Joe’s Ginger
“Joes ginger, not to be confused with joes Shanghai is the best spot for soup dumplings, aka xiao long bao.”
“The scallion pancakes are also very good especially when you pour the sauce on it.”
“There are a few places in china town that offer it but this would be the most popular and they are super fast about getting larger orders out.”
Joe’s Ginger
Take-out: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Soup dumplings are quite good here. This place is a good alternate / safety net for joe's shanghai where the wait can get horrendously long. Especially on days when I get really hungry I find myself ducking in here more often than not for the quieter, cleaner atmosphere and comparable soup dumpling quality.
This is a decent option when Joe's Shanghai two doors down has a two hour wait. This place did not when I was here. However, it was still reasonably full. The decor is a bit tacky, but that is to be expected in Manhattan's popular locales in Chinatown.
The menu is large but manageable. Service is fast and pretty friendly.
1. Cold noodles with sesame: This was just OK. A little different than what I'm used to, it's a little plain. There is some peanut butter in there to add some taste. Otherwise, not much to this dish.
2. Soup dumplings: Wasn't a huge fan. There is soup in the dumpling, but the top of it is too thick so to bite off the top, you get a mouthful of dough.
3. String beans with pork bits: Couldn't see or taste the pork bits, but the beans themselves were crispy. Not bad at all.
This place was not at all crowded when my friend and I came (around 6:30pm on a Tuesday night). The service was great and fast, and we got the pork and crab xiao long bao, which were excellent, broccoli in garlic sauce, which was yum, chicken dumplings, which were not bad (can't go wrong with chicken) but also not overwhelmingly fantastic, and some rice, which was, well, rice. Perfect amount of food for two. The space is clean and has good vibes; I'd definitely come back if the mood struck.
The food was great and our very fluent in English speaking waiter was very helpful as we modified some of the dishes. Why wait for who knows how long at Joe's Shanghai down the block when you can have the same food at Joe's Ginger?
The buns are as wonderful as ever. Tonight we shared several other great dishes; Lion's Head Meatballs, Romeo & Juliet, Crispy Beef, General Tso's Chicken, and Tofu with Pork in a spicy sauce. I loved them all. I also tried the Shredded Pork with Pickled Cabbage Soup but it was nothing special until I added the ginger and soy from the buns on my own. I wouldn't order this one again–not much taste and very little pork and cabbage.
On the downside, we were in agreement that the portion size has been reduced.
For those celebrity watchers I have seen Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, and Matt Dillon all here.
Little secret, you can get Joe Shanghai's infamous soup dumplings here as well, they are owned by the same owner. Delicious soup dumpling (XLB) fix can be had here. These soup dumplings are not as good as the ones I have had at Din Tai Fung, but they are good for the East Coast and satisfy XLB cravings. Everything else on the menu was decent.
Same restaurant as Joes Shanghai. Same owners and same exact menu and food. But supposedly not alot of people know. So if Joes Shanghai's line is too long, head over next door to Joe's Ginger!
Strange as it may be but it seems in New Jersey Chinese food is the bane of every 70's light rock listenin' fuddy duddy's existence ie) almost half the people here. Come to think of it I've grown to love 70s light rock too. Crap, I've turned into a New Jersian!
Anyhow I still don't get lack of love for Chinese food here while places like Outback steakhouse can do no wrong. Who knows… Maybe it's cuz of the (mostly) crappy Chinese restaurants in jersey
However, pay an arm and a leg to hop over a tunnel (while repressing thoughts that you are helping finance a Port authority retiree's Porsche 911) and Chinatown is on fire and hipster central.
Anyway so it was that we came to Joe's Ginger for dinner. Joe's Shanghai and almost every decent Shanghainese restaurant within a 10 minute walk to where we parked were PACKED.
Seeing the awning for Joe's Ginger, a member of my party said they recognized it as a good restaurant back in the day. Chinese restos unfortunately often change ownership and chefs so that doesn't always mean anything (as we were about to find out).
Unfortunately everything we ordered except the soup dumplings and one other dish was a bit disappointing. To make matters worse, prices are a bit high and portions are a bit small.
As mentioned, at least the soup dumplings were good (hence the 3 stars). They make them a bit different from how most other places do. They are not as tender or soft and I guess it is because they use more lean meat for the dumplings rather than fatty ground pork. Good flavor and juice however and the skin was delicious as well.
I guess come here if you want the healthiest Shanghainese soup dumplings you can get (probably still not very healthy) while not sacrificing much flavor.
From that highlight of the meal comes the lowlight – salt and pepper pork chops here tasted worse than 5 day old leftovers of the same dish I've had from other restaurants reheated in a microwave at work. Overpriced too for the portion size and quality – 12.95
Rice cakes with shredded pork and cabbage was decent. A bit lacking in flavor and small portion compared to some other restaurants but not too bad.
Meat and rice wrapped in lotus leaves (zhong zhe) was way overpriced – 5.50 and honestly I've had better of this dish getting takeout in ctown street corners I later heat up at home.
Steamed vegetarian leek dumplings were tasty. Good dish.
Overall I regret coming to eat here with all the better options available in Chinatown. It wasn't truly horrible but it was meh and the price was high.
I went to Joe's Ginger with other 3 friends for a typical Chinese dinner but unfortunately it wasn't the dinner I was expecting in terms of food and service.
Food: good if you are trying the dumplings (crab and meat ones are a must, try also the dumpling soup which is quite good), nice green tea to start but my bamboo and mushroom dish was okay-ish,nothing special.
Service : Sorry to say that but most of the times when you are going to a Chinese restaurant you don't expect to have the best customer care of the world…and we didn't have a nice staff to talk to as well.
The waiter was not friendly, he forgot that we asked for a doggy bag at the end of our meal and he seemed upset or annoyed when taking the orders. He also dropped the food on one of my friend when he was cleaning the table.
Price: not cheap for what you get. 60$ in 4 but only ordering dumplings and bamboo with mushroom. ah and don't forget: CASH ONLY!