Shanghai Town

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ShanghaiTown.jpg lion.jpgLion's Head Casserole, Shanghai Style Chow Mein, and General's Chicken

Location
1260 Lake Blvd. #111 (in Westlake Plaza)
Hours
Monday 5:00PM-9:00PM (June 1st through September 30th 2006)
Tue-Fri 11:30AM-2:00PM, 5:00PM-9:00PM
Sat-Sun 11:00AM-9:30PM
Phone
(530) 758-4663

Shanghai Town is a very affordably priced Chinese restaurant in Westlake Plaza, just a few storefronts south of Chuy's Taqueria. There are vast quantities of every dish, including the appetizers. They deliver in West Davis if your order costs more than $20. There is no delivery charge.

Their regular menu is comparable to many of Davis' other Chinese restaurants. They also have an alternative menu, pictured below, which contains a large selection of Dim Sum and Shanghai style cuisine. For the dim sum, they do not come around with carts, but they offer a large selection of dishes. As with any Dim Sum place, the value improves a lot if you order several items together, so it's good to go (and share) with friends or to take out large quantities. First generation Chinese customers frequently order the Braised Pork Ribs in Shanghai Sauce and untranslated items listed on the rear of their Dim Sum menu.

The people working there are very nice, and their customers routinely consist of mainland Chinese natives. For folks not from China, this is an ideal place to explore a new cuisine, and point to the people next to you and say, "I'll have what they're having!"

The owner of Shanghai Town moved her restaurant from San Bruno (about 15 minutes south of San Francisco) to Davis. It replaced Hometown Chinese Restaurant, which moved for a short time to downtown Woodland and is now open in South Davis.

Shanghai Town was the only Chinese Restaurant open on Christmas, 2005.

Menu

menu1.jpg menu2.jpg

Comments:

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2005-08-28 22:47:44   I ate their earlier this night, shortly before closing. They were out of most items, however they freshly cooked what we wanted -a nice touch. The two people seemed quite friendly. While the food was a bit greasy/oily, it tasted fine, and I have no expectation of being poisoned there. I'd consider them average (rating=5) for inexpensive Chinese food. —SteveDavison


2005-09-04 20:27:10   After eating food from there today, I'm dropping my rating of them one point to [Rating=4]. Just too greasy. —SteveDavison


2005-12-15 17:37:02   Random and useless tidbit: The owner of Shanghai Town moved her restaurant from San Bruno (about 15 minutes south of San Francisco) to Davis. I went to high school with her son and now her son goes to Davis so I'm assuming that they moved the restaurant here so that her son could help run the place. —EmilyTung


2005-12-25 22:23:55   Shanghai Town has fantastic food and intimidating portions. The biggest cons are that it sometimes takes a while to get your food and it isn't the cleanest restaurant in town— just be clear on your priorities. Starting with the front side of the dim sum menu ... the green onion pancake is fried goodness, and its sesame seed coating is a welcome treat. The Shanghai Style Chow Mein is made with rice noodles, and is better than any Chow Mein I've had elsewhere in Davis. The Tan Tan Noodles, which mix ground pork with a spicy sauce, are likewise good. The Chive Stickers are my favorite dumpling here. The steamed Shrimp Baby Buns always get points for good flavor, but one time they easily fell apart. The Spicy Wontons are numerous and very good. The rice cakes are greasy but yummy, notably the Seafood Rice Cakes, which have perfectly cooked squid, a rarity in Davis. I didn't care for the Vegetable Buns, which were too dry, or the Pan Fried beef cakes which were unnecessarily greasy. The rear of the dim sum menu is where meat lovers should pay attention. The Shanghai Soy Sauce duck is a great buy at $3.95. With four 2.5 inch diameter meatballs, the Lion's Head Clay Pot Soup, pictured above, was gigantic and well worth $8.95. These meatballs also made an appearance in the Braised Pork Meatballs, where they are coated in a dark soy-based sauce with hints of star anise. The sauce goes great with the meatballs, but even better in the Shanghai Style Braised Pork Ribs. These ribs seem to be their signature dish— the waitresses eyes lit up when we ordered it. The Sauteed Eel and the Braised Pork w/ Bean Curd are tasty dishes, but are a bit overwhelming by themselves. I recommend you order them only when splitting a few different dishes. That goes double for any of the Rice and Meat Clay Pots— I tend to enjoy the first few bites, but find them a chore to finish. As they specialize in Shanghai cuisine, I'm not a huge fan of their "Americanized" menu. That said, I've enjoyed most every chicken dish except the ones with deep-fried battered chicken. The General's chicken is flavorful but too tough, and the Mongolian Chicken is consistently one of their best overall dishes. The heavily battered sesame chicken is also worth mentioning if you like this dish— most places simply garnish with sesame seeds. Here the sesame seed flavor really comes through. Two final dishes are the Bean Curd with Vegetables, the one that comes only with Chinese mushrooms and bok choy, and the Candied Rib dish, which is the the upper left-most item on the chinese only section. Both are sensational. —CraigBrozinsky


