Shanghai Noodle

Ordered takeout from here. There was no difference in taste, texture, or appearance between the Ginger Beef and the General Tao’s chicken. Which could have been shrugged off had either been close to good. After calling the restaurant they assured us that one was slightly darker on the inside. Fantastic.
The Breaded Almond Chicken made the other two taste great by comparison. It may have been passable had they included dipping sauce. Which they assured us they do not.
My favourite part was the Sam See chow mein which consisted of a lukewarm sauce in a separate container from the raw, hard noodles. They assured us this was normal. To be fair, they did not taste that bad despite the fact it contained none of the pork advertised.
Two final points, they did not send napkins, soy sauce, or fortune cookies and the delivery driver mysteriously had no change. Which at this point isn’t surprising. Might as well take the customers for all they’re worth if they’re not coming back.
In short, they have low prices for a reason. Do yourself a favour and spend a few extra dollars somewhere good.

Was welcomed in to the place, but this was the only positive experience of our time in Shanghai Noodle.
They were doing construction inside the restaurant but did not even bother to say anything to us, which was rather annoying. My friend and I ordered the Wonton Noodle Soup. My friend found a hair in his and I found an ant in mine. I am not from Victoria so I will never go here again. If we did not find those two things in our food my review would be much better because our food tasted ok.

Four of us shared three dishes. Two of the three noodles were not fresh. The noodle soup seemed clean, however the two stir fried dishes has a sour/​rancid odor to the smell of the noodles … although they were covered in heavy sauce but I could still tell. My husband thought it was just the taste/​smell of the sauce so he still ate them. About 40 minutes later after we got back to the hotel he was so sick and had to run to the bathroom…

Four of us tried Shanghai Noodle based upon previous reviews, although there were very few for Chinese food. After first seeing the place we were a little skeptical as it appeared empty. We were the only patrons in the place at first, we viewed the kitchen in the family owned and operated business. After seeing the very clean kitchen and the abundant fresh vegetables we sat down. We met the owner (the cook) and her daughter (the very friendly waitress). The dinner was very good and we had attentive service from the daughter as well as the owner. We were all quite satisfied and then we were brought the house specialty, fried almond encrusted chicken… great!
Dinner was less than forty dollars for the four of us — by far the best value of any meal we ate in Victoria.

Have lived in Vancouver, Ohio, Florida, Georgia, California. This is as close to home Chinese/​Cantonese cooking as you get. Their curry is divine. I would like more Chinese vegetables, but that’s just me. Yes, it is a small and very modest looking establishment which isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as one may wish, but judge the quality by the number of Chinese people who eat there on a regular basis. I love this place.

I have eaten in pretty much every Chinese restaurant over the last 27 years and this is without a doubt this is the best Chinese food in Victoria. The vegetables are fresh and crisp. The sauces are made from scratch. People hold up John’s Noodle as the pinnacle of Chinese cooking in Victoria, but I would say it comes in 2^nd (and recently I would say 3^rd or 4^th) at best to Shanghai Noodle.
They don’t bread the meat in thick coatings to hide. Their sesame chicken is actually breaded in sesame seeds, which is makes for an amazing and flavourful dish. Unlike many restaurants in this town they make their own spring rolls and my children cannot get enough of them.
While the décor is basic, the place is clean which is more than can be said from the places in Chinatown. This is the place to get Chinese food from Victoria.

After finding that John’s Noodle was closed, we ran into this place driving to downtown and though, «heck why not.» Our waitress, a young lady, was professional and good. The wait for the food was just about right. The food was pretty darn tasty!
We started with spring rolls which were egg roll sized and made very fresh! Both my hubs and I ordered Shanghai noodles and were very pleased. The noodles were thick and delicious and all the veggies and meat were perfectly cooked. Should we live in Victoria, this is a place we’d become regulars at.

I went here on Beth’s recommendation and it’s worth a try. I only had the Shanghai noodle which was well done — a touch saucy but not a touch salty (I usually like the sauce on shanghai noodle to be a bit thicker).
The outside may look plenty dingy (as does the inside) but the food seems to be pretty solid stuff. Next time I’ll try a few things rather than one thing.

How many times have I driven past here, smiling at the cheerful mural of fat, happy and ever-​so-​slightly misshapen pandas and thought «damn it, I need to GO there!»?
It’s right in my neighbourhood, and I do like noodles, so finally this Saturday we went «hey! Let’s try the panda place!» and walked down.
It’s always a good sign when you go to a Chinese place and find it full of Chinese people. It was.
Right off the bat I’ll say the décor is nothing remotely memorable. The bathroom had a heinous fluorescent light and cans of paint stored in there under a chair. The furniture and flooring and paint job in the place are all kinda dingy and worn down, so if you’re going for fancy ambiance, move on.
IF, however, you want tasty, inexpensive food, read on.
I’m a big believer in trying what a place is known for the first time I go — their «specialty», if you will — because I think it’s a good indicator. It should be what they do best, so if it’s awful, I’m probably not going back. So what did I order at Shanghai Noodle? Why, the Shanghai Noodles, of course!
We split a salad roll (rice vermicelli, shrimp, lettuce etc. in a rice wrapper — boring, honestly, and unmemorable, but not awful) and a Vietnamese roll (a deep-​fried spring roll that was REALLY DELICIOUS), and a pot of jasmine tea. The tea was bag, not loose, but still did the trick, and we both also had ice water, which they refilled a lot. Appreciated.
I had the house special shanghai noodle ($ 9.00), which was red pepper, cabbage, bok choy, onion, and with the house special protein mix — chicken, BBQ pork, beef and prawn — over thick noodles in a slightly sweet, very garlicky and yummy sauce. My date had the same thing, but with just pork instead of the protein mix ($ 7.50). I found the noodles still a little al dente (as they should be), the veggies fresh and well-​cooked, and the protein plentiful and yummy. The sauce was good enough that we both wished we had bread to mop it up after. Which would have been weird, I know.
The bill, with tip, came to $ 25.00 or so, and we were both stuffed and happy. For the money, it’s a good bet. Friendly service, no-​frills, good food.
They’re even wheelchair accessible!
One warning to the wise, however — they do not accept credit cards!
…which is why my «dinner’s on me!» boyfriend ended up sticking me with the bill, the lousy bum!
Go here. Tell the fat panda I say «what up».

This humble little restaurant across from the Crystal pool is easy to miss, despite its new mural covering the entire street front. It seems to have been built in place of a corner store and isn’t near other businesses.
But this makes it the perfect little place to go for a casual, quiet lunch with a friend. They’ll think you really know the city.
I didn’t give it 4 stars because it is very basic. I did give it three because it is indeed A-​OK! My food was good, the server was friendly, the service was fast. In fact, the server was very attentive and pleasant.
The menu has good «real» Chinese food choices, plus your typical North American adaptations.