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Shanghai Restaurant
Category: Restaurants Chinese Chinese [Edit]
1708 N. Milpitas BoulevardMilpitas, CA 95035
(408) 263-1868
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Noise Level:
- Quiet
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
32 reviews for Shanghai Restaurant
Review Highlights
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"And the fish in wine sauce is really to die for." In 3 reviews -
"...best place for fried stinky tofu in the Fremont/Milpitas..." In 2 reviews -
"The beef, oh so tender and copious." In 3 reviews
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32 reviews in English
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Review from Ada C.
4/2/2012
My friends and I have been coming here at least once a month for the past year, and we absolutely love it! This place is pretty small and never seems that busy, but I think it's because people have yet to discover what this place to offer. The servers are always very friendly and check up on you a lot, although it may be easier to communicate with them if you know Chinese. You really cannot beat the prices here either; I don't think I've ever been here and paid more than $7 or $8 a person, and that's with plenty of leftovers!
Every time we come here we have to order the Shanghai fried rice cakes and the Shanghai vegetable rice; you cannot go wrong with these two! We also order other things off their menu such as the stinky tofu or soup to accompany our meal, and all of them have been consistently good, but our favorites are still the fried rice cakes and vegetable rice. They also give you complimentary egg drop soup at the end of the meal, which is always a nice way to end a meal. -
Review from Henry C.
Fremont, CA
5/12/2012
it is gone now
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Review from Tina F.
Danville, CA
2/10/2012 1 Check-in Here
Love the service and food there! I definitively will go back to this restaurant! Thank you!!
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Review from Knit W.
Santa Clara, CA
9/22/2011
"Eeks! Me thinks not" is an understatement! I took my mom out to lunch. Our impatience for the lunch crowd lead us to to an empty restaurant next door, Shanghai. The color photos they had displayed on the front window looked deelish but as we walked in, we noticed that there was only one person dining here. That should have prompted us to get up and leave but we didn't want to be rude.
As we are reviewing the menu, I hear someone clipping their names behind me. Our server was grooming behind the counter. After she saw us watching her, she put her nail clippers away. I wanted to leave right then and there but moms wanted to give them an opportunity to make it up to us with their food.
We ordered the dry sauteed beans. The price was right, only $5.99. It was tasty at first bite with the thick sauce and plenty of garlic (which I love!) but after the fourth bite, it was hard to consume because it was so salty. We also ordered the deep-fried yellow fish. It was a tiny fish with a lot of bones. There was barely any flavor to it at all. If you ate it with the beans, it was almost bearable. We also ordered the hot and spicy tofu, which is their version of mapo tofu. In order to spice it up, they over loaded it with spicy oil.
All in all, it wasn't THE most horrible food I'd ever tasted but I definitely would not return nor recommend this restaurant to anyone else. If I get sick later, I wouldn't be surprised due to their lack of hygiene.
DINERS BEWARE!!! -
Review from Roger C.
Fremont, CA
Updated - 11/25/2011
Time to introduce a couple of nice treats
First one is fresh fried bun which comes with thin skin with plenty of fillings inside and it melted as soon you bite and it will taste yummy when it is hot.
Second one is sweet wine rice ball soup whcih at least consists of 4 components such as 100% man made mini sticky rice cake ball, scramble egg, Chinese sweet wine and
one very unique item is authenic "gui-hua or sweet olive" seed. You can order as a separate item or it is free treat after dinner. I personally think this is great sweet treat after meal and particularly for this cold winter season. This soup can prevent you from being cold. Will try find more new good stuffs next time.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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8/13/2011
I have been eating this restaurant for more than 10 years.
It has been changes a lot and all the… Read more »
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Review from Evil M.
San Jose, CA
4/14/2011 1 Check-in Here
Love this place.
Other reviews are correct about the Chinese menu - get someone who can read and speak Chinese and preferably is from Shanghai - my neighbor started bringing me here a few years ago, and it's gotten to the point that I can now order the things we commonly get - and when she goes there without me, they say "Hey, where's the white girl?"
