Liu’s Shanghai

“We ordered our usual favorites – soup dumplings, scallion pancake, and fish head soup.”

“They're essentially fried wontons drizzled w this peanut butter/hot sauce concoction topped w some peanuty dust.”

“The skin held intact when picking up the dumpling and placing onto our plate or mouths without breaking apart or the juices spilling out.”

Liu’s Shanghai

Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes

Price range.

$$ Price range $11-30

8 reviews

  1. Out of all the Shanghainese places that I've been to, this is definitely one of the nicest – it's clean, spacious (I don't feel like I'm crowding anyone's space), the food is great, the prices are cheap AND they take card!

    I used to always head to Flushing to fulfill my soup dumpling craving (Joe Shanghai or Nan Xiang Xiao), so I'm glad there's something closer to me. It doesn't look amazing from the outside, but these types of places never do.

    My boyfriend and I shared the pork soup dumplings (xiao long bao) and pan fried noodles. I liked the broth inside, and they were super cheap – $5 for 8 of them! I appreciated that the dumplings were pretty sturdy, and I didn't have to worry about accidentally ripping one open. As for the pan fried noodles – they were good, but I could've done with less sauce.

    Bonus points for fast service and having Impractical Jokers on while we enjoyed our meal!

  2. I wanted to believe that good soup dumplings can be found in Brooklyn… The soup dumplings here were pretty disappointing, but their saving grace has to be the fried wontons in peanut and hot sauce; I honestly don't know if it's because they're fried or the fact that the sauce is mixed just right, but get it if you get nothing else from here. The skin for the dumplings was kind of thick and a little soggy and there wasn't much soup in them… I tried some of their other dishes too, but nothing amazing.

    The food comes out quickly and the staff is friendly. They're located in a quieter part just off of the busier 86th street. It's a corner location so it's not a large space. If you're looking for good Shanghainese food in Brooklyn, you must keep looking. I find the soup dumplings here pretty unsatisfying; so the next time I have a craving for soup dumplings, it should be a time when I'm willing to travel for them. Come here for the fried wontons!

  3. Woot Woot! Best shanghai place in the neighborhood. Actually, I don't think there is any other authentic shanghai restaurant around the area. I came here a couple of times with my family and my boyfriend's family. They all love it here. I don't see why anyone would not like it. The service is great; everyone is super polite and nice.

    The restaurant might not look delicious from the outside, but please go inside and try it. It is on the corner of the street and quite small. They only have one big table that can fit around 10ish people. All the other tables are a lot smaller, fitting around 2-5ish people. I would recommend calling in beforehand and if there is a open sitting or how long the wait would be. Every time I am in the area, I have never seen this place empty. There area always people waiting for seating and that is a good sign!

    Food… we ordered so much food, I could not keep count. I wasn't able to take a picture of all food either because everyone devoured for the delicious food.. Haha. Must TRY are of course the soup dumplings, fried wonton with peanut butter sauce (not every place have their wontons fried!), the big fish head casserole, the braised spare ribs and scallion pancake! They're all great, I cannot really pick and choose. If you do want to order the fish head casserole, order it right when you sit down because it takes awhile and it's HUGE. It can feed a family of 10. AND there's free desserts at the end. Who doesn't like free things?! 😀

  4. Technically this place is three an a half star but it wasn't quite a four yet so i rounded down. this place has a lot of potential there were some decent dishes and this is your local neighborhood shanghai spot. The soup dumplings had a lot of soup but the skin was a little too think for my liking, however if i didn't feel like trekking all the way to queens for my local spot this would be the spot i go to in brooklyn. The restaurant before this place which was also a shang hai spot was terrible, i am glad this place is so much better..

    crabmeat sauce with silken tofu($15)- this was probably my favorite dish out of everything i ordered it was quite expensive but it was well worth the money, the flavor was excellent, the tofu was silky and everything was good except i got a few peices of crab shell.. (the softer part of the shell) in my sauce and i had to spit it out on a tissue if they were a little more careful this dish is a potential 5 star on its own.

