Shanghai

The food was decent, the prices as well, but the service…
I ordered Spring rolls and I am still waiting. Not only that, when all our food was in the table I requested the spring rolls 5 TIMES and the order was ignored by both members of staff. We later said do not bring them because we want to pay the bill and leave and I am still waiting for an apology.
If I come back it is because I am in the area and I might fancy cheap food but thats it. I really wanted to like you Shangai.

Nice Chinese food at nice price, second time here and ordered the vegetarian set meal, good value. Decoration is quite old fashion but not a bad way.

I mean, it’s fine. It’s overpriced, the dim sum tastes like it’s been steamed from frozen, but … it’s fine if you’re desperate for a dim sum fix. It used to be much better, but in recent visits, the quality of the food seems to have gone downhill a bit. As someone of Chinese descent, it’s been nearly impossible to find a decent Chinese restaurant in London, and this one somehow scrapes by.
Service is desultory and sometimes even surly, but I can’t expect much more, really. The dim dining room in the back, where we’re usually seated, could do with a serious face-​lift — not to mention the tired, worn furniture. I don’t really want to know what the kitchen looks like, or the cleanliness factor, but I’ve eaten there a few times and have never had any problems.
I think you can do better, but if you’re passing by on a night out, it’s worth stopping by.

I’ve been eating at the ‘Shanghai’ in Dalston for a decade, the décor is fabulous, in fact a rarity in that respect and worth a visit if just for the Victorian atmosphere. This place used to be a pie and mash shop several decades ago, and the owners of Shanghai have left the original period tiles in place in the front room; the look is very London, and very pretty. So, both for décor and service, you will do well to sit in the front room.
The food is nice. Nice being the word here. Portions are medium sized, dumplings served in portions of, 4 priced at £ 3. Mains range between £ 8 and £ 15. Their best dishes are the Crispy Noodles: tasty, greasy and crunchy, the Turnip Puffs starters which melt in your mouth, and their Noodle Basket, that was to die for, but it’s no longer on the menu. Alas, about an hour after the filling meal, sudden hunger does sharply come up. Which is odd, as it never happens to me when eating out anywhere else.
The host is the only efficient staff member at the place, you’ll recognise him as he wears an all black outfit. Service there is never fast, nor friendly, waitresses look at you with distaste at best, but eventually they do take your order. Usually. Not on my last visit though. We were seated in the bigger and louder back room, bad start already, and at a table placed under what can only be described as a Broadway spotlight, requiring either a baseball cap or sunglasses in order to avoid night blindness when looking at each other across the table. Well, at least we could read the menu very, very clearly.
And that we did. For about 45 minutes. Unfortunately no one came to take our order, so after deciding on food, watching the people at the table next to us arrive and being served wine, and witnessing about 25 dishes being carted down from the nearby kitchen to the karaōke room somewhere downstairs, we finally gave up and left. On our way out, we noticed a lost looking waitress hiding in the shadow behind a large column, clutching a notepad. Only then she asked if we wanted to order. By then we had our jackets on, and the prospect of waiting another hour for the food to actually arrive was just not practicable, as we were starved. Ended up in a Turkish eatery up the road, where we were served in less than 3 minutes.

Great food but some of the worst service I’ve ever experienced. We waited for over an hour before we had to ask the waiter where our food was at which point he mentioned that they were out of several dishes we had ordered. The food is delicious but not worth the incompetency of the staff.

We wanted something different from the typical Turkish food food on offer so came here for dim sum. Nothing stood out as amazing.
The har gow and siu mai were passable but they made me think of something that was frozen and then reheated.
The duck congee was salty and quite greasy.
The law bok gow was cut into cubes and stir fried with mung bean shoots, green beans and slivers of char siu with XO sauce. This had massive potential but it didn’t really work.
Beef cheung fun was bland. The soy sauce that came with it added nothing to dish.
Chicken bao was ok but nothing special
Xiao long bao was ok. Again, it didn’t stand out either.
Overall, it was a bit of a disappointment. Definitely not on par with some of the other dim sum houses in London. I wouldn’t say you should avoid this place given that it’s a taste of something different in the area. But manage your expectations. It’s not fantastic Chinese food.

I came here as a friend of a friend of a friend had told me that it was possible to find good dim sum in East London outside of Canary Wharf. He’d specifically mentioned Shanghai as being his go-​to place so I thought I would give it a go. I was dubious because I’ve found that non-​Chinese and Chinese have very different ideas as to what tastes good but, well, was desperate enough to give it a go.
Where should I start? The service was okay, if slow. The dim sum selection was decent in terms of the range but nothing we tried was any good. The char siu bao and prawn dumplings were rather bland. Prices were on the high side given the area. In short, not a place I’d recommend, unless you’re really desperate.
The only thing Shanghai had going for it was the décor. It’s a nice bit of old-​world charm. Nice enough to keep me from giving this place one star — so maybe go for a drink once if you’re in the area?

