Shanghai Garden

The BEST Chinese Food between Albemarle St and Ashburn, VA.
We have been dining here since the opening week and have never had a disappointing meal.
A true family-​run restraurant where the recipes are consistent — especially the garlic spicy wontons!
Excellent place for take out or a full family celebration.

Good food, fun drinks, priced right. I’ve enjoyed going to this restaurant for the last two years.
When I went tonight I found out they are closing, after 37 years, on January 31^st 2011. It’s sad that another nice restaurant in the Van Ness area is closing.

We got takeout here a couple times on my visit to DC and I was sorely disappointed at their lack of… deliciousness? I ordered the eggplant chicken which was supposed to be spicy but wasn’t at all. It was actually a little bland. I liked the consistency so I ate it, but I just wasn’t crazy about it. My brother said his crispy tofu wasn’t crispy.
We gave this place another shot and I ordered the won ton soup and some crab dumplings. The soup was pretty tasty but the dumplings were really no good. Bad texture, tasted like fake crab, not my thang. Maybe I just ordered bad things, and the staff was really friendly, but this place just rubbed me the wrong way.

I’ve been coming here for the last 10 years and have loved it since then. Service can be really slow (like an hour and a half for dinner for two some nights) but if I tell them I’m in a hurry they usually pick up the pace… and the food is so delish! Compared to other restaurants I think they make the best egg drop soup, spare ribs and cashew chicken. The peking duck is also great. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything I didn’t like here. They don’t deliver and they’re closed on Sundays but it’s a great option for dine-​in or take out!

It’s really a 2.5* bumped up to 3 for quick services and back down to 2 because I’ve definitely experienced much better when it comes to the food at this price… I’m chinese and when I went I asked them, in Mandarin, what they recommend as the authentic dishes. Both dishes (one is double tossed pork and the other is stir fried shrimp and bokchoy) were mediocre and very americanized. The shrimp/​bokchoy was a tiny bit more home styled because it’s just garlic and not sitting in a pool of dark sauces. The pork dish could’ve been named anything because it was so generic.
Take note chinese restaurants – when you call a dish with authentic dish names, it should live up to its name, otherwise just call it «[insert type of meat here] stirred fried with [insert veggies here]».
We also ordered a large bowl of soup, there was so much MSG in it 20mins after I got home I passed out (sleeping). There wasn’t anything special and I am dumbfounded as to why it has 4 stars? Although one thing I noticed, out of the 7 – 9 tables in there I was the only asian…

Great! Recently moved to the area and was looking for a great take-​away Chinese place. General Tsao’s chicken actually had chicken admist the fried goodness (a rare find for me so far in DC), Kung Pao chicken was just the right amount of spicy, and you get free fried rice for orders over $ 15. Everything seemed to be prepared really fresh. The ambiance inside the place was also nice — retro/​family-​owned-​quaint. Will be going back :)

The service was excellent, but the food was not fantastic. The spring rolls and dumplings are decent.

Call me a hater if you want. Maybe I’m not in on the joke here, but I don’t understand why Shanghai Garden rates so well.
The food is American Chinese. Don’t come expecting Sichuanese or Hunan or other regional specialties. This is a place for Moo Shi (as they call it), General Tso’s, etc. Dishes are presented well and portions are relatively large. Food is done well, but the dishes are bland.
The décor definitely dates from the 70s – it’s got that old school American Chinese vibe to it. The service seems to be acutely aware of this and acts in what I think is a self-​parodying manner. For instance, when my friend ordered the Moo Shi Pork, the waiter was sure to point out that this was a «very traditional dish,» and similarly he made a ceremony out of presenting us with chopsticks. This made me uncomfortable and I didn’t enjoy the meal as much as it seems everyone else here did.
Pretty good American Chinese, relatively inexpensive, has been around for a while, and conveniently located near the Van Ness metro.

In terms of «as good as it gets» here, it is all in what you’re looking for. This is old school American-​Chinese food that is done as good as I would ever want it. The Moo-​Shoo Pork /​Chicken? The best! The Mongolian Beef? The best! The Szechuan Chicken? The best!
The original artwork and lanterns from their opening in 1974 is the clincher.

They’re one of few independent Chinese restaurants that is safe and helpful for gluten-​free folk like myself. It’s invaluable to be able to eat a range of Chinese food without worries of getting sick: usually I’m only able to eat one or two items on a menu of dozens. And worth the drive from Baltimore to come.
They’re open until 10 or 10:30 on Monday through Saturday, but closed on Sundays.

The boy’s car was breaking down so we couldn’t go to the miracle fruit UYE as planned (sorry guys!) and we missed getting a pizza from vace so we decided why not chinese… again?!
The fried crab wontons (aka crab rangoons) tasted stale. They were fresh at one point, but just not when we got them. Plus there was a whole bunch of fried wonton and the ittybittiestbit of crab. I think they can be great, just poor execution.
I ordered the Szechuan Shrimp and it was delicious. At least 6 large shrimps (de-​vained and everything, which you don’t always see at chinese restaurants), lightly spicy sauce and crisp vegetables made a super filling dinner and a nice light lunch the next day.
While the boy wanted kung pao lamb, they were out so he got the chicken instead. Also, very good. Lightly breaded spicy sauce and lots o’ peanuts. But what made this a better kung pao in my opinion is that the peanuts were cooked, rather than thrown in after everything else was done. I appreciate that because sometimes I’m just not feeling hard nuts.
Staff is always friendly and nice and I just love the asian giggle when us white folks do something silly like trying to eat rice with chopsticks.

