Fiery Shanghai — Restaurant in Pleasanton

I'm changing my review due to last visit a couple days ago. I normally only focus on food unless something drastic happened in service that makes me not wanting to go back.

We had a party of six and I do know that many restaurants add tip to the tab automatically but my two biggest problem is that first the tip is added post tax which is already wrong. No, sales tax shouldn't be counted for tip amount. The second problem is the amount which is 20%. I believe it's way overcharging for the service we received. They didn't box the leftover nor did they replace my plates with new ones even once. Even the initial water was poured ourselves from the jug. Asking 20% post tax is basically scamming in my view. Btw even with inflation the tip % shouldn't have been raised from the standard dinner 15% to 18-25% nowadays. That's not how percentage works.

Anyways, now let's talk about the food. The Peking duck sauce is way way too sweet. The smoked fish is fried ok but fish itself is not fresh. The spicy fish filet uses the cheapest fish filet with barely enough pieces. Overall, it's just not worth going especially with the grossly overpriced menu.

Here is the original review:

I was pleasantly surprised. I'm extremely picky about Shanghainese food because I'm Shanghainese. The fish (松鼠鱼）is extremely well done. It's basically a lightly fried fish with sweet and sour sauced poured on top. It's a very famous dish in many regions of China including Shanghai but extremely difficult to find good restaurants that can make it well. I found it here. I also likes the stir fried rice cake which is a well-known Shanghainese dish and also done well because the rice cake is just right not too soggy. Overall I recall coming here and disappointed before but really enjoyed the recent meal. The 生煎包 however looks horrible from a neighboring table so don't order...

We were in town for some shopping and stopped by afterwards. The restaurant was busy and we didn’t have to wait long at all to be seated. We were promptly asked if we wanted tea or something to drink and given menus. I don’t speak mandarin and the owner was able to communicate with us in English and some Cantonese.

There are a few Shanghaiese dishes we are familiar with and have had elsewhere so we wanted to compare: the Shanghaiese flat noodles (“Leen Go”), the hot and sour soup, the dumplings in chili oil, and the beef meatballs (Sze Tze Tau), and the red bean dessert (almost like a flatbread).

The food was good and came out in 5-10 minutes (soup, noodles, beef, dumplings, dessert). Certain dishes like the dumplings were a bit salty (not uncommon with northern cuisine), but the food was flavorful. I don’t think the one star reviews are legit and they are a bit off base and harsh. The restaurant was clean, the food was good, the price was a bit pricey but not out of range for Bay Area pricing that I’ve had at other Asian restaurants. Our 5 course meal for two came to $65.

There was selection here that isn’t available elsewhere. Not a single reason for a one star review. Contrary to another review the food isn’t Americanized; the restaurant was full of Asian people (I have yet to go to a Chinese restaurant that is Americanized that has a full house of Asian customers; that's like finding a Chinese Unicorn). This is worth a try people so that you can make a decision...

Stars ONLY for the food amount and quality! From the times saving to visit this place on the occasion we’ve chosen mid autumn festival and unfortunately got disappointed that almost walked out of the table without getting the order. Came for celebration dinner around 7:00PM and got in line for the table. Got seated around 7:40 PM and made an order. The place was almost full with people coming and going. Drinks arrived with the lipstick on the glass. Eric, host, I apologize for the delay stating that there are lots of online orders and them having only one chef on the floor. At around 8:15 PM we have started asking for the food status when the place was more then half empty. At 8:30 PM, when we were about to walk out of the place with being a bit frustrated, chef and we assume manager started bringing the food out. Meanwhile about 3-4 servers were peacefully chatting behind the bar in front of us. Food wise, the place really worth every single bite of it. Light and flavored boiled fish can feed 2-3 guests. Boiled beef would definitely need some side, cause the soup is sooo rich that you would not want to waste it. And in case you want to go late, just go with Shepherd‘s purse. Either one of these dishes can serve at least 2 guests. Inside seating is kind of odd due to the pandemic, however relatively authentic. Really did enjoy the outside fire pit. With that being said will definitely be back and hopefully will increase the rating to the deserved stars once...