Review Yi Pin Xiang - Auckland Central

This restaurant is always busy, so booking is essential or try your luck like we did at 5.30pm. We managed to get a table and the restaurant quickly filled up by 6pm. The owner recommended a few dishes and it didn't disappoint. The flavours are unique and authentic Shanghai cuisine

The restaurant is usually quite busy but we were here on a Monday so it wasn't packed. There were quite a few interesting items on the menu so it would have been better to come as a larger group to try them all. We shared the items and they were nice. The pork with sweet sauce came with bao to wrap it in. There was a decent portion of meat with that dish. The fat fried noodles with pork rib was essentailly a Shanghai Fried noodle with pieces of deep fried pork and it was quite nice. The chicken with tofu sauce was interesting. It tasted like the red fermented beancurd and the chicken was fried quite nicely so it was crispy. Definately a nice place for good Shanghainese food.

Nice place to taste transitional Shanghai food. The steamed pork bun （小笼包）is must try food. I really like its thin skin, and juicy pork mince filling. Spring roll is dressing with crunchy and crispy outer and filled with mixed veggies and pork.

Again I have to say that You must go East to the Chinese neighborhood to eat authentic and fabulous Chinese foods! This is my first time here with our elderly parents-like "friends". They told me this one has been operating for more than 20 years. Hong Kong background owner who married a Shanghai lady so they actually make a wonderful balance on the menu. What a tasty meal we had at lunch today! Way better than any Shanghai restaurants in all Auckland although it's an absolutely old fashioned one. You won't regret to drive all the way to the East. They are just so beautifully making the foods.

Luckly walked in and got a table here today. Their food quality has been supreme for so many year!

This place has amazing delicious Chinese food! Each dish was so full of flavour and made so well, we finished everything. We came here with our families and they were so impressed with the food. We will definitely return in the future.

It was my third times visit this , but every time it was full house, luck my friend pre-booked a table. foods taste is good. Price is excellent. But the place is currently under staff as far as I believe,

Great place to enjoy Shanghainese cuisine. Good service and food

Outstanding Shanghai Restaurant. Best in Auckland

Friendly staff and super delicious food. There are lots of their signature dishes. We love steam blue cod and salty egg yolk prawn

Delicious food but super oily

This place offers traditional Shanghai style food. There have few non Chinese eaters, where must be really Chinese restaurant. Price wide $25-$30 per a dish, service reasonable portion. They have well designed menu available, order per picture makes much easier. It is very hard scale taste, depends on each personal lifestyle. It is pretty good place overall. A grade hygiene certificate in place, lots of parking available.

My favourite restaurant in Howick! Fish is the best!!!!

Always maintained it's standard except for the time when one of it's chefs bailed out to start on his own. Soon after, it managed to recover and even launched new authentic dishes. The interior is plain, simple and clean, and the waiting staff and owners are friendly and efficient.

The food is tasty, and as my taste buds are quite sensitive to excessive ajinomoto, I did not feel as such from the multiple dishes we had. I'm please with the well presented dishes as well as surprisingly pleasant to taste. However, you need to lower your expectation about getting good or even reasonable service (certainly lacking in the smiles too). If the good food is enough for you to ignor the low service level, then this could be the place for you.

Undeniably delicious Shanghainese food, the squirrel fish (pine nuts fish) is quite genuine and appropriate for the Chinese New Year, highly recommended. Su ji (bean curd soya) fried with mushroom & edamame is one of the typical Shanghainese vegetarian dishes.

Me and my friend went here for early dinner once. It was hard ordering the food since the staffs dont speak english but we managed to order the Soup Dumpling through photos. It was fun actually. Lots of laugh. The food is really yummy!

Consistently good food here but the staff are also consistently unfriendly :P

We love pork hock, stir round bean, chicken n wonton soup in casserole, deep fry chicken pieces with special tofu sauce and fried pumpkin cake.

Pretty authentic restaurant. You can tell as it’s always quite busy with locals. Food is alright. Nothing special in my opinion and lacking some more vege/vegan options.

One of my favourite spots to have lunch. My family used to go every sunday and we recently went back again and the food is as good as ever. My favourite dishes are the real simple ones like the meatball noodle soup things and the pan fried dumplings. They have pretty big servings and the service is pretty good.