:)
Dishes I love and can order: rice cakes with pork and greens, baked rice with greens and pork (sensing a theme there?), 3 cup chicken, any of the sauted greens with bamboo shoots.
super tasty, nice people. -
Review from Jennifer N.
San Jose, CA
7/18/2010
This place is a total hole in the wall. Came here on a random weekend and had the 3 for $16.50 dishes. They have an assortment of over 50+ dishes to choose from so that is quite pleasant. The food was superior, and the service was great. We ordered preserved vegetables with 3 layer meat which was a total hit. I LOVED IT! The meat was so tender and the preserved veggies were delicious with rice. We also had the shredded pork with bean curd which was also superb. The only thing I didn't like was the bamboo. We also had the sweet and sour spare ribs, which were okay. I'm not a huge of fan of sweet and sour items, but I'm not the one choosing all the dishes ;) All in all, good food with good company. Location is in a big plaza where Lion Supermarket is.
Only con is that the menu is primarily in Chinese. The English translations were horrible with lots of spelling errors! Bring someone that can read Chinese. -
Review from Eric W.
Updated - 5/5/2009 10 Check-ins Here
Wow, I must now echo the sentiments of many others, and say that Shanghai Restaurant has become wildly inconsistent. Since I work around the corner, I come somewhat frequently, and haven't had a bad stint yet... until now.
So, some of my family members had some time off from work, and wanted to take me out to lunch at the HK Villa dim sum in City Square. Upon arrival, we were greeted with the sight of windows all plastered up, with the obligatory "Closed for remodeling" sign aka the Chinese code word for "We are no longer in business, and have lost face, but cannot admit to this."
In any event, we were left scrounging for another place to dine. In this plaza filled with such gems as The Porridge (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) and South Legend (http://www.yelp.com/bi...), choices were aplenty. Since we all hadn't had any XLB in awhile, we ended up here. Big mistake.
I noticed off the bat that the wait staff was not the usual, and the joint was rather empty (not that it's usually packed, but more so than today). We ordered our typical serving of XLB, Shanghainese Yearly Fried Rice Cakes, with Lion Heads and some Four Seasons String Beans with Chicken. Sounds good, right?
Put it this way. By the time I was done with my portion, the plate I was using looked like I had poured half a jar of Crisco on it. The rice cakes and chicken were simply doused in grease, and the string beans were charred to boot. To their credit, the Lion Heads and XLB tasted the same as usual, but certainly not good enough to cancel out.
Wow, how could they have fallen off so far from the usual? The rice cakes are typically more dry, with minimal sauce, let alone mounds of grease. At that moment, I then realized what was so different. This was actually the first time I had come during the middle of the week, since I typically don't eat big lunches during the work week (Froyo FTW!). I guess they save their good chefs for the busier days, which makes sense.
So, long story short, avoid Shanghai during the beginning and middle of the work week, but Fridays and weekends, it's a dandy. For now, I'll have to deduct one star, but I'll probably be back soon to test my theory.Listed in: New Chinatown
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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4/6/2007
I would put up a good fight to anyone who tries to disagree with me that this very block here at… Read more »
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Review from Winnie L.
San Francisco, CA
11/5/2010 4 Check-ins Here
It's a good place right by my home to have Shanghai-style chow mein.
It's a nice little neighborhood Shanghai restaurant, but it's definitely not the best place around. I like to come here whenever I feel like Shanghai food and not wanna drive too far. As I had mentioned, I love their Shanghai-style chow mein...but that's about it that I love there...I really wished that the portion was bigger. I have had their xiao loong bao many times and it's just alright, not as soupy as I have had elsewhere. Their green onion pancake is OK. I used to really like their spicy wontons too, but it seems like it had gone downhill a bit. Their sweet soymilk (available wknds only) are decent.
FYI. Their menu does not have English translation, so you either have to know how to read/speak Chinese or bring a buddy along that does. Service is good. The waitress and busboy was pretty attentive to our needs every time we go there. -
Review from Cynthia C.
