very yummy! the food is good, especially the vege rice, very traditional shang hai style restaurant
Nicole M.
Wow, I just tried to order delivery and the girl on the phone was beyond rude! Asked me serval times what my address and phone number was. As I'm ordering she asks "does that complete your order. " I said please give me on second to look at the menu.....her response "maybe you should have done that before you ordered!" Wow I kindly told her she had a bad attitude and to cancel the order. Based on the terrible customer service I will not be eating here or recommending anyone in the future.
Leah I.
I've had this place a few times and it lacks consistency. I always order Kung pao chicken and sweet and sour for the family and usually try something new from the menu. I've had times when the dishes are excellent Very fresh. But the last few times it was pretty bad. Sweet and sour was dry the Kung pao was over salted and had no spice even though I specifically asked for extra spicy.
Sara N.
We tried Shanghai Garden a second time tonight and...we're going to start trying all the other Chinese restaurants in Novato to see what's out there. Three items that we ordered were specifically ordered, "spicy"; the woman on the phone repeated it back at the end. Not one had any spice to it whatsoever. The Mongolian Beef this time was half onion and a soggy mess. The Veggies too, were off. Not, "off the scale", just ...off. As in, partly soggy partly crispy but with no flavor and everyone agreed that the sauce left our stomachs a bit odd-feeling. The "spicy shredded pork" dish was neither spicy nor shredded, it was bland strips of pork. So, our second try was adequate. About par with steam table Chinese, no better.
'Kc K.
First time customer: went on a Sun night. Area is very quiet, even with being alongside the interstate. Took my date as a 2nd date. Bottom line, food was great! Prices were acceptable, and portions were aggreable! We had the soup. She had the Wor Wanton and I had the Seafood Combination. Tasty as all get-out. We weren't disappointed...even after having to usher a nat (bug) off our table upon sitting down. My date and I wanted to be alone (lol) :) He left without incident. It was such a harmless situation, neither my date or I were turned-off from eating there. She kept saying she was "very comfortable" there. The aura in the dinning area was, in fact, very peaceful!! The table decor was simple (fake flowers in vases with not enough decorative rocks to reach the stem), but cute. I mean, the most important thing is the food quality & service anyway, right? Ample parking during our visiting hours. In closing, Recommend you visit. The food and service was worth the price of admission. I would go again! Gonna try their wine next time. :)
Ruben M.
the BEST horrible chinese food this side of novato! We frequent this place quite frequently, hence "frequent". It's actually the most amount of food for your dollar. Prices did increase a little lately, but it's still cheaper than the other americanized chinese food plalces in town. The servers are very polite and as accomidating as anyone could expect. I'm not to crazy about their soups, but their mongolian beef is just the right spicey. everything else is pretty average, so at this low price, i push it up to 4 stars vs liked restaraunts.
Marla S.
It's under new ownership as of 4/1 and the name will soon be changing to Green Bamboo. Here's my review (I created a new listing for the restaurant since I didn't think it fair to tack it on the previous establishment):
Walt N.
Enjoying Asian cuisine as much as I do, I have sampled the food in just about every Chinese restaurant in Marin County. Shanghai Garden is the best of the lot. The Wor Won Ton soup is superb. The shrimp dishes perfect. The Chow Mein with shrimp, chicken, beef, is enough food for 3 or 4 people. I have now dined in this restaurant over a dozen times and with the exception of the soup, always tried something new and not once have I been disappointed. Service is always great, the food fresh, and I have always felt I received a good value. The lunch specials, too, give you more food than you likely could ever eat at one sitting. The number one reason that I find this restaurant so good is that everything tastes as if it was just made fresh and cooked with a lot of care. The cook at this restaurant knows how to prepare quality Asian cuisine.
Lisa L.
This place might become my new favorite stop for Chinese carry out on my way home from work. I moved to this area over the summer and haven't found a favorite Chinese restaurant for carry out yet. My throat was feeling scratchy on the way home from work tonight so I decided I better get some hot and sour soup. After looking checking things out on yelp, decided to try this place. It's located a few blocks from the freeway exit in an out of the way strip mall. The staff was very friendly when I came in. The place smelled good, the decor was simple and the staff seemed friendly so I decided to try it out. Everything on the menu seemed pretty reasonably priced and they seemed to have all the standards. While I planned to just get soup, the food coming out of the kitchen smelled really good while I was looking over the menu, so I decided to get some chow fun too. My order was like $12 and was ready really quickly- I think I was in and out of there in 10 minutes or less. Everything was well packaged and still hot when I got home.I loved all of the food. The hot and sour soup was the kind that I like- hot, tangy and full of strips of bamboo shoots, black mushrooms and little bit of pork. The combination chow fun was surprisingly good- well flavored, not greasy, with a generous amount of sliced pork, medium sized shrimp, cubes of chicken, and vegetables. I look forward to stopping in again the next time I feel decide to get carry out on my way home from work.
scott a.
