Shanghai Club Restaurant & Lounge

Posted next to the entrance door on the window, spotted on Aug 14 was a letter from an attorney dated Aug 12 with the heading «Notice to pay rent or surrender possession of the premises». It appears that the owners owe $ 51,000 in rent and other charges since May 1.
A few feet away to the right is a handwritten sign in blue sharpie:
«The Shanghai Club temporary close for re-​model. Thank You!»
Dayum, I guess they couldn’t afford the newspaper to cover up their windows (to make it look like a real re-​model).
And look… this place has 149 filtered reviews (both good and bad)!
The food here just wasn’t up to snuff by Chinese standards. They perhaps spent too much resources on trying to do a SF version of Shanghai 1930 (minus the jazz and gangsters) but flopped. If only Grandview restaurant (previous tenant) and their Hubei style food from the 1990s (during their prime) were back…

Just ate here for the third time, and yes I am still a fan.
Prices are a little high, but the food is great and I am a big fan of any restaurant that resembles (or is similar to) Shanghai 1930 even every so slightly. Let’s be honest, this place is swanky right off the bat because this place used to be a bar and it seems that there hasn’t been big changes to the interior.
Of course, the fact that the chef is Shanghainese makes the food here taste authentic as well as good. Me and my lady ordered a claypot soup, lions head meatballs, dry string beans and shanghai style noodles. Everything was so good, tasty and we cleaned up all of our plates. By the way, my lady is from China… and she declared the food good for Chinese tastes as well.
Service was efficient and the atmosphere was pleasant.

Lunch at Shanghai Club the other day reminded me how much I love dim sum and want to make it a regular occurrence.
This particular spot has been open for about 6 months and is fairly unassuming from the outside (minus the giant yellow and red banner). I was pleasantly surprised to walk in and see such a swank setup. And it’s way bigger than you’d think!
But back to the food. It was a chilly day so hot and sour soup was a must. I asked for a little cup — what they brought out was a giant bowl that they ladled into a small cup. Tricky, right? It tasted homemade and had fresh scallions on top. Warmed me up right away.
Since there were so many dumplings to choose from on the menu, I simply asked my server what she recommended, which was the classic dumplings. Although they were difficult to eat (not a dainty eater here), the dumplings were heavenly! I could definitely eat more than one serving, but didn’t since it was lunch and was by myself. Might as well put a big neon sign by my head that reads «glutton».
I could definitely see myself going back, parking at a table and chowing down on some more dumplings. Maybe next time I won’t have to go it alone and can blame some of the excessive eating on someone else?

Went there today for lunch with my
coupon with my family and friends and the food was excellent. We had no idea what to expect as the only time I heard of this place was from
and I didn’t even know there was a chinese dim sum place in Burlingame.
The food was was a combination of traditional chinese dim sum and some shanghainese dishes. We really enjoyed the food and we got out for dim sum and shanghainese food all the time. The décor was nice and they had heaters since it was a little cold in there.
The shanghai dumplings were very yummy. The soup in the dumplings was very tasty! The custard buns were also one of the best we’ve ever had. Here’s everything else we ordered. Dishes ranged from the 3.50 to 7.95 range.
–steamed pork buns
–salt and pepper calamari (dish was a little skimpy for 5.95)
–har gow (very yummy)
–chives dumpling
–jai jeng mein
–chicken chow mein (for the kiddies)
–shanghai pot stickers
–red bean pancake (more like a crêpe)
Prices were pricier than the traditional dim sum house. The har gow was 5.95 for 4 and that’s more than we usually pay. For 4 adults and 4 kids (8 and under) who ate very little, the bill was $ 135, much more than a party of 8 (4 adults and 4 kiddies) would normally pay. Luckily we had the
certificate ($ 50) but it still turned out to be $ 85 (still more than we’d normally pay since they added $ 19 tip and $ 11 tax to our original bill of 135.) I think of it as $ 10/​pp so it wasn’t bad.
The wait staff was attentive, service was great and everyone spoke English so I don’t know what some of the other reviews were talking about.
All and all, the food excellent but it was worth it and I’d definitely go back.

