Bund Shanghai

Really great xiao long bao! The were hot and filled with soup! The service was typical, but at least the food came out quickly!

Wow! San Francisco’s Chinatown is vast and legit, unlike dc’s chipotle with Chinese characters.
My husband found this restaurant via Unilocal and I am happy to confirm it is delicious.
As a vegetarian, I appreciate the items being labeled vegetarian, but even more I appreciate delicious and memorable vegetarian dumplings. I may want to move here, they were that good.
I also had the eggplant in spicy garlic sauce, it was wonderful. Great flavor, but light. I don’t know how they did it, but I love this dish generally and this place did it better than anywhere I’ve been. A little note on the eggplant though, make sure you say you would like it to be vegetarian. The waiter explained, before we ordered, that it comes with pork normally.
Finally, yeah! I am in the home of Unilocal!Finally in the default city. I haven’t been to San Francisco since I was a child and it’s good to be back.

We came here for the soup dumplings. I thought they were just ok. I like them when they’re piping hot and with lots of soup. These weren’t either of those. They were ok, but nothing mind-​blowing.
We got both types of soup dumplings, so your typical XLB and then the one with crab meat. The crab one was definitely tastier. I just know that I’ve had better in NYC. I’m not sure how this measures up against other places in SF so maybe it would rank higher, but for me, it made me miss the ones in NYC Chinatown.
I also tried the thick chow mein noodles and those were pretty tasty. Service was ok and prices were ok. Nothing stood out to me that I absolutely would love. Not bad, not great. Maybe there are other places to compare to when going for soup dumplings?

The host at front is very unprofessional. Very rude. Wonder wtf. There is too many other good restaurant in Chinatown. U don’t need waste your time at this one

One of my new go-​to places for Chinese food in downtown SF. Both the pork and the pork and crab soup dumplings are great here! So are the mapo tofu, rice cake stirfry, and shiitake mushroom and bok choy. Service was super fast and friendly (although I did order everything in Mandarin:) Can’t wait to come back here!

Here we go…
Location is close to Chinatown so the walk is one small block away main street. The restaurant is well kept under comfortable temperature, eating hot food don’t make you sweat so that is very good. They keep ceiling fans running to circulate the air and it def helps the long narrow restaurant. The dinning area is narrow but don’t be fooled because you have more then enough space to come here if you use a wheelchair. To all my peeps that use a wheelchair you have a friendly restaurant here. Let’s not forget that ADA automatic opening door button they have so you come in like a king… EXCELLENT.
The flooring is tile and it is clean like a restaurant I see in small towns. Great work crew. I got up to see the restaurant permit posted on the wall and the lady nicely asked if I needed help knowing that I was looking at all the restaurant permits and FDA inspections they had, she never questioned me of who I was and that was something I appreciate.
The food is really good. I had kun pao chicken and xiaolongeao buns. Don’t ask what that is just ask for them and you won’t be disappointed, be careful tho cuz the food is served really hot. I love the idea that they have canned soda so you don’t have to walk out with the thirst. Last comment is the lady here loves my Mexican people to come here and eat…

On a rainy cold Saturday, the soup dumplings at Bund Shanghai hit the spot!
It is difficult to find soup dumplings, so whenever on the west coast, I always try and find somewhere new to try. These soup dumplings were large and tasty. Other reviews said they didn’t have any soup, I think maybe I had one that didn’t have any soup in it. The rest had adequate amounts of tasty meat and soup.
We also tried the pork potstickers which were also tasty. They actually had a «soup» or juice similar to the soup dumplings. I wasn’t expecting that. The potstickers were large in size and after splitting 2 orders of soup dumplings and one of potstickers for lunch, I didn’t need any food for dinner.
I also thought Bund Shanghai was very reasonably priced (even with 2 Tsing Taos). I will definitely be back on a future trip!

I like this place. The owner is originally from Shanghai. I get to eat authentic shanghainese food. (Jelly fish, Chinese meat ball, yum plus mushroom, and spicy dumplings) these are the food I always order when I come with my friends.
The staff are always very friendly. Usually the place is very packed during the weekend. Come early around 11am for lunch and 5−6pm for dinner.

Instead of the usual Cantonese lunch in Chinatown, my friend suggested getting some Shanghainese food at Bund Shanghai. The restaurant is good-​sized with booths on the left side and tables in the middle and the right side.
Though they offered lunch plate specials that consisted of 36 choices, we were here for some Shanghai dim sum and noodles dishes.
Xiao Long Bao — they were inconsistent. My first one was good and juicy with the soup. But second one… where’s the soup?
Cabbage and Pork Dumplings — stuffed with good amount of filling.
Shanghai Thick Chow Mein — nice flavor with spinach and pork.
Green Onion (Scallion) Pancakes — very thin and crispy. Since I dipped them into the soy milk, I wished they were a little thicker.
Sweet Soy Milk — hot and homemade. This was tasty.
Overall, food was good but need more consistency. Not bad if you want to deviate from the Cantonese cuisine in Chinatown and try some Shanghainese food.

