Shanghai Cafe

07/15/09

great place; one stupid rude waitress

by framura

This is my favorite Chinese restaurant, been going there for over 10 years.

Check out their cold appetizers, smoked fish, preserved duck, spicy five jewels, vegaratarian mock duck,..black mushrooms wrapped w/ bean curd skin.

There is one stupid rude waitress...she's short (around 5 feet) and wears a ponytail...the rest of the staff is pretty good.

• Pros: best soup dumplings , cheap , great food

06/10/09

Have right attitude, get good service

by ccfoodie

Note this is now called Shanghai Cafe, not Shanghai Gourmet.

Despite all the comments I've seen about unpleasant servers here, I decided to give it a try, as the food itself seemed quite compelling. I've found that if you approach the customer-restaurant relationship with the right attitude, people that might usually tend to crankiness will actually warm up and be relatively pleasant. If you are quiet and courteous, servers will respond in kind. I also recommend being ready to order when the server first comes, not ordering off menu, eating all or nearly all of the food, and waiting patiently when things are busy. Also, don't skimp on the tip because of perceived injustices.

Anyway, I ordered the spicy stewed beef with noodles in soup ($4.95), the steamed tiny buns with crab meat and pork ($6.95), and a hot ginger tea ($2.25). The stewed beef and tea arrived within five minutes. The beef broth was delicious, spicy/salty/sweet, and the beef itself very flavorful. The noodles weren't that exciting, but they just seemed like an accompaniment anyway, so no big deal. The ginger tea arrived very hot and was a good level of gingery zinginess but not overwhelming.

A few minutes later, the buns arrived. These "tiny" buns were actually pretty substantial--way too big to fit into my soup spoon--and there were 8 of them. The waitress thoughtfully reminded me that they were very juicy and that the juice was hot, so I should be careful. I was careful and avoided any juicy disasters. As for the filling, the flavor was quite good and the texture was exemplary. The meaty part avoided the hard ball you can often get, and instead was tender to the teeth but held together well so you didn't have to eat it all in one bite.

Everything was good enough--and not overly heavy--to motivate me to eat all of the buns and 90% of the soup.

The waitress brought me the check within a couple minutes of my finishing and she even smiled when she thanked me--admittedly a rarity there. Others thanked me as well when I left. Overall a very satisfying experience.

• Pros: Really tasty food and nice decor
• Cons: Bad background music

03/17/09

NEVER GO HERE, MOST HORRENDOUS SERVICE EVER

by californiagirl6641

The food was decent, but nothing to laud over. The service on the other hand was the worst I've ever had the misfortune to experience. When I asked them to take out eggs out of a vegan dish because one of my friend's had to fast for Lent, they threw a fit. They also decided that it was their moral duty to give all of us a lecture on ordering dishes afterward. Finally, the cherry on top of the icing came in the form for an avid demand for more tip, even though we gave them 12%, which was generous considering their treatment of us. NEVER AGAIN WILL I OR ANY OF MY FRIENDS GO TO THIS PLACE. IF YOU WISH TO BE ANGERED BEYOND ALL MEANS, THEN PLEASE VISIT THIS PLACE.

• Pros: Example: best croissants in town
• Cons: TERRIBLE SERVICE, GREEDY SERVERS

09/26/08

Amazing soup dumplings and more!

by goldbug

Carb lovers take note, this is your paradise. Shanghai cafe's soup dumplings are among the best I've ever had and they are constantly being made fresh. The restaurant's various noodle dishes are awesome and their wine chicken is a treat with a kick. Service is prompt and the decor is nice enough for a date or just hanging out with friends. For a reasonable price ($10-15 a head) you'll walk out stuffed silly.

• Pros: Excellent food, good service, great value
• Cons: Can get very crowded in the evenings, get there early!

04/25/08

poor customer service.

by soothsayer0

OK, food, they are shanghai cuisine, so don't expect dozen and dozens of variety of rice dishes that you can get at a Cantonese place like in most of chinatown. they do have dumplings, that is what they specialize in. but you can get better dumplings, steamed or fried from joe's shanghai, or any of the other joe's restaurants.

i don't recommend this restaurant because of the POOR SERVICE.

i had a ten dollar bill, the lady boss at the counter told an underling to fetch two items from the refrigerator behind her, she did, leaving them on the counter. then the boss lady continued to do what she had to do, and i had to wait several minutes for her to finish and then have those items put in a bag. I tried paying for them with a ten dollar bill but she refused the bill because it felt soft. YES IT WAS FADED, but it was still a REAL FKING TEN DOLLAR BILL YOU B*TCH. I told you to look at the security features, but no, you said it felt soft, like WTF? you wasted my time you ignorant asses. I had to go to the bank and exchange the bill so this won't happen to me elsewhere because of ignorant fresh off the boat (FOB) chinese. and i am now boycotting this restaurant and recommend others to do the same because they don't care about the customer, only about $$$$$. the food is average, and i always see few people eating inside every time i walk past. GO TO joe's shanghai, his restaurants are always super busy and that means fresh food.

• Pros: if you like being ignored and treated like dirt
• Cons: shanghainese people all think they are high and mighty.

03/09/08

best shanghai dumplings ever

by trendygrlz

They have great food, but I dread going there because of their service. They do rush you out and are short of being rude. But I've tried a few other places and the food just isn't the same. Thats the only reason why they still have so much business. Its definitely worth going there, just ignore their rudeness, they can't do much to you after the food is on the table lol. just kidding.

As for seating....aim for the booths if possible.

• Pros: food, atmosphere
• Cons: service

12/24/07

Average Food ---- Poor Service

by snoopytalks

I went there to eat at least 3X in the past few years. This isn't my spot. I'd go only if I have too. Food is average. Decor is acceptable. Not comfortable seating. Tables are too close to each other. Poor service. All staffs are trained to rush you out as soon as you place your order even when the place isn't full.

• Pros: Decent Decor ---- Average Food
• Cons: Poor Service ---- Tables are too close

12/04/07

WORST SERVICE IN THE WORLD

by wema79

This is the worst service in the world. I could not be more displeased. They require a minimum order of $3 per person and they hover over you when you eat. They give you the check before you are done eating, fine, most places in chinatown do that, but they tried to collect the bill multiple times before we were ready to leave. It's like they wanted to kick us out even though the restaurant was mostly empty. Due to their poor services, we decided to leave a less than 10% tip (which was more than enough considering their poor services) and they argued with us to try and get us to give them 15%. I told them 15% gratuity was "gratuity- to thank you for your good services" and they tried arguing for it. We would not give in and they told my friends and I never to come back. Fine! There are plenty of other restaurants in Chinatown that have better services and better food for just as cheap!

• Cons: Poor service

03/18/07

nice and cheap

by theresax

I know there's a debate about who's soup dumplings are better, shanghai cafe or Joe's shanghai - in my book its shanghai cafe, I think the ones at Joe's are a little to soft and break apart to easily but that's just my opinion. another fav dish of mine is the beef lo mein, the thick noodles are great. gimme those 2 dishes and I'm set for the night with the bill only coming to $10

• Pros: food, cheap

02/20/07

Good Food, Nice Staff

by pfdavidson

I never have an issue at this place. The food is good and the staff is always nice. The soup dumplings are tasty and the mango green tea smoothie is to die for. Always a good performer in Chinatown for inexpensive eats. I don't have a problem recommending this to anyone.

• Pros: Soup Dumplings and Smoothies