Shun Lee Palace
“They have captains and waiters that were all dressed impeccable in suits and ties.”
“The décor is elevated in the truest sense and it's a relaxing, but high-end space.”
“The decor of this place wasn't cheesy like Mr. K and the food was surprisingly great and totally not what I expected.”
Shun Lee Palace
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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This is a good option if you are looking for a good Chinese restaurant. It's on the expensive side, but worth it if you are looking for quality. Really enjoyed the orange flavored beef, very crispy and delicious. The grand marnier shrimp was good, but I have had better. The fried rice is also decent. Service is good. The restaurant is not very attractive but it is comfortable.
I am a fan of this place. Although it is not cheap like most other chinese places, it is still worth the trip. The staff here is awesome and probably as good service as you would get in any place. Also, they have 2 menus, one regular menu and one "chinese" menu. I would suggest getting both for the full Shun Lee experience.
The 2 of us got the duck and the pea shoots. I suggest getting both because they were both fantastic. The duck was so good and I liked that it was wrapped in a little burrito with lettuce. The pea shoots had a nice garlic flavor to them and a staple of many chinese dinners.
A lot of people give this place a poor rating maybe because of the price and the other stuff on the menu we didn't get but I think it's worth the trip in my opinion. We left very satisfied.
Gong hey fat choy!
Igor A. invited me and some of our colleagues to a Chinese New Year lunch at Shun Lee. Usually, my lunches consist of relatively inexpensive take-out food or something from the surprisingly good cafeteria in my office building, but it was fun to splurge. Yes, Shun Lee is a little gimmicky with the wait staff in captain uniforms, but I truly enjoyed the experience from the elegant china on the table to the incredible gluten-free (!!!!) crispy beef. I am sure I will return for a special occasion, as the price will keep me from making a habit of dining there.
Shun Lee Palace is venerated in the NYC dining sphere for being one of the best and earliest Chinese restaurants in town. It's "upscale" which may be a foreign concept as far as Chinese food goes (it sort of is to me) but dining here is memorable. Being a Brooklyn-native, I expect Chinese to be cheap and cheerful, and this is definitely not the former and just a little bit of the latter. Simply put, it's expensive, and I am not saying that in a pejorative way, because caveat emptor of course, but I don't know, I guess I just can't sync with a restaurant that charges $24.50 for chicken with broccoli.
This is five-star Chinese cuisine (or at least attempting it) if such a thing exists. My two friends and I stopped in recently for dinner to a relatively empty restaurant teeming with solicitous staff. I mean really, the staff-to-patron ratio may be like 5:1. The menu itself has lots of familiar favorites and we ordered an assortment to try – Standouts included the Peking Duck (of course) which at $50 may make your eyes bug, but it's a lot of duck and all the typical accoutrements (thin pancakes, hoisin sauce and vegetables to go with) so that alone could be an interesting entrée for two or three to share. We also ordered a couple of typical Chinese sautéed dishes but I hate to say none were memorable… I did enjoy the bok choy, though. I loved that my friend's favorite part were… the egg rolls.
Being an upscale Chinese restaurant, service and atmosphere are where Shun Lee Palace shines. The wait staff is liveried in "classic" Chinese costume which may or may not be a little patronizing, but it works. Their level of service/attentiveness is high bordering on extreme, and the restaurant itself is really beautiful. The décor is elevated in the truest sense and it's a relaxing, but high-end space. I think my favorite part of Shun Lee Palace is that it seems perfectly acceptable to knock back a martini or two here while eating an egg roll, and yes, that's precisely what I did.
So like other Midtown stalwarts who mysteriously hang on (I'm looking at you, Le Perigord), perhaps Shun Lee Palace's secret to success is that it's a familiar and comfortable place among the ever-changing NYC restaurant scene.
I like this place. We get it catered at the office quite often. My favorite dish is the cashew chicken, so tasty! The dumplings are good too, as are the egg rolls. I wouldn't say this place was out of this world, but it's pretty good
So I came here to celebrate Chinese Nwe Years, eating some "authentic Pekeing Duck!" Too bad that it wasn't too authentic. They brought out the duck already carved without any part of the body left just the meat. The authentic Peking duck locations make sure to bring out the full Peking Duck so that they can show that there is no duck being left out. My group of 6 had to order two Peking ducks, which really makes me think that they had skimped out on some of the amounts of duck. As mediocre as the flavor was, it was just so underwhelming.
It is hokey, the waiters are wearing captains uniforms, the place looks like a set from goodfellas, it would not be surprising to see a tuxedo clad don rickles, they have hopelessly dated drinks….pretty much everything in this place is ridiculous — and this is what is so awesome about it.
The food is the same stuff but better quality from the local ghetto bad Chinese place. Yes, you will still feel sick and ashamed of yourself afterwards. Yes, it is much more expensive than it ought to be.
But it is fun and it is yummy and they have "soupy dumplings"
By the way, when the check comes and there is a line for tip and a separate line for captain's tip don't worry….exactly 0 people in the world know how to deal with this situation. I tend to just give normal tip and then tack on a few extra dollars for captains tip. I have heard people splitting what a normal tip was 50/50 and others giving a higher tip to the captain. Really, no one knows what to do and, I am fairly certain, it all goes to the same place anyway — you know, some triad boss.
We came here on a week night during a particularly snowy night, so we had no problem getting seated right away without a reservation. The restaurant was somewhat empty, again, because of the storm. We were quickly seated and our drink came right away.
We opted for the Fillet Mignon and the Chicken with Three Different Nuts. Both were absolutely delicious, but the Fillet Mignon really takes the cake. The meat was extremely tender and the sauce was delicious. There was enough left over for lunch the next day.
Prices were high but not outrageous. I'm not sufficiently familiar with non-cantonese Chinese food to speak for the authenticity of the food, but it is delicious which is all that matters for me.