Shanghai Restaurant

Very good food.
Been coming here for years and always had Chinese New Years dinners here and on other special occasions. The food is not cheap but every dish is tasty. Service is ok and a bit rushed but the ambiance is nice and comforting. The restaurant is spacious and well-​lit (very important to me). Highly recommend.

This Shanghai restaurant menu is by far has the most selection I have ever seen in US. The pictures in the menu is so impressive but, unfortunately with only two person we can only order few items. The house special vegetables rice in clay pot is very good, the lion head pork balls is only average to me as I had very good one before in Shanghai and vegan appetizer is a bit too oily & salty for my taste. Also order the seaweed fried fish, it is very good if you like fish & chip kind of food. We actually eat a couple and unable to take it with us as we are traveling, so I just offer the left over to the waiter, they were so happy. I will definitely be back to tried other item for my future trip.

The best Shanghai Food I tested！I come from Salt Lake City, it’s the first time I try Shanghai Food in Chinatown, really happy to choose this one!

Decided to check this place out because we didn’t want to wait at Little Sheep next door. Pretty empty considering I came here at dinner time.
But the food was actually good. Service was quick here too. Wouldn’t mind coming back to try out their other dishes.

We went at 2pm on thanksgiving day for lunch. Service was pretty bad and they got our order wrong. I had to deduct a star for that because they didn’t bring me my favorite dish. A waitress and a waiter were yelling at each other in shanghainese right in front of us and the waiter was yelling across the room while he was taking our order. They brought us cold tea.
The food was good though. We ordered chive eels, fried fish pieces, some baos, kidney, and a shanghai noodle. Instead of the Shanghai noodle, they brought us a eggs nest noodle and they weren’t apologetic about it. Everything else tasted amazing though. Overall, the service was pretty terrible, but the food was good.

I was debating whether I wanted to give this place a 3 or 4 stars, but after being disappointed by Din Tai Feng, I feel quite generous. The wait for food was a bit long but not too bad considering the amount of large families that come into the restaurant.
We were seated promptly and we got a pot of tea to start of. They have the ugliest plastic-​looking tea pot in the 626 area. The menus, however, were nice because they had many pages filled with large colorful pictures of each dish labeled with Chinese names and accompanied by some awkward English translation.
We ended up trying a lot of their signature dishes such as sheng jian bao (fried pork buns), seaweed fish filet and chow mein, shrimp chow fun, etc. I thought most of the dishes were tasty. The seaweed fish filets were a bit bland even though they came with a pepper dip. The portions were large, so definitely family-​style.
Service was unfortunately a bit lacking. We had to ask several times for glasses of water. It wasn’t until we appeared frustrated that we finally got water.
The restaurant was also quite noisy since there were a lot of large families around. And yes, like other Unilocalers have mentioned there are a large number of people from China visiting SGV eating there. But if actual Chinese people are eating here, that should be a sign that the food is authentic here, right?

I love the meat balls. I don’t what they put in them, but I love them. I like the other dishes, but this is what keeps me coming back.

I came here the other day for lunch to try some of my bf’s favorite dishes.
FOOD:
My bf’s dad is Shanghainese so lucky for us he knows what’s good!
We started with the diced dry tofu and veggie and salted ham as appetizers. The ham was a bit too salty for me but I loved the chewy, crunchy texture of the dry tofu and veggie. ³⁄₅
My bf loves the seaweed fried fish. I’ve tried it at other places and it was mediocre so I wasn’t too excited about it. I must say, I can now understand why my bf loves this dish so much. When done right, the seaweed flavor and saltiness adds just the right amount of flavor to the more bland tasting fish inside. The outside had a soft, chewy texture and wasn’t overly fried to a crispy texture. ⁵⁄₅
The sheng jian bao has a soft texture on top with a crispy texture on the bottom, similar to a potsticker. Inside is juicy and full of flavor much like the xiao long bao. ⁴⁄₅
The house special vegetable rice came in a clay pot with vegetables and ham mixed in with the rice. The ham was pretty salty by itself but mixed in with the rice and veggies, it gave the whole dish more flavor. Some bites were saltier than others though. ³⁄₅
Overall: ⁴⁄₅
SERVICE:
Servers are a bit biased towards Shanghainese people. We got better treatment when my bf’s dad started speaking in Shanghainese. Seemed like the servers were in a hurry here but our food did come out relatively fast.
Overall: ³⁄₅
DECOR/​AMBIANCE:
Place is clean with the typical décor you see in Chinese restaurants (paintings, flowers, statues). My only gripe is that the tables are so close together to the point where you often hit another chair when trying to get out.
Overall: ³⁄₅
Parking in this plaza can be a pain. Too many shops, too many people, and not really enough spots. However, I still find myself at this plaza from time to time. Guess there’s just too much good stuff.

