Continuous consistency of the pan fired bun only brings cautious consumer with the suspension of taking the first bite that the marinated pork juice blistered with flavor of the seasoning and meat. It is their house champion dish that brings customers waiting in line past after 1pm on Sunday. Discovered another very interesting twist of edamame soaked in Chinese rice wine served cold. They do not hold off on the wine, the wine is soaked into the pod with a tinge of salt is almost like having a morning shock that brighten the morning palate.. Love that combination. Appreciated that reservation is accepted for large party. read more

Shanghai Bistro - Preserved veggie soup - Shanghainese Near Me - Newark, California

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I come here when I'm craving pan fried bun, pan fried dumplings, and wonton soup or whenever I end up having this as lunch with my coworkers! But otherwise, I wouldn't have this on top of my go to places for dinner/lunch. The business has changed a lot! This used to be a very popular place - always busy and a wait time of around 10-15 mins for an order of pan fried bun. Now within any minute, your order would be done. Not sure if they prep it beforehand but now it lost the freshness feel. The waiters/waitresses have changed as well. I remember a couple of times where I lost my appetite from how rude the employees were. They were never attentive, you had to listen to them vs them listing to you, and they had such sour facial expressions that just ruined your dining experience. But I haven't seen them around so maybe this won't happen again. Even though I rated a 3 star, it's still a place to try. I only had their pan fried bun and I would say it's not bad. read more

As shanghainese, this is the only place I would go for fried pork bun, pot stickers, spring rolls and even all the noodles are very authentic. This is a GEM read more

Since leaving la, I've been looking far and wide for a good fried pork bun that matches la/ Shanghai standards. This place probably comes the closest. It's still not as good, but it is really quality. Great soup, delicious meat, and the bread is cooked very well. It is more expensive though (you only get 6 buns for almost $8) read more

Shanghai Bistro - $7.7 after tax... Almost as good as Kang Kang in SoCal (but more expensive) - Shanghainese Near Me - Newark, California

Love their Pan Fried Pork buns! I had some in Shanghai and have been looking for a place that serves it and finally found it at Shanghai Bistro. Their buns have a crispy bottom and juicy meat interior. Delicious! We also got their shanghai soup dumplings which were flavorful and nicely soupy. I had to restrain myself and wait for the dumplings to cool a little so they wouldn't burn my tongue and render my taste buds useless. Their spicy beef noodle soup was numbing spicy and a little too hot for me. Only order if you can handle the spice! Probably would try a non-spicy soup next time. Service was good and it seemed pretty authentically Chinese. read more

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I found this place when I was driving nearby. My dad and I tried there & loved their dumplings & later my mom joined in and she loved it too! Became our favorite lunch. Workers are so friendly. We always enjoy their food & stop by q-tea monster for their boba drinks! read more

TLDR: Get the Pan fried dumplings. Growing up with my grandparents who are both Shanghainese, I consider myself a pretty good judge of that cuisine. Overall I think this place is pretty good. As many users have already commented, their pan fried dumplings are pretty good. The white dough is thicker than the shanghai dumpling, but not by much. And the bottom is well fried and crunchy. It has a lot of juice as well so the meat is very tender and moist. It's a very very good dish. I still think the Shanghai flavor shop in Sunnyvale is still the best in the bay, but I haven't been there in a while. Other dishes we tried are the shanghai dumpling, the pork chop noodle, pickled cucumber and the pork puff pastry. Cucumber wasn't very good... it wasn't sour at all. I like the pork pastry.. I've had this before but it's definitely not a common dish. The outside is crunchy and there's a lot of meat inside. I wish it were flakier and a little less meat but I liked it. The noodle soup was ok... nothing special. The shanghai dumplings were a miss for me. A great dumpling needs to have a thin skin but not too thin that it breaks in your grip. Usually a bad dumpling is easy to tell bc the skin is so thick. Surprisingly these are too thin! They fell apart super easy and it's not because I'm too clumsy. I know how to eat them. The skin couldn't hold all the meat and juice. Not good at all. The service was super fast and the staff were pretty friendly. It's definitely a good place to eat in that strip mall full of other options. read more

