We had a great late lunch here on a Saturday afternoon. We dined at an off time— so we had the dining room to ourselves. Service was awesome and the food was delicious!! More people need to visit this restaurant!!
Robert Tomczak
This restaurant needs to (and will) and in my opinion needs to go out of business. I’ve never been in such a huge restaurant and been the only one in it. Clearly, every one in all of NYC already had figured out this place was a complete joke and rip off. After ordering two main dishes (beef and chicken entrees) the food came out exactly 4 minutes after we ordered it. There was simply no way this could have been prepared to order. Food was tasteless and most of the chicken dish was peanuts. The entrees were $46 and $52 extremely expensive too. We seriously considered leaving immediately but I regretfully chose to stay to avoid wasting $150. I should have left and cut my losses. Do not under any circumstances eat at this restaurant.
Bernie
The foods are not the same we had 6 years ago, it's American style Chinese food, not traditional food we had before. The price is ridiculous high. We will not come back again.
Ellen
Lunchtime special at Shun Lee was prepared well. Attentive service. Good value with generous size portions. Room was quiet because it was a weekend at noon.
Kathryn
We had 7 people on a Sunday night and we were able to get a reservation at the last minute. I had to change the time and the restaurant accommodated us. It's quiet so we were able to speak yo eachother. There are a lot of great choices both spicy and not spicy. The food is excellent. We particularly loved the chicken with three nuts.
Mary Ellen
This is our go-to Chinese restaurant for upscale fare. Food and service are consistently good. We had the spare ribs that are cooked perfectly - not nearly burnt as with most Chinese restaurants - and the pork dumplings for appetizers. Then we each ordered different entrees, all excellent. They are a bit more expensive, but the food is worth it. I think the cocktails are really overpriced at $24 for a mixed drink. Even for NYC that's high.
Samuel
The food was good, but no better than any good Chinese restaurant. The prices were 2x what you would pay at a good Chinese restaurant.
Cynthia Van Hise
Excellent food but way over- priced for what you get.
Kate
Wonderful food, but deserted. Where is everyone? Strange to have the restaurant to ourselves. And not in a great way. A block away from Lincoln Center on a day when there were so many performances and we were the only people to want Kung po chicken pre-Giselle?
cari Zheng
Extremely disappointing experience. We ordered the steamed Chilean sea bass with ginger and scallions ($65) expecting something fresh and delicate. What we got was bland, fishy, and clearly not fresh — definitely not worth anywhere near the price.
Tried the $37 lunch special too, and honestly, the quality was worse than a $10 neighborhood Chinese takeout. The flavors were dull, the vegetables and meat were not fresh, and everything felt phoned in.
To top it off, the bathroom was disgusting — not something you’d expect from a supposedly upscale restaurant in this part of Manhattan.
Shun Lee West might have history, but based on our visit, it’s living off its name and not delivering on quality. Over priced. Not coming back.
Shun Lee was a staple of high quality cuisine and a perfect location for getting a delicious meal prior to a performance at Lincoln Center or a business lunch to close the deal. The quality and experience continues to set the bar high compared to any other Chinese restaurant, BUT you are going to pay big time now. The prices are insanely high and the meals don't match the price anymore. It's sad to see this and sadly, I will no longer recommend visiting Shun Lee until the readjust this bad decision of overpricing meals. $16 for 6 overcooked and super small and thin ribs is a far error compared to when they used to serve more filling portion sizes.
Jodi
We had the restaurant to ourselves at 5:30 on a Monday night. It was great. Awesome martini, great pan fries dumplings, fried rice and we had the beef with bok choy. All Delicious.
David Friedman
I have been a regular at this restaurant for an excess of 35+ years, and it has always been great, due to quality of food, good service, and outstanding location. Due to this, we know the menu very well, and never need an actual menu to order the dishes we are so used to ordering. The quality of the food has always been consistently good, forever. Tonight we had a table of 5, ordered our regular dishes, and the food was disastrous. I (for the 1st time ever), complained to the manager, mentioning that two orders of shredded beef was just batter, and seemed that there was no beef within in the dishes. He didn't seem to be concerned, still charged us for the two partially uneaten dishes, for which I paid, without a complaint, but I will not speak highly as I used to do about this restaurant, and will deffinately not return. A massive disappointment regarding the food and management, a big downgrade, and probably the reason why the restaurant was extremely empty at 7.15pm on a clear weathered Friday night. What a pity this is, especially for us being such long time regulars. But no loss, as there are many other exceptional restaurants in the close vicinity of Lincoln Center, where we are seasoned regulars.
cecilia
Food quality went downhill! There gnats biting under the table, we used to love this restaurant and eat here very often for many years, but NO MORE. Crispy beef is crispy batter, no beef!
gene
Shun Lee West has been around for decades. This used to be one of my favorite restaurants growing up in Manhattan and one of the best Chinese restaurants in NYC. Expensive but excellent food. Last night's dinner was truly poor. Not just poor in comparison with how it was in the past, but poor in comparison with any random Chinese restaurant in the city. When I spoke to the manager about this, he said that the regular chef wasn't in that day. That's not an acceptable excuse . The restaurant is still beautiful and I truly hope they find a new chef and it gets back to what it once was.
