Shanghai Asian Cuisine

At work, we call this the "Awesome Soup Place." Mainly because, as the name suggests, the soup is Awesome. Said soup is Wonton Noodle Soup, with hand-prepared wontons that instead of being too thick and filled with some weird gray meat, are made more like dumplings with fresh, homemade dough and delicious pork and chives. Also in the soup has noodles and the broth has scallions and bok choy. It also comes with a side of fresh chilis. All this for only $4.75.

Most of the people who work there don't speak English very well, so be prepared to point. And also, they really, really, really want you to sit down, eat, and then leave. But take your time and wave them off and it will be fine.

The time I went there with Laurel I tried their dumplings. They were exactly right. They were basically the wontons deep fried, which is fantastic. The other day I decided to step outside of the box and order something different. However, I wasn't in to the Sesame Chicken. The rice was delicious and there was fresh broccoli. However, the chicken was tough, and the sauce wasn't sweet enough. However, it was definitely some of the more authentic Chinese I've ever had, so maybe I'm just too Americanized.

Seriously, go by the Awesome Soup Place. The woman who owns it is adorable and always there, and the people around you will probably be eating crab, lobster, and about 100 billion other things that I'm not sure are on the menu. Or there will be middle-aged white women talking about how good CSI is. -Jennifer

P.S. - The first one to spot "The That's What She Said" in this review, I'll buy you the soup.

Jennifer has a lot of experience with this place, but I'll give my two cents. We went here one night after work for some din, and were greeted fairly enthusiastically by the staff. The space has about 8 tables or so, and two of them were taken. We were asked if we were ready to order about 3 times, and one of the times the lady taking our order tried reeeeally hard to get us to order lobster. We must look like we're made of money. Instead, I ordered the wonton soup with noodles ($4.50). I'm worth about $6.00 including tax and tip, as she found out.

The soup came out after a few minutes and was very hot. It was a big bowl--I ended up taking half of it for lunch the next day--and had ramen-like noodles, bok choy and wontons floating in the broth. The wontons were really more like little dumplings with tasty filling, nothing like the cheap Chinese take-out place on the corner's wonton soup, which contains tough noodles, mystery meat and not much else. I could have eaten a whole bowl full of these little dumplings, and the broth was pretty good too. I love bok choy, so that was a welcome addition, although I have to say I'm not sure the noodles were necessary. I'll take them, though!

Since all I've had is the wonton soup, I'd definitely recommend it. It's tasty and the price is right. -Laurel

P.S. I spotted THREE that's what she said's in Jennifer's review.. what does that say about me?

Address: 14A Elizabeth Street (btwn Canal and Bayard)

Website: No website...it's not listed anywhere

Payment: Cash Only

Delivery: Yes

Open Late: Somewhat

Bar/Happy Hour: A few beer selections