Zhiwei

They changed owners and menus and restaurant name! The lady on the phone said it’s now called Lai Di Bao. I have not tried the new place yet.

Cheap food, poor service, bad attitude, and poorly adhered to health codes (poor Erisa W). Do you really wanna continue reading?
Of course you do! :)
My Mom is a magnet for cheap chinese food so we naturally paid a visit here because it was close by her house and you can get 3 dishes for $ 18. When I asked the lady what kind of noodles they use for their noodle soup she says «white, whut u mean?»
It took all my might to hold back what I really wanted to say (taking a deep breath). There are egg noodles, rice noodles, vermicelli, phở, udon, thick, thin, etc. What does she say? «Chinese noodles» as if I’m a complete idiot.
If you’re looking for me, you can find me going «Zhiwei» (out the f’ing door).

A little chinese restaurant. My family starts to become regulars here. Saturday evening is family night. So we came here every do often to eat out. Service here is quick even though they can seem to be understaff at times.
The quality of the food here is quite high and I liked it much more than Sheng Yang, around the corner. My personal favorite dishes heres is the Chef Zhao Tofu Special and the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings. I think most of the menu items choices are quite good.
—–
+ Pro: Inexpensive and delicious!
— Con: Understaffed during the peak hours.
(^_​^) Overall: A great place to enough a chinese dinner.

ok tried this place, unfortunately I didn’t know what to order. I got the «bento» lunch special, which was very average. I should have ventured off, and all these reviews were all over the place. People liked the shanghai noodles, but just weren’t that good, gotta put hot sauce on it, for it to be tasty. What I should have tried is the crazy stuff, like the salted fried rice, and some of the appetizers. I saw all the locals eating the appetizers. I know this place has very good dishes, I just haven’t tapped into the right ones b/​c I decided to go the conservative white man’s route. Will update next time I go. sesame beef looked pretty good, that i will try next time.

After going there 3 times, I decided to come here and take a look at the reviews they have. I was surprised that they only got 3 stars.
As a Shanghainese, born in Shanghai, and lived there for the first 21 years of my life, I have to say this could be one of the best Shanghainese restaurants I have had in US.
They have some typical Shanghainese dishes which I really like, and my boyfriend, who is from Suzhou, a place next to Shanghai liked it too. they server big portion, cheap price, and good taste.
So far whatever I tried were good. Will go again next week.
The list of food I had:
xlb or steamed bun
sliced potato fried with green pepper
fried fish filet with seaweed outside
fish gluten clay pot soup
salty meat and vegi fried with rice
I dont know how they officially call the dishes, I just name it the way I think would best describe the dish.
Next time, if you go there, please try some traditional Chinese. or Shanghainese dish.
The reason I give 4 stars instead of 5 is because the restaurant is not super clean but just like other Chinese restaurants. I can tolerate it, but can’t lie to say this is a super awesome place to eat in terms of the environment.

This would’ve been a 3 star review the food here is usually pretty decent.
But what happened today was redonculous!!!
As I was trying to scoop out some tofu from the soup i found a bug in it.
So I kindly told the server to take the soup away, then the boss or manager came to our table and told me it was the fish skin. =.=
So I grabbed the ladle to picked out the bug and pointed the head and the legs out. They stared at me in disbelief and insisted it was just the fish skin. They even try to tell us to continue to drink the soup. WTF?! Did I not just tell you that there is a bug in there and you are going to tell me to continue to drink the contaminated soup?
Honestly how are they going to tell me that I was wrong and tell me to keep drinking the soup when I can clearly identify what kind of bug it was.
(baby pincher bug thingy black long boby with a split tail IDK the actual name of the bug but I see them often enough to know its a bug)
They really dont even deserve 1 star after today =.=

SALTY!!!
Saltiest dishes I’ve ever had at a Chinese restaurant. I cringe upon the thought of this meal. We got the 3 dishes for $ 18. Pretty good deal considering their portion sizes. We ordered the fish in chili sauce, pork and green beans, and another vegetable dish. Both the meat dishes were super salty. I scraped the sauce off the fish with my spoon and I could still hardly take it.
Anyways, the food is good here. Just be sure to tell them to use less salt!

It used to be good. But now the food sucks.