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1. Their food all came out luke warm except for XLB and pan fried XLB 2. The pork noodle soup came out luke warm and the pork was soggy 3. The pork puff pastry tasted like spam. The filling definitely tasted like chopped up teriyaki spam 4. Ginger should accompany XLB but they didn't offer it which led me to believe they are not authentic 5. Service is sub-par and slow In short, would not come back!! read more

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Solid Shanghainese food. The fried soup dumpling are the best but their regular soup dumplings could use some work. I was pleasantly surprised with the noodles as they were perfectly al dente and the soup was super good and spicy. Dinner * Fried Soup Dumplings (Excellent) * Soup Dumplings (Ok) * Wonton Soup (Great) * Spicy Beef Noodles (Excellent) * Lamb Noodles (Excellent) * Beef Pastry (Ok) read more

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Best dumpling place I've been to in the Bay Area. The pot stickers are a must-order if you come here, as are the sheng jian bao (pan fried buns). The pot stickers have the crispiest skin, the filling well-seasoned and super juicy. Prices for dumpling are cheaper than other places and this of course means the place gets pretty busy with Asian families around lunch time. Beat the rush and come at 11:15 a.m. Some might knock stars off for the thicker than usual dumpling skins, but this is necessary to keep all the juice inside from soaking through. If Shanghai Bistro has too long of a wait, Din Ding Dumpling House is my other recommendation for dumplings. read more

This place is a hidden gem! Absolutely love their pan seared dumplings. It's basically a soup dumpling (XLB) in gyoza form. The soup inside is packed with flavors-- ofc if you eat it fresh out the kitchen. If you wait too long, it dries up a bit and the flavors get incredibly intense. My other go -to dish is the mini clay pot Shanghai wontons. I relish this dish because it reminded me of the Shanghainese restaurant in Oakland Chinatown that my mom would take me when I was a child. I mean the customer service isn't out of this world but the food really makes up for it and most importantly, THE PRICE IS FAIR! Great food + cheap price= 5 stars for me! read more

Shanghai Bistro - Pan seared dumplings - Shanghainese Near Me - Newark, California

Short Story: A great place for Sheng Jian Bao (pan fried buns). Long Story: I came here on a Wednesday right when they opened and there were already a few people there. I got the Sheng Jian Bao (pan fried buns) to go. I also got the pig ear as well. The prices are pretty decent and so is the decor and ambiance. The service is pretty average but I only got two dishes to go. I can't compare it to a sit down place. I would say the food is about average and I'm still willing to fry some of their other dishysuch as pan fried dumplings, soup dumplings, and beef noodle soup. The place is cash only under $25 so be prepared. Also, parking can be a bit difficult so give yourself some time. Verdict: I'll go back sometime. read more

No frills casual family run style dining in which the owner/servers knew their food is good & not concerning about professional courtesies or lack of patrons. 7:15 pm on Saturd nite & there were 6-8 people waiting outside. Their were actually several uncleaned tables inside for lime full 15 min, they didnt bother to clean them, instead made us wait. There was a sign up log in the front door but the server did not even bother to look at it. He just poked his head outside the door & says come in, thankfully no one cutted lines, this is not China afterall, wheeww. We ordered the pan cried bun (sheng jian bao), pan fried dumplings & the spicy beef noodle soup. Beef noodle soup flavor was very generic, lacked the unique beef flavor you get from from ding din or dingtaifung, noodle texture ok, beef was probly 50% tendon & fat which some like but i dont. The popular sheng juan bao was good: skin crispy & thicker at bottom, meat & juice flavor adequate, with the juice guarantee to spill & leak unless you swallow it whole. It was ok but i had better in Shanghai. The pan fried dumplings was actually my favorite. Again crispy golden brown skin, the meat & juice flavor was different in a pleasant way. The skin is thinner & the overall size smaller than the pork bun which made it possible to nibble without spilling most of the juice. The cost was about $26.50 excluding tips. I would definitely come back for the sheng jian bao & the dumplings. The poor & unfriendly customer service not withstanding... read more

