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Famed Chinese Spot Goes From A Grade to Being Closed by Health Department

November 7, 2017 | 4:49 PM
in FOOD
67

Shun Lee, a staple of Upper West Side fine dining for decades, was shuttered by the Health Department on Tuesday. While a note on the door of the Chinese restaurant at 43 West 65th Street says there were “unforeseen circumstances” that led to the closure, a yellow sign on another window makes it clear that health violations caused the closure.

The Health Department’s website did not yet have details on the violations. The most recent inspection resulted in an A grade.

Shun Lee opened its West side location in 1981. The Shun Lee restaurants have drawn all sorts of celebrities, from Tom Cruise to Michael Douglass. Wall Street 2 filmed a scene in the restaurant.

Thanks to our tipster, who wished to remain anonymous.

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Sherman
Sherman
5 years ago

Oy. I just ate there a week ago.

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OriginalMark
OriginalMark
5 years ago
Reply to  Sherman

And?

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Woody
Woody
5 years ago
Reply to  Sherman

That’s like saying you drove by an intersection where there was an accident last week.

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Honest Abe
Honest Abe
5 years ago
Reply to  Woody

How could this happen? I just walked by the other day?

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OriginalMark
OriginalMark
5 years ago
Reply to  Honest Abe

Are you asking if you walked by the other day?
Only you can answer that.

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Cathy
Cathy
5 years ago

Sad and vexing

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Tom Lee
Tom Lee
5 years ago

Yikes – always considered it one of the few if only clean Chinese options on the UWS.

One has to wonder what is going on at the other Chinese places if Shun Lee received a failed grade!

Any recommendations for a decent Chinese take-out / delivery place on the UWS?

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West88
West88
5 years ago
Reply to  Tom Lee

Han Dynasty on 85th off of Broadway. hand down best Chinese in the hood

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Shpinner
Shpinner
5 years ago
Reply to  Tom Lee

Han Dynasty on 85th is terrific. 215 W 85, just east of Broadway. Enjoy!

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Chip
Chip
5 years ago
Reply to  Shpinner

uh…..is that the Chinese delivery restaurant that refused to delivery to Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes because Jerry lived on the wrong side (downtown side) of W 81st?

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Sarah
Sarah
5 years ago
Reply to  Chip

Handy Nasty didn’t exist back then. It’s a relatively new restaurant.

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EGF
EGF
5 years ago
Reply to  Chip

Wasn’t it the Supreme Flounder she craved so badly? LOL

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jezbel
jezbel
5 years ago
Reply to  Tom Lee

The Empire on Columbus just rebuilt their whole kitchen. They closed for a month and open again. My favorite stay at home and watch TV dinner restaurant. Open for more that 40 yrs at that location.Maybe that’s what they’ll do. Rebuild a new kitchen from scratch.

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Debi Deutsch
Debi Deutsch
5 years ago
Reply to  jezbel

I stopped ordering from there after my babysitter’s daughter found a roach in her food from there.

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Tom Lee
Tom Lee
5 years ago
Reply to  Debi Deutsch

OK, I guess I wont be ordering then!

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Tom Lee
Tom Lee
5 years ago
Reply to  jezbel

Thank you. Will def try it out – very soon.

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Michelle
Michelle
5 years ago
Reply to  Tom Lee

Han Dynasty on W 85th between Broadway and Amsterdam. Delivery is available through Try Caviar or Door Dash, I believe.

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Jobotro
Jobotro
5 years ago
Reply to  Michelle

I️ referred to it at Handy Nasty

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Chris
Chris
5 years ago
Reply to  Jobotro

Good one!

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Nelson
Nelson
5 years ago

Oh, no, one of my longtime faves! Hopefully Henry & Co can remedy/reopen soon!

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lynn
lynn
5 years ago
Reply to  Nelson

What is/was Henry & Co?

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Brenda
Brenda
5 years ago

I hate this. I haven’t even gotten over O’Niells yet

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CB
CB
5 years ago
Reply to  Brenda

I refuse to ever get over O’Neill’s! It was the best. Where else could you go after Lincoln Center and find yourself eating & drinking next to a bunch of Met stagehands and/or Stephanie Blythe or Mark Morris?

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Steven
Steven
5 years ago
Reply to  Brenda

Yeah, O’Niell’s was the best. Good food, great menu & for being on the UWS & close to Lincoln Center, it was moderately priced.

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Bz
Bz
5 years ago
Reply to  Brenda

Ha…neither have I !!! So miss the place.