This has been our go to Shanghai restaurant, but we were a little disappointed in the fried Sheng Jian bao. The meat had a slight sour taste and was not as juicy as in the past. We were told they had a new chef and a few customer’s remarked the change was not good. The snow pea leaf veggies, steamed chicken, crab and rice cake were still great. Service is always fast and efficient and friendly.

聚福 is the name of this place in Chinese.
In this busy San Gabriel Chinese shopping center, it pays to arrive early for lunches.
We tried some standard Shanghai dishes and they are quite authentic, particularly the tofu knots and pork (百葉紅燒肉). The spring rolls was average. But the best dish is clearly the clay pot rice (菜飯).
Definitely a very reasonable choice if you are in San Gabriel and/​or in this shopping center. Given this is LA, I wouldn’t drive all the way for this restaurant from afar.

Welcome to China
Nestled deep inside a very chinese neighborhood, is an even more Chinese plaza, with a very Chinese restaurant that is packed with extremely Chinese patrons. You don’t need to know how to speak Chinese because the menu has English in it so that you can read the very strange and broad translations for dishes like «Oil Gluten Plug Meat».
Um…what is «plug meat»? I can only guess what that is and it may be way off from what you’re thinking.
Most other dishes comprise of infamous brown sauce. Oh yeah! I don’t even think Chinese people know what brown sauce is. It’s brown… and saucy. Chicken with brown sauce. Beef with brown sauce. Pork with brown sauce. Mussels with brown sauce. What is it and why is it so awesome it needs to be in every dish?!

Came here based on a recommendation from my foodie partner for having authentic shanghainese food. OMG did this place not disappoint! The restaurant didn’t seem too full around lunch time so we were quickly seated. The restaurant overall is pretty nice. It is decked out in a familiar fancy Asian way that reminds you that this isn’t Panda Express. When we looked at the menu, oh my god… there are SO many offerings and so many delicious pictures. I had a tough time really picking out what I wanted. After delaying our order three times we finally settled on…
Xiao Long Pao — we got the regular pork and pork+crab kind. Both were really good but the one that stood out the most was the pork+crab kind. AMAZING.
Fried Onion Noodles — this was at the back of menu and didn’t seem to cost too much. I ordered this to just fill me up in case I was still hungry and to my surprised it turned out to be really really good. It was basically FRESH migoreng… The ingredients were practically identifical… You have friend onions on top and it is drenched in soysauce and oil. The only thing missing was some sriracha or spiciness but otherwise… really really good.
I would like to come back some time and try other dishes here on some of my LA trips. One day! It would help if you bring a friend who speaks shanghainese with you too: D

Came here for lunch, best shanghai food so far in so cal. Got the slightly sweet braised black cod tail, made pretty well, haven’t had that for a long time (~$ 25 from the dinner menu).
Liked their stir-​fry A CAI (A vegetable, made from the leaves of wo suen aka celtuce, my fave Chinese veggie), the natural taste of it is slightly sweet.
Sheng Jian Bao, or pan-​fried buns, were delicious. Love me some black vinegar to dip in

This place is always busy… I think the only time that it’s not is during lunch. Just beware if you’re hungry. Try to make a reservation!
I have to step this review up because the owner, Helen, is awesome. We reserved the whole entire restaurant for a lunch gathering as a tribute to my dad and the pre-​fixed meal was very well received. Although they were a bit short staffed, the whole experience was memorable and I will never forget it.
Besides this, the food remains consistent time after time. Some favorites are:
–seaweed fried fish
–vegetable rice (technically not 100% veggie because there is ham in it)
–slow roasted pork
–spicy chicken (this is my husbands fav, not mine!)
–stir fried pumpkin
–shrimp 2 ways (one with red sauce, one lightly sautéed)
–lion’s head– it’s a meatball, just called lion’s head in Shanghainese (don’t quote me on direct translation though!)
*note: you can order pitchers of beer and bottles of wine here.

