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Newly opened Shanghai restaurant located across from Lansdowne Centre. Closed on Tuesdays.
Went there today with some family members for the first time. The chicken and vegetable noodle soup and the radish cake were the standouts both in flavor and size of the dishes. The pan fried dumplings (woh-teep for you Cantonese speakers) and deep fried pork soup noodle were pretty standard. What was surprisingly disappointing were the XLBs. We all found them to be too salty. I probably would have given this place 3.5 for the food if they had a choice. The XLBs dragged the food down from a 4 though. For XLBs I would have to give the nod to Shanghai River, but everything else was pretty good here. Ambiance is better at Shanghai River as well.
The food was good, the 2 of us had 4-5 dishes, from soup filled steam buns (xiao long bao), drunken chicken (cold chicken soaked in some kind of Chinese wine, strong alcohol content), crab claws, fish maw and veges soup, onion pancake and something else I cannot recall. Bill came to about $50 for the 2 of us not bad. The experience was bliss if not marred by the almost bland faces on all the servers. From the front counter person who sat us to the busser who brought tea to our server who was impatient in taking our order and actually sighed when I was contemplating on what dishes to order. I asked for one recommendation for something fried and she acted like I was asking for her to donate blood. The room was definitely up scale, not your hole in the wall Chinese restaurant but almost high end, comfortable chairs, well spaced tables, very clean and inviting. I hope to go again as Shanghainese food is healthy and delicious, well most of it except for the fried stuff. I just hope they train their staff to have a little more personality instead of walking corpses.
Decent Shanghai cuisine - good portions, price and selection but nothing overly wow-ing. Came here twice with friends and the food comes fast but it's not that yummy. I think I prefer the other Shanghai places in Richmond more. Not sure what the big hype is with so many competing places, the actual food in Shanghai is way better and you can get so much more for your buck. =)
My bf and I tried this place on the recommendation for its xiao long bao. Yes, very moist and juicy (probably because 80% of the meat they use is fatty pork lol) but I had a problem with the amount of liquid that spilled out on each bite. Maybe I'm supposed to put the whole thing in my mouth to avoid the mess, but doing that while it's hot would burn my tongue :P Waiting for it to cool down would be a waste... so maybe I'm missing something in terms of the right technique to eat this???
We also tried the bbq pork fried rice and pot stickers. While the pot stickers were good, the bbq pork in the fried rice tasted like it had turned bad or is very close to turning bad... didn't taste fresh at all and was an iridescent brown colour. I ended up picking it out of the rice just in case.
Tea came with a dirty tea pot (smeared sauces and a bit of dried food stuck on one side). Service was ok, nothing to complain about. As for value, their prices weren't cheap but were reasonable. The only thing is for the quality, I don't think it was worth it, especially when there are so many places in Richmond that have better food for the same price or less.
This one is off the list for me.
Food: everything we ordered was really quite good. We had xiao long bao, tofu with enoki mushrooms, shanghai fried thick noodle, crispy rice with shrimp in tomato sauce, vegetarian hot and sour soup, eggplant and tofu in black bean sauce, chicken in wine and ribs in some type of red sauce. The tofu was deep fried and tasted really good with the enoki mushroom sauce - very interesting textures and the sauce was amazing. I could actually talk about each and every dish in a positive way.
Service: We came in early to drop off the b-day cake and the hostess was really nice about it. We were able to easily flag someone down to order, tea was refilled quickly, dishes cleared in good time and they even re-dished our chicken so it could fit better on the table. After the meal, they cleared our table, and gave us plates, forks and lit the birthday cake candle so we could serve the cake to the birthday girl.
Value: 8 dishes came to 97 before tip - that's pretty damn good.
Ambiance: Great partially open kitchen concept and nicely lit. Not a lot of matching chairs but I didn't really care. It was a nice place that I would happily bring out of town guests to.
Overall: Highly recommended. Make reservations if you want a table though cuz there wasn't a free one in sight!
The first couple of times we went, boy was it ever crowded. And with good reason, the food was pretty good and a nice change of pace from the "usual" Chinese stuff.
The last couple of times (once lunch, once dinner), it wasn't that crowded. Geeze, once we made it in easily without reservation.
The place still looks and feels the same (well organized, if packed, but fairly clean), the service is good enough for places like this.
We got seated in front of the "xiao loong bao" maker in that semi-open kitchen. Great we thought, nice entertainment. Until she was spotted re-using the paper from previous diners steamers. UGH! ("luckily", this was after we already ate).