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They're currently in their soft opening phase, so the temporary menu is pretty limited -- it consists of their signature pan-fried pork buns, Shanghai style potstickers, crispy pork pasties, and Shanghai-style curry beef soup. They also recently added a noodle menu on a chalkboard by the register, but it's all in Chinese. That being said, their pan-fried buns are deeelish. Super juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside (well, more like on the bottom). Think xiao long bao meets potsticker. This is their signature item, so definitely try it out. The inside is also pretty spacious and clean. Can't wait for more items to be added! read more

Shanghai Bistro - Pan-fried buns - Shanghainese Near Me - Newark, California

I came here for quick dinner, we ordered 3 items that were on the menu. The top 3 items that they seem to be pretty famous for, it was really hot and these Chinese restaurants refuse to turn on the ac so I was sweating balls the entire meal. I was sweating so hard, my fenty almost sweated off, not cute. We ordered the pan fried potstickers, the Xiao long bay, and then sheng Jian bao. The pan fried potstickers came out first, and were really crispy and fried to perfection, there is soup in these!!! I have yet to have pan fried potstickers with soup inside, so I really enjoyed these. The Xiao long bao were very tasty, and the skin was perfect. The sheng Jian bao were very yummy as well, there was soup inside them and they tasted delicious with the spicy sauce on the table. I want to come back and try all their other traditional Shanghai foods. I saw alot of families ordering noodles. read more

Ordered Duck noodle soup and juicy Dumplings. Pretty good. My friend and I went there at the late night but they were still friendly and patiently waiting for us to leave. Will go back again...not too late to go there at night read more

My family likes to come here often and it never fails to deliver what we're looking for, filling dumplings with soup inside! Whether it's the traditional xiao long bao, or pan fried dumplings with soup inside, its usually pretty tasty. Our favorite part is how all the dumplings we order, even the potstickers have some sort of soup inside. Sometimes the fried dumplings are a bit greasy, but I still appreciate the portions and the taste. Tonight we also tried the wonton soup and that was also delicious! It's a good place to eat with family, and we're definitely planning on going back. read more

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I went to Shanghai Bistro to try it out for dinner. It's near Cousin's Cafe if you know where that is. They open at 5pm so I had to wait about 10 minutes. Going on Thurs at 5pm I grabbed a 4-top table and got FREE tea. Later one we asked for iced water. They have a temporary menu, and a 2nd English/Chinese menu you gotta ask for, plus they have the specials for only folks that can read Chinese! We got: potstickers - they are pan-fried on the bottom and we really liked them. I felt it had too much juice when I bit into it, so you had to be careful because the juices might go everywhere plus it was temperature HOT. pork fried buns - 6 come in an order. The buns have juice from the pork meat inside, but the bun itself wasn't that good. Too doughy I thought. I got the Crystal Shrimp $10 - it's a huge pile of Crystal Shrimp (tasty) separate from the big bowl of noodles, bok choy, egg. The egg is hard-boiled. B. got the braised beef noodle soup - he said the meat was tough, noodles are soft. Hrs: Closed Tuesday other days 11-2:30pm; 5-9pm read more

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In short, for their shanghainese juicy pork dumpling, it is worth of visit. (as a shanghainese origin, pork dumpling is not excellent, but it is very very good among Bay Area) One star for poor service and noodle quality. Noodle definitely has msg, thirsty right away,the spicy noodle is way much spicy and hot! When you taste the soup, you cannot feel your mouth or lips. And u cannot taste the rest of the flavor in soup... Noodle Portion is little. It costs about 8-9 bucks each noodle. Not worth of it! Juicy dumpling costs 7 bucks per 6 pieces (kinda pricey) and service is very very bad. No tea or setups or napkins unless you ask for. When I tried to order dishes, they are not very nice. They won't give you any recommendations. I ask her if we have 3 orders of dumplings and 2 kinds of noodle soup, is that enough? She ignored us!Even I give them the feedback of that spicy beef noodle soup, they ignore. They said, that is none of our business. Spicy noodle soup is supposed to be spicy. Because your spicy level is low, so you have a problem. We are not responsible for that (excuse me? Have u seen each table's spicy beef noodle soup? All of them left the soup alone!) and the owner told me she never tasted the dishes from this restaurant! Such a joke! read more