Very good selection of lunch specials... for $6 you can't beat it in quantity and quality. Lunch specials are huge portions that come with egg roll and soup. I had the Szechuan chicken and fried rice, my GF had Family Style Tofu with Chow Mein - all food arrived steaming hot, very fresh and flavorful. And I had enough to take home for later. Very friendly service with lots of refills on the ice water (with actual ice cubes, which I find to be a rarity in Chinese restaurants).
There are 3 other chinese restaurant that I tried in Novato: Jennie's Low, China Village, and China Palace. Shanghai Garden is the best. Food is good, service is fast, and price is reasonable.
Joseph H.
I don't eat much chinese food... but I get bored of the hum-drum of sandwiches and diners in Novato, so on occasion I step out of my comfort-bubble (aka psychological love nest) and try something new. Yesterday, on triple the recommended dose of Dayquil, I made such a jaunt with a colleague. Based on the 3.5 star yelp rating, it didn't sound excellent, but didn't sound tragic so I figured it was worth the 2 exit trip from "downtown (if that's what you want to call it)" to Entrada. Upon arrival, we were seated quickly and given lunch menus. Followed by both ice water and hot tea -- I love getting both without asking for either! The server answered a few questions about some of the entres (like who would have known the only difference between Szechuan Chicken and General Tzos Chicken is Broccoli?) and we ordered. First came the hot and sour soup -- which wasn't very sour but was really hot! haha. Actually it was hot in 2 ways, both spicy and scolding (in a good way, there's nothing worse than cold soup that isn't gazpacho). The soup was flavorful, had a mix of chinese veggies and was a touch oily, as all good chinese soups are. I will not review my counterparts meal, as I did not taste it due to my lingering sick-faceness. The lunch plate came out with a heaping mound of fried rice (the light and fluffy kind, not greasy and down-trodden type), 1 extra crispy egg roll, and a very generous pyramid of Orange Chicken. The rice was good but rather plain, the egg roll was scrumptious (although I can't remember what was in it, I assume it was veggie), and the chicken was deep fried and super fresh (oil still bubblingly hot inside the outer breading). The sauce on the orange chicken was quite nice, not too sweet and a little spicy with actual visible orange zest strands. All in all, it was a great lunch and a serious value -- each lunch plate costing 5.95, out the door with tax and tip around $8. The reason the restaurant gets four stars is two fold: first of all, I don't know that I give five stars to anyone, and secondly, if I ate here everyday, I would surely die of a fried-food-induced cardiac arrest within six months! :) haha. I'll make this part of my regular lunch rotation, probably once every 2 weeks!
Eric L.
Rediculous Lunch specials. Serious Value. 6 bucks for a massive plate of food, it's absurd. You can eat lunch here and take the left overs home for dinner, really. I've had a few of their Chicken dishes, pretty yummy, not too oily and salty which are my peeves for 'quick' Chinese food. I give an extra star for value, and convenience(close to work).
Umesh T.
This the first decent Chinese restaurant I found in and around Novato since moving from San Francisco a few months ago. I love this place for their value-for-money lunch deals that offers you a choice of soup, fried-rice/steamed-rice/chow-mein, an entree and a spring-roll for (usually) $5.95 only ! I recommend the Mongolian Chicken lunch with the fried-rice option, as well as the Sesame Pork lunch.
Stacey P.
