Not worth it at all, we got green beans and they were super watery and not cooked well and orange chicken which was very over cooked and so vinegary it was almost inedible. read more

Greeted at door by friendly woman who seated us and looked after us. Decor was dated, but clean and serviceable. (We came for the food) The buffet area was well laid out, spacious and very clean. The lunch buffet had all our favourites and more. Everything was fresh and plentiful, with much more variety than we expected, and even dessert of fruits, ice-cream, Bars and cake. We all had a great meal and will go back. read more

A Chinese Canadian buffet. The hot and sour soup was ok, not very spicy and just sour. The fried chicken wings, spring rolls, salt and pepper squid, gyoza, and battered shrimp were good. The sweet and sour pork and the beef were very tough. The siu mai and chicken balls with sauce were very bland. Overall they call themselves an "authentic" restaurant but they aren't. Not even Shanghainese (the only dish being hot and sour soup). Just a typical Chinese Canadian restaurant but nostalgic for a Vancourite like me who hasn't had this in over 20 years because they don't exist here anymore. I was suprised they didn't have ginger beef, the Canadian-invented Chinese dish. read more

Shanghai City Restaurant - a bowl of soup and a plate of food - Chinese Near Me - Nanaimo, British Columbia

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I was on the hunt for good Chinese food in Naniamo last week. This is as the first one I tried. Excellent friendly service. Super kind people but the chow-mien was literally dry warm tasteless noodles with a tiny bit of cabbage and carrots. The almond chicken was edible but there was no sauce so also basically tasteless. The location is a bit odd in the back of a shopping plaza. Sorry. I would not recommend. read more

Shanghai City Restaurant - Dry bland chow mein. No bean sprouts, lotus root. Just a bit of cabbage and carrot. Weird and Gross. - Chinese Near Me - Nanaimo, British Columbia

I go here often. I work super long hours and when done I'm starving and just want to sit and eat. The Buffet closed early last night because "nobody came". Well I was there and there were several tables so what's up with that. If you can't keep your posted hours then I can't relay on you "service". Last time I go there. The Driftwood is far better anyway. read more

Unfortunately, this is the first and last time we will order from Shanghai City Restaurant, Nanaimo, BC. Here is a critique of our order: Honey Garlic Pork: The sauce tasted good but was very watery, The pork was not bite-size. Rather, it was in large chunks with chewy texture like gristle & jerky. Deep Fried Prawns: Tons of breading with tiny prawns/shrimp inside. Thee taste was like rancid oil. Spring Rolls: Nice and crunchy but tasted like old rancid oil. Vegetable Chop Suey: Mostly broccoli and the sauce had a strange slimy consistency. Overall, we were very disappointed and ended up discarding our order into the compost bin. We will not order from this restaurant again. read more

Food was great w/ wide variety of selection at buffet. Very inviting, comfortable & spotlessly clean. Staff were absolutely wonderful. This was our first visit here, but we shall definitely be returning! read more

Used to love Shanghai but we ordered delivery and the quality reminded me of a food court restaurant with an exorbitant price attached. Not impressed and won't revisit. Sad. read more

Best buffet- I have been going there since I was five !!! - amazing - they always rotate fresh food

Well we used to come here for years. We moved away and came back today. Today was our last visit. 1/2 of the buffet trays were empty (not being used) and the other half were near empty or old, cold food. They took my money fine, wanted a fat tip but very poor quality and very poor variety. I met a friend there who says they quit eating here do to decline. read more

Have to give this place one star as we went during the lunch hour on a weekday and were greeted and asked if we wanted the buffet, we said we wanted dim sum from the menu. Got seated with menus, water arrived, and that's it. Ignored completely after that. Needless to say we left and won't be back. Went to Da Tang, greeted and seated immediately and had a fantastic, tasty, and reasonably priced dim sum lunch. Friendly service and food was freshly prepared. read more

Service was suberb - everyone was so friendly! :) The food was great, nothing really special but no complaints! (August 2013) read more

Decor was quiet dated but still had wasnt bad. The dim sum was very good and and traditional in many ways. They even had chickens feet which were very good! Thank you for the good food read more

This review is for the dim sum. 3.5 stars maybe. We had about 8 dishes, the ready to eat ones were not as good as the made to order (sadly the usual dishes har gao, shui mai, sticky rice were all ready). Also had fried squid, mini buns (v. Good), gai LAN (too runny sauce). I won't beat around the bush; Don mee's in Victoria is better, but you can't always drive 1.5 hrs for dim sum and DM's is a bit more expensive. I'll come back here if I want dim sum but don't have time to goto Victoria. read more