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Came here for the pan fried pork buns but everything else was good as well! - Cucumber salad: good, oily and a little garlicky but pretty mild - Pan fried buns: great, had a good amount of broth inside the buns, very flavorful - Pan fried buns with shrimp: shrimp bits inside that gives the bun a little seafood flavor, good but original is still the best - Chili oil wontons: good, but sauce is sesame paste and peanut based, which is not my favorite variation (sesame oil, chili oil, garlic) We did takeout during COVID and they even cut holes in the takeout boxes to let out the steam and help the buns not get soggy. I'm sure it tastes even better when dining in! read more

Got takeout sheng jian bao (pork and shrimp). It was amazing. So much soup inside the dumpling, and the meat was delicious, especially with the shrimp upgrade. The Chinese spinach buns were really good too and keeps well for the rest of the day. Also got a scallion noodle with shredded pork, but you can request it with any meat, like tendon. It's just not explicitly written on the menu. It is really good but the noodles were getting stuck together for me. Likely a takeout issue. I heard the duck noodle soup is delicious too. I think doing takeout kinda decreased the quality vs if you ate it freshly made, since as soon as it hits the takeout box it's like 10% less good. But everything was still really yummy, the sheng jian bao was still good even 20-30 min after picking up, and I definitely will be going back to try more items on the menu. I can't wait for dining to return to normal. read more

My favorite Shanghainese restaurant in the area! Being part shanghainese, and growing up in Jiangsu, I think this place hit home for me! I love their pan fried dumpling (生煎包) and the small wonton (砂锅混沌)! These wonton aren't the typically Cantonese wonton that's filled with shrimp and pork, these are very small and only has pork in it. I also tried a few noodle soups here and thought they were okay, soup broth isn't the richest but I also love their siu mai because it's hard to find these type of shanghainese sticky rice siu mai in the bay! Why 4 stars? I tried to order to go once, called more than 5 times but no one picked up the phone, so might be better to go in person or maybe they were just too busy that day? read more

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Came here tonight,first time ever,my buddy recommended this place. There are many parking spots over here because it was located in the mall so parking shouldn't be a problem. SERVICE: Got here at 7ish,the place is packed,prolly like 8-9 tables,the cashier guy is hella laid back,I'd say laid back af,and the girl she didn't know how to serve,I'd say typical Chinese style service,the guy with a tattoo on his hand he's the only guy who walks around and do stuffs. Food: we ordered the 1)"shanghai style little wonton",it was just ok,need more seaweed tho,in shanghai they will add a lots of seaweed with the little wonton. 2)"mustard green wonton" this dish is actually pretty good,I can tell the veggie is kinda fresh and the portion is right. 3)XLB kinda disappointed,it doesn't come with the black vinegar and ginger with it,you have to ask your server for gingers and the vinegar they provided was the red vinegar.....the XLB is flavorless and it's kinda dry,the best XLB gotta be juicy,when you poke it they gotta be juicy maybe like 1oz soup in it,but the XLB over here prolly got 1/4 soup in the XLB and it tastes like steam hot water,they aren't tasty soup. 4)also ordered some Shanghaiese style fishes spareribs and tofu etc,they are average. With the cheap price I'd give it 3 stars. read more

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I was trying to make a reservation for party of 10. I understand the restaurant is small, and so I called to make reservation. Hoping they can arrange the table for us for reservation the next day. The waitress told me they don't have table for 10. I asked to to speak to the owner/manager. The owner/manager is rude, telling me they refused servicing party of 10. I asked what is the max # of ppl they can served. I was thinking we can sit in seperate table. The owner/Manager told me they don't served big party, the max # of part is 4. He refused to served to us and hang up on me. Warning to all people, avoid this restaurant for part of 5 or more. read more

