Mao's Bao

Located in the lower level of Chelsea Market and tucked away in a corner, pan fried or boiled dumplings packed with flavor await. Now, I'll admit I have a dumpling bias and I'm easily satisfied, but these were delicious. I got the pan fried pork dumplings and they were ready within 3 minutes of ordering and devoured less than 3 minutes later. The dough had a nice crisp on the bottom and the pork filling was juicy with a nice bounce when I bit into it. Served with soy sauce and hot sauce, you can enjoy them as is or get a perfect spicy bite. The dumpling dough was on the thicker side, which I don't mind, but just as a heads up to those who want their dough so thin it's see-through.

Same location but its Korean This Bulgogi Beef rice bowl was good and portion big enough for a lady The kimchi was disappointing today as the taste was not spicy not sour not crunchy The sauce to mix into the rice was just chili oil with some sour vinegar not to my liking BUT the original taste of the beef is good enough and the pickle white radish was really good and adds a kick to the meal

They had run out of the shiitake I got the 5 for 12 The beef is the best The chicken is dry and flavorless and the lamb was gamey I can live without ever eating that again. Plus they're stingy with their soy sauce.

Lotus seed bun. It’s pretty much a peanut butter bun, but still good. 3$ each, cheap and easy to eat on the go. Downstairs in Chelsea Market. Also has a lot of Asian products !

It’s located in the basement of Chelsea Market. The woman behind the counter was perfectly friendly. However, these dumpling are awful. You can find better dumplings practically anywhere else in the city, especially when china town is not so far away. On top of that, the price is $12 for 5 dumplings, which is more than double what you would pay anywhere else. As a dumpling enjoyer, I can’t stress enough to avoid this place. I feel bad to leave such a negative review, but the difference in quality needs to be noted so tourists don’t waste a meal and experience here. There are plenty of great options for food in Chelsea Market, but this is definitely not one of them!

Discovered this gem at Grand Bazaar and absolutely adored the food. Delicious, well presented, super fast service!

BAOntiful Tried a bounty of Bao at @maosbao at @chelseamarketny for a @grabbdapp collab this weekend! Did you know there’s more vendors downstairs? That’s where they’re located, in @pearlrivermart ! There’s a few other vendors in the mini food court in the Asian grocer and some more options outside of it. Definitely lots of choices to check out. So glad I got to try Mao’s Bao though. They color code their doughs to identify the fillings in them. White is for the classic popular pork; yellow for chicken with corn; orange for beef with veggies; blue marks for lamb with cumin; and green for @impossible_foods impossible burger with soy and mushrooms. Each one was delicious! I also got to chat with the team while sipping on some @teaandmilkny coffee milk tea boba! They’re another one of the wonderful vendors locations in the grocer.

Ugh the skin was thick, so dry and hard, the “white” flour still sitting in the middle of the skin when I bite in like it’s uncooked, I may be able cook better at home, waste of money and appetite

I got two buns from here at a discounted rate. One was a bun with a sausage inside. The other was a pretty standard pork bun. My biggest complaints were too much bun not enough meat. The meats were good. The bun was sweet and soft although I didn't care for it. It was pretty dry and the taste wasn't great but not bad at least. The bun with the sausage inside was a disappointment. The sausage itself was great but it was small in comparison to the bun. I wouldn't get it again. The other pork bun was pretty good but would've been better if it had more meat. I'll admit that I'm not a fan of buns though.

While I didn't get the chance to visit the local store, the staff at the event were attentive and helped us navigate through the available options. We sampled five different bao options, and while they were decent, none of them really stood out from the crowd. The dough had the right thickness, but unfortunately, the flavors didn't offer much distinction between each other. Overall, it was an average experience. If you're in the mood for bao and there aren't many other options around, it's worth a try, but don't expect anything too extraordinary.