I came here with my office to celebrate Chinese New Year. We had a set menu so I’m not sure how relevant the review will be for others but they were very accommodating for our party of 20.
They had two large tables set aside for us towards the back of the restaurant — though the place had only one other table so it wasn’t necessary, but because the food was pre selected by my boss, everything arrived quickly and was staggered so we got to try everything without getting overrun by 20 million dishes at once.
Bund doesn’t have the greatest reviews so we were slightly hesitant about quality but everything tasted great and no one got sick later!

2.5 stars. Almost everything underwhelmed. Whereas at many of the Shanghai restaurants I go to, I may be 80% disappointed, there will be one thing that really stands out and that I love, there was really nothing here that stood out to me (as in, I’ve had plenty of better versions). Everything was equally meh. It’s too bad because they have such an extensive menu of dishes I like, but they just don’t really execute on any of them. So my search for good Chinese food in SF proper continues…
We had:
Kao Fu — 1 star. Probably the most disappointing kao fu I’ve ever had in my life. And I love that stuff. I’ve gone to so many restaurants where everything but the kao fu disappointed me (i.e. Old Shanghai). The version here had almost no garnishes, and there were no shiitake mushrooms, and most egregious of al, l the kao fu was rough and didn’t taste all that good/​soft. I couldn’t even finish this dish, which was a first.
XLB — 3.5 stars. They were pretty decent — I liked the skin and thought the insides were quite savory.
Rice Cakes — 3.5 stars. They were decent, and my mom liked them, but I felt they were short on veggies and I prefer the ones I’ve had elsewhere.
Red Braised Lion’s Head Meatball — 2 stars. Very disappointing, super salty and not really great flavor wise. I’m not a huge fan of lions head to begin with, but these were not a rendition I would recommend — it was too soft and something about the texture was just off.
Wheat Gluten stir-​fried with Delicate Squash (aka loofah) — 3 stars. Pretty disappointing as well. The squash was actually pretty good, but the wheat gluten left a lot to be wanted. The texture wasn’t right — the wheat gluten didn’t have enough bite. I’ve had excellent renditions at Shanghai Delight and Shanghai Garden down in South Bay area, so I know there are better versions in the area.
Yang Zhou Bean Curd Skin — 3 stars. Also disappointed. I loved the dou miao (pea sprouts) on top, but the bean curd itself wasn’t soft enough. Also the bean curd hadn’t fully soaked up the savoriness of the soup, despite the soup itself being quite savory. Perhaps could have done with being stewed for a bit longer? Again, better rendition at Shanghai Delight.
Pumpkin Red Bean — 4 stars. Surprisingly good. I’ve been searching for a good rendition of this ever since I had it years ago at some random restaurant in LA, and I’ve only hit dud upon dud. But the version here actually delivers! Too bad it’s a bit oily, but they get the consistency and sweetness just right.
Boiled Sesame Mochi — 4 stars. This was probably the best thing the entire meal. Pretty massive mochi with a delicious black sesame filling that’s made in house. The filling was great. Ironically also the only thing I didn’t take a picture of because they came at the end of the meal.
So basically wouldn’t come here for anything but the desserts.

The food was decent, but it feels a tad overpriced. The soup buns (xiao long bao) don’t contain as much soup as I expected them to, which was a downer for me.
The service here wasn’t too great. Sometimes it took awhile to get the attention of the servers (and I went on an empty day– only a quarter of the tables were occupied).

I don’t know whether they washed vegetables or not.
I found mud in the vegetables but the owner told me it was sauce…
How come the sauce was buried so deep into the vegetables instead of on the leaves?

Delicious, authentic Chinese food! Service was nice and quick.
My boyfriend and I were really impressed by the eggplant in spicy garlic sauce dish ($ 9). The sauce was soo addicting and the eggplant had great texture. Probably the best restaurant I’ve had eggplant at. I highly recommend it! We also got the xiao long bao ($ 7) which was juicy and tasty. There was little soup in the ones I had but the flavor was good.
The yang zhou fried rice (~$ 9) and mapo tofu with minced pork (~$ 10) were both solid but didn’t stand out compared to the other dishes.