I normally only write reviews when I enjoy the food at a certain restaurant which is the case here but the slow and mediocre service is the reason for the two missing stars. When we first came in we weren't greeted or shown any notice, which isn't at all that big of a deal but the kicker is how they seat people! Forget writing your name on the piece of paper they have on the door because they seat the people closest and most willing to squish themselves inside the restaurant. My boyfriend and I stood outside thinking they were going to call names out which didn't happen at all. When we finally got seated no one came over to help us at all. We had to raise our hands (which I hate and will try to avoid at all costs because I'm a server and I can't stand that) to order and sometimes even call out because they're so understaffed. The food is their only redeeming quality. The fried potsticker and spicy braised beef soup were just amazing! Legit felt like a visit to the dentist office with that soup because my mouth became numb which was a new experience for me. Overall I'd still come back but just be warned that it's not always gonna be top notch service. read more

Shanghai Bistro - Spicy braised beef soup-- mind blowing and mouth numbing goodness :) - Shanghainese Near Me - Newark, California

When I first came here, it was one of the best things I've eaten for their version of pan fried soup dumplings and the cucumber salad is a must. But recent it the flavors weren't as good as I remembered. read more

Still just as delicious and amazing! Highly recommend regular xiao long bao as well as the scallop XLB. Really unique flavor and I love the XO sauce inside! Shumai also is so bomb! read more

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Came in at 8 and they didn't have a table but 2 patrons offered to move, which was nice but as we started the person said we couldn't order because "the kitchen was closed " . They are listed to be open to 9. It was crowded but we found them to be rude and dismissive read more

Love the pan-fried dumplings here -- they came out sizzling hot with nice crusty bottom and juicy fillings. Service is fast and friendly. Granted we didn't come during the peak hours. Tried a few other things from the menu -- all pretty good. The beef noodle soup is pretty decent, the XLB is more on the average side. But the pan-friend dumplings are simply outstanding. read more

I went to Shanghai Bistro to check out their Shanghai soup dumplings (XLB), and while they were soupy and tasty, the texture wasn't quite on point for me. The tops of the dumplings were a little harder consistency than the rest of the wrapper, so while not totally a deal breaker, for $7.50, I expected slightly more perfect dumplings. I got my dumplings to go, and they were intact after my 6-7 min car ride home. Unfortunately, I had assumed they would include the vinegar and sauces with it, but they hadn't, so next time, I know to ask for it. It seems like Shanghai Bistro is the place to go for their pan fried buns, so I think I'll change course next time and opt for those instead. read more

Shanghai Shengjianbao - very authentic. Personally prefer the pork/regular one that reminds me XiaoYang Shengjian. Scallion Oil Noodles - flavor is authentic. Love the egg and quite some shredded pork that's not very common if eats in Shanghai. :) Wonton - tried both small ones and big ones. Those are jus average level not too impressed. ShiuMai - more like Cantonese style in terms of the size. Shanghai ShiuMai is usually bigger. But flavor is about right. Will definitely try again if being around Newark. read more

I am giving four stars specifically for the Pan Fried Shanghai Sheng Jian Baos ($7.00)! I luckily learned about Shanghai Bistro's delicious Pan Fried Shanghai Sheng Jian Baos from my BFF, L & J and was so happy I got to try these little gems. Apparently nothing else is good here BUT this. Six of these sweet babies come in one order. I've never had Pan Fried Shanghai Sheng Jian Baos before, but it was love at first bite. These buns were perfectly crisp at the bottom, but were chewy on top. Also, be careful not to burn yourself from the juicy explosion of flavorful, hot AF soup! Can't wait to come back! Obsessed with these Pan Fried Shanghai Sheng Jian Baos! read more

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We came on a weekend for dinner. There was no wait, but the restaurant was busy. Sliced Pig Ears with Cilantro - The menu actually says this would be served with cilantro (as it traditionally is and should be). Our dish came with zero cilantro. What...? The pig ears were too salty and sliced not thin enough. The texture was okay, but that's the only decent part of this dish. Traditional Chinese Baked Bran (kao fu) - The texture was all sorts of not right. It was too tough, almost like it had been sitting in the fridge uncovered for too long. Again, too salty. Although it was salty, it felt like the flavoring wasn't in the kao fu. Would not recommend ordering. Classico Crispy Pork Pastry - A decent dish. The flakiness on the pastry was on point. However, the pork inside...tasted like spam. And I'm PRETTY sure Spam is NOT Shanghainese. -_-" Potstickers - Good. Did not taste or look handmade; might be frozen. The filling was odd, and looked/felt/tasted like a meatball rather than traditional filling. The skin was good - thinness was great. Pan Fried Buns (shen jiang bao) - Okay, so this might be the entire restaurant's saving grace. It is 6 pcs/order. They take a few minutes to make and cook; I believe they make them to order. The bao skin on these are great. The meat flavoring is not bad. The juice/soup inside is what makes this dish AMAZING. Be careful when biting in - it will burn your tongue and drip down your shirt. This is the only dish I would order if we ever came back. Service was okay, typical of a family owned Chinese restaurant. There were servers behind the counter just on their phones while we needed assistance. Your water and tea cups will never be refilled unless you ask for it. You might need to ask for the check a few times before it's brought to you. Nothing unusual there! read more