2006-01-20 17:05:45   Shanghai Town is the best restaurant in Davis, California. By far. - Cheng-Jie Yang. —DavisWikiGnome


2006-01-21 18:07:55   This place has the absolute worst Chinese food in Davis, hands down. The chow mein and fried rice were flavorless and the general chicken was made of dry, chewy dark meat. With the lunch special, you can chose two entrees, however, there were only two entrees to choose from - general chicken and sesame chicken. —JacobOrenberg


2006-01-30 13:31:39   For all of you who do not appreciate the food here, you just dont know what REAL Chinese food is. This place has authentic Shanghainese dishes such as Lion's Head, Stir Fried rice cakes, and various Shanghainese dim sum dishes. They also have a $16.99 for three special on the bottom part of the menu but that's written only in chinese. This is the best Chinese restaurant in Davis by far, if only you know what to order. —KiwiSelina


2006-03-11 13:08:49   Shanghai town has the most authentic mainland chinese food in davis. Their menu is very diverse and affordable. Get the eggplant with pork clay pot and the intestine with pickled cabbage. Both are winners. They also have a wonderful braised tofu with vegetable dish. The staff was also very friendly and the restaurant has a very home-style feel. —BrandonTenn


2006-04-27 16:00:33   I tend to avoid anything under a heat lamp in general, but the menu here is great! I was addicted to this restaurant for a while, going at least once a week for two months, but I think I've gotten over it. The food is great although can have too much salt or oil. I would recommend getting a variety of dishes. I've gotten dinner which consisted of three different things all in a brown sauce and I was not pleased. Also, service is relatively friendly but service is the slowest I've seen in Davis (read: bring a newspaper). Knowing Chinese or bringing a Chinese friend is a plus in order to get some of the good stuff on the menu. When I was an addict, I dedicated a facebook album to them, so check it out here: [WWW]http://ucdavis.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022658&id=3219581WinstonLee


I just got back from that place. The service is the worst. The waiter doesn't speak english. They ran out of soy milk and spareribs which were the 2 items that i wanted to order. The food is ok. The soup smells like garbage tho. They don't give out ice water. So, i asked for "ice". They gave me the ice that's used for storing the raw veggie and meat. There's one kid running around. The seats are dirty and the table is not clean. There's a rice left over on our soup bowls. There's a dirt [like a chunk of black soil] in the rice. WORST PLACE for chinese food EVER!.... never go there again. bad experience. I really think that they don't really give a f*** about this business. Compare to Jade Garden, that place is a lot better. — BaaaamBi


2006-05-13 18:56:05   Today I went there with a Taiwanese friend who is usually pretty leery of eating Chinese food in the States. We both also tend to be pretty critical of the restaurant food we eat. We were both pleasantly suprised by Shanghai Town. True they are slow, and their service is not exactly top notch (but friendly enough) but the food is fairly authentic. We found a lot of dishes that you just don't find in most Americanized places. If you are stuck in Davis and like real Chinese food you will probably like their food. We enjoyed their Chinese fried donuts, green onion pancakes (both expectedly greesy), Steamed baby buns, Shanghai rice cakes, and sweet soy milk (homemade? in a bowl!). —TheodoreSuryapurnama


