Yoz Shanghai
“The xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) here taste just as good as nanxiang's, and it's so cheap (8 for $4).”
“Located in the ground floor of golden shopping mall (I remember when I used to take ballet and piano lessons in this mall!)”
“The regular dumpling dishes are topped with various sauces like chili oil, sesame oil, and etc. They're good!”
Yoz Shanghai
Take-out: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Most certainly, DO NOT BRING A DATE HERE. I do not understand how all these Yelpers are impressed by this ugliest food stall ever. Sorry, nothing personal.
We wanted to try some Xiao Long Bao's yesterday since we saw Yoz Shanghai come up on Yelp, we decided that's where we'll try. I felt like we ventured into a dangerous part of Flushing yesterday. First we wandered into the wrong part of the Golden Shopping Mall. We went downstairs, to me it looked like a gambling den of some sort. I felt like I was in the wrong place and it felt dangerous. Not cool. I checked the Yelp listing again and someone left a tip saying it is on the ground floor. Thank God. I was afraid to be shot down there in a hidden gambling den.
We finally found Yoz a couple of doors over, on the ground floor, in a stall, inside to the right, I didn't feel like it was that much better but at least it was near the entrance so if trouble comes, we have a quick exit. It comforted me a bit to see the daylight come in from outside, just a bit though. There are 12 seats between 4 tables inside this stall. You might have to share tables, no matter how small the table is. There is nothing quite like sitting on a stool to eat your dinner. It felt like a food stall in a Third World country. If you have handbags, etc there will not be hooks for you. You are going to have to carry your bag while eating your food. There is no such thing as comfort at Yoz.
If you need napkins, there is none. If you want to eat your Xiao Long Bao with a Chinese soup spoon, you better bring your own Chinese soup spoon. They will not give you a full sized foam plate unless you specifically ask for a plate. My bf had to ask two times before she gave up two plates to us. OMG. Let's just say she didn't want to give us the plates. We forced her hand at it. Sheesh. We spent more money than anyone at that place and she still didn't want to give up two plates. What are we supposed to eat off of? Forget it, probably if I argued with her, someone is going to follow me home and shoot me. My life is worth more than a foam plate.
We ordered
-2 steam baskets of pork Xiao Long Baos (soup dumplings)-$8, it's $4 each. They accidently got some flour on the Xiao Long Baos post cooking it.
-Large order of boiled pork dumpling $4.50 for 17 pieces. They were gummy because the skin is too thick.
-1 order of Pan Fried pork dumplings with leeks 12 for $4- open-ended style. It was too heavy on the leeks for me.
Did the stall feel clean…not especially. Was there decor, I would not say there is any. Ambience felt Third World and dangerous. Service, bare minimum. There was no bathroom, you can forget washing your hands. Would I come back….I don't know….I probably rather not. When I go to a Shanghainese restaurant. I need napkins, plates, tea cups, tea, proper utensils. I need not to beg for these items. I have to think about if this is all worth saving a little bit of money. I feel like I am putting my life at risk for more reasons than one when I eat here.
I discovered YOZ Shanghai after it was featured in an ROTD and hurried there to check it out! The "restaurant" is a bit hard to find, but just find the address and walk inside. You'll find the stall on the right hand side with about 10 seats!
It seems like most people rave about their Soup Dumplings, but for some reason… I didn't end up ordering them. I don't know why.
The Duck Noodle Soup ($6) came with clear noodles in a light broth with several pieces of duck, fried tofu puffs, chicken liver, and pig's blood. It was filling, but the flavors were very mild… almost flavorless. I'm not sure I would order this again; I did love that it came with sweet potato starch noodles instead of rice noodles though!
The Pork & Cabbage Dumplings (12 for $3.50) were huge! This was a giant portion for the price. However, the filling was a bit sour? It could have been from the cabbage, but again I'm not sure I would order this again.
I still want to try their soup dumplings, but after this experience, I'm no longer in a rush to hurry back.
The XLB rival those of Nanxiang. These are cheaper and there is no line. The broth is a bit saltier but the skin is perfection. It's just thick enough to hold the meat and broth. The meat seems to be looser and not as gingery as well. It's one of my favs. There are two places where you can these; you can find them at the New World Food Court or you can find them at the "mall" behind the tian Jiang bun place.
