Shanghai Place

Best Chinese food in the area by far!!! Probably best in whole orange county, it's a hidden gem highly recommend to check this place. If you dine in or take out it is excellent 👌👍

My parents favorite Chinese lunch spot. A good selection of lunch specials for a great value. The women who work there are very friendly. All the lunch items are very tasty and good portions.

Authentic as it gets. Their beef and brocolli is a classic and the orange chicken is perfectly breaded. Some of the best vegetarian egg rolls I've had in my entire life!

This place is a hidden gem, the owner is the sweetest lady! The food is high quality and the sauce are amazing! I usually get the house beef and the meat is always tender and no grissle!

Helen the owner is a sweetheart, she makes you feel at home and the whole ataff provides excellent service. Great food and prices. Heard it's been there for many years wish I'd found it sooner!

First Time trying this place for take out. I called close to closing time and a very nice lady was happy to take my order. I am very impressed with the friendly service and the food was great! Very fresh.

It's an older place but it's clean and service is excellent. Food is one of the best in the area for Chinese food if you don't care about the old decor

Owner a d staff make you feel like you are family. Like you've been going there for years. Most of the people there having dinner she knew by first name.

Happened upon this place and what a gem! Have never really found a good Chinese in the OC and this was a treat! Had the kung pow special and it was so tasty. Service was great. Hope to be back again soon!

Favorite Chinese takeout in the area. Delicious food for a decent price and the staff is always super friendly. Also they usually throw in something extra for free with my order.

Affectionately known to locals as "Helen's" after the owner, this is our go to local Chinese Restaurant. Excellent service, great food at a reasonable price. The sizzling rice soup is a meal on its own.

We love this place. We eat here at least once a month. Try the egg drop soup, hot and sour soup, house special beef, chicken with vegetables. These are a few of my favorite dishes.

Great place! Found it on Google maps when were looking for a Chinese restaurant. Glad we went there. Feels like a cozy place where your Chinese grandma would make you super delicious food. While eating - we noticed multiple customers who looked like returning customers as they were taking and sharing family memories with the cute lady host. Food was awesome! The only suggestion is to make sure that whoever smokes cigarettes backdoor - to do that farther (or not to do at all) so smell doesn't come to the dinning area 👌 Thank you!

The owner is very nice. She shows a lot of kindness and tries to remember her customers. The atmosphere is that of a very old-school American Chinese restaurant. The food is definitely not genuine, but the food is pretty good in its own right. The portions are pretty large, so be careful how much you order. Overall, I would recommend.

This is now my go to Chinese place in the area. If you are looking for an og Chinese, this is your spot! The food is delicious and at a fair price. I even love the cookie they gave at the end!

Love this place every time we go! Wish more people went here!

Amazing food, amazing service. This is our favorite Chinese restaurant in Orange County and there are many. It's not fancy or pretentious or luxurious, just a nice place to get some good food and enjoy a meal with family. Sizzling rice and walnut Shrimp are a couple of our favorites.

Delicious and big portions. Loved it I took pictures of the menu for my future orders.

N

Great place! Found it on Google maps when were looking for a Chinese restaurant. Glad we went there. Feels like a cozy place where your Chinese grandma would make you super delicious food. While eating - we noticed multiple customers who looked like returning customers as they were taking and sharing family memories with the cute lady host. Food was awesome! The only suggestion is to make sure that whoever smokes cigarettes backdoor - to do that farther (or not to do at all) so smell doesn't come to the dinning area 👌 Thank you!

SoCal Development

This is now my go to Chinese place in the area. If you are looking for an og Chinese, this is your spot! The food is delicious and at a fair price. I even love the cookie they gave at the end!

Ben Park

The owner is very nice. She shows a lot of kindness and tries to remember her customers. The atmosphere is that of a very old-school American Chinese restaurant. The food is definitely not genuine, but the food is pretty good in its own right. The portions are pretty large, so be careful how much you order. Overall, I would recommend.

