Shanghai City Restaurant — Restaurant in Nanaimo

Authentic Dim Sum here in Nanaimo? In the past us Islanders would need to either go to Victoria's Chinatown or cross by ferry over to the lower mainland for an authentic Dim Sum experience. At Shanghai City they offer a full menu Dim Sum only on the weekends 11 AM to 2 PM.

We arrived around 1 pm and the restaurant was half full on a hot summer day. There are 52 items offered but a dozen weren't available. The current price as of July 2022 was a flat price of $7.95 a dish. The menu has your traditional Dim Sum and also some items you don't expect on a Dim Sum menu. I was curious how authentic the Dim Sum would be.

We ordered the Seafood fried rice off the regular menu. The rest of the food we ordered on the Dim Sum menu (see photos). The Seafood fried rice was quite good, but needed a little bit more salt for my tastebuds but some will be satisfied. The chow fun fried noodles from the Dim Sum menu was okay but for a small portion for $8 they could add sliced beef (beef ho fun) and make it much better.

The Dim Sum I won't rate it all but my favorite would be the sticky rice. It was better than most other Dim Sum joints. It has a great texture and flavor to it. My least favorite was the sui mai (pork & shrimp dumpling). It was as good as the ones at the buffets in town. It came without fish row and the meat was way too mushy. It's an item I hope they try to improve next time I go back. The overall taste and quality of the Dim Sum is good, but little adjustment would help go along way to getting it to great.

My final thought is that Dim Sum is just authentic enough to pass when compared to the big city but good enough for Nanaimo. Hopefully they won't stay pat on the Dim Sum and look at ways to improve the quality moving forward. Service was quick and friendly. My biggest issue and why it lost a star rating is the flat prices of $7.95 as some dishes like the 4 rolls with condensed milk are not worth $8 and some dish like the shrimp haw gow are worth the $8. I would like to see them have a $5.95, $6.95 and $7.95 category of Dim Sum. This I feel would be a fair pricing system then just charging everything at the high prices item. I would return more often if this was the case. Overall it's nice to have an option for Dim Sum without leaving...

Save your money, this is not the experience your looking for!

Having lived in Nanaimo for the past 16 years, and have gone to Shanghai City since the beginning I can fairly say our family has never really been impressed in the food qualify.

The servers really try however I find them overcasted by poor training and management shadowing their every move. Things never change,,,,,

The buffet looks ok, however it's a struggle to find something you "really" like and would eat again. Some may say the food is good, however good to some may mean being masked with sauces, sugar and food enhancement ingredients or be dripping in deep fried greese. "Not my cup of tea anymore"

A lot of the food tastes like filler, and lacks quality to anyone who has had decient Chinese food.

I can say "nothing" has change in 16 years except the staff. The prior dining visit we had there was about 8 years ago and the food selection, quality and taste is exactly the same as it is now. I remember now that I said 8 years ago I would never go back.

It's funny how time passes and you forget. Especially when you are gifted gift certificates. Oh by the way you better spend all of that gift certificate if you have one because the owner will tell you straight up when you pay "no money back for you". Kinda leave a negative feel to the end of your dinner and makes you forget about the wonderful server we had.

I would have hoped to be asked "how was your evening" or "how was the food." Maybe they don't ask anymore as it makes people feel obligated to say "Ohhh so good"

I really was hoping for a new dining and food experience for date night with the wife. After we left we said to each other in the car,,, left overs would have been soooo much better at home. :). Or even Quality Foods Chinese.

Well, this is the very last time. I won't give this place another try...

We arrived with a group of friends and we all wanted to sit together. There was only 2-4 other tables in the main restaurant occupied so there was plenty of room. We moved a few tables together, not bothering anyone. When we had enough places to sit, we were asked(told) it would be better for us to sit (privately) in the back room. We were shown where to sit (here we had to use 2 different tables so we were not all together), then instead of putting place settings at the seats, cutlery and napkins were put in the middle of the table and those who needed it could take what they needed. We all had the buffet (I believe) except for one of our group who is Celiac. She ordered, and from my understanding there was not a good selection of gluten free items. The food was ok, we were not bothered and the waitress did come to ask if anyone wanted water refills, but we were not asked if anyone wanted something alternative to drink. We asked for the bills to be separated by family. Most were 2 to 3 people on each bill. When I went to pay our bill, they automatically added a 15% tip and I was told they do this for large groups. It was a little disappointing, overall it felt like we were inconvenience them, put in in the back corner and mostly ignored. Then forced to pay a 15% tip. I understand we were a number of people, but as they weren't busy, it shouldn't have been an issue. I don't think we...