2006-08-16 17:57:01   I originally set out to get a photo of every dish Shanghai Town made, but I don't think I will be able to finish. Hit me up on facebook if you have some pictures that aren't in the link 3 posts above. I swear that I have nothing to gain except to satiate my own compulsive tendencies. This is my favorite Chinese restaurant in Davis and I actually thought that it might increase their customer base and they would have fresher food and maybe hire some much needed help. I'm not sure if any of that has happened, but I will go one last time this weekend to see. If you go for the first time, I would recommend any of the following: Soybean milk, Green onion pancake, Sliced Radish cakes, Shanghai Rice Cakes, Braised Pork Meat Ball. Ask for less salt. Most of the soups are good, but you will only want them with a party of 4 or more. It's a lot of soup. Also, if you have someone who reads Chinese, almost all of the dishes written in Chinese I would recommend. —WinstonLee


2006-08-22 01:34:44   i would say that this place wins best chinese in davis if you go by taste to price ratio alone. factor in service and it may drop to 2 (behind noodle express , rounding out the top 5 are hometown, davis noodle city, jade garden). 12 shrimp dumplings for 5 bucks is a steal, and their shanghai chow mein and spicy string beans are wonderful, buth their best dish is their Tan Tan noodles (order them extra spicy if you dare :) ). the fish and the squid were cooked perfectly, the fish was tender and the squid was firm and not chewy. Avoid the combination plates that feature americanized dishes under heat lamps (ie. try to order off the dimsum/shanghai menu as much as possible, string beans are on the regular menu though). if you want good americanized chinese try noodle express or jade garden. for a breath of fresh air try this place. —MattHh


2006-08-30 14:00:21   Everything I've had here so far has been delicious. The Lion's Head soup is superb, and the dumplings are fresh and tasty. A few comments have been made about how this is "authentic" mainland Chinese cuisine — does "authentic" Chinese food tend towards the greasy? Many of the dishes here seem to be quite well.. lubricated. My only minor complaint so far is that the dumpling dough is very thick relative to the filling. A slightly thinner dough would really make the dumplings shine. —ChrisLambertus


2006-09-21 14:58:55   Go for the excellent food, not the service. The Shanghai style rice cakes simply rock and their specialty dishes are amazing as well. My boyfriend and I go there ALL the time and we always end up ordering way too much food b/c we want everything. I don't know what their pre-cooked food is like b/c I've never ordered from there, but my experience from other places tells me that food is always better from the actual menu. If possible, go with someone who reads Chiense so you can order from the wall. BEST Chinese restaurant in Davis. —TiffanyHsieh


2006-12-13 19:09:50   My roommate eats here frequently, but I've yet to learn the trick of how to actually get food from them! Their service is consistently horrendous. I called in an order and was told it would take 20 minutes. I showed up after 20 minutes and had to wait 5 minutes in line, then was told to wait an additional 10-15 minutes. Unbelieveable. Another time I went in to get some of their steam table food and after waiting in line for 5 minutes I was finally acknowledged by the attendant, but as soon as I ordered he ran off to take care of other things. After 5 minutes of waiting for him to come back and fill my order I left. The person behind me left as well, because he'd been waiting ridiculously long as well. This is a frequent occurrence. I usually end up just leaving and going to Chuy's nearby since they will actually serve food. —DanaMace


2006-12-20 22:51:18   I came to learn from observation that some of the service is self-served. When you come in, go to the counter and grab a menu then sit yourself. Make eye contact with the waiter or raise your hand to get his attention. Water is by the counter and it's also self-served. Ask for tea if you want some. The waiter might see that you already have water and won't get you tea. I've also seen other patrons get up and refill their tea pot with hot water themselves using the hot water boiler behind the counter. It's fun to come by for Sunday lunch and see what everyone else is ordering. —ThucNghiNguyen


