On a recommendation from someone on Instagram, I was going for some more Chinese food and dumplings. The beef noodle soup was quite flavorful. Sometimes the broth can be quite plain, and while not very seasoned, it had a lot of complexity. The soup buns were pretty good. I've had a run of some "ok" soup buns lately so this was on the upswing to a better version. Could have used a little better flavor in the broth. The spicy wontons were also good. Not overly hot, plenty of other flavor elements, but enough for a tingle. read more

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It's the day after Christmas and I was looking for a casual place to take my two year old daughter for an early lunch (11am) and it's Monday. Shanghai Bun was open and had a steady stream of takeout lunch orders. We ordered a bunch of things and took home leftovers. We had the spicy beef noodle soup (super flavorful, tender beef, loved the diced salty cabbage), Shanghai rice cakes were nicely seasoned with a good chew, xiao long bao were also good. I could have done without the har gao but that's a lesson learned. My daughter loved it all and had a really good time. You're not going to get super attentive service - tea is self service. But as they bring out other orders you can ask for refills on napkins and whatever else you'll need. We love this little neighborhood spot and so glad it's close by. read more

Visiting NJ and need my Chinese food fix and decided to come here again. Unfortunately dine in is not available so ordered take out Soup dumpling - always good and of course not as good as eating it there Fried dumplings - meaty and delicious Thai chow Fun - a mix of beef, chicken and shrimp with a nice little kick to it Young Chow Fried Rice - can't find this in DE so it was a must order and as good as I remember it. Well, need to wait till the next time I visit NJ to enjoy their delicious food again. BTW they sell frozen dumplings and wontons to take home and cook them yourself. read more

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Amazing tasting food for a reasonable price. My only complaint was that we waited 2 hours for our food when they had only given us a 45 minute wait. We live 20 minutes away so we spent most of the time waiting in the car in the cold. I wouldn't of minded waiting if they had given us a more honest wait time, but when we arrived to pick up the food, they already knew they were backed up. There were many people waiting there as well for their food. When we finally got our food, we were exhausted and cold from waiting and when we got home, realized they forgot one of our orders. Now we ordered a lot of food, one order was for us, the other we were dropping off to my parents. So when we saw they forgot one of ours, not only did we wait 2 hours, but our order wasn't even complete. I would of given them a 4 star, but took one away due to this. I would suggest ordering during off hours to avoid this. They food is pretty good overall. read more

Came for lunch on a weekday, for dining in. Had N11Pork Egg Noodle Soup, D1 Soup dumplings (steamed pork buns on menu), S16 Salt & Pepper Pork Chop (comes with rice). All dishes were delicious, good size portion. Self serve hot water & hot tea. Take the paper menu at the counter & indicate which dish/quantity that you want. Easy parking in lot, within shopping complex. read more

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Without exaggeration this is the best Chinese food in the world Highly recommend the Beef Lo Mein and if you can eat in the store, portions are always generous even more so when dining in read more

Really delicious, fresh Chinese food and dim sum! What a little gem in matawan. The portions are huge and everything is fresh and smoking hot. We ended up getting the spicy dumplings, spicy beef soup, soup dumplings, bak choy, and general chows. Wow! It was all amazing and soooo good. Even the bak choy was soooo delicious and fresh and perfectly seasoned. We will be coming back ASAP! read more

Food was bland and salty. Service was pretty terrible. Waitress was nice, but super timid and didn't check on us. We had to ask for water and she never refilled it. The inside of the restaurant was cluttered. read more

Shanghai Bun - Shanghai Bun street facing entrance. - Chinese Near Me - Matawan, New Jersey

We ordered different dishes for takeout twice this week. I wasn't a fan. The seafood rice cakes were really bad. The texture was mushy and left a weird feeling on your tongue. The meat in the soup dumplings also didn't have much flavor. Most of the other dishes were just ok. The only thing that everyone liked was the oxtail noodle soup because the broth was refreshing. But overall, I would choose somewhere else. read more

Shanghai Bun - Chinese Near Me - Matawan, New Jersey

Filthy dirty hole on the wall that has some of the best and authentic Chinese food in NJ. No need to go to China town with this swampy dive. Soup Dumplings are outstanding and the mustard greens are outstanding and on the menu without MP BS. read more

Best Chinese food I have ever had! The won ton soup and general Tso chicken is the best!