I finally came here for dinner on Saturday and I must say, I was impressed. The inside reminded me of Chinese restaurants in Queens. I loved the throw-​back charm. My friend ordered a four-​course special that came with soup, two eggrolls, entrée, and sherbert for dessert. He said the egg drop soup was great, and I was amazed to see that they brought out fried noodles on the side. Is it me, or do Chinese restaurants in this city consistently fail to supply these heart attack-​inducing treats? Anyway, I was thrilled. Then they brought out the egg rolls, which were humongous. I ordered steamed vegetarian dumplings and they were really yummy. I think I might go back just for those. The dipping sauce was great. He asked if they would substitute sesame chicken as his entrée instead of the ones he was supposed to choose from and it was no problem. I ordered the crispy tofu w/​spinach, which wasn’t crispy at all, but still very good. The sauce was borderline heavy, but not gross. The place was packed, which really surprised me, but I’m glad they do good business b/​c I will be back. My only minor complaint is that the service that night was not that great, but not bad enough to keep me away.

Any restaurant that can make it in the city 30+ years with a duck on the front door gets my vote! SG makes these delicious roast duck dishes that you put inside chinese taco wraps. I love that the cook actually wheels the duck out to you, and then carves by your table. Table-​side service! The soup bar is great as well.
The reviewer who claims this is not a place Asian people would go to — does he know what Asian people look like? Please. What makes this restaurant so welcoming and neighborhoody is that locals of all stripes are in here. As far I can see, this is an immigrant family running the show here. If they put egg rolls and wonton soup on the menu in addition to the homestyle duck, I don’t think that’s so criminal.
If I go to Pottery Barn I don’t go…“shit… Where all the real white people? Some of these people look, uh, pastel.”

I can’t go so far as to say Shanghai Garden beats anything I’ve had, but it’s most certainly VERY good and worth the trip. Of course, if you’re a local, it’s right there on by the corner and a quick walk for lunch or dinner. You probably already know about the soup bar and the specials.
I love the retro «Chinese» restaurant look and feel and the food is great. If I am in this part of DC and feel like something «Chinese» for a change (rare for me), this would be my instant pick.

Unfairly maligned. Consistently excellent food; attentive service. My only complaint is that they are not open on Sundays. We’re tremendously fortunate to have them in NW DC.

I suppose if you never had great Chinese cooking, you’d think that Shanghai Gardens is good. The food here is frankly not worth your calories. Even Green Apple Café round the corner is better (even though it is mediocre). The noodles here are oily and greasy without much flavor (you can however taste the MSG on the noodles). I would give this place a miss if I had a choice. This is not a place Asian people would bother going — nuff said.

Van Ness has two specialties. Dry cleaners and sandwich places. Luckily it also has great chinese food. The décor is pretty low key and is not going to impress a date but the owners are very friendly and the food is pretty delicious. They also have outdoor seating and its never overly crowded.
The lunch special lets you pick from a list of entrees and comes with an all you can eat soup buffet. I really love their chicken corn soup. Its velvety and delicious on a cold night. I also recommend the garlic eggplant with chicken and the Triple Crown which has shrimp, scallops, and chicken. They don’t skimp on the shrimp either.
Unfortunately they don’t deliver and aren’t open on Sundays. When you do pickup your order, if its over $ 15, you get a large order of fried rice for free! The soup comes in a huge tub that will feed you for days. If you are in the area, maybe picking up your dry cleaning, you should def stop by.

This is a great neighborhood restaurant that serves the best Chinese food around. It is very group, and child friendly. I bring my four-​year old niece here and she loves their General Tso Chicken, which has a great spicy-​sweet sauce. She sometimes asks me for their chicken nuggets, which is what she calls the chicken. I love their Thrice Cooked Pork, Garlic Chicken with Eggplant, and Fried Rice. The Steamed Dumplings are also good, but take 20 minutes to cook, which sometimes defeats the purpose of going out for a quick Chinese dinner.
For Chinese New Years, there is a special menu that offers four courses for $ 16.
The lunch is great for the soup buffet with any entrée.

Shanghai Garden is great for groups because of the large circular tables and friendly family-​run staff. Plus, eating family style allows you try all the great dishes. Our group especially liked the Garlic Eggplant with Chicken and the Hot Spiced Shredded Beef.
If you come during lunch, they also have a ‘soup buffet,’ which is perfect on an icy cold DC day. Just order any entrée and you can have all the soup (egg drop, hot and sour, wonton, and one more I think) you can eat.

Shanghai Garden is a Chinese restaurant offering a pretty good Peking duck, and also an entire vegetarian menu. They don’t have mock meats here, but they do have a pretty wide selection of food for vegetarians. During peak hours, this place sees pretty good business and I’m really glad it’s in my neighborhood. I love Chinese food, especially when it’s coming from a place that’s slightly a hole-​in-​the-​wall. I definitely prefer Shanghai over the neighborhood’s other Chinese place, Charlie Chiang’s. Shanghai just makes me feel all good inside with its creepy marquee and lounge-​like interior. It has a full bar, too… so bring it on!