2007-01-07 12:46:44   Food is DELICIOUS here however the customer service sucks! They are so busy that they don't have enough workers to greet the guest that actually want to eat at the restaurant. Their food is so good, sometimes the wait is worth it but the trick is to get your own menu and maybe even walk up to the counter for your order. To me they are the best Chinese food in town. Too bad its so far from campus. I do agree they are a bit greasy but most restaurant food is, you just barely see it. —BeeBooBee


2007-01-08 22:22:09   Hands down the best chinese restaurant in Davis. I live in the apartment complex next to the restaurant so I eat there often. I suggest call in first before you go because it does take a VERY LONG time. —HenryHsu


2007-01-14 17:52:32   Agree with all previous comments about bad service. I went there on a saturday morning at around noon and I was not served for 15 minutes even though the waiter made eye contact with me several times. I didn't get neither water nor tea and the waiter just kept talking to his son. Eventually I just left but now that I now their service sucks maybe I will go there expecting bad service just for their food. —TheConnoisseur


2007-02-18 23:55:59   6 fat ass pot stickers for $3.60. That's one cheap meal. —JeffSpeckles


2007-03-06 22:26:46   greasy food, bad and slow service, and overall not pleasant —MikeWong


2007-03-13 19:58:07   If you don't mind waiting, this here is the best Chinese food in Davis. —BriannaBetancourt


2007-05-02 16:37:51   My friend and I went here Sunday because Moshi Moshi was closed. Don't ask why, but that's what we decided. Anyway, this isn't the first time we've been here, but the first time all we ordered were the Chinese fried donuts and sesame cakes. Those were pretty good. This time we went, we also ordered the Lion's Head clay pot soup, pan-fried baby buns, and steamed baby buns. Wow, all that stuff was good and the portions are nice (especially the soup). The two of us stuffed ourselves silly, had plenty of leftovers, and spent less that $20. As for the service, we were served pretty fast, but that's probably because we conversed with the owner in Chinese. In any case, I highly recommend this place for good chinese food if you don't mind heading out to West Davis. —VincentShin


2007-07-15 12:30:14   I woke up early today and was craving a Chinese breakfast. I was about to drive down to Sac, but happily remembered that this place might have what I wanted (they did!). Now, the complaints about this place (cleanliness wise) I can understand, but it's really par for the course for authentic places. The food itself really hit the spot and was a really good deal (for Davis). I had the salty soybean milk, a "rice roll," and the vegetable dumplings — all were good and fairly standard, which made it way above standard in Davis. I'll definitely be back to try their dinner and to have breakfast there again too. For people who don't normally eat "real" chinese food, I recommend starting out with the sweet soybean milk and an order of Chinese Donuts (salty not sweet) to dunk them in, if you're hungry add a rice roll. —AlvinTsao


2007-08-27 13:20:36   As a person who grew up in Rowland Heights (one of the biggest chinese areas in Southern California) and eaten at numerous hole-in-the-walls in asia and in the US, I find this place to be par in Rowland and excellent in Davis. I had the "mandarin chinese breakfast" (dou jang, you tiao) with onion pan cake, rice roll (salt flavored) pan-fried dumplings, pan-fried buns and pan-fried red bean cake (I would high recommend others to try this out series out) and I liked it all. Like other have mentioned, service sucks but as a "chowhound", it's all about the food and waiting just allows me to talk more with my friends. I'd would second that this is the most authentic Northern chinese food in Davis. +Real mandarin chinese breakfast +Quality northern chinese food, not the americanized chinese food -Service (what do you expect, it's a hole in the wall) —atwong


2007-09-27 17:57:37   I just wish I could understand what they are saying..and parts of the menu.. —YooHyunOak