This is not a good example of good Dim Sum I would rate it as a white person Dim Sum place If you have a chance to good in China a Town Victoria Don Mee is much better If your in Nanaimo and feel for Dim Sum you would not be happy.... Service was very quick and good read more

Out if desperation to find a place which is opened on the August long weekend, we landed in this joint. Staff were very nice but the food was not made for the typical Asian person. However though it wasn't good, in all fairness, it wasn't bad. I am sure a lot westerners love this place.... read more

Lots of great options, whether with the all you can eat buffet, or the delicious menu, it never fails to satisfy. Yummy options, can appeal to all tastes. Give it a try, trust me. read more

We had dim-Sum this morning. The front of house greeter was very pleasant and courteous. We were seated in a few minutes and had a server ready to take our drink order immediately. Within just a few minutes we were selecting our meal and found the serving staff very attending as we enjoyed our meal. The Dim-Sum was average compared to some of the best Dim-Sum that Vancouver restaurants had to offer when we lived in that City. The overall decor was ok, but signs of wear and tear were very obvious as we looked around to take in the atmosphere. I did not like the seeing the three giant T.V.'s that were hung from a support post. All in all, the experience was good as the staff were the shining stars that would make us want to come back. read more

Tried the smorg. Boring Canadian Chinese food and they aren't in a hurry to top anything up. I guess it makes them money. Curious about their authentic Szechuan food and will only return out of curiosity about that, will update this rating once I try it. The serving staff gave friendly and prompt service. read more

Love this place great food and awsome service. A very friendly and welcoming place to go for a great night out.

The take out is amazing and gives you so much food for what you pay for. If you can't eat MSG though make sure you ask them what dishes are MSG free as I'm allergic to it. read more

Best Chinese buffet in town. Nothing special but a good standard.

Western style Chinese food, not much of a selection honestly. Same old stuff. Real quiet at lunch so food wasn't that fresh. Price for lunch was $11 for the buffet, probably wouldn't go back. read more

We tried the buffet dinner and were pretty disappointed. Everything was fried and tasteless, less than I would expect from the greasest mall food court stall. Also maybe it was just the day we were there but almost all of the dishes were pork. When I asked about sauce for the chicken balls (the only chicken item) I was told to scoop it out of the sweet and sour pork. Yuck! Won't be back. read more

A few weeks ago I was driving down a road I have driven down a thousand times, but this time I noticed a huge sign that said "Dim Sum Extravaganza". Yes please! We were out and about today and decided to stop for a bite and I am really happy we did. The dim sum is done both from a picture card and there is a cart with the common items like har gow, siu mai, sticky rice, beef meatballs and bean curd rolls. We went with the first 3 and added some salt and pepper squid, chow mien (for my noodle crazy 5 year old), deep fried shrimp balls and fried pork dumplings. Everything we ordered was smoking hot and seemed fresh, but the fried pork dumplings were not a hit. I often LOVE them but occasionally find them too fishy with the dried shrimp. This was one of those times. I was happy for the bell peppers on the squid because I forgot to order a veggie dish. Oops! I should also mention that I am lucky enough to have found a place in Calgary that has the BEST salt and pepper squid in the world (no joke, nothing beats it) but this version was really good. Not as good, but a close second. There is one other restaurant in town that I have had some dim sum items at but Today's offering blew theirs out of the water. I will definitely be back to try some other items including the Peeking Duck. read more

Looked at their site. Looked good. Called and just needed some delivery. Was informed I need to spend over $35 before they will deliver. Fail on their advertising. I'll order somewhere else. No thanks read more

We've been in Nanaimo for 9 months now, and thought, hey, let's try that Chinese place we keep driving by.. With our two kids in tow, we went in and decided to try the buffet. At more than 16 per head we thought this better be good.. sorry to say, but we won't ever be back or recommend this place. Either Nanaimo's standards are super low when it comes to Chinese food, or the restaurant is just blatantly ripping people off. The buffet chafing dishes were basically bottom of the barrel, completely picked over, as in meat dishes with no meat. We walked up to the buffet and I had to scrape food out of the bottom for the dishes that I found even palatable looking. There were a couple of bins with loads of breaded chicken balls, which I don't touch because they are basically just deep fried breading with sugar sauce. We were there for about an hour and I had hoped that they would have refreshed some of the dishes in that time, but nope. Went back for seconds hoping something fresh was out and grumpily Served myself a bit more of the corn starch thickened saucy , meatless stirfry that I had to scrape out of the bottom. Green beans mostly(they tasted ok) and settled for some wonton soup. So we paid 70 dollars for the four of us and I felt sick the rest of the night. Maybe I'm spoiled from eating amazing Chinese in vancouver , or maybe this restaurant just doesn't care to set the bar a little higher. Anyhow, won't be back. read more