Randy StClair

Love this place every time we go! Wish more people went here!

Gregg Clary

Amazing food, amazing service. This is our favorite Chinese restaurant in Orange County and there are many. It's not fancy or pretentious or luxurious, just a nice place to get some good food and enjoy a meal with family. Sizzling rice and walnut Shrimp are a couple of our favorites.

Nelly Vickroy

Delicious and big portions. Loved it I took pictures of the menu for my future orders.

Absolutely delicious! The owner is so kind and generous, and the food is by far the best I’ve found in South OC. I drive over 25 minutes to get there, and am never disappointed. Can’t understand how anyone can give this less than 5 stars - so happy I found this gem.

I ordered the Beef Broccoli from this restaurant to go. The woman behind the counter was extremely kind and the food was great. Looking forward to returning for the sit down experience with my wife and son. If you are looking for a great Chinese restaurant to make up for steady decline in quality of other Chinese restaurants (I am talking about the one big chain restaurant that we all know the name of) this is the place to come to. Thank you for becoming my new go to. Best wishes!

The owner is the sweetest lady and the food is delicious!

My husband and I went to this restaurant yesterday and I’m so grateful we found it cause it was the best Chinese food I’ve tried in this country so far. Flavors so balanced, good quality ingredients and amazing taste! The service was outstanding! Very kind and detailed person behind the counter. She even gave us some extra stuff cause we were new costumers. I strongly recommend this place, you’ll not regret it!

Great food! I come here frequently with my wife. Never been a fan of anything other than italian and cheeseburgers, but I love the place, and the owner is an absolute sweetheart. Absolutely recommend if you're in the mood for food like this, skip panda, pay a little extra to walk away feeling well fed and not bad.

My family and I enjoyed lunch here today. Service was great, food came fast and hot. Everything was old school chinese like you’d expect. They have lunch specials with good portions. Great little place.

They have great dishes. Their orange chicken is my favorite, extra crunchy, small bites. Also when you order combo, the egg drop soup is amazing taste. But they don’t have Apple Pay and online order.

I very, very rarely write reviews. But, we recently had dinner at Shanghai Palace and I just wanted to say a few words about our experience. First, our group of 5 showed up 45 min before they closed and ordered 2 appetizers and 5 dishes. They made everything fresh and brought everything out very quickly. The food was SO good! I don't know how many Chinese restaurants I've eaten at where everything tastes the super similar. Not the case here, everything was super flavorful and fresh! Plus, the staff was super kind, attentive and helpful. They brought out extra cookies for the kids before we left. The restaurant itself is clean and nicely decorated and has an intimate vibe. Unfortunately, we were just on vacation in the area, because if we lived here, we'd be eating here twice a month! If we're ever in the area again, we'll be visiting this establishment again! I highly recommend Shanghai Palace to anyone looking for some truly yummy Chinese food! Enjoy!

Great restaurant. The place looks authentic and clean. The plates were really good sizes and more importantly, delicious. I had beef broccoli and my wife had kung pao shrimp. The owners and the staff were super nice and made us feel very welcome and appreciated. Will definitely be back when i'm in the area!

(October 2025 visit): Helen, the hostess and owner, is such a sweetheart! She welcomes you with a smiling face and explains anything on the Chinese-American menu, which is quickly served and abundant. Her plates are beautifully displayed with included side dishes, and full to the top (you'll probably need a take home box). My only recommendation is she provide Chinese music to set the mood instead of her nice quiet classical music. BTW, the restaurant is in a quiet section of the shopping mall with no loud vehicles racing by. You can have a nice quiet conversation while enjoying your food. The restaurant provides booths or tables for your pleasure, which is a nice change from normal cafeteria-style Asian restaurants.

Jose Made

Great restaurant. The place looks authentic and clean. The plates were really good sizes and more importantly, delicious. I had beef broccoli and my wife had kung pao shrimp. The owners and the staff were super nice and made us feel very welcome and appreciated. Will definitely be back when i'm in the area!

