shanghai shanghai in Carlisle

The atmosphere is amazing and great customer service. Food is really nice.

80’s cafeteria vibes. Tables, chairs and decor was like going back in time. Poor selection of food, need to pay before you even get seated, felt really unhygienic when you’re looking at the food and how it was all displayed, zero upkeep throughout service. 80’s cafe cutlery. £3 for a 330ml can of juice, we ate as quickly as we could, left hungry just to get out. Everything just seemed the cheapest produce, rather than shredded aromatic duck , they had shredded chicken🤔 we won’t go back, it’s been open for 15+ years so it must be serving the local community well but we were visiting Hawick and went here to try it. Definitely isn’t up to scratch to the other Chinese buffets we’re used to. If you happen to be visiting nearby, you’d be better driving a bit further and going to Shanghai Banquet in Galashiels.

All you can eat Chinese buffet. The price has slowly increased over the years, especially the drinks. But the foods okay, just be aware what you pick to eat! Decent value for money. Don't go before a night out.

I was going regular 2 times a month , but today it will be the last . We specially go on the evening for seafood dishes. We prefer to pay 15£ each then 11 £ but to eat / see the sea food . It’s a 5th time in a row we come here and all the food it’s very but very salty . We always think maybe we caching the wrong chef . But the situation still the same always. We come always to diferent times and days but nothing different. We never go back. Doesn’t matter if the food are cheap or expensive , we pay for something, we expect to have it . If they don’t have seafood anymore or don’t want to get out more of , don’t charge for it simple .

Not a bad spot if you can't decide what dish you want, not a bad variety of dishes, great for a no fuss meal

Food is okay, depends on what you get. Charging a child an adult price on basis of height however, is absolutely ridiculous. Brought my daughter and my niece who are both 10, charged my daughter adult price because she is over 4 feet 11. Personally I find that discriminatory and wrong. My child is tall for her age and should not be penalised for it. Won't be back.

Been here a few times with the family and it’s always been ok until recently and especially last night! We paid for the grand buffet and it was absolutely disgusting. Not much replenishment was going on and the food that was put out was tasteless and didn’t taste like it should! My children brought some prawns back and luckily I checked them, they were black inside and looked all gooey inside! This was mentioned to a member of staff who informed the manager. The manager went over to the dish at self service and checked, and instead of Removing the whole dish, he scooped the prawns out. For the price the 6 of us paid for the grand buffet was diabolical. Not much choice and the food that was out was horrible! From going a few times a month when we could all get together, I can assure you that we will not be back!

don’t waste your time. Attended at 6:30pm We are not from carlisle and thought the idea of the chinese buffet would be great, however this wasn’t the case. Forced to pay upfront.. probably before facing the atrocities they call a meal. Once seated cutlery was slammed on the table by a miserable staff member. the food was hopeless, there was barely any chicken items, no refillable drinks, the deserts was ice cream and fritters, in which the banana was black! once finished with a meal they removed the used cutlery off the plate and sat them on the table refusing to give other forks etc. The cutlery was unclean and the place was so draining, no happy people, no music, nice decorations… Nothing. £40 and left after a plate

Wouldn’t call it a buffet! Choice of starter lettuce cucumber and salad cream 🤷‍♀️ main meal no chicken choices, chips rice sauces etc were all freezing! Would not recommend at all total waste of money

Came here for a bite to eat one evening. The prices are getting more expensive every time we go. We used to go here for something cheap, but it's cheap no more! There was plenty of choice on this visit and it all tasted quite nice. It is off putting though when they just add fresh food to old food and mix it in, rather than taking the old away first.

I think my title says it all. There was hardly any food to choose from. The chicken and sweetcorn soup was literally sweetcorn and egg in water with no stock 🤢 I opted for a seafood curry for main, and it was actually chicken 🤦 My favourite part of the meal was the fruit at the end, but who can get that part wrong? 😄 Never again will I return.

