Shanghai Bun

The food was good but the service was atrocious! My friend and I ordered a number of small dishes (the soup dumlings were excellent, but the scallion pancakes were rather oily and dry). We then ordered a soup and told them we would share. They brought the soup and two small cuos that we could use to share. I asked for another empty bowl. The rather sour waitress simply refused!!! «We only give these small bowls if people want to share». I couldn’t figure out what was the problem with just giving custoers an empty bowl! When I paid, I told this to the manager. She saw no problem with refusing to give customers an empty bowl! When will these restaurants learn???

Solid authentic Chinese food in the Princeton area.
The xiao long bao are decent. Their construction isn’t that great — skin is sometimes falling apart and mushy, but the flavors are on point. Doesn’t compare to the xiao long baos in New York, but it satisfies my xiao long bao cravings.
I also recommend the nian gao (rice cakes), intestine rice noodle soup, and garlic pea sprouts. I don’t recommend the spicy mixed beef intestine noodle soup, mapo tofu (too much corn starch), and pan fried pork buns (not authentic). Service is pretty good and prices are reasonable. Definitely one of the better Chinese restaurants in the area.

Do I have to give a star? How can I give a 0 star?
New owner or what?
The worst service ever I had.
I went Monday lunch time and there were just a few costumers in the restaurant. The waitress took my plate before i finished. No crowded at all. It was very bad experience to me. I lose my appetite.
The waitress are very rude and impolite.
I think they don’t know what is costumer service.
I will never go to this restaurant again.

Good and fresh Chinese food. Best one I have had in central jersey. The food seems freshly made, ingredients feel healthy. Dumplings are the best! Not too pricey as well. Definitely worth going if you in this area.

We always over-​order here, but how can you not?! Favorites: beef tendon, all their dumplings (soup dumplings were a stand out), wontons, beef buns, sesame beef patty with cilantro (sorry, I’m not sure what it is called), beef noodle soup (it’s spicy with meat stew in it), and green beans. We’ve always enjoyed everything we’ve ordered here. Servers are nice and helpful. We usually sit in but take-​out wait is around 15 – 20 mins. Bun-​days here are good days!

Tasty, authentic Shanghainese /​Taiwanese spot! Ranked in rough order of must-​get:
Xlb (soup dumplings) delish! Delicately thin-​skinned (a MUST), bursting with broth.
Turnip pastry (Luo buo shi bing) — OUTSTANDING. Kind of hard to find this dish in restaurants. The filling makes your tastebuds sing, tucked inside endlessly flaky pastry layers.
Rice cakes (nian gao) — super legit, savory, sautéed with napa and pork. Hits the spot.
Chive turnover (jiu tsai he zhi) — chive/​glass noodle filling was on point, perfectly fried. Not overly deep fried.
Noodles are homestyle comfort — both the Dan Dan mien (peanut based) and jjm (zha jiang mien) were tasty.
Highly enjoyed our meal for 6 — you won’t be disappointed!

This is the best Chinese place in the area. I have an elderly friend who I look after who lives nearby and we have been there many times. All of my meals have been excellent.

Tasty soup dumplings (xiaolong bao) can be hard to find in the Princeton area, as well as authentic Chinese food, so I’m glad we have Shanghai Bun in this locale. You won’t be disappointed if you start off with the soup dumplings. Make sure you use a spoon to catch the liquid that oozes out when you take the first bite. Many say that’s the best part. The vinegar that goes with it, also gives your palette a slight punch. Another winning item is their seafood soup — really hits the spot on a cold day.
Another good dish is double shredded pork. You can eat this with plain white buns (think moo shu pork) or with white rice — the meat is savory and slightly sweet. We also had the Sha cha beef which is basically beef sauteed with XO sauce. If you like XO sauce, you’ll be a fan. As far as service, if you need anything, just give the waitress an look or waive your hand. Food came out quickly and it’s my dependable, go-​to Chinese restaurant.
Fun fact: They have another location in Edison –Shanghia Noodle House — though in Chinese, it bears the same name. Menu items also vary greatly.

LOVE IT. I’m a cawc-​ASIAN. (I’m white.) So obviously I don’t know what food tastes like in China. But when I put those soup dumplings in my mouth, I feel like I’m sitting in a nice Chinese family’s living room eating dinner. These soup dumplings are love in a perfect bite. Other than the soup dumplings, everything else I’ve had is delicious as well. Pork buns are great. Everything is great. The low reviews are typical Unilocal-​snobbery. Everyone’s a critic.

The WORST Chinese food I ever had. I’m originally from China. The restaurant uses cheap meat (pork &fish), and the flavor is bad in hell!!! Some people may like their dumplings, bc you don’t really taste the quality of the meat in the dumplings. And the water smells!!! I just had a really bad experience here
I would never go to this place again!!!

The clientele is majority Chinese with non-​Chinese guests who are foodie types who have been exposed to Chinese food of the non-​Americanized variety. If you are the type that travels to Philly or NYC Chinatown just for food, then you are likely to enjoy Shanghai Bun’s offerings. If you prefer an Americanized version of Chinese food, go someplace else and don’t occupy a table that would otherwise go to a grateful customer. Their soups are mainstays. The mapo tofu is quite good even if it’s not as hot as a true Szechuan dish. The soup dumplings are very good too. Saves me a trip to Chinatown to find this jewel in central NJ.

Ordered Lunch Beef in Garlic Sauce
Portions not large but not small
Hot and sour soup neither hot or sour. Pretty weak.
White rice cooked properly.
Beef cooked properly
Vegetables onions and green peppers. A little cheap
No fortune cookie so can’t rate.
Not sure if I would go back. Expected more from all the wonderful review.

