Shen Hua

Berkeley, United States

3.5

Closed now

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

QR code, vCard

Telephone:
+1 510-883-1777
Website:
www.shenhua.co
Address:
2914 College Ave, Berkeley, CA, 94705
b/t Ashby Ave & Russell St
Elmwood
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
330 ftCollege Av & Russell St
440 ftCollege Av & Ashby Av
810 ftCollege Av & Webster St
Categories:
QR code
Download QR Image Download vCard

Map

Streetview

Activate map

Bussiness info

Takes Reservations
Yes
Delivery
Yes
Take-out
Yes
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Good For
Dinner
Parking
Street
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes
Good for Kids
Yes
Good for Groups
Yes
Attire
Casual
Ambience
Casual
Noise Level
Average
Alcohol
Full Bar
Outdoor Seating
No
Wi-Fi
No
Has TV
Yes
Dogs Allowed
No
Waiter Service
Yes
Caters
Yes

Today

Today 10:30 am – 2:30 pm
5:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Closed now
Local time (Berkeley) 1:58 AM Sunday, July 6, 2025

Business hours

Monday 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Tuesday 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Wednesday 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Thursday 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Friday 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
5:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Saturday 10:30 am – 2:30 pm
5:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Sunday 10:30 am – 2:30 pm
5:00 pm – 9:30 pm

Description

Specialties

Northern style Chinese food

Southern style Dim Sum

Full Bar

Happy Hour Specials

History

Established in 1998.

Shen Hua is owner operated since 1998.

Meet the Business Owner

Edward C.

Business Owner

Born and raised in San Francisco, Edward has been in the business since childhood. Upon finishing school at SFSU, it was just a natural fit for Edward to enter the restaurant business. Now, thirteen years later, Shen Hua been a neighborhood favorite.

Related places

You might also consider:
640
ft
King Yen Restaurant
2995 College Ave (Elmwood)
1
mi
Great Wall Chinese Restaurant
6247 College Ave (Rockridge, North Oakland)
1
mi
Chang Luong
2517 Durant Ave Ste D, 2nd Fl (Telegraph Ave)
1
mi
Happy Valley
2502 Telegraph Ave (Elmwood, Telegraph Ave)
1
mi
Tai San Restaurant
2811 Telegraph Ave (Elmwood)
1
mi
Lotus House
2517A Durant Ave (Telegraph Ave)

Vicinity

Browse nearby places:
30
ft
Papyrus
2924 College Ave
40
ft
14 Karats Fine Jewelry
2910 College Ave
50
ft
Cugini Manzone
2930 College Ave
50
ft
Panache On College
2928 College Ave
70
ft
Shangrila Treasures
2908 College Avenue
70
ft
Body Time
2911 College Ave