    crab meat soup dumplings- the soup was good, the skin didnt fall apart and the vinegar sauce was just the way i liked it… the only thing that would make this better is if the skin was a little thinner.. the soup dumplings was better than a few spots i been to but hasnt beat my favorite place in queens yet.

    the fried wonton- i only got this dish because a good amount of yelpers raved about this. however im not a fan of sweet stuff so i didnt enjoy this dish as much as i had hoped. my friend however liked this dish alot. its a sweet and savory dish with peanut butter sauce and friend wonton

    hot and sour soup- this soup has potential and for $6 for a decent sharing size soup one cant really complain right? i love how loaded this soup is with good ingredients too, however i didn't find it hot nor sour enough so i felt like it was just a good msg soup with loaded toppings.

    i would come back to this spot if i didnt feel like going to queens, if you are in the area i highly recommend the silken tofu with crab meat sauce.. get a bowl of rice to share and you're all set!

  5. I usually don't have regrets, but when I do, it's cause I didn't get a big casserole of Fish Head Soup. Every table had one, but ours.

    This family run business is kinda small, and located on a quiet corner off of the busier streets of Bensonhurst. Food comes quickly and service is efficient. My husband has a thing for Drunken Chicken, and after a long weekend trip, cravings struck. I've heard about this place from friends, so we decided to stop by instead of making another pit stop in the city on top of our 5 hour drive.

    The drunken chicken was great, not saying that because our cravings were satisfied, but it can be compared to my to go spot in Chinatown. Sadly, the Braised Pork Belly was done for the night, so we went for a Braised Spare Ribs instead. Fall off the bone tender. The sauce was a bit salty, a simple bowl of white rice did the trick.

    Who goes to a Shanghai restaurant and does not order Soup Dumplings? Definitely not me. Their dumplings were juicy and pipin' hot. I did find some of them to have skin on the thicker side, which didn't bother me at all since my 2 year old only eats the skin, so I just threw it on her plate after emptying out the soup and the delicious crabby filling. Don't skip on free dessert, get the Black Glutinous Rice.

    I wasn't surprised at all waiting 20 minutes for a table on a Monday night. And you'll know why once you get their soup dumplings. It's hard to find soup dumplings since Lui's is like the one of the very few Shanghai restaurants in Brooklyn, if I consider any of them good anyway.

  6. Updated:
    Finally had the chance to eat-in at the restaurant, what a difference it makes for the sake of good food!  It was a busy Saturday afternoon – there was a good 20-25 min wait.  We had the crab meat soup dumpling & regular (sil loon bao); the shanghai wontons, pork & preserved veggie rice cake, & pork chop noodle soup.  Kids loved everything, especially the soup dumplings and the wontons.  We enjoyed our meal!  Service was great, no rush.  I did wonder how come they don't give out the "tong shui" during lunch… That would have totally made my kids day cuz they love the sweets! Overall, recommend dining in for better results.
    Happy feasting!

    ———————————–

    We just ordered dinner from here and let's just say Liu's Shanghai will be added to our Sunday Take-out rotation!  We've lived this neighborhood for 20+ years and am glad to have a Shanghainese restaurant added to this thriving 'hood (yes, we were those screaming at the top of our lungs when they finally opened a Starbucks! LOL).  Now if they add a Chiptole… It would be heaven!

    Food:
    -Pan fried pork dumplings – it was ok, had better elsewhere and oddly, it didn't come with a dipping sauce…
    -Fried chicken wings – these were really good! Even as take-out, it was still crispy! Seasoned just right!
    -Shanghai wonton in peanut & hot sauce – OMGeee, these were freaking ah-mazing! The skin is soft and crispy at the same time, with crunchy crushed peanut.
    -little bit of everything stir fried rice cake – meh… not the best we've had, possibly because it was take-out, the rice cake became a bit soggy… Still, it lacked flavor.
    -Preserved cabbage with sliced pork, bean curd and edamame… – I may have ordered the wrong item, so no expectation, it was bland… We added salt to it.
    Freebies: Tapioca dessert! No complaints, it was complimentary! Yay!  I do love "tong shui" so I'm a fan!