Bubd Shanghai is one of my favorite restaurants in SF and I always dine here a couple of times on every visit. The food is authentic and always served hot and freshly cooked. One of my favorite appetizers is their «drunk chicken» which is served cold. It’s pieces of chicken on-​the-​bone marinated in Chinese wine served in a white ramekin. They also make delicious pork potstickers. Try it dipped in their black vinegar dipping sauce. We also ordered the pork belly with soy knots. This dish is a bit on the heavy side but perfect on a cold rainy night. The pork belly were cut in big chunks with soft fat attached. Just delicious! Then we tried the spicy won tons with chili oil and House noodles with pork and scallions. Both were fantastic.
The service is pleasant and efficient, which is a big plus when it comes to Chinese restaurants. The owner lady recognizes us every time we come (about twice a year) and she greets us with a big smile and «née how?» (How are you?)
The dining room is always clean as are the restrooms. The prices are reasonable. All in all, I highly recommend Bund Shanghai is you want a great meal!

Xiao long bao — yummmmmmm!
Bund Shanghai satisfied my craving for soup dumplings… and as a bonus, my craving for veggies, scallion pancakes, and hot & sour soup. I live in Manhattan which doesn’t have great Chinese restaurants (except the Flushing Chinatown), so this was very much needed.

I came around 7:15 for dinner on a Tuesday night, and it was completely empty when we got there. I was a bit apprehensive that no one else was there, but the food was actually pretty good. My bf and I split an order of the XLB, house noodles with pork and scalions, and general tso’s chicken. The XLB had a good amount of pork, but the skins were a bit thick and there wasn’t as much soup as I would have liked. Eat these quickly, or the skins dry out! The house noodles were my favorite. Thin, chewy noodles in some kind of soy paste based sauce with lightly fried pork and scallion pieces — simple, but delicious. Normally I find chicken to be overcooked, but the general tso’s chicken was moist, tender, and really flavorful.
Service was also pleasant, but that’s probably because we were the only ones there for a half hour or so. A few parties came after us, but I don’t think more than four tables were filled.
The total for our food was around $ 30 — not bad for a dinner for two.

My first order of business in SF was XLB, one of my favorite foods. Bund is definitely excellent. The crab and pork are almost double the price of pork alone. (~$ 13). My basket arrived at the table with 8 perfectly cooked bundles of love. The dumplings are a bit smaller than those I’ve had in NYC. The dough was fine. It was not super delicate but more thin and chewy. This is the best consistency to prevent dumpling breakdown. The soup was ample, the filling was juicy and the crab flavor was fresh, not funky. I appreciated the complimentary peanuts and green tea. Mark down one point when I saw their sanitation grade as I paid my tab. Yikes. I seem to be doing ok though, lol.

I really really like this place. I will admit that a 5 is probably an inflated review, but I think it’s legit, authentic Shanghainese food, so this has become my new go to meal in the city.
I’m Shanghainese, so I always get really excited when I find an establishment in Chinatown that actually speaks Shanghainese rather than Cantonese — that’s the first step to knowing it’s legit. The SO and I luckily stumbled into this place when we were looking for a place that didn’t have lines to have lunch in. I always crave good old fashioned Shanghainese food, and this was the place to go.
It’s actually kinda nice relative to your typical hole in the wall Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, so this place ends up attracting a lot of random tourists since it’s actually nice.
I like the Shanghai style fried noodles here — it’s basically chow mein with thick noodles. They put in spinach which is how my people know it’s authentic, and the noodles have been pretty spot on. The Cai Fan, not sure of the English translation, but it’s basically a cooked rice dish with vegetables and Chinese bacon — half way between fried rice and steamed rice? Also very good. The fried pork buns (fried XLB as I think Americans say) could be better, but they’re not terrible — they lack juice but I haven’t found good fried pork buns anywhere else. They do hand make them here which is pretty cool.
SO and I mostly rotate around this small subset of dishes, but they have many of the other typical Shanghainese dishes as well — Lion’s Head, Di Pang (Pork. something leg, thigh something), a bamboo based soup with tofu and Chinese bacon… man i could go on forever. This place tastes like home and I love it.
Prices are reasonable and they take credit card which is nice as well. Service is pretty fast.
tldr; my hidden gem if you like Shanghainese food — definitely authentic and underrated. Get the right dishes and it’ll be a pretty good experience

We came on a Wednesday afternoon for lunch. There were hardly any other customers there, so I was a little hesitant at first. But the food really took my by surprise. There were 3 of us, so we were trying to try as much as we could but not over order and it worked out perfectly.
Décor: somewhat outdated Chinese restaurant
Service: mediocre; might help to speak Chinese
Food: Xaio Long Bao — we had 2 orders of it; they were juicy and delicious
Green Onion Pancake — these were one of the best I’ve had; they were yummy and flaky and not too thick or too thin
Pork Dumplings — these were really good. They stuffed these babies to the max, which I’ve never seen before. Other places are usually pretty stingy, but not this place.
Garlic Chicken Wings — the flavor was good, the skin was crispy and the meat was juicy inside; however it seemed a tad over cooked.
Overall this place was pretty awesome and it’s not too pricy either. The portion sizes are pretty good too. Will come back for sure.