Wendy and I had a lunch at Xing Hua Lou in Fuzhou Road today. To be honest, I’ve never been there after living in Shanghai for five years. But I do know Xing Hua Lou is famous for it moon cakes.

‘Xing Hua Lou(means Apricot Flower House) is one of the oldest Cantonese restaurants in Shanghai (established in 1874). It has been awarded China Time-honored Brand in Shanghai by Ministry of Internal Trade.’

Xing Hua Lou restaurant at Fuzhou Road in Shanghai

Okay, everything sounds very nice. The restaurant looks nice too, very Chinese modern style, with all the stone carving, marble and golden and red deco.

The luxury lobby of Xing Hua Lou restaurant

Then we started to order, a 40+ lady came and looked at us with ‘pride’.

‘Can we have the stir fried noodle?’
‘No, I think noodle is too heavy for you two girls. Why not have the steamed dumpling?’
‘But we still want to try the noodle?’
‘you can think about it.’
…

After a few minutes fighting, we finally ordered what we wanted. Okay, I have to say we appreciated her kind suggestions, but why can we have something we wanted not she wanted?

Soon everything was on the table. Efficient! And they looked nice and reasonable portioned (bigger than other Cantonese restaurants)

While we were enjoying our food, another lady came and asked :’would you like your bill?’
We were confused.

‘ Can we do the bill later as we are still eating.’
‘Okay, you can continue eating. But can you pay first because my shift is over.’
Then we were annoyed and asked again ‘ can we pay later?’
Then she left with an unpleasant face.

About 1:30pm, another lady came and started to tidy up our room (we were in a private room). So we decided to leave.

I told my story to my local Shanghai colleagues. They smiled and said: Typical! That’s is Guo Ying (means state owned)

Yes. Those famous old restaurants are all kind of state owned and managed, which means in another way: poor services. Staff there are mostly local Shanghainese and well paid ( I was told their average salary is 5000-6000RMB per month. However, staff in private restaurants are usually from other parts of China and average salary is about 2000RMB). There is no performance evaluation in those restaurants because they are kind of permanent staff. That is why they always look so ‘proud’.

In summary:
Food: Good. I admit the food itself at Xing Hua Lou are high quality.
Service: Bad
If you want to know more about state owned services, recommended!
I notice that most dinners in Xing Hua Lou are elder local Shanghainese. I believe they were there for some history or sentimental memories.  It would be very sad if the restaurant can’t attract more younger dinners.

Dinning floor of Xing Hua Lou restaurant

 Get there: Metro Line 2, East Nanjing Road Station, walk to the south till Fuzhou Road, close to Mid Shandong Road.

Tags: Eating in Shanghai

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