One of our favourite go to shanghai food restaurant in howick, we often come for lunch and this time we try their dinner menu and realise they don’t offer much soup noodles like the lunch menu, it was packed on a Wednesday evening...<br/>we order a large pork stew , a vegetarian bun ( always my fav) and a sour and spicy soup ( this is huge for $14). <br/>Overall everything is good, happily to come back for another dinner.

Our family had been coming here for years because it’s so delicious. Always fresh, fast and great service. would highly recommend this place to anyone!

Yum! Always come here for lunch on the weekend with the family. Their soup dumplings are some of the best and is delicious. The shanghai fried noodles are a classic and so is the drunken chicken.<br/>

Yi Pin Xiang has been my mother and grandmother’s fave dinner spot for years now.<br/><br/>Easily understandable why this place is always packed as there is a wide range of dishes that cater a variety of different preferences. Fantastic service, reasonable prices and consistently delicious-tasting food. Always very fast even during rush hour dinner time. <br/><br/>Portions are relatively large in comparison to similar restaurants. Would say this is the best restaurant in the Meadowlands area and one of the best Chinese restaurants in Auckland. Gotta get in early to order the Xiao Long Bao because they sell out quick af. <br/><br/>Perfect restaurant to visit for a family dinner.

Came here for a family lunch outings.  We have been here in the past and we quite like Shanghainese food.  They were very packed so booking is recommended.  <br/><br/>We ordered quite a few dishes and I highly recommend their entree - smoked dry fish slices which was sweet and savoury at the same time. For the mains, sweet and vinegar pork chop is a classic and is a must try.  Personally, this is my most favourite dish.  The most let down dish was the crispy noodle with pork strip.  I've had this dish from various place before and the noodles are normally fried and crispy at the bottom, (which is then covered with some savoury pork strips that has been cooked in some sort of stew with vegetables and mushrooms).  This was not the case, the noodles were not crispy at all, so it should really be just called stir fry noodle with pork or "soggy" fried noodles with pork.  It also tasted pretty bland. <br/><br/>Although the food standard was good, their service needs a bit of work.  I understand that they are busy, but since we are paying customers, they should not be trying to chase us out the door.  So we had multiple instances where there were food on the table and I myself still have food in my mouth.  They were trying to pack up our dishes.  One of the wait staff literally took the plate in front of me while I was still eating and we had to emphasize that WE ARE STILL EATING.  This kind of service should not happen anywhere at all.  I was quite disappointed by this.  <br/><br/>Will I be coming back again? Maybe.  I hope this poor level of service was just a one time thing.  I really like Shanghainese food, so I might be tempted to give this any try in the future.<br/><br/>Taste - 3.5/5<br/>Service - 1/5<br/>Ambiance - 3/5

It is clean and they serve tea right after we got the seat. The mini steam bun is a must try and the beef w black pepper sauce is delicious as well. While, Stir Shanghai noodles is normal for us which is just plain noodles with little meat and vege.

Usually go there for lunch. Price is reasonable and food taste real good. Love their spring roll and fried rice. Service is good if they not busy. Would definitely visit again~

A typical asian restaurant of the smaller variety. I mainly wanted to stop in to try the soup dumplings. I'm on a bit of a crusade to find an establishment that does them as close to home as possible. I'm having mixed success to be honest.<br/><br/>These particular soup dumplings were quite edible but still have quite a lot of room for improvement. Decor was about what you'd expect given the size of the place.

This is a Chinese restaurant worth visiting. It’s clean and the food is delicious and authentic tasting. Loved the vegetarian bao and gong bao jiding. Will visit again to try more delicacies.

By far best Shanghainese food - if not, best food - in Auckland.<br/><br/>Crispy prawn with buttered egg yolk and the crispy chicken with chilli and onion are a must, as is sweet and sour pork or any sizzling beef dish. <br/><br/>

Our family favorite take away restaurant. A lot of nice dishes . The buns, noodles, rice cakes , smoke fish etc... very delicious . The place is always busy. I think it’s one of the best Shanghainese restaurants in Auckland .