Food is good. Service was pleasant. However, the place needs a facelift. The egg rolls are good. read more

Best Chinese food hands down in central NJ. Everything is hand made, including the buns and noodles, and delicious.

I've been here a bunch of times with my sister. The place isn't big and not fancy. But the food is pretty good. It's not typical fast food Chinese food so if you're looking for that, this isn't the place. I like the food. I think it's the owner who is there when we are and she is so nice! read more

Great place with amazing food however there are only a few tables so you might have to do take out but either way definitely worth it.

Tried it one more time - never again. This use to be the go to place. The hot and sour soup is full of corn starch, and the fried dumplings were not fried enough and the skin too thick given it was undercooked (not crispy). I somehow had a yen for Yu Shiang Beef as I remembered how good it was. I was pleased to see they now have on-line ordering. Anyway, the only thing Asian about the Yu Shiang Beef was a few pea pods. The sauce was ok, the orange peppers were clearly not Asian nor the American mushrooms. There are so few good authentic Chinese restaurants in Monmouth County - fortunately my last few visits to Sichuan Cottage in Marlboro was good, not as good as Chinatown from 50 years ago, but good. Jinli has priced themselves out of my orbit - I will try Pho 34. Their online menu reminds me of a Vietnamese restaurant that use to be in Lincroft off of 520 and then had moved to Red Bank, but is now an Indian restaurant in that spot. Hopefully Pho 34 is authentic. read more

Hands down favorite place for soup dumplings and Shanghai-style Chinese food in the area. No frills, but the food is amazing. Soup dumplings are always fresh, juicy and hot! Would also highly recommend the beef sandwiches, leek dumplings, beef noodle soup and Shanghai rice cakes. read more

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I love this place! It's along the Henry Hudson trail bike path which is great. I can go on a long bike ride, get myself a mid-bike meal, and bike home. Definitely order: soup dumplings, seafood noodle soup, cucumber in spicy sauce, cold sesame noodles (peanuts), wine chicken, Pork Soup Dumplings, Pan Fried Pork & Chive Buns, Sesame Beef Sandwich (2), Spicy Wontons, Fried Chicken Wing (8) , Chow Fun (Beef, chicken, shrimp or veg.), Ma Po Tofu w. Minced Pork, Egg Plant w. Garlic Sauce w. Minced Pork, Double Sauteed Pork, ish Fillet w Minced Pork in Bean Sauce read more

Authentic Chinese food really not my thing, but their beef chow fun is the best. Eighty five characters.

Possibly one of the worst Chinese food experience I had. 344 reviewed with 4.5 stars? I'm at a loss for words. Either they are fake or these people never had Chinese food or any food. Cleanliness: 3 out of 10 Freshness of food: 2 out 10 Taste of food: 3 out of 10 Service: none existent read more

To be fair, it's nice to see a place that has soup dumplings. But, that's as far as this place goes. Black pepper beef was so salty I don't think the chef even knows what he's doing. Was not edible. Egg rolls were small, oily and cold inside . Tasted like it was made several days ago. read more

This is my go-to place if I want some authentic Chinese cuisine. Especially thei xiaolong bao is my favorite in NJ. They are decently sized and filled with a good amount of soup. There are only a couple of big tables so you may have to sit separately. You circle what you want on a paper menu and bring it up to the front, there is also tea at the front that you can get as well. I always order the scallion pancakes and beef noodle soup when I come here. The noodles are homemade and you can really taste the difference especially in the texture. The panfried dumplings are like comfort food. They are thick-skinned and overstuffed with meat, super delicious. Quality is consistent and hasn't changed over the years. read more

