Ala Shanghai

5 stars (last year) -> 1 star. DO NOT come here unless you want to test if you are their favored type of customers. First experience in last year was great. This time on 05302022, overall fine food but the RUDE waiter bring the restaurant into the forbidden list. I gave 20% tip for the other waiters and asked them to not share it with a waiter here (who seemed to be the manager, unfortunately) that is the worst waiter I have ever met. I hope the restaurant can respect this request. When ordering food, This waiter was very impatient and rude, as if us ordering food brought him great inconvenience. After we mentioned our 7 dishes, he only recorded the names of 3-4 dishes and considered those to be all that were ordered. One dish was not available, which was fine. But the way he told us ‘out of stock’ was very unprofessional — annoyed and looking at us with side eyes at most. When we tried to confirm the ordered dishes and found one missing, he said that we did not order it before. Before he left, we asked him whether he exchanged the one dish to the other one. He said he would order it only after we reached consensus, while everyone just agreed to swap the dishes. Besides, we did not spend extraordinarily long time to order. We were literally jealous towards the service received by a nearby table with another waiter, as that waiter patiently explained the flavors of several dishes with a smile. We were so surprised and disappointed (and some of my friends were furious) at the treatment we received. After checking other reviews, it seems not only us have been treated rudely. I have no idea why he would do that. If he didn’t not want to serve anyone, he should have told them upon greeting them, instead of providing horrible if not disgusting service and ruining customers' experience. Please leave customers for better service in good restaurants.

Had an absolutely terrific experience here on 5/4/22. As someone with celiac, gluten free options that are safe from cross contamination are hard to find. The manager came to my table to explain how everything was prepared and what would be safe for me to eat. I had the steamed chicken dumplings as an appetizer and the sesame chicken as a main. Even had the eight jewel sticky rice for dessert. Everything was so good! As it was my very first time having Chinese the manager even taught me how to eat with chop sticks. I will eat here every time I'm in the area. Highly recommend!

This is some of the Best food, it was a real pleasure to eat here. The Soup dumplings were really good, the sweet and sour soup is one of the best I ever had. The scallion pancake was crisp and tasty. The Shanghai spring roll fell short, in Texas this would be considered a moderate to high end restaurant as far as prices go, but it is well worth it just for the experience.i will eat here again the next time I am in Albany New York.

HIGHLY NOT RECOMMEND The foods deserves 4.5 stars but the I’d put 0 star for attitude of waiters. Definitely more welcoming to white people and ignore Asian (?). Takes forever to serve the dishes and arrogant to customers then still demanding 18% tip??? Even standing by when the customers sign the bills and argue with us when we custom the tips at 12%? Even ask us to put the tip in the machine again, we were confusing if there is anything wrong with the machine or the transaction but all he wanted was the tip increase. Say NO and never come back. Very bad service, highly not recommend, there are ways more better restaurants with delicious hot-pipping dishes and welcoming waiters and waitresses.

This place would be considered expensive in TX but it is worth every penny!! The food is Amazing!! The soup dumplings are fantastic! The Hot and Soup Soup is the best one I've ever had anywhere in USA, the scallion pancake was crispy and good also. The Shanghai eggroll fell short for me, but no worries !! Go here immediately!!

Came here on a busy weekend night and we were sat down about 15 minutes after calling and waiting. It took another 20 minutes to get our order in because all the waiters were paying more attention to the other tables and surprisingly, were clearly much more attentive to the white diners. My partner and I being POC were sat before two other tables, and were the last to get their orders in. This is just amusing to me because this is a Chinese restaurant. Our food did take a little while to come as well, and a chef stepped out into the dining area to greet a couple at a big table(which was meant for a party of 5+) while we had lukewarm soup dumplings that were starchy? Just a bit disappointing. The main reason why we came back to this restaurant was the Peking duck dish! I remembered it being very good and it still was! However all of our food took a while and waiters would check in with every table but ours, still paying more attention to all non POC when I’m waving around and asking in my native language to place an order/ask for check. I made the decision to not tip them the full 20% that I usually do that day. There are unfortunately not many good Chinese restaurants in the area. I recommend the Peking duck if you’re willing to wait a while but if not, try another place. Very disappointing experience.

The food is always so good! The soup dumplings are great, the fried rice is always tasty. The Tong po pork is soooo good. The atmosphere is very pleasant. The only issue is that the service is not always great. I’ve been here a couple of times and the last time was the only time the waiters were pleasant.