We are regular eaters at this place, love the food there, service has always been prompt and have never had to wait for service…need to book a table though especially on a Friday night, can boy wine too…Jennie t

I must admit I am shocked at the negative reviews. I have eaten at Shanghai Kitchen lots of times. I do like the spicy pork which comes in a box with peanuts etc and have only tried a few other things. It is what it is, a basic restaurant and priced accordingly. It is probably suited better for lunch thank dinner. I just love Asian food and think it is great!!

Shanghai Kitchen is one of my favourite restaurants to go to in petone. It’s authentic Shanghainese food, not the usual lemon chicken sweet and sour stuff you get at most Chinese restaurants. The steamed buns are my favourite to start with, and there is also a sweet alcohol rice dessert which I haven’t seen anywhere else. The mains are good but none have really stood out to me so far.

Victoria is quite right in her review. This is not Cantonese food and tastes different to what a lot of NZ ers would be used to.I found them friendly and helpful.

We tried Shanghai Kitchen tonight after hearing great things about this restaurant for years. Our experience was ok; neither good nor bad, just very average. Upon arrival, we were pointed towards an empty table about halfway up the restaurant. About five minutes later, menus arrived and our orders were taken after another ten minutes. There was another long wait before our first course arrived and no further interaction other than to place our meals on the table. We ordered sliced pork as an appetizer. The thin slices were quite fatty and swimming in garlic sauce, giving a very strong flavour. The orange flavoured chicken was more subtle with no particular standout taste. The stir fried sliced beef in oyster sauce was heavily capsicum-laden but otherwise lacking in flavour. We wouldn’t rush back.

We ate at this restaurant last night. The food took ages to arrive at the table. We ordered shredded pork with bamboo sheets and pickled cabbage and another dish of fried rice with seafood. Both dishes were disgusting. I refused to eat any of it. My partner could only eat a few spoonfuls. I complained and witness said she would knock 20% of the price. I said I wanted 50% off or I would refuse to pay her anything. She agreed to 50% discount. This place should be closed down.

This place deserves negative stars and should be shut down! The food is generally terrible and one would definitely be able to cook better at home even if you are not familiar with cooking Asian cuisine.
The food lacked flavour and had not been reheated long enough in the microwave. The food took sooo long to arrive you would think the food came direct from overseas and the restaurant was not busy at the time.
The staff are totally unprofessional and incredibly rude.
Due to the bad quality we didn’t eat most of the dishes, though they still required us to pay for this crap.
The only positive from this experience is that we did not get food poisoning from eating here.

great food and service. and what “Jane” said was not true. their restaurant is called Shanghai Kitchen. they have shanghainess food rather than catonese.Alot of food there are very different to what other chinese restaurant have.

This restaurant was disappointing to say the least. The staff(one waitress) was almost disinterested. Overall quality very average indeed, and one dish was stir-fried chicken with frozen mixed vegetables and satay sauce. I made better at home the night before. Genuine Cantonese? I doubt it. When questioned there was an inadequate explanation and absolutely no offer to replace. No refund either. $150 for 6 with mixed veges. Ordered the wrong things maybe? There should be nothing on a menu that a chef isnt prepared to stand by. Soft drinks were better than the food, but the jasmine tea ok – you cant mess that up. To top off, table next to us sprayed with cleaning product while we were still eating. Not going back sorry.

A certain food critic at the Dominion Post made a mention of Shanghai Kitchen’s skate wing. I made my first visit on the strength of that. Pains me to say it but he was right! Worth the visit just for that one dish. Lovely food.