Erin Davis

The owner is the sweetest lady and the food is delicious!

Deborah Martin

Helen, the hostess and owner, is such a sweetheart! She welcomes you with a smiling face and explains anything on the menu, which is quickly served and abundant. Her plates are beautifully displayed with included side dishes, and full to the top (you'll probably need a take home box). My only recommendation is she provide Chinese music to set the mood instead of her nice quiet classical music. BTW, the restaurant is in a quiet section of the shopping mall with no loud vehicles racing by. You can have a nice quiet conversation while enjoying your food. The restaurant provides booths or tables for your pleasure, which is a nice change from normal cafeteria-style Asian restaurants.

Ashley Christian

My family and I enjoyed lunch here today. Service was great, food came fast and hot. Everything was old school chinese like you’d expect. They have lunch specials with good portions. Great little place.

Keumdal Jung (Kimmy J)

They have great dishes. Their orange chicken is my favorite, extra crunchy, small bites. Also when you order combo, the egg drop soup is amazing taste. But they don’t have Apple Pay and online order.

John B.

Absolutely delicious! The owner is so kind and generous, and the food is by far the best I’ve found in South OC. I drive over 25 minutes to get there, and am never disappointed. Can’t understand how anyone can give this less than 5 stars - so happy I found this gem.

michael papierman

Best food and staff for the money. Excellent family owned and run. Friendliness staff and cleanliness of kitchen. Owner runs the place for over 30 years! Like myself, dedicated patrons, and their grown children bringing their 3rd generation family. Spicy kung pao 3 flavor specialty my favorite!. 11 stars out of 10

Gabrielle MacGregor

I very, very rarely write reviews. But, we recently had dinner at Shanghai Palace and I just wanted to say a few words about our experience. First, our group of 5 showed up 45 min before they closed and ordered 2 appetizers and 5 dishes. They made everything fresh and brought everything out very quickly. The food was SO good! I don't know how many Chinese restaurants I've eaten at where everything tastes the super similar. Not the case here, everything was super flavorful and fresh! Plus, the staff was super kind, attentive and helpful. They brought out extra cookies for the kids before we left. The restaurant itself is clean and nicely decorated and has an intimate vibe. Unfortunately, we were just on vacation in the area, because if we lived here, we'd be eating here twice a month! If we're ever in the area again, we'll be visiting this establishment again! I highly recommend Shanghai Palace to anyone looking for some truly yummy Chinese food! Enjoy!

Natalie Olmedo

My husband and I went to this restaurant yesterday and I’m so grateful we found it cause it was the best Chinese food I’ve tried in this country so far. Flavors so balanced, good quality ingredients and amazing taste! The service was outstanding! Very kind and detailed person behind the counter. She even gave us some extra stuff cause we were new costumers. I strongly recommend this place, you’ll not regret it!

Andrew E

I ordered the Beef Broccoli from this restaurant to go. The woman behind the counter was extremely kind and the food was great. Looking forward to returning for the sit down experience with my wife and son. If you are looking for a great Chinese restaurant to make up for steady decline in quality of other Chinese restaurants (I am talking about the one big chain restaurant that we all know the name of) this is the place to come to. Thank you for becoming my new go to. Best wishes!

Second time here. Fined in last time, the hostess was super friendly! Today’s meal was while watching the Yankees lose to the astros so that may have made it less enjoyable haha. Overall a very good meal. Lunch special steamed shrimp with veggies, included fried rice and salad. Egg roll was not my favorite ever but all very solid! Likely to come back for more.

Doctor Bo

Second time here. Fined in last time, the hostess was super friendly! Today’s meal was while watching the Yankees lose to the astros so that may have made it less enjoyable haha. Overall a very good meal. Lunch special steamed shrimp with veggies, included fried rice and salad. Egg roll was not my favorite ever but all very solid! Likely to come back for more.