2007-10-06 23:28:17   Finally tried Shanghai Town tonight for dinner. Can't believe I didn't try it earlier! I'd say its comparable to Hometown, authentic Chinese food. Too bad it's so far away from where I live. I took CraigBrozinsky's suggestions on this page and got the Lion's Head Clay Pot Soup, Seafood Shanghai Style Chow Mein, added the Green Onion pancake, white rice to go with the Lion's Head meatballs, and got an order of steamed dumplings to go. I really enjoyed my meal, I will definitely be returning. The only thing I thought was the Green Onion pancake was a bit bland and has sesame seeds on it, I prefer the ones from Noodle City. I really want to try many of the other items on the menu (esp. the Dim Sum), but wasn't able to tonight (too much food!). Service was great also and our bill wasn't too bad considering how much food we received, we were lucky there weren't many people dining in tonight and we got all of our dishes VERY quickly. —AmyLee


2007-10-26 17:09:17   I'm all about the $5.55 lunch buffet special ($5.98 with tax)! Chow mein, fried rice, and two entrees of your choice - and there are more choices than just "general chicken and sesame chicken" as someone said. I usually get broccoli-beef and sesame chicken, and the sesame chicken is especially delicious - after you've tried it you'll find yourself craving it another day. All that is enough to last me for two meals, but then I don't eat big portions. But for me, that's $6 for TWO delicious lunches - one today, leftovers the next day. I haven't tried sitting down and ordering food there yet, but I'd love to try it soon - I'm just a little put off by not being able to read the menu... —gurglemeow



2007-11-03 19:38:00   soybean milk is pretty good. "chinese fried dough" is made after you order, so it's quite fresh. Rice roll isn't too bad but the rice aren't sticky enough. Pan-fried beef cakes look a bit amateurish. Haven't tried anything else. Not too bad overall. —ChWong


2008-01-19 18:47:38   Despite it's shabby appearance inside the restaurant, the food is really good. I agree with a previous comment on here: $3.60 for 6 pot-stickers is a great deal; they were very juicy and delicious. I had chicken fried rice too, which was also good. The total price came out to be $10.35, but the man who was serving me only charged me $9.00. —KristinaKarson


2008-01-24 15:37:21   they translated the menu —YooHyunOak


2008-05-14 23:06:46   suprisingly, this place is good. it looks like a homeless shelter from the outside, and they take about 45 minutes to make your food, but it's like eating a home cooked meal. they are short staffed, which is why the service is slow, but it's cheap and good. you should try it, but not if you're in a hurry —foodexpert


2008-07-18 19:21:38   I disagree. This place is actually very fast. You just have to miss the lunch and dinner rush. Most of the time I will call in for a take-out order and they have it ready in 5 min! —AmandaAbughosh


2008-08-22 22:26:16   My friend from Shanghai actually recommended me this restaurant. My favorite dishes are the shanghai rice cakes (its more like a noodle) and the sui lung baos (steamed baby buns), which are really juicy. So yummy! Some dishes are greasy, but who cares! It's very tasty and it's worth the trip. The sweet soy milk is really fresh too. Clean and cool environment. Service is slow since only a few people work there, but you get use to it. Best and most authentic Chinese restaurant in Davis! —Terry


2008-09-01 19:14:41   Holy crap, so much food. Good food too. —KellyM


2008-09-20 15:21:26   This restaurant is definitely self-serve. I was the only one in the place and the service felt really forced and awkward. I was really unhappy with this restaurant until my food came out... about 3 minutes after I ordered it. That was the last time I saw my waiter — eventually, after I packed my to go boxes, someone from the back noticed I was still there, and they rang up my tab. The food was really tasty — the chicken I ordered was all white meat and prepared very well. Like people have said, go here for the food, not the service. I'll be hitting them up for takeout next time. —MichellePalmer


2008-11-09 08:47:00   Service can be slow, but the food (dim sum) is amazing. It's Shanghai dim sum, not Cantonese dim sum, so things like char siu bao and siu mai, won't be here. Instead, my friends and I usually get steamed baby buns (comes with ginger/vinegar dipping sauce), braised pork meatballs (these are mind-blowing), green onion pancakes (which I add hot oil to), chive stickers, and preserved vegetable with pork and rice cakes. One friend also really likes their tan tan noodles. Lion's Head meatballs are also pretty darn good. In the summer, it can be bloody hot as they don't seem to have an a/c, plus it faces west, so try and do take out then. —DiLane