This place has really good food. BUT, the service really leaves alot to be desired. I have been here a few times, never really impressed with the service but went back because the food was good. Today was my last straw. I took my daughter and granddaughter there for lunch. We waited for a seat, was barely spoken to when she told us to sit down. Never given a menu, after a few minutes she asked what we wanted to drink, we both asked for tea so we got a pot of hot water..that's it. And then no one ever came back to our table. We sat there for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, another table came in with 3 guys and they were fawning all over themselves to serve them. They got menus, drinks and someone to take their order. We got up to leave, they watched us walk out without a single word. So now I am back at work without lunch.
very yummy! the food is good, especially the vege rice, very traditional shang hai style restaurant
Wow, I just tried to order delivery and the girl on the phone was beyond rude! Asked me serval times what my address and phone number was. As I'm ordering she asks "does that complete your order. " I said please give me on second to look at the menu.....her response "maybe you should have done that before you ordered!" Wow I kindly told her she had a bad attitude and to cancel the order. Based on the terrible customer service I will not be eating here or recommending anyone in the future.
I've had this place a few times and it lacks consistency. I always order Kung pao chicken and sweet and sour for the family and usually try something new from the menu. I've had times when the dishes are excellent Very fresh. But the last few times it was pretty bad. Sweet and sour was dry the Kung pao was over salted and had no spice even though I specifically asked for extra spicy.
We tried Shanghai Garden a second time tonight and...we're going to start trying all the other Chinese restaurants in Novato to see what's out there. Three items that we ordered were specifically ordered, "spicy"; the woman on the phone repeated it back at the end. Not one had any spice to it whatsoever. The Mongolian Beef this time was half onion and a soggy mess. The Veggies too, were off. Not, "off the scale", just ...off. As in, partly soggy partly crispy but with no flavor and everyone agreed that the sauce left our stomachs a bit odd-feeling. The "spicy shredded pork" dish was neither spicy nor shredded, it was bland strips of pork. So, our second try was adequate. About par with steam table Chinese, no better.
First time customer: went on a Sun night. Area is very quiet, even with being alongside the interstate. Took my date as a 2nd date. Bottom line, food was great! Prices were acceptable, and portions were aggreable! We had the soup. She had the Wor Wanton and I had the Seafood Combination. Tasty as all get-out. We weren't disappointed...even after having to usher a nat (bug) off our table upon sitting down. My date and I wanted to be alone (lol) :) He left without incident. It was such a harmless situation, neither my date or I were turned-off from eating there. She kept saying she was "very comfortable" there. The aura in the dinning area was, in fact, very peaceful!! The table decor was simple (fake flowers in vases with not enough decorative rocks to reach the stem), but cute. I mean, the most important thing is the food quality & service anyway, right? Ample parking during our visiting hours. In closing, Recommend you visit. The food and service was worth the price of admission. I would go again! Gonna try their wine next time. :)
the BEST horrible chinese food this side of novato! We frequent this place quite frequently, hence "frequent". It's actually the most amount of food for your dollar. Prices did increase a little lately, but it's still cheaper than the other americanized chinese food plalces in town. The servers are very polite and as accomidating as anyone could expect. I'm not to crazy about their soups, but their mongolian beef is just the right spicey. everything else is pretty average, so at this low price, i push it up to 4 stars vs liked restaraunts.
It's under new ownership as of 4/1 and the name will soon be changing to Green Bamboo. Here's my review (I created a new listing for the restaurant since I didn't think it fair to tack it on the previous establishment):
Enjoying Asian cuisine as much as I do, I have sampled the food in just about every Chinese restaurant in Marin County. Shanghai Garden is the best of the lot. The Wor Won Ton soup is superb. The shrimp dishes perfect. The Chow Mein with shrimp, chicken, beef, is enough food for 3 or 4 people. I have now dined in this restaurant over a dozen times and with the exception of the soup, always tried something new and not once have I been disappointed. Service is always great, the food fresh, and I have always felt I received a good value. The lunch specials, too, give you more food than you likely could ever eat at one sitting. The number one reason that I find this restaurant so good is that everything tastes as if it was just made fresh and cooked with a lot of care. The cook at this restaurant knows how to prepare quality Asian cuisine.
This place might become my new favorite stop for Chinese carry out on my way home from work. I moved to this area over the summer and haven't found a favorite Chinese restaurant for carry out yet. My throat was feeling scratchy on the way home from work tonight so I decided I better get some hot and sour soup. After looking checking things out on yelp, decided to try this place. It's located a few blocks from the freeway exit in an out of the way strip mall. The staff was very friendly when I came in. The place smelled good, the decor was simple and the staff seemed friendly so I decided to try it out. Everything on the menu seemed pretty reasonably priced and they seemed to have all the standards. While I planned to just get soup, the food coming out of the kitchen smelled really good while I was looking over the menu, so I decided to get some chow fun too. My order was like $12 and was ready really quickly- I think I was in and out of there in 10 minutes or less. Everything was well packaged and still hot when I got home.I loved all of the food. The hot and sour soup was the kind that I like- hot, tangy and full of strips of bamboo shoots, black mushrooms and little bit of pork. The combination chow fun was surprisingly good- well flavored, not greasy, with a generous amount of sliced pork, medium sized shrimp, cubes of chicken, and vegetables. I look forward to stopping in again the next time I feel decide to get carry out on my way home from work.
