chilies so I was expecting a strong flavor, it wasn't that spicy so it was rather meh.
Overall I'm not sure if the chefs were having an off day or if their standard is suppose to be so bland. The food didn't taste bad but it was bland for the most part. The portion to price point is higher compared to the local competition but I do like how clean this place is. I wouldn't mind paying a little bit more for a clean place and good service.