Shanghai Restaurant

Atmosphere: Mediocre. Utensils did not feel completely clean. Place was a little sticky and run down.
Food: I had better. Costco sells better XLB. The skin is soggy and thick. Overall, fulfilling. I had a rice dish but the rice did not taste fresh. The beans were okay.
Not awful for 7 dollars a person I guess… but will definitely not be going back.

I tried the xiao long bao and beef noodle soup and the dishes were just ok. The dumplings were very thick skinned but didn’t have that much meat or soup. The noodle soup had a good Amount of noodles but was lacking in flavor and beef. On the plus side, most of the dishes here are under $ 10 so it is a pretty cheap lunch.

Went here on the way back from SFO because the little lady wanted some Taiwanese style hot soy milk and yo tiao. Turned out this place was more Shanghainese style, but they did have the soy milk.
This part of Oakland as many of you know is not the most scenic, but seems to have the best Chinese food in the area. The outside of this restaurant is aptly graffiti’d up, but inside is where the magic happens, right? :)
We ordered the sweet hot soy milk with the yo tiao along wit the steamed pan fried dumplings (Chinese name I forget). Both were delicious! Sorry no pictures because we gobbled them both up as we were both hungry at the time.
One thing to note: there’s a common bathroom that’s outside the restaurant in the back. It is so beyond disgusting I suggest you find another place to do your business.
If we’re in the area, we’ll probably visit again but not a destination restaurant for us. Good food though!

Authentic Chinese Food at
Night Market Price
If you want light and delight food and
Happen to be in the area
This might be for you
After the Thanksgiving prime rib big meal, I was ready for Chinese food! Yeah!!!
We were a party of eight. We had ten various dishes, halibut delight, steamed broccoli and carrots vegetable, 2 orders of steam dumplings, (lion head) meatballs, onion and peppers beef, Zhajiangmian noodle, pan fried dumpling and green onion pancake, and three Tsingtao beers total bill: $ 81.00 — good deal!
The service was fast and hospitable. We shall be back!

TL;DR: Thick wrappers. Low quality. Go somewhere else.
We visited this place because we had heard that they had the best Xiao Long Baos in the area. Despite being the only patrons there at the time, the food took a very long time to prepare, ~30 minutes. We assumed that the steaming was probably the reason for this delay, but others trickled in after us and received their dumplings fairly quickly.
The XLBs were alright; each order comes with 8. The wrappers were nice and chewy and the filling was primarily pork. My mother commented that the quality of their XLBs have gone down since the last time she was here. She was not impressed. So that’s the verdict. Can’t argue with Mom.
We also ordered the Shanghai Dumplings. Each order comes with 12. We got the ones with the pork and chive filling. Not good at all. The wrappers were too thick and they broke as soon as we picked them up with our chopsticks.
Another thing that bugged us was that we did not receive tea during our time there. Each seat came with a plate and a teacup. We then thought that we had to specifically ask for tea, but the 3 parties that walked in after us received tea immediately.
The total for the two dishes came out to be around $ 15, so $ 7.50 for both items. Not bad, but considering the quality and poor service, you’re better off going to Tian Jin Dumplings on Franklin Street to get your dumpling fix.

Embarrassment to Oakland Chinatown. Eaten there in the past and the food was okay, but during our last visit the service was excessively rude. 1 small drink item was incorrect and instead of trying to resolve the matter, the waiter tried to argue and give attitude to us. Food is not that good to excuse a horrible experience for our family.

I’ve been to other restuarants in different cities but so far Shanghai Restaurant has the best soup dumplings (of course, Shanghai dumplings are bit better.) We have been going there for more than 10 years. The qaulity of the food remains the same. It is very hard to find nowadays. We always get the hot pot fish soup with turnips, soup dumplings, wonton soup, and fried buns (Chinese dried bun/​Mantou, 饅頭). Prices are reasonable. The best!

Worst frozen xlb I’ve ever had. It’s also very overpriced for what they serve. Do not recommend coming here.

Until Din Tai Fung opens its first Bay Area restaurant later this fall, this is the place to get the best XLB. The wrapper isn’t paper thin, and a little chewy at the top, but the broth is luscious, full of collagen.
But what sets this place apart from others is its authentic Shanghainese regional cuisine. While it won’t have the mitten crab on the menu due to regulations, it serves plenty of regional specialty such as kalimeris and tofu, mudfish/​loach, and braised fish tails.
Quite often, no Mandarin is spoken at all, attesting to the authenticity. Just ignore the graffiti, sticky table, etc.

Really authentic Shanghai dishes and flavors, nice owners, solid meal guaranteed. Any place that serves good soup dumplings deserves an automatic 3 star minimum. Despite all the Shanghaineseness (yes I know, just made that up), I opted for the curry chicken dish, which used a bit of a Chinese/​Japanese curry paste as a base for the sauce and little tiny bits of dark meat in there with onions and veggies. The pan fried buns were also on point, juicy meat in the middle with a soft doughy exterior and a little bit of crunch on the bottom.
The salted pork rice was pretty good as well, though it was very much a basic dish without any pretense of being fancy or over the top.

