By Michael Wakin
Upper West Siders lined up before 4 p.m. on Monday to get a first taste of the new dim sum restaurant Jing Fong on 78th and Amsterdam Avenue, and waiting times by mid-evening were as long as an hour. The restaurant is an expansion of the well-known dim sum restaurant in Chinatown. Jing Fong is serving dinner this week for its soft open, but will be expanding its menu and hours starting next week, and then again after Labor Day.
We talked to the first customers while they were walking out.
“It was great, it was really great. I had shrimp and watercress dumplings and a vodka Gimlet. The staff is great, friendly, and helpful,” said Beth Gordon, a career coach. “Nice addition to the neighborhood.”
Another customer said she could not resist the urge to eat at Jing Fong — despite previous dinner plans. “I thought it was delicious. Just a little hot in there, but I will definitely come back. [I] had two steamed [dumpling] dishes. Prices are reasonable,” she said. “They’re going have a bigger menu next Wednesday and I will definitely come back.”
Bacon-wrapped shrimp.
“Very fresh. I loved it,” said Mia, another customer. “The presentation was great. The only setback was that the chairs were a little narrow. The food was excellent and the service was great. I definitely would come again.”
“It was good, more expensive than the one downtown. We got the crispy bacon wrapped shrimp, crab, shrimp, and spinach dumplings, vegetable buns, and pork fried dumplings,” another woman said.
Shrimp rice noodles.
Two characteristics distinguish the new Jing Fong from its sister restaurant in Chinatown (beyond the much smaller size). The first is that the Upper West Side location offers slightly steeper prices, with dim sum dishes ranging from $7-$8. The Chinatown location’s dim sum dish prices tend to cost $3-$5.
Secondly, the dim sum is particularly fresh at the newly open Jing Fong because it comes directly from the kitchen to table. The food served at the downtown Jing Fond can sit in carts for a longer time as servers travel the vast restaurant.
Click on the menu below to enlarge.
Hours of Operation:
Soft Opening:
o 4:00pm-11:00pm (7/17)
o 5:00pm – 10:00pm (7/18-7/25)
Summer Hours (7/26-Labor Day):
o Monday – Friday: 5:00pm-10:00pm
o Saturday & Sunday: 11:00am-10:00pm
After Labor Day:
o 11:00am to 10:00pm, daily
It’s more than slightly steeper – those prices are nearly 100 percent more than in Chinatown. Still a great addition to the neighborhood!
The food was great but the prices are so much steeper than its Chinatown counterpart. It was a bit jarring and unexpected considering that dimsum has somewhat small portions.
Last week I was walking by the Jing Fong and the door was open. I went in to inquire about when they were opening and their hours. I was unequivocally told that they would have a “soft opening” last night (Monday) and would open for lunch and dim sum today (Tuesday) at 11:00 a.m. They would then be open every weekday at 11:00 a.m. and would open at 9:00 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, beginning this weekend. I was just at the Jing Fond at 11:30 a.m. It was NOT open and no one was in sight inside. So I highly doubt that they are opening for lunch today at noon or later. There was also no sign outside regarding any future hours. Not helpful.
Meanwhile, just down the street, hundreds lined up for hours for the grand opening of a new laundromat.. It’s what NYers do..
Where is the new laundromat? I’ve only read about closings, and would be very happy to find a new place opening.
Out of control prices!
High rents, high prices, high taxes.
It looks delicious. Can’t wait.
All well and good (and I wish the new place lots of success) — but to me that location will always be Planet Sushi.
Copper Hatch
I still remember their scrumptious pecan pie.
much more expensive than the Chinatown location, and way less menu choices. and General Tso’s Chicken on the menu? WTF? If we’re too lazy to travel downtown, we’ll eat here.
It was really good (yes, soft opening but still…) I don’t think the prices were too outrageous. AND it was delicious. It’s an amazing improvement to the neighborhood over Planet Sushi (which I used to go to 20+ years ago, when it was actually good!)
Good luck to them. Nice to see Michael at the door and Rich at the helm as GM. You go guys!
Good for us on the upper West side and welcome to the neighborhood, we need more gourmet style type of restaurants like this in the area love to get rid of lot of this riffraff- trash in my neighborhood… it’s about time!
What riff-raff trash are you referring to?
what riffraff trash? restaurants? people? retail?
I miss Planet Sushi, and the Copper Hatch, if you want to go way back
Glad to see a a reputable Dim Sum place open on the UWS, but the prices are way too steep. Can’t blame them though, I heard their rent is over $20,000/month. How do you expect businesses to stay in the neighborhood, without charging high prices, when rents are so high?! I wish them luck, but I get the feeling they won’t last because of the prices.
Allow me to echo many other commenters: MUCH higher prices. Is that their fault? Probably not. However, I will not pay that much for dim sum. I will do what I have done for decades, I will get on a train and go to China town.
PS Another commenter stated that the food languished on the carts in the downtown restaurant. Nonsense, the food flies off those carts.
me too, will continue to schlep to Chinatown. too bad, Jing Fong UWS is so close
Love dim sum.
Love Jing Fong — and other places, too.
But just looking @ those prices: Holy Bao, Batman!!
I will sooner shlep to Flushing or Sunset Park than pay those criminally inflated prices.
They will not last long at that location.
The food was good but there was no air conditioning and the noise level was intense!
I couldn’t hear my fellow diner across a small table for two. I would go back with
earplugs and when the AC is on.
Why is Shun Lee never mentioned in this forum? Their dim sum menu under $20 for all-you- can-eat. Is the food at Jing Fong so much better?
yes Shun Lee is also expensive and has survived all these years. $20 all you can eat? since when, eaten there probably 100 times and never seen this.
A group of us went to the cafe on April 30th and June 30th, but we did have to pay extra for noodles or other items not included in dim sum. I’ve only been there 3 times in my life (the 1st time was in the regular restaurant) so I just assumed it was always like this.
The UWS is notoriously expensive so why the surprise? Even friends who come visit from other neighborhoods remark on it with comments like “its a different world up here!” I’m not justifying anything, just making a statement. I guess $3,000/mo studios couple nicely with $8 dim sum!
I loved this quote in your article:
“The presentation was great. The only setback was that the chairs were a little narrow.”
Maybe someone needs to cut back a little on their eating then. More and more people seem to easily be 20 to 30 lbs overweight these days.
Whoa!! I’ll check it out. So well written!!
They FINALLY opened after weeks & weeks of hearing it would be any day. My friend ate there on Tuesday, she said the AC was not working, but the food was good. Then when I walked by on Thursday there was a sign out front stating that the bathrooms were not working… Here is my gripe, though I have yet to eat there yet. I asked for a takeout/delivery menu & was told they will not be doing that for quite awhile, it will ONLY be dine in. Considering that most NYC restaurants businesses can be 30-40% takeout & delivery, I think they are making a very poor decision in that area. I wish any business well, but if you want to compete with all the other restaurants, you need to do takeout & delivery. Just my opinion, for all it’s worth.
Price is double that in Chinatown as all have mentioned. I’m ok with this, but frankly, this is not real dim sum. This feels like what dim sum would be like if a Chinese take-out place did it. The dumplings and noodles all had super thick doughy skin. The turnip cake had a weird soft gooey texture (with no chunks of turnip). If you live nearby and just want dim sum, it’s fine enough. But it’s in no way comparable to real dim sum in Hong Kong or even Flushing.
Ate there last night and the food was very good but the prices were double than in Chinatown. A bit steep for what you got. It was also very hot in there. We sat at the bar and our server was nice and very friendly.