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They over-changed the amount I wrote down on the recipe. My order was $98, so I wrote down $100 on the recipe at first, and then after dinner I gave $15 cash as tip. HOWEVER, I was charged $108 by Shanghai Bistro on my credit card. They changed the "100" I wrote down to "108" by themselves! This is fraud! I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone and best to avoid this shady business read more

One of the worst Shanghai restaurant I experienced in Bay Area (not the No.1 on my list, thanks god). We were super hungry that day, so ordered more than normal. All my remember from that meal is oily, oily, oily, oily and oily. So we had to drink lots of tea that offered on house, the tea didn't good through....... read more

Shanghai Bistro - Too oily - Shanghainese Near Me - Newark, California

Came here with my dad right as they opened at 5pm on a hot weekend day. He had read about this place on WeChat. Because he is originally from Shanghai, he wanted to see what all the fuss about. I also think that because he hasn't been back in a few years, he was craving the pan fried buns that we could get at a breakfast stall right outside our condo in Shanghai. When we arrived, there were no other people in line or in the restaurant. We were allowed to pick any table. We looked at the menu and decided to order: 1. Pan Fried buns 2. Potstickers 3. Spring rolls 4. Some kind of meat with noodles. It wasn't the hot soup kind. Let's start with what they are supposed to be known for, the pan fried buns. Having had real Shanghai pan fried buns, many times over the course of my life, these were no match. Did they have a lot of soup? Yes, but the soup quality wasn't as good as the ones found in the potstickers. The potsticker soup was really, really good, and were nicely pan fried. The spring rolls were very meh. There wasn't much flavor and didn't come with any kind of sauce. I'm not saying to serve it with sweet and sour sauce, but any sauce would be better than no sauce. My dad finished the noodles. They were ok, nothing spectacular. We agreed that we wouldn't come back. Especially because we needed to drive 45 minutes to get to Newark. Also, if you come here on a hot day, don't expect this place to be cool. read more

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My wife and I ordered the shredded pork noodle with scallion oil and the shengjianbao. I wanted to try this after seeing a post on IG. I'm a sucker for comfort food. I'm so glad I did because it really hit the spot! The taste of the shredded pork noodle and the shengjianbao is exactly what I was looking for. As for the service, I was satisfied with our experience. To be honest though, a place like this is for their dishes not for their service. Chill out peeps and just enjoy the food! 9/11 Went back just after a few days and tried the spicy beef noodle soup. Just like the pork noodle, it hit the spot and I got that comfort food craving once again! read more

Shanghai Bistro - Spicy beef noodle soup. - Shanghainese Near Me - Newark, California