Xiao long bao was still decent. The rest of the food was a let down. The flat mung bean noodles dish, not sure what happened there, but the texture was all wrong, like it was all dehydrated or they used the wrong flour or something. That sweet fried fish dish was also done all wrong, kind of like sweetened cardboard or plastic almost. And another dish (I think this one was to simulate crab & brocolli or something like that), they forgot the vinegar that goes with it but otherwise was passable. Cao fu was not that hot either. We've had this type of stuff both here and other restuarants.
Okay, so it was pretty cheap, that's the best I could say. But I doubt we'll be returning here any time soon. If ever.
Reasonably priced and very tasty food. The shanghai dumplings were very tasty and filled with juice when you bit into them. Everything came out fresh and fairly quick considering the restaurant was packed, will definitely return.
Having driven past Shanghai Wonderful on numerous occasions, there always seemed to be a line up at the door, so I had to give it a try and see what the fuss was about.
Had to wait for 30 minutes for a table for a weekend lunch sitting, but I think it was worth the wait.
The soup buns are fabulous, and the potstickers are excellent. Also had these (chicken & turnip baked in pastry shell) which were surprisingly tasty.
The service (by my standards for chinese restaurants) was acceptable.
Food: We ordered the Assorted Meat with Crispy Soup Rice, Pan Fried Pork Buns, Braised Pork on Veggies, Peking duck with lettuce wrap, and of course the Shanghai Style Juicy Pork Bun aka xiao long bao.
The rice was alright, I found it a little bland and too thick for my liking though. The pan fried pork bun came out nice and hot. The buns were fluffy and full of juice; it was good! The braised pork was really oily and it made the veggies drip with oil too. I won’t order that again. The Peking duck was standard; nothing to complain about but nothing special about it either. The disappointing part was the XLB. The main goal of my visit was to try their XLB that others have raved about here on dinehere. To my disappointment, the skin was too thick and it was very salty.
Service: About a 15 minute on a weekend night so that’s not too bad. We were served by 3 different people and the reviews are a little bit mixed. The girl that took our order was friendly although she wasn’t too fluent in English. The younger guy that served our food didn’t have much of a personality, to say the least. Then there was the middle aged guy… We pretty much finished our meal but our XLB hasn’t arrived yet. We tried to flag down someone to help us. It was difficult using English there, it wasn’t until I used my limited Mandarin skills in order to get some service from the middle aged guy. I told him we haven’t received our XLB yet. It was as if he didn’t believe us. After some frustration, we figured they had forgotten to place the order instead. Tsk Tsk!
Value: Average. Rice was about $12, five pan fried pork buns was $5, pork and veggies was $14, duck was $15, wrap was $12, and six XLB for $5.
Ambiance: It was clean. Tables were roomy and chairs were reasonably comfortable. Washrooms were alright too.
Mrs. C and I recently got back from a trip to China, and we were anxious to compare the food at this place to what we had in Shanghai. We made a reservation and invited the usual weekend dinner gang. We had a little trouble finding parking, but that was okay since there was no table ready at our reservation time. My companions waited in the restaurant lobby, and I did some orbits until I got a space for the Chasiucruiser. While my companions were being seated, a waitress slipped on the wet floor next to our table. She hit the floor hard and stayed down. Mrs. C and the manager helped the stunned server get back on her feet, but her night was over.
Except for the slippery floor, the restaurant looked nice and safe. The place was quite full, and we were looking forward to a big meal. Our replacement server was attentive enough, so no worries there. We never saw the injured server again after her rendezvous with the hardwood floor... I hope she was okay.
We ordered a set dinner with pork hock, Shanghai noodles, lettuce wrap, Peking duck, bean curds with bean, soup, jellyfish and pork, some soup, and cold lamb slices. Of course we also had xiao long bao. All the food arrived all at once, which was fine by us. The set dinner for four probably could have comfortably fed six people. We were enjoying our dinner when I felt something odd in my mouth as I was gobbling some Shanghai noodles. I pulled out a piece of metal wire that was in my food. After a brief inspection by everyone at the table, we reported this to the manager. "Oh, sorry", he said. Okay, I thought, this could happen anywhere. We all avoided the noodles, but decided to carry on with the rest of the food. After all, what were the chances of finding more metal in anything? A short time later one of my companions gave a little yelp and produced a jagged piece of broken hard plastic from the pork hock dish. It was about the size of a quarter. After a brief period of shocked silence, we once again summoned the manager. He was nice about it and offered us an upgraded dessert for our trouble. By this time nobody was very hungry. I will say the dessert was tasty. It was red bean puffs, something I have never tried. Despite the dessert it is fair to say that our dinner was officially ruined.
