Shenzhen

I am so sad this restaurant is closed. I accidentally stopped by 2010 on a road trip from Seattle to LA. And since then every trip I stay in Portland, I drove here. There are some dishes that are below my expectation, but the meal in general always good enough to keep my expectation extremely high. I love this restaurant and so does every Chinese friend I recommended to try it out. Now I have to research again to find out a replacement when I visit Portland. I regret I didn’t write a review like this to support them before their business gone. I am so sad.

Sign appeared in windows that they are just remodeling and will reopen.

NOOOOOOO, say it ain’t so!!! my favorite Chinese Restaurant in Portland has closed down for reasons unknown.
Now taking applications for new favorite Chinese Restaurant in Portland, since goodness knows i haven’t eaten much good Chinese food since i moved here.

No lengthy review here. Nothing — huge portions of slightly rancid underwhelming food. If you want good Chinese food, go to Szechuan Kitchen in Gresham. I just have no words to express how appalling Shenzhen is. It’s pretty filthy to top it off.

Overall, Chinese food in Portland is nothing to write home about. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by Shenzhen. Fast, friendly service, huge portions, close to my house, and a low cost menu mean I will be coming back!

There’s no real reason to go here when there are so many other good places.
Subpar green onion pancakes, especially when compared to Pure Spice. Gummy jok/​congee, especially when compared to Kenny’s. Disgusting, dry meats when compared to… anywhere else. They do serve up some ok snow pea shoots even though they can’t chop a garlic clove to save their lives.
So I mean. There’s that.

i usually go here with friends and family since it’s less crowded compared to the other chinese restaurant on 82^nd. but i begun to realize why it’s not busy. i never had a problem with taking pictures of my food, or maybe it’s just that they never noticed me, the customer service was okay and they were real quick on my order (probably because my group was the only one in there). the price IMO is a bit more expensive compared to other chinese restaurants.
now i usually tip based on service and food quality, but this time i felt like the waiter didn’t deserve a tip because he seemed uninterested in his service and his body language proved that. as i got my receipt back i didn’t leave a tip and our waiter picked up the receipt, looked straight at the tip line and demanded us to leave one. (i also had experiences of them chasing me out of the restaurant and asking for a tip)
in all, cheap restaurant, somewhat expensive prices, okay service, rude waiters
everyone knows that Thien Hong on sandy & 67^th has the best salt pepper squid.

It’s so close to me and I wish I could go there. I did try several times.
Lack of cleanliness was a big turn-​off, outside major paper trash in the bushes
all the time and inside a bit seedy at the counter.
One dish was returned, nothing said as they whisked it away (fish).
Incorrect change for a large bill once.
If they would just tighten the ship… locals would find this cheap, decent and convenient at least for lunch.

Low quality, cheap Chinese food that doesn’t taste very good. One reviewer mentioned that they don’t allow pictures here and I can confirm that (except that I didn’t need to be asked three times to stop).
Last year I was there for a birthday party and wanted to take pictures of the place to memorialise the event. I had just taken out my camera and took a picture of the BBQ duck. Immediately the owner asked what I was doing and I told him that it was just pictures from the party. He told me to stop taking pictures and I did. That encounter made the remainder of the evening awkward for me as I felt the owner was constantly looking at me to make sure I wasn’t break the «rule.»

Unfortunately, the only positive thing I can say about this place, is that the service was friendly and quick.
The food was quite disappointing (that’s sugar coating it), and having gone with a large group, we tried many things, including a $ 32 lobster… that looked as though they cracked it then stuck the meat in a food processor.
The bathrooms looked as though they had never… EVER been cleaned. I will NOT be returning.

i. love. this. place!
no– it’s not anything fancy, but the greetings are always friendly, the service is quick, the food is delicious and decently priced. all good things!
i like to try different things each time i visit, but can’t seem to stay away from the sauteed string beans. YUM! Seriously they are delicious. I wish I had them right now.
I also really love the bbq pork (appetizer), even though sometimes it is a little bit dry… you can’t go wrong with the pot stickers, and there’s a kind of pancake thing that’s also really good.
I’ve had several of the chicken and veggie entrees and have never been disappointed. I don’t eat a lot of red meat, so I’ve never tried any beef dishes, but I am confident that these guys know what they’re doing.

