So happy Shanghai Fresh is finally back! Our fav Shanghainese restaurant in Boston area! It was always so packed before but it did not stop me from getting into the line. As a Shanghainese, I can always find the very authentic ingredients here and they are all processed very nice. The COVID menu includes most of their signature dishes and they even offer a free boba with a noodle dish. (Their free spicy oil tastes so nice and fresh tho I don't usually eat spicy food) Will definitely come over again soon! PS: They also offer some extra options outside this shortened COVID menu so call them beforehand to check! read more

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Just ate dinner here with my husband and it was great. There was a line to the door when we got there, but it only took 15 mins to get seated. We had excellent service with 4 different people helping with our table. The food was delicious. I ordered the scallion pancakes and the sesame chicken and I couldn't eat it fast enough. I wasn't sure what to think when I heard pancakes, but they were so tasty. I definitely recommend ordering some of those for an appetizer. It was also nice that you get a pot of tea when you are seated to start. Everyone was also very friendly. I would definitely be back if I lived here. read more

Shanghai Fresh - Scallion pancakes - Shanghainese Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

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This is a quite decent Chinese food restaurant but not a very good Shanghainese food one, even the chef claims to be a chef worked in a famous hotel in Shanghai. We had marinated wheat gluten, wild veggie and tofu salad, braised pork belly with tofu skin knot, fish fillet with wine sauce, and Shanghai traditional pork soup with bamboo shoot. All the dishes we ordered are typical Shanghainese ones and the tastes of the food we had are far from real Shanghainese dishes. Quite disappointed but it is not a bad Chinese restaurant. read more

For a first time visit, I thought this place was solid! As a party of 2, we ordered the house fried rice, double-cooked pork slices with veggie, and siu mai (*note this is not your typical shumai that you get for dim sum but filled only with steamed sweet rice, dried baby shrimp, pork, maybe mushrooms like what you'd get in the traditional lotus leaf*). Food came out pretty quickly, after we were served hot tea. The fried rice comes with dices of chicken breast, ham, shrimp (cleanly deveined!), egg, peas. It's important to me that the fried rice wasn't too oily or drenched in soy sauce-- done right. Double-cooked pork belly thinly sliced is in a black bean sauce with chili- not too spicy. Nice blend of shiitake, green bell pepper, bamboo shoots, and cabbage. Siu mai was the only dish that surprisingly took a while to come out, nearly at the mid-to-end point of our meal... and it wasn't exactly what we were expecting but still tasty nonetheless! The servers were attentive without being too over-the-shoulder and polite. read more

Came here on a Saturday morning to catch their Shanghainese breakfast. I ordered two of the core elements to any Shanghainese breakfast - youtiao (fried dough) and soy milk (I got mine sweet). Both were solid but not great. Would have like the youtiao to be crispier and larger in portion size. I ended up having to order two because one simply isn't enough. The disappointment came with the steaming spicy beef coated with rice. After reading the reviews on Yelp I was expecting a truly authentic dish worth the $12.95 it was for the small size. It tasted ok, but definitely not authentic. Was also way to salty for my taste. At the end of the day, the food was decent but not worth coming back with so many other options. read more

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I've been wanting to check out Shanghai Gate since forever, so I popped into Shanghai Fresh in Central Square. Yeah, that made sense... *head shake* The dining space here isn't huge, so I was pleased to see a few additional tables along the hallway beyond the mini room divider. They don't seat incomplete parties here, so it becomes sort of a game of Bingo to see who would walk through the door, and which party would get to be seated next. Most of the diners were Asian that night, which to us boded well. I so wanted to try their Pig's Knuckle and Baby Cabbage Braised in Brown Sauce, but it was $19.95, and looked huge - maybe if 3 shared this and one veggie? But I really wanted to try the rice cake here, so instead the 3 of us ordered: Shanghai Steamed Pork Buns $6.25 (their version of the Xiao Long Bao, served 6 to the order, okay but nothing special) Golden Fried Marinaded Fish Fillet $11.95 (basically fish fingers, but tender and moist) Rice Cake with Pork $9.50 (perhaps my favorite iteration of the chewy cakes, though the portion was a bit lite for the price) Yu Xiang Pork $11.95 (Yu Xiang Shredded Pork, Bamboo Shoots and Wood Ear Mushroom, Served with Steamed Buns) cause we wanted steamed buns. This was tasty, but dancing along the edge of too spicy for this girl. It was a good meal. Generally their dishes are smaller in size than your typical Chinatown establishment, which may explain why they opened up shop out here in Central Square instead. read more