3.5 stars, not bad. The first time I came here was with a large group of family friends, which means the parents all ordered for us. The traditional Chinese food is decent. We had their xiao long bao, jiu cai hezi, fuqifeipian (not that good), fish and tofu casserole, etc
My brother and I came back to try their noodle soups. I ordered the Spicy Beef Intestine Noodle soup (麻辣牛雜麵) and my brother ordered the Braised Beef noodle soup. The noodles they use is similar to this Taiwanese noodle brand called Guanmiao mian (關廟麵). That type of noodle is really thin and I think didn’t work too well with the spicy soup. The braised one tasted kind of like Chinese herbal soup. I liked my spicy one better. Both were large portions with a decent amount of beef and intestines.
As a side, we ordered the sesame beef sandwich (牛肉夾餅). There was lots of beef and sauce in the bun, but I didn’t like the flat sesame bun they used. It became really soggy with the sauce. I’ve usually had this with scallion pancakes.
On a side note, this place is so clean. I saw one woman not only wipe down the tables, but also all the chairs. I’m sure their bathrooms are as clean as well. Eating in New York makes me appreciate how clean most restaurants, at least where I live, in New Jersey are.

Chinese food is a relative term. There’s traditional Chinese and Americanized chinese food. This place blurs those lines.
The xiao long baos are delicious: thin skin, savory pork and rich broth. The Chinese entrees are more reminiscent of good take out. Portions are ok, flavors are all there. Found a little odd that they added potato to a few of our dishes (sesame pork ribs, sweet and sour fish). The one intriguing dish was the smoke bacon fried rice. They use chinese bacon, which differs from traditional bacon by adding clove and five spice. The dish was good, the bacon flavor was very mellow though.
Overall, good. Will be back to try more dim sum.

Updated
The food is really good so had to give it another star!
Let me start with the positives — The Chicken fried Rice was pretty darn good. Excellent quality of rice and really well made.
Now the bad —
1) Asked for soup while we waited for take out. Nope– the cashier was not interested. Said — all of the order should be either take out or dine in ! What ??
2) The restaurant closes at 10 PM but the floor cleaning process started at 9:30 PM itself while we were sitting at the table waiting for the food to arrive ! Hate it when this happens at a restaurant.
3) Ordered for Chicken with Garlic sauce… they just got the order absolutely wrong. Passed on some sweet chicken which we had to consume since we realized only after getting home.
Would give them a second chance only coz I would want to eat the fried rice again!

Still 4 stars, but you’ve got to know what to order.
Coming here another time made the flaws more evident. The menu for authentic Chinese items is limited, and despite being a Shanghainese restaurant, they pretty much have a menu that has regional food from all over China. We had the diced chicken dish, which my Sichuan friend noted wasn’t entirely authentic (for that, go to Szechuan House in Hamilton). The fish fillet in wine sauce was not as good as I recalled. The string beans and mapo tofu were very popular.
New dishes we tried:
Smoke Bacon Fried Rice (Shanghai Xian Rou Cai Fan) — It seems like this dish is meant to recall the Shanghai Vegetable Rice dish, just flavored with soy sauce and not served in a casserole dish. Even so, it’s really good, was a big hit among Chinese and non-​Chinese friends. The smoked pork taste makes the rice super savory, and is balanced by some veggies.
Stir Fried Vermicelli (Ants Climbing Up a Tree) — Again, another classic Sichuan dish. The vermicelli was nice and soft, but I’m not a huge fan of spicy foods so didn’t have a lot of it.
Kao Fu — So good. Finally a Shanghainese dish that they do well. For the uninitiated, Kao Fu is wheat gluten, but flavored by a delicious soy-​sauce based sauce, and also garnished with shiitake mushrooms and woody ear mushrooms.
Wine Chicken — Surprisingly good. The chicken is very soft, although the wine flavor is much more subtle than most other renditions. Perhaps that is for the better because that flavor can be a bit off-​putting to some, and this way, it’s just a very tender delicious chicken.
So to sum up, personal favorites are: kao fu, wine chicken, rice cakes with pork, and fu qi fei pian (only b/​c I dislike authentic spicy versions swimming in oil). Other good dishes (depending on personal preference) are XLB, smoke bacon fried rice, shredded pork peking style, eggplant, and string beans.

In the princeton area, this is the most authentic chinese place. It’s not as good as some places in edison. But it saves me a long drive.
The hot tea is 1 $/​person

Great place to get authentic Chinese food in central NJ. I’ve come here multiple times over the years, both independently and with Chinese coworkers who agree the food is great.
My favorite item on the menu is the «rice cakes with becon», this is delicious smokey pork belly with chewy rice cakes and chopped bok choy. Their scallion pancakes are definitely done Chinese style, extra crispy, which can be a surprise if you’re used to their chewy Korean counter parts. This is also only one of two restaurants in Central NJ I’ve found to sell soup dumpling, which are always on point, and come 6 to an order.
Service is quick and polite. But beware they only accept one credit card per party, but they do offer a discount for paying in cash.

Delicious Soup Dumplings, and around Princeton Junction, there are no other soup dumpling spots that compare! The other Chinese dishes however are a bit bland, so the 4-​star instead of 5 is for that. I would say it’d be great to go for soup dumplings, but don’t count on the other dishes to be stellar.
Another annoyance: no splitting checks with credit card!!!

The only place to get xiao long bao’s (dumpling soup buns) in the princeton area.
The place will cater to your dietary needs when requested, and will accomodate any substitutions to the current menu if it is possible.
#1 go to place for chinese food in the area.