I would have to say this was the most unlucky meal we have ever had. I don't think this sort of negligence was intentional, but when I take my friends out for a meal we want dinner, not danger. With so many safer alternatives out there, we won't be coming back.
Can't recommend.
When I first visited near the early months of their opening, I was not the least bit impressed by their xiao long bao's, tan tan noodle, Shanghai fried rice cakes, spicy wonton, and their oversized single order/pc soup bun (too hot to drink out of a plastic straw). Their other dimsum items were decent. Better than Dinasty a few blocks away, but still nothing exceptional. I was not eager to return esp. to fight the crowd.
Much much later, we've gone back seeing as how busy they still get & with the hopes that maybe the food has gotten better & we had a Shanghai craving. I'm glad we did! It got a whole lot better. The xiao long bao's, though the skin/wrap is thicker than some places, 7/10 times now it doesn't taste doughy. I think that's a good ratio. The soup stock itself is really tasty! They've improved on the flavours giving it a golden savouryness that not many ppl could master except the once exceptional Northan Dynasty on Alexandria Rd (since gone downhill :( did the kitchen staff change?!).
Their dinners are a good bargain, too! They have a section of entree dishes that go for $8.88. The portions are pretty impressive especially for being under $10. The other items are good, too. Love their dessert of black sesame sticky rice balls in wine soup. Can't have enough! Their lettuce wraps are tasty too though I always order the duck meat option, they do offer it in chicken, beef, and pork as well.
They are always packed full during the usual meal hours so it's best to book in advance & get their early or on time!
Cash only as is the case with most Shanghai cuisine restaurants these days.
Food: had the deep fried bun which i though was pretty good compared to any i've ever tried...nice and crispy on the outside. salt rock/pepper ribs was more like battered covered pork cutlets. altho flavourful i prefer the little riblets or pork cutlets minus the batter. 3spiced chicken pot was very flavourful. had this crispy duck dish...i'm not usually a fan of duck but this one is not that fatty so it was ok. finally had this broccoli dish w/ fluffy egg whites which was a big hit at our table. this dish has a decent amt of egg whites on top and even seafood inside which most restaurants dont!
Service: very busy. altho we made reservations we still had to wait at least 15min. servers are not much of conversationalists...i guess they're more about efficiency.
Ambiance: nice and clean decor. try to get a booth if you plan on making table convo cuz it can get pretty loud.
Overall: i wouldnt mind trying some other items on the menu. the price is reasonable and the quality quite good. but def would make sure i make reservations AND dont have any time sensitive plans after dinner as it may take longer than expected.
Our whole family loves Xiao Long Bao so we come to this place about once every 1~2 months since years ago. We have been coming to this place regularly even when it was still a tiny store across from Richmond Center. The food still tastes as good now, and we love coming here for lunch.
In terms of food & value: They increased the price of the food by a little over the year but it's understandable. For the food without price increase, they shrank the size a little instead... well, still good enough for us though since the taste is still excellent. It's not like we'd order more with smaller portions anyway. It's good when we don't have to take leftovers home =) Xiao Long Bao is a must-order every time we come here. Love the juice inside the Xiao Long Bao and the skin rarely rips! We also love the fried pork with nian gao, especially the sauce! (This dish is only available during lunch time, so that's why we only come at lunch).
As for service: Definitely improved over the years. Everyone who works there always have an attitude or something back then, but over the years their overall service improved. Definitely a good news to me XD Now they greet you with a smile and they promptly take away dishes and refill hot tea. The service now makes me happy to return now and then.
Ambiance: Good in general. Toilet is kept clean. Tables are all promptly cleared as soon as the customers leave. The best part is you get to watch the chefs make Xiao Long Bao. I'm always amazed by their speed and the Xiao Long Bao's skin doesn't rip apart when you pick it up! (Out of the numerous times I ate there, I think there were only 3 times that the Xiao Long Bao skin ripped)
Man, writing this review makes me crave for their Xiao Long Baos again!
I just went here again for a family event and this place is always consistently excellent in the quality of their food. They make, as far as I know, all of their noodles and dumplings on prem: you can watch chefs make dumplings by hand as part of the kitchen is on display in the dining room. On that note, it's very clean! The best thing that we always order are the sticky pork buns (I think that is what they are called) which are pork dumplings with a bit of broth inside the dumpling. There is an art to eating these dumplings, I suggest nipping the dumpling and sipping the broth from the dumpling before biting in otherwise you have a good chance of a) burning your tongue on the hot broth and b) getting broth all over the front of your shirt. Another favourite dish is the rice cakes with pickled vegetables, which is absolutely great for texture and flavour. My family swears this is also the best sweet and sour soup that they've ever eaten. I personally love their wonton soup as that is my favourite.
