Old Shanghai Cafe

Most Dishes are very good. Kung Pau chicken a little too «American»; need to cut back on the amount of sugar used and thin the sauce.
They do offer brown rice (much healthier than white rice). Lunch buffet is excellent value for the money. The sushi menu is expanding.
Beef dishes are hit or miss. Sometimes the beef is perfect; sometimes the beef is chewy.
Bottom line: if they thinned out the sauces and made them more Chinese like this would have received five stars.

I still have not had the Chinese dishes there, just the sushi —- the spicy tuna and the Long Island roll are both probably some of the best sushi I’ve had.

Expensive entrees $ 14+ for the amount they serve you in carry out. Probably different dining in. As far as taste, it’s the best I’ve tasted in Germantown, but definitely NOT the best I’ve had. They need to check their orders better when you order carry out.
Ordered shrimp lo-​mean and got shrimp fried rice with small shrimp. Order extra shrimp because I had very little and I don’t eat a lot of protein.

I first came to this place a few years ago when I moved to the area. The food was really delicious and yummy during my first few visits. However, it seems that over the years, the food has gone down slightly in quality. When I say quality, I mean that it has lost some of it’s taste and not seasoned well. I really enjoy how this restaurant has a different spin to the preparation of their food and a different taste in comparison to other Asian cuisine restaurants.
The lunch special is very fulfilling and they give you some pretty large portions. The lunch special starts at $ 6.95 and you have the option of either dining in or take-​out. If you select take-​out, your box will be filled to capacity. If you select dine-​in, you’ll get the same amount of food, but you experience the quiet and cozy ambiance of the restaurant. You can select from white rice, fried rice, lo mein, chow mein, or mixed veggies. Next, you can select up to 2 sides and they range anywhere from general tso chicken, bourbon chicken, spicy beef, black pepper chicken, pork with mixed vegatables, a tofu dish, and other dishes that might change on a daily basis. For $ 7.95 which is a dollar more, you can select a 3^rd side to go with your meal. It seems like a lot, but they make sure they pack everything into your take-​out box. After your main selection are made, you can select from either an egg roll or a chicken wing to go along with your meal. You also have sushi to select from as a meal. The most notable ones are the shrimp tempura and the California roll. You get 12 rolls for $ 7.95 and you can split them in 6 roll intervals which isn’t bad if you would like a variety. My only complaint about the food was the general tso chicken. It’s all clumped together with more breading than chicken which I wasn’t a fan of.
The server during the lunch special can be a little abrasive if you’re unsure about what you want. They want the line to go quick and seem to be a little bothered with patrons who take too long in deciding what to choose from. Don’t take offense to it. Once you go for the first time, you’ll quickly get the routine down packed. The waiter is extremely nice and very attentive to your needs. Go for yourself and check it out. It’s not bad, it’s just not my first choice.

Very disappointed. Food definitely below average. Quest for decent local Chinese food continues.

Delicious vegetarian dumplings (steamed) were packed full of mushrooms and veggies. They had no problem fulfilling a request for substituting the brown sauce in a tofu dish to create Sesame Tofu. Flavor could have been a bit more complex, but nice enough.
Proprietors very friendly and fun to be able to speak some Shangainese with them!

Not very crowded on a Saturday evening. The Hot and Sour Soup was fairly good. The Crab Rangoon was pitiful. They looked wonderful and the casing was fresh and tasty, but there was basically NO Crab inside, not even cream cheese with no crab just basically no filling maybe a ¹⁄₈ of a teaspoon. The Moo Goo Gai Pan was not bad but not much sauce. The Beijing Spicy Chicken was fair, but asked for very spicy and it was flavorful, but not spicy at all.

Great lunch sushi combo. The salad is delicious and the quality of the sushi is excellent. Yum! Plus, they also have a great buffet
We ordered the sushi combo with salmon sushi and yellow tail sushi. Comes with soup and salad. Highly recommend

What happened to this place? I have lived in germantown for 3 yrs and used to love their food. The last two times I have been there, the food and service has not been good. About 6 months ago, we ordered a large amount of food — and several of the orders were very skimpy for the price. When I complained the next day, a very defiant girl at the cash register w/​glasses, pretended not to understand, then basically said — what do you want me to do about it? She took my name & number, but I never received a call.
Tonight, really wanting Chinese food, I went back there — the beef in the beef w/​vegetables was tough & was sparse and the container was only about half full and cold when I got it home. I’ll not be back. Even though it is across the street from me — I’ll not find another Chinese restaurant in germantown!