I want to give this place 4.5 stars. Minus .5 star just because of the amount of MSG is in their food. But the full 4.5 stars for the food and the price.
I found this place thanks to all the diligent and wonderful Yelper reviews. I was looking for good xiaolongbaos. See, I have a love/hate relationship with NanXiang because of their awful, awful "I really don't care if you never come back again" service and the XLBs at Joe's Shanghai has downgraded immensely since its heyday at least 10 years ago. The many small delusional shops that seem to think any kind of small little bun steamed can be called a XLB are sadly mistaken. There is an art to the XLB, whether its the skin or the meat or the soup that inevitably burns the first layer of your tongue away.
Yoz does it right. They even have an A rating, which kind of boggles my mind due to its unsanitary looking surroundings. If you glance the other way, the shop across the hall side sells steamed buns… and they're chilling on uncovered stainless steel commercial kitchen racks, out in the open. I shudder to think about what types of rodents and insects have crawled all over those buns. Which is also probably why a previous reviewer gave it such a low rating. But hey, this is Flushing… this is Golden Shopping Mall. What did you expect, Mr. Chow's five star, celebrity studded dining establishment?
But I digress.
Yoz is a super small stall with 4 equally small tables that can seat a cozy 12 and you have to share tables. They only have chopsticks and spoons so if you only use forks (like my son) you are SOL. So mental note, bring your own forks. You order at the counter with the girl, who always looks bored or angry or both. She repeats your order to the kitchen and then proceeds to ask you to pay upfront.
There are pictures and menus in both Chinese and English adorning the walls, so if you want, you can totally point and order.
I have been here twice, and both times we ordered the crab XLB and the duck vermicelli. I have also ordered a side of chilli oil wontons, which I wasn't a huge fan of because the wontons had too much veggie and too little meat, but that's my own personal taste preference.
We have also ordered the duck vermicelli and potstickers to go, which both keep quite well on our 40 minute journey back to Long Island.
The duck vermicelli soup is made with duck bones, and cooked until it is a milky white. Unfortunately, they add MSG to this soup to give it flavor, so although I love the flavors, I will not eat it too often. There is duck blood and duck meat and oily tofu pieces, as well as bok choy. The green bean vermicelli they use is round and thick and doesn't get all soggy and gross when it sits in the soup for too long. Even my 4 year old loves the vermicelli.
The XLBs come in 8s and if I remember correctly cost around $6. They have soup and they are HOT. I still have a burnt tongue
However, their meat and crab ratio is perfect, the skin is perfect and the soup does not leave a super oily film in your mouth, which I feel Joe Shanghai's XLBs tend to do. I have not tried the regular XLBs, as I love crab ones, but maybe I will in a future trip.
They have a rather limited menu, which tells me that they stick to what they do well. Both times that I've eaten here the patrons come in a constant stream, all ordering potstickers, XLBs and duck vermicelli.
I can't wait to come back and try their dumplings. They have quite a variety.
I'm emerging from relative Yelp hibernation to review this spot. Qian W and I came here to have a carb party after our original carb party destination was unexpectedly closed.
– Xiao long bao (小籠包) – These were fantastic! Not as salty as I'm used to, but the amount of soup inside each dumpling didn't hit either ridiculous extreme, and the fall-apart pork filling was more tender than nearly any XLB filling I've had. Best of all, the skin was insanely thin and delicate (but still pliable, such that someone with any level of control won't have an issue with puncturing). A basket of 8 runs $4, which is nearly half the price of Nan Xiang's (yelp.com/biz/nan-xiang-d…) admittedly fantastic version. Some of the photos on Yelp don't look as wonderful as the XLB that were set on our table, but Nan Xiang is plagued with inconsistency as well, so I'm going to keep coming back here.
– Red oil wontons (紅油炒手) – Nice and clean-tasting with chili oil, sesame paste, scallion, and baby bok choy on top. But the amount of chili oil is minimal (I want these to be drowning!), and they weren't spicy at all. The chili oil on the table isn't spicy either, so despite my doctoring, these were normal wontons in a slightly altered format. Still fat and tender though. A plate of 12 was only $4.