I came from Zhejiang and this is pretty good in the east bay. The owner is quite warm heart. I will always bring some CiFan back home.

I went here for the 1^st time today. I was pleasantly surprised to see a few traditional breakfast items on the menu. The husband and I both had the: semi sweet warm soy milk, dan bing (egg crêpe), stinky tofu, fake goose meat, and the traditional Shanghai dumplings. The food came out hot and very freshly made. The service was very nice and knew how to up sell certain items. This is a bit on the pricier side for breakfast food, but it would be a recommendation for us to share with others.

Once you get over the sticky tables, greasy windows, and the graffiti outside, the food is actually not bad. Pretty cool that they still serve a huge plastic pot of steamed rice for free in 2015. Great for someone on a student’s budget ;)
This is quite authentic Shanghai /​Chinese food without too much MSG (although I sensed a bit of msg added). Their 3 dishes for $ 19.50 deal (2 whole pages) is great, and bonus points for translating the entire menu to English too! They have dishes ranging from prawns to clay pot to fish to eggplant and other vegetables.
I actually came here specifically for the Shanghai dumplings when I had a craving one rainy night. Although they hit the spot, they weren’t the best I’ve tasted. The skin was a tad too thick, but at least all the dumplings were consistent! I also really liked the flavor of the dumplings, and the soup wasn’t too piping hot either. If you’re in the East Bay and are craving XLB and don’t want to venture all the way to Alameda, then Shanghai Restaurant could be the way to go. Plus, you can definitely leave with leftovers without burning a hole in your wallet.

First of all the building that this restaurant is in is covered with graffiti and neither the landlord or the business owners care enough to do anything about it. If the place looks like skid row, then the restaurant experience doesn’t start with the right vibe. I’ve eaten here before and its never crowded at dinner or lunch. The food we ordered wasn’t too bad but my wife found a cockroach in the chili sauce that had spooned into her food. Not coming back.

Came here to eat steam dumplings, green onion pancakes, hot soy bean milk with Chinese donuts.
Very cheap prices. The food is okay/​satisfactory/​filling.
Steam dumplings: good but has a weird after-​taste.
Green onion pancakes: not green onion-​y enough
Hot soy bean milk: Once they ran out of «hot» and only served it cold. Another time, it was lukewarm. Total turn off.
Chinese donuts: greasy
I’d much rather go to Taiwanese Restaurant on Clement Street in the city because they make all of this and it is THEE best. I am not lying.
But this place happens to be convenient, location wise.
Try the special sauce noodle. It’s quite tasty.

Horrible! The teapot and dishwater are Very Dirty! Their services attitude are Very Bad! The soup tastes like water, and the pork is too sweet and hard to chew on. Very Uncomfortable to sit inside because it is Very Noisy and Crowded.
Also as I was holding my baby to place her in the high chairs, since my hands weren’t free I put my foot on the high chair to make sure it was sturdy as I was going to place my baby in there, as I placed my foot on the bottom of the high chair an employee grabbed the chair away from me and said I was dirtying it, that was so ridiculous.
It doesn’t even worth a star! We won’t recommend this restaurant to anyone.

A place where you can taste real Shanghainese food, with a feeling as going back home and eating what mother or grandmother cooked for me.
You don’t want to miss if you are a Shangainese:-)

I had a craving for shen jing bao. I haven’t had it since 2013 in Shanghai where they served fantastic soupy bao fried on two sides with a large pork an chives meatball inside.
I was disappointed here. No soup inside and a small bap with the dough not quite right. The Tsung you bing would have been perfect if it had a little more salt.
The XLB were good. You get 8 but the skin is the thicker skin.
I was the only one there so service was fine.

Finally found a shanghainese restaurant in the east bay! Kind of randomly ended up here on a Sunday for lunch because Shan Dong was closed and I really wanted dumplings. The place was empty, with the exception of another couple, and the interior looked dingy. Went on Unilocal,saw some good reviews, decided to brave up and try it. I was not disappointed at all. The price point was great, the items were fresh and it was all very authentic. It may not have been the best XLB, but the pan fried dumplings (no, not pot stickers) were spot on. The warm soy milk was great and dipping the chinese donut in was even better. Loved the chive pancake as well. Ordered wayy too much food for two people and spent $ 30 — had left overs as well. I would definitely return.
As we were eating a Caucasian man walked in and he definitely ordered stinky tofu, because the place did stink up fast with that distinct stinky tofu smell.

Saw this place because it had pretty good reviews on Unilocal.
Turns out, the place is pretty good, but not crazy good :)
The xiao long bao is nice and hot, and prepared fresh. On the other hand, the dumplings are much smaller than expected, with not a lot of «soup» inside, and doesn’t stick to the bamboo pan. You can grab the xiao long baos from the side instead of from the top, and they still won’t break. They feel more like «dim sum» as opposed to xiao long bao, which I would expect to be easily breakable.
The spicy fried sauce noodles were nice, and the veggie mixed rice is pretty good also. I have yet to find a better xiao long bao place in SF to compare with, so if you are in the area looking for this dish this is not a bad place to stop by.