Ala Shang Hai

A nice place to get dim sum and Chinese food in a corner of Pacific Mall. It is located on the second floor, and although it is 30 m away from the main food court area, the restaurant’s exterior has a better vibe than the cheap food court storefronts.
The food tasted fresh, and it was in the authentic Chinese style I’ve come to expect. I was hoping the portion sizes should be a little bigger (maybe by 30%) at that price level, but I wasn’t bothered.
About the waiters, they were understaffed on the Family Day holiday. I only saw 4 different faces, and oftentimes they were in the kitchen or otherwise invisible. Flagging down a waiter to get a kettle of tea or some small thing was difficult at times. Aside from that, I’d note that the waiters spoke Cantonese, so don’t try to infer too much from the name «Shanghai (cuisine)».

I’ve been to other a a la shanghai and this one which is newer is absolutely terrible. the pricing, portion, and taste. this restaurant ruins the previous branch. I came to this restaurant, having tried the markham one, thinking that because they are the same name and same menu, that they would be similar in qualities since it is a branch. however. The other one i gave 4 stars which is deserved, this one also earned its 1 star review.
The beginning was the food the pan fried bun which is supposed to have filling, is just that. it is 90% bun and 10% filing, of which was not great in taste either. They really wanted to skimp out and save money i supposed since it is basically all dough.
The next thing was the sweet and sour fish, it is overfried powder with very little fish involved, and on top of it the portion was absolutely inexcusably tiny for something that they charge 8.95 before tax. given that price range one should expect that decent average size, at least for what they term as a special.
The steamed soup bun which has also wasn’t very strong in the other restaurant, was bad in this one as well. it is overall dried out and overcooked.
Overall the pricing, and portion, and taste does not do justice to its own branch restaurant in markham.
I would recommend anyone who wants to try to avoid it, as it is not worth the trip.

I went to this restaurant with a friend at lunch time on Monday. Maybe because it was during the Chinese new year, the restaurant was quite busy in the Monday afternoon.
Me and my friend ordered steam crab and pork bun, and pan fried pork bun which are two signature Shanghai snacks, as well as sweet and sour fish and chicken soup noodle. The pan fried pork bun and the sweet and sour fish were disappointments. The sweet and sour fish is too overpriced for its tiny portion. it was $ 8.99 for around six seven pieces of fish only. In terms of the pan fries pork bun, the bun skin was too thick, with very little stuffing. However, I was very satisfied with the steam crab and pork bun and the chicken soup noodle. I really loved the soupy steam bun, the skin was thin but chewy, the stuffing tasted fresh sweet, and the soup inside the bun was not oily at all. Besides, the noodle was also great. It reminded me of the taste of grandma’s cooking. The chicken soup was clear but rich in flavour.
Overall, I think the restaurant is a good place to go for shanghai taste, though it is a little bit pricier than average compared to other similar type of restaurants. I would recommend this restaurant to my friends but will let them be aware of the small portion. Personally, if i go back again, it would be definitely because of their steam crab and pork bun!

First time came here. But it’s not a good choice. Service is not good. We waited long time for our food. And price is also expensive for the food they served to us. Food taste is ok. However I was charged 10% tip without my permission. Even I have a uncomfortable experience here. I will not recommend this restaurant.

Located on the second level of Pacific Mall, we were here for lunch this weekend. Pretty decent, but nothing really stands out. The jellyfish wasn’t seasoned so it was sort of bland, the chicken with rice all day special combo dish was spicy eventhough it’s not mentioned on the menu (and didn’t look like it from the menu photo). We were seated at the only available seat which was next to the open concept wall with little privacy. They didn’t give us the 2:30pm-5pm tea time special menu so we had to ask for it.

My first time visiting Pacific mall and my in laws recommended to have lunch at a la Shang hai. We ordered our usuals from all other shanghainese restaurants.
Xiao long baos (one crab meat and one pork) — dim sum portion? Each order only came with 4 pieces! Wished we ordered more! The skin and broth were spot on! Skin not too thick, not too thin. The broth was light and tasty.
Pan fried dumplings — overstuffed with minced pork! The skin was perfectly pan fried. Be sure to ask for some black vinegar or hot sauce for dipping!
Beef wraps — a bit underdressed. It can definitely use more hoisan sauce. The scallion pancake wrap was too dry and plain for my taste. Not on par to other shanghainese restaurants in gta I’ve been to.
Braised pork belly — so much fat… My father in law loved it. But a mouthful of grease just isn’t my thing. I cut out the leaner portion for a taste. Too chewy and dry without the melt in your mouth fat.
Beef noodle soup — yum the beef brisket was perfectly made! Juicy, tender, fell right apart in your mouth! Loved the texture of the house made noodle especially with all the broth each strand had soaked up!
Shanghainese stir fried noodle — not overwhelmingly oily or salty! For once this dish didn’t grease or salt me out. One of my fav of this meal!
Garlic Dau Miu — the only veggie dish my brother in law would eat. A classic done well. Get this if you are looking for some greens to complement your meal!
Fried Mantou with condensed milk — they pan fry one side rather than deep frying the whole bun. They also watered down the condensed milk. Overall It felt cheaply made, I recommend skipping.
Overall — mostly good but nothing memorable enough to convince me to go out of my way for the food. I will probably stick to checking out the food court in this mall instead.

