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HAND SHAVEN NOODLES.
What is this magnificent creation, you may ask? They are literally, noodles shaved by hand with a knife and dropped directly into boiling water. It makes for thick, hearty, delicious, sauce-hugging goodness.
Family-owned business and super friendly. Fast service -- my fave! I've been coming here since the day they opened years ago. The food has been consistent and over the years, they have managed to keep portions sizable and prices down. They offer the typical Chinese entrees cooked well and flavorful and some awesome side dishes too.
The parking is a little tight and the restaurant is not big by any means, but those noodles. You can't find them like this anywhere else. FAN.
Really good shaved noodles. Always get the xiao rong bao, but the noodles are the best here.
so after reading these reviews raving about how the house shaven noodles are soooooooo good and its a must order, i decided to go here to try the food.
ordered the house shaven chow mein, house shanghai noodles and house special fried rice to share with two of my friends. we weren't looking for a big meal just a bite to eat. of course the fried rice is a gimme as far as it's not the best. the shanghai noodles were more flavorful than of the house shaven noodles... which was a disappointment by the way... it was bland and could have used more veggies and more meat. i've had better noodles and the food there was just mediocre.
the restaurant is nice and clean but it seems to target more of the "american white folk crowd" than of the asian people... maybe it could be due to the location.
is it one of those meals that you find yourself eating again? my answer is "no. not at this restaurant".
Go here for the noodles, specifically the hand shaven noodles that you'll read about in all the other reviews too. It's a family owned business and I've been going there since they first opened years ago. Awesome.
Oh my secret shame!
This is the best food ever! I now live in Seattle and sometimes have to drive to Factoria to get me Sweet Chilli Chicken fix. Also their green hand-shaven noodles are to die for! Their crispy shrimp rock as well.
Pretty much the only place worth eating!
I love this place mainly for their hand shaven noodles.
To be honest, I haven't tried any other entrees here since many of them are pretty Americanized.
This is one of the better and more authentic Chinese restaurants in the Seattle area. The hand shaven noodles are good, although not as good as what my wife makes at home.. the happy family pot our favorite here.
MMMMmmmmmm! Even the kid liked it; she said it was "complicated but tasty" -- that's high praise from the 6.5 year old, especially since she's going through a really picky phase right now!
We had hand-shaven noodle chow mein (one chicken, one shrimp) which is delicate and tasty with the nice contrasts of the bok choy and scrambled egg to the tender meat and noodles. We all shared the chicken and corn soup which is basically a deluxe egg drop; super-tasty and a very ample portion. We all ate a ton of it and I was glad there wasn't more because I couldn't stop. My sweetie had sesame beef which he really enjoyed, and we had the pan-fried meat dumplings too.
Things were brought to us out of order... chow mein, then soup, then sesame beef, and then finally the dumplings, but everything was hot and delicious when we got it, so who cares? It was just the family, it's not like we were trying to impress anyone. I'd rather get it as it's ready than let something sit and get cold.
The service is friendly and efficient and the place is clean. The restrooms reveal that the restaurant's been around for a while as they could use a little renovating, but they were functional so why complain?
The prices are good and I loved that it's not super-Americanized in terms of the menu. You're not going to see spicy beef tendon or some of the seafood choices on too many fried-rice emporiums' menus!
Love their food. For appetizer, their vegetarian goose (bean curd wrapped with two kinds of mushrooms and tofu), and spicy beef tendon is so good.. it may sound different but very delicious.
Their noodles dishes are yummy too. The shanghai style chow mein and braised beef noodle soup is the best ! You can also try the chow mein with their barley noodle version which is supposedly better for you but tastes the same to me.
Also their shanghai style dumplings is soo good when its pan-fried and it comes with a spicy vinegary dipping sauce that's so wonderful together. :)
I come here for the hand shaved noodles. It's good either pan fried or in soups (especially with beef). The braised ribs (ask for the one with bones) are good, too. I love a simple plate of sauteed pea vines, but they charge $12 for it. Good grief.
