Not much to look at from the outside. The inside is a bit better but with still a-hole-in-the- wall, type of appeal. Not much else interesting in this area. It's quite a walk from the main restaurant drag of 86th st. Of course you come here to try out their soup dumplings! Tried the crab and pork version. A tasty and good amount of soup fill these pockets of deliciousness. They are a nice size. Skin is thin with the right amount of firmness. These are pretty good. Also tried one of their casserole dishes which are huge! It's served in a giant round ceramic casserole pot. Comes to the table piping hot. It's big enough to feed several people. It's very healthy and light, since all the ingredients are cooked in a plain light broth. We got a bit of everything version which a lot of different ingredients, vermicelli, cabbage, mushroom, chicken, pork, crab stick, baby shrimps, and bamboo shoots. Service is friendly, quick, and efficient. Upon arrival, you get a ceramic pot of tea to share amongst you and your companions. Lots of customers in here. Restaurant was filled.

Great local spot for Shanghai food with fast service and attentive staff. The noodle soups were good and had a decent selection to choose from. The soup dumplings could have been better but it definitely satisfied the craving. The crabmeat and tofu was nice and hearty and paired well with the fried rice. The place is a little smaller than other spots but it's still a good casual spot to go for a decent and quick meal.

I always order their scallop and pork soup dumplings whenever I visit. The fish head soup is another one of my favorites, but you will need to come with at least 4-6 guests to finish the soup. The food is made fresh to order and service is quick. A few other dishes I recommend are the wonton in peanut sauce, salt and pepper prawns, and stir fried rice cake.

My cousins and I stopped by for dinner around 7:30pm. We were told there would be about a 15 minute wait for a table of 3. Inside the restaurant, there were only 7 tables, 6 of them were for groups of 4 and one was a large round table in the back. There were some seats to wait outside, or you can stand in the street to wait. Due to the size of the restaurant, they only allow reservations for 7 people and up. As you wait for you food, they bring out hot tea for the table. You can order other drinks like boxed tea/juices, soy milk, or soda for an additional charge if you desire. We ordered for our group of 3: - 1 pint size (small bowl) of hot and sour soup ($2.95) - jellyfish ($9.95) - fried wontons in peanut & hot sauce ($10.95) - eggplant with garlic sauce ($12.95) - crab and pork soup dumplings ($10.95) - 1 bowl of rice ($2) The hot and sour soup was very flavorful. It was definitely sour and boiling hot, but not spicy as you would think. It was very on par with what you would think as hot and sour soup. The jellyfish was interesting. I was used to seeing jellyfish that was more yellow and a bit softer. This jellyfish as best as I can describe it, was a bit, crunchy. Not in a bad way, but just different than what I am used to and lacked flavor. My cousins seemed to enjoy it though so it is definitely due to taste preference. The fried wontons were DELICIOUS! If anything, get this for sure! It was so yummy, the wontons had pork in it and it was juice on the inside, but crispy on the outside. The peanut sauce had a sugar coating on it that made it very unique. The hot sauce wasn't very hot, it was more so like a chili sweet sauce. The plate consisted about 8 wontons approximately. The eggplant with garlic sauce reminded me of my childhood. The flavors were on point and the wood ear was a pleasant surprise. You definitely need a bowl of rice to eat it with because it was sauce and a little salty without it. As for the crab and pork dumplings, it was good. The xiao long bao order had 8 large soup dumplings. They give you a pair of tongs to grab them. You can taste the pork and the crab meat and it was very juicy. The skin of the dumpling was thin, but not so much that it broke apart when picking it up. FYI, the bowl of rice was fairly large that you can definitely share without another person. Great little hole in the wall dumpling place that accepts card without a service charge, though cash is always preferred. The service was friendly and quick. There is a good amount of street parking that didn't seem too hard to find for us, though we had a lot of parking luck that day. Overall, come check them out if you're in the neighborhood! Delicious food with very affordable prices!

They have a great selection of food here with the soup dumplings being a must get item. However, it's not my favorite soup dumpling since the skin is a bit too soft and not chewy enough for my taste. I think shrimp and pork is still my favorite soup dumpling filling. The menu is nicely organized with photos and many options to pick from. The food is pretty simple and tasty but nothing to be blown away by. If you're looking for a good authentic Chinese meal with many option this is the place to go! I was not a fan of the salt and pepper squid - the batter was not crispy at all and tasted more like a spongy batter. (Like what you'd expect for a nian gao batter). This parking situation around the area is a bit difficult - we had to circle around the neighborhood for 10 minutes to finally find a spot on a weekend.