I only had one other experience here when it first opened and my family was treated like shit; we were demanded to squish side by side on a tiny little table because they wanted to leave the big one open to larger parties.
About a year later, I came here again and I’m happy to report that the ambiance and customer service have drastically improved.
Ambiance:
When they first opened, it used to look like a really dingy Chinese restaurant with tables scattered in no particular order across the establishment. Now, they really improved it and seemed to have modeled the décor off New China (the wooden tables and signs on the walls look).
Customer Service:
It improved from last time. The angry woman who told us that 7 people can fit at a table for 5, yelling at my grandpa of 77 years old, is now nowhere to be found thank goodness. Instead, we got apathetic yet efficient service — don’t expect anything friendly, but your food gets out at reasonable times.
Food:
Not very good. If I was impressed, this place would be more stars but unfortunately the food is of low quality. I do have to admit that the prices are GREAT. Referring to Da X’s review — 3 dishes for 18 dollars, separately 6.50 each. The portions are really filling as well but the food was just not up to par.
1) Salted Vegetable & Pork Rice Cake ($ 5.50) — The dish was alright. It was definitely edible, but nothing too fancy. The flavours they used were really basic — I’m pretty sure they just drizzled a bit of soy sauce and let it be.
2) Xiao Long Bao (8 pieces for $ 5.95) — This is what killed it for me. These Xiao Long Bao were just not consistent. You had a few pieces that were perfectly juicy, but some other pieces where the wrap tasted thin and shriveled and not much soup inside. It’s like when you’re going in to grab your piece, you’re going on a gamble. As a self-​proclaimed princess of XLB, I am offended by these monstrosities.
3) Vegetable Sponge Tomato Casserole in Clay Pot ($ 7.95) — First of all, there was nothing «casserole-​y» about it, so I found the name of this dish really weird. It’s more of a soup with tomatoes and gigantic balls of tofu or fish. The sponge balls tasted alright, but the dish itself was pretty bland.
4) Salted String Bean w/​Pork (6.50) — Not bad, but not too terrific either. I love string beans and I usually find them super addictive, but Zhi Wei does not really do them justice when it comes to how amazing they can actually be.
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Overall, don’t come here expecting much. The prices are low and there’s a shitload of variety on the menu, but as far as the flavours go it’s nothing too fancy and I’ve had tons better at the same prices. If you’re looking for cheap Chinese at around the same location, I would head over to New China instead.

TLDR: Read number rating.
I’ve been here with my family at least 10+ times and I think it’s finally time to write a review.
Price: 3 dishes for $ 18, 10% off if you go 2:30−5pm on weekdays, also free soup on weekdays. The prices for most of their dishes is great, portions are HUGE, compared to restaurants in San Francisco and around the bay area. $ 30 +5 tip for a family of 3 for 5 dishes (3 main, 1 noodle, 1 appetizer). We still had left overs.
Cleanliness: Utensils, plates, cups, bowls seem clean every time I went. Tables, well, every Chinese restaurant just wipes the table with a wet cloth, so nothing to be said about that. Restroom is typical, best if only for washing hands or peeing (for guys).
Food: If you read the reviews then you’ll know what to get, as I’ve said before, portions are HUGE, prices are great.
Here’s my list of foods I remember and how they taste, with a rating 1 – 5 on recommending with 5 being highest:
(5)Honey Walnut Shrimp: We always get this dish, 12 shrimps covered in w/​e the sauce is, served over lettuce with walnuts, even the lettuce taste great with the sauce. Shrimps are very crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
(5)Salt and Pepper Pork Chops: We ALWAYS get this dish too, never have gone once without getting it, huge portions, flavor is great. Compared to the 2 – 3 times I’ve tried at Little Shen Yang and New China, these pork chops are thicker. However, sometimes you might get a lot of fatty ones, or when they’re super busy they cook lots of this dish at once and they mess it up, I don’t know if they do it anymore though. But I definitely recommend this dish for meat lovers.
(5)Beef Chow Mein: Got this once and it was great, lots of beef, noodles were sweet and salty so they were yummy! I suggest this if you want noodles.
(1)Beef Chow Fun: Don’t get it, Shanghainese people aren’t known for chow fun, go to Cantonese restaurants if you want chow fun.
(4)Salt and Pepper Fish Fillet: Had this one for take out, it tasted like salt and pepper pork chop but with fish instead. Good if you like fried fish.
(5)Beef with Chinese Donut: If you like beef, and you like Chinese donut (you-​tiao) and you like celery, this dish is for you. We’ve had this 3 times and it was great every time.
(2.5)House Special Chicken: Got it once, tasted almost like curry chicken, the meat was all from drumsticks. I’d get it if you really like chicken and can’t eat beef/​pork.
(1)Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs: Got it once, never again! Unless it was just that day, other wise, I’d stick with salt and pepper pork for my pork dish.
(No rating) Zhiwei Special Deluxe: Just got this one today, it had squid, Chinese celery, tofu and other stuff, I didn’t like it because I hate squid, so I can’t comment on the taste.
(5)Shanghai Style Steam Chicken with Onion Oil: GREAT appetizer, made from chicken leg meat, the meat was salted very nicely. Recommended for appetizer.
(3.5)Lamb with Cumin or Lamb with Onion: Both taste the same to me, however, way too much onions and too little lamb. The lamb was like shreds too, if you’ve never tried lamb, this is a good dish, but if you love lamb, you’ll be disappointed with how much lamb you actually get.
(3.5)Salted Pork with Dried Bean Curd: A good mixture of pork and dried bean curd, not that tasty if you’re not a big fan of bean curd.
(5)Beef with Black Pepper on Sizzling Plate: Beef was tender, tasted great. Note: this dish will turn heads as they hear and smell it, also, it’s hot, you’ve been warned. Recommended for beef lovers.
(3)Spicy Deep Fried Chicken Wings: Basically what the name is, they chop the wings and half though, so lots of bones. If you like eating chicken meat off bones, and spicy fried chicken, this dish is for you.
(1)Green Onion Pancake: had it once and was disappointed, not salty enough and it was kinda wet inside (that’s what she said).
(5)Nan King Style Salted Duck: This is delicious, if you like duck or never tried duck, you should love this. This appetizer is made from duck legs, and did I mention it was absolutely delicious?
(No rating) Vegetable & Tofu: The vegetable in this dish is something idk the English name of, Shanghai people are supposed to like it, I do, but not when it’s served like this, you could try it, but you might not like it as the vegetable is kinda special.
(5)Shanghai Style Rice Vegetable & Salt Pork: If you’ve never tried this, you should, it’s healthier than fried rice and it’s a Shanghai staple rice dish. I recommend buying this dish rather than eating white rice.
(5)Special Seaweed & Prawns Fried Rice: This was quite yummy, if you like shrimp, seaweed and fried rice, you’ll love this. Suggest taking this over white rice too.
(2)Napa Cabbage Pork Rice Cake (Maybe called Shanghai style): Got this once to try it, was disappointed, the rice cakes were not salty enough, but still good if you’ve never tried it.
I’m sure there are more I have tried but didn’t list but these are the main ones that are good and/​or

