Ping Lee

The first time we came, the restaurant was so popular that we couldn’t get in. On our second visit, we were seated in a wonderful spot. We would especially like to thank the kind and attentive server, Ting Ting. Her detailed introductions to every dish helped us choose exactly what we loved. Her warmth made us want to come back again. During the meal, when we accidentally started coughing, she thoughtfully brought us a gentle warm drink that soothed our throats. The manager, Jimmy, was also very humble and professional. His service was thorough and attentive, he handled our requests perfectly, and greeted us sincerely. He truly went the extra mile to take care of every guest’s needs. The level of professionalism we experienced was outstanding, just like the food itself. Thank you all for taking such great care of us. We are already loyal fans and look forward to our next visit.

Grace Bian

This is one of the best Chinese restaurants in the city - I was born and raised in China and traveled across the country for food, and I can say with confidence that Cheli is incredible authentic and meets the highest standards. They serve dishes that I didn’t even know I could find in the US. Our waitress, Tingting, is amazing. She was so attentive to bring us extra water, napkins and wet towels without us even asking. She is friendly and warm, and did a pro job at the fire show that came with the beggar chicken (sorry spoiler alert)! Tingting’s wonderful service was the cherry on top for a delicious meal.

Tito

good, well priced Chinese food. Highly recommended the soup dumplings, pork belly, and the mandarin fish. Service is good. They forgot to bring drink order once, but besides that no complaints. It gets busy on weekends.

+1

MM Ting

The vibe here is great—cozy, relaxed, and very welcoming. The food was seriously delicious, and everything we ordered exceeded our expectations. You can tell a lot of thought goes into both the dishes and the overall experience. Our server Hua is really nice！ Would definitely come back and recommend it to friends!

angelica gonzalez

I can’t recommend this place enough! Amazing experience. The food was excellent. Each bite was more delicious than the next. Recommend the pan fried wontons, don’t forget to request hot chili oil and the spicy beef. Our server Tingting was very attentive and a sweetheart. One of the best Chinese meals I’ve ever had in the city. Don’t miss this place!

Jamie Rivera

This was an overall outstanding experience. From the unique ambiance driven by the expertly crafted interior design, to the tech-savvy touchpad oriented menu and ordering system (which was such a relief not knowing what kind of food to expect), and then of course the food! We had a tasting of the soup dumplings — crab, pork and truffle — and each one was an explosion of wonderful flavors in each bite. Then we had the braised beef, the shrimp and sweet pork — each coming with totally unique presentation (steaming from under the plate to flaming around the plate). This is a MUST visit restaurant. 👍

Ariana Rivera

Everything we ordered was amazing! The braised pork belly was delicious and everything complimented each other. The soup dumplings were perfect! The atmosphere is very lively, fun, and unique. Not only did the food taste great, but the presentations were elaborate and delightful. Our servers (Sing and Nilson) checked up on our food, and consistently checked up on us. Overall a really fun dining experience!

Shuwei Guo

The food here was honestly so good. Every dish had great flavor and felt super thoughtfully made — especially the lotus leaf chicken and the sizzling pot, they were unforgettable. Also, huge shout-out to Hazen for the amazing service. He was really friendly, attentive, and patient, and just made the whole experience even better. And also very handsome haha. Definitely recommend this place! Will be coming back again soon.

Michelle Shao

We had a wonderful meal at cheli on a Friday night, it was very packed so book ahead. We ordered the garlic eel, xiao long bao, stir fry vegs, braised pork and stir fry rice cake. Everything was so good. Even the hot pear soup was good. The portion was very generous and the serving was top notch too. Wish I came with more people so I could get to try more dishes haha.

+5

Sarah Yao

cheli is amazing!!! I've been to this restaurant countless times, and it never disappoints. This time, I tried the new lobster and beef tongue dishes — absolutely stunning! The beef tongue was incredibly tender and flavorful, a real standout. I also love how the menu has evolved beyond the usual sweet flavors of Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine, now offering some spicy options that really enrich the overall taste profile. On top of that, the service is always warm and attentive — it truly feels like home every time I come.

Jonathan Poyser

Cheli was fantastic! We had the braised rice, short beef ribs, crispy duck, and the house soup (spicy but the best kind of spicy) everything was absolutely delicious. The flavors were bold and authentic, and the portions were generous. Our server, Hazen, was a true delight warm, attentive, and made the whole experience even better. Easily one of the best meals we’ve had in a long time. Can’t wait to come back!

Jessi Ton

The environmental vibe is great here, feels like back in China. The food was tasty and authentic Chinese. Love the braised pork belly. It’s definitely fun to watch the presentation of the shrimp dish. Kids were amazed by it.