Alameda, CA
8/17/2006
My boss was born and raised in Shanghai the first two decades of her life and highly recommended this place. I got to try this place first hand today.
The place is dumpy inside, with minimal decor, but I've come to expect that from mom and pop joints. The service is quick and friendly and at 1:30pm there were many patrons dining at the restaurant. Most looked like seasoned diners.
#70 Fish filet in wine sauce $8.50
Not bad, but it really was JUST pieces of fish in wine sauce. An abundant amount, but I'm used to a little foliage in my dishes.
#62 Braised fish head casserole, $9.95
More like fish head soup, delicious! Reminded me of what my family would prepare at home. I could taste the fish bone flavor in the tasty light broth. Eating this soup was surprise after delightful surprise! There was a fish head, cubes of tofu, fresh chopped garlic cloves, clear green bean noodles, and strips of pork.
#99 Mixed vegetables $6.95
Not too oily or salty. Round spongy-textured tofu, fresh bamboo, and shitake mushrooms were a perfect marriage of flavors.
Generous portions, low grease, and no overpowering flavors. I would definitely come back to try one of the other 155 items. They also have a lunch menu with items ranging between $4.95-5.95. -
Review from Angela H.
Berkeley, CA
6/3/2009
Xiao lung bao FTW.
Order it. -
Review from Ann L.
2/21/2006 4 photos
Food I liked from the $88 Chinese dinner which serves 8-10 people, relatives picked the menu and paid so can't complain too much:
green onion pancake-ordered separately, not on the special menu. Very thin and flakey. good.
fresh fish filet dish-good flavor, lots of gravy. good.
good xlb-very juicy. Didn't come with vinegar sauce though.
other dishes were average and I ate most of it. We had lots of leftovers after feeding 7 hungry ppl.
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Update 6/16/07
Had a family lunch again here. I think the meal was just ok, nothing special.
xlb - not good
hot soup w/ lots of seafood, egg dumplings - just ok
Still don't care much for this place! Wasn't satisfied w/ this meal or the last one. -
Review from Mark M.
5/9/2011 1 Check-in Here
I like the food here, but as a matter of personal preference, I prefer Shanghai Family Cuisine further down the street. However, if you like things a bit more authentically "Shanghai-nese" - this place is more authentic. You can find more traditional Shanghainese dishes here. But I just think the taste over at Shanghai Family Cuisine is better, and the dishes are executed better.
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Review from Jeannie Y.
Glendale, CA
4/14/2010
Empty when we got there, now I can understand why. Horrible service. I can get same food elsewhere for the same price.
((Sweet Milk)) tasted burnt. when we told waitress, she said thats how it is :O
((Xiao Lung Bao)) not that juicy, meat ok
((Onion Pancakes)) super oily, tasted very doughy
((String Beans)) beans not fresh, oily
((Sticky Rice stuffed w/ Dried Pork)) cant go wrong, good
((Crunchy Noodles)) if youre going to skimp on noodles, at least serve it in a smaller plate.
((Potstickers)) well i dont have a review for how they tasted only because they decided to serve this ONE HOUR after we ordered it and finished everything else. i tried to cancel it twice so we could leave, but she said too late. she couldnt admit that she forgot about our order twice. ridiculous.
Con: horrible waitress, mediocre food, most menus in chinese only -
Review from Lydia W.
7/26/2009
Had quite a lunch feast for 3 people here.
Started off with Hot and Sour soup. The spiciness was interesting. It gave me the hiccups the entire time I was drinking the soup, so that was slightly unpleasant. The soup was also not very thick, but it was tasty. 3/5
Then came my order of stewed beef noodle soup (spicy). This was by far my favorite. The beef, oh so tender and copious. The noodles, perfect in texture. The soup, spicy, steaming hot and not exceptionally greasy. YUMYUM!
The Xiao Long Baos were alright. I think there were 8. I liked the filling, but there was barely any soup inside. I bit into my first one expecting a gush of burning soup to singe my throat, but instead, I was just tortured (albeit happily) by the very very hot and delicious filling.