Very good selection of lunch specials... for $6 you can't beat it in quantity and quality. Lunch specials are huge portions that come with egg roll and soup. I had the Szechuan chicken and fried rice, my GF had Family Style Tofu with Chow Mein - all food arrived steaming hot, very fresh and flavorful. And I had enough to take home for later. Very friendly service with lots of refills on the ice water (with actual ice cubes, which I find to be a rarity in Chinese restaurants).
Restaurantji Recommends
There are 3 other chinese restaurant that I tried in Novato: Jennie's Low, China Village, and China Palace. Shanghai Garden is the best. Food is good, service is fast, and price is reasonable.
I don't eat much chinese food... but I get bored of the hum-drum of sandwiches and diners in Novato, so on occasion I step out of my comfort-bubble (aka psychological love nest) and try something new. Yesterday, on triple the recommended dose of Dayquil, I made such a jaunt with a colleague. Based on the 3.5 star yelp rating, it didn't sound excellent, but didn't sound tragic so I figured it was worth the 2 exit trip from "downtown (if that's what you want to call it)" to Entrada. Upon arrival, we were seated quickly and given lunch menus. Followed by both ice water and hot tea -- I love getting both without asking for either! The server answered a few questions about some of the entres (like who would have known the only difference between Szechuan Chicken and General Tzos Chicken is Broccoli?) and we ordered. First came the hot and sour soup -- which wasn't very sour but was really hot! haha. Actually it was hot in 2 ways, both spicy and scolding (in a good way, there's nothing worse than cold soup that isn't gazpacho). The soup was flavorful, had a mix of chinese veggies and was a touch oily, as all good chinese soups are. I will not review my counterparts meal, as I did not taste it due to my lingering sick-faceness. The lunch plate came out with a heaping mound of fried rice (the light and fluffy kind, not greasy and down-trodden type), 1 extra crispy egg roll, and a very generous pyramid of Orange Chicken. The rice was good but rather plain, the egg roll was scrumptious (although I can't remember what was in it, I assume it was veggie), and the chicken was deep fried and super fresh (oil still bubblingly hot inside the outer breading). The sauce on the orange chicken was quite nice, not too sweet and a little spicy with actual visible orange zest strands. All in all, it was a great lunch and a serious value -- each lunch plate costing 5.95, out the door with tax and tip around $8. The reason the restaurant gets four stars is two fold: first of all, I don't know that I give five stars to anyone, and secondly, if I ate here everyday, I would surely die of a fried-food-induced cardiac arrest within six months! :) haha. I'll make this part of my regular lunch rotation, probably once every 2 weeks!
Rediculous Lunch specials. Serious Value. 6 bucks for a massive plate of food, it's absurd. You can eat lunch here and take the left overs home for dinner, really. I've had a few of their Chicken dishes, pretty yummy, not too oily and salty which are my peeves for 'quick' Chinese food. I give an extra star for value, and convenience(close to work).
This the first decent Chinese restaurant I found in and around Novato since moving from San Francisco a few months ago. I love this place for their value-for-money lunch deals that offers you a choice of soup, fried-rice/steamed-rice/chow-mein, an entree and a spring-roll for (usually) $5.95 only ! I recommend the Mongolian Chicken lunch with the fried-rice option, as well as the Sesame Pork lunch.
This place has really good food. BUT, the service really leaves alot to be desired. I have been here a few times, never really impressed with the service but went back because the food was good. Today was my last straw. I took my daughter and granddaughter there for lunch. We waited for a seat, was barely spoken to when she told us to sit down. Never given a menu, after a few minutes she asked what we wanted to drink, we both asked for tea so we got a pot of hot water..that's it. And then no one ever came back to our table. We sat there for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, another table came in with 3 guys and they were fawning all over themselves to serve them. They got menus, drinks and someone to take their order. We got up to leave, they watched us walk out without a single word. So now I am back at work without lunch.