This is one of several other Chinese restaurants that my family and I frequent once in a while. It’s not that I’m oppose to dinning at different Chinese restaurants, It’s that my Grandma is old fashion like that.
The food quality is decent and portions size are huge. Consistency kind of been a hit or miss with this place. For example, they use to serve their crock pot dish in a in a clay pot, now it comes in a plastic looking pot. OK, this is one minor grip, but it’s more of an experience to the dish as well. Rice use to be included with any dinner orders, but now they charge addition $ 2 – 3 for rice. This might not be a deal breaker for other folks, but some Asian people frown on such things.
Lastly, the lady owner (lady who manages the place) is lacking customer service. There has been moments where my Grandma had questions about the menu and prices. The lady responds back to my Grandma in a cranky Asian women kinda way. This kind of behavior might offend others, but I’m use to it.

I was searching for a good asian seafood restaurant for a long time, and a friend recommended Shenzhen when we had Dim Sum at 82^nd Ave. I decided to give it a try and ended up liking it.
We ordered Beef and Ox Tripe in Chili Sauce (fu qi fei pian) and Pork with Garlic Sauce (Suan ni bai rou) for appetizers. The pork was tasty but super salty, the Beef and Ox Tripe in Chili Sauce in my opinion wasn’t spicy enough (based on the color and the taste), it’s not the authentic Sichuan style.
The lobster was very good, it was sautéed with tons of garlic and it added the right amount of flavor into the lobster. The Braised Pork with Vermicelli (zhu rou dun fen tiao) wasn’t to my liking, it wasn’t so flavorful and the bok choy wasn’t cooked down enough to really absorb the flavor. the Grilled Catfish in Hot Chili Oil (tan shao hui yu) was great, I don’t really like catfish, but the flavor of this dish was good. The preserved egg soup with bean sprouts (Shang tang pi dan dou miao) was average, it’s not soupy at all (not even a soup). I like preserved egg in porridges and soups, but the preserved egg in this dish didn’t punch up the flavor, it wasn’t bad just didn’t have the wow factor. The complimentary red bean desert was very good, however I like everything with red beans!
The restaurant is a little dirty; it has couple big tables that are good for families and parties. Their menu is very nice, it has pictures of every dish; the menu itself will remind you of restaurants in China. The fact that it’s called Shenzhen (a southern city in China), it has some northern Chinese dishes. On the wall, they posted breakfast menu includes Mung bean congee, leek pie along with lots of other dishes. I’ll definitely come back to try their breakfast.

WTF?
What kind of restaurant forbid you from taking any pic of their foods?
I went to this restaurant with the Portland Asian Foods Group, a group of foodies in the PDX area, well some of us started to take pictures of the foods, ourselves, the menus, and the dining area, and ourselves…
When we first arrived we started to snap pictures of the décor and menus that is posted on the wall… well that bitch of a hostess (who I was told is also the owner), tell us to put the camera away and told us that we can’t take pictures… felling a bit weirded out we sat down, and start snapping pics of our group… again, the hostess came over and say no pictures allowed… Finally when the dishes came out everyone naturally take out their phones and camera and start snapping pic of the foods, again the lady say that we can’t take pictures… WTF MAN?
Look Shenzhen… most restaurant will be flattered that people want to take pictures of their foods, is free advertisement for them! Never been to a restaurant that refused to allowed their customer to take pictures!
In spite of this horrible service that we had experienced so far, the foods was even worse, the duck smell way too old, and tasted stale, the fish was definitely not fresh, despite that they have a tank of them swimming there (bait and switch?), and the rice was definitely old! It was yellow! How the hell do u have white rice that is yellow?!
Oh and one more thing, when the bill came, one our of guys was tallying it up, so he can split the check… the number do not add up! The total was a good 30 dollars more then it was suppose to be.
When we informed the waitress of this, she told us that they add a 18 percent tips to large group… ok… fair enough… but how come is not written on the check? I think they want people to double tip…
Shady business… crappy foods… poor customer service…

