Shanghai Gate

Dishes tasted mediocre, but the service was awlful. The servants pushed you to order, to finish quickly, and to leave as early as you can. And when we ask for our servant’s recommendation, she recommeded us the most expensive ones (not even popular among Unilocal reviewers) in the menu, and it turned out that they were just mediocre, which really disappointed us. Definitely won’t try again.

Food was mediocre. A couple of dishes were ok. However, the service was terrible on several fronts. 1) They seated the party, which arrived to a basically empty restaurant, at an absurdly small table and refused to move us to a table that was properly sized. 2) The waitress pushed the party to order another dish beyond what was desired and then failed to deliver this excessive dish until everyone had finished eating. 3) The servers were rude about busing the table and trying to flip it quickly after the meal was finished.

Updated: sampled more the of the menu, including the beef with pickled cabbage, as well as the tree fungus and sesame oil, and everything was delicious.

Sweet Sour prok ribs are good here, but they serve raw spicy pig kidney which is supposed to be completely cooked. It tastes like bloody fishy eye balls bursting in my mouth, really awful. In addition, the server was really rude because we complaint about the nasty food. She says it is not her business if the food is raw or nasty and shouted at us. That’s the worst server I have ever met. The funny thing is that the manager was there and kept silence to admit the server’s rude attitude to customers. I won’t recommend other customers to come to this awful restaurant.

Their food was good but I felt like they needed more variety of food choices on their menu. Also I felt like their setting of the restaurant needed to be more instead of being so dark.

So disappointed with the place! Food was bland and small portions for the price. Service was rude, I felt like I was expected to shovel down my food so they could flip the table. My server slammed almost everything on the table, never took a drink order, and asked us 4 times if we wanted our check within 10 of us getting our food.

I really like the general tso’s chicken here. But my complaint is that they close at 10pm but they frown upon people coming in at 8:30pm. They are already cleaning and trying to leave. I went in with a friend after work and the waitress mumbled rudely «hurry because were closing the kitchen soon» and then once the food was finished she brought it over to our table and never came back to our table.

I’m from Shanghai and I’m proud to say this place serves authentic Shanghainese food. Love the Braised pig’s knuckle in brown sauce, a must try!

Never disappoints! Some of the best Chinese food around. My usual order consists of lions head meatballs (1 per person), sizzling eggplant (amazing! stuffed with meat), and sautéed rice cake. Their soup dumplings are so-​so. Veggies are usually good.
Today I had the sizzling eggplant, pea pot stems, which were yummy, garlicky and Yu Xiang pork (steamed pork buns), which were great!
On the cheaper side. Good for larger parties. Easy to share, all family style. Can get pretty busy on weekend nights.
Tl;dr — definitely recommend! Sizzling eggplant, sautéed rice cake, and Yu Xiang pork (steamed pork buns) are musts.

Horroble servise, they brought out food fast but they didnt refill my glass with water when i was allmost done with food they all started eating there lunch. When i paid my bill which was $ 21.30 gave them $ 22 left rest for tips wattress came and said i served u need give me 15%tip i said what the hack she smoking? ha never again i will come here to eat

Food was bad and the waitress was extremely rude. I guess She was mad while we were ordering, throwing plates on the table. They didn’t give any water at first until we asked for it. Can’t believe they are in business with such a bad attitude. While we were keeping our credit card on the table, one lady just snatched the card like a thief and charged. We were visiting 3 adults with 1 toddler. But the Most funny thing is that waitress came out of the restaurant and yelled at us and demanded 15% tips. Such a joke.
They needs to know how to be polite and honest. I will never recommend this crappy place to anyone. I don’t want to give even one star for this craphole.
If you go check the bill and don’t let them snatch your card.

Clean environment. for a restaurant that’s probably advocating the taste of real local shanghai food, The quality is only ok… Not great. I’d give 3.5 star if I can. But definitely not 4. It seems also the waitress are only interested in getting you away from this place and I barely see any smiles on their faces as if our existence creates nothing but burden to their work

Given how rare it is to find authentic shanghainese food In Boston, this place definitely deserves a 5 star. Very authentic dishes with quite authentically sweet shanghainese flavors that I grew up with. Some of the servers even speak shanghainese dialect! Can get quite busy on weekend nights. Unfortunately they don’t take reservations. But it’s worth the wait for those with proclivity for sweet chinese cuisines.

No frills, cheap Chinese spot in Allston.
On a Thursday night, we had to wait about 30 minutes for a group of 5. This place gets you in and out with minimal service, but they bring out your food really fast.
FOOD
+ Lion’s Head Casserole: Pork meat balls that are so tender you have to try them!
~ Sautéed Rice Cake: The rice cake was definitely very chewy, which I didn’t like. The peanuts with assorted meats were definitely a plus.
~ Kong Pao Chicken: Classic Kung Pao chicken, with large chunks of bell pepper and peanuts. Nothing special.
~ Steamed eggplant: The eggplant dish was definitely very unique. It was stuffed and almost had a cheese-​like consistency. The sauce was very heavy and salty.
Overall, the food was heavily salted. None of the food was amazing, but if you do come here you need to try the lion’s head casserole!

