
A new owner bought the restaurant and they changed their name to Jade Cafe in early 2008.  They introduced a new menu that appeared to have more choices and planned on expanding their lunch buffet to the weekends.  The restaurant closed abruptly after this change in ownership and by May 2008 the phone had been disconnected and the mail slot taped shut.  In June 2008, a banner appeared over the door that said Coming Soon  Red Orchid Restaurant.  THE RED ORCHID IS OPEN AS OF 6/13/08.







ShangriLa was a Restaurants restaurant featuring a fairly typical Chinese food menu with reasonable prices and large portions. Like many Chinese restaurants, they offer three family dinners (Peking Dinner $6.95, Szechuan Dinner $7.25, Mandarin Dinner $8.55), as well as individual entrees. They also have a Buffets Lunch Buffet ($5.99+tax) MonFri 11:30AM3:00PM. The staff is friendly and welcoming and better yet, the food tastes good.


Menu


20050409 11:58:29 nbsp I just thought Id take this opportunity to vent about the shopping center on 8th street.  WOW, that is the most hideous looking shopping center.  Ive seen such colors used well in other places, but that place looks like a complete monstrosity. There is just no attempt at balance.  Absolutely none. Users/JaimeRaba

20050517 21:42:16 nbsp They are very friendly, but largely due to the location, they dont seem to get a lot of business. As a result, the buffet gets kind of nasty by 1:30PM.  Users/CraigBrozinsky

20050705 19:05:25 nbsp This place has great, authentic Chinese food, perhaps the best Davis.  Their fish and fresh vegetable dishes are excellent, but ask the friendly owner/operator what is fresh and it will be a sure delight.  The prices are very reasonable but the ambiance could use some work. Users/TeddyWong

20051016 11:03:57 nbsp The food is some of the best ive had in davis, and the service was top. The place is not that busy, so service is really good. They have a hard time doing business because theyre not in a high profile location, so go enjoy a good meal and help out a local  Users/JimmyPan

20051208 18:57:53 nbsp Good food, large portions, much better than other local chinese restaurants, not very busy Users/JonathanKaplan

20060216 13:34:00 nbsp There are three things I like about the lunch buffet: (1) for $7.53 I filled a large togo box to the brim, (2) the waitress was supernice, and (3) the beef (huge pieces) and broccoli and the shrimp were yummy.  Thats it!  Some of the string beans were cold, the chefs couldnt seem to decide whether to peel and devein the shrimp or not, and the brightorange chicken (not to be confused with the darkorange chicken) had too much batter, which was made soggy by the sauce.  Even the fortune cookie (Super K brand) tasted awful and the chopsticks had dried orange residue on the eating ends.  Ill go back, but next time Ill order from the menu. Users/JennaChan

20060620 13:58:49 nbsp I had the curry chicken last Friday, and it was incredibly bland, so Im having trouble making much sense out of the glowing reviews above. Curry dishes especially should never be bland. Those people who own and operate the place are surely sweethearts, though. Users/RickEle

20060811 18:47:26 nbsp Had the lunch buffet today, 5.99 per adult.  Had the usual chow mein, white rice, battered chicken in sauce, corn on the cob, various fruits, shrimp, green beans, stir fry chicken with baby corn.  Sorry to say that it wasnt fantastic food and I probably wouldnt get the lunch buffet again.  It was just too salty for me; however, I might try the menu another time their service was great though!  Staff was friendly and accomodating. Users/KatYu

20070131 08:58:14 nbsp Their buffet vs Great Wall  which one is better? Users/FrankYoung

20070313 10:50:31 nbsp i thought that the food (not during the buffet was mixed).  The service was the best in davis (baring upscale places) complimentary cream cheese wontons (pretty good) and lemon water was a nice touch.  Very attentative server, like 3 rice refills and i cant count the water refills, and when we were done and got a to go box re added extra rice in the empty compartments.  As for the food the flavors are quite decent, but one dish was really bad.  The first bite was great but as you ate it, it had a major aftertaste that sort of was a sour tingling, like floride at the dentist, lemony water only compounded this, this dish ended up being almost unettible eventhough the first bite was great.  (maybe it was slightly going bad chilis or something, since it was the dish we ordered spicy).  I have to say it was quite odd.  i think im going to give them a second chance just to see if that was a fluke. Users/MattHh

20070326 20:10:27 nbsp I love shangrila. If you are surprised that the buffet doesnt fulfill your culinary fantasies, try reminding yourself that a: its a buffet and b: its Davis. To say that food is uninteresting here in Davis is an insult to uninteresting food.  Anyways, on to the positives. These folks make great vegetarian dishes, which is a major plus. I love meat and eat it daily but I dont need it 3X a day. Dont get the buffet food unless you like buffet food, plain as that. And as everyone else noted, the people who run the place are extra nice and friendly. Overall, Aminus.  Users/YesItsMe