My bf got a coupon for this place off of
so it can out to be a good deal. Otherwise i feel that the price of the dishes here are a bit on the expensive side for shanghainese food.
What we ordered:
2 orders of soup dumplings
1 order of the crab (limited time special for $ 10.99)
1 order or shanghai noodles
1 order of egg custard mochi (on the house)
Total: around $ 25
Soup dumplings review — these were only OK. I was disappointed :(Everything was cooked properly, it had the right texture, and enough soup but it was lacking the flavor that I was craving for soup dumplings! I would not order this again sadly. I still love the dumplings from Shanghai Dumpling king on Balboa still the best!
Crab review — This was delicious! The waiter and I think either the owner or manager recommended this and it was the special for only $ 10.99 too! We had to try it. The crab was a good size and it was deep fried and you can bite into the pieces and the shell was soft and it was easy to crack open the shell to get the meat. the spices for the crab we’re delish! I would definitely order this again and I usually stay away from messy foods.
Shanghai noodles — This was pretty good. Noodles have enough sauce and I like that there was a lot of veggies in it. It was a pretty good size portion for two people. I think me and my bf had about 2.5 bowls ea?
egg custard mochi review — I don’t know if this is regularly on the dinner dessert menu but this was soooooo goood! We didn’t order dessert and the manager had he’d give us a special dessert on the house to try out. Both me and my by had one piece each and really I never had mochi with egg custard. Usually these have black sesame fillings (which the manager mentioned they have and would let me try next time!) It was just made so it was really warm and and the egg custard was really heavenly. My bf who normally doesn’t order dessert really liked it and so that was a good sign :)
Overall I would go here again for a special occasion and for the egg custard mochi! The décor is nice, clean, and upscalely.

Pretty pricey for the portions you get. The only plus was the nice décor. Ordered the calamari & it came out soggy (didn’t even come w/​a sauce). The dumplings that everyone seemed to rave about were filled w/​water when I bit into it.
Disappointed w/​the shanghai seafood noodles too. They are the thick type noodles & they were undercooked. Beef dish was so-​so, nothing much to rave about there. Rice came out last long after entrees arrived so the other food got cold fast (probably bcuz inside restaurant was freezing!) Staff was friendly but slow. Waited almost 10 mins jus to ask for a fork and more water. Luckily I had a
GC otherwise bill would’ve been $ 75 for 3 people. Unfortunately, I will probably not be returning.

Updated review: continued excellent dinners. Great soup dumplings (I have to admit, they’re even better than Shanghai Dumpling Shop, though too pricey in comparison). Fantastic Wine Fish. Marvelous Mongolian Beef and Slow Cooked Pork soup.
On the negative side:
Terrible music. Really awful, wretched China-​Musak. Almost bad enough to sour the food, when there aren’t enough people in the place to drown it out with conversation.
And although the Dim Sum for lunch is good, the experience is menu-​driven. So it’s not really the same – no sense of discovery from having strange food come by on carts. I won’t be heading there again for Dim Sum anytime soon, though we keep heading back for dinner.