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Love going to Shanghai Fresh for a great lunch deal. I've been several times and have grown to really like their lunch specials which you can order a main dish that comes with rice, a choice of soups between sweet and sour and some egg and corn one as well as a choice of appetizers between a chicken wing or crab ragoons. I always go for the crab Rangoon's and the egg and corn soup which are really tasty. For a main dish I like to choose between the eggplant and chicken in garlic sauce as well as general gaos. I've tried their other chicken options which are great. Other highlights - their meatball, their minced meat and greens cold dish, as well as their mapo dofu. Overall a great place for a quick lunch and could also be a good place for dinner though there is often a line. read more

Shanghai Fresh - Shanghainese Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

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This is a small but nice Chinese restaurant near MIT. Met my long-time-no-see friend's there. The inside is small so waiting time during a normal weekday lunch could vary. My friends waited for ~15min and they don't accept reservation. All the dishes are smaller than I expected, but they all taste great! Their veggie dishes are simple but amazing. We had three girls and we ordered about 7 or 8 dishes. Felt so fulfilling and couldn't even finish all at the end. The service is good, and keep filling our tea pot. Ambience is a little crowded but in general quite good! read more

If you around town and kind of in the mood for mediocre Shanghainese Chinese food than stop by. I ordered sweet & sour baby ribs, mushroom & gluten hotpot, rice cakes and jelly fish with cucumber. None of the dishs I had that authentic Shanghainese flavor. 1. Sweet & sour baby ribs - Was dry like cardboard and flavor was very bland. 2. Mushroom & gluten hotpot - Overly sweet and should be using dried hydrated shitake mushrooms instead of button mushrooms. 3. Rice cakes - tasted like Kung Po chicken dish at an American Chinese food fast food place. (This is not how Shanghai rice cakes should taste like at all. 4. Jelly fish with cucumber - I took one bite of the cucumber and it taste like premade sweet and sour mix from a supermarket. I didn't even want to try the Jelly fish. I always believe in 2nd chances and I'll go back there again sometime. I'm basing my opinion actually trying these dishes in Shanghai and both my parent are from Shanghai. read more

Shanghai Fresh - Sweet and sour baby ribs Oh they were dry alright! - Shanghainese Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

Shanghai Fresh is a popular restaurant near Central Square, and offers authentic Shanghainese cuisine. The space inside is small and there is often a waiting line during dinner hours. We had to share a table the couple of times we were here for dinner. But the food was authentic and the price was good. read more

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Last winter, my friends and I went here for a birthday dinner. We ordered: * Shanghai style gluten(烤麩) * Cold marinated duck * fish fillet fried w/seaweed * stir fried tilapia w/peppers and black bean sauce * pea pod stems I really liked the gluten, fried fish w/seaweed and tilapia dishes. Although we had to wait for about 20 minutes, I think it is worth the wait. read more

Food was very good but is not very savory. The dishes are on the lighter side but you can add salt to your own taste. ***** DO NOT ORDER THE XIAO LONG BAO (steamed pork buns) ********* when they first arrived, my family noticed they looked like the frozen ones we would buy to eat at home and the flavor was the same! We asked our waiter if they were frozen food, and didn't respond. It wasn't until we asked the manager at the front desk that they confirmed it was FROZEN!!! read more

Shanghai Fresh - Shanghainese Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

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As a southeastern China native, I have to say this place taste like home. Where I came from, you won't find pungent spice or flavor, dishes are delicate and subtle so you can taste the freshness of ingredients, which is exactly what Shanghai Fresh offers. Came here on a Sunday for lunch, they have a weekend brunch menu for Chinese breakfast staples, a special menu for seasonal dishes, and their regular menu. Their soup dumpling is one of the best I've had so far in Boston, skin is not too thick, broth is flavorful with subtle sweetness. Rice cake dish is just like what I remembered eating growing up. The owner and servers are all very friendly. I can't wait to come back and try more dishes. read more