I used to like this restaurant for the Shanghai cuisine but I never wrote any review about this restaurant in the past 6 years due to the mediocre service. Went there last night for Chinese New Year Eve dinner and had the most horrible experience ever, it’s time to write something about this place.
Since it’s CNY dinner, we ordered their prefix menu of 12 dishes at $ 388. After the first dish (cold appetizer) was served, one waiter yelled at us about having to put up this extra table for us but half of our party was 10 to 15 minutes late. As soon as everyone arrived, they rushed out with 4 dishes onto a small table. After a few bites, they rushed out with the next 3 dishes and started to make us pack things to go. The entire experience from food to service was rushed, sub par, and uncomfortable.
Somehow they totally forgot about us after the first hour of rushing, we had to ask for the last 4 dishes so that we can leave. The kitchen must have ran out of their prefix, it took them about an hour to come up with the last 4 dishes which look like some sort of last minute scramble. Seasonal vegetable (2 types) was missing one, only bean sprouts, the 8-​treasured sweet rice was in the dim sum size (and looks like it was from the supermarket downstairs), and the sweet wine rice balls was missing the sweet wine (or way diluted). The biggest joke was the deluxe fruit plate turned out to be 4 oranges sliced. The waiter explained that they can’t serve exactly like the menu because it would be too much or too few (his exact words), he said the names on the menu were just to fill in (gotta be all 5 words) to make the menu sound/​look even. OMG, really???
A picture worths a thousand words. I will post pictures of the $ 388 menu and the over-​priced dishes. For $ 500 (after tax and mandatory tip which means $ 100 per person), I wish I went somewhere else with friendlier service.

As a shanghainese, I Wld say most of dishes are wonderful and authentic.
Chef and waiters waitress are all from Shanghai and so friendly.
We ordered a yellow fish and jicai soup, river eel in soy source (a must and real Shanghai dish), meat ball with Shanghai qincai, and sweet fried shrimp (this one is not recommended only because the shrimp is not the river one as it in Shanghai but still tasty) and 8 Xiao long bao the steam soup bun小笼包 (the frozen one u can get in super mkt is no comparable）
Wish we could have more time to stay there for days and try other dishes.
Very good business all the time we were there lunch time.

I was extremely irritated by this restaurant, and if I could give it 0 stars I would– for false advertisement and rude wait staff. We ordered the vegetarian duck wrap, a bowl of noodles, pork chops, and pan fried buns.
The vegetarian duck wrap looked NOTHING like the image on the menu. Not even close. I brought up this blatant discrepancy to the waiter and he scoffed it off and walked away in the middle of my sentence. Completely rude and unacceptable service, especially when you’ve lied to your customer with false advertising. Do they think we’re blind?
The noodles were mediocre and some of it was stuck together. Pork chops were decent but a small portion. Pan fried buns were acceptable but nothing to write home about. The sour taste left by the waiter was a bad seasoning for all of it. Rude!

The restaurant is located in the same plaza as 99 Ranch and Wang Xing Ji (the home of the big ass xiao long bao). It never ceases to amaze me HOW BAD the parking is here at this massive mini Asia town mall.
My family wanted to treat the bf and I to a nice lunch so we drove up from SD to have a meal here. It was a late lunch (around 230p) so the restaurant was pretty empty that Saturday afternoon.
We ordered:
SAUTEED CHIVES $ 9.95
The chives were sauteed with dried tofu. The chives were wonderfully pungent and the tofu was the perfect addition to this simple dish. Unfortunately, the dish was overly salty. This is where my mom whispered ‘the main cook must be on lunch break’ as it’s her assumption that poorly prepared food must be done by the back up cook.
SPARERIBS SWEET VINEGAR SAUCE $ 10.95
The ribs were prepared nicely and I enjoyed the abundant amount of cartilage in almost every little riblet. The sweet sticky sauce was lip smackingly delicious
SALTY MEAT VEGE RICE $ 8.95
I was glad I didn’t ask for a bowl of steamed rice because this beautiful fried rice arrived soon after. I think there were slices of salty ham and mustard greens in the clay pot. Unlike the sauteed chives, the fried rice wasn’t over seasoned and was a fantastic accompaniment for the rest of the dishes that would be served next.
SHANGHAI FRIED PORK BUNS (SHENG JIAN BAO) $ 6.95
Can I get a wut-​wut. Thank you. Amen. We don’t have a place in SD that makes these buns so I get excited when I see this on ANY menu. I can best describe a sheng jian bao as a pan fried fluffy xiao long bao kinda sorta thing. The version here is good: the bun is fluffy and wonderfully yeasty while the bottom is beautifully crispy.
SPECIAL PORK STEAMED BUNS (XIAO LONG BAO) $ 5.95
I made it a point to ask the waiter if these dumplings were made in house and he proudly scoffed ‘of course’. The dumpling skin was delicate and a had a nice chew to it. None of the dumplings were broken so all the ones we ate retained the beautiful melted soup that I love so much. Was it the best XLB — not really but it was satisfying. Besides, you can right next door to Wang Xing Ji for their big ass xiao long bao
HOT SPICY CHICKEN $ 11.95
Look. I can do spicy. But, dayyyuuuummmm, this ridiculous spicy chicken dish was almost too much for me that day. The pieces of chicken were deep fried and had an incredible amount of heat to each piece. I didn’t think there was enough chicken in this dish especially for the $ 11.95 price.
BRAISED TOFU BROWN SAUCE $ 10.95
I asked if THIS was the dish that I read that tasted like tofu-​custard. The waiter said yes. What came out was a dish of braised tofu pieces that, yes, tasted soft, but no where similar to ‘custard’. We also felt the dish was overly salted.
YELLOW FISH IN SOUR & TOMATO SAUCE $ 18.95
Pass on this. The yellow fish used is croaker and it tasted incredibly fishy. The sweet& sour sauce was way too gloopey and thick. It didn’t matter that it was overly sweet because it couldn’t mask the fishiness of the croaker.
SAMOAN CRAB $ 28.95
This was yet another dish that my mom was so proud to order for us. There were about 3 – 4 crabs in this dish. Were they fresh crabs — probably not for $ 28.95. Underneath the crabs were rice cakes sauteed in the same sweet sticky brown sauce as the crabs. We were all pretty full by the time this dish arrived so no one really wanted to take the time to extract the meat from the crab shells. There didn’t seem to be much meat in the leg/​body shells in fact. Everyone thought the best part of this dish were the chewy rice cakes.
Needless to say, we ate like crazies that afternoon. I thought the meal, overall, was pretty good AND the prices were reasonable. I would definitely re visit as there’s just so much to choose from on their expansive menu.