Me and my friend went for dinner tonight and the food was stale and not nice it was cold the staff weren’t very kind and all round just terrible don’t recommend I also would like to include there was not many options and you had to buy the drinks separately

The price is high,The food was poor,There are not many varieties to choose.And the food is very salty and high in salt! Mainly want you to buy their drinks, and the price of the drinks is also very expensive. The service attitude is bad, very cold, and many employees are playing with their mobile phones. Not polite, not warm to customers, there are not many customers in the dining time, will not come again!

I went to Shanghai Shanghai on the 28th of Sept, for my birthday meal with my family, it was absolutely delicious. Would highly recommend it to everyone. We will be back for my son's 16th birthday lunch.

We went for dinner and encountered rude and unapproachable staff members. They were trying to complete their tasks while customers were still eating, such as mopping the floors. It felt unsafe to leave the floor wet while customers were present, especially since the floor was already quite slippery. Additionally, the food selection was very limited, and the quality of the dessert options was particularly poor.

After having to wait on someone to come and see me to get a table after 10 mins I had to go to the bar then when we got food it cadent very good it was cold also

It was really nice staff were everywhere if you needed anything will definitely recommend

The food is ok. You can eat as much as you want and there is a large selection of different dishes. However, recently everything has been very over-salted or tasteless. from one extreme to another. Meat dishes have been sitting in warmers for a long time, which makes them dry. Cutlery thrown on a slightly worn table and chipped plates. The taps in the toilets do not work well and there is no soap in the dispensers. The service is quite nice. Overall, nothing special. You can eat to be full and that's it...

Very popular and deservingly so. Would go again anytime.

Horrible staff, limited choices of food, racially decriminalised. My husband had taken our 2 kids (11 and 16 ) the week before, and my 11 year old had been charged adult price as she is 4"11. Was told they go on height not age. Absolutely not an issue. So, the following visit, I came along... I am 4'10... under the 4'11... they said I had to be charged as an adult regardless of height , which contradictics their policy the week before. When this was pointed out , I was abruptly told " well i wasn't working last week" Again not a problem as I pointed out I was sick and not eating.They would NOT UNDER AN CIRCUMSTANCES allow me to sit with my family while they ate. I said I was happy to pay for a large soft drink but was told no. So i paid full price NOT to eat. It was warm inside , with no air con and uncomfortable seats .. I decided to go splash water on my face in the bathroom.... I passed through a comfortable eating area, all dressed nicely..aircon.... all Asian clients.... I can't help feel if this was the opposite way around there would be an uproar. Normally i would not write such a negative review but they were so rude and disrespectful of our family I could not let it slip. Never again.

Buffet is fine. As i am from india i prefer less sauce in food. And also bit spicy. Otherwise its a good option once in a while. Enough space and clean and neat area. Good staff's, friendly behavior

Had buffet here, the starter selection was terrible and as for the chicken wings well I’ve seen bigger on a budgie, overall really disappointing

Advertised as open on Monday, but it was closed on Monday 5 August.

Got to this restaurant for a friends birthday and it all started off with a bad pint! Drank most of it but then noticed living organisms swimming around the bottom of my glass. Food was bang average but definitely won’t be returning anytime soon.

Always a good experience over the years Popular with this family. Great to see Daniel working there these days

This place has gone downhill badly. We used to enjoy the odd visit to Shanghai Shanghai and it was generally ok and went again today. The prices are ridiculous now and we were just under £100 for 5 of us. We arrived around 5:30pm We went for the starters first and there was limited options with a lot of empty spaces where the food had not been refilled. We took a few things and went to eat this. After I finished I went to get some food from the mains section with my daughters and there were no noodles or fried rice as these were empty, just boiled rice and a few chips and again a lot of the food was finished and empty with just the remnants of the sauces left. I found a girl at the pay desk and explained a huge amount of food was not there and needed refilled and people were waiting and her answer was “the kitchen staff are on a break and they will start cooking when they go back” I told her these needed filled now as there was almost nothing there and she said again that they would do that when the go back to the kitchen with a basic “you need to wait” attitude. Why would you let all the staff go for a break at the same time? Why don’t you have some at least refilling the empty food. I managed to get a little and after about 10 minutes or so they started to fill the empty food but it was a mad rush as everyone all went at the same time to get some. As you can see by other recent reviews, it’s definitely dropped in service, food quality and value and not sure I will ever go back and will look elsewhere.

