Daniel B.
Yelp
I like Urban Hai. The food here was delicious and service was great. This is a relatively new "authentic" Chinese restaurant in the heart of Midtown. Urban Hai brings to Midtown many dishes like soup dumplings (xiaolongbao), Peking duck, and water spinach, as well as hot and numbing Sichuan dishes such as Bamboo Fish, Chongqing Chicken, and Sichuan Fish in Hot Oil.
Urban Hai is from local restaurateur Gary Lin. Lin also owns Urban Wu in Buckhead, Wei Authentic Chinese in Marietta and Buford, Hai Authentic Chinese in Alpharetta, and Wok Provisions in Duluth. These are among his many ventures which started hitting the metro Atlanta food scene in the late 2010s. If you've been to one of these restaurants, Urban Hai is more of the same, which is a good thing. They serve more of the kind of Chinese food that Chinese people eat.
Urban Hai opened in October 2022 on street level of the 77 12th high-rise apartment building at 12th and Crescent. While Hai's street address is 77 12th St NE, the restaurant storefront actually faces Crescent Ave NE. You can park in the 77 12th building parking deck. The first two hours are free with restaurant validation. Remember to bring your parking ticket with you so Urban Hai can validate it. After two hours, you'll have to pay. For my visit, the rate was $3 for every 20 minutes. The entrance to the deck is on 12th.
The restaurant has an attractive, modern design. It's not terribly big, but it's spacious enough. There's a bar, dining room, and outdoor patio. The space can accommodate larger groups and small events like birthday parties. The raised section in the "back" is good for that. There's a variety of seating including booths, round tables (great for family-style dining), and long tables. The interior is bright and glossy. Polished floors, marble bar, button booths, pattern walls and ceiling tiles, warehouse-style windows into the kitchen, and numerous light fixtures throughout.
Compared to other Chinese restaurants, Urban Hai doesn't have an exhaustive menu. It's relatively streamlined, but still offers quite a lot. In addition to the regular menu, which has good options, they have a "Chef's Specials" menu. The Chef's Specials menu wasn't on Urban Hai's website when I checked. Below is a list of what three of us got. We finished everything (no leftovers), but we also ate a lot -- this is to give you an idea on portion sizes. Descriptions in the list came from the menu.
From the Chef's Specials menu:
* Dry Fried Pork Intestines ($15)
* Water Spinach with Garlic Sauce ($25)
* Pork with Salted Vegetables ($32)
* Blueberry with Chinese Yam ($12)
From the regular menu:
Appetizers
D4. Xiaolongbao Pork Soup Dumplings (6 for $11) - classic dim sum infused with pork broth
Duck Dishes
R1. Peking Roast Duck, Half Portion ($35) - roast duck served with duck soup
Small Plate
P4. Cumin Lamb ($12) - finely sliced with cumin, cilantro, red bell pepper, onion, leeks, peppers, jalapenos, and sesame seeds
P8. Spicy Chongqing Chicken ($12) - diced fried chicken, dry stir-fried with chili peppers and numbing Szechuan peppercorns
Our favorites were the Dry Fried Pork Intestines (this was my #1 favorite), Water Spinach with Garlic Sauce, Peking Roast Duck, Cumin Lamb, and Spicy Chongqing Chicken. If you're put off by intestines, don't be. The dry-fried pork version we had here was outstanding. Each slice was mouthwatering, savory, and full of flavor.
I was very happy to see Water Spinach on the menu. It's my favorite Asian vegetable and not normally served at Chinese restaurants in the States. If I see it, I always order it. It's a treat for me. Urban Hai's version was tasty and addictive.
The Peking Duck was solid. It was served the traditional way with a soup course and a meat course with Chinese pancakes, spring onion, cucumber, and tianmian sauce (sweet bean sauce). While not as good as Chef's House Peking Duck in Duluth, this is some of the best you're going to find in the city.
The Cumin Lamb and Spicy Chongqing Chicken are some of my favorite dishes to order at Tasty China. Urban Hai's versions were almost on par with peak-level Tasty China for me. I would've preferred more Sichaun peppercorns for more of that numbing/tingly effect. Also, I thought it was odd how the lamb was served on toothpicks. I've never had Cumin Lamb like that before.
Unfortunately, the Soup Dumplings were average at best. The insides were a bit dry. It's still hard to find reliably-good Soup Dumplings in Atlanta. The "Pork with Salted Vegetables" was Mei Cai Kou Rou, steamed pork belly with preserved mustard greens. Plus, Urban Hai added bok choy. Not bad and worth ordering, but the pork belly wasn't melt-in-your-mouth.
The Blueberry with Chinese Yam was like a sweet, refreshing radish dessert.
Service was excellent. The entire staff was friendly and attentive. Everything we ordered came out in a reasonable amount of time.
This will definitely be a go-to spot when my parents come to town.