My favorite Shanghainese place in Brooklyn! Amazing food and service. There is only a handful of tables so expect a bit of wait during dinner time especially for large parties. My go to orders always include pork soup dumplings (what they're known for), vegetarian mock duck and fried wontons (be aware that this contains crushed peanuts on top and sits in a peanut sauce). The soup dumplings are hand made and I really love the dumpling skin, it's a little thicker than other places, but I prefer that chewy texture. The vegetarian mock duck is a tofu skin wrapped with mushrooms and my tip is to ask for chili oil to go with it. Also tried several of their noodle dishes such as the three delight chow fun, preserved vegetable and pork rice cake and Shanghai rice cake. All good options to try if you've never had it before. My most recent visit, I tried smoked duck which tasted great but the skin was on the saltier side for my liking. It pairs perfectly if you combine it with a rice or noodle dish.

I think this is one of the best Shanghai places I've been to in NYC. I have to admit the service was exceptional. We came on a cold Saturday afternoon for lunch and our friends were running late so we didn't want to take up a table so we sat outside on some stools. The owner came out and insisted that we sit inside at a table and wait which was nice of him! Friends ended up taking additional 15-20 minutes so we felt bad and ordered some appetizers, but the owner said we didn't have to. Everything we ordered was very good! For the four of us we got: - hot and sour soup - spring rolls - pork soup dumplings - pork and scallop soup dumplings - Shanghai fried rice - Peking style pork chops The soup dumplings were well filled and the pork and scallop had a full piece of scallop which was great. They definitely didn't skimp on the filling. The fried rice was perfectly seasoned and the Peking style pork chops were delicious with a good amount of veggies and a sauce that wasn't super sweet. I would 100% come back here again based on the service alone. Street parking is also relatively easy in the area. They started getting busy towards the middle/end of our meal around 1:30-2 but the wait wasn't terrible (people were quoted about 5-10 minutes).

Once I heard that Liu's Shanghai is almost a Brooklyn institution, I had to check it out for all of its worth. The restaurant inside is very nondescript. Roughly a 10 minute walk from the D train on 20th Avenue, it only has about 20 tables but certainly feels smaller as large parties come here to partake in lunch. Thankfully, this is where I save this review from falling into the pratfalls other Chinese restaurants I have been to here in the city fall into. I was immediately greeted by the owner who was a really great guy, dad body and all. He immediately gave me a table, tea, and menu, offering his genuine suggestions of what to order. Pork soup dumplings and a stir fried noodle dish with a little bit of everything is what I got. The food came out in I kid you not, three minutes. All of it was hot, fresh, delicious, and generous. I honestly could not finish all the soup dumplings as they came in eight and are of nice size! When I asked his staff for a fork to help finish the rest of my meal, this is where I felt the good vibe would end. Instead, I got one with no judgement and rather a compliment that I was able to finish my dish with not one morsel of meat or scrape of noodle on my plate. My leftover soup dumplings were packaged up nearly so I can have them for later. They also take credit cards which I really appreciate. As this is more than likely my last review for 2023, I can say that at least it ended on a positive note here at Liu's.

Delicious food as always. My family and I love coming to this family run business. It is small inside but everyone is so nice. We loveeeee the soup dumplings - they are the best we have ever had. don't skip on the hot and sour soup. The braised ribs with bak choy dish is delicious. Honestly you can't go wrong with any of the food here and by now we have tried so many dishes.

The soup dumplings at Liu's Shanghai are excellent. Hands down the best I've had in Brooklyn, and probably even in NYC, especially now that my other fave (Shanghai Asian Cuisine in Chinatown) is closed. We always get the crab meat and pork soup dumplings--the broth is really concentrated and delicious. On my most recent visit, I also tried the scallop and pork soup dumplings, which were also really tasty, with the added bonus of having whole pieces of scallop in each dumpling! If you want other dishes to supplement your soup dumplings with (not totally sure that's necessary but you do you), you can't go wrong with the chicken or Shanghai-style (pork) rice cakes or crispy chow mein. The jellyfish and the hot and sour soup (I'd stick with the original, you can barely taste the crab in the crab meat option) are solid choices. The fried wontons in peanut and hot sauce were an interesting item I hadn't seen on Chinese menus before, but they were surprisingly quite tasty, though I could've done without the sugar on top. It's a casual spot, and the service is also very friendly. One note: it's a pretty small restaurant and can get packed. There's only one big table, so if you have a party size larger than four people, I'd recommend calling ahead and making a reservation.