I really wanted to like this restaurant — I really did.
Having come back recently from Shanghai, I have gotten accustomed to high-​end Chinese dining and expected my dinner at Shanghai Club to be a similar experience.
The atmosphere feels REALLY like Shanghai or Hong Kong. The clientele, the décor are very much like any upscale eaterie in these two cities. However, I noticed that the plate ware and silverware were of lesser quality than you would see in Shanghai or Hong Kong (where the tableware are really of fine porcelain and beautiful). The plates here were the usual durable Chinese restaurant quality.
But I digress.
It really feels like I was transported to Asia. However, I was quickly sent back to Burlingame when the food came out. We specifically chose quintessential Shanghai dishes to do a true comparison…
Dong po rou (pork stewed in a clay pot with preserved vegetables) — the flavor was fine, but the pork was a bit dry. No comparison to the real deal in Shanghai
Shanghai fried rice cakes — fine. But many places do this acceptably in the area
Shanghai salted pork rice — this is classic Shanghainese rice dish cooked with veggies and ham-​like pork. This was a huge disaapointment. The rice was a bit watery (but not mushy). And it lacked a deep pork flavor. No comparison to the real thing
Shanghai dumplings — I like the fact that they steam the dumplings in their own little foil cupcake like cups. However, I think in doing so, it makes the skin a bit mushy (when it should have an al dente like chewiness). meh. They’ve got nothing on Ding Tai Feng.
Bamboo and Salted Pork Soup — This was delicious. Light, clear and perfectly executed. This is a delicious soup.
Broccoli/​Beef — we ordered this because we have kids. This would never be served in Shanghai. That being said, it was a good one.
Fried thick noodles — also good, but many other places do this greasy noodle dish also.
The food here is EXPENSIVE — about twice the price of a typical Chinese restaurant in the area. However, you are paying for ambience and service — two things you don’t normally get in a Peninsula Chinese restaurant.
This is a great place to take out the inlaws, the boss, friends from out of town who you want to impress and have a normal conversation without the usual noisiness and commotion. Service is excellent, not as efficient as in China, but 10x better than any other Chinese restaurant in the area.
For the quality of the food (mediocre) and price (expensive), you would think there wouldn’t be many Chinese patrons. But surprisingly, on this Saturday evening, every single table was filled by Chinese-​speaking parties. Like I said, it felt like I was transported to Shanghai.

No thank you!
Let’s just say, for what they charge, I was expecting more. The food and service was just average :(
The portions are so small that it might as well be a portion for one person who is on a diet. After eating lunch here, we were still hungry, which sucks b/​c this place is not cheap.
Yes the décor was nice but kind of dark inside for lunch which made the place look depressing. Okay, the décor may look nice in the evening but during lunch, come on, please turn on the light!

I had a $ 100 restaurant. con coupon and decided to try it out. I thought this was place was good. My mother in law is Shanghai-​ese and she really enjoyed the food and thought I was authentic and well executed. The restaurant was nice looking, parking was easy, but it was really quiet on a Sunday evening. Maybe it is too new and no one knows about it or it is on a bad location?
I found out that it does not have a liquor license so it could not serve cocktails. I can imagine once they have the license they will drive more traffic by serving specialty drinks.
I like the place, and hope it will survive.

Remember this location use to be a Filipino restaurant, happens to go back again cause my friend’s invitation. Realize it has changed to this restaurant.
There is a very nice outside patio now, the interior design is still very trendy and modern. as far as the food go, they have a very good selection, i was surprised by their signature dish-​shanghai dumping, is very juicy n fresh. as far as the services go, they do deliver good services, don’t know if she is the host or manger, she is always smile to customers, n always walk around make sure we have enough drink, for sure i will go back again to try more dishes.

2^nd time visit had blew me away. This time, I dine alone on a Monday evening after a few evening plan change. This place is certainly very inviting indeed. Their xai lon bao are very tasty and juicy, but one must eat quick to make sure it retain the moist dumpling surface. Which make it nice and smooth.
The staffs are also much to be praise upon. Very friendly and helpful, if you can find any nicer waiters and waitresses from any* Chinese restaurant out there, they must have stole the idea from here!
While I love to do random drop-​in to different places, but for this one, you better make a reservation to make sure you get a spot when the weekend is near!

Décor were nice, sort of reminded me of Shanghai 1930.
Food were pretty good, little bit more toward the sweet side, but shanghainess food is supposed to be a bit more sweet anyways, besides the usual shanghainese dishes, we also had the «shui zhu Niu» (oil base spicy beef), that was just so so. Shanghai dumpling were good, but still not as good as the dumpling shop in millbrea.
Service were good, but just a bit toooooo slow in term of how they serve the dishes… I also wished they have chinese in their menu, everything is in English, i got so use to reading and ordering off chinese menu, its kinda hard for me to match what i wanted in chinese and whats on the menu.