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It's a small restaurant with pretty decent home style Chinese food and mediocre customer service. My dining party of 3 came during prime dinner hours on a weekday and waited no more than 10 minutes for a table. Prices are higher than in Chinatown, but I feel like the quality is better. We ordered the meatball appetizers, a fish dish, a stir fry lo mein dish and Chinese squash. The meatballs were super delicious and really went well with the sauce that they're in. I wasn't a fan of the fish dish. The texture of the fish was a bit too rubbery and there was too much of a sweetness to it. I really enjoyed the noodles and Chinese squash though. I thought the Chinese squash was overpriced for all it is, but tasted just like something mama would make. Overall, it's a pretty decent place to pick up some authentic, home style Chinese dishes. The service is crap, but that seems to be a common theme in ethnic restaurants in this area. read more

I went here on Monday night with 5 other friends. Since it was not too crowded, we were seated very quickly. Overall, the food was good and the price was pretty reasonable. In terms of dishes, we ordered 2x soup dumplings, deep fried taro chicken rolls, kung pao chicken, sizzling pepper beef, double cooked pork, pea pod stems, shanghai pan fried noodles with shrimp, and the eight treasure rice cakes. The dishes all came out in a timely manner and were generally well made. The highlights in my opinion were the soup dumplings, which were juicy and tasty, the double cooked pork, which was nicely spiced and seasoned, and the pea pod stems which were very fresh. Some of my friends also really liked the eight treasure rice cakes. The sizzling beef seemed a bit undercooked to me (fairly red on the inside), although that might just be what they're going for. I think we all had a good experience here and would be happy to come back to eat again. read more

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As an MIT student, this is my go-to place for Chinese food -- walking distance from campus and authentic taste! I was so excited when this place just opened a few years ago as before then I had to go to Chinatown for decent Chinese food. My first experience didn't disappoint, and I've been coming back regularly since then. If I'm dining in, I usually come for weekend brunch because I like the items on the weekend brunch menu. There might be a line and you might have to share tables but I haven't minded because they do their best to serve people quickly and the food tastes so good. The classics all taste authentic -- scallion pancake, Shanghai pan-fried noodles, Shanghai soup dumplings, Chinese fried dough with sweet soy bean milk. When I want something lighter I like to get Yangchun noodle soup. I've also gotten take-out multiple times and the staff really go out of their way to help me. One time I called to see if I could still order a couple minutes after they were closed for lunch. I was expecting them to just say sorry, no, kitchen closed... but they said yes, no problem! Another time, I went to pick up my food riding a bike. They had originally packed my food in a brown bag with no handles, but when they saw that I had ridden a bike, they offered to put the food in a plastic bag (which has handles) so it'd be easier for me to bike with it. These experiences keep me coming back to order take-out. If you're looking for authentic Chinese food near Central Square, Shanghai Fresh is the place to go! read more

I came here twice for lunch. I ordered lunch special the first time. Not too impressive. I ordered off the menu the second time. The food was amazingly delicious. The best shanghai authentic food in Cambridge! I tried chicken with chestnut, wild veggie bean curd, and smoked fish filet. They were all super delicious. I strongly recommend this place to all authentic nonspicy Chinese food lovers. I will definitely come back and try other dishes on their menu. The only downside of this place is lack of space. It is a tiny little place. Very crowded. Sometimes you would be assigned to a seat right next to another person. It could make one uncomfortable.... Also, Note that they close on Tuesday lunch time. So plan ahead and don't come on Tuesday noons. read more

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A nice looking restaurant with a mix of authentic and Chinese-American dishes. It is usually packed in the evenings. I last bought take-out here, Chinese-American staples including sesame chicken and orange chicken. Both include broccoli. The orange chicken is a bit tangy and is just slightly spicy from chili (if you like spice, like me, it probably won't strike you as "spicy" at all but a warning for your more spice/hot-averse friends). Both dishes were tasty and the quality was good. The serving sizes were a bit small but not overly so. 2 side orders of white rice are easily enough for 3 or even 4 people depending on the serving size. Mapo Tofu is good; ask for it to be 'actually' or 'authentically' spicy to get the proper level of heat. Friendly service from the owner the last time I came in. read more