    Total bill: $38 & change… Not bad for the amount of food.  Pretty much standard to this area.

    Verdict: yes, would order again and will attempt to eat in next time!

    Happy feasting!

  7. Finally! My girlfriend and I found a GOOD Soup Dumpling spot in Brooklyn!

    Seriously, this place was not what we expected to walk into.  Hate to say it, but most (all) of the Shanghainese spots I've been to in Chinatown/Flushing are sub-par when it comes to cleanliness (and that's being nice).

    Ever since I was a child, I've been exposed to restaurants that aren't the cleanest, so I'm no snob in that regard.  But it's always nice walking into a rather clean environment.  Gotta give em points for that!  They've also got a flat screen TV in there, and "Impractical Jokers" was playing at the time.  I finally concluded that this restaurant has definitely got a more modern feel than the others of this kind.

    FOOD!

    Pork Soup Dumplings
    They do em well, here.  Dough wasn't too thick and held together really well.  The meat was delicious along with the soup it produced.  I definitely could've done another round of these!

    Three Delight (Chicken, Shrimp & Pork) Pan Fried Noodles
    These were also very yummy, but I think I'm going to opt for the regular noodles on my next visit.  They definitely looked tastier from the pictures; definitely missed out on the the first time!
    Like I said, these were tasty, but a little too soupy for me.

    Service was awesome!  Our waitress greeted and seated us immediately and was very friendly.  The man who also helped us was also very kind.  They were both efficient and there was no language barrier so things ran rather smoothly.

    Can't wait to come back!

  8. This place is family-owned and a great place for both couples and families. The service is superb and the employees are very welcoming.

    We were a party of 8 and they pushed two tables together for us. We ordered all three types of soup dumplings: pork, scallop, and crabmeat and pork. For entrees, we ordered the little bit of everything casserole, Shanghai wine chicken, twice cooked pork, sizzling beef with black pepper sauce, and Shanghai style thick noodles.

    My favorite soup dumplings was the crabmeat and pork. The combination of seafood and meat made for a more flavorful filling. As promised by the name, upon biting into it, soup will ooze out. The scallop ones had a weird texture because of the natural stringiness of the dried scallops. Nonetheless, they were all tasty. The little bit of everything casserole literally had a little bit of everything. The broth was infused with good flavor and my favorite part would have to be the napa cabbage. It was cooked in a way that maintained its natural sweetness. The Shanghai wine chicken was purposely served cold and was a bit bland.

    The twice cooked pork was sautéed with carrots, cabbage, bell peppers, and mushrooms and it was coated with a wonderful sweet and spicy sauce. The sizzling beef with black pepper sauce had good flavoring, but there was an overwhelming amount of red onions in it. We wouldn't have minded if there were more of the other veggies, which included carrots, snow peas, mushrooms, and baby corn. It's never a good sign when the veggies are more abundant than the meat. Last, but not least, the Shanghai style thick noodles were made with preserved vegetables and pork. The seasoning was perfect and the preserved vegetables added just the right amount of salt to the dish. We were even offered free dessert, which was a sweet drink served in a soup bowl.

    Overall, we will be back to try the other menu options!

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Bath Avenue 1869
11214 NY US
Get directions
Monday, 11:30 am - 9:30 pm
Wednesday, 11:30 am - 9:30 pm
Thursday, 11:30 am - 9:30 pm
Friday, 11:30 am - 9:30 pm
Saturday, 11:30 am - 9:30 pm
Sunday, 11:30 am - 9:30 pm