Had dinner here for the first time. First off, sweetest little lady owns the place and makes you feel at home. No complaints there, but the food...I was completely underwhelmed. We ordered a variety of dishes for family stlye eating and none really stood out as good. Very run of the mill, uninspired cuisine. But fast service and decent prices help compensate for the so-so food.

Very disappointed in lack of flavor, but loved the customer service. I got the sweet and sour chicken, but it was bland and there wasn't any pineapple as was advertised. It was my birthday and I want authentic Chinese food (instead of the chain restaurant experience). But I was very disappointed. My son got the orange chicken and was squeezing juice from an orange to try and get some flavor. Do sad, ruined my birthday dinner. :( Too bad because the people who work there are very nice.

I appreciate what this restaurant is, but it always falls short of my expectations. I've given it around three chances. The service is exceptional however the food falls flat. Each time I have ordered Mongolian Beef, the meat seemed under-cooked and even indistinguishable as beef... it has a thin and slimey texture to it, unfortunately. All in all, three stars for service but zero for quality.

I thought it be like cheap Chinese, but it wasn't. Honestly I wouldn't come back, unless I needed food late at night.

Unfortunately another place I have to keep away from that charges to much. The food is good and I really like the people who run it but when you want to order a dish that is already expensive at 18.00 but is so veggie heavy that even the person taking the order says if you get rid of the veggie it will be so small. I then ordered $5.00 more on the chicken not realizing that the dish already cost 18.00. Not acceptable in these times.

I scanned the area for Chinese restaurants and saw that this had good reviews. We ordered garlic chicken, chow mein chicken and kung pao chicken. The food looked promising but to our disappointment it was very bland and flavourless. The pieces of celery was way to large for my liking. Next time I'm craving Chinese food I rather go to Panda express and that's disturbing in my opinion.

American Chinese food. The shrimp dish was drowning in corn starch syrup, typical of low end Chinese cooking. It was unpalatable. In addition, with covid on the rise again, 3 of the 4 servers were coughing a lot and not wearing masks. Never again. The servers were polite, but never came by to check, and we had to ask for everything.

Chris Mayer

American Chinese food. The shrimp dish was drowning in corn starch syrup, typical of low end Chinese cooking. It was unpalatable. In addition, with covid on the rise again, 3 of the 4 servers were coughing a lot and not wearing masks. Never again. The servers were polite, but never came by to check, and we had to ask for everything.

If you want a side of bugs with your fried rice then this is the spot for you. Was so disappointed. We are on vacation & wanted Chinese for lunch.. found not 1 but 3 dead flying bugs in our rice, probably would’ve found more had we of kept looking. The waitress so sweet & apologized but the food was just gross .

Lost a client,i dont do business or give my money to dishonest shady people,i looked their menu outside and the price for the house chow mein is $12.95 on the lunch menu at 2 pm so i go inside to order it to go,there was the super old woman she says ok its 16.95,so i asked why 16.95?She said it comes with a soup,i said i dont want any soup i just want chow mein,it says a different price outside,so she asked-you want the smaller size then,the lunch menu?i asked-its smaller?she just said ok its 13.95,i said-i thought it is 12.95 thats what says on the menu outside,she just replies with:you want it?I said no thats fine and walked out.Not coming back theres tons of chinese places around,i am alway here because of the laundry next door and i just was going to get something because i was really hungry,that was going to be my second time,but now the last im not coming back,on my first time i got orange chicken and there was not much taste to it very bland it was the worst orange chicken i ever had it i was going to give them a second chance lol glad i didnt because i am reading their other reviews and reading people commenting about no flavor as well and bugs on the rice!!???Yuck

BUYER BEWARE - Someone explain to me how 9 honey walnut shrimp costs 26 dollars? Disgustingly overpriced for tiny portions.

Kelly B

BUYER BEWARE - Someone explain to me how 9 honey walnut shrimp costs 26 dollars? Disgustingly overpriced for tiny portions.