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Bill
Bill
5 years ago

I went in the bathroom here 3 years ago. Not pretty. Never went back. PS, this is Anthony Scaramucci’s go to spot for Chinese food so there must be something funky going on.

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lynn
lynn
5 years ago
Reply to  Bill

This is the funniest comment I’ve read today, lol. The bathroom is small but it’s kept spotlessly clean and there’s even an attendant.

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Steven
Steven
5 years ago

That’s a shame. I’ve only eaten then 2-3 times, but I remember the food was Really good.

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Joe Wilkins
Joe Wilkins
5 years ago

The DOH inspection can be very unfair. It all depends on the inspector and their mood etc. The NY Times did an article on the fact not one home could ever get an A if inspected fairly! There are more than 400 violation points available and many of those violins could be duplicated. Please understand ANY restaurant any time could get a poor score, its always in the hands of the inspectors!

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Mike
Mike
5 years ago
Reply to  Joe Wilkins

If you take a look at the violations website you’ll see they’ve gotten their fair share of citations in the past. I’m not sure exactly how it works but I believe if you get over a certain number three times they can/do shut you down.

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B.B.
B.B.
5 years ago
Reply to  Joe Wilkins

*Please*

Have seen restaurants with “A” ratings plastered on front windows with more mice running around at night (seen through windows) than a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

You send a message/complaint to DOH and get “we’ve notified owner of your complaint so they can rectify the situation” or some such nonsense.

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Stuart
Stuart
5 years ago
Reply to  B.B.

There were never any mice in Bugs Bunny cartoons.
Ducks and Pigs – of course.
Roosters and Cats – maybe.
But never mice

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B.B.
B.B.
5 years ago
Reply to  Stuart

Sorry, meant “Looney Tunes”. Tend to lump them under one umbrella.

BB cartoons had a few mice; Speedy Gonzales, his cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez, and their pals

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Stuart
Stuart
5 years ago
Reply to  B.B.

Classic Bugs Bunny cartoons (i.e.: those made in the 1930s to mid 1950s to be shown in movie theaters) never had Bugs interacting with mice. If Bugs had an interaction with Speedy Gonzalez, it was in a made for tv cartoon.

Btw – Speedy Gonzalez cartoons are no longer on tv due to stereotype behavior and dialogue.

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Cat
Cat
5 years ago
Reply to  Joe Wilkins

I hate it when violins are duplicated! >:(

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David
David
5 years ago
Reply to  Cat

duetto violin??

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Bruce lee
Bruce lee
5 years ago

Han dynasty at 85th just off of broadway

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USWer
USWer
5 years ago

Not surprised. Had a bout of food poisoning the last time I ate there years ago. Haven’t been back. They are just your typical Chinese restaurant with better service for triple the normal prices.

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Jeremy Robinson
Jeremy Robinson
5 years ago

Sorry to read this. Love this place. Hope you’ll run a story when it re-opens as well.

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Carlos
Carlos
5 years ago

I thought it was shuttered for being ridiculously overpriced. The food is good, but not worth the prices. And one time we went there we got a lot of attitude from the staff for no apparent reason.

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Debbir
Debbir
5 years ago

They get a chance to rectify the violations and re-open or are they close for good?

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Reply
West Sider
Author
West Sider
5 years ago
Reply to  Debbir

Yes, these closures are generally temporary.

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jean goldberg
jean goldberg
5 years ago

OMG, I ate there Friday and got a food allergy and went into antafilatic (sp?) shock. Friends rushed me to ER at Mt Sinai. Was hospitalized for 3 days, almost died.I don’t have any known food allergies.

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jezbel
jezbel
5 years ago
Reply to  jean goldberg

“anaphylactic shock” or anaphylaxis

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Sammie@L
Sammie@L
5 years ago
Reply to  jean goldberg

Sorry to hear you had an allergic reaction but your allergy has nothing to do with the quality of their food or the restaurant. Sheesh.

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Norma
Norma
5 years ago
Reply to  jean goldberg

That is terrible! Glad you are OK!

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mpw
mpw
5 years ago

Vile place. Should have closed YEARS ago when a cockroach walked across my table.

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Reynold
Reynold
5 years ago

From the blog Eater.com:
According to public records, Shun Lee received an A grade in February, but the influential Chinese American restaurant also had an ungraded inspection in September that resulted in 37 violation points. The restaurant was docked for improperly storing hot and cold foods, mice, roaches, flies, and not properly washing surfaces that contact food.