Shanghai Bun - Chinese Near Me - Matawan, New Jersey

Hole in the wall. Soup dumpling deserves 4 stars. ($7) Pig foot noodle, 3.5 stars. ($8) Total $16 after tax. For the price it's pretty good. But, certainly not the best. $15 min credit card. Be aware, price of several items on menu have gone up. read more

Shanghai Bun - Pig foot noodle - Chinese Near Me - Matawan, New Jersey

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Don't listen to any of the bad reviews, seems like we got a few Karen's & Kens up in here! Here's a few tips- first of all you don't ask for water lol, you serve it yourself. The water machine is literally in the dining area, next to the kitchen door, don't be a lazy ass. The employees there are very hard working & the restaurant gets SUPER busy, before covid there would be a line of 4-5 families waiting while the restaurant was fully packed. Give them a break. It's really not that hard to walk yourself over and pour the water yourself. Been a customer for many years and have never had a problem with eating here. My family and our friends' families all eat here it's literally THE Chinese place to go to. Anyone saying otherwise have no idea what they're taking about. I highly recommend the steamed pork buns, triple meat noodle soup, and Shanghai style wonton soup. Please try this place out, you won't regret it! Super important to support small & local businesses right now! read more

Update: They are not open for dining inside. Their website made no mention of this. They did their very best to accommodate me as I traveled from 45 minutes away. read more

Shanghai Bun - Not open for dine in - Chinese Near Me - Matawan, New Jersey

This was my dads favorite place to eat. The food is authentic. Not your typical American Chinese food. Atmosphere is not the best but it's clean. They make a soup, where are the mini wontons have soup broth in them. The food is delicious. If you're looking for the real deal this is it. And the people who owned it are very nice people. The service is ok, they bring out your food when it's ready, (no heat lamps) whether or not whoever you're with foods ready. This is the kind of place where you can grab your own tea. They have a self serve tea station set up. If your looking for the real deal, this it's it!! read more

I wrote a review over 4 years ago and virtually nothing has changed. That's a very good thing. If I may generalize a bit, Chinese people are nothing if not pragmatic. They realize the wisdom of the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" . All too often, I'll see a restaurant that is great when it first starts, and then after a little taste of success, the owner(s) get "creative"...or lazy. Wacky menu items start showing up; short cuts are taken to wring out more profit; and owners, who once were always present, seem to be taking increasingly more time away. At the Shanghai Bun it's pretty much the same faces as four years ago. The menu is exactly the same as well. Nothing added or changed, with the exception of their daily specials. The only difference that I could discern was the absence of the complimentary fried Spanish peanuts and the American menu, which had non-Chinese food Chinese food items like Chow Mein & Chop Suey. If you are interested, you can read my previous review, since, like this restaurant, everything I wrote four years ago is still relevant. You can pretty much close your eyes and throw a dart at the menu, and whatever item it lands on, it is going to be good. Often I read reviews about a place where I haven't been in order to get an idea of what others have had and liked. The following is a list of some of my favorite dishes here: Steamed Pork Buns (Xiao Long Bao). If you only eat here once, this is THE one must-have dish. Little pork soup filled steamed dumplings of sublime savory deliciousness. Just be careful biting into them, because the liquid inside is very hot. The Beef Sandwich is another hit. I didn't know what to expect, since I never heard of sandwichs at a Chinese restaurant. The compliment of flavors and textures really nailed it. This isn't your mother's beef sandwich, unless, of course, she's Shanghainese. The Scallion Pancakes, while oily, rock. The entire Breakfast menu is great, and for most of us, a twist on breakfast like you haven't experienced before. The Su Bing is a sweet and savory baked pastry that comes with assorted fillings. My favorite is the Red Bean Su Bing. This is about as close as they come to serving dessert-type food outside of the breakfast menu. Salt and Pepper Fish Fillets - moderately spicy and delicious. Spicy Beef Noodle Soup. Fried Pork Chop Noodle Soup - a pork soup with Shanghai noodles served with a fried pork chop on top. Like the Steamed Bun, the noodle soups are also their specialty. The Noodle w. Hot Peanut Sauce is a sleeper. It's a spicy vegetarian dish...noodles with a sort of Satay-like sauce. If you like pasta, you're going to love this. And a pretty big bowl is only $6.95!! With a few possible exceptions in North Jersey, you really have to go to Chinatown in NYC or Philly to get food like this. In my opinion, in addition to serving the best authentic Chinese food in Monmouth and Ocean counties, this is one of the the best food values around. For under $10.00 you can have a great dish that's almost guaranteed to fill you up. Considering that a Happy Meal, that food-like meal served at Mikey D's, costs $10, coming here should be a no-brainer if you want a quick bite...or a leisurely Chinese multi-course dinner. read more