Got a Green Onion Pancake. No likey. Hella thick and just not that great. Plus it should have come first. If it came first, it would have probably tasted better as my tastebuds wouldn't have been excited by all the spicy stuff ahead of time.
Also couldn't resist ordering some "Hollow Vegetables", stir fried. I like them Cantonese-style better, but whatevs, veggies are veggies :)
All of this food for $27 buckaroos, not bad Shanghai Restaurant! -
Review from Randy Y.
Saratoga, CA
9/24/2010
Parents love coming here because there's a great 3 dishes for $16 deal. I however, prefer other Chinese restaurants, but I always must tag along.
I'm not gonna lie, for $16 it is a good deal, but the portions are oh so small. The food here is usually pretty legit, but nothing that amazes me like other Chinese restaurants I've been in the area. I guess they have dishes which I feel I can make myself and it would taste almost as good. This place is cash only also, which can be a drag at times.
Food does come rather quickly though and the service is pretty good. Oh, but the hot and sour soup here is delicious, I must say. One the best I've had in the area. -
Review from alan w.
Fremont, CA
5/26/2011 1 Check-in Here
thatdevil's Bay Area Stinky Tofu Hunt:
"Shanghai Restaurant"
They only have fried stinky tofu here, and boy is it good. This is closest I've seen to the kinds you get off street vendors in Taiwan. Very crispy on the outside and oh so tender on the inside. The tofu is airy and fluffy. The sauce is perfect (it's the classic thick soy-sauce with diced...garlic and onions?). Only problem is it's a little expensive...runs about 6 bucks a dish of 10 cubes. Pricing aside, this is hands down the best place for fried stinky tofu in the Fremont/Milpitas area. Try it out and let me know what you think! -
Review from Rob C.
10/9/2011
no recent reviews, so wondering if things have changed much. got pan fried soup dumplings. wrapper a little too thick, crispy on the bottom, not that much juice inside, tasted ok. also had a fish fillet soup with vegetable, which was a ok.
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Review from Joe L.
Bay Area
10/15/2007
We went with a big group. We were only told the street address. I didn't know the name of the restaurant until I walked in. The restaurant was very tiny but crowded.
We had two big tables and one person ordered all the dishes for the group. The service was very quick. The dishes arrived within minutes. I guess because our group took over one third of their space, they would really want to serve us as fast as possible. All the dishes tasted very good, though some dishes were quite greasy. I think that is okay and typical if the restaurant is in mainland China, but would scare off many Californians who watch their diet.
We had mostly identical dishes on the two tables except the clay-pot soup. The pots were so big that we actually swapped our soups so everyone could try a little of the other pot. One pot was duck soup, the other was fish soup, both tasted very good. Both pots contained a lot of meat in bones, again, very typically and authentically Chinese, but may scare away non-Chinese customers.
The XLB were juicy and tasty. No complaint about that.
So if you want to try good Shanghai cuisine, try this one. Just point to those Chinese words on the wall and I bet you will get a very tasty dinner. But be warned, this may be too Chinese for you. :-) -
Review from Jo C.
San Jose, CA
3/19/2009
My friends introduced this authentic Shanghainese restaurant a while back. Service can be hit or miss. Sometimes the main waitress is a little grumpy but hey, you came here for the food right? They also always give you some free sweet soup dessert thingy in the end that is very refreshing to the palate after eating so much other tasty dishes.
Things that I tried:
Pork Bamboo Spare Ribs - 5!!! This is my favorite dish.
Chou Doufu (Stinky tofu) - 5
Wine Chicken - 4
Dumplings - 4 (so soft and watery - very authentic)
Braised Pork Belly- 4 (if you don't care about eating so much fats..)
Some curry beef vermicelli hot pot thing (sorry i forgot the exact name) but this was also awesome. - 5
Some of the dishes are not on the English menu, so if you can't read Chinese, ask one of your Chinese friends to probably write the dishes for you in a piece of paper and then just show it to the waitress/waiter when it's time to order. I did that a long time ago before I started taking Chinese classes and no, the waitress did not laugh at my face. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta to do. -
Review from Meng W.
