Restaurants

A group of us went for a late lunch / dim sum on Sunday afternoon and the main dining area was healthily full even though it was close to 3pm. I was with some Chinese friends who ordered the food and the staff were very polite in explaining the amazing variety of dishes. The food was excellent. The plethora of different dishes was mind boggling and the tastes lustrous. I do not know where to start . Chicken dumplings in soup, chicken feet, spicy tripe, steamed scallops parceled in green pasta, crispy noodles with prawns - all totally awesome ! Two dishes must be singled out though ; the Roast Duck with special sauce and the fried "squid cakes" with spicy sauce; all washed down with generous amounts of Chinese tea. For desert, which was a struggle to find room for, was a type of mango blancmange. I can honestly say the the food was close to being faultless and amongst the best I've eaten in London.
Service was very polite and attentive, with the staff very willing to explain the details of the different dishes. The portions were well sized and value for money; I would have paid double for what we ate. Admittedly we went for a late lunch when the dim sum was at a cheaper price but for £15 / head it was amazing value.

We stumbled upon the Shanghai restaurant after a busy morning shopping in the market. We were thrilled with the old fasioned traditional decor and placed ourselves in one of the wooden booths. The food passing our table looked very appealing and there was a good choice on the menu.
We were very pleased with our food. The presentation was impressive, the portions very generous.
The chicken in yellow bean sauce was served in a pretty, lacey basket of fried noodles. The rice was beautifully presented in a box with a container inside and a lid. We were generally impressed as we had thought we were just wandering into a local cafe and the food was so much better than anticipated. The only thing which really let this place down was the staff. The place was quite busy especially in the rear area of the restaurant but that did not explain the rudeness of our waitress. She never smiled or paid any attention to us. When I asked for some wet wipes she literally threw them on the table as she passed without stopping!
A service charge was added to our bill which I did consider deducting. Finally it was a great find in an area where I expected to eat at KFC!

I've never complained in a restaurant before but I used to go to Shanghai a lot and visited for the first time in years last night. The food was not good - limp and tasteless but when they charged me £7.80 (!) for badly cooked seasonal greens with oyster sauce I suggested this was too expensive. This was met by offensive indifference at first and then when I then refused to pay for the dish and the gratuity, the manager agreed to halve the cost of the dish but said that if I came back, he would refuse to serve me (barred from a restaurant?) and that the 'gratuity' was compulsory. He then came back with the adjusted bill and said he hoped that I would find somewhere with more agreeable prices next time in a really unpleasant way.
Maybe the chef was having a bad night but I still don't think it's a good idea to overcharge your customers and then patronise them in front of a full restaurant.

What a fab night we had, it was my hen party, the service and food was great. We were in fancy dress, they were happy to help in any way. Good value for money too.what more could you want !!! Children are very welcome too.