I've frequented this place on a number of occasions, probably close to 10 times, but today is the last time I will ever step foot inside this joke of an establishment. To give some context, we always come back because of their fried pork dumplings and XLB, not to mention the traditional Shanghai style dishes they serve. However, today's encounter was probably an episode from Kitchen Nightmares. It all started when our appetizers set on the table, and after the first few bites of the boiled duck in house sauce, there was an overwhelming stench that just tasted off. After flagging the staff over to let them that there was something sour about the duck, we got a cocky response of attitude of "they don't know what they're talking about, the duck is marinated just fine". Our entire group was a bit taken aback at that kind of response and then some of the other staff started talking back to our table saying "Oh you don't think we can understand what you're saying?" Frankly, we didn't really care much about what we were saying as we were just providing feedback and inquiring why there was something off about the duck, and the fact if we had gone to any OTHER restaurant, they would have happily substituted it with another dish or taken it off our order. Fast forward a few dishes later, when the fried pork dumplings came out, low and behold....we found a hair in it. Given our prior experience just a few minutes earlier, we didn't even flag the staff over and just tossed it to the side. During this entire time, the staff member who was in "charge" kept telling us "We have enough business, don't really care if you come back or not" in a very condescending and demeaning tone. When we got the check, the staff refused to take off the duck off our bill. I mean $8.75 is not that big of a deal, but more the principle of it...so not only did we return the dish because it had gone bad, but we didn't even get a replacement or substitute of the dish, and we were still charged for it. LOL. Guess they have to make up their tip money in some way haha. Finally, as we were about to leave, one of the staff member who was carrying hot tea intentionally grazed by me and pushed me to the side as I was exiting. I'll be honest, I was pretty fed up at that point and I pushed him back slightly, where in my mind I really wished that i did something else but I'll leave that up to everyone's imagination. It's really such a shame, because I really enjoyed this place when it first opened. I remember around last year when they first opened there were people lining out the door, but now I've since noticed there's been less and less people. I'm fairly certain they might have changed owners, because we have never been treated the way we were today by the staff, and they all seem to be newer faces. I'll be surprised if this place is still open in a year from now, given the rude and cocky attitude by the staff, where clearly they're arrogant enough to think they'll keep retaining customers for their condescending attitude. UPDATE: Hilarious, an hour after I wrote this review, one of the employees proceeded to direct message me. See here (https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/shanghai-bistro-newark?select=wxCx42wVAtQMLZ21dNqnFg), profile here (https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=9MYpil51BA5dpyPvdQwa2A). read more

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Smallish place with a very limited menu. Maybe a half dozen dumpling offerings, some cold apps and another half dozen noodle soup variations. I don't think they have a full kitchen back there, which is my guess. But kudos to them for keeping it simple and knowing their limitations. Tried their Shanghai Pot Stickers and they were good. What makes these "Shanghai" you say? Upon arriving they pretty much look like most pot stickers, large dumplings with a steamed look except one side is crisped pretty brown. Appropriate. But before taking a huge bite out of one, please heed with caution. These are super juicy and lots of hot, steaming broth will squirt out. I didn't know they were going to be just like a good XLB. If I would of known, I would've pierced the skin first and allowed the juice to seep onto a large spoon, before diving in. Instead it violently exploded onto my brand new Warriors hoodie. FML! Anyhoo despite getting sprayed with hot, oily soup, the pot sticker itself was pretty darn good. Skin super thick and chewy. Crisp areas were crunchy and toasty. The filling was nice and rich, no veggies that I could tell. And very appropriate with soy/vinegar/chile paste doctored from the table. We also tried a couple bowls of soup and they are large bowls around the $7-$8 mark served "ramen" style. Where a large mound of thin noodles sit in a pool of broth while garnishes adorn the bowl depending on what you got. A pork belly one was really nice with 2 thick slabs of perfectly tender belly meat. It literally melted in the mouth. Broth was real simple and was nice with some spinach leaves and sesame seeds. I just found the noodles to be a bit fragile and tacky for an egg noodle. I tend to like it more chewy and hearty. The Spicy Beef Tendon bowl was a whole other world. Large tendon pieces, nice and tender but not really in bite size pieces. So you had to bite into this hot slippery object, which again made for uncomfortable eating. Also trying to grip those suckers with chop sticks were like playing a game that I couldn't win. Plus the broth was spicy, in that numbing way. Sichuan peppers maybe. I didn't find it terribly spicy, except it just has this medicinal feel to it, which makes me not want to slurp it up with gusto. I ate most of the fillings but easily left half of the broth. Their service is quite meh, and it is the style where they seem to "try" and avoid contact. But it is cheap to eat here, and that may get me to try a few other items. Only next time, I'll bring my own plastic bib and goggles. read more

Shanghai Bistro - noodle soup w/ pork belly - Shanghainese Near Me - Newark, California

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The service was rude and noisy, the food variety was mediocre and didn't make me and my partner feel like a great dining experience.