Shanghai Fresh

Wondered into Shanghai Fresh because Dumpling House was packed on a Friday night. There was no line at Shanghai Fresh and we were seated right away. The crowd was mostly youngsters in their 20s. The restaurant was decorated with food flyers and LED screens to reel their type of clientele in. I will say the dinner prices for most dishes ranged from $15-20 which I thought was a bit steep. But, the overall quality of the food was good! I would give this establishment a 4 for food and 3.5 for ambiance compared to Dumpling House. We ordered:1.) Scallion Pancakes 2.) Bok choy 3.) Spiced duck4.) Fried vegetable rice 5.) Pork soup dumplings The pork soup dumplings were ok. I've had better dumplings. They were a small and didn't have a lot of soup in them. The dumpling wrapper was also thicker. The spiced duck was phenomenal and I would come back here to order that dish again! The fried vegetable rice tasted homemade and delicious in its simplicity. I'm not from Shanghai and have never been to China or Taiwan. But, I do love Asian food and left this establishment satisfied. I wish the decor could be classed up a bit here though.

The food was fresh and great quantity. It's a spacious restaurant and can sit big parties of 10 as well. The owner is a sweet lady who helps understand the menu and gives great suggestions.

Came by for dinner late at night and had a great meal! Super friendly and attentive service and the food was delicious. My favorites were the beef noodle soup, mapo tofu, and the eggplants. All super flavorful and everything was affordable / reasonably priced. Will definitely come back when in Cambridge.

Granted I came on a semi-rainy day, but this restaurant felt really stuffy and hot with no circulation. The wait was 20 min long in a cramped area, and the waiters were all kind of unfriendly. Service was super slow. The food's flavors were all pretty good, though I think kind of marked up in price and portions were pretty small. The beef pancake was on the dryer side so personally wouldn't recommend. The salty egg yolk shrimp was pretty special in flavor but honestly a little pricy for maybe 8 shrimps. They charge $5 for 2 bowls of rice, have a minimum 18% tip on their device, and have overall high menu prices, so I felt like I was being charged for everything despite portions being ok and service being poor. Would recommend Mulan in Cambridge where it was cheaper and much better service

I LOVE Shanghai-style pan-fried pork buns. Sadly, the buns here let me down.We ordered the pan-fried pork buns ($9.95), clay pot rice with sauteed pork and veggies ($12.95 M/$16.95 L), and beef in spicy broth ($18.95).The pan-fried pork buns came with 4 disappointingly small buns. The dough was thick and sweeter than I usually prefer. Inside each bun the portion of pork was TINY and not soupy at all!The clay pot rice was my favorite of the 3 dishes I tried. It had a nice balance of veggies and meat, and the rice kernels were chewy and fragrant. The dish could be taken to the next level if the clay pot was hot enough to crisp up the rice at the bottom.The beef in spicy broth was okay. It had a nice mala flavor to it but was absolutely drenched in oil. I felt that the same level of flavor and numbing spice could be achieved with less oil. The meat was very tender (almost toooooo tender).I've had much better clay pot rice on the west coast. I'd come back for the clay pot rice if I was desperate. However, I will stay away from the pan-fried buns.

I've been back to Shanghai Fresh a few times since my last review, and I think that it does deserve a slightly better review than my previous one; I did say that the quality of the food does indeed depend on which dishes you order, and I may have just been a bit unluckier last time.Some highlights since then have been the scallion sauce noodles, the braised pork belly with tofu knots (delicious sauce, juicy/tender meat, and extremely tasty tofu), and the various mapo tofu dishes - wonderfully spicy, and as an aside, I like getting the one with fish for some variety. The stir-fried beef cubes were also quite yummy (albeit a bit unevenly/overly salted), although definitely a bit too expensive for the portion size.On that note, the price point is definitely on the high end, even considering the neighbourhood as well as the general effects of inflation, which is really the main reason I don't come by as often :)

The exterior and interior are a little run down, but that's how you know it's going to be good. We came in after our original planned dinner place had too long of a wait time, but we were not disappointed. The sautéed green beans ($14 pretax tip) were savory and delicious, borderline too oily but that familiar restaurant style flavor. The home style tofu ($14, asked for less spicy) was a little sweet and spicy but mostly just comforting and warming and super saucy. Great balance of veggies and tofu, and the sauce just soaking everything. Rice is not included with dinner entrees and is $2 extra per bowl, which is a little annoying but standard at this point. We had enough leftovers to take home one meal's worth of veggies. All in all I would definitely recommend for a quick casual but yummy dinner.

Came here on an early Friday evening and we were the only ones seated in the restaurant for a while. I brought my Shanghainese parents as they were in the mood for Chinese food and ultimately we weren't disappointed!The staff was kind and chatty knowing that people on our party could speak Mandarin. They gave various recommendations when the dishes we wanted weren't available and we were quite happy with the selections. My parents did mention that some of the dishes weren't authentically Shanghainese ( example being the sweet and sour ribs as they usually don't have fat on them when served Shanghai style ), but the flavor didn't disappoint in anything so it wasn't a huge deal to me or them.Our favorite dish was the crispy duck due to its portion size and flavor. Vegetable wise, the bokchoy was delicious and cooked really well. I honestly would order everything again if I could and the bubble tea was surprisingly decent given this isn't a tea shop that specializes in it. Our only issue was the fact that the staff was very difficult to flag down and the food took quite a long time to come out. Granted, as the night went on, more and more people were seated around us without much of an increase in staff. Nonetheless, we were left sitting for over an half hour at one point without any new dishes. Overall, we enjoyed our experience and wouldn't hesitate to come back if craving Chinese food. Definitely would recommend!

Decent but nothing to really write home about!I ordered a bento box as well as a entree portion of twice cooked pork via Uber eats. Food was definitely made to order as both items were piping hot when I received my order. Both items were on the greasy and salty side so definitely make some extra white rice or steamed veggies to go alongside your food.

Great Food and Great Service! Came with my family and friends, a party 10. It is recommended by my daughter, who lived around the neighborhood. This restaurant serves mainly Shanghainese cuisine, and we ordered some main dishes as Jumbo Shrimp In Egg Yolk Sauce, Rice Cake W Green Mustard, Shredded Pork W Hot Chili Pepper, Stir-Fried Eggplants In Yu-Xiang with Garlic Sauce, String Beans Braised In Brown Sauce, Rice with Sauteed Pork & Vegetable Hot Pot. Chef Specialty Seafood Soup and Oxtail Casserole are so delicious and must recommend. The dessert Fried Taro Egg Roll is first time to seen and tasty is pretty good.This restaurant is located in Cambridge, nearby Central Square Station and M.I.T.We will come back again soon.