20 reviews of Shen Hua

No registration required
Place rating: 1
Berkeley, CA
I have never been more disappointed about food before. I was looking forward to a delicious meal and when i took a bite of my pot sticker i immediately gagged and had to spit it out. I dont know what the heck happened. The meat was pink but it seemed cooked. Just had a very weird salty taste. $ 8.50 wasted. Then I had some of the wonton soup. Used with the same meat and a very bitter broth. $ 11.00 wasted. Then I tried the chow mein. Wasn’t horrible but there are some bitter greens added in to it as well. $ 10.50 wasted. The only things i did enjoy were the walnut shrimp and the bbq pork buns. But more than half of what i paid for was uneatable.
Place rating: 3
San Francisco, CA
The Dried Fried Calamari is one of the best items in their menu, but the other items we ordered ranged from only decent to underwhelming. The Garlic Noodles are okay. On the plus side, they have a good dim sum selection. It’s a place to go to if you’re in the Berkeley-​Elmwood area, but no need for a special trip.
Place rating: 3
Piedmont, CA
When you say to yourself, «I want some Chinese tonight,» this is probably the kind of place you’re thinking. Everything tastes fine. Nothing is particularly good. But it will satisfy your craving for whatever regular Chinese-​American standard fare you’re looking for.
Place rating: 5
Atascadero, CA
Best gluten free options of any Chinese restaurant in Berkeley! Love the lemon pepper chicken, fried rice, dry sautéed green beans and the cashew nut chicken! definitely worth your visit
Place rating: 4
Walnut Creek, CA
Love shen hua! I’ve been coming here with my family for years. Lately I have introduced my boyfriend to it and he loves the potstickers here. Over the years I have tried most of the menu. I suggest different things if your eating there versus takeout.
If your eating there get some soup, the hot and sour is my favorite followed by wonton. The mu shu is awesome, we usually order extra pancakes with it. I would not order it as takeout as the pancakes get soggy.
For takeout the things that hold up well are the prawns ala ching hua, the schezwan dry fried prawns, the dry fried green beans, and the kung pao.
Place rating: 4
Campbell, CA
I have been a fan of this place for years. Brought my best friend here with his pregnant wife and now we all come with all of our kids.
I am a dumpling connoisseur. Been to Hong Kong and many Chinatowns in world. NY, LA, SF, London, Barcelona. This place is elegant, traditional (to America) and comfortable.
Recommendations: Har gow, Shrimp and chive Dumplings, Shrimp and Cilantro, Shrimp and Crab Dumplings, 10 count shrimp dumplings, Shrimp fried rice, Green Beans, and beef chow fun. These are all steamed not pan fried.
Everything was great.
Try their Shen Hua Cosmo. Not too sweet with Belvedere Pink Grapefruit Vodka. Delicious
Place rating: 2
Oakland, CA
Ordered the dry fried chicken tonight January 14, 2016
How did they get SO MUCH SUGAR into the sauce
Just way too sweet for me
Place rating: 4
Silver Spring, MD
Busy new years day! After a life time of eating Chinese food, at age 59, as a foodie, I say their ginger chicken is one of the beat dishes I evert had!
Place rating: 5
Oakland, CA
Great Asian fusion spot. Got TV and great bar. And very clean. Owner have been doing such a effort for his Restrant. Taste great, service great! Price are very good! Happy success new 2016 for them!
Place rating: 2
San Pablo, CA
We ordered Bien-​pao spicy prawn, pork fired rice, si-​chuan style chicken.
Overall experience:
1. The service can be improved.
2. The meat are fresh and tender. Very good quality food materials.
3. Food are not very salty. More of a westernized Chinese food.
4. Not for authentic-​Chinese people
First I found dirty stains on my plate. Then, dishes came in late after 30 mins wait maybe more.
The $ 17.00 bien-​pao spicy prawn was noted literally «very, very, very spice» on the the special menu. It turned out to be not very spicy at all but very sweet. There’s some kind of sweet plum flavor in the sauce, not sure what that is.
The pork fired rice was okay to me. My friends were not satisfied to it at all. They said the fried rice could be better if it’s a Cantonese restaurant. They’ve had much better fried rice.
The si-​chuan styled chicken was spicy but had no salt. The meat seems not marinated well enough.
Generally speaking, tastes of food are under our expectations compare to the long wait and price.
Place rating: 4
Berkeley, CA
This is my family’s go-​to Chinese takeout– just a few blocks away. Great options for both meat and veggie lovers. Staff are very friendly, service is great, and the food is nice and flavorful. I particularly like their Classic Chinese Braised Tofu, which I get almost every time I go. Thumbs up.
Place rating: 2
Oakland, CA
The quality of the food at Shen Hua has really gone downhill. We had the tan tan noodles tonight and they were just awful, that was peanut sauce? Overlooked noodles, very bland sauce. Kung Pao Chicken was equally boring and Gai Lan was swimming in oil. I think I may have eaten my last meal from Shen Hua
Place rating: 5
Berkeley, CA
LOVE Shen Hua. My sister and go here at least once a week with the children during happy hour. Small kids eat dinner at 5pm???
Happy hour drinks are wonderful and the wine selection is great for casual dining.