Decided to try it after a friend kept going on about how good the mini steam buns are. We went early as apparently will sell out fast. Got there at 11:30am as they just opened, the food came pretty quickly, by 12pm the restaurant was packed and lots of people came in for takeaway of the mini steam buns. Service was good the girl had lots of smile and take away empty plates promptly. <br/><br/>Mini steam bun was juicy, thin wrapping as it should and doesn’t break easily. I would personally like it to have a bit more ginger in it, but just a personally preference. Highly recommend it. Fried buns also juicy, crispy down the bottom and soft on top. Turnip cake is light in flavour, strips of turnip mixed with a bit of pork mince and spring onion, fluffy pastry, can taste the natural sweetness from the turnip.<br/><br/>I’m sensitive to MSG so I like to give a MSG rating. Only base on my body reaction. It’s surprisingly very little MSG in those 3 dishes, I give it a 1/10. Food was lightly salted, we enjoyed it very much. Will definitely come back.

Came here for dinner tonight. One of my favourite shanghainese restaurants.<br/>- Rice cakes were quite chewy and slices were thin.<br/>- The deep fried chicken pieces with special tofu was tender on the inside and crispy on the outside.<br/>- Pancakes had choy as a filling in them. Thought that was a very interesting choice.<br/>- Egg whites and yolk in vinegar is a must try dish. Mixing it into your rice proved to be an excellent choice.<br/>- Crispy prawns with salted buttered yolk was one of the best dishes.<br/>We got some glutinous rice balls for dessert to finish off. I would definitely come back to try other interesting dishes I've never tasted ;)

Delicious shanghainese food, my family has been going for years and it's always a good time. The food is really good and definitely can recommend the fried chicken and broth soups

Came here to lunch with a friend and her toddler. We order dan Dan noodles and crispy noodle. Dan dan noodle soup has a subtle spiciness that left a pleasant aftertaste; crispy noodle was tender and not too soggy. Enjoyed lunching here and the price is reasonable.

Went this place recently for dinner, quite crowded on the weekend night, heard friends said this place is good (a few months ago). <br/>We ordered the sweet and sour fried whole fish, as we all like sweet and sour flavoured dishes. I must say they have used very strong food colouring, the fish looked so red. My husband used his hands to pick fish bones out for the kids, after that it's so hard to wash the colour off even with soap. <br/>We also ordered salty egg toufu, and the toufu inside has no taste at all and served with the thick starch base. <br/>And one more the fried mushroom with vege, which is ok. <br/>The good thing is they served the food quite fast.

It's a typical Chinese restaurant. Small place, but it's cleaner than most Chinese restaurants. The one bathroom is not very pleasant though. Service was quick mainly because we booked a table and came early (5:30) when there weren't that many people. However 4/5 waiters I see around the restaurant were irritant or emotionless. We came here for my Gramp's birthday. I'll list the things we ordered and what our family thought- my grandparents are extremely good cooks around Asian flavours, so I hope it'll give some helpful reviews. Also sorry about the photo- it was taken towards the end of our meal. I've listed them in order clockwise staring from the snow pea dish.<br/>Chinese cured-meat infused snow peas- this wasn't on the menu but was on the notice board on their back wall. I think if you ask the waiter about suggestions, they would definitely suggest you a dish from that list, which is always good to try out. It was $32, but there was a generous amount of snow peas on the plate.<br/>C9 Hot and sour pork strips- literally tasted like vinegar. Would not recommend<br/>Stir-fried chow mein noodles- I don't really know if this is on their menu? We just asked if they had any noodles and they said this was the only one. Basically thick udon-like noodles with bean paste sauce and some cabbage strips. <br/>B26 Hot and spicy squid- just fried battered squid bits with salt. There were no signs of any other spice at all. So I guess if you like deep fried squid, order this.<br/>K2 Pumpkin pie- so this is basically fried glutinous rice balls covered in sesame seeds with like 2 drops of the red bean stuffing inside. But like all fried glutinous rice balls, it tasted quite nice<br/>C6 Sweet and sour pork- my grandparents order this at every Chinese restaurant we've been. The flavour was very good, but the sauce was artificially bright red and didn't fully coat all the pieces- but hey, Chinese restaurant aren't really known for their attention to detail, right? Would recommend<br/>F6 beef with black pepper sauce on sizzling plate- my dad orders this at every Chinese restaurant lol. Meat was deliciously tender. Would recommend<br/>B2 Steamed seasonal whole fish with ginger. This comes in a huge plate. I read other comments saying the fish they ordered weren't fresh... The cooks are probably slacking off thinking that slathering thick sauce would cover it up. With steamed fish, the freshness of the fish is very apparent, so I'd recommend this is you're looking for a fresh palate-cleansing dish.<br/>We didn't order any off the dim sum menu but I could hear around me tables ordering it. They didn't have any unless you pre-ordered it.<br/>The main downfall of the night was probably payment. Always, always calculate your check. They charged us a few dollars extra, and when we asked, they lady boss began to shout at us, saying how difficult it was to run the business without charging extra. Extremely rude and dismissive. She was also the one that served us in the beginning, and it seems like now we've finished, she just wants our money and for us to get out. When we asked about the price of the take out bags, she kept on changing her mind. Didn't want to ruin the night by an angry lady so we just left, paying the few extra dollars. Total bill came to $180 for a family of seven, with some takeaway (and extra angry lady money).<br/>Would I come here again? Probably not unless other Chinese relatives make us come here. I value service a lot, and would rather pay more to get a comfortable, relaxed, and smooth experience.