As a lot of other reviewers have said, this place is formerly known as «Little Potato». It does seem that the new owners have kept most of the menu items.
Zhi Wei is located in the strip mall that’s also home to Marina market. They have your typical Chinese dishes (fried rice, chow mein, etc) as well as your not so typical dishes. The food is decent and the prices are on par (or cheaper) with other Chinese low/​mid range spots. They do have a 3 items for $ 18 (or $ 18.50) special and many other single dishes are in the $ 5.50 to $ 7 range. Portion sizes are average to big — you definitely get your money’s worth.
A family favorite is the squash soup — I can’t remember the exact name, but it’s #177 on the menu. It’s a clear «healthy» broth that has these delicious tofu-​like balls floating on top. The tofu balls absorb the soup which results in some warm squishy goodness when you bite into it. The soup comes in a clay pot which helps keep the broth piping hot. A small size can feed 2 to 3 people and the large can comfortably feed a family. Definitely try this out on those cold winter days.
My only peeve is I’m not quite sure how clean this place is. The plates/​utensils usually feel a bit sticky and don’t feel like they’ve been throughly washed. While I’m well aware that Chinese restaurants aren’t high on the list in terms of cleanliness, at least make the dishes «appear» clean. I also had a dirty spoon the other day — I asked the waiter for a replacement, only to have him sneeze while grabbing it. Ugh. I stared at both spoons wondering if I was better off with Grimey Spoon or Sneeze Spoon — eventually opted for Grimey Spoon.

..formerly known as LITTLE POTATO, I was kinda hesitant to dine here coz the food might not taste the same. ordered my favorite Beef with chinese donut, surprisingly, same great taste from the same chef of formerly known little potato. I’m satisfied!

Formally known as Little Potato, this restaurant has gone through several ownership and name changes of the years. However the cooks have generally stayed the same so the dishes would still taste the same.
The food here is pretty good for the most part. There have been times where it’s been hit and miss, with dishes being either too salty or not enough flavor, etc.
Their 3 dishes for $ 18 bucks really can’t be beat. For an average person bringing friends or family, it’s good enough for a meal. Any additional dishes costs $ 6.50.
Overall I give it a 3 stars. The food here for me has been more of a miss lately then hit. Perhaps I’m getting used to the food here or whatnot.