20070426 12:07:55 nbsp Had their lunch buffet. I dont know if it was typical for them or not but it was the worst Chinese food Ive ever had. The pot stickers, won tons, chow mein, and orange chicken were all cold and Im thinking theyre purposely doing that to keep it from getting dried out. The wontons barely had any cream cheese in them at all and the shell was cold, hard and stale. The orange chicken and sweet and sour pork were mostly batter with very little meat and the pork was stale and tough. The brocoli beef was the only decent dish. Users/MattMuller

20070429 19:10:57 nbsp Sigh. What can you do when people dont read the comments? News flash, folks: BUFFETS SUCK! What do you expect? THEYRE BUFFETS! Shangrila is good for its regular dishes. I wouldnt go for the buffet here or anywhere else on this planet. Im on my way out the door this minute to pick up the General Chicken I just ordered and am certain it will be just what I want it to be: a good main dish, not BUFFET FOOD! LOL
I mean all this in a goodnatured way. Why complain about something that sucks when you know its going to suck in the first place?? Users/YesItsMe

20070802 22:06:29 nbsp With these mixed reviews I tried this place to see how it really is and I have to say it isnt as great as Great Wall. So sad, I was hoping for a good Chinese restaurant (. I too experienced a weird taste with their food like Matt. I got the salt & pepper pork ribs which first was not even the name for the dish...but also after the first bite the rest tasted so bad I had to throw it away...thats how bad it tasted...the ingredients didnt taste very fresh either, price is higher than Great Wall, but service was friendly. Waited for our food and the lady gave us lemon water. Overall I wouldnt come here again. Users/BrandonToo

20071017 21:35:21 nbsp Ive eaten at this place a few times, and I have to say that it is AUTHENTIC chinese food. I know the buffet isnt great, because they dont have a lot of customers so the food doesnt get changed too frequently. BUT, i ordered the Szechuan beef there, and it is AWESOME. Im chinese, I would know. I spoke to the owner/chef, hes FROM Szechuan, China. Completely authentic, great food. Try the Mapo Tofu, Twice Cooked pork. Those are authentic chinese dishes. Not the orange chicken crap most ppl get. If you go there, try the spicy foods. Dont get the usual Americanized fried rice and chow mein stuff... Users/Jeanne

20071219 19:43:44 nbsp My family and I went there not long ago. The food was adequate and the service was attentive, but my dad got food poisoning from his meal and we havent been back since. Users/thelonepiper555
  Are you sure it was food poisoning?  Did it appear several hours to a day later?  Are you sure it wasnt an earlier meal?

It was about 12 hours later, we went there after my dad had a blood test that morning (fasting was necessary), and we are without a doubt that it was food poisoning. Thats what his doctor told him the next day. I wouldnt be surprised if that was just a oneoff situation that was of no fault of their own, but I dont blame my dad for feeling weary of the restaurant. Users/thelonepiper555
  Yeah 12 hours is like textbook timing for food poisoning. One dish i had once at this restaurant had a really bizare flouride aftertaste that was highly suspect, so i believed you, i just post that comment after food poisoning comments on all pages because many people claim food poisoning when they experience symptons imediately (food poisoning symptoms generally manifest several hours after infection). I think that places that do very little business are often more likely to have food poisoning incodents because the ingredients are not as fresh or in the case of a buffet the food is set out for a long period of time. I just got food poisoning from a place in boston (dimsum at 3:00pm on a weekday in an empty restaurant is a bad idea) Users/MattHh

20071227 13:54:47 nbsp My girlfriend and I love their vegetarian dishes.  The eggplant and tofu chicken are especially good.  Dont order the tofu sweet & sour pork, though, which just consists of cubes of plain tofu with sweet & sour sauce on it.  My only complaint is that they are often closed at random times when their scheduled hours says they will be open, but I suppose this is probably because of the fact that they do very little business, and probably just cant afford to stay open all the time.  Its kind of really sad actually, because I bet that if they were downtown they would have a thriving business.  The food is really good, they just happen to have a really bad location. Users/hokusman

20080205 01:06:02 nbsp This place definitely not open until 11pm. Ive tried to phone in an order twice. I called around 10:30 one night and was told that they were closing, then I called another night at 9:45 but got no answer. I drove by around 10pm another night and saw no lights. This is very disappointing. Ive been craving Chinese food and I really wanted to check this place out because these comments made it sound worth trying. Users/HopeBravo

20080212 13:23:52 nbsp Appears to be closed? Has been closed for several days now. No menu in the window. Users/MupDup

20080519 21:25:52 nbsp The phone number is disconnected Users/TiffanyWarrick

20080831 20:19:08 nbsp As of 20080609, the Red Orchid is open. See their page Red Orchid Restaurant for more info. Users/TomHinds
