Shang Cafe

Long lines, long wait if you miss the initial round of seating when they first open. I saw a lot of people ordering food for take out, and that makes sense since you'll probably want a lot of rice. Each dish is addictively spicy. I would skip their boiled spicy hot pot for next time. It's good, but the other dishes are better. The boiled spicy snakehead is also very good, but the portion size is very small. They only gave us a few pieces of the fillet so it didn't feel like the value was there. As for the other dishes we ordered (see pictures), they were all very great. My dad, who is picky with food and can't take spicy food well, really enjoyed everything. Prices are on the higher side. We finished almost everything between the 4 of us. We intentionally saved a small bowl portion for my brother to go.

I went to another restaurant a few doors down from Shang Cafe a few weeks ago and I saw a pretty large crowd in front so I wanted to see what the hype was about. My mom and I came here on Saturday right when they opened for dinner so we were seated immediately. We don't eat Sichuan/Hunan food much so ordering was a little intimidating for us so we were kind of looking around to see what other people ordered. We ordered 3 dishes and a bowl of rice. The Preserved Eggs with Green Peppers is SO GOOD. I could drink that sauce. I did take some leftovers home just so I could mix it with other things. It's savory, spicy, and paired with the preserved eggs? Heaven. We also ordered the Sautéed Shredded Pork w/Wild Rice Bamboo Shoots and that was amazingly tender and flavorful. We also had some spicy(ish) beef tendon with garlic that was super flavorful and tender. Basically everything we ate here blew my mind at how good it was. I'm so glad we got here early because by the time we finished, the restaurant was full and there were 18 groups waiting. I will absolutely come back again and my mom is really excited to try other dishes as well!

My third visit here and every time I leave satisfied! We always order the house special spicy chicken. All the vegetable dishes I've tried (stir fried asparagus lettuce with dried chili, eggplant, lettuce stem salad) have been great. Even their white rice is heavenly. Expect a wait during busy times. In a strip mall with large parking lot. Bustling atmosphere. I can't wait to return!