Our family has been loyal patrons of Shanghai Palace for over 20 years. It’s always been our go-to spot for dining in or ordering individual meals. However, I am writing this review with a heavy heart after a disappointing experience catering for my brother’s wedding rehearsal dinner. I placed an order for the wedding party, specifically requesting no shrimp dishes due to severe shellfish allergies in the family. The order included chow mein, fried rice, orange chicken, Mongolian beef, vegetable chicken, and egg rolls. Unfortunately, the experience was far from what we expected based on years of positive meals from Shanghai Palace. While the orange chicken was excellent, the only redeeming dish of the night, the rest of the food was severely lacking. The vegetable chicken was soggy, inedible, and ultimately trashed. The chow mein and fried rice appeared unappetizing and were left untouched because of the shrimp. The Mongolian beef was overcooked and tough. The overall impression was that the food had been prepared earlier in the day and reheated, which significantly impacted the quality. Many of the people could not eat due to fears of cross-contamination. To make matters worse, when I called the next day to discuss the issues, there was no accountability. Instead of an apology, I was met with excuses and even told that I never said no shrimp—this is absolutely untrue. I was lectured about why I didn’t call the night of the event, but I wasn’t present at the rehearsal dinner to witness the issues firsthand. I was asked to provide pictures, which I promptly sent via text, but I still received no response. What hurt the most was spending $500 for food that was largely untouched or deemed inedible, forcing the wedding party to order pizzas to salvage the night. While I’ve always trusted Shanghai Palace for individual meals, I cannot recommend them for catering. This experience, combined with the lack of resolution or even acknowledgment of the problem, has left me deeply disappointed. I didn’t want to write this review, but after receiving no response or resolution, I feel I have no other option. I hoped for at least a partial refund to make things right, but that hasn’t happened, leaving me no choice but to dispute the charge with my credit card company. Shanghai Palace has been a special part of our family’s memories, and it pains me to write this. I hope this review serves as feedback for improvement, especially for future catering services.

Sabrina Henry

Our family has been loyal patrons of Shanghai Palace for over 20 years. It’s always been our go-to spot for dining in or ordering individual meals. However, I am writing this review with a heavy heart after a disappointing experience catering for my brother’s wedding rehearsal dinner. I placed an order for the wedding party, specifically requesting no shrimp dishes due to severe shellfish allergies in the family. The order included chow mein, fried rice, orange chicken, Mongolian beef, vegetable chicken, and egg rolls. Unfortunately, the experience was far from what we expected based on years of positive meals from Shanghai Palace. While the orange chicken was excellent, the only redeeming dish of the night, the rest of the food was severely lacking. The vegetable chicken was soggy, inedible, and ultimately trashed. The chow mein and fried rice appeared unappetizing and were left untouched because of the shrimp. The Mongolian beef was overcooked and tough. The overall impression was that the food had been prepared earlier in the day and reheated, which significantly impacted the quality. Many of the people could not eat due to fears of cross-contamination. To make matters worse, when I called the next day to discuss the issues, there was no accountability. Instead of an apology, I was met with excuses and even told that I never said no shrimp—this is absolutely untrue. I was lectured about why I didn’t call the night of the event, but I wasn’t present at the rehearsal dinner to witness the issues firsthand. I was asked to provide pictures, which I promptly sent via text, but I still received no response. What hurt the most was spending $500 for food that was largely untouched or deemed inedible, forcing the wedding party to order pizzas to salvage the night. While I’ve always trusted Shanghai Palace for individual meals, I cannot recommend them for catering. This experience, combined with the lack of resolution or even acknowledgment of the problem, has left me deeply disappointed. I didn’t want to write this review, but after receiving no response or resolution, I feel I have no other option. I hoped for at least a partial refund to make things right, but that hasn’t happened, leaving me no choice but to dispute the charge with my credit card company. Shanghai Palace has been a special part of our family’s memories, and it pains me to write this. I hope this review serves as feedback for improvement, especially for future catering services.