OK. We went back there for a Saturday dinner, and something changed since the last time we were there… Or maybe my perception of it changed?
We ordered two appetizers but neither of them came out soon and one (green onion pancake) came out after our dishes arrived. green onion pancakes tasted kind of weird. There was no fluffiness to it and it was like, badly fried stuff (for the luck of the better words). The lid of the container that held rice had huge cracks, and so did my chair. Water still didn’t come out till we asked for it.

Probably the best and most authentic Chinese restaurant in town.
If you ignore the shabby building and cheesy interior, you’d find really great Chinese food. The menu is like the ones at finer restaurants in Vancouver, BC, full of colorful professional photos of each dish. This helps a lot, regardless of how familiar you are with Chinese cuisine or not.
Should you be able to read Chinese or inclined to try a random dish, Shenzhen has many truly authentic dishes on their wall menu, spread sporadically throughout the interior. Two of my favorites are green onion pancake and stewed beef sandwich and fried porkchops with jalepenos.
I strongly recommend the stewed beef noodle that comes in the giant wooden bowl. It’s basically the classic Chinese/​Taiwanese beef noodle soup but made with rice noodles.
They also have really good hot pot.

I am a healthy eater and when I eat animal parts, go the conventional American way. No unusual body parts. I don’t even like to deal with bones. We have become removed from the details of breaking down animals to meat. (But we eat the odd bits surely in hot dogs and sausage. We, and I, just don’t like to think about it.) In many parts of the world they relish other cuts of the animals, honoring them in a way, by eating the «whole hog» if you will. In fact, one of my Ethiopian restauranteurs, who used to break down goats into meat, related that goat brains are a delicacy in the Northeastern African community. No worries though, for readers with kind hearted views of goats, he has retired from that business. No mad goat disease!
With our group, we tried some of the more unusual to America dishes at Shenzhen. I’m not so excited about pig ears or sea cucumbers. But we had a chance to try intestines, lungs and kidneys with great sauces, vegetables and mushrooms. Take a close look at the appetizers, including chilled ones on the literally book-​like menus, featuring a full page portrait of Mao. He’s back (though apparently not in the form of Bo XiLai and Madam Mao Gu).
The more mainstream dishes, like the orange chicken, green onion pancakes, dumplings, shredded chinese cabbage and crispy duck were outstanding. The service was fast, unobtrusive and impressive for the variety of dishes we ordered. Some dishes were spicy, but not oppressively so. If you needed more spice, Sriracha sauce was available, or just bite down on one of the small peppers used to spice some of the dishes.
Many of the customers were Chinese families, covering all the generations, eating in, or taking out. That’s always a good sign.
Thanks Shenzhen for the opportunity for a tasty food adventure as an option!

For many year I’ve driven by this Chinese establishment and simply dismissed it as another «Chinese» restaurant on the 82^nd strip. Little did I realize that it offers more than just conventional «American» style Chinese flare. I arrived and pulled in the wrong parking lot — naturally — to the bar side of the restaurant. I drove around the back and landed on the right parking lot where the restaurant section presided.
I met up with the group and was given a huge menu. I like how most of the menu has pictures attached to each item. It helped me decide what I wanted to order and share along with the group since we were gonna «family style» the feast. We started off with pork stomach and pork ear. The ear bits had a glaze of chili sauce but the stomach did not. Surprisingly the pork stomach became a hit with the group — just lots of flavor with each bite with a hint of saltiness. It wasn’t rubbery or slimy but tender and easy to nibble. The pork ear was pretty bland and the only saving grace was the chili sauce boosting its flavor.
More plates arrived and soon enough we were running out of room for dishes in our big table. We were given a big pot of steamed white rice to pair along with the various items. The spicy pork intestines was pretty good and had no bad after taste. It was spicy but not mind blowing burn — just delicious flavor. The green onion pancake was worth getting as it was light and flaky with a subtle amount of flavor. The pork dumplings — yes these are good as your gonna find in Portland — freshly made and no gummy bland texture. The scheschuan chicken I ordered was pretty basic with the right amount of spice and what you expect in a dish so they do have the usual Chinese flare items here too.
The sticky fried rice was unique with a lot of flavors blended together. I should have gotten more of that instead of the white rice but oh well. The plates are reasonably priced and usually range in the 8 – 12 dollar range. The appetizers are about $ 3 a plate and definitely a good way to start the meal off. The food arrives promptly and the service is simply. They didn’t have the pork rectum on the menu — it might be a permanent miss or temporary. Go with a good size group, order a bunch food, and chow down some authentic goodness!