Wish I could give less than one star. Severely disappointed with everything from the service to the food. Never again.

DELIVERY SERVICE IS TERRIBLE! This was the second time it took them over an hour to deliver our food and we are 3 miles from the restaurant. The first time, it took forever and they forgot a dish we had ordered. When we tipped the driver 10% he practically yelled at me saying he couldn’t believe his tip was so small and it wasn’t enough. Excuse me?!
This time, when I called to check on our order an hour and ten minutes after we had placed it, we were told it would be there any minute. Almost 15 minutes later, we get a call from the driver who sounded like he had completely forgotten about our order and said he would be there in another 5 minutes.
We haven’t had any issues when we’re dined in, and their sushi isn’t bad. The service is just not what it should be. We will not be eating here again.

Lunch menu improved over last few years. Soup was good. General Tso chicken tasted a bit stale and sauce was gel like in some areas. Average at best. Service was good.

First time eating here tonight. I decided to drop in for carryout and make it a combination lo mein and red wine night. :). The lo mein was atrocious! I am originally from Silver Spring and am usually surrounded with authentic bona fide Chinese carryout so I’m not used to this. I mean how do you as a restaurant that specializes in this type of food serve this to people? The noodles were gummy and old tasting. The chicken tasted stale. In the end I deemed it was inedible and a waste of $ 10. Blech! Highly do not recommend. If they can’t do lo mein right, I wouldn’t touch their other dishes.

Some of the best sushi around this area iv been going here since I was a child and get got me to love the sushi the fish taste fresh and the rice is perfect there other food is also good but really only kinda better then most Chinese food restaurants but the sushi is the best that I can find in Germantown I always get the California roll yellowtail roll and the secret item the Hawaiian Volcano roll and it’s well priced also at lunch on certain days they are also a buffet which is really good all the food here is good I would recommend it highly like I said iv been coming here as a kid every day after school I would come and I’d get sushi from the old Shanghai and there shrimp is good

The restaurant décor was nice a very casual. I like the service there, our server was very efficient and pleasant. We ordered chicken and sweet corn soup, chicken pan fried noodles and beef with scallion & ginger. The flavors are more geared to the westerners. But was not bad. The chicken and pan fried noodles seemed to be better than the beef. The soup was just ok.

Came here with family after hearing good things about this place. I was very disappointed. Everything we tried didn’t taste fresh from the General Tso’ chicken, friend rice, and ribs.
The best dish was the peppered steak and broccoli but it was okay.
We had a lot of food left over and decided to just leave it at the table rather than taking it home. Which says a lot because I am queen of doggy bags.

First time we ate there they had no heat!!! How are you open when it is less than 20 degrees with no heat!!!
Best egg roll in area!
Staff is very attentive and friendly! A huge plus for the area!
Second time much better! Great sushi! Order from menu– not buffet.

We recently deemed all Fridays «Sushi Friday» and my hubby and I are quickly becoming regulars here. The sushi is excellent – fresh and delicious. The service is extremely quick and friendly. The sushi lunch menu is pretty limited, but they do have a lot of options if you’re willing to spend a little more.

Over priced, the crispy beef is ok but common for 14 $$?? My girlfriend ordered the tofu family style and only had a few bites. The crab ran goons where
Average at best. All together 34 $ (pick up) for a disappointing meal. My advice is to go to Hunan café in Gaithersburg it taste better and you can get the same order for 20 $ I will never go back to old shanghai again.

I wish they had places like this in the city. Nice airy café playing jazz music (albeit repetitive music). They give you free tea, which a lot of Chinese places have gone away from. They had a wonderful guy whose only job seemed to be to bus tables and bring us our drinks, and he always remembered down to which one of us liked lemons in our water. I don’t know why he left. That said, the overall service is usually quite good.
The food itself is always excellent. Their homestyle tofu is pretty special; a legitimate spicy dish with bok choy and some kind of seaweed. It dropped in quality for a little while; they said the guy who makes the sauce was on vacation. He came back, and I hope he never gets another day off (kidding, but that sauce is delicious). They have a variety of other excellent vegetarian dishes. Prices are not low, but the portions are quite substantial. Really, I’m hovering on 4.5 stars here. Best Chinese place in this area for sure.