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Quiet night without wait time....still with patrons and take out deliveries. Hidden mom and pop restaurant. Enjoyable, flavorful, cheap $$. Thick soup noodles are hand made. Must try!!!! Door Dash and Uber, too. read more

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Authentic. Affordable. Amazing. Don't be dismayed by this seemingly hole in the wall establishment. With most of their dishes around $10, eating, even splurging, here won't hurt your wallet. The soup dumplings are incredible. Juice pours out as you bite into the pork-filled dumpling with a smooth and tender flour skin dipped into vinegar with slivers of ginger. The beef sandwich is delicious too. The chewy, sesame bun with sliced beef, cilantro, and hoisin sauce is almost like a Chinese arepa. The orange beef is one of the best I've ever had. Other highlights of the menu are green beans, wonton soup, and mapo tofu. The service isn't fantastic; you have to take a menu from the front, mark your order, and return the menu to the server. Sometimes the restaurant is crowded, and you have to wait a bit for your table. Other times the soup dumplings are a tad off when there's another chef working, but if you have a less than stellar experience here then it's worth at least another try. The delectable food and inexpensive prices earn this restaurant five stars. read more

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Excellent takeout choice for a hearty meal. Pricing is reasonable and it is an awesome option for Chinese food. Yum. read more

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Called ahead and went in to pick up food. Everyone had masks on and was abiding by all COVID protocols. Food was authentic and delicious. Will without a doubt be ordering again soon. read more

They offer a large variety of noodle soups and they have the best soup dumplings. Its not a fancy place it was a pretty nice place full of Asian customers eating there so that is usually a clue that its a good place to try. I ordered take out from here and everything was delicious. My sister lives in the area and since we found this place she has made it a mission to try everything on their menu which btw she has. I have had their pork chop soup which is a hearty noodle soup with vegetables and a deep fried pork chop on the side it was really yummy. Their spicy beef soup is no joke but it was good. The I have also tried their jelly fish at first I was hesitant but it was surprisingly really good sort of like a crunchy noodle. Just to give you a heads up they offer two menus one for the local Asians and the other for non Asian. The one that is posted is the non Asian menu. I always go for the authentic menu!!! read more

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I've been here before, even though I didn't realize it until we parked. Two visits and I'm still unsure of the rating that this place has. Both times I've come, I've only had 3-star food. Service was fine, a bit aloft, but that's to be expected of a Chinese restaurant. We ordered General Tso's chicken, which was way too sweet and soup dumplings. They only have one type of soup dumplings, no shrimp ones, just pork. For not having any other soup dumpling options in the area, they were fine, but definitely not the best. They have an oily almost preservative-y taste to them and afterwards I felt a little queasy--as I do when I sometimes eat something too greasy. read more

Shanghai Bun - Chinese Near Me - Matawan, New Jersey

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Got the vegetable dumplings here once before & got them today! I love how authentic this restaurant is! If you're looking for authentic Chinese, THIS IS THE PLACE!!!!! My boyfriend got the fried rice & thoroughly enjoyed it as well! read more

Shanghai Bun - Chinese Near Me - Matawan, New Jersey

Get the roast beef sandwiches and the pork soup dumplings the room needs an update, but that doesn't matter because the food is so good.

