I had dinner with friends. It was a little neat place, well decorated with red lamps, bamboo staff, Chinese paintings, etc. The food was okay to me, who grew up in China. Dishes were well presented to guests and tasted well. However, a few dishes were too sweet, not sure if the restaurant was catering to Americans' love for sweetness. Other than that, it was a well managed restaurant with good service and a good atmosphere. Quite popular for the young.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Hot Stone Braised Rice, Pickled Vegetables, Soup
Leslie Teng
Lively vibes and energetic service. Food is very good — the wine chicken, fried pumpkin with salted egg yolk, and the smoked fish were particularly delicious. Highly recommend.
Update: docking a star because, despite making reservations, I’ve consistently not had a table ready when I arrive. Wait times for a table to be ready are usually 20+ minutes, which defeats the whole point of making a reservation. Food remains good though, but build in buffer time for your meal because chances are you may not be seated at the time of your confirmed reservation.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 3
Amber Han
I have hygiene concerns about this place. Some customer throwed up in the restroom sink and the restaurant didn’t clean it. I raised the concern to management but they didn’t respond to my email. Seems it taking hygiene issue seriously even as a Michelin star restaurant.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Sam1 Sammy
The experience at this location was extremely disappointing in comparison to their Flushing restaurant. - When the reservation was made, we were told we have 2 hours. Upon arrival, they told us we only have 1.5 hours. - We had to wait >15 minutes and remind the staff for half of the food we ordered. - Despite the decor, the dishes were chipped in many places. - The wait staff was inexperienced to say the least. Someone drop and broke dishes 2x within one hour. - There is no place to put your coats and bags. They give you a wicker basket on the floor. - Booth seating is for 6 people but they push the limit by placing a stool at the end of the table to sit 7 people. It was not comfortable because you have to move over each time the food is served. - Soon as we finished the meal (within 1.15 hours), we paid the bill. However, the bus boys immediately charged in and announced they have to clear the table. This is what got us really upset. Rather then wait for us to get up and leave, which we were about to do, they walked over with this huge dish pan. I just said you have to lean over for the food to be served. How do you feel if you've got this huge dish pan in your face.
I never give bad reviews to any restaurants. But since you asked, then here it is. This place wants your money and wants you out ASAP. They can try to play it up as a fancy nice place to eat but between the chipped dishes, staff dropping dishes, forgetting your order, the entire experience is worst than the dim sum meals in Chinatown. Despite the language barrier, the staff in Chinatown treat you with more respect by not shoving a dish pan in your face after your meal.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 1
h hh
This shredded pork with horn pepper is really terrible. It costs more than 20 dollars. It is really the worst review among bad reviews. It is not only unpalatable but also expensive. I thought this one, which costs more than 20 dollars, is better than the 12 or 3 dollars outside. The result is tastier than the one that costs more than a dozen bucks, and the price is twice as expensive.
Food: 1
Stanley Zhang
I’m Shanghainese, food is pretty good? Pretty authentic, nowhere near as good as everyone is raving.
Might be leaning to more pricy and fake fancy vibe soon tho..
Food: 4
Service: 4
Veronica Kutiz
Horrible service.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Nghi Do
Michelin’s guide Shanghainese restaurant.
Food was good and fresh. Atmosphere and decoration were very nice.
Had to wait for an hour outside in the cold since there wasn’t enough space inside for everyone. Recommend to have a reservation before coming in so you don’t have to wait that long.
Overall, will come back.
Tiffany Cheng
The space is beautiful and the service is top notch! The food itself is priced too high. Rice is extra at $2 per bowl. The dishes are priced $5 more than the previous year. Most good dishes are $33 before tax and tips.
We put our names down for this restaurant and waited, standing for a whole 2 hours. Multiple times we were given FALSE information about the estimated wait time and how many people are in front of us. At one point they told us only 1 group was in front of us and another 5 groups sat before us.
It was not just us who had walked into the restaurant who were upset - even people with reservations were forced to wait for their tables at upwards of 15 minutes. Many were frustrated.
I understand that restaurants can get overwhelmed at times, but it’s better for the hostesses to give us real information vs trying to bait us into staying… No food tastes good after being led on for 2 hours
K C
If you like spicy Chinese food, you're going to feel like a kid in a candy store here. Amazing selection of dishes from the traditional to the far out. Spice levels were not weak which I admire. Too often I'm skeptical about these fancy, hyped up Chinese places outside of Chinatowns but this one was really good.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Sanjid
Great food
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
Andi Zhang
I like Zheli very much and have been there many times, but today I ordered sweet and sour pork for the first time and found out that the chef in Zheli seemed to have made this dish into sweet and sour pork with pineapple.
As far as the paste is concerned, the pineapple-sour pork is made from dried starch, while the sweet and sour pork is made from starchy egg paste, so the taste is different first of all. The pineapple sweet and sour pork has the texture of meat directly behind a thin layer of crispy skin, and the sweet and sour pork tenderloin is crispy.
Attached is a comparison of online pictures of Zheli's "Sweet and Sour Pork" and authentic Sweet and Sour Pork, as well as online pictures of Sweet and Sour Pork.
It is suggested that Zheli consider renaming this dish Sweet and Sour Pork to avoid misleading consumers.
