Shanghai Bun Dynasty — Restaurant in Cupertino

RIP Shanghai No. 1. It's now called Shanghai Bun Dynasty. Not sure if it's an entirely new business or just a rebrand. It's been years since our last visit so I'm not sure if it's the same people or not (I'm on the spectrum and face-blind).

The decor seems the same, but they've done away with physical menus, which I understand but I'm annoyed about not being able to disconnect at mealtimes anymore when eating out. Interestingly the check and checkout machine still says Shanghai No. 1 too.

The Shanghai-style rice cakes (Shanghai chow nin go) are the best thing here, and basically the entire reason the rating isn't lower. This is one of the rare places in the western United States that puts shiitakes in it (a staple in the northeast) - I honestly don't remember how Shanghai No. 1 made this. They also don't put too many filler veggies (maybe not enough, even) or overcook the rice cakes to mush. They do, however, skimp on the meat.

The xiao long bao have decently thick, chewy, properly-cooked skins (unlike DTF's skins which always taste undercooked on the bottom), but the filling - both the soup and the meatball - had a weird taste I can only describe as dirty. Like it reminded me of a back alley dumpster on a hot day. I fixed this by dousing it with vinegar, but the black vinegar they put out at the tables seems watered down. The "soup" inside was also weirdly opaque instead of translucent. A woman was making them in the kitchen behind the glass partition, but that doesn't mean they were being made to order; they could be stocking up for later.

The san jin bao seem to have the same filling but weren't as strongly garbage-y smelling/tasting (not lacking it entirely, unfortunately, though). And the skins aren't fluffy enough. We tried one each and were going to take the rest home, as a night in the fridge and a reheat for some reason always improves SJB (unlike XLB which lose their charm if they go from deathly hot to "just" piping hot) but were thwarted (see below).

The lion head meatball with crab roe is ok.

Potential concerns: No air conditioning on a day with temps in the 90s could be bad news, especially combined with hot tea and/or hot soup/food.

Also with the door open the dining room (and presumably the kitchen) are full of food-dive-bombing gnats.

Also, I saw a man and a woman fishing a dead goldfish out of the fishtank, and then the man went into the kitchen without washing his hands. Hope there's a slop sink in the kitchen. But I also saw the man rubbing his nose and not washing his hands.

It was also extra hard to get anyone's attention. Like I'm used to Asian service but this was beyond. Like I wave my hands and he sees right through me. And the restaurant wasn't particularly full or busy. Also beware there's a big language barrier. I speak English and Cantonese and understand a little Mandarin and still could not communicate.

The last straw was that they couldn't let us pack our own leftovers. We gave up and left our vaguely...

This was my first time eating Shanghainese cuisine (with the exception of things I’ve eaten at a dim sum spot before) and I was able to try out a lot of new dishes here that my friend picked out. We got there on a Sunday afternoon, it wasn’t too busy and we got seated right away and had easy access to their menu using the QR code on the table. Ordering was super easy and food started coming out within 5-10 minutes.

蒜香四季豆 Stir-fried Garlic Flavored String Beans Rating: 10/10 - Absolute fire!! You can’t go wrong with this dish in general and this place made it to perfection. I would’ve eaten all of it if I wasn’t so full.

牛肉卷饼 Beef Roll Rating: 10/10 - Girllll I’ve never eaten anything like this before it was so delicious. I was skeptical about the cucumber at first, but the beef, the cucumber, the wrap– all of it together was heaven! I wish I could’ve ordered more of this.

鸡蓉玉米羹 Chicken & Cream Corn Chowder/Soup Rating: 10/10- I love me some soup, so when I saw this on the menu I begged my friend to order it for us. It was so delicious and soothed my throat. I saved some for the next day and enjoyed it one more time.

蟹粉小笼包 Crab Roe Soup Dumplings (XLB) Rating: 10/10 - This was some standard crab roe soup dumplings, delicious and didn’t come out TOO hot like they usually do. I was a little sad that two came with the soup spilling out already but it was enjoyable otherwise.

生煎包 Pan-fried Buns Rating: 10/10 - Loveeed these pan-fried buns. It was the perfect combination of crispy and the typical dumpling texture. The meat inside was savory and could give me a heart attack that’s how fire it was.

葱油拌面 Scallion-Oil Mixed Noodles Rating: 8/10 - I liked these in general and they were good, but lacking a specific flavor I was personally looking for. Still ate it up though!

糖醋小排 Shanghai Style Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs Rating: 8/10 - Okay before I say anything this is one of the new items I tried for the first time and they were good but I wouldn’t order it for myself. I’m glad my friend shared this with me. It is indeed sweet and sour.

红烧狮子头 Braised Pork Meatballs Rating: 8/10 - This was pretty good but I also would not order this for myself personally. I think if the rice we got on the side was more fresh I would’ve enjoyed eating it with the meatballs more.

红烧肉鹌鹑蛋 Braised Pork Belly and Quail Eggs Rating: 6.5/10 - I was really excited that we decided to order this one but once we got it, the flavor profile did not match what I was expecting is all. It was still good, the meat was delicious but it did have like a… ginger/cinnamon flavor to it that I wasn’t a fan of? Oh loved the quail...

Horrible in basically every way. Generally, I have no complaints about service when going to a Chinese restaurant. My baseline expectation is only prompt, no-nonsense ordering and getting the bill, with absolutely no expectation for service attitude or warmth. But there was only 1 full time waiter serving the entire dining room. He was extremely flustered, throwing down plates and even bumping into customers/tables racing to finish orders. I was blatantly ignored at the front door for over 10 minutes before being seated. They are so short staffed nobody has time to give you recommendations: simply scan a QR code and to order. I heard this place was pretty authentic and ordered the sweet and sour mandarin fish to truly test how good they can be. And that order was overlooked, having me wait for over 45 minutes.

It pains me to criticize the food at this point knowing how extremely difficult it is to make this dish. And I'd even say chef executed quite well on knife skills. Sweet sour sauce was on point. HOWEVER, I cannot forgive they use Tilapia, the cheapest ingredient, for this $40 dish. To add insult, I can even taste the fish was not fresh! Maybe the order was complete and forgotten, but when I received it, some portions of the deep fried fish was no longer crispy. My high expectations were completely crushed. I guess it's really hard to source high quality live fish and make profit in the US.

The last part REALLY left a bad taste in my mouth. I ordered 1 portion of soy sauce duck to go an appetizer. When I opened to try it 1 day later, I found the portions to be tiny, and the duck already spoiled.

I can't believe people actually think this place is good. As a Shanghai native, I am ashamed an establishment brining this business attitude is...