This review is probably two weeks late… and I can’t put it better than Teener T. below me (who also shared my horrifying experience), but Unilocalers should deserve warnings for restaurants this bad.
The place is fairly nice-​looking. Clean, modern, Americanized for sure. Although they don’t make good use of space. The entire back area had no tables. Were they saving room to install a dance floor or something?
We had a group of about 8 go in for lunch on a Friday. They gave us dinner menus to begin with. Then apologized and gave us lunch menus, which only had one thing different than the dinner menu. Why not just save paper and include it all in one menu… it’s called «categories.»
Anyway, we had many questions since the menu wasn’t very descriptive. Our waitress told us to direct questions only to her since the other waiters «wouldn’t know.» Ok… they clearly fulfilled the job requirements. Or maybe memorizing the dishes isn’t required at this place.
After ordering, we waited forever for our food. Really. The dim sum came out slow, not even the soup for the lunch specials came out. We had to ask multiple times. I ordered the black bean noodles. It was very salty and definitely not worth the money. This place is not cheap considering it’s Chinese food and the quality is equal if not worse than hole-​in-​the-​wall places.
The real kicker is when the bill came. They gave us $ 7 worth of dining credit along with our check. We read them carefully and since they said nothing about when we could use them, we decided to use them for our bill that day. However when the lady took our bill, she came back and said that we couldn’t use them for the current meal.
Naturally we argued that there was no fine print and they never notified us of that. She left and then came back again with another lady. That lady, I kid you not, said to us «Well, I could give you the certificates, or I could not.» Yes, and we can eat at your crude restaurant, or we can not. We had better things to do so we just paid the full price. They kept saying the amount wasn’t right and proceeded to count the money in front of us.
To top it all off, the manager came back yet again to let us know that there wasn’t enough. We told her there was definitely enough and she counted the money for the third (or fourth… or fifth) time in front of us only to realize that it was correct. She also apologized for making the mistake of not telling us the fine print of the certificates. Yes, because apologizing for a mistake YOU made and then not giving us any compensation for it is exactly what we needed.
Word of advice. The customer is always right. And even if the customer isn’t (though in our case we WERE valid), when it’s $ 7, just give the discount rather than risk the abysmal reviews that will follow when you have a group of avid Unilocalers. Oh and FYI, our entire group works in the Burlingame area and are constantly going out to eat on our lunch breaks. If you are the owner and you’re reading this, you have just lost an entire company of would-​be regulars.

This place is tailored to American Dining Experience. It’s not exactly genuine Shanghai food, but more of a fusion where they altered the taste for American taste buds.
1^st Decoration:
— I give MAD Props, and I say MADD PROPS to their decoration and their effort. They used ancient style decoration with a mix of bamboo + dark lighting. It was nicely done and fitted the theme.
— They had the hostess wear Qi Pao (mandarin). The only problem here is that Qi Pao is supposed to be worn with high heals. The lady was wearing flip flops with Qi Pao. It reminded me of Halloween where they dress up just for the event. Also, there was only one girl wearing the Qi Pao and the men were wearing Suits. If anything, they should have worn Chinese style suits that matched the lady.
2^nd Menu & Communication:
— The menu was completely in English. Nothing in Chinese. Most Chinese restaurants would have menus with Chinese on the Side and English on the other. At least this would help Chinese people understand what they are ordering. This is a Big NO NO (even though it’s America).
— Everyone wanted to speak to you in English. Even though they clearly understand our whole table was speaking in both Cantonese and Mandarin, they still spoke to us in English. The waiters spoke to each other in Chinese, but wouldn’t speak to customers in Chinese.
3^rd Bragging Rights:
The Manager likes to brag about their food. When we ask them abotu specifics, they say «Oh that dish is great, everyone loves to order that». Out of 5 things we asked, she said the same thing. I asked about the specifics of the food, not if people order it.
4^th Diabetes stay away:
Holy ****… Their food is sweet like chocolate on ice cream. Dong Po Rou (Fatty Braised Pork) was sweet like crazy. It tastes like eating fatty pork with Godiva Chocolate glaze. I’ve never had food that was so sweet. Shanghai dishes normally have specks of sugar to bring out the taste, not using half a lb of sugar for each dish.
5^th SLOWPOKE:
— Food was super slow. They keep saying that the place was super busy, but it wasn’t as close to other restaurants where it’s clearly busy and everyone was running around. The Kitchen simply couldn’t get the food out. It felt like I was at a formal Italian Cuisine where I wait 20 mins for each course.
— My Rice was cold by the time the second dish came. So most of my rice was sitting at the table because it wasn’t hot and it’s not right to eat Rice that’s cold.
— Because they lack service, none of the food was served hot. Most lukewarm, which basically killed the original taste of the food when it’s hot.
6^th Small Portions:
uhhh… not much to say here. Check the picture. After $ 118 dollars I wasn’t full!
oh, XLB (Xiao Lung Bao) was good… Better than Shanghai Dumpling Shop. I was surprised that it wasn’t filled with nasty oil soup base. +1 star for the XLB and +1 star for the decorations. — few stars for the stuff mentioned above.
lastly, 20% discount made the bill just right. without 20%, i don’t think most people will come back. oh and I forgot to mention. they added gratuity for a party of 6. i forgot how many %, but who the hell does that in a Chinese restaurant. I think they forgot that traditional chinese people hate that stuff.
OH, FORGOT TO MENTION!
The lady saw me taking photos and asked if I can help them review. she was literally begging for a good review. BIG NO NO