A rare 2-stars from me, it's a great concept but not very well executed. I was excited to try the Gua Bao and Jian Bao. The Gua Bao wasn't available, so we tried the Juan Bao. They looked good being cooked (see pictures) but as they were not served freshly made, the skins were not crispy and overall not hot enough. Some of the skins were broken so no juices. We tried the pork and lamb, the fillings were dense and not soft, felt like they were frozen meat. The service was friendly and helpful.

Tried the lamb, chicken and beef dumplings during a street festival. Ordered 3x of each and came out to just under $30. The lamb had that gamey taste which wasn't for me. The chicken was alright, but the beef was probably the best tasting they had.

Our party of three shared an order of 12 dumplings consisting of lamb, beef, pork, and chicken. The dumplings tasted ok. However, the dumpling skin was way too thick. There were no tables for eating. There are much better dumpling shacks in NYC than this place.

Stopped by here to get a quick late lunch. I walked up to order and the employee working there was finishing up frying the jian baos. I ordered the 5 piece for $10 I originally got the 2 pork, 2 chicken 1 beef. After ordering the employee had asked if I like lamb. I said yes as all food is delicious and saw her add an extra bao lamb flavor. That was extremely generous of her. I paid for my food and went to sit down at one of their tables. The food was good. I think the chicken needed a bit more corn but the other flavors were good. I would get all of them again especially the lamb and pork.

Visited Chelsea Market and decided to check out Mao's Bao. The food was alright, but the service was sluggish and uninspiring. Moreover, they were out of a significant portion of their menu.

Came here at 6:30pm on a Tuesday. The bao's were cute but severely undercooked. I took one bite saw a lot of pink and checked the other baos right away. All undercooked.

Sorry for the 1 star but the way you've been neglecting UWS with the chili/red sauce yet charge here the most is so unfair. Please bring back the sauce. And sine you charge us here more maybe bring some of this other sauces here too. Will def edit the review but I neeed your attention. It's been 3weeks that my heart is broken every Sunday! Thank you.

I like their mix-and-match concept! I got 1 each of their chicken, lamb, pork, beef, and Impossible baos for $10. I thought the lamb and the pork were made especially well, and shout out to the Impossible bao for blending right in with the other baos. I definitely would not have been able to pick out the impostor meat amongst the 5 baos in a blind taste test. The baos also come with sriracha and soy vinegar dipping sauce. The soy vinegar was pretty good but I think that chili oil would've been more complementary than the sriracha. One note is that since these baos are so small, the 5/$10 is more of a snack than a meal. I'm the type of person who usually splits restaurant meals into two but even I was still hungry after eating the baos. Maybe leaving room for the other million eateries in Chelsea Market is for the best though!

Bright color-coded pan-fried buns as well as boiled dumplings are sold at this Chinese place in Chelsea Market. It is on the lower level of the Pearl River Mart next to Kimbap Lab. ----- Jian Bao (Pan Fried Buns): any 5 for $10 with a minimum of five pieces. Includes chili sauce and rice vinegar. We picked one of each: - Pork - Chicken (yellow): with corn - Beef (orange): with mixed veggies - Lamb (purple): with cumin - Impossibao (green): with Impossible burger meat, wheat soy, mushrooms The place was not busy at all at noon on Monday, but a large batch had already been cooked and were just being kept warm. As a consequence, the bottom had lost the crispiness, one of the main points of jian baos. Biting into the buns, the dough was rather thick and had no juices from the filling. Filling itself was actually good though, and it was interesting to try a lamb bao. We found the sauces unnecessary as the fillings were seasoned enough. ----- Guest Wi-Fi is available via the market.

Mao's Bao is in the basement of Chelsea Market inside Pearl River Mart Foods, which also has an awesome bubble tea place (Tea and Milk) and kimbap spot (Kimbap Lab). My boyfriend and I grabbed some pork, chicken, and lamb bao - along with a small order of PRC noodles - as takeout for lunch. Bao come in orders of 5, and they let you mix and match. The pork bao was my favorite, followed by the lamb. Chicken was decent, too. I definitely want to try the other varieties next time. Finally, the noodles were great, and the portion was pretty big (especially for $6)!

