Lao Shanghai: User Reviews

Awesome!
By Amanda8404 from Bridgeport, April 6, 2009

Overall rating:

The inside was better than described - nice dark wood. They gave us orange tea. I got the hot and sour soup which was vegetarian, and the asparagus with black bean sauce from the appetizer menu. These two things together were enough for me and they were both great. The hot and sour soup was really hot, which made me happy. The asparagus was cut up into small pieces and tasted fresh. There was just enough seasoning - it wasn't sitting in a pile of sauce like in some places. My boyfriend got the salt and pepper bean curd and it was better than when I've had it before - it wasn't too salty and had some little red peppers to make it more attractive. Very affordable - it was only $17 for the two of us and if I had gotten an entree instead of two separate items it would have been less. Service was fine and quick. I kind of hesitated about giving it five stars because it isn't super fancy or anything, but it is exactly what I wanted and I will absolutely go back.

Good but soup dumplings disappoint
By colickyboy from edgewater, March 24, 2008

Overall rating:

Having tried NYC's soup dumplings, I was dying to try Lao Shanghai's soup dumplings. Unfortunately, they were disappointing. They come 8 to an order (more than NYC) but they are also significantly smaller, and the soup inside the dumpling is quite sparse. The gold standard still remains in NYC, where the dumplings are baggy to accomodate all the soup.
We also ordered other dishes and were impressed with the quality there. The Orange Beef was excellent and the Shanghai noodles were good. The Shanghai fish fillet was also good, although a bit salty.
Service was excellent for us. Attentive, caring and prompt. No complaints there.
But we were a bit surprised at the prices. Entrees averaged $9 yet the amount of food was small for what we paid. I think this was the first Chinese restaurant we've gone to where we didn't have leftovers to take home.

Great food, terrible service
By Caroline from Lakeview, March 2, 2008

Overall rating:

I write the review in hopes that owner Tony will get word that while the food is fabulous, he needs to do something about the service. We ordered 6 dishes and only received 3; the waiter never wrote down our order and forgot 1/2 of it!!! We also waited an extremely long time at each step-- for menus, water, order-taking, food, the check, etc. Great food but please do something to rectify the experience!!!