I had dinner with friends. It was a little neat place, well decorated with red lamps, bamboo staff, Chinese paintings, etc. The food was okay to me, who grew up in China. Dishes were well presented to guests and tasted well. However, a few dishes were too sweet, not sure if the restaurant was catering to Americans' love for sweetness. Other than that, it was a well managed restaurant with good service and a good atmosphere. Quite popular for the young.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Hot Stone Braised Rice, Pickled Vegetables, Soup
Lively vibes and energetic service. Food is very good — the wine chicken, fried pumpkin with salted egg yolk, and the smoked fish were particularly delicious. Highly recommend.
Update: docking a star because, despite making reservations, I’ve consistently not had a table ready when I arrive. Wait times for a table to be ready are usually 20+ minutes, which defeats the whole point of making a reservation. Food remains good though, but build in buffer time for your meal because chances are you may not be seated at the time of your confirmed reservation.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 3
I have hygiene concerns about this place. Some customer throwed up in the restroom sink and the restaurant didn’t clean it. I raised the concern to management but they didn’t respond to my email. Seems it taking hygiene issue seriously even as a Michelin star restaurant.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
The experience at this location was extremely disappointing in comparison to their Flushing restaurant.
- When the reservation was made, we were told we have 2 hours. Upon arrival, they told us we only have 1.5 hours.
- We had to wait >15 minutes and remind the staff for half of the food we ordered.
- Despite the decor, the dishes were chipped in many places.
- The wait staff was inexperienced to say the least. Someone drop and broke dishes 2x within one hour.
- There is no place to put your coats and bags. They give you a wicker basket on the floor.
- Booth seating is for 6 people but they push the limit by placing a stool at the end of the table to sit 7 people. It was not comfortable because you have to move over each time the food is served.
- Soon as we finished the meal (within 1.15 hours), we paid the bill. However, the bus boys immediately charged in and announced they have to clear the table. This is what got us really upset. Rather then wait for us to get up and leave, which we were about to do, they walked over with this huge dish pan. I just said you have to lean over for the food to be served. How do you feel if you've got this huge dish pan in your face.
I never give bad reviews to any restaurants. But since you asked, then here it is. This place wants your money and wants you out ASAP. They can try to play it up as a fancy nice place to eat but between the chipped dishes, staff dropping dishes, forgetting your order, the entire experience is worst than the dim sum meals in Chinatown. Despite the language barrier, the staff in Chinatown treat you with more respect by not shoving a dish pan in your face after your meal.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 1
This shredded pork with horn pepper is really terrible. It costs more than 20 dollars. It is really the worst review among bad reviews. It is not only unpalatable but also expensive. I thought this one, which costs more than 20 dollars, is better than the 12 or 3 dollars outside. The result is tastier than the one that costs more than a dozen bucks, and the price is twice as expensive.
Food: 1
I’m Shanghainese, food is pretty good? Pretty authentic, nowhere near as good as everyone is raving.
Might be leaning to more pricy and fake fancy vibe soon tho..
Food: 4
Service: 4
Horrible service.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Michelin’s guide Shanghainese restaurant.
Food was good and fresh. Atmosphere and decoration were very nice.
Had to wait for an hour outside in the cold since there wasn’t enough space inside for everyone. Recommend to have a reservation before coming in so you don’t have to wait that long.
Overall, will come back.
The space is beautiful and the service is top notch! The food itself is priced too high. Rice is extra at $2 per bowl. The dishes are priced $5 more than the previous year. Most good dishes are $33 before tax and tips.
Authentic food and nice ambiente.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
Restaurantji Recommends
We put our names down for this restaurant and waited, standing for a whole 2 hours. Multiple times we were given FALSE information about the estimated wait time and how many people are in front of us. At one point they told us only 1 group was in front of us and another 5 groups sat before us.
It was not just us who had walked into the restaurant who were upset - even people with reservations were forced to wait for their tables at upwards of 15 minutes. Many were frustrated.
I understand that restaurants can get overwhelmed at times, but it’s better for the hostesses to give us real information vs trying to bait us into staying… No food tastes good after being led on for 2 hours
If you like spicy Chinese food, you're going to feel like a kid in a candy store here. Amazing selection of dishes from the traditional to the far out. Spice levels were not weak which I admire. Too often I'm skeptical about these fancy, hyped up Chinese places outside of Chinatowns but this one was really good.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Great food
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
I like Zheli very much and have been there many times, but today I ordered sweet and sour pork for the first time and found out that the chef in Zheli seemed to have made this dish into sweet and sour pork with pineapple.
As far as the paste is concerned, the pineapple-sour pork is made from dried starch, while the sweet and sour pork is made from starchy egg paste, so the taste is different first of all. The pineapple sweet and sour pork has the texture of meat directly behind a thin layer of crispy skin, and the sweet and sour pork tenderloin is crispy.
Attached is a comparison of online pictures of Zheli's "Sweet and Sour Pork" and authentic Sweet and Sour Pork, as well as online pictures of Sweet and Sour Pork.
It is suggested that Zheli consider renaming this dish Sweet and Sour Pork to avoid misleading consumers.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Everything was good
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 4
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