I feel obligated to write a review for this place because shanghainese food is so close to my heart. I stopped several times before completing this review as my lack of words for this place pretty much sums it all.
Very mediocre food at best. What kind of XLB doesn’t have that burning yet juicy pork broth overflowing? they may as well change the name on the menu. Nothing we ordered struck me as homie. Decent portion yet they do not compensate for the bland flavors.
Why can’t shanghainese restaurants have more creative names?

Got a rare opportunity to try out 12 dishes with a meet up group. Each dish were presented to the table in order so that it eased into out taste buds and ensuring food is hot when served.
Course 1: Seaweed deep fried fish. It was crispy, hot and the batter is very well seasoned with salt & seaweed. The fish it was very flaky, so fresh.
Course 2: Braised tofu with Bok choy. Very smooth inside and crispy outside. As smooth as baby butts. I saw dried scallop pieces in the sauce. (w/​rice)
Course 3: Beef cutlet with bread crumb. Our friend from Japan particularly liked it he served the beef with lots of panko.
Course 4: Jumbo Lion Head. Very authentic dish of Shanghainese cuisine, it had a sweeter note to it. (w/​rice. Personally prefer a dish to have more texture. I just had a little.)
Course 5: Sautéed pea sprout. A must! The smell was fantastic! It was crunchy and the fragrance came from this particular vegetable was amazingly refreshing!
Course 6: Dan Dan noodle! Had not had Chinese spaghetti for awhile. They were bouncy and the sauce was light brownish, sweet and tastes like mushroom and dried scallop.
Course 7: (We still had space in our stomach as we had a few bites of everything so far) Tofu Skin wrapped with something inside. I skipped this coz I was full but too chicken to admit. I said my religion does not include tofu skin.
Course 8: Chinese pork rib white soup with winter melon & prosciutto!!! The color came from the bone marrow! Lots of collagen, lots of pretty girls & boyz. (2 orders for 10. Never seeing white folks drinking Chinese soup so voluntarily. I was so shock I found myself staring at the table cloth.)
Course 9: THE BIG GAME (Gigantic Pig Knuckle) The braised pork was so tendered it didn’t take any effort for the lady server to cut. The meat fell out of the bone. Very well seasoned, the 5 spices and anise could be tasted all the way into the bone marrow as described by someone while he was taking a break between sucking the bone.
Course 10: Shanghainese 2 color rice balls in rice wine. The balls were very soft like mochi!
I really glad I was invited to this meet up. Put aside the waiting and parking challenges, it was a great night. It wasn’t something you could accomplish on your own.
$ 18 per person including tips. ROFL. OH MY GOD. It felt like a $ 60 per person meal.