Shanghai Flower

The service is just much too rude.

1. The main boss/manager wears the covid mask (which is helpful hygienically) but is very hard to understand through it. Comes through as impatient - when we asked about a missing dish 30 minutes after ordering, his tone was dismissive ‘it’s very busy, wait a bit’ (in chinese). Not the way to treat customers! I might get better service paying 10% of the cost elsewhere?

2. Timing is off. We ordered peking duck, and the waitress came with the steam bamboo tray with the pancakes first. She opened it up and then just left. We were all left wondering why, since it would cool down within minutes - the duck should have come before or at the same time. We expected the duck pancakes, duck soup, and the duck fried rice to come together. They came at different times - so it looked so awkward when we were down to 1 dish left and then suddenly the fried rice came through?

3. Miscommunication - we ordered a fish dish that was inside a type of soup and had rice cakes (pointed at the pictures to be clear) and in the end it was some other fish that was just fried into fillets. The boss/manager clearly did not take down the notes properly. It was only towards the end that one of the waitresses was more communicative - asking us if we wanted new plates (it was literally the 9th out of 10 dishes by then?), and explaining to us that the final dish was coming soon.

Customer service is about being friendly, communicating, and being helpful. I can’t say that was the case for this 2 hour dinner.

Not worthwhile.

Possibly the worst xiao long bao (soup dumplings) that I've ever had. The skin was stiff and thick, and there was no soup in it. It's almost like they reheated frozen dumplings and served them at freshly made prices.

I ate on Sunday and had a bad experience. The crabs were hollow, so maybe they were alive. Smoked fish just tastes like sweet sauce. I believe this restaurant has gone too far.

The dishes were pretty good and they were very good replicas of domestic food. I ordered a portion of pickled pork and before I finished it, I asked the waiter to help me pack it up. The tall front desk waiter brought four small square boxes and asked me to pack the boxes myself. I couldn’t let it go. I told him twice to help us but he didn’t help us. There was a waiter sister behind us who helped us pack it. Thank you for pinching the male waiter. He should have opened earlier. I kept seeing him pretending to be a fool.

Below average food for the price. The Sweet & sour pork ribs with plum sauce looked nothing near the photo on the menu, nor does it taste any way like Sweet & Sour, dry and tough, some pieces were hot and some were almost cold (it appears more like microwaved). Some of the Wuxi style braised Chinese pork ribs had so much fat on them. The service was pretty average, staff gathered around talking rather than observing customer's needs (there weren't many customer's around at that time). It's something basic to serve the main course after the entrées / starters, yet they don't seem to know. We observed some customers (seem to know the staff) were served tea straight after they sat down and the staff went through the menu with them, yet some customers waited for a long time just to get the staff's attention. Some of the prices on the menu were higher than what's on their website.

Our group of eight were served by a lovely waitress with short hair. She was friendly, attentive, offered great recommendations, and went above and beyond to cater for our dietary requirements. Service was the best I’ve had in any Chinese restaurant and food was delicious! We’re sorry if there was any miscommunication in our orders tonight - the waitress was very patient!

Absolutely appalling service at this place. Stood in the restaurant and waited for an hour only to be told to wait for a few moment again and again for our order. Didn't even end up receiving the food as no one there cared at all and told us to cancel the order if we wanted to. This place is absolute joke. Avoid at all costs

Very disappointed… no customer service at all. Food is just okay, doesn’t worth the price. Worst dessert ever

Ordered crayfish today, it's not fresh at all, some even got very stinking smell. Complained to customer service, denial is their only response. Avoid!

The food was just above average. Service was a bit rush like forcing you to quickly eat and go.
Yam with berry jam was one of a No No dish you should never order

Ok the Xiao Long Baos (soup dumplings) were fantastic, nice and plump filled with delicious soup. Strongly recommend them here. Don't come here for service, it's quick and in an in & out type of place. We didn't have anything else but I would definitely return. There are plenty of places within Melbourne where you can get Xiao Long Baos but this is up there.

Best Shanghai Street restaurant in the city, especially if you have a big group as their place is the most accomodating compared to others. Their xiao long bao and the chilli peanut wonton is a must.

For some reason staff didn't seem friendly, didn't give enough menus to begin with. Food was ok.

Thoroughly enjoy my dinner here. Had a catch up with 8 or so work colleagues and the way the meals are served is ideal for sharing. The lazy Susan in the centre of the table makes that even better. It's somewhat off the beaten track so it's not too busy. Prices are reasonable and the staff are very accommodating.

Really good, but one guy never got his food. Personally it's a 5, but I reckon he'd give it a 1.

Shanghai style food. We went with a group of people and so were able to try 9 dishes. (See photos). Mostly they were in rich sauces and not at all spicy. The people from Shanghai loved all of the dishes, but they were not to everyone’s taste. There were not many people for dinner early on a Thursday night, but it was still noisy with a good atmosphere. I liked the sheng jian bao. The beef dish was tender, but the sauce was overpowering.

There are other restaurants in this chain, but this one branch is more upmarket with white table cloths.

Not very often will I post a negative review. But last night, I was very disappointed with our dinner at Shanghai Street on Bourke Street and had to let my friends know so you don't have to go through the same disappointment. I am a regular customer and have held many big dinners there. However, the quality of food and service has nosedive since the resignation of the previous manager. Entrees and mains were rushed out at once and when I asked them to slow it down, it was apparent that the kitchen did not get the message because the last three dishes brought out were cold (since I requested that they space things out). There was no pride taken in plating up the food either. At 9.50pm, we wanted to order desserts, and were told that kitchen has closed. It is a Friday night in the middle of the city in a fairly upmarket restaurant, without warning the kitchen was closed! So we thought we will order more drinks. Oops the bar is closed as well. What the? It is not even 10pm yet! They then stopped serving us water and topping up the tea and turned off the heating. I have held quite a few functions there and have recommended a number of people there. Never again. Without Thomas, this restaurant is not worth my while. BTW if you are wondering if I provided feedback there and then, I did. I voiced my previous experience and how different it is this time, their care factor.a big fat ZERO

Perfect dumplings, tastey duck and exceptional service. Reasonably priced for the amount of food we had. What more could you ask for

This Shanghai Street branch is different from the rest because it serves sharing dishes on top of their normal dumplings. The dumplings are great as usual but the main dishes are a hit and miss. The diced beef is juicy and cooked nicely. The flaming duck have great presentation and succulent meat. The rest are pretty normal. The service was disappointing because it was really slow and food came out literally one by one instead of together.
Food - 6
Service - 1
Vibe - 7
Price - $$$

Really perfect xiao long bao (soup dumplings) that have a nice thin skin yet don't burst on the paper!