No fuss restaurant in Carlisle, across the road from Spoons. Excellent value for money, particularly for a Chinese buffet. Plenty of choice. Rice, Chow mein, spare ribs, the list goes on, and on. Pint of coke around £3. Will definitely visit again next time in town.

Height restrictions on children to pay full price only had chips and curry sauce £20 ridiculous and if we left anything you could be charged £20

Visited yesterday and had the seafood curry, I currently have the most awful food poisoning, that was all I ate yesterday. My partner did not have seafood so I’m assuming it is that. I’ll never return and would advise against eating seafood

Good food but choices are limited during lunch time

It's normally good as we v been a few times in the past but last night it was awful...food was very dry Never again...not as busy as it used to be

Friendly staff really nice food some things where dry but can’t complain for 15 pound

This is a lovely place to eat and is famiky friendly. Reasonably priced and you are always made to feel welcome and relaxed. The food is nice and there is a good selection of food to try.

Awful place cold food and even worse service avoid

All you can eat Chinese. Excellent choice of quality food and excellent variety. Would highly recommend a visit if you're hungry

Avoid Avoid. Down in Carlisle on business done a Google search came across this place food looked amazing on the website it couldn't of been more diffrent when I got there. There wasn't a good variety, it didn't look fresh like it did online and when things ran out it wasn't replaced quick enough. The chairs were all worn no padding and when I got seated the waitress/waiter put there hand in a plastic container picked up my cutlery and threw it on the table also had to pay before eating.. no music in the place see to be honest i thought it had the embiance of a homeless soup kitchen nothing and I mean nothing like website. I travel for work and eat out regularly this is the worst 😫

Came here whilst we were down in carlisle from glasgow wasnt busy. Got seated and had some food. On my second plate they served some fish fillet - which i tried wasnt cooked properly also not a wide selection food is the cheapest of the cheap the cash n carry must have. Hardly any meat on the ribs also had the cheek to ask for money upfront as if they thought we were going to runaway.. i would avoid some of the clientele look like dossers

I loved the food , the service is nice and the environment is conducive for family

8 of us went for tea 3 had come to stay for weekend so we took them for tea food terrible chicken dishes cold pork dishes tough no seafood prawns mussels etc awful beem several times b4 really disappointing wont be back staff miserable no atmosphere place really gone down in my opinion !!!!

It's certainly not the best Chinese food I have ever tasted, but there is plenty of choice and it's pretty decent. I just wish they didn't charge you £3 for a can of Pepsi max.

Expensive for an average buffet

Standard food nothing to get excited about. Mostly hot and reasonably priced if you go early

Avoid Avoid Avoid - charged me £38 for myself and two under 10's - £3.00 for a can of Pepsi. No food, No basics, What was left had clearly sat a while and was cold. Asked to speak to manager and waited 10 mins to do so. Eventually after asking for the 3rd time to speak with a manager was directed over to the bar. I explained the reason for my complaint and showed her that indeed there was no fresh food and that other people were also starting to complain. - I requested a refund. She responded by telling me that if was unhappy I should have complained earlier. I quickly pointed out that I had sought a manager around 15 mins prior to our conversation. - She then told me that she would not be issuing a refund as we had all "eaten a full meal"!! I pointed out my empty plate and the fact that my daughter had only eaten 2 slices of cucumber as the noodles he wanted were not there to take! My son had managed two chicken wings and a shriveled up chip. Eventually after much persistence she reluctantly agreed to refund the children's meals. She refused to credit me with the cost of my meal (the meal I hadn't had). I then requested to speak to her manager or superior. She informed me that a complaint would only be accepted in writing. I asked who I would need to write to and she informed me that I would need to address my complaint to......wait for it...."The Manager" who happened to be her. Pointing out to her the absolute quackery and nonsense of her attitude we left feeling angry, upset and hungry. AVOID AVOID AVOID

Always a go to for us for some easy food, good price and good selection.

