Shu Chinese Restaurant 蜀香居 — Restaurant in Town of Guilderland

My husband and I have been in Albany for a year now and this is by far the best chinese restaurant we've been too. The menu had many options of all variety. They even had their "American-chinese" section with all the favs, general tso, sweet and sour pork, etc... we opted to order off the regular menu. For drink, I got blue hawaiian, classic and you really cant mess it up. My husband got a sake martini. It came with slices of cucumber in it, which he really enjoyed. For an appetizer we decided to get the ox tail and tripe. It was very good, you could taste all the flavors of the ox and tripe and the seasonings. It does have a some good spice to it and after a few bites we asked to pack it up for later. It was very hard to pick entrees. We got salt and pepper shrimp and bok choy with garlic. The shrimp was perfectly fried, crispy, great flavor. The bok choy was cooked perfectly as well. It was chewy or stringy, it was great. Accompanied by white rice that came with our meal, we were both very happy with our meal! We cannot wait to go back...

I really hate to leave a bad review of a small locally owned restaurant, but I need to. This restaurant was one of the few open on a holiday evening. Their staffing was ridiculously low. It took a LONG time to get questions about the menu answered and then another long time to order. Our ordering was interrupted by her having to leave to take care of take out customers.

There were no alcoholic drinks available as there was no bartender working.

The menu is very extensive and has more of what I would call “authentic” Chinese dishes. There is even an “American Chinese food” section of the menu. The food was all good and plenty of choices for vegetarian/vegans. The shrimp and mixed vegetables contained a lot of fresh vegetables and not the usual canned mushrooms and a limited amount of vegetables.

Our table was never checked on, water not refilled, and the check took a LONG time as well.

To be fair, we should give it another try but in my mind if you are open on a holiday, you should be staffed to give proper service...

A gem in the capital district, Shu provides the most authentic dishes I've had outside of China. Tripe, tongue and pig's feet share space on the extensive menu with popular Americanized dishes such as general tso's chicken and Mongolian beef making this a great choice for a group with mixed tastes. Whether you are an adventurous eater or prefer the usual, you'll find something appetizing on order. The pig knuckle soup alone is worth a special trip to Albany, combining a velvety pork broth with perfectly prepared pig's feet. The beef noodle soup is the best I've had outside of the national museum in Taipei and for the record, the Taiwanese take beef noodle soup very seriously. The pepper wrapped beef is a solid choice for those who like spicy dishes. The beef, sauce and spice are balanced beautifully. I could go on, but do yourself a favor and just stop in. You won't be disappointed and there is a good chance you'll see me at...