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Adam Cherson
Adam Cherson
5 years ago

Hmm. Wonder if it has anything to do with all the construction on the block?// First Dan (the Japanese place on Broadway) goes, now Shun Lee, is there anything around here from the 70s anymore? I guess it could mean fewer e-bikes on 65th.

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Mark D. Friedman
Mark D. Friedman
5 years ago

Try Jin Fong on 76th and Amsterdam. You’ll never go back to Shun Lee.

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nycityny
nycityny
5 years ago
Reply to  Mark D. Friedman

78th & Amsterdam, not 76th.

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Bob Lamm
Bob Lamm
5 years ago
Reply to  Mark D. Friedman

Always helpful when someone makes a recommendation with the wrong address. The Jing Fong is on the corner of 78th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

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Juan
Juan
5 years ago
Reply to  Bob Lamm

I’m sure you are perfect and never make a typo. And there also happens to be a decent Chinese place at 76 and Amsterdam – we tend to order from Columbia Cottage. For the basic stand-bys of Chinese food, it is pretty good at reasonable prices.

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Juan
Juan
5 years ago
Reply to  Juan

Proving my point – I meant The Cottage restaurant.

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Tom Lee
Tom Lee
5 years ago
Reply to  Mark D. Friedman

Do they deliver?

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Filatura
Filatura
5 years ago
Reply to  Mark D. Friedman

Jin Fong is actually on 78th & Amsterdam.
Closed for lunch (online publicity says the downtown chefs take the subway uptown to cook dinner, which makes me wonder who cooks for the downtown dinner crowd).
According to Door Dash, 86th & Columbus is out of their delivery range.
Think I’ll stick to Han Dynasty for now.

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lynn
lynn
5 years ago
Reply to  Mark D. Friedman

Jin Fong doesn’t deliver and I’ve never been able to get a delivery from Han Dynasty either (due to one problem or another). Not sure if Jin Fong does take out but will definitely take a look. Thanks for the recommendation.

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mcb
mcb
5 years ago

A mainstay for us. Hope you can let us know what the violations were and what happens in the future. Thanks for great reporting.

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Reynold
Reynold
5 years ago

The Shun Lee staff needs to put up big-character wall posters of self-criticism, then go to the countryside for 7 years and learn from the peasants, and eat bitterness. That oughta fix the problem.

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John
John
5 years ago

Called last night did not know they were closed. They told me they were closed for private party.

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Robert Goodman
Robert Goodman
5 years ago

Just tried the recently opened Lili’s 74 as takeout. The order came quickly and was in the trash shortly thereafter.

Dumplings, noodles, soup, one vegetable dish and a poultry dish were awful, either doughy, tasteless, glutenous, limp or a combination. Also came with no condiments but we used our own to no avail. A terrible waste but there you have it.

For reference: Han Dynasty is to our taste an excellent restaurant. I’ll let others address is “authenticity.” I find that it’s kitchen produces reliably delicious food.

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LEE APT
LEE APT
5 years ago
Reply to  Robert Goodman

OLLIE’S ON 103rd AND BWAY IS FAIRLY NEW – AND LOOKS CLEAN. I HAVE STOPPED BY SEVERAL TIMES TO TAKE/OUT MY OWN MEAL. NO BAR (NEGATIVE) – BUT HAS REGULAR CUSTOMERS. VERY FAMILY -ORIENTED.

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Leon
Leon
5 years ago
Reply to  LEE APT

I take it that it must be very loud by the fact that you seem to have to SCREAM about it. Should I bring ear plugs?

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Bonnie C.
Bonnie C.
5 years ago

They received an “A” grade this past February, but then were hit with 37 health violations (improperly stored hot & cold food, infestations of mice, roaches, & flies, etc.) this past September that they weren’t give a grade on, thus giving them ample opportunity to make corrections which apparently they did not bother to do or do sufficiently. Thus after revisiting this month, their doors were forced to close.

Clearly their own fault.

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Ted
Ted
5 years ago

I think we’ve all gone in looking for a Dim Sum fix saying, “what’t the worst that could happen? It’ll…might be…fine.” We’ve all been there. It’s a learning session for our immune systems.

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Drew
Drew
5 years ago

Will they reopen?

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Scout
Scout
5 years ago

Poison and take the risk if you want to wind up in emergency room
Disgusting
Thank god it’s shuttered

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Reply

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