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I was going to give this place a 4 star from my previous visits, but after yesterday's visit, it's been downgraded to 3 star. First time I was here, had a good experience. I ordered shanghai pork soup with tofu knots and bamboo, braised lions head meatball and squash with gluten balls. Everything tasted good. Then I went back and ordered some other dish, they were fine, but not great. So yesterday, I decided to meet a friend here for dinner, and the overall food quality has gone downhill and service was terrible. The shanghai soup ( Yan du Xian) was so watered down and tasted like crap. The sizzling beef had an odd sour flavor to it. The shanghai spring roll was a joke, I've never seen such a fat shanghai spring roll and the filling tasted raw. Our waitress was rude and their tables are soooooo small that you can't even fit all the dishes on one table. Won't return again! Why is it that most if not all Chinese restaurants can't have consistency in their food and always have the evil step-mother type of waitress working there?! Seriously! read more

We finally had the opportunity to try out this restaurant since the majority of the college students have left for the summer. The menu is a mix of traditional Chinese food staples and a few other Shanghai specialties that you can't typically find in other restaurants. Based on what we had, if there are certain shanghainese foods that you like, it's worth coming here. Perhaps watch out for the soup dumplings per other reviews; we didn't get any, so can't comment. Shanghai noodles - basically a Chinese version of an egg based linguine pasta with a nice brown and smokey flavoring with pieces of thin chicken (your choice of protein) and a few spinach leaves for good measure. Not much else in terms of ingredients but overall pretty good. The flavors were all there along with the recognizable oil of virtually all noodle stir fries. Now for the show stopper - the steamed spicy beef with rice and cilantro in a lotus leaf- let's just clear a few things up, this doesn't actually contain regular white rice in the traditional sense. The tender pieces of beef are coated in rice flour, topped with red pepper flakes and other spices then steamed. By steaming the rice flour, the beef has a nice soft coating with little bits of "rice" almost the same texture if you coated beef chunks in couscous, very similar texture. This is one of my favorite dishes from growing up that we ate on occasion. It's a bit more labor intensive but so good. Expect to wait 20 mins or so for this to steam. Very good. A must try. read more

Shanghai Fresh - Shanghai noodle with chicken - Shanghainese Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

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I'm very confused about this place. I have eaten here for months and I would give it 3 stars at that time, but now it has dropped to 1 star. First, the chicken broccoli. The chicken has the consistency of fat. Breaking it open I see no chicken. It tastes like nothing with a hint of fish. Anyone ordering this should take a close look at the chicken. Also, the food was very cold. The second thing... I was brought a pot of tea. But I ordered a coke. As I was leaving, someone else was being seated and they took my teapot and put it on their table! I was going to say something but the other table noticed. He said "no worries, we saw that!" And they got up and walked out. Terrible. read more

Food: 5/5 Service: 3.5/5 This place had a really homey vibe to it - it's pretty loud and was pretty cramped but in a good, happy way, even though we arrived at eight. There was a line and no waiting area or chairs, but I didn't mind too much. The manager/owner was super nice and friendly, and offered me a cup of water while I waited. Now the food! The food was amazing - authentic Shanghai cuisine, and my Shanghai born mother definitely approved. Definitely try out the steamed soup buns, they're the most authentic I've had in a while! However, our rice cakes w shredded pork barely had any pork in them, although I liked them fine without any. The food was overall very good and left me feeling pretty full!! The waiters here do look a bit overworked and stressed, and aren't super attentive - they won't stop by and ask you if you need your drink filled up, etc but they're happy to comply with anything you ask them to do. I personally didn't mind that, sometimes overly attentive waiters can be kind of annoying! Overall, really nice place, especially if you're looking for a taste of authentic Shanghai food. Would come again! read more

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One of the best Shanghai restaurant in Boston. Check in on yelp and spend more than 35 dollars will give you an appetizer ("ma lan tou" with dried bean curd). We ordered Xiao long bao, smoked fish, luffa with gluten, and Rice cake. The rice cake is the best I have ever had (FYI, I have been to 7 different Shanghai restaurants in China, US and Canada). In fact, once we started eating the rice cake, the group next to us saw that and ordered it right after! read more

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Came in with tempered expectations after reading some of these reviews, but we were so pleased by the food! We got the pan fried pork buns, sweet and sour pork, rice cakes with shepherds purse, and braised duck noodles. We were blown away by the braised duck noodles -- cooked to perfection and pull-apart tender duck! Similarly the shepherds purse rice cakes were savory, soft, and delicious. The other ones were good too, but the standout was the duck. Definitely coming back again! read more