Pretty good. They made tomato beef chow mein especially for our table.
Good picks: lotus root and celery, vegetable steamed buns, tomato beef chow mein, west lake beef soup.
They have a good deal, $ 18 for 3 dishes but make sure you select from the correct pages.

Yeah, we usually go to New China at this El Mercado shopping center, but decided to give this place a try. Not crowded at Thursday lunch. They boast an extensive menu of 120 home-​style dishes, where you can choose 3 dishes for $ 18 bucks. We ordered the greens and mushroom over shredded tofu, the fried tofu, the fish filet and cloud mushrooms, and deep fried pumpkin. Of all the dishes, the last one was the best. The rest were just average. They use some msg in their dishes and overall, service was quick.

After Zhi Wei took over Little Potato the food has gone downhill. Supposedly Zhi Wei kept the same chef that was cooking for Little Potato, but everything my family and I ordered besides the shanghai chowmein was tasteless.
I use to love Little Potato, it was one of my favorite shanghai restaurants. Everything I would order was flavorful and fresh. When I came with my family this past Friday everything besides the shanghai chowmein taste bland. We ordered shanghai dumplings, green onion pancakes, sweet soy milk, and shanghai chowmein.
The shanghai dumplings were not impressive in anyway. The sweet soy milk wasn’t really «sweet.»
Their green onion pancakes were one of the worst green onion pancakes I’ve ever eaten. It just taste like dough. The frozen ones at the supermarket tastes better then theirs. My sister and I lost our appetites after eating them.
The only credibility I can give them is for being more clean then Little Potato and not screwing up on the shanghai chowmein.

The restaurant here made me think this is a restaurant for Shanghainese food.
What we ordered today:
1: Four Happiness Bean Curd, really good, comparable to other Shanghai restaurant. On the other hand, this is a easy made dish.
2: Beef Rice w/​Garlic Sauce Wrapped in Lotus Leaf, somehow they made this dish really salty, not consumable at all. But I like the way they made it.
3: Si Chuang Dan Dan Mein, not a traditional way to make Szechuan DanDan Noodle, they make it really light, not really spicy, and somehow I like they make it this way.
Overall price is good, and on weekdays it should be even cheaper with its promotion. But we came here on the weekend but still a good deal.

Zhi Wei takes over where Little Potato was. place looks neat and clean. food selection seems about the same. specialty seems to be shanghaiese cooking.
sampling: 3 dishes for $ 18 (over 100 choices, extra dish 6.50
–braised tofu
excellently braised tofu, not deep friend. with tender black mushrooms.
–lamb with onions
lamb a little dry with lots of white onions
–walnut prawn
mayo infused fried shrimp accompanied by fried walnuts. nicely done.
–za zang mein (5.50)
nice dried tofu cubelets in brown sauce with lots of noodle.
leftovers:
–menu states in english on front and at headers of the food columns. soup and desserts not included on weekends and holidays.
–order size was very generous
–some msg in some dishes.
–place wasn’t busy, seems everyone’s at shen yang.
chinese lessons mandarin
walnut prawn he tao xia

We went for dinner to Zhi Wei Restaurant on Sat 3÷12÷11 after I got home from a long hike & drive. This place used to be Little Potato, now it’s Zhi Wei — Chinese food. It was way crowded at 7pm on Sat, not my favorite time to eat out.
3 dishes for $ 18 sounded good so we tried it. The menu at the restaurant said we’d get either soup or dessert, but not on weekends/​holidays.
Items we picked:
Lamb w/​Zi Ran Sauce — it’s an ok dish. Lots of stir fried lamb meat, green onions, & lots of white onions. Better at Little Sichuan, Newark.
Stir fried potato w/​pork — not very good, better at Little Sichuan in Newark.
Green beans w/​pork — not that tasty, had a sweet taste to it. Get at Little Sichuan in Newark.
Steamed rice — might be extra, huge portion enough for 3 – 4 ppl.
Not my favorite place, but I’ll probably give it another chance when I go earlier next time. Maybe other dishes are better.
We paid Cash, didn’t check about credit cards.
Hrs daily:
10:30−9:30

Three dishes for $ 18.50! Can’t go wrong with that!
There are multiple restaurants in this corner of Marina shopping complex and they all practically have the same menu. My family and I were going to go to New China, but we saw this new place pop up, so we decided to try it. Nothing different from New China, Little Shen Yang, and Little Potato (which this place replaced). I’ll come back if the other places are crowded.