Here are our favorite things to eat from the menu, The happy hour dim sum selection is great BTW.
Salt and pepper calamari
Crab dim sum
lettuce cups
Mongolian Beef
Black bean chicken
Ginger/​green onion fish
Garlic noodles
Mar Po Tofu (sorry not sure of spelling)
Meter Parking is available behind the restaurant in the lot.
Regular 2 hour street parking available one block North.
Place rating: 4
El Cerrito, CA
SOLID Chinese & AWESOME booze.
like most Asian places, I can find tons of vegan options. it’s all yummy– not too oily, veggies are fresh/​not overcooked. they can add tofu to anything for more protein :)
really fun cocktails!
Service can be a little dicey, don’t go in a hurry. had a bday dinner of about 15 here, they have the space for it, but the staff were a little overwhelmed/​confused.
Place rating: 4
Berkeley, CA
We love that they serve dim sum, especially har gow (shrimp dumplings), lo mai gai (steamed rice and pork in lotus leaves), BBQ pork buns, and sesame balls. Service is friendly and the lunch specials are big with a good selection.
Place rating: 4
Emeryville, CA
Pretty good… our favorite was the walnut shrimp without walnuts… we had the Singapore noodles… it was a different version than what I have had… it was okay… nothing was horrible or nasty…
Place rating: 5
Vallejo, CA
Awesome chinese food place in Berkeley.
Really nice big and clean shop. Friendly staff. They give out complimentary dishes while you wait for your food. The food always come hot and fresh. I usually order their lemon chicken and the honey walnut prawns… both to die for. Make sure you ask for their chili hot sauce, it definitely gives everything a Kick.
Place rating: 4
San Jose, CA
I have been going to Shen Hua for close to ten years now, no idea why I never reviewed them earlier, and absolutely love it. That said it far from perfect and I fully admit that when I find a Chinese restaurant I like I typically stick with it until someone takes me to a new place. So with that here’s my opinion:
Bad:
— loud. No idea who designed the place but all the kitchen noise travels throughout the restaurant forcing everyone to talk louder and louder.
— service. This can be hit or miss and used to be a pro but recently we have seen it drop off. This past Thursday was particularly bad, the waiter was extremely nice, but somehow they only had one waiter and one busboy working which meant we rarely got looked at
Good:
— pot stickers. Sesame beef. Chicken chow neon. …these are my go to dishes and never fail me. I have yet to find a dish similar to Shen Huas sesame beef anywhere and their pot sticks are huge!
— quick service. Like most Chinese restaurants this place gets food out quickly and there usually isn’t much of a wait.
Price is kind of on the high end but happy hour is a great time to try their appetizers. Every third Thursday is now $ 3 cocktail night which is pretty cool.
Place rating: 4
Pacific Grove, CA
Food-​wise, price-​wise, portion-​wise, I’d give this place a 4 ½ or 5 star rating. The restaurant is visually appealing. But the loud atmosphere and minimal service almost bring it down to a three. Is it a Berkeley thing to not check with your customers during their meal to see if everything is satisfactory? Cause this was the second time in the same day we experienced this phenomenon.
I like the idea of an open kitchen, but that, along with the overall acoustics and large, active bar area, made for a very noisy Monday evening dinner. Things cleared out a bit and quieted down by 7:30 or so, but by then we were almost ready to leave.
Now for the food & drink. I like Bulleit bourbon but had never had a Manhattan, so the Bulleit Manhattan called out to. Reminded me a bit of cough syrup, but after a couple of sips, on an empty stomach, I was happy as a clam in… whatever a clam is happy in. Cool, refreshing, strong, and not too sweet. My kind of drink.
We both love noodles (and garlic), so for me, the cold garlic noodles were a must. Got them with prawns. Yum. We also ordered the Family Style Tofu (with julienned vegetables & glass noodles), which I liked more than my gf did. I don’t think the menu mentioned the glass noodles, so we also ordered rice. More food than we could eat. Tasty, large servings (leftovers!), good drink, great prices (our dinner, not counting drink, was $ 25). The overall experience could have been a lot better.
Note – it seems that they haven’t updated their Facebook page in years.
Place rating: 1
Oakland, CA
No longer a favorite. A few days later and I’m still so annoyed about our meal.
–Let’s start with the smell of the place. Bleach? Something not appetizing.
–And how about the wait… other tables served before us.
–Veggie pot stickers for the kids, recommended by the waiter, which they wouldn’t touch. A gooey pastry with stinky veggies inside. The adults wouldn’t eat it either.
–The walnut shrimp had gobs of mayo on it, not a mayo sauce. I love mayo but may need a break from it for a while after this dish.
— Sauteed green beans. Not sure, maybe not fresh garlic or onions?
–Dry sauteed chicken and chow mein just mediocre. Bland and tasteless.
–Fortune cookie? Not brought to our table. Just a big bowl by the door so everyone can stick their germy hands inside.
Not sure if it was an off night or it’s gone downhill, but it was a bit empty so maybe the latter. Too bad.