2008-11-12 18:52:34   Ya know, it really is a double-edged sword here. I've only been here twice, so keep that in mind when you read this, but my previous statement means precisely this: there is a HUGE discrepancy between lunch and dinner meals. The first time around I ordered dinner and it was absolutely delicious; vegetable chow fun had plenty of fresh veggies, crab cheese wontons had BIG CHUNKS of crab (or imitation, either way I was surprised by big chunks of anything really), and the szechuan beef had the most unique and delicious sauce (aside from great cuts of beef). A bit on the greasy side (and I am being nice), however very tasty. I walked in, grabbed a menu, ordered, and they cooked it right then and there. All in all, a great dinner that left me with plenty of food in my gut and a smile on my face.

Lunch this afternoon was quite the experience. To mirror many of the comments here, there was barely anything out under the sneeze guard. Nevertheless, the did not hesitate to offer to cook up whatever we wanted right then and there. When they realized they didn't have enough chow mein or # of entrees for my meal, they threw in fried rice and an additional entree to make up for spare room. Still, as I walked over to the utensil station, I noticed rice and food bits on both the forks and knives. COMPLETELY disgusting! All the sanitation cons previously mentioned are one thing, but food on things your supposed to eat with? C'mon

I will say overall that the food was great and I did enjoy it on both occasions. I guess the dirty utensils are there to reinforce your chopsticks skills, because I definitely got more practice. I highly recommend you order for takeout though; stay far away from their dishes and utensils! Oh and another benefit of getting take out is that they are more likely to actually cook for you right then and there. Otherwise expect them to nuke your food in a microwave, because they can, and will, as they did earlier today. Don't believe me? The microwave is in perfect view from the utensil station and I watched as one of the ladies took my plate out, do a double take, nearly drop my food, and scamper off as she realized I saw the whole thing. Whatever, I paid just under $6 bucks for a meal with enough grease to lube my car for a year, I guess this is all hindsight... I still give it a thumbs up for dinner. —DirtDiver


2009-02-06 19:18:28   OK. I read most of the comments for the asian restaurants in town not too long ago. overall, shanghai received good markings. so today, i and my roommate happened to be in west davis and decided to give it a try. one of the biggest mistakes ever. the service as well as the food was horrible. in the middle of my lunch i stopped eating and walked out. the chicken was splintering in my gums, the noodles cold, the fried rice flavorless, the shrimp not cooked. we both debated sticking a finger down our throats to keep from getting food poisoning. i suggest this restaurant (based on the food alone) to only my worst enemy. all of you that gave good comments either do not have taste buds, have a death wish, or have NEVER tried chinese food before. —holdinon08


2009-03-13 23:04:16   I went there thinking about having some good Shanghainese style food... I was WRONG. It's nothing like Shanghainese food, I might cook better. and I won't recommend anyone to go there. —Sherryii


2009-04-23 12:52:10   They use MSG here...not a rumor. I asked. —LokiAbbi


2009-05-20 01:07:49   I like #4 green onion pancakes. It is delicious!! #13 Potstickers are pretty good. #18 Spicy Wontons. Be careful its deadly spicy but hella tempting. #22, 23, and 24 are ALL good. If you go here, you must get one of them.

The 2nd page of the menu is pretty good too. Try to get anything that says Braised Pork and on the bottom you can get 3 entrees for $18-20. If you know what you like, choose 3 entrees and get it!!

BEST CHINESE PLACE in Davis if you know what to order. —Andyboy


2009-10-02 13:36:51   For Americanized Chinese food (Sesame Chicken, Chow Mein, Crab Cheese Wontons - etc) this place is just plain bad. It's about the quality of buffet Chinese food, only served at regular sit down prices. The wontons were oily and flavor-less - a big disappointment for me. I see that they have several good reviews on here, my guess is that it is one of those places like Hometown where people come for the more authentic dishes, and not for the more Americanized ones. Hunan, Jade Garden, and Ding How are all much better for this more American style of Chinese food. —JakeJames

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