We were lucky to have an early lunch, as it got really busy even before noon on a weekday. We had steamed chicken in wine (a small cold dish), Shanghai thick noodles & steamed soup dumplings (xiao-long bao).  Food was good.  A lot of customers ordered smoked fish & fried buns, which looked very nice.  (Food - 3.5/5; Service - 3/5; Ambience - 2/5)

Ordered the fried whole fish because it looked very appealing. As soon as we ate passed the fried batter, we could taste the raw fish odour that left a bad stench in your immediate breathe because the fresh was spoilt. <br/><br/>Told the manager about this but no action was taken and just told us they served it all like that.<br/><br/>Was not the first time others on the table have tried this exact same dish at this restaurant, and even they could taste it was spoilt.<br/><br/>Other dishes were fine. <br/><br/>Couldn't finish the fish and left it as it was.

Every time I go to Yi Ping Xiang there are at least two dishes that I order unavailable. If you go there for lunch, its pretty much first in first serve because they seem to run out the dishes real quick. If you go there for dinner...then...they would either say "we ran out" or "the chef didnt prepare it today". Overall....the food are OK

Would give them a zero if I could!!!<br/>I am not an unreasonable person and will say that the food is not bad, but the kind of service - or very much LACK THEREOF - makes even the best item on their menu taste like an old sock. Learn some manners. Maybe learn some basic English while you're at it!! Can't be that hard to learn "please wait" or "I'm sorry, no English" and fetch someone who can (I know there is at least one lady who is able). Have dined here twice on recommendation by Chinese friends; third time here tonight but walked away after 10mins of aimless waiting and getting ignored after politely asking staff "excuse me , can I have a table for two please". <br/>Unless you're Chinese-speaking and don't mind rude people serving you average food, DO NOT GO. <br/>

A friend said that Yi Pin Xiang has the best xiaolongbao in Auckland. To proof his point he got some takeaway for us to try. Despite it being a bit cold it was still indeed very delicious. Will definitely go back again and try it fresh out of the steamer.

We ordered the vegetarian chicken with peas & mushrooms, plain steamed buns & the meat buns. The vegetarian chicken was flavourful & delicious. The plain steamed buns were so soft and marshmallow like, you could sink your fangs in to them. With the meat buns, the outer she@ll of the buns were nice & soupy but the meat inside was slightly dry & overcooked. All this cost me $32, not too bad considering we enjoyed our meal. We'll definitely be going back to try the other dishes. :O)

Should avoid this place. Awful service. Shanghai food here was alright. Probably not bad for Auckland standard. Its pretty average really. Was a bit surprised with the positive comments. At least my experience here was poor. The staff were rude. They avoided eye contact to minimize their work. Don't care attitude. Big time.

Absolutely delicious! I come here in groups of friends and have a fantastic time :) their chicken fried rice is lovely. I just wish they served pork buns as a dinner option.

