We have been to Chef Zhao a few times before. I considered it home cooked food and we go there with friends and family sometimes. It is a casual place in a quiet mall. The waitress knows their dishes well and frequently recommend us food to try. The food was delicious!

Chef Zhao's is our go-to place for good Chinese food for a large group when we have a family event at Stanford. They are fast, the food is very good, and it's very convenient to get to campus (15 minute drive to get to Dinkelspiel). Tonight I hosted a party of 11 for dinner and were all very pleased with the meal, especially the dessert which is super surprising since Chinese desserts are typically just okay at best. These were delicious! Steam juicy pork bun - 5/5 (rivals Din Tai Fung IMHO) Shanghai Pot Sticker - 4/5, I didn't have any but kids liked them although they called them sausages because apparently the filling is in the shape of a tube Shanghai Egg Roll - 3/5, I didn't have any and there was one leftover which makes me think they weren't a big hit with the 5 kids at the dinner Scallion Pancake - 4/5 solid Hot & Sour Soup - 5/5 Honey Walnut Prawn - 4/5 (not a mayo prep which we enjoyed, more like glazed shrimp) General's Chicken - 3/5, I've had better Salted & Pepper Pork Spare Ribs - 5/5 excellent, although these are small pieces of spare ribs so a bit more challenging to eat Sauteed Ong Choi - 5/5 Sauteed Green Beans - 5/5 Beef Chow Fun - 5/5 Vegetable Salted Pork Fried Rice - 5/5 - all other fried rice had carrots and peas in them which I do not prefer (I still think it's weird when Chinese fried rice has peas and carrots in them) Usually with such a big order the restaurant offers a free dessert but maybe because I pre-ordered the menu they did not this time. However, we were very intrigued by both the desserts offered on the menu so ordered one of each which easily could have served all 11 people at the table. Both desserts were OUTSTANDING. and not adjusted for a Chinese dessert scale. We all agreed the osmanthus sesame mini rice ball soup was the best we've ever had and the unappealingly named "yam cake" is really jin dui (deep fried sesame rice balls with a purple sweet potato filling). Delicious!

I really love this place. The Beef Chow Mein in particular was really, really good and you get a very large portion ($16). I also appreciated their ability to accommodate dietary restrictions. We have someone in the group who can't eat garlic nor onions and they were careful to not add those to any of the dishes. We also got: Vegetable Buns $9 -- tasty veggie filling Chicken & Vegetables $19 -- I wouldn't normally order this dish, but someone in our group had dietary restrictions. It was a good version of an intentionally bland dish. Kung Pao Chicken $19 Brown Rice $3.5 -- I really liked their brown rice, which is the purple-red version that I really like.

I got to try some of their pan fried juicy pork buns (also known as sheng jian bao, I believe) for takeout. I thought they tasted pretty good, they are not too soft and a bit more crisp compared to some other buns like the steamed buns, with sesame seeds on the outside and meat in the middle. Be careful when you bite into it since you may inadvertently have the meat juice/sauce gush everywhere. A solid choice and I believe Chef Zhao has been involved with several of the other Shanghainese restaurants across the bay too.

After our go-to Shanghai restaurant in Cupertino closed, my family and I had no choice other than to explore other Shanghai restaurants nearby, and this one's the winner! It ranks the highest in my list of Shanghainese spots as the food is more refined but still casual. Service is no frills, and the food comes out fairly fast. The XLB and pan fried juicy buns were filled with so much soup, and the meat was fluffy. The dumpling skins had the perfect thickness. These come with a lighter vinegar for dipping, but I personally prefer the dark vinegar. Other dishes I recommend are the special fish gluten puff, sweet soybean milk with fried Chinese donuts, fan tuan (sticky rice burrito with pork floss and Chinese donut inside), sweet and spire pork spare ribs, Shanghai rice cakes, drunken chicken, and kao fu. It's worth the slightly longer drive!

This place tastes a lot better than the rating suggests! Came with 3 friends on a weekend for lunch, and I had heard good things about them. One thing is the service is noticeably slow- we waited a long time just for service and just as long for food. The dishes came out at a reasonable pace though, and the starters did come first. The XLB was very juicy and the soup was delicious, definitely one of the better ones I've had. The rice cakes were delicious as well! I'd have to come back to try more dishes as each one was pretty good.

One of my fav Shanghainese restaurants in the Bay Area! My go-to dishes are pan fried pork bun and Shanghai soup in clay pot. The soup is very authentic and the best I've tried in the Bay Area. It is the reason that I keep coming back :) They also have many authentic dishes which are hard to find in the Bay Area. If you're looking for authentic Shanghainese food, this is a great option!

Overall I like this restaurant. The place is nice and clean. The service was decent. All the servers wore mask (which I really appreciate). We ordered fried pork bun, pea sprout and fish back bean. Everything was really yummy. The pork bun was juicy and had a slight crunch and chewy taste. The pea sprout was stir fried with garlic. It was just right- crunchy and tasty (a bit on the salty side and oily but not too bad if eaten with rice). Also I appreciate that the veggie doesn't come with sand or dirt. Some places don't do a good job of cleaning their veggies. The fish taste fresh and tasty. Overall very yummy with reasonable price.