I awoke from an extremely vivid dream about my ex wife. Feeling confused and slightly hungry I reached over to the bedside table and pulled open the small drawer where I keep my takeaway menus. I leafed through them and found myself drawn to one in particular with a mystical Chinese symbol. Below it read in bold, black lettering — SHANGHAI. It was then the phone rang. Startled I dropped the menu and answered. It was my mother calling from Nova Scotia. I hadn’t heard from her in a while. In fact I hadn’t heard from her all year. We had a lot to catch up on but I just couldn’t concentrate. Her questions and stories were falling on deaf ears. All I could think about was SHANGHAI. I would probably live to regret it but I had to make my excuses and put the phone down. Mother would have to wait. With the menu firmly gripped in my hands my eyes darted left to right, top to bottom and back again, picking out each dish; Buddhist Monk Soup, E-​Noodles, Ma Po To-​Fu, Moon in King Prawn’s Tummy. My heart was racing, my throat was dry. It was time. Time to order.
I wasn’t planning on leaving the house that day but as their delivery driver was on holiday in Centre Parcs I found myself pounding the streets in my new Clark’s Wallabies. Destination; SHANGHAI.
I was greeted by a softly spoken Chinese man who urged me to take a seat. As I waited I couldn’t take my eyes off his hair. I was mesmerised. Sleekly brushed to one side and black as a raven’s wing. Not a strand was out of place. A ring of the chef’s bell brought me to. I rose to my feet and walked towards the counter. The Chinese man handed me a white polythene bag filled with food containers and a separate brown paper bag. ‘They must be complementary prawn crackers,’ I thought to myself. Nice. I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out a crisp £20 note. I realised it was from the Bank of Scotland and hesitated giving it to him for a second. But the Chinese man’s reassuring eyes washed away any doubt inside me. The transaction was complete.
I often think back to that day I awoke in a cold sweat with the taste of my ex wife on my lips and her voice ringing in my ears. I found comfort in SHANGHAI and by all accounts it too found comfort in me.

Decent local Chinese restaurant. As local chinese restaurants go, this is one of the best around. If you
want haute Chinese cuisine, go to the West End, perhaps even to its sister
restaurant, Shanghai Blues, which has excellent dim sum and great décor (I only
go for the dim sum though, not their other food).
The menu is wider than your standard local chinese fare, with reasonable
standards, and they do have dim sum which is of decent quality. The selection
of dim sum is not huge or inventive (Shanghai Blues is quite innovative), but
most local Chinese restaurants don’t have much if at all so I am grateful. They
have roast duck and roast pork hanging in the window and daily specials.
My other chinese friends are jealous that I have a decent restaurant so
close. It is not my favourite Chinese restaurant in London I have to travel
into Central London for that but overall I am pleased with it and it’s a good
local amenity.
I should mention that I am half Chinese and a chef.

Too expensive for the quality of the food. My chilli fried beef was way too dry as well! But I quite like the look of this place, the layout and booths are cool.

My second visit, on a busy Friday night and so sadly we couldn’t get a table at the front in the old pie & mash part of the restaurant. A door at the back of the restaurant was opened every few minutes letting in a waft of karaōke so not the most relaxing of settings…
At just shy of £10 for a single dish of pak choi or choi sum, I had a feeling the menu wasn’t going to offer value for money. Our seafood dish was padded with white onion not spring onion, another bad sign…
The service was OK (fast if not friendly) and so was the food. Meh. When we asked for banana fritters we were told they had run out… (of bananas?!)
Why are there so many Vietnamese places doing good food around East London but not any Chinese?
I still have a taste of something odd (MSG?) in the back of my throat as I write this the morning after.

I have to say, Shanghai was way better than I expected. Besides Royal China at Queensway, this was the best Chinese food I’ve had in London (including Chinatown). Our entrees in order of best to worst (worst not being bad at all): Prawn with Ginger and Spring Onion, Aubergine and Bean Curd in Black Bean sauce, Sweet and Sour Pork, and Deep Fried Shredded Beef with Chilli. My friends’ favourite is the special rice on the side and we had the Crystal Prawn Dumpling app. Everything was very delicious and fresh. Also, everything was a bit more on the authentic side, which I prefer. A solid 4 stars.
Getting delivery was a bit of a snafu, so we ended up going there, ordering and taking away. Minus one star for lack of convenience in the winter weather!