This is one of the best Shanghai restaurants in Auckland run by a family. The taste is clean as Shanghai dishes should be, with a touch of sweetness. Lots of choices and it's a good place for family gathering. It's always busy and the attitudes of the two sisters can be a bit overwhelming. It's almost that they don't really care even you don't ever come back.

While awaiting Ming Court to open we tried Yi Pin Xiang . It was great like  stepping back in time . Food was great didn't quite understand the menu . But picked wisely and was pleasantly surprised. It was fresh and colourful. no mSG which is very important to me

First time we had been here and really enjoyed it , very busy more cafe dining but food great. Salt and pepper prawns amazing , green beans with mince and garlic, ribs and sweet and sour blue cod . Would go again ! Also BYO and take outs available !

Yi Pin Xiang has been a regular lunch time spot for my dad and I for the past few months, and for good reason too as we would always order the same two dishes : The xiao long bao and the fried buns but a note about these fried buns, they usually run out pretty quick especially in weekends so I'd recocmend either calling in ahead to reserve a plate or to go in earlier and try your luck :P<br/><br/>The xiao long baos here never fail to be filled with a delicious soup and the wrapping is always the perfect thinness and not too doughy. So goood! I could have hundreds of these little treasures here :) The fried buns are extremely tasty and are also always filled with soup, the crispiness of the fried side with the sesames make for a perfect lunch!<br/>The service can sometimes be below average, however it's forgiveable for these dishes they offer hehe. Good and cheap place for lunch, high recommended!<br/><br/>UPDATE! Dinner dishes :)<br/>I've been here for dinner with my family twice in two weeks now cos the dishes have been amazing!! Definitely reccomend the stewed pork cubes !! My favourite dish of all time here ( order it with mantou pancakes you won't regret it!). The salted pork and bamboo shoot soup was beautiful too AND the sweet and sour fish was definitely something to try out! EVERYTHING SO GOOD! <br/><br/>P.s. the service from one of the waitress, Annie, is 10/10 ! Cant wait to come back here again for the pork again hehe

Didn't expect great service and was not surprised by what I received. Seating is sometimes hectic, but we usually arrive midway through dinner rush with the restaurant relatively full, so there's little to complain about.<br/><br/>There's a huge range of dishes, all the ones I've tried of which are great, authentic, Chinese dishes which aren't too salty as I've commonly experienced in some Chinese eateries, so this was a pleasant surprise.<br/><br/>My family and I have been frequent customers of this restaurant now, ordering a mix of both what sounds good and especially what the English-speaking lady recommends; she hasn't offered up a bad dish yet. What I've found is that if you go with an open mind, then the food is delightful in many aspects; well-balanced in its seasoning and never too heavy, we have yet to encounter a dish in their repertoire that we haven't enjoyed. For the adventurous, look to the lady who's happy to suggest the best dishes.<br/><br/>As for lunch, the portions are very decent for the prices, and with a good range that offers both some yum cha-style dim sum dishes or Chinese dishes. It's a good place to go for a meal, but make sure to get in a bit earlier to get a seat.<br/><br/>Great food. Truly, truly good food.

WORST dinner ever...lucky for the AWESOME company. They wouldn't put duck in my meal, only sold half ducks for $28 with nothing...they didn't sell alcohol there, they didn't ask if we wanted drinks, I asked for no onions and it comes out spring onion all through it so I couldn't eat it, I asked for takeaway they bring out a container and plastic bag me to do it myself! Good portion sizes though.

I get here about every 2 months. Cheap n cheerful class of down market restaurants. Prawn w. green tea flavour dish my fav. as are the big bowls of soups for tables of .4. Noisy and patience despite reservations is a virtue. Come here for authentic good-sized dishes for reas. Prices not silver service.

Always great Chinese food here. They do an awesome sweet and sour pork and their crispy duck is pretty special as well. Another firm favorite is the stewed pork belly which has star Anais added. The atmosphere is always busy and some times it can be interesting getting the staff to understand you but the food is really good. Would definitely recommend.

Consistantly good Chinese food. Can recommend Hot and Spicy Prawns (not hot), Sweet and Vinegar Pork Riblets and green beans with pork mince and garlic.