I normally get things to go. Have dined in 2 or 3 times. During my most recent visit, the waiter tried to seat us at the tiny table for two (right by the fish tank) and I refused. I had already spoken with a waitress (young, soft spoken) and requested to wait for one of the bigger tables. The waiter argued with me, but his boss (the lead waitress) told him to go ahead and seat us at the bigger table. I like variety at my dinners, and I order at least 3 dishes, usually 4. There's no way all those plates would've fit on the tiny cafe table.
People raved about the hand-shaved noodles, so I tried them. They are cut a little thicker than the other places that have hand-shaved chow mein, but the recipe of the noodles tastes the same. The meats, vegetables, and sauce with the hand-shaved chow mein was simply not as good as I've had elsewhere. This place is nothing special.
The best Chinese I've had in the in three countries (USA -- OH, DC, WV; Britain; and Kenya).
Take the hand-shaven chow mein noodles, for instance, or the mu-shu, or the beef with vegetables, or the egg rolls; I've never had something here I didn't like.
The friendly staff greet us like regulars (well, okay, we WERE regulars when we lived near there, but still...). And, it won't break the bank. Dollar for dollar, I don't know how it could get any better.
Oh, my. Noodles = happiness.
I believe that technically, they equal long life, but here at Shanghai Cafe, they are the root of happiness.
The place is small, clean and tidy. There's a couple of large tables with lazy susans on them, but otherwise, the place has about eight two- or four-top tables.
If you prefer to clean your plate rather than take home leftovers, here's my new strategy: order one plate of house special handshaved noodles AND one order of potstickers to share with another person.
That's all you really need and it'll be filling and tasty. Mmm!
My first review on the West Coast and my first Chinese experience since moving here. The food was great...especially the green noodles. It beats all Chinese food I've had living in Hartford. Service also very good. Very glad I stumbled upon this place.
This place is a little too small and a little too pricey; however, the food is amazing. We usually come here for family meals. You know, we've been here so much we've been thinking about other places to go for family meals but if we can't think of anything, we always end up going to Shanghai Cafe anyways. It's the best restaurant on the Factoria strip.
I ate here a few years back and I remember it being pretty good Shanghai noodles where handmade. I hear that Michael Chang eats here when he's in town. Yes the tennis pro.
If you've eaten at either one of the Shanghai Gardens restaurants (ID or Issaquah), don't expect anything different from the menu or the preparation. The food was good, the service friendly and warm (they'll steer you towards the more expensive dishes, I noticed), but not *any* different. This was a disappointment to me since I was looking for an additional Shanghainese restaurant in the area - not just another door of an existing one.
My hands-down favorite chinese place so far (its International District cousin Shanghai Garden Restaurant II is worthwhile but somehow not as good as this one). True, it's across the street from the Factoria Square Mall, and from the outside looks like your standard divey strip-mall chinese restaurant with the slimy hot-and-sour soup in the buffet, but inside are delectable hand-shaved green noodles and salt-n-pepper crispy squid. I've yet to eat anything there that was disappointing.
Wonderful hand-shaved noodles!! That's the thing to go for here. The service is so-so.
i come here with my folks all the time. hand shaven noodles are bomb! i likes the mushu and the chicken w/garlic and wine (i'm not sure of the name for the latter but it's something like that). also they have a lot of great soups there. their cold plates are wonderful. mmmm, can't wait to go back ;)
Other than Hand shaved noodle, other dishes are not something I'd rave about. Granted we did take out but it seems like a very standard chinese restaurant. Next time I am in Seattle, I would go and look at ttheir menu. I might change my rating.
One of my Chinese take-out places, as it is very close to where I live/work. The place is quite small, so for dining in, it can feel a bit cramped. I like their hand-shaven noodles, both the regular and the barleygreen versions. The nit-picky thing about the noodles is that they put way too much egg -- I like things in moderation :) They serve brown rice, both plain and fried. Other dishes I like: braised pork pump (expect to wait long for this) and happy roll.
$7.99 Lunch $9.99 Dinner & HH
Neighborhood: Columbia City
Now Accepting Prime Card
Bellevue, WA
Bellevue, WA
Category: Chinese
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Category: Chinese
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