Shanghai River

North Austin Chinese buffet beloved by cinephiles.

by Contributor at Citysearch

In Short
The interior is dark and restful, the service is personable, and an elevated section in the back is conducive to private parties. After your meal, stroll around the watercourse in the garden of the Village Shopping Center. Shanghai River has a full vegetarian menu, and one-third of the buffet is devoted to vegetarian items, including General Tso's tofu balls, cheese puffs and vegetarian pan-fried dumplings. Other dishes include crab cakes and battered almond chicken.

04/19/06

Visiting Doc

by doc41 at Citysearch

While visiting Austin, a friend recommended the restaurant. The food was so good that I ate four heaping plates of food plus a vegan soy ice cream desert. I ate food only from the vegan area and there was a very good variety and all the food was great. Before going to the restaurant I read all nine reviews. Since all the reviews were either good or bad with nothing in between, I was concerned. I decided to take my friends advice and go anyway. I totally agreed with the positive reviews and almost totally disagreed with the negative reviews. The only negative review that I somewhat agreed with was the temperature of the food. Food on a buffet line can not be too hot or it will shortly over cook and thus it creates a lot of waste. The food was warm enough in my opinion. Great dining experience!

• Pros: Great Food, Great Value, Great Service
• Cons: Food could be warmer, n/a, n/a

04/14/06

Vegetarian Food

by timber45 at Citysearch

I went and ate at this restaurant and so far I have no complaints about their foods. I am not vegetarian but I love their vegie dishes. This is a good place to eat before or after watching the movie @ the Alamo Drafthouse.

04/06/06

I don't think that was chicken.

by cuenca1102 at Citysearch

My husband and I tried this place and have honestly never been more disappointed with any other eatery. The staff was friendly, but the food was horrible, I'm afraid. The hot and sour soup was cold and tasted nothing like it should, they forgot our appetizer but the worst part was our entrees. We ordered two dishes with chicken in them and both of them were inedible. It tasted nothing like chicken so I'm assuming THE POULTRY HAD SPOILED. We never send things back, but we would have were we not afraid we would get something else that had turned bad. We just paid and left. I felt too sick to then go eat elsewhere. What a disappointment!

• Cons: food was spoiled

01/07/06

Delicious, Affordable, and Friendly Staff

by puglife at Citysearch

I've been eating at Shanghai River for over 5 years and I love it. The vegetarian hot and sour soup is such a treat and they even have soy ice cream. Do NOT miss the cream cheese wontons on the meat buffet side. The staff/management have always been super nice to me and the food has always been hot. They have punch cards too for frequent diners.

• Pros: Inexpensive, Good vegetarian, Quiet

11/20/05

Go to Shanghai River

by phraktl at Citysearch

I have eaten twice at this establishment and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I have never eaten IN the restaurant itself, so I gave it average rating; I have only ordered delivery. I have ZERO complaints about the food, other than it's not free! If it were free, it'd be the the best. I would reccommend Shanghai River to anyone.

• Pros: Great food, No delivery charge, Great food
• Cons: Not open 24 hours, Food isn't free

01/03/05

Totally Excellent!

by jcims at Citysearch

everytime i'm in town i visit this place and it's always great. Especially satisfying for vegans and vegitarians.

• Pros: vegan buffet!!, vegitarian buffet!!, service

10/13/04

Nothing Memorable

by wyscan at Citysearch

Although they do have a wide selection (including many vegetarian items), most of the menu items are plain and uninspired with half of them tasting basically identical to one another. Many of the steam trays were almost empty, they ran out of bowls, and I only received one fortune cookie for two people. I also prefer locations that have refills on sodas rather than in the can--may not be "traditional" but neither is iced tea.

• Pros: Selection
• Cons: , Service

07/07/04

Great Overall Value

by spookypenguin at Citysearch

All of our experiences have been great at SR. We always get the buffet: the price is really good (plus a dollar off with alamo tix stub) and the selections on the buffet are always varied. I have several weirdo vegetarian friends, so it's a great compromise.

The staff is enthusiastic and helpful to the point of ridiculousness...they were actually kind of getting on our nerves once by refilling our drinks after every sip.

I've been going once every couple of months for a few years and never had a bad experience.

• Pros: Buffet Value, Great Staff, Variety
• Cons: , Popular w/ lrg groups

01/03/03

good vegetarian buffet

by modernchic at Citysearch

I have been to Shanghai River several times, always on Friday nights because of the vegetarian buffet. I have never experienced cold food on the buffet, unless it was supposed to be chilled like salad. Every entree is tasty and vegetarian entrees are free of "accidental meat contamination". The cooks take a unique approch to Chinese and there are many new varities that are extremely good. I had been looking for a good chinese buffet and Shanghai River has become my favorite in town.

• Pros: unique, good vegetarian food, cheap
• Cons: parking can be prob