Santa Clara, CA
8/17/2008
Place open at 11:00 in the morning, I wished they opened earlier.
I visited this place last sat. It was absolutely wonderful. They have special dim sum menu items on Sat and Sundays, those special menu item are all very authentic shanghaiese dim sum items. The price was also very reasonable too. For 7 of us, we only paid about $60 dollars. There is also wireless internet you can bum from the next door cafe.
The only downside I can think of is that on sat and sun, the dim sum items might run out since they only make limited amount. And this place is CASH only so it's not the greatest. Also parking might get difficult in the plaza during busy lunch hours. -
Review from KAI G.
San Jose, CA
12/31/2010
Food here is a little bland . They did a remodel of the place... new furniture and stuff.. portions for 16 is less than others that have similar deals.
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Review from Lolia S.
San Francisco, CA
2/26/2009 5 photos
The dishes we tried were average, but the food is authentic Shanghainese (my father's from that area). They might have English menus (I'm not sure; we received Chinese menus and the posted specials were in Chinese). Just about everyone dining there was Chinese.
Since I can't read Chinese, I'm not sure of the names of the some of the dishes we had or the prices (sorry). It looks like the typical authentic Chinese restaurant, not much effort made in terms of décor (which is a good thing), pics of the dishes posted in the window. I'm sure it's reasonably priced and the portions were generous. I noticed they had fresh soy milk - maybe they have Shanghai brunch items?
* XLB: not bad but not great either, juicy but the skin was too thick especially on top, no ginger provided
* Beancurd sheets stuffed with ground pork casserole: came with tiny scallops and salted sliced pork bits in a light broth. I liked the broth but thought the pork tasted a little off.
* Lion's heads in wintermelon soup: a healthy item with no MSG, it was okay, the lion's heads were small loose meatballs, tender but not as tasty as true lion's heads, the broth was light and lacking in flavor
* Fish filets in wine sauce: Tender mild fish pieces in a thickened, light, sweet rice wine sauce, no veggies, good flavor but I did miss the veggies.
* Braised pork belly: not from the healthy menu, comes in a rich brown sauce (soy sauce based) with preserved vegetables, the sauce was really deep and yummy. I didn't eat the fatty meat
* Sweet rice cakes: not made with rice flour but with sweet rice, pan fried, nice and golden on the outside, chewy on the inside, served hot, with decent but boring flavor; this would be better with flecks of pork or sausage. You don't see this on the menu too many places.
They have dishes that are relatively uncommon and hard to find and their recent new dishes are healthy and free of MSG (a modern take on traditional Shanghainese classics).Listed in: Guide to Bay Area Chinese…
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Review from Victor G.
Updated - 11/15/2009
haven't been here in awhile and shanghai has added a 3 fer 16.50 menu with about 40 choices. everything else seem the same.
sampling:
-xiao lung bao(8/6.95) relatively thin skined xlb's with juicy soup and some tasty meat within. one of the finer northern cal xlb's around.
-hot & sour soup(4.95) very big bowl with tofu strips, black fungus, etc. ... not as tasty as before cuz i found a new favorite in the 'dro, still pretty decent though.
-"nian gao" rice cake with shredded pork (5.85)tender sauteed rice cakes
3 fer 16.50
-braised bamboo shoot with pork: fresh crunchy bamboo sprouts from china, interesting and tasty dish.
-kung bao chicken:fresh small pieces of chicken with cornlets, bell peppers and onions. fresh but not very spicy.
-"tang chu xiao bai gu=sugar vinegar small pork riblets": large boned spareribs deep fried and covered with sweet sauce: not so great
desert(gratis) mini glutinuous rice balls in sugared soup base. typical chinese deseert. nice.
leftovers:
-saw menus only in chinese, conversed only in mandarin, they probably speak english also.
-cash only
-single waitress on duty, aided by speedy hispanic "busperson".
-3 fer menu worth checking out. some items list for 7.95 on regular menu.Listed in: going shanghainese
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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1/19/2008
anchored by lions market, shanghai restaurant can be found by spotting the 76 gas station, making a… Read more »
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Review from Jeannie L.
