Shanghai Tea Garden - Perth

My bf and I visited this restaurant a few years back and it wasn't a great experience. We ordered a serve of steamed Shanghai pork dumplings but had to wait for 25 minutes and the restaurant was empty. When we asked the waitress she said that the kitchen staff needed time to cook them. Or more like they just forgot about our order because we received our food 5 minutes after that. Whatever the reason was, waiting for 25 minutes for dumplings was just unacceptable. We were reluctant to come back this time but for the sake of research, we made another visit and boy, weren't we in for a surprise! Upon entering the restaurant, we could see the difference in the interior, it looked newer, more spacious and a lot more modern. There was 1 other customer having lunch, and a waitstaff checking his phone behind the counter. He didn't notice us until we approached him at the counter asking for the menu. Not such a good first impression. We proceeded to order some dumplings and thankfully it only took around 10 minutes this time for the whole lot. Steamed Shanghai pork dumplings: We were surprised at how tasty these dumplings were, the skin wasn't that thin but wasn't too thick either. The juice had a nice flavour and the filling was not bad. I did notice how the dumplings looked too uniform in size and even in the folds. We questioned the waiter and he admitted that their dumplings aren't home-made. (4/10) Boiled pork & cabbage dumplings: These little guys were also quite enjoyable to eat, even though the skin was a bit thick for our liking. At $10 for 15 dumplings, they are quite reasonably priced but considering these are mere frozen dumplings, taken straight out of a bag and boiled, we could have done so at home for a lot less. (4/10) - FINAL RATING: 4 / 10 - The customer service was definitely a let-down, which we already didn't expect much from a Chinese restaurant in the first place, especially when the waiter had no customer awareness. The dumplings did not taste bad and we didn't have to wait a long time for them but the fact that they weren't home-made just pushed us away the 2nd time. Certainly won't be back for frozen dumplings that we can just buy from the shops and steam ourselves at home. hippokathy.weebly.com

My bf and I visited this restaurant a few years back and it wasn't a great experience. We ordered a serve of steamed Shanghai pork dumplings but had to wait for 25 minutes and the restaurant was empty. When we asked the waitress she said that the kitchen staff needed time to cook them. Or more like they just forgot about our order because we received our food 5 minutes after that. Whatever the reason was, waiting for 25 minutes for dumplings was just unacceptable. We were reluctant to come back this time but for the sake of research, we made another visit and boy, weren't we in for a surprise! Upon entering the restaurant, we could see the difference in the interior, it looked newer, more spacious and a lot more modern. There was 1 other customer having lunch, and a waitstaff checking his phone behind the counter. He didn't notice us until we approached him at the counter asking for the menu. Not such a good first impression. We proceeded to order some dumplings... read more

Maybe it’s just me, but I was really disappointed with the food, albeit the interior fit out is pleasing and upmarket. Back to the food, what was touted as a 'back to the classic Chinese' cuisine, it was dreadful. I endured a pork belly dish served up in a bit of 100ml bamboo pipe, overcooked cubes of un-rendered pork fat...ghastly, a deep fried Duck dish...dry and stringy, an eggplant dish which I did eat as I was hungry, a fish dish which I hope never to encounter again, and as a crescendo a watery fermented rice desert, no words can describe that dish. Went home to eat some Cheese and Onion crisps yum.

I visited here on Christmas night for dinner with my boyfriend as we had been snubbed by the Indian restaurant Mela. We ordered the black pepper beef and mixed vegetables. The beef flavours were tasty, but the mixed vegetables were disgusting. Extremely bland and not fresh at all as they used canned corn and mushrooms. When my boyfriend payed a staff member asked how it was and explaining what we had she said the other staff member had placed the wrong vegetable dish so we were charged less. That was nice, but we didn't eat any of it because it tasted gross.

I love the decor! The dumplings are also great, and other dishes never disappoint. There's a good bar next door - make an evening of it this end if town.