You can stuff yourself silly for about $10 per person. I took some girlfriends there a couple of weeks ago and we ended up eating about $20 per person and wished we all had drawstring pants after that episode. We went for a postprandial movie to help the digestive process.
Only thing to know is that parking can be tricky, best to make reservations on weekends as the place can get packed, and it's cash only.
Went there for dinner yesterday with the family.
Very Clean eating area and w/c (according to the significant other)
Ordered lots of selections, from Peking Duck to Shanghai noodles to the Hot & Sours soup and of course the Sui lung Bau. All was very good, served hot and plates weren't that small. I would definitely go back.
Just had my first dining experience at Shanghai Wonderful / Wong and found lunch to be inexpensive, tasty, and fast!
I was impressed when the hostess literally greeted and seated us before the three of us were barely in the door, then by the two ladies at the front "open kitchen" rolling dough and making xiao long baos for the duration of our stay.
I noticed that every table ordered at least one order of xiao long baos (steamed pork dumplings) and / or san jin baos (panfried pork dumplings). We opted for the former, and also ordered a deep fried pork noodle soup, a flakey shredded turnip pastry, and a cold pork dish.
I was really impressed with the food - the xiao long baos were juicy, hot and tender, with thin yet resilient skins to hold in more than a spoonful of soup each! The turnip pastry was slightly sweet, extremely tender and flakey, and the pork dish would have been nice with beer, sake, or wine. The only minus in my books would have been the pork that went with the noodle soup dish. It was a touch too greasey for my liking, but my companions seemed to like it enough, washing down the oil with hot tea and slurping the hot soup that went with the dish.
What made the best impression was that for three people, the bill came to less than $25. A plus in my books!
I will definately make a point of returning to Shanghai Wonderful to try some of their other dishes.
Tried this place for the first time and have not had previous experience at their previous restaurant. Got there pretty early before 6pm and there weren't too many people yet. Good appies with the cold duck, jelly fish, fish etc being very good. The steam dumplings were very good so we ordered more. A set menu was chosen and crab with rice cakes, boneless duck with Taro, steamed pork was very good. The veggies with mushroom were OK. Overall a good value with lots of left overs. Good dessert, deep fried doughnuts with red bean paste covered with powder sugar. A bit rushed as all of the dishes came quite fast. I guess they want to turn the table quick.
Our table consisted of 12 hungry adults. We ordered a tremendous variety of dishes ranging from the juicy pork buns to the fried "you-tiao" to the kung pao chicken. The general consensus was that it was OK, but not great enough for us to want to come back if given other choices. We thought the food bland, the you-tiao dense, and the non-dim sum type dishes overly saucy.
We went during the rush-time and parking was horrible. The restaurant was extremely crowded as well. on the bright side, their service was pretty good, as was the value; we were surprised that the final bill was very reasonable given the amount we ordered!
I wouldn't recommend diners make a special effort to dine at this restaurant, but this is a solid restaurant.
I have eaten here a few times and was always impressed by the food and its consistency(always good) and the interior is very nice. My experience with the wait staff was good ... no complaints here. The soup of shredded pork with snow cabbage and noodles is a staple of Shanghai cuisine(the best ever was at the long gone Shanghai Paramount); Shanghai Wonderful does a great version, not too salty and very flavorful. The shiu longbao were nice and juicy much better than most Shanghai places. Overall, given the consistency and quality of the food, and the reasonable prices, I rate the Shanghai Wonderful above its peers.
Our party of 4 arrived at 6:30pm and the place was packed. It's best to make reservations or you'll never get a table. We were greeted promptly and seated.
Food was good overall, they had some pretty decent looking dishes and service wasn't slow. We only got a mix of dim sum and appetizer dishes instead of the dinner courses.
Service was okay I guess, it would depend on the waitress you got. The one that initially took our order seemed very indifferent, like she didn't care to even be there. However, a few other servers were attentive and the manager was nice.
Value was there, the four of us were quite full and our bill only came to $55.
I was there at the same time chasiubow was when the waitress slipped. She really was down and out, looked like she wasn't ever going to get up. Being 2-3 tables away, nothing I could do to help since a few people already rushed in to assist. The floor is wooden and gets slippery when wet (old bread garden floors). My only complaint I had was the men's washroom, it wasn't clean and it appears some people had some "accidents" on the floor.
Overall, I'd come back and luckily we never got any foreign objects in our dishes.
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