North Bethesda, MD
7/23/2006
I'm so happy to have another good Chinese restaurant to add to my list. The food was really tasty and fairly-priced too. I mean, what else can you ask for? The Sichuan Water-Cooked Fish dish doesn't really taste like how the dish should be made since it had no numbing effect. However, it was still very yummy. I loved the Sauteed Shrimp, which you have to eat with vinegar. This reminds me of the food I had at Shanghainese rest. in HK. We also tried the Pumpkin pastry, which is made of rice flour and is a bit sweet and greasy. The soup dumpling was pretty good for the Bay Area since I still haven't found any place with thin skin and lots of juice like Joe's Shanghai in NYor Ding Tai Fong in LA/Taiwan. Overall, it satisfies!
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Review from Victoria Y.
San Jose, CA
4/13/2010
My dad always finds these really cool restaurants and we decided to try this place. The food was actually pretty good. Like any chinese restaurant, it was super packed so the service wasn't great. Kept having to flag the waiters down. I like that there's a clear glass area you can see behind the counter. And if I remember correctly, bathroom wasn't that clean :/
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Review from chloe w.
Milpitas, CA
11/15/2009
The Xiao Long Bao here is decent and I would come back just for that. The hot and sour soup was really watery,oily, and tasted bad. My husband and I ordered to go and it took close to 40 mins. That was annoying bc the restaurant was not even busy. Also, if you don't speak chinese the service is not very friendly and its not easy to order bc the menu has a lot of chinese. The english version of the menu does not include all the items you can order.
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Review from Her H.
Los Angeles, CA
8/20/2009 6 photos
Chicken Chestnut Claypot, Shanghai Pork Belly w/spinach and rice wine, Peking Ribs, Spicy Fish Fillet, their seasonal veggies are also tasty.
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Review from L K.
San Jose, CA
9/25/2009
This has got to be my favorite place to eat in all of the South Bay. My family comes here on a regular basis to eat the Fish in Wine Sauce, the Xiao Long Bao (apparently I see Yelpers call it XLB haha), and Shanghai Chow Mein. My daughter is a very picky eater but she will always gobble down the Shanghai noodles. I love the XLB, it's juicy, tender and flavorful. (I don't know what the hype is about Din Tai Fung's XLB, this one is much better). And the fish in wine sauce is really to die for. The waitress is nice and knows what we want to order before we order. Love this place.
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Review from Jeremy G.
Palo Alto, CA
9/5/2010
I had a coupon. I showed the coupon when I first sat down. When I got the bill they refused to take the coupon. The owner came over and started screaming at me that the coupon company had not paid her and screaming LOUDLY at me and my wife and everybody in the whole restaurant started staring at us. It was the most embarrassing meal out I have ever had.
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Review from Joe O.
Mountain View, CA
9/9/2008
Very friendly wait staff, especially a woman who appears to be the owner.
Their fermented rice dessert is very tasty as is their fish in wine sauce dish. Highly recommended! -
Review from Anita L.
6/25/2005
We went in search of this restaurant because it was recommended to us by someone. It took us a while to find it since they couldn't tell us an English name and address, but only, vaguely where it was located and a Chinese name. After much driving around, we finally found this little hole-in-the-wall. My skepticm kicked in and so, I ordered only 3 items to try. I told my family that if this didn't work out, we could always go and eat at another restaurant in the complex. The first 2 dishes tasted good, however, the noodle dish was just swimming in oil that when my 4 year old was eating it, grease was dripping down his lips and his chin. Okay... tastes good but was unedible due to too much grease. The third dish was xiao long bao (Shanghai steamed dumplings) which we are always on a quest to find the best of ... the filling was very good, tasty and full of 'juice' but the skin/wrapper was really dry. My 4 year old, who usually likes the wrapper and NOT the filling, unwrapped his xiao long bao and ate the inside saying the outside was yucky. Case closed. Not a restaurant I would drive this far for.