Soupy buns were pretty good but I was expecting something a lot better. Chow fun was ok. Pan fried buns were a bit dry.

This is a great place with excellent authentic Chinese food. I was recommended this place for good soup dumplings and I feel like that's exactly what they do best. We got the dumplings which are small but fresh and done very well. The actual stuffing of the dumpling is pork with scallions. The soup portion wasn't too hot. The dumplings were steamed to perfection. All in all, I think they were $7 or so bucks for 8 dumplings. The overall place is definitely hole-in-the-wall Chinese food. The staff is distant, almost non existent. You serve yourself water and tea. And there isn't much seating. This isn't the place to be dined and entertained. This is the kind of place you roll up your selves, unbutton your jeans, and chow down. It is recommend you come in sweat pants if you really wanna do it right. I will be coming here again and again for my dumplings fix. read more

Shanghai Bun - Mongolian Beef - Chinese Near Me - Matawan, New Jersey

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Restaurant is located in a small strip mall. It looks similar to a Chinese Takeout Restaurant. We had to wait about 10 minutes for a party of 2 to be seated because of the small dining area. However the table turnover was pretty quick so it didn't seem to be too long till we got seated. Service is lacking. You would need to grab your own tea and beverages from the fridge like a Take Out restaurant. Price is very reasonable. What about the FOOD!! What did we order? Soupy pork buns (Xiao Long Bao), scallion pancake, salty fish fried rice, spicy beef noodles. Soupy buns are made onsite however the flavor is inconsistent. Not many options for steamed pork buns. The wrapping is fragile and can easily be broken for the soup to be lost in the steamers. The flavor of the pork filling is good but nothing to rave over. Scallion Pancakes are crispy and fresh. Although there's too much dough and not enough actual scallions (green onions) flavor. Salty Fish Fried Rice the smell and flavor is just as described on the name of the dish. I'm a fan of both so I don't mind. If you're sensitive to saltiness and the smell of fish, I definitely would not recommend this dish. Spicy Beef Noodle Soup there's a good amount in one bowl. The noodles are firm however the soup isn't spicy enough. There are large chunks of beef but it isn't tender. Also, some pieces of beef are tough and some of the larger chunks has no flavor. In general, this place is conveniently located however I will continue my search for some more DELICIOUS SOUPY BUNS! Again, the price is very reasonable but DO NOT expect anything that will blow your buns away! read more

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Heard of this place from a friend, and came primarily for their soup dumplings. Ordered : Soup dumplings (8)- 2 orders Shumai(4)- 2 orders Szechuan chicken- 1 order Peking porkchop-1 Mapo tofu-1 Black pepper beef-1 Lo mein-1 It was about $85s. Soup dumplings were delicious and didn't break when I put it on my plate. Shumai were slightly bigger than normal, compared to other dim sum places I've been to. I so wanted to get this too because I was craving for dim sum food! It satisfied my craving for authentic sit down restaurant times. Szechuan chicken on the bone surprised me, it was a dark sauce on it. But tastes good, and soft clean bite. It just didn't look like chicken to all of us. Peking porkchop, just like any other restaurant Mapo tofu- it looked spicy and was. Red sauce shining through! Black pepper beef! This dish was spicy , even though its not red on the menu. There was so much black pepper and maybe the green chili peppers helped in the taste. Overpowered the mapo tofu spice for sure!! Beef tastes good once you get past the peppery-ness. Lo mein- the normal dish that you can't mess up and is a safety in this whole table. No pictures of food, all of us housed the food but would definitely come back again! read more

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Best Chinese food ever!! And their soups are incredible!!! Cannot say enough about them!!!