Inshanghai — Restaurant in City of Durham

Popped in quite late for a dinner after arriving and checking into my hotel , had a few pints and had a hankering for something fried and comforting.

After some research I chose this place which is quite hard to find on Google maps.

Initally the place looked deserted and initally didn't know it was open untill I walked past the windows a few times. I had to wait around 10 mins before I saw a staff member. It almost appeared like it was closing down or was half shut as it was dark and lacked refinement.

I was shown to one of the many free tables where I began to tuck into the buffet.

There was no lack of choices or selection of dishes and it all looked fresh for a buffet. I went for the usual chineese order of noodles , meat with a sauce, h'ordevs and various other items. Considering it was late and they were closing in 30 mins I was pleasantly surprised by the tastiness and quality.

Having filled up on beer beforehand I probably didn't get my moneys worth and 20.99 was a fair price I suppose.

The decor and feel really let this plave down as I expect the food would be very good at peak times and it's in a lovley riverside location. The ladies who served me when seated at the buffet were lovley and attentive and really made a difference.

This place needs some love and I genuinely believe that it could be a great place for dinner out.

6/10 Decor and atmosphere really...

What this place has going for it is its location, overlooking the lovely river and bridge. Make sure you get a window seat. We visited on Saturday afternoon, expecting it to be really busy but it was surprisingly quite. On entering the restaurant the sign asks you to wait to be seated. However, there was no staff member present. We hung about waiting for a few minutes. Just a metre away at the bar, 4 staff were talking and hovering around yet none of them acknowledged us. We watched a busy waitress come and get drinks from the bar twice and serve drinks to two tables before she came back and seated us. We then had a ten minute wait until someone came to offer us drinks. The buffet was OK. Pretty normal english/chinese food. I was surprised that the soup (usually chicken and sweetcorn) was just egg and sweetcorn and this was disappointing. Some of the food was really nice - chicken chow mein, chicken curry, egg food young. The beef and leek could have lovely but I got the tail end of the tray and the beef was too chewy to eat. Overall I don't think we will go back. £15.99 seems reasonable for all you can eat but it wasn't for us. However, £2.10 for water/cordial and a huge ice cube is ridiculous. Clientelle mainly chavvy families and noisy kids and didn't make for a relaxing...

Was treated by my oldest daughter to a mother's day n birthday lunch at Inshanghai. Upon arriving, we were met by a friendly and welcoming member of staff, who showed us to our table. The atmosphere was relaxed, low lighting which we prefer, chilled out music, and comfortable sofa. Once seated, we ordered drinks from the drinks menu, and then proceeded to the all you can eat lunch buffet. The food was steaming hot and of good quality. Some are not to my liking. And some of the rice n veg was made up from using what looked like frozen veg packs, I understand this is probably for quickness. The prawn crackers were beautiful, light in texture, and melted on the tongue." Seaweed" was also lovely. There was also these small chicken in a seasoned batter, which were also melt in your mouth tasty. The chips and chicken nuggets looked horrible(on a later date, my partner tried some, and found them to be just that) All in all, the lunch buffet was great. We came back another day for the grand buffet, which had a more extensive range of food, some being the same as the lunch menu. Again, all the food was lovely, banana fritters could do with being crisper batter. But in all the staff, atmosphere was relaxed, although the grand buffet was very busy,...