On Saturday-20/4/24. After we had been to the Walby Farm Park. We make our way to Carlisle, hoping to buy a Chinese takeaway. Unfortunately, most Chinese takeaway only open for business in the evening. The only one that is open for lunch is this restaurant that is doing a buffet. My husband & I decided to have a quick lunch in this restaurant. At the first impression, when we went in. The restaurant looks impressively spacious & clean but very quiet. Only a few tables were occupied with patrons. From looking on most people who have the same bad experience as me. I do agree that the servers were unfriendly or either snob. I can not classify any of this. Even I am Chinese by origin. Their service is extremely poor. The array of food at the buffet area looks good. When I was taking the photo of the food from the buffet counter. The chef comes to tell me off that photography is not allowed 😱. Where there is no sign of mentioning that customer cannot take photograph. I kindly told the chef that I wanted to post the restaurant photo on Google. The chef became rude and agitated, saying that he did not want me to post anything on media. This is my 1st experience in my whole life of being out & about to various restaurants far and wide. Never had I ever come across restaurant owners or staff not happy about one posting on media for reviews. I became suspicious whole I was still eating, and I tried to look at this restaurant reviews. When I read their reviews, I understood that the staff are very rude, with no eye contact when speaking to them. The food is on the flat side, tasteless. Yes, I do agree. The gravy or sauces are either too starchy or to running. I was like... oh well. Is only £12.99. Not to expect the quality of food. But then if the service is good. It does make up for this. Anyway, soon after lunch. We went back to our hotel in Powfoot, Cummertrees. That evening, I was supposed to have dinner at my daughter's. I was having a run( stomach upset ) from the buffet. I wasn't feeling well. My daughter told me off. Saying this restaurant food is not hygiene and is not surprise the chef doesn't want me to take photos and post on media. I rarely give negative reviews to places I went. As I always look at the reviews of the restaurant before I take my choice. This restaurant was unexpected and was out of choice to takeaway Chinese food in the afternoon. I, dare say. Never ever step foot into this restaurant. I would never go back again. I don't want to put my life into this unhygienic risk to my life 💔

Best food with low price and great service.

Very poor seafood and beef selection. Used to be much better in the past....

If you have allergies DO NOT eat here. I had to run to boots to get an EpiPen due to crab meat being in the salad. There was no sign to say that the salad contains shellfish. The staff were not bothered that I was suffering from an allergic reaction and made no attempt to help or even speak to me. Will never go there again.

Good food great choice and definitely value for money,looking forward to going again.

Very busy with the people here. Fantastic quantity and price, and good treatment.

Poor quality, not authentic, poorly seasoned and not tasty. The Cola was the best. Bad quality, not authentic, bad spiced and not tasty. The soft drink was the best of the dinner.

my parents work here. I don't wanna come here everyday after school cuz they're working here. I look rly lonely and depressed.

Very poor buffet, all the chicken was tough and dry! Very salty food! Poor selection of Chinese dishes. Will never go back and would not recommend! They make you pay before you eat, I can see why!

As always, the food here is excellent.

Came here one night for something to eat. Not much left when we arrived, some containers only had scraps in. Some were refilled but they just tipped the new food over the scraps and mixed it in! No puddings left other than ice cream. Not great.

Lack of choice. Was very disappointed especially by the choice of desserts. The food that was there did taste nice but just lacked choice.

Food is nt bad. But the staff behaviour is too bad

Food was lukewarm and some of the sauces a little gloopy. Although I can't 100% pin it down to the food, I did have an upset stomach (that's the polite term) the next day.

Disgusting food was cold all dishes where empty not keeping on top of the food will definitely not be back 🤢🤮

It's the best place ever. Suitable for family

Great Chinese all you can eat buffet. Will definitely return. Only fault I found was the ice cream wasn't very nice which was a shame after eating a lovely meal before hand.

One of the colleagues picked noodles from the floor and put them back into where they were being served absolutely appalling

Decent, friendly cute Asian staff and some English

Hellish. Food rarely replenished in buffet. Teenage staff haven’t a clue what they’re doing- had to ask for drinks three times- and the tables are cafeteria standard. Noisy, chaotic, poor service, cold stodgy food and lots of empty trays. Avoid.