A solid Allston Chinese restaurant with what better than two menus. One with specialties and the other with Shanghai Gate «staples,» make sure you order a little off both. The restaurant is on the smaller side and is usually full at prime meal times (with a wait), come early. Note the weekday lunch specials and that they are closed on Tuesday.
Start with the five spice tofu and one or two lion’s head casseroles. The tofu is thick in texture and marinated in a beautifully complex spice, a hint of soy and a hint of ginger, served with scallions. The lion’s head casserole is presented in a small rice dish with a large pork meatball atop baby greens and a soy-​based sauce. Order the steamed pork bun now as they will take at least 15 – 20 minutes to arrive. These delicate «soup dumplings» are of course worth the wait. Take your soup spoon, place the bun in the spoon, take a small bite to open the dough and sip the broth. Each served with a slice of ginger, also make sure to dab the bun with the vinegar sauce.
Recommend avoiding the standard Chinese-​American dishes and go straight to the good stuff. The paradise mountain chicken is a nice and safe choice to start, served crispy and fried with spicy red chili peppers. Beef with pickled cabbage is a treat, sautéed slices of tender beef mixed with crisp pickled cabbage. The tart and tang of the cabbage blends perfectly with the spicy (moderate heat) beef. If you are feeling adventurous try the pork steamed with preserved vegetables or the preserved pork with taro (will take longer to arrive), interesting and unique dishes. The sizzling eggplant in pork is a must, served piping hot with pork wrapped in eggplant in a garlic sauce.

The wonton soup is a must! The broth is light with an amazing hint of sesame. The dumplings are clearly fresh made and also the steamed pork buns. Soo soo good. The atmosphere is homey and they serve you tea when they approach the table. It’s a hidden gem and it’s awesome that it’s right next door to great Scott. Great music and gets good.
GO

The restaurant cheats customers. I went there for dinner with four friends. My friend who paid the bill was given a receipt without details. It was not until we split the share that we figured out something wrong. We were charged 20% tips in the TOTAL BEFORE TIPS, and so we paid DOUBLE TIPS!
The restaurant failed to offer honest and decent service. The waitress did not even fill water or tea for us while got double tipped. I hope they can still feel inner peace with the easy money.
I’ve heard the same story on Shanghai Gate charging double tips before my visit but did not believe it would happen to me. Now I learn the lesson and I will never go there again.
TAKE HOME MESSAGE for fans of Shanghai Gate: ask for the detailed bill before paying the tips. Hope this review may be of help to you.

Decent Chinese food place. The dishes are best when shared amongst friends and family so you can try out all the plates. It’s pretty greasy, but I didn’t expect anything healthy since it is a chinese restaurant.
I had the steamed pork buns, but they were more like steamed pork dumplings. They def were not buns and it was super tiny! It practically fits in one bite if it wasn’t scorching hot on the inside. I had the pan fried noodles, which I thought would be the crispy thin ones, but it was like lo mein. It was pretty average. I also had the braised beef which might as well have been called beef soup. It was all broth based, not braised beef. It was good, but it wasn’t what I was expecting, yet AGAIN. All the names for their food is misleading as my entire meal can explain. But otherwise, not bad.

Why did I not find out about this place sooner? I love Shanghainese food because I am Shanghainese and the food here kind of reminds me of home! We came here on a Saturday and it wasn’t too packed. They won’t seat you until your whole party is here, but not to worry, they are pretty fast with the orders. We ordered our food and they served the dishes within a minute or two.
We ordered the soup dumplings (xiao long bao), lion’s head meatballs, Shanghai rice cake with pork and leek, ma po fish, and string beans. My favorite was the xiao long bao. The thing with xlb is that it depends on the thickness and chewiness of the skin, the meat quality and flavor, and the amount of juice within each dumpling. The pork was pretty fresh and sweet. There was just enough juice for my liking. The vinegar made the soup dumpling even tastier. I like how the skin was thin and chewy.
The mapo fish that we got was a little bland to me and I’ve never had mapo tofu prepared with fish before. The string beans was cooked perfectly. The guys at our table didn’t want the mushrooms that comes with the dish, but I imagined the dish to be just as good, if not better, with the mushrooms. The rice cake dish is a little drier than what I am usually used to eating. But the rice cake is chewy. This dish might not be good to order if you are on a date because those leek might get stuck in between your teeth!
We also ordered the lion’s head casserole. My friend had been raving about those lion’s head meatballs and saying how it’s the best balls he’s ever had so I had to try them. The meatballs are braised with soy sauce and other seasoning and it comes with some vegetables. It goes well with rice because the flavors are very rich. I can’t believe how fluffy, soft and juicy those meatballs are. I highly recommend trying this dish.
I really wanted to try their beef dishes, but we didn’t end up ordering any beef dishes. From the other reviews I’ve read, it seems like one of the strengths of this restaurant is the beef dishes. Well, that just gives me a reason to go back to try more of the items on their menu!

Pluses and minuses here:
+ beautiful little space, menu with a lot of variety, good food, lots of Asians dining here (endorsement in my book)
— they don’t serve beer or wine, the food was not completely amazing to me but very good, if you have a carpal tunnel flareup bring your own fork because I’m not sure they have them
I’m giving four stars because of ambience and variety. I will return a lot just to try many of the things I don’t see elsewhere.