Mom and I needed a good lunch option at Market Village/​PMall area. I didn’t feel like food court or subpar dim sum, so we walked past a long line of hair salons and beauty spas to arrive at ALa. I liked that there was a lunch combo menu. I just didn’t see anything I like there. I ended up ordering a salty rice roll (鹹粢飯), and a set of pork and leek dumplings. Mom ordered a spicy tofu lunch combo. I will give you the good part of the food first: the ingredients were fresh. Unfortunately, it went downhill from here. I hoped the salty rice roll had had more pork in the roll. If too expensive, I would also take pickled vegetable. But there was none, so I was stuck with an average rice roll (because the rice was good) with minimum flavour. Kinda disappointing. The dumplings gave me even less excitement. Skin was too thick. The pork inside was not flavoured enough. Very insufficient leek. I almost want to not recommend it. But then pork and leek dumpling is such a staple. Mom’s tofu was indeed spicy. For $ 5, the portion was very generous.
Kindly note that the seating was nice, the place was clean, and we got to use clean washroom. These three are pretty rare at PMall.

What an unappreciated restaurant. This place is easily as good if not better than Asian Legend. The restaurant looks pretty modern, and the staff are actually friendly. Best of all, it’s tucked away in a little corner on the second floor of Pacific Mall so we didn’t have to wait for a table either on a Sunday night.
The food was very good and well above my expectations. The spicy braised beef noodles was one of the best I’ve had anywhere. The same could be said for the steamed pork dumplings and the pan fried pork dumplings as well. Heck, even the pan fried snow pea leaves were outstanding. The peking duck was pretty good as well, although I probably wouldn’t order it again. I’d just order 2 bowls of the spicy braised beef noodles instead. The other two dishes we got were fine too– the baby bok choy and some tofu and mushroom dish that we’d never tried before.

The food was reasonably tasty, but the portion sizes were out of sync with the price and expectations.
We ordered a combo dinner (Soup, appetizer + 2 dishes, apx 30 $) for two on a Friday night.
The biggest disappointment of the night was that the xiaolongbao appetizer was 4 dumplings to be shared between two people. In my experience, xiaolongbao come in large wide steamer baskets of 8 – 10 pieces per order so to receive 4 pieces for 2 people was disappointing. We wound up adding a bowl of rice (1.50 $ each) per person to complete the meal, which should not have been necessary for a 15 $/​person meal.
4 xiaolongbao does not cut it for 2 people, especially for a 15 $/​per person.
The keywords of this review: 4, xiaolongbao, price, and disappointment.
The good news is that the taste, service and décor were above average, the bad news is the 4, xiaolongbao, price, and disappointment. Rating would increase to 4 star if the meal was 10 $ cheaper, or had double the xiaolongbao. 3 star if it came with a bowl of rice at least.
p. s. The soup was nice and fresh tasting. There was alot of soup.

Nice healthy dim sum choice. The service was fast. The waitress was very pleasant with us. She was eating lunch, too. I’m sure that she was hungry, also, but she came over right away to give us our seats, give us menu, give us drinks, attend to us before taking our orders. After that, she went to her lunch again.
The food, hmmmm…, we ordered within soup, noodle with fried pork chop, and fried tofu. The wonton ingredients included pork and chives, I think. It was healthy and delicious. I loved it. The soup base was not too salty or msg-​ish. The noodle and fried pork chops it was great because the pork chop was not soaked in the noodle soup. The fried tofu, not my style, but it is just okay, if you like plain fried tofu, and dip it in soy sauce. Some people like it that way, so I cannot say if it’s good or bad, just different taste, right?
Overall, the décor was great. Located on the second floor of P. Mall, so who doesn’t like it? Thank you Ala Shang Hai for the special lunch menu. Three dishes for $ 18 with tax.

This was our first time being here and so far the servers are really friendly. The location is perfect on the upper level of pacific mall. Décor is simple yet classy. Very comfortable. My husband had the beef noodles (spicy). It was pretty good. I ordered the shanghai noodle being a shanghai restaurant it should be really good. And the verdict is… it tastes pretty good. a bit salty for me but still good. We ordered dumplings and those were really good. Nice and hot.
BTW they take only debit and cash.
Would definitely come back.