Sorry, I have to drop my rating on this place. We came back today for dim sum and even though some of the items on the menu seem like they are purely vegetarian, they aren’t b/​c they have shrimp.
The real reason I am dropping my stars is that the food today was SO greasy! We ordered the mahpoh tofu again and it was in a layer of grease and didn’t taste the same as the other night. It was so greasy we had to ask them to re-​do it, which I think they just «rinsed» out the sauce. Even so, it was still greasy. I ordered the shrimp and chive dumpling and the skin was fried and just soaked in grease. Basically, I took the skin off and ate the inside.
The shanghai dumplings were still good, but doesn’t compensate for everything else.

Word of warning, the service here is TERRIBLE and slow. Quite the one-​two punch. We ordered the lunch special, and it took nearly an hour to come out.
The best though, was the hostess confronting our table as if she wanted to rumble. It’s been years since I’ve encountered someone so utterly rude — anywhere. There was gross confusion over the large bill for our party of 6. They had to come back to our table two times to count out our money in front of us to ensure we had paid enough. And we had. Now if that’s not embarrassing for everyone involved.
If you’re the owner and you’re reading this review, the one to put in the back kitchen away from customers is the very tall one, who doesn’t know when to bite her tongue, or how to be nice to customers.
While we’re at it, do the hostesses and waitresses really have to wear tight miniskirts during the lunch shift? Burlingame really isn’t that type of place. It’s where families and co-​workers go for lunch. You’re risking putting off at least half of your customers with that kind of sexploitation.
I hate to be a hater, but GOOD LORD.

Came here on Sunday around 1pm for Dim Sum
Ambience is really nice, dim, and modern but hip (perfect for dates)
The hostress was wearing the Old Chinese Dress with the slit =P
For Dim Sum you have to pencil in your order.
Food was good but nothing to rave about so I order the popular Shanghai Noodle and it was ok.
Service was great (being a Shanghai Native and speaking the language made me feel welcoming)
First time that will give you a discount of 20% and also some dollars saving coupon. (Definitely great for first timer to try out)
I will be back but for Dinner!

