Shang
Thompson LES Hotel, New York, NY
What an incredible disaster. Look up The Hindenburg on the internet and you will get an idea of the special kind of catastrophe our recent visit to Shang was.
Having heard some good things, Team Infatuation headed out on a rainy Monday night for further investigation. We made a reservation and arrived on time to an empty bar and an obviously slow restaurant – yet we were told to wait at the bar for our table. Fair enough. I understand the concept of not seating too many tables in a waiter’s section, kitchen capacity, or whatever – even though we had a reservation. After about fifteen minutes, we asked the host what the deal was and were reluctantly seated. We sat down and could hear a pin drop. Maybe a quarter of the tables were occupied, and judging by the complete absence of audible conversation, everyone was either angry or afraid of the staff. No waiter or busboy visited the table for about ten minutes, and throughout the evening we had to ask someone to find our server three times to rectify various mishaps.
Read the food rundown for the rest of the story, but the service was a joke, and this place is not cheap. Also, they will tell you it’s “family style”, which is perfect if you are family of exactly two, you are rich, and you hate food.
Food Rundown:
Singapore Slaw
This is the only reason I didn’t give Shang a 0.0. The Singapore Slaw was a very good salad to share. Nineteen Ingredients!
Yellowtail Sashimi
I love Yellowtail. It is without question my favorite kind of sashimi. This Yellowtail smelled like a mix between sweaty sock and old fish. We told the waiter it smelled and tasted bad, to which his reply was “let me check with the kitchen”. He returned and condescendingly told us it has just been cut from the fish, and that we were, well … wrong. Dear chef, your fish was either six days old or had just been pulled out of the Gowanus Canal.
Diver Scallop and Chorizo
This was one of those “family style” dishes that cost us $23.50 for three of them. A decent scallop wrapped up in a banana leaf with some sausage and some kind of stuffing like paste at the bottom.
Crispy Lobster Lettuce Wraps
The lobster is served hot, and surrounded by a heavy batter, almost like a lobster hush puppy with lettuce around it. The “lemon balm” flavor is almost unbearable, and overpowers everything else. Party of five + each of you gets one = $45.00.
Crispy Garlic Chicken
Fatty chicken that came served atop a dark gloppy sauce that our non Infatuation co-diner said reminded him of college Chinese takeout. Not in a good way.
Hunan Spicy Orange Pork Ribs
Short pork ribs covered in what I think was the same sauce that was under the chicken. I was eating mine with a fork because they were so messy and mostly fat. The waiter kindly reminded me to eat them with my hands. Thanks. I hate you.