Went here tonight and everything was so tasteless! Nothing spicy or tasty. Definitely gone downhill since last time we were there. Cutting costs no doubt, won't be going back

Very rude managers attitude Food quality lower than average. We have been here before was nothing wow but something fast when you pass by and because of seating area. But this time was the worst attitude of the manager on the counter.

Food was disgusting the staff where dirty and unkempt and the male manager behind the till was very abusive and unpleasant We have eaten from here as a family for atleast 1 year but we will never be back

First time we've visited Carlisle and stayed at a hotel literally next door to this restaurant. We arrived at our hotel just before 7pm, dumped our luggage and went for a walk to see where and what we could eat as both my husband and I were starving. As we passed we looked in the window and it seemed busy enough and the prices in the window for a Friday night was £15.99 per person. It was 8pm we went in, they quickly served us, explaining we have to order our drinks at the bar before being shown to our seat, at the bar they charged us for our meals and drinks, before we sat down. A few minutes later a server comes to our table with our drinks, a cutlery set of a fork, knife and pudding spoon, (no soup spoon, but maybe they had spoons beside the soup), we certainly never saw any. Oh and two napkins. Head to the salad bar, this has to be the poorest salad bar I've ever seen, consisted of salad vegetables,sweetcorn, peppers, onions, tomatoes , jalapenos and I'm guessing what was potato salad and coleslaw, something that looked like vegetable sushi, there was no meat, cheese or egg etc. Most of the food was lukewarm, and not much left in the containers. Very limited choice, and as most of the food looked like it had been been sat for sometime, some of the dishes were floating in grease,. So sorry but no way could I eat that. When we were at the buffet we did see a sigh up telling people use the same cutlery throughout their meal but to change plates. After my boring salad I fancied my main course which was thai curry and boiled rice, they seemed to have run out of prawn crackers, this was at 8.15pm, so I asked the young server for more, only to be told "the kitchen is shut". Not wanting to cause a scene, I ate my curry, which was really tasty but would have tasted better had it been slightly more warmer. Now to my husband, all he could eat was chicken, I don't think he has eaten as much chicken in his life, (this was because most of the dishes had seafood, which Incidently I happen to enjoy. We ate up, went to leave and not a single person asked,did we enjoy our meal or said goodbye to us as we were leaving. A lot of money for lukewarm, greasy food that looks like it's been lying out for a good while in my option. To allow guests in at 8pm, when they were clearly, running their food down and not topping it up, or like us, could not get prawn crackers with their curry. Surely this should have been explained to us at the door. Yes the servers cleared our plates and not once did they ask if we were enjoying our meal, plus as I've already mentioned as we left not one person said goodbye, in particular the bar staff facing the exit door. Well really, why should they, they already had our money! Like I said, I will never return to this restaurant untill things vastly improve. All easy fixes as well, I hope the owners take heed and try to sort these issues out

We drove 20 miles to come here having checked their opening hours on google and on the website. We drove into town, paid to park and walked over for 20:00. We were met by the head waiter who told us that they now closed at 20:30 and stopped cooking at 20:00: so we could pay £15 for leftovers, but only had half an hour to do so. I asked where their new opening hours were advertised as the board outside advertises to 21:30 still. On the door, below all the information is a printed piece of paper with the new hours. Around knee height. It’s fine to change your hours. But at least be up front about it and change what your information says. Pretty poor to be honest.

You will spend at least £17 there

Saw the busy restaurant and buffet as we passed and decided to give it a try. Food was plentiful, hot and was replenished as needed. Everything was tasty. Will certainly return. It was a bit strange paying for the meal before we even sat down, but that doesn't affect the food and service.

