Chef Zhu 老正兴 — Restaurant in San Diego

Chef Zhu, take 2: “B or 3.5 stars” meaning “Good: a solid choice if in the area, but not a destination restaurant.” Still one of the better options north of the 56!

Had a decent experience about a month ago with Penny, but the two of us didn’t get to try many dishes. On this 2nd date with Chef Zhu, we invited 5 others to broaden our perspective. And thank goodness we booked a table because at 6:30pm on a Saturday night, there was a long line out the door. Like the first visit, service was friendly, but it seemed they’re still somewhat disorganized. It wasn’t easy to get someone to take our order, one of the appetizers came at the end of our meal, and it was a struggle to get the check. Hopefully, it’ll get better!

Cheese wonton (C ) : I’ve never ordered this dish ever, but my friend’s daughter wanted it. I figured it would be like a crab rangoon, typically filled with sweet cream cheese, but this one was unsweetened. The blob of cheese was quite generous - not sure that was a good thing because it resulted in a dry mouthfeel without much taste - and it was served lukewarm. I tried it to make sure I experienced every dish, and this was my least favorite.

Xiao lung ba (C+ ) : the meat tasted good, but I can’t say it was significantly better than Wei Chuan frozen XLBs. The skin was thick, and the extra thick blob at the top of the dumpling was a little off putting. Given Chef Zhu was trained in Shanghai, I had to try it, and I’m confident to say, XLB was not one of his specialties.

Braised pork belly with preserved vegetables (B+ ) : flavor wise, an improvement over the first time - good intensity with appropriate sweetness. Generous portion of pork belly with a good balance of meat to fat. Over the past few months, I’ve tried this dish at multiple restaurants, and it’s done best here.

Sweet & sour sole (B+ ) : Fish tasted fresh, fried crunchy yet light, with a nicely balanced sweet & tangy sauce, and my favorite dish of the night.

Peking duck (B- ) : The duck was decently tasty, but it simply wasn’t Peking duck. It resembled a typical duck confit but seasoned with asian spices. Nonetheless, the skin was savory with a nice light crunch, and the meat was decently juicy. I probably would have given it a “B” if it wasn't called Peking suck on the menu.

Stir fried pea shoots with garlic (B ) : generous portion and served piping hot. Too bad the veggies were a little on the ripe side, and not enough garlic.

Crispy red bean cake (B ) : well executed, like last time. The crust was a little too thick, very generous on the slightly too sweet filling, bit still good enough to reorder next time.

If I compare Chef Zhu to great Shanghai restaurants I’ve experienced, I would say dishes were a little sloppy and unrefined. But we are in San Diego, and over the past 2.5 years, I learned what to expect. I would pick Chef Zhu over most restaurants with similar offerings, such as Ju Feng Yuan, Joyee, and even Tasty Noodle House but Ding Tai Fung is still a step above.

Food Grading Scale:

A+: Life changing. You remember these bites for the rest of your life. Occurs very infrequently and when it does, you’ll know it. You don’t even know how to further improve it with a magic wand. A: Wow! Excellent. You felt happy biting into it. You’re considering whether it’s life changing, but know it misses the mark. A-: Very very good. Whatever it is, it’s one of the best, but you can think of further improvements. B+: Very good. Very enjoyable, not to the point of “impressive,” but worth revisiting. B: Good. A solid example of whatever it is, offering enjoyment, but not enough for making an effort to get. B-: Not bad. If in a pinch to eat something, this offers some enjoyment and is a reasonable option. C+: Mediocre plus. Pretty average, but with one or two positive characteristics you can identify. C: Mediocre. “Meh”. Very average. Not bad enough to make you angry, but nothing good...

Second time dining and celebrating a birthday with a large group. First time was well enough to return for the occasion and bring friends, but this experience ruined the first impression.

Servers were nice and food was as the other reviews state, generally good enough to return, but nothing extraordinary or too different from other similar types of restaurants.

We were celebrating a birthday, usually restaurants will ask if you are celebrating an occasion if they offer something and they did not, so didn’t really think to mention anything as we assumed they did not have a ‘birthday dessert type’. While we were dining, another table was celebrating a birthday, they played birthday song over the speakers and a slice of cake and candle was brought to the table - it was nice.

One of our group asked a server to the side mentioning that we were also celebrating a birthday and if that was something that was offered (like a standard birthday restaurant desert type thing) - the server sort of nervously / sheepishly said ‘oh ummm..you have to ask her’ - and pointed to the woman who had brought the birthday cake to the other table. We then clarified stating that if they don’t do that normally -no big deal, nevermind?‘ The server then said ‘it’s really up to her I can ask if you want…’ it started to feel awkward as if we were imposing when it was just a simple thing that sometimes happens at a restaurant, so since we saw that it just happen we asked… what happened next was we could see the server ask the woman who then basically looks, scoffs/ rolls her eyes and says ‘no they can’t have it’ -wow ok- the server came back and apologized ‘she said no’ as if he was scolded by his mother which made the situation even more awkward.

If the other table was a ‘special customer’ or they brought their own cake in, fine just say so? It really wasn’t a big deal, but whatever made us the ‘no they can’t have one’, for the woman who was giving approval and direction as a manager/owner or whatever, roll her eyes and say that in earshot and view of your customer is kind of rude. The whole exchange was really such a sour turn off to the whole meal and the woman’s attitude was just rude and a real turn off. Probably wouldn’t recommend to others again considering other similar places to go and probably...

If I can give negative 5 stars, I will. First of all, I’m from Shanghai, and it’s so insulting for them to call themselves “authentic Shanghainese cuisine”. They’re far from being even close. The food is ridiculously ugly and not cooked or made properly as you can see in the pics. I’ve been there twice and tried 8 dishes. Let me make this clear - none of the 8 is good. The quality of service is so ridiculously bad to the point that even made me laugh. With only 6 tables during non busy hours, we sit there without any food for 1 hour after we ordered and no one even bothered to check or ask if we’ve been served already. I was so hungry to the point I had to ask and was told that they forgot to submit our order… EXCUSE ME?? They said they’ll have the owner talk with us for our poor experience but then of course it didn’t happen. Instead, they gave us soy milk for free trying to make it up but the way they did it even made things worse. They offered one cup for two people and gave us an empty cup asking me to pour half from my cup to the other for us TO SHARE. The cups are in the shape you know for sure it will spill if you pour from one to the other. I’m literally speechless. Am I the only one feeling I’m somewhat insulted by the way they handle this?? I wouldn’t even think of going back even if they pay me. DO NOT RECOMMEND AT ALL!!! I’d be so mad if any Shanghainese calls this restaurant authentic. Btw if you see any 5-star reviews mentioned hungry panda, they paid those ppl to submit such dishonest review👎

Update: they responded to my review in such an unprofessional way. To the restaurant owner: which one of the thing I experienced was not true huh? You just seriously refuse to take any criticism. You can take whatever legal action you want and I can assure you that you will be the one taking all the consequences. I’ve already received quite a few other people’s feedback saying they found body hairs and flies in your dishes....