Fifty seats at 380 Amsterdam Avenue went dark on March 8, 2026, when Jing Fong closed its Upper West Side location after eight years. The compact corner room never ran the dim sum carts that made the original Chinatown hall famous, but it carved out a following for Cantonese dumplings within walking distance of Riverside Park. The closure leaves the neighborhood without that particular compromise—close-to-home dim sum in a dining room sized for weeknight dinner rather than weekend banquet chaos.
Karpo tracks which dim sum spots near you are open right now and builds a route that fits your evening. Check current hours and transit times before you leave.
The Two Jing Fongs
The original Jing Fong opened at 202 Centre Street in Chinatown in 1978 and still operates in a format built for volume: multi-story banquet space, servers pushing steel carts through crowds, families claiming tables for marathon weekend sessions. The Upper West Side sibling, which opened in July 2017, occupied the former Planet Sushi space and seated 50 inside with roughly 40 more on an outdoor patio. It added a 10-seat chef's counter where diners could watch dumplings being assembled, but it skipped the carts entirely. Orders came from a printed menu, delivered to the table in rounds.
The decision between the two locations, when both were running, depended on whether you wanted spectacle or convenience. Chinatown meant navigating weekend waits, scanning passing carts for shu mai and har gow, absorbing the noise of a room built to hold hundreds. The Upper West Side branch traded that energy for a quicker seat and a tighter menu at moderate prices: har gow ran $8.75, BBQ pork buns $8.00, Peking duck dumplings $9.00. Regulars learned to arrive just before the weekend rush to skip the wait, and staff would turn on cartoons for restless toddlers while parents worked through baskets of shrimp dumplings.
What the Menu Held
The Amsterdam Avenue kitchen focused on Cantonese dim sum staples—har gow, siu mai, char siu bao—but the standout dish sat outside the dumpling lineup. Chicken salted fish fried rice appeared on the menu as a rice plate, not a dim sum basket, and combined flaked salted fish with wok-seared grains and diced chicken in a preparation that regulars ordered alongside their steamer trays. The kitchen handled high chairs and stroller parking in the back of the dining room, a setup that made weeknight family dinners workable when Chinatown felt too far or too loud.
Without carts, the rhythm of the meal changed. Diners marked paper menus, handed them to servers, and received rounds of bamboo steamers in a predictable sequence rather than flagging down roving carts. The trade-off meant losing the spontaneity of pointing at mystery dumplings as they rolled past, but it also meant faster turnover and more predictable timing on a Tuesday night when you wanted three baskets and out in under an hour.
Why It Closed
Jing Fong's Upper West Side branch shut down on March 8, 2026, after operating for just under nine years. The closure notice offered no public explanation—no lease dispute, no staffing crisis, no pandemic aftershock. The original Chinatown location at 202 Centre Street continues to serve dim sum with the full cart service and banquet-hall layout that the uptown sibling never attempted to replicate. The gap it leaves on Amsterdam Avenue is specific: a neighborhood dim sum option that didn't require a subway ride downtown or a weekend commitment to wait times and shared tables with strangers.
Where That Leaves Dim Sum Uptown
The Upper West Side now lacks a dedicated dim sum dining room within a ten-minute walk of the 79th Street station. Chinatown remains the default for cart service and variety, but the trek south adds thirty minutes each way and favors weekend plans over quick weeknight meals. The decision that used to hinge on atmosphere versus convenience now collapses into a single option: make the trip to Centre Street or skip dim sum entirely. The 50-seat room at 380 Amsterdam, with its chef's counter and outdoor patio, offered a middle path that no longer exists.
Practical notes
Jing Fong's Upper West Side location at 380 Amsterdam Avenue, at the corner of West 78th Street, closed permanently on March 8, 2026. The original Chinatown location at 202 Centre Street remains open and offers traditional dim sum cart service in a multi-level banquet hall. Pricing at the now-closed uptown branch ran moderate, with individual dim sum plates between eight and nine dollars. The nearest subway lines to the former Upper West Side address include the 1 train at 79th Street, a two-block walk east. The Chinatown location sits near the N, Q, R, W, J, and Z trains at Canal Street. No reservations were required at the Upper West Side branch; the Chinatown hall operates on a walk-in basis with waits common on weekend mornings and early afternoons.
- Address: 380 Amsterdam Avenue (corner of West 78th Street), New York, NY 10024 – PERMANENTLY CLOSED as of March 8, 2026
- Hours: No longer operating; original Chinatown location at 202 Centre Street remains open
- Price: Former pricing: Har Gow $8.75, BBQ Pork Buns $8.00, Peking Duck Dumplings $9.00
- Booking: Walk-in only (when operational); no reservations accepted
- Getting there: Former location near 1 train at 79th Street; Chinatown location near N, Q, R, W, J, Z at Canal Street
Tags: #DimSumNearMe #UpperWestSide #NewYorkCityDining #CantoneseFood #NYCDimSum #WeekendPlans #AmsterdamAvenue #ChinatownNYC #JingFong #DumplingSpots #NYCRestaurants #NeighborhoodEats #ManhattanFood #UWSFood #DimSumCarts
Sources consulted: westsiderag.com · jingfongny.com · ilovetheupperwestside.com · corner.inc · yelp.com
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Ask Karpo first
Before heading to any dim sum spot in Manhattan, ask Karpo which Cantonese restaurants are open right now and how long the trip takes from your current location. Karpo builds a route through the Upper West Side or Chinatown that accounts for live transit times and current kitchen hours, so you know whether you're looking at a quick weeknight meal or a weekend expedition with waits.