We had a great late lunch here on a Saturday afternoon. We dined at an off time— so we had the dining room to ourselves. Service was awesome and the food was delicious!! More people need to visit this restaurant!!
This restaurant needs to (and will) and in my opinion needs to go out of business.
I’ve never been in such a huge restaurant and been the only one in it. Clearly, every one in all of NYC already had figured out this place was a complete joke and rip off. After ordering two main dishes (beef and chicken entrees) the food came out exactly 4 minutes after we ordered it. There was simply no way this could have been prepared to order. Food was tasteless and most of the chicken dish was peanuts. The entrees were $46 and $52 extremely expensive too. We seriously considered leaving immediately but I regretfully chose to stay to avoid wasting $150. I should have left and cut my losses.
Do not under any circumstances eat at this restaurant.
The foods are not the same we had 6 years ago, it's American style Chinese food, not traditional food we had before. The price is ridiculous high. We will not come back again.
Lunchtime special at Shun Lee was prepared well. Attentive service. Good value with generous size portions. Room was quiet because it was a weekend at noon.
We had 7 people on a Sunday night and we were able to get a reservation at the last minute. I had to change the time and the restaurant accommodated us. It's quiet so we were able to speak yo eachother. There are a lot of great choices both spicy and not spicy. The food is excellent. We particularly loved the chicken with three nuts.
This is our go-to Chinese restaurant for upscale fare. Food and service are consistently good. We had the spare ribs that are cooked perfectly - not nearly burnt as with most Chinese restaurants - and the pork dumplings for appetizers. Then we each ordered different entrees, all excellent. They are a bit more expensive, but the food is worth it. I think the cocktails are really overpriced at $24 for a mixed drink. Even for NYC that's high.
The food was good, but no better than any good Chinese restaurant. The prices were 2x what you would pay at a good Chinese restaurant.
Excellent food but way over- priced for what you get.
Wonderful food, but deserted. Where is everyone? Strange to have the restaurant to ourselves. And not in a great way. A block away from Lincoln Center on a day when there were so many performances and we were the only people to want Kung po chicken pre-Giselle?
Extremely disappointing experience. We ordered the steamed Chilean sea bass with ginger and scallions ($65) expecting something fresh and delicate. What we got was bland, fishy, and clearly not fresh — definitely not worth anywhere near the price.
Tried the $37 lunch special too, and honestly, the quality was worse than a $10 neighborhood Chinese takeout. The flavors were dull, the vegetables and meat were not fresh, and everything felt phoned in.
To top it off, the bathroom was disgusting — not something you’d expect from a supposedly upscale restaurant in this part of Manhattan.
Shun Lee West might have history, but based on our visit, it’s living off its name and not delivering on quality. Over priced. Not coming back.
Restaurantji Recommends
Shun Lee was a staple of high quality cuisine and a perfect location for getting a delicious meal prior to a performance at Lincoln Center or a business lunch to close the deal. The quality and experience continues to set the bar high compared to any other Chinese restaurant, BUT you are going to pay big time now. The prices are insanely high and the meals don't match the price anymore. It's sad to see this and sadly, I will no longer recommend visiting Shun Lee until the readjust this bad decision of overpricing meals. $16 for 6 overcooked and super small and thin ribs is a far error compared to when they used to serve more filling portion sizes.
We had the restaurant to ourselves at 5:30 on a Monday night. It was great. Awesome martini, great pan fries dumplings, fried rice and we had the beef with bok choy. All Delicious.
I have been a regular at this restaurant for an excess of 35+ years, and it has always been great, due to quality of food, good service, and outstanding location. Due to this, we know the menu very well, and never need an actual menu to order the dishes we are so used to ordering. The quality of the food has always been consistently good, forever. Tonight we had a table of 5, ordered our regular dishes, and the food was disastrous.
I (for the 1st time ever), complained to the manager, mentioning that two orders of shredded beef was just batter, and seemed that there was no beef within in the dishes. He didn't seem to be concerned, still charged us for the two partially uneaten dishes, for which I paid, without a complaint, but I will not speak highly as I used to do about this restaurant, and will deffinately not return. A massive disappointment regarding the food and management, a big downgrade, and probably the reason why the restaurant was extremely empty at 7.15pm on a clear weathered Friday night. What a pity this is, especially for us being such long time regulars. But no loss, as there are many other exceptional restaurants in the close vicinity of Lincoln Center, where we are seasoned regulars.
Food quality went downhill! There gnats biting under the table, we used to love this restaurant and eat here very often for many years, but NO MORE. Crispy beef is crispy batter, no beef!
Shun Lee West has been around for decades. This used to be one of my favorite restaurants growing up in Manhattan and one of the best Chinese restaurants in NYC. Expensive but excellent food. Last night's dinner was truly poor. Not just poor in comparison with how it was in the past, but poor in comparison with any random Chinese restaurant in the city. When I spoke to the manager about this, he said that the regular chef wasn't in that day. That's not an acceptable excuse . The restaurant is still beautiful and I truly hope they find a new chef and it gets back to what it once was.
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