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the first time i went there was good. the 2 next times, bad food quality. wont go again read more

Food extremely small portion, doesn't task like before COVID, the xiaolongbao taste like they bought frozen ones from the supermarket. Will def not coming again read more

The other day I ordered the chive dumpling dish. And when the dumpling was brought out, I instantly recognize they are the same as those frozen dumpling that is sold in any Chinatown supermarket (those $7 for a big bag). Come on, if I want to eat that, I can grab 10 bags from Chinatown, I don't need to come to your restaurant. This is cheating. read more

Came here for lunch on a Saturday with my friends from Shanghai and let them take the wheel on ordering. We went family-style and ordered the Shanghai Style Gluten w/ Wood Ear and Enoki Mushroom and Wild Veggie Bean Curd for cold appetizers, Shanghai Style Smoked Fish Filet and Shanghai Steamed Pork Buns for warm appetizers, Traditional Shanghai Soup, Lion's Head, and Ma Po Tofu. Everything was super delicious. Most of these things I would've never ordered if I had come here unaided so I'm really glad I had my friends to show me the ropes. I think my favorite were the fish filets - tiny fried filets in some sort of soy sauce marinade. Surprisingly flavorful and addicting. The Lion's Head were two giant pork meatballs - very moist and hearty. The ma po tofu was also really good - nice and spicy. Overall, everything was amazing and what I enjoyed most was that the meal was filling, but not greasy/heavy - so we left feeling satisfied and not gross or stomach-achy. I recommend coming here right at 11:30am on the dot (or slightly earlier) for weekend lunches because there isn't a lot of seating and can get pretty packed. Will definitely be back! read more

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Shanghai Fresh is a modern and authentic Shanghainese restaurant in Central that is beautifully decorated for group meals. Unlike other Chinese restaurants, their appetizers, entrees, and vegetables are not oily or heavy. + XIAO LONG BAO (Shanghai pork buns): These are the best XLB's in Boston that I have had! They remind me of Din Tai Fung's XLBs because they are bite sized. The portion is pretty small, 6 buns per order, but the quality is definitely there! You could tell these are freshly made, and they take 20 minutes to come out upon order. ~ BEEF SCALLION ROLL: These were pretty mediocre. I liked the flakiness of the roll, but there was a thin layer of meat that was pretty bland. - SCALLION PANCAKE: We wrongly ordered this thinking it was the beef scallion roll, and when we tried to ask our server for the beef scallion roll she said "You ordered this. Beef scallion roll looks like this" pointing to our neighbor's order. They are very bland, with a mild scallion taste. I wouldn't order this again. I came in for weekday lunches, and found that the service is consistently the same with one of the servers. She is an older woman and makes it seem as though she would rather do anything but serve us. She took our orders and served our food, but otherwise was not present throughout our meal. There was a younger woman with dyed hair who took care of our bill both times and she was much warmer! I wish we had her instead. Also, if you plan on coming in a party of 2, you may sit right next to another party. They barely separate the tables so it's as if we are all sitting together. This restaurant has larger round tables, so it is ideal to come in a group of 4-6. read more

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Authentic, reasonably priced Shanghainese in Central. Get the xlb, Chinese squash. Xlb (Shanghai steamed pork buns) - quite impressed, really nice broth, juicy Chinese squash (si gua) - SO GOOD. Ultra fresh, sweet Pan-fried rice cakes with shredded pork and Shepherd's purse - good flavor but pork was very fatty and rice cakes a bit gummy. Beef scallion roll (niu rou juan bing) - pancake was a bit thick/chewy instead of flaky/hot as it should be. The sauce on the beef definitely Shanghainese (sweeter) Avoid peak times - wait can be a beast. Look forward to trying dumplings, seafood and soup next time. read more

