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Reviews for Shanghai Kitchen

by Jacqui
16th March 2013

LOVE it, food is great, never had bad service, sweet and sour pork is the best ever, not jelly type sticky red stuff, dark purple lovely very tasty, love their lunch boxes, you get tea, main, rice, brocilli and peanuts all or a great price.
I think there prices are fantastic compared to ‘kiwi’ chinese kitchen.
Have had many dishes all fab, if there for lunch try the Beef & Onion noodle soup… Hubby’s favorite.

Often take different people there never had a bad experience.

by Ernest C.
8th March 2013

My wife and I along with friends and family have dined at the Shanghai Kitchen many, many times. Excellent Shanghai food and service at a reasonable price. It is really great ,so nice we don’t take some of our friends there. The food is delicious and different. The staff are friendly and obliging . I’m amazed at the negative reviews as we have never been disappointed with the food or service . Perhaps the negativity reflects the critics own dyspeptic personality’s. It certainly doesn’t reflect the Shanghai food or the friendly hosts.

by Campbell M.
2nd August 2012

Where to begin. The service at Shanghai Kitchen was totally superlative to any other restaurant we have been to on Petone’s prestigious Jackson St. Our waitress, Daisy, positively sparkled in all aspects of service, attending to our every need with gusto, good humour and witty banter, and making thoughtful and well-considered recommendations as to what we should order. The pork we ordered utterly glistened with radiant deliciousness, umami delicately balanced with sweet and sour flavours. I would not hesitate in commending this fine establishment to anyone who desires an immersive Oriental gastronomic experience, with exceptional service as a bonus. Will definitely go again.

by Jennie T.
12th February 2012

We are regular eaters at this place, love the food there, service has always been prompt and have never had to wait for service…need to book a table though especially on a Friday night, can boy wine too…Jennie t

by Lynne P.
19th October 2011

I must admit I am shocked at the negative reviews. I have eaten at Shanghai Kitchen lots of times. I do like the spicy pork which comes in a box with peanuts etc and have only tried a few other things. It is what it is, a basic restaurant and priced accordingly. It is probably suited better for lunch thank dinner. I just love Asian food and think it is great!!

by KP
23rd August 2011

Shanghai Kitchen is one of my favourite restaurants to go to in petone. It’s authentic Shanghainese food, not the usual lemon chicken sweet and sour stuff you get at most Chinese restaurants. The steamed buns are my favourite to start with, and there is also a sweet alcohol rice dessert which I haven’t seen anywhere else. The mains are good but none have really stood out to me so far.

by Rosa d.
20th March 2011

Victoria is quite right in her review. This is not Cantonese food and tastes different to what a lot of NZ ers would be used to.I found them friendly and helpful.

by Café_Chick
4th February 2011

We tried Shanghai Kitchen tonight after hearing great things about this restaurant for years. Our experience was ok; neither good nor bad, just very average. Upon arrival, we were pointed towards an empty table about halfway up the restaurant. About five minutes later, menus arrived and our orders were taken after another ten minutes. There was another long wait before our first course arrived and no further interaction other than to place our meals on the table. We ordered sliced pork as an appetizer. The thin slices were quite fatty and swimming in garlic sauce, giving a very strong flavour. The orange flavoured chicken was more subtle with no particular standout taste. The stir fried sliced beef in oyster sauce was heavily capsicum-laden but otherwise lacking in flavour. We wouldn’t rush back.

by Mccormack
1st February 2009

We ate at this restaurant last night. The food took ages to arrive at the table. We ordered shredded pork with bamboo sheets and pickled cabbage and another dish of fried rice with seafood. Both dishes were disgusting. I refused to eat any of it. My partner could only eat a few spoonfuls. I complained and witness said she would knock 20% of the price. I said I wanted 50% off or I would refuse to pay her anything. She agreed to 50% discount. This place should be closed down.

by S M.
2nd January 2009

This place deserves negative stars and should be shut down! The food is generally terrible and one would definitely be able to cook better at home even if you are not familiar with cooking Asian cuisine.
The food lacked flavour and had not been reheated long enough in the microwave. The food took sooo long to arrive you would think the food came direct from overseas and the restaurant was not busy at the time.
The staff are totally unprofessional and incredibly rude.
Due to the bad quality we didn’t eat most of the dishes, though they still required us to pay for this crap.
The only positive from this experience is that we did not get food poisoning from eating here.

by Victoria
31st August 2008

great food and service. and what “Jane” said was not true. their restaurant is called Shanghai Kitchen. they have shanghainess food rather than catonese.Alot of food there are very different to what other chinese restaurant have.

by Mike
5th June 2008

A certain food critic at the Dominion Post made a mention of Shanghai Kitchen’s skate wing. I made my first visit on the strength of that. Pains me to say it but he was right! Worth the visit just for that one dish. Lovely food.

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