I went here with a group of 20 odd friends for Dimsum on Sunday 26 Sept 2010 at 1pm
The food was okay — nothing to shout about but no complaints either except the service was woefully slow.
Some of us left at about 3 because they had other things to do and I and a couple of others left at 3.30, the final three dishes were still ‘on their way’.
The restaurant was busy, fairly full, so I can understand that they were stretched but to receive only about 8 portions in something like two and a half hours is awfully slow.
Go here if you have lots of time to kill and you can relax and you aren’t too hungry.
Nice décor, fair food, slow service, reasonable prices.
Ciao

As far as I can see this used to be an excellent restaurant which is going down and down in the charts, but I tried once last year and for a chinese restaurant (for me just a few of them are not suspicious) I reckon Shangai is a quite good one. First the menu is a real menu and doesn’t offer up to 200 dishes that actually are almost the same. You can quickly realise what you want without that fake impression you got SO many choices that makes you feel lost. Then the food (I’ve tried the dim sum and the hoisin duck wrap) was well cooked and tasted good, nothing exceptional though. We’re charged correctly and the service was average. I wasn’t expected too much of this restaurant when I got in but for a local chinese restaurant I must say this is better than the average and I’m definitely coming back. Also because I fancy that East End pie and mash shop décor.

I have heard about this place so many times, but having finally pulled out my finger and gone to try the lace out I was rather disappointed.
It seems from other reviews that the place is trading on former glories and I was left feeling that I would have been just as well served staying in Shoreditch and going to Ping Pong or the Drunken Monkey.
The selection on the menu is fine and the food is ok, but not an amazing meal out, that’s for sure.

Ended up at Shanghai for their happy hour dim sum (most dishes are 1.90 between 3pm and 5pm on Saturday and Sunday). Long list of dishes: har gau (steamed prawn dumplings), steamed pork dumplings, char siu buns, spare ribs in black bean sauce, chicken feet in black bean sauce, pan-​fried turnip paste (pictured above), roast duck congee, chicken and chinese sausage rice pot, prawn and chive cheung fun, BBQ pork cheung fun. Most of it was quite good — I’d skip the spare ribs next time though as they weren’t as good as the rest of the dishes.

The Shanghai has the old school, East London sort of nostalgia. You can picture women in their hosiery, high heels and hair nets, and men in their dappers leaning up against a tiled counter ordering pie & mash and jellied eel.
However, as the neon sign suggests, it is now a Chinese. We knew this.
The fantastically flavored crispy duck promised it, the special fried rice with our quick fried squid and asparagus confirmed it. The food was good and the tribute paid to times past touching. It is certainly a place that I look forward to visiting again as it is warm and inviting in that way.
The restaurant belies it’s local roots with a large seating area further back, representing more closely the type of oriental eatery that one is accustomed to in London or indeed I believe, the world over. Aside from good quality the menu is reasonably priced, although I don’t appreciate the service charge being dictated, especially when warm service is seriously lacking! Still, our waitress was hopelessly inexperienced and short of some social skills too.
So, beer spilled, faces pulled, no sympathy, and a negotiation that resulted in having the compulsory service charge deducted from the bill and we were on our way.
We had to laugh but we will be back.

According to my sister, the only reason to go to Shanghai is to witness the semi cross-​dressing karaōke host who performs alongside guests in the backroom. I’m not a karaōke gal myself, so I come here to eat. The food in my experience has always been excellent, I love what they’ve done with the place in terms of décor and the prices are very reasonable.
I also like the waitresses here, they are so unfriendly and clearly outraged by anyone coming to eat in their restaurant, its actually hilarious. They are angry and rude and make absolutely no attempt at even the most basic level of customer service, one of them even shouted at me once for taking too long to order. I still go back though, not in a masochistic way, I just find it funny.
My favourite dish is the beautifully presented Szchuan Spicy Chicken in Bird’s Nest (£5.90). they also do lobster in a variety of different sauces for only £26, so next time someone is foolish enough to take me for dinner, I shall order one, a whole one.

Once a pie and eel shop, Shanghai still have comfy booths and shiny wall tiles in the front of the shop. The back section is more formal although I’ve never eaten there.
Sometimes Shanghai is good and sometimes its not and one of the things that make a restuarant a success is consistency. So what can I tell you, I’ve had good dimsum and dimsum that tastes a bit «not so fresh». What is pretty consistent is that the waitresses are sullen and at times I feel like I am imposing.
So why go? Dimsum happy hour between 3 and 5pm on weekends is worth risking the wrath of a waitron on a warpath. They’re closed Mon-​Fri between 3pm and 5pm.

I’ve found a Chinese that’s yummy so tend to stick to that one, but as it’s in the West End, we decided to try somewhere a little closer to home. Shanghai is next door to Dalston Kingsland station and feel like a proper East End joint with booths being placed inside a room with pie & mash décor.
There’s a selection of dim sum and regular Chinese meals available. We tried the Crystal dim sum, prawn toast and spring rolls followed by duck and mandarin fillet steak. It was all good and the egg fried rice was in a really cool wooden lidded dish. There were also unlimited prawn crackers upon arrival. Hooray!