All you can eat..... More banana fritters wanted out for consumption

Very poor quality , buffet trays not replenished and very little choice . we went to restaurant at 7 pm we had to pay before we Were given a table . Some of the trays were empty and we asked them to be replenished the waitress went to tell the cook but Nothing changed it wasn’t expensive our table of 4 was £78 with drinks . We still felt we had been ripped off and as for people Who entered after us had even less choice than us . We asked the manager who’s only lame excuse was it’s been busy Wouldn’t go again and wouldn’t recommend it to anybody

Very good selection ,pleasant staff £15/each in Main Street of Carlisle can’t miss it !no need to book can just walk in

This was a terrible ordeal which we had to go through including overpriced bad foo. Burning tongs and excessively bad ice cream jelly. To add to this horrifying experience a was given a large pepsi which cost £3.30 when I ordered a coka cola. Can't you guys got the order right. over all I was disappointed and angry with this dinner. I do not recommend.

Cheap and nasty Chinese buffet. We complained to the owner/ manager and he was so embarrassed about it we thought he was going to cry! One of the highlights of any Chinese meal is the crispy duck in pancakes - not here, they serve crispy chicken! Another disappointment was the sesame prawn toasts - except in here they serve sesame chicken toasts!. If you can’t afford the real thing then don’t bother - don’t try to fob customers off and hope they don’t notice! The fact that you have to pay upon entry should have been a major warning sign but unfortunately we stayed and were massively disappointed. We won’t be returning.

Not the best buffet I’ve been to. The hosts were nice though

I go out of my way to Carlisle just to ho to Shangai Shangai to have its food. There are so many variety , the food is always warm and freshly made its also very tasty so highly recommended.

Good choice of food enjoyed ourselves

Certainly not the best buffet style restaurant I have been to. The first sign that it would be poor was the insistence on payment up front. The food offered was a small selection of chicken and pork dishes that were bland and lacking in flavour, with exception of the chicken curry. All sauces I tried were very thin and watery and the soups were the same. The fruit salad was sour and drinks, as normal in this type of restaurant, very over priced

Food was decent for the money and service was good

Food was great, plenty of choice, there could be more puddings, not many chocolate ones. At the end of the day it's a run of the mill Chinese buffet place with great coffee. No frills but no shocks either.

Great choice of food, always topped up, great value for money, would highly recommend.

We went for lunch. It was a great price, the food was hot and fresh.

Food was delicious and plentiful and fresh, friendly staff, couldn’t ask for more

Good venue, great selection of food on offer.

Food was good but had to wait a long time for drinks

My favorite place to eat in Carlisle all you can eat Chinese food is always hot the staff is always helpful and the food always tastes good.

Cheap for an all you can eat Buffet i love it and eat it as often as I can

Comida asitica tipo buffet, fui 2 veces, no me gustaría volver...siempre sirven lo mismo

Friendly greeting on arrival. Nice selection of food.

Cheap, plentiful, popular. Maybe put price up slightly and greater choice . Would still go again. £12.95 all you can eat buffet. What's not to like

Never fails to satisfy !! Always come away stuffed !! Lovely

Staff very pleasent food was bland but plenty of options

Great choice of food wonderful staff very welcoming will be returning

My favourite go to restaurant in Carlisle when I visit.

Only 1beef dish, too many chicken dishes

The food is still as nice as always. Usually always fresh or doesn't take long before it is refilled with fresh, quality food. The mens toilets are clean enough (for a blokes bathroom anyway). Slight change to paying and seating now as you now pay at the bar before being seated (I'm fine with this and think it's fair enough as it saves alot of hassle for the restaurant as I've been in once or twice and a seen a couple scruffy clowns try and dodge paying for their meal). The only thing I can really ask be improved is to offer a high chair to any family that comes in with a young child/toddler as twice now I've not been offered one and had to go and grab one myself , no idea if they have been sanitised prior to me grabbing this or not. If it's a covid thing that's fine but the waiter or waitress needs to say this otherwise it just annoys people. I have still left a 5 star review because overall it's clean, well prepared & tasty aswell as decent value for money.

TERRIBLE service, very rude bar man, complained he was to busy even though we had already booked. Took ages to bring our drinks out, and to top it off there was hair in the dessert. Wouldn’t advise anyone to go.

I have got to say this place is terrible, Food was poor quality & Some of it just warm, Mixing prawn crackers in with fish filets & hash brown with crab bites what is that all about, Also charge you full price for kids just because they are tall ? I would not recommend this place if you do go your wasting your money!