Shun Lee

Occasion: Jill's birthday!
Location: Shun Lee on 65th between W Central Park and B'way (shunleewest.com) [Note: there's another location on the east side, but they don't seem to be very closely affiliated and their menus are quite different]
Edibles: a mixed appetizer plate with a xiao long bao, cold sesame noodles, a fried shrimp ball and a pork (I think) and veggie lettuce cup; a mixed main course plate with orange beef, stir-fried prawns, some kind of chicken and a bowl of fried rice with Chinese sausage

Musings: First, happy birthday Jill! I'm glad we got to see you to celebrate before you jetted off for your beach vacay!

As for the restaurant... My impressions of Shun Lee previous to this visit were that it was a moderately nice Chinese restaurant, if slightly overpriced. They used to have a very good tea-smoked duck (not on their menu anymore) that I would occasionally treat myself to if I was in the neighborhood.

Tonight, I think they took advantage of our group inertia to play fast and loose with a "prix fixe" menu. What we should have done was: A) ordered wine by the bottle; B) each picked one entree (ranging from about $18 - $30) and eaten family-style. Instead, for the okay meal they picked out for us, the bill was an absolutely ASTRONOMICAL $80 per person. I felt especially bad for our one vegetarian, who had a plate of tofu stir-fry and paid the same as the rest of us.

This is decidedly not the economic environment to be pulling this kind of stunt, Shun Lee - shame on you. I will not be back.