Found this place through a friend’s recommendation n went n tried oh boy I love this place !Been here three times now, Very fresh n authentic. Love the steamed live fish, onion pancake and the stir fried seafood quay teow! Yuuuum !!
Portion is always big n reasonable price .:)
Also had their lamb hot pot but it’s not my cup of tea. Too much fat. Errr but besides that this will be my place to go when I crave for some good Chinese food!
Pro: open till 12 am! :) /​friendly service/​clean restroom /​fresh yummy food ! large banquet room/​live seafood
Con: tummy might explode: p

Mmmmmmmmmm pig’s ear. That seems like a good way to start this review. Not sure I ever thought that would come out of my mouth, or actually go in my mouth. Guess I shouldn’t say that. I’m a pretty adventurous eater, but saying that, I wasn’t quite ready to jump into the Pepper with Pig’s Rectum. Maybe the next time. Maybe not.
Shenzhen is a very unassuming restaurant nestled amongst the car dealerships and bars along the very lovely 82^nd Avenue in Portland, OR. By lovely I mean lovely if your eyes are closed the entire time driving down it. I was craving some Asian cuisine and wanting to go with my friend and his girlfriend who happens to be from Taiwan. I figure if she likes a place, it must be a-​ok.
We actually tried to go somewhere else just east of 82^nd, but the cook there left or something. Not quite sure what was going on there. We’ll give that other place that shall remain nameless a try another time. Shenzhen seemed to be the good old standby and I’m not upset that we ended up there.
I will quickly go through what we ate and then I will proceed to tell you how good it all was. We started out with an appetizer of Shredded Pig’s Spicy. That would be pig’s ear for those of you following from home. Next we go a large bowl of Wonton Soup which could have easily fed 5. I think I had about 4 bowls on my own. For our main dishes we got Broccoli Beef, pretty standard and a clear noodle that I can’t recall the name of. Along with that we also had the Sesame Green Onion Cake.
The Shredded Pig’s Spicy (not sure why they call it that as it isn’t spicy) tasted like pork. What else would you expect? Get rid of the image of sucking on a pig’s ear. Some cock sauce on the plate made them just a bit better.
The Wonton Soup was full of wonton’s and veggie goodness. As I said, the large bowl was huge and full of wonton’s. Some places skimp on the wonton’s. Not here.
The Broccoli Beef was pretty standard fare. Nothing new about this dish, but still very tasty. They use the Asian broccoli as opposed to the standard broccoli you might find at Fred Meyer’s. That with some sticky white rice and you have a pretty good meal.
The noodles that we had came out on a sizzling platter. How could anything that comes out on a sizzling platter be bad? They were of the clear variety and had almost a rubbery texture to them. I’ve had them before, but don’t think I’ve ever known the name. I’ll get back to you on that one.
Finally we finished up with the Sesame Green Onion Cake. Topped that with some soy sauce and it was a nice clean finish to the meal.
The final tally for all of that food was just over $ 30. Yes, Chinese food tends to be on the cheap side, but some cheap Chinese food isn’t very good. That isn’t the case at Shenzhen. It seems pretty authentic to me and I would definitely recommend a trip out to 82^nd for a meal.