There was a smorgasbord right next to the oculus today and we walked through and passed the maos bao stand! There was no line which is a big mistake but also a blessing. There was a deal of 6 dumplings for $15 so we got pork to all try, the guy working was so nice he gave us 25% off since we payed with Apple Pay. The dumpling was so so good not oily or fatty at all just delicious. Definitely want to try more and am going to return!

Eh - it was okay. The concept is nice, but the Bao just don't taste fresh. They taste like they've been sitting in a steamer all day even though they're supposed to be pan-fried. So there's no crispness to it other than the top part of the skin that was stale. In terms of flavor, the pork was okay. The Lamb was definitely heavy on the cumin.

This place #%*%}#^}{ sucks. The bun was thicker than the meat but that was honestly ok because the meat tasted like #%^* . Not fresh at alll either - saw them just taking it out of a warmer when we were served. May be good for tourists to avoid and just go to China town to experience a better experience (or even microwaveable baos from Asian market or Trader Joe's).

W A R N I N G. DO NOT EAT HERE. bun is so dry and thick. i took a tiny bite out of every flavor and had to force my boyfriend to finish them. poor guy. please save your time and money everyone.

In the Chelsea Market downstairs I ordered Mao's Bao. It was steamed well with a variety of dumplings whether steamed or pan fried. I tried multiple types and I appreciate how they took the time for my order. Staff was friendly and accommodating with the table service.

The customer service is great. Is seems to be staffed with a cashier and a cook who are very nice people. You can see your food being prepared. They also filled up my water bottle for me (cold tap water) and gave me an extra pair of chopsticks and extra napkins. The wait time was only about 3-4 minutes. PRC noodles are sour and tangy. The bamboo alternates between tough and fibrous or bursting with juice depending on what piece you bite into. The lo mein noodles are lowkey just thin spaghetti noodles. -their pork baos are fluffy and flavorful. I recconmend their pork baos but get your noodles somewhere else.

The doughy bun is the best part of these buns - so pillowy and fresh and crispy, too. The fillings were a little too Indian-inspired for me, with cumin and curry in the chicken and lamb baos, not a fan. But the pork buns were definitely good, like little wontons.

I came around 6:40 they are closing so only 3 flavors left... It's $10 plus tax for 5 Baos. The Baos are okay... It dough is stick and chewable and fulfilled. Not super super impressive ... comparing to Ding Tai Feng.

We had these baos at the 9th Ave food festival and they were terrible! We waited on line and they looked so god that we couldn't wait to try them. We got the lamb, pork and chicken and they all tasted like nothing! The skins were so delicate but the meat inside has zero flavor, I'm mad I wasted money on them ($2/dumpling) and the space in my belly. I could have eaten something else that was much better. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME HERE!

I had these at a food festival. I got 2 pork, 2 chicken, and 2 lamb. The pork didn't taste very good and was clearly the worst of the 3 (interesting since it seems to be the most popular). The lamb and chicken were of similar quality although the chicken was slightly better. Neither were seasoned well. The only real pro is that these were pretty filling.

Ate from their food truck. Great selection, great prices, decent taste. They have lab, vegetarian, chicken, and beef.

We ordered the chicken baos, they lacked flavor and meat was very dry. Worst of all they are stingy with tiny containers of soy vinegar. I saw a white lady ask for and was given extra soy vinegar but when I asked for extra he treated me differently and said only two per order. I wonder why I was treated differently.

I had the impossible vegan jian bao and it was pretty dang good. Stopped by at a little vendor pop up near Bryant Park on Sunday and was pleasantly surprised.

I tried the pork, chicken, and beef bao and I wish I had ordered more! They were very tasty. They had a great deal of 5 bao for $10. Plus, the cashier/server was very friendly!