Just been back from Shanghai for a 4-month trip, and being super picky about ALL Chinese restaurant here. My friend recommend this place and I drove all the way from NH to give it a shot after work. It turned out this newly open Shanghainess restaurant just cured all my home food sick. Names of Chinese places are commonly used in a lot of Chinese food restaurant, but this one is indeed making the most genuine and top level Shanghai flavor dishes. Menu is surprisingly rich in such a cozy place. I would classify them as Mum-cooked family dishes, Shanghai classic and Chef's innovation(Of course American-Chinese food is the last category). If you insist on ordering American-Chinese food like General Tso's chicken in such a place, you are being penny wise and pound foolish. The two of us tried Orange scallion beef served with buns, Traditional style sweet and sour pork, stir-fry baby cabbage asparagus and Chinese broccoli. Each of them are so well-cooked and I still remember the taste when I'm writing this review. Top restaurant in Shanghai may not be able to serve dishes with similar level of flavor. Sadly both of us had limited stomach, otherwise we would order 20 dishes. Anyway, as a eater addicted to Chinese food, I highly recommend this place. Warm decoration, super friendly service with reasonable price.. For Chinese food, I always think New York and Washington DC have totally overwhelmed Boston, but now at least we have something to fight having this little restaurant in center Cambridge. I can't wait the second time being there for some new dishes! read more

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Got the lion's head meatballs (pork) - very good, and very delicious! Nice and tender pork, but holds well together. Also got the rice cake stir-fried with yellow chives and bits of pork. The rice cakes were fairly al dente, so they take some time to chew, but the balance of the three items was really good. Will try new dishes again! read more

My partner always pokes fun of me for being "Shanghainese". My hometown is there, but I've never spent more than a month there in my life. Every couple of years, I'll head over and spend some quality time with relatives (that makes me Shanghainese by relation, no?). And clearly this makes me an expert reviewer of Shangainese food, just like everyone else here on Yelp! Ok, back to the restaurant. We popped into Shanghai Fresh after spotting it open in Central Square a couple of weeks back. The hostess was welcoming and we were pleasantly surprised at how spacious and well decorated the place was. Having just missed the Sunday evening dinner crowd (we got in around 740pm), we got prompted seated and served with warm Jasmine tea. Great start so far! A quick look at the menu got me excited: There were many familiar names for Shanghainese dishes, such as the Wild Vegetable and Beancurd, Yan Du Xian (Shanghai Pork Soup w/ Bamboo & Tofu Knots), and Salted Duck. They even had a Shanghai Dian Xin menu (Dim sum) for weekend brunches. We ordered the 4 appetizers and a soup, to share between 2. Definitely more than enough food. Hearing me rattle off the dishes, our server, a kind Shanghainese aunty, deemed me "legit" and started speaking to me in Shanghainese, to which I curtly replied with my non-existent vocabulary consisting of 2 words: xia xia, which means thank you. Actually, its just one word. But I was still proud of myself. The dishes came promptly, and immediately I felt back at home: hanging out with a large crowd of family and eating homemade dishes. I thought the seasoning was spot on and pretty healthy tasting (not oily). We had the 1) wild vegetables and bean curd (As close as it gets without being in Shanghai; refreshing Asian "salad"), 2) Chef's Marinated Duck (very savory, salty as it should be. Great for sharing with friends over beer), 3) Shanghai Style Gluten (very well marinated, sauce tastes exactly as I remembered, and was craving for), 4) Sweet & Sour baby ribs (spot on with the sweetness and vinegar, not too oily. Definitely not that American Chinese crap they serve elsewhere) and 5) Traditional Shanghai Soup aka Yan Du Xian (taste just like mom's! Only 1 slight complaint, being picky: the version I'm used to has celtuce, or 莴笋. A tad less goodies in the soup. Great flavor though!) TL DR, pretty legit and clean tasting Shanghainese food, with friendly Shanghainese staff and homely atmosphere. Prices are as per normal for a restaurant in Central Square, and portions are average sized. If you like Chinese food other than General Tso's Chinese (watch that Netflix documentary btw), or another self-deemed Shanghainese food connoisseur, you'll have to try this place! read more

Shanghai Fresh - 4 cold appetizers - Shanghainese Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

Had their Double Cooked Pork. Not bad, the pork was succulent and the fat was nicely rendered. The portion isn't huge though, but it could be because I did a take out. Also, I was hoping for something saltier and spicier, but the rendition here is a little more subtle. Apparently, the main chef from shanghai gate moved to this location instead. I'll be back to try their more authentic Shanghainese Cuisine soon! read more