Without a doubt the worst take out food of my life. Chicken chow mein was literally a pile of damp noodles with slices of what we think was pressed deli chicken. Ginger beef was chewy, cheap cut. Just so bad. read more

Horrible food, horrible food practices. Staff is ok. Food is reheated from the night before. Not a good restaurant.

Great atmosphere and great service. The hot and sour soup is amazing. Friendly staff very accommodating to any needs or requests. For fresh food on the buffet you just ask and it come right out hot and ready for you read more

Love Shanghai City ! I have tried every Chinese joint in Nanaimo trying to find a place as good as Port Alberni's "Bejing Grand", and I've finally found it ! Their BBQ Pork is awesome, and their broccoli and beef YUM ! The list can go on ! :D it is my go to in Nanaimo for Chinese food ! read more

Quite good for standard Chinese fare. Buffet every day is a nice option and they have a couple of good seafood selections on the buffet which is rare in this neck of the woods. It's my local go to for Chinese and have visited there about 20 times now. SS pork tends to be overcooked right from the kitchen....hint to fix it eh? Otherwise good food and friendly staff. Reasonable prices too. read more

We showed up around 6:30 or 7 and noticed the buffet was empty. The manager seemed surprised that we were asking if more food would be made. We didn't even stay, we left and went to eat somewhere else. Total waste of time! read more

Zero Stars!!! No delivery unless you order $35 or more on food. Shameful. What about single people or ones that have others away. You want our money but don't want to work for it. I am so glad for social media. And the food is so-so. I DO NOT RECOMEND THIS PLACE!!!!!! read more

Food has always been hot and fresh when my husband and I have been. 'Western' Chinese food so don't expect anything too authentic. Staff are awesome and you can't beat the price. My only wish is that they'd rotate the buffet a little, but it still doesn't stop us from going, one if our favorite places in Nanaimo! read more

My family and I went for dinner there and ordered the buffet. My mother did not eat a single thing there as she does not like chinese food and had an early dinner while on the way home from and out of town business meeting. When we got the bill we discovered they had charged us $15 for her. They told us it was because the waitress say her eat, which she did not. When we spoke to the manager the manager called both myself and my mother liars and that they would not refund our money. Apparently they do this alot. Not worth eating there ever again! read more

If you don't appreciate lies and false advertising, then don't go to this restaurant. I tried to order for delivery, but extra charges apply. Yes they SAY free home delivery in all advertising (yellow pages, online, even in the restaurant iteself) within 5km radius. I live 2.7 km, and they want to charge me additional money. The manager I spoke with said I was just over 4km, from his estimate (um, that's still less than 5 though?). I measured using google, not sure what he used. I pointed out their advertising committments, and that thier delivery policy convinced me to give them a try. However, when they wanted more cash for something they say is contained within the costs of the food, I said that it is a poor business model to false advertise . The manager responded by saying that they don't participate and are not members of the better business bureau, and that as they have been around for 10 years my comment to order from another restaurant is not a concern. So, there you go. read more

terrible take out experience, most of my order was missing and the guy on the phone refused to see his mistake.

As a previous employee of this restaurant i would like to write an honest review. The owners/management of this restaurant are in it to squeeze every cent out anything they can. They re-serve the buffet, at the end of the buffet it all gets scooped up back into the kitchen storing it under the heat lamp for hours until the next buffet starts. I have even witnessed the owner taking desserts off of people used plates smoothing the finger prints n putting it back on the buffet. Never eat the buffet !!! . And yes the buffet policy is policy anywhere, If you eat even one piece of food off another diners plate you will be charged. This is due to people trying to steal by sneaking food. This is any restaurants policy, not a fault of shangai. The service can be good depending on the waitress you get. But the food quality has gone down over the years, and the prices have gone up. They treat their staff like crap and do not know how to run a Canadian business. Overall the food tastes delicious, its just the thought of where has it been. I think this restaurant could be as great as it was 10 years ago if the owner wasn't so involved, or cheap :P! read more