+2

eric Linz

It is a very good Chinese restaurant. We liked the taste of food. We like most the steamed dumplings, and beef with black pepper sauce. Both, in our opinion, are very impressive and set Che Li above some other restaurants. Pork rib with sweet and sour sauce was also good; It is different from what we had in other restaurant. We liked the experience. it just did not wowed us. Crispy duck was OK. If we come again, we are not likely to order it again. A shrimp with dragon well tea flavor was disappointing. We had much superior same dish in other restaurants. Here, We could hardly taste any tea flavor. Shrimps were not superbly prepared. I thought shrimps were just cooked and slapped on the serving plate A green veggie dish was undercooked to our liking. Given the over all quality of this restaurant, we wondered whether or not the undercooking was Cheli’s standard cooking We ordered a “better selling dessert “. It was also disappointing. It was basically a starchy block with a special sweet sauce. We definitely are not fans. Service was great. The restaurant has a shared service model. We interacted with many servers. All of them are polite, pleasant, and tried their best to help. Restaurant decoration was elegant, subdued, and inviting. We like the dining area surroundings and relaxed ambiance. A good place to sit down and enjoy the moments Our experience is good enough for us to come back in the future.

noneyn

Firstly, the interior is amazing - it's like a little Chinese town inside New York. Chinese opera is playing in the bathroom.. the atmosphere was great! I also loved staff's traditional uniform! Secondly, the variety of dishes here is impressive! Thirdly, the food is.. just really good :) I also loved the food presentation very much. I especially liked osmanthus rice wine and the eel~

+1

Khoi Pham

Goated spot for really really good Chinese cuisine. One of my favorites in the city definitely. Loved the lamb, the pork belly, and salted ham mixed rice (this rice is actually ridiculously good). The rice wine options were really good too. Amazing service during the entire meal as well. Easily a strong recommend if you're in the city.

+6

Nafees C C

What a delightful and delicious dinner. Truly stunning. Was hankering for a good Chinese restaurant having just come back from Shanghai and Chengdu. The food here is no less. The crispy duck, the dumplings, shredded beef and the eggplant were 10/10. The Shrimp was 10/10 too. The service was outstanding. Hazen engaged with us and made sure we ordered well, explained all the dishes and made sure we were attended to. What a great time.

We visited Zhe Li during Chinese New Year and made an online reservation in advance for 8:15 pm. I had confidently told my friend beforehand that Zhejiang cuisine has many delicious dishes and that this restaurant had strong online ratings. Unfortunately, we left feeling extremely disappointed. First, the seating situation was chaotic. When we arrived, there wasn’t even a proper space to queue — everyone was crowded together near the entrance. The staff were clearly overwhelmed, and despite having reservations, guests were not seated in any clear order. We watched people with the same reservation time — or even later time slots — get seated before us. We ended up waiting about 20 minutes past our reservation time. Second, service organization was lacking. It didn’t seem like servers were assigned to specific sections. Ordering and paying depended entirely on finding someone available. We had to repeatedly remind staff, and during busy moments it was easy to be overlooked. To be fair, the young staff members were hardworking and polite despite the chaos — the issue seemed more like management and organization rather than individual effort. Third, the food was underwhelming, especially for New York, where the overall dining standard is quite high. The vegetable shoots had many tough stems and were slightly too salty. The mushroom rice was fragrant and nicely mixed for us by the server, but surprisingly sweet — I don’t understand why so much sugar would be added to mushroom rice. The chicken and intestines were spicy as expected, but again leaned overly sweet and salty. The owner even mentioned to a neighboring table that because many students dine there, the flavors are intentionally heavier. Dishes also arrived in a very irregular order. The crispy duck was served one hour and fifteen minutes after we were seated — by that point, we were already full. The dessert, however, was decent. We spent around $140. The price itself wasn’t the issue, but the overly sweet and salty flavors do not represent authentic Zhejiang cuisine in our view. Unfortunately, this was not a good experience for us.

Mike

We ordered three dishes, one dessert, and an osmanthus rice wine, and the total came to about $140 after tax and a 15% tip, which felt extremely overpriced for the quality and portions. The rabbit dish was very small and quite dry, the short ribs and dessert were just average, and the only dish that was actually enjoyable was the porcini mushroom braised rice. To make things worse, about half of the dates in the dessert were already spoiled. Overall, the food we had was worth maybe $60–70 at best, nowhere near what we paid. If you’re coming for the novelty or hype, it might be fine, but if you’re looking for genuinely good Chinese food, I would not recommend this place. I honestly don’t understand where all the glowing reviews are coming from, because our experience didn’t come close to matching them.