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You can tell when a place is trying to serve good food. From the name to the more modern atmosphere, Shanghai Fresh is trying to do things a little different from the average Chinese restaurant. When it comes to the food though, they keep it old school: Simple, freshly made, and tasty. I was super hungry when I came in late on a Thursday night, but I could still recognize that the food was good. I greatly enjoyed the pea pod stems and the spicy crispy chicken. The only thing that did not impress was the pork dumplings. I am definitely looking forward to coming back and trying more. The only downside is that the place is small and popular. You might have to wait a bit for a table. read more

Usually a huge wait for dinner, so when a snowstorm hit and the place was surprisingly empty at 6pm, we knew we had to swoop in. We tried a variety of dishes: mushroom and gluten clay pot, deep fried ribs, mapo fish tofu, beef scallion pancake, and jellyfish. Favorite was probably the mushroom and gluten clay pot, but they were all hearty and well flavored. Portions tend to be small, so order more than you think. read more

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Overly crowded so if you're not into waiting in line, come when they open up shop. If you're looking for a good bang for the buck, go to Chinatown. The portions here are not of generous proportions compared to the prices. The service here is subpar. Chinatown style in Cambridge. Order, eat, flag employees down when you need something. Food comes out in an odd timing - sometimes you finish a dish before the next one arrives. The food itself is OK. Nothing to WOW about. There's not a whole lot of competition for Shanghainese cuisine so it may be the place to go when you have a Shanghainese craving. To such, The soup dumplings are OK. Thin wrap but not enough juice. There is no curtain or 2nd door to block the draft when the door opens so dress accordingly when dining here. The main dining area is adjacent to the entrance. Also, if your party is splitting the bill with both cash and credit.. Give them the credit cards first and tell them how much on the card. Don't give them everything at once because there's a chance that they will incorrectly enter into the POS and refuse to rectify then ask you to pay the whole bill in cash. read more

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Very nice and authentic Chinese food. We liked everything we ordered very much, especially the sweet and sour pork chops (糖醋小排). We wandered into this place this morning and turned out to be their first customer ever! Immediately after we come in, some long-term fans of the chef stepped in to dine. read more

Shanghai Fresh - 糖醋小排 (I don't remember how they call it in English, but I would call it Sweet and sour pork chop) - Shanghainese Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

On a weekend trip to Boston, my wife and i walked past this place one night and decided to come back. It was packed and there was a line out the door, which is always a good sign. We went on Saturday night at 8:00 and again the place was packed and there was a line but it moves quick. We stood for maybe 10 minutes. DEFINITELY worth the wait. First, a teapot of hot tea is brought out to each table which is a really nice touch. Then we ordered the Scallion Pancakes which are freakin' amazing. I ordered the Eight Treasure Rice Cakes and my wife got the Sesame Chicken. The food came out incredibly fast. We were only half way through our appetizer when the main dishes arrived. The rice cakes were cooked perfectly and the portion was a good size. Not too small, but not so big that i wouldn't be able to finish it on my long weekend. The sesame chicken was also good, and a good size, but i thought the rice cakes were better. We had 4-5 people come to our table throughout the night. One waitress sat us, one took our order, one brought our food, etc. The service was incredible. This is place is a must if you like asian food. It is definitely authentic (we were the only non-Asians there), the food was amazing, the service is second to none, and it's a really cool venue right in the heart of town. read more

Shanghai Fresh - Eight Treasure Rice Cakes and Shanghai Pancakes - Shanghainese Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

Authentic, flavorful, fun environment! We came on a Sunday afternoon around 2PM and though the place was packed there was no wait. At other times, prepare for a bit of a line. The weekend brunch has great classic options like the scallion pancake and pork mustard green noodle soup! The normal menu also has a great range of authentic Chinese options like the mapo tofu and roasted eggplant and more Americanized options like kungpao chicken. Overall, this place has nice, clean Chinese food with flavorful but not heavy, oily or MSG sauces. Highly enjoyed each dish and our favorite was a surprise recommended by the waitress as an authentic Shanghai dish - wild veggie bean curd! It's a dense plate of deliciousness and in our case in the shape of a heart. So cute. Definitely recommend this place for a great legit, yummy chinese meal. read more

Shanghai Fresh - Mapo tofu, watercress, eggplant - Shanghainese Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

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