First thing you notice bout this restaurant is the looks. Not your thrown together Chinese good-​fortune-​lucky-​pagoda-​palace. but decent put together looking staff and table presentation. hostess in the front wearing a white and pink sequined chang sam. with the slit all the way up her hip… hmmm…
We were seated quickly in a very narrow dining space. The menus are only in English. We asked if there was a Chinese menu, and hoping there was, meaning this-​place-​is-​authentic. but they said it wasn’t printed yet. But the waitress said she’d do her best to translate. We knew English, but weren’t sure if the menu was translated correctly. So we ordered and waited for the food.
This place is called Shanghai Club, so their XLBs better be good. It came fast, but it was because it was steamed prior because the dumplings were WARM. It was served in aluminum muffin tins (?!) and we weren’t given soup spoons. This was already a bad sign. How could you call yourself Shanghai Club without authentic dumplings! First of all, we couldn’t even find xlb on the menu. It was «Shanghai dumpling» or something. Just say Xiao Lung Bao. Muffin tins? and when I asked for soup spoons, the waiter gave us serving spoons. Apparently, they ran out of soup spoons! WTH.
This review can go on and on, but lets just say everything didn’t taste as it is supposed to be.
1) XLB — thumbs down
2) Drunken Chicken — great that it was entirely boneless, but it was more salty than drunk. in fact, it didn’t even taste drunk. It might as well be Sober Chicken
3) Beef Curry Vermicelli Soup — Again, this was warm and idk why. bitter.
4) Shanghai Rice Cake — The rice cake was good, very soft and not incredibly sticky but the sauce was overly sweet.
5) Pork Chop Noodle — a clump of the noodle was stuck together. the supper skinny pork chop came way before the noodle. THERE WAS A HAIR IN THE SOUP.
6) Dry Fried Green Beans — This was okay. Should be more dry though, like in the wok too long crispy.
7) Dong Bo Pork — presentation was awesome, for all dishes really. but this pork was dry, almost rough on the tongue. This dish is supposed to be slow cooked… you can tell it was made on high heat.
we asked for the check and didn’t want dessert but the hostess gave us free dessert anyway. puddings. can’t really go wrong with that.
all that for $ 100. parties of 5+, 20% gratuity is already included but they gave us $ 10 cash coupons for the return visit. i hope in the return visit they improve on several things …
1) Authenticity. I KNOW these people are Chinese and from Shanghai. I don’t know if the chefs are though. My grandma, who is Shanghainese, said, «This food can’t be made for people who know what Shanghainese food is supposed to taste like.» Start with the menu. It is written in English with the wrong translation. Most of these dishes have known titles — use them, and then have a description of the dish by it so those who don’t know will understand. Not only for XLB, but for something as simple as Mixed Vegetables. The table next to us ordered that and what came out was tofu and mushrooms. That’s not vegetables. Yes, it is vegetarian, which I think the restaurant was trying to say.
2) Service — The bus boys were attentive. Wanted to clear our table and asked us how the food was. But too bad they couldn’t clear our table because we were still waiting for our food. Chinese food is supposed to be fast and it needs to come out hot. That is rule number one.
i just don’t know about this place. the concept is there, but there just was no execution. like my review, all over the place. maybe we came here too quickly. let the restaurant marinate. but i can see it losing all the Chinese patrons fast unless they get their act together soon.
sigh.. and the sequined chang sam is going to get old fast. If this is supposed to be 1930s Shanghai — Peace Hotel Style, stick with something more classy.
this place could easily be one star, but I’m giving it a two, a whole star for the music that was playing which we asked the head lady, Anna. She bought it in Shanghai last year when she knew she was opening this restaurant. It’s a remake of the Paramount Dance Hall classics by famous jazz performers. All the favorite songs made us feel as if we were in the ballroom. … if only their food and service could do the same.

We had dinner here with some friends last weekend.
Although they have a «Grand Opening» sign outside their door, they are actually still in their soft opening stage.
It definitely showed.
On Sat. night at 8:30, we were one of very few tables seated.
The space is much nicer than you might expect from outside. Very modern and chic.
I haven’t had Chinese food in quite some time, but I can still say this is «upscale» Chinese food.
The four people in my group decided to order a variety of dishes and share everything.
We had: Mushu with beef, Shangahi dumplings, Lions Head Meatball, Seafood Noodles, Black Pepper Beef, and Curry Chicken fried rice.
All the dishes were good, with some being better than others. Portion sizes were more reasonable, and not gargantuan as at many places
I appreciated that nothing felt greasy or over salted, as can be the case with Chinese food sometimes.
Service was… odd…Waters were kept refilled, which I always appreciate, but our server was kind of surly. He wasn’t very friendly, and seemed annoyed when we asked him to describe certain dishes. He was a white dude, so it’s not like he was insulted that we didn’t know everything about this ethnicity of food.
He even went so far as to get a bit snooty and rude when I made a comment about dessert not being the «cake» as he described it. It was more like a pudding, or flan. It was odd because I wasn’t the only one at the table that tried to get a description of this item.
Regardless, it wasn’t my kind dessert.
Oh well, the apps and entrees were good, but I’d skip dessert next time. I like that it was at least a light dessert, but still wouldn’t order it again.
I would return, and hopefully they’ll have some of their service issues ironed out.