– Pork & leek boiled dumplings (韭菜饺子) – So plump and fresh, with leek that actually tasted like leek. These were as good as the dumplings that practically floated to me once at Tianjin Dumpling House (yelp.com/biz/tianjin-dum…, steps away). 12 for $3.50, uh-huh.
– Black sesame tang yuan (艺麻湯圓) – Simultaneously super tender and super chewy. I usually prefer tang yuan more sweet, but these were just as fresh and delicious as everything else we got.
They're a tiny, ugly stall on the neglected ground floor of Golden Mall (as opposed to the flagrant cultural tourism hotspot that is the basement level). It's right by the xian bing spot (yelp.com/biz/tianjin-xia…) so you can get some grease in. There are only around 12 seats across 4 tables, so you'll have to hover, shaking with anger and low blood sugar, while locals finish their wonton soups and proceed to order more food before slowly tilting out of their seats.
My blood glucose was happily elevated afterward, though. Yoz Shanghai indeed provided a cheap and surprisingly well-executed carb party.
1st: do not enter from the side entrance on 41st Road or you will end up in a third world country open market (in a basement).
After getting lost on the lower level and looking confused like a tourist we checked Yelp and discovered that there is a street level to this chaoic scene.
I will have nightmare about this!
We found Yoz Shanghai but surprise, we only upgraded half a level better to 2 1/2 world country open market. The place is a hole-in-the-wa!!
There are only two tables with 4 seats and two tables with 2 seats.
People have to share and there is a waiting line.
So here is what you do:
Order, site down if you have a seat, eat and clean up after yourself. BTW-There are no napkins.
When we asked, they gave us some from a box of facial tissues.
The tables are not wiped so watch where is are putting your elbows.
What we ordered:
2 racks of pork soup dumpling $4 each- they are fresh and good. Rate 4/5
Large plate of17 pork dumpling $4.50- Rate 4/5
Fried dumpling $4- these are the open-end style and heavy on the chives. Rate 3/5
Over all-
Price: 5/5 very cheap
Food: 4/5
Service: 3/5
Location: 2/5
Cleanness: 2/5
Decor: 1/5
Restroom: 0/5 (go to the public library across the street)
Tip: Come for the food but nothing else.
Disclaimer: Do not expect 5 star service. Do not expect cleanliness. Do not expect fancy decor. Be prepared to stalk for a table if you want to dine in.
At the suggestion of my friend, three of us popped into Golden Shopping Mall to check out this hole-in-the-wall. Yoz is the epitome of no frills dining. There are two four-top tables and two two-top tables. Don't come here with a big group. Don't come here if you're uncomfortable with sharing a table with other people. English is mostly limited with the staff, so either bring a friend who knows Chinese, speak Chinese yourself or point at the menu.
For $24, three of us split 2 racks of their soup dumplings, 2 orders of fried dumplings and 1 duck noodle and we were STUFFED. They know what their strengths are. I preferred the fried dumplings over the soup dumplings, but the XLBs (xiao long bao) are amazing. The meat portion to soup to skin thickness is perfect.
They don't have a restroom or real napkins (only facial tissues). For sauces & spices, they have Sriracha, vinegar, soy sauce, chili oil, white pepper and salt.
I would definitely go again, but probably take out and eat elsewhere since the space is so cramped.
Really, really good xiao long bao for a ridiculously cheap price!
Came here last night when exploring Golden Shopping Mall and came away stuffed. This place is located on the above ground level of the mall away from most of the other places. The pictures I saw on yelp helped me find the location with their characteristic three lanterns behind their checkout counter. You order at the counter (cash only) and the food is brought out to you at your table. I got the xiao long bao (8 for $4) and the fried dumplings (12 for $4). The fried dumplings were OK – I really liked the crispy bottoms, but all of them were kind of stuck together. My favorite was the xiao long bao (soup dumplings). They were very juicy, flavorful, and an incredible bargain! Also saw other people getting the duck noodle soup which looked delicious, but unfortunately my stomach wasn't big enough to give it a try…guess there's next time!
If you happen to be around Golden Shopping Mall, definitely give this place a try!