 This entry refers to a departed business that has closed or left town. All information here is for historical reference only. |
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.
| Location |
| 1750 E. 8th St. (In Davis Manor shopping center) |
| Hours |
| Daily 11:00AM-11:00PM |
| Phone |
| (530) 753-3398 |
| Prices |
| Lunch: $5.50-$6.25, dinner: $6-$8 for most entrees |
| Established |
| Fall 2005 |
| Menu |
| PDF Link |
Shangri-La was a 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 Lunch Buffet ($5.99+tax) Mon-Fri 11:30AM-3:00PM. The staff is friendly and welcoming and better yet, the food tastes good.
Menu
2005-04-09 11:58:29 I just thought I'd take this opportunity to vent about the shopping center on 8th street. WOW, that is the most hideous looking shopping center. I've 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. —JaimeRaba
2005-05-17 21:42:16 They are very friendly, but largely due to the location, they don't seem to get a lot of business. As a result, the buffet gets kind of nasty by 1:30PM. —CraigBrozinsky
2005-07-05 19:05:25 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. —TeddyWong
2005-10-16 11:03:57 The food is some of the best i've 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 they're not in a high profile location, so go enjoy a good meal and help out a local =] —JimmyPan
2005-12-08 18:57:53 Good food, large portions, much better than other local chinese restaurants, not very busy —JonathanKaplan
2006-02-16 13:34:00 There are three things I like about the lunch buffet: (1) for $7.53 I filled a large to-go box to the brim, (2) the waitress was super-nice, and (3) the beef (huge pieces) and broccoli and the shrimp were yummy. That's it! Some of the string beans were cold, the chefs couldn't seem to decide whether to peel and devein the shrimp or not, and the bright-orange chicken (not to be confused with the dark-orange 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. I'll go back, but next time I'll order from the menu. —JennaChan
2006-06-20 13:58:49 I had the curry chicken last Friday, and it was incredibly bland, so I'm 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. —RickEle
2006-08-11 18:47:26 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 wasn't fantastic food and I probably wouldn't 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. —KatYu
2007-01-31 08:58:14 Their buffet vs Great Wall - which one is better? —FrankYoung
2007-03-13 10:50:31 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. —MattHh
2007-03-26 20:10:27 I love shangri-la. If you are surprised that the buffet doesn't fulfill your culinary fantasies, try reminding yourself that a: it's a buffet and b: it's 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 don't need it 3X a day. Don't 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, A-minus. —YesItsMe
2007-04-26 12:07:55 Had their lunch buffet. I don't know if it was typical for them or not but it was the worst Chinese food I've ever had. The pot stickers, won tons, chow mein, and orange chicken were all cold and I'm thinking they're 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. —MattMuller
2007-04-29 19:10:57 Sigh. What can you do when people don't read the comments? News flash, folks: BUFFETS SUCK! What do you expect? THEY'RE BUFFETS! Shangri-la is good for its regular dishes. I wouldn't go for the buffet here or anywhere else on this planet. I'm 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 good-natured way. Why complain about something that sucks when you know it's going to suck in the first place?? —YesItsMe
2007-08-02 22:06:29 With these mixed reviews I tried this place to see how it really is and I have to say it isn't 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 didn't 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 wouldn't come here again. —BrandonToo
2007-10-17 21:35:21 I've eaten at this place a few times, and I have to say that it is AUTHENTIC chinese food. I know the buffet isn't great, because they don't have a lot of customers so the food doesn't get changed too frequently. BUT, i ordered the Szechuan beef there, and it is AWESOME. I'm chinese, I would know. I spoke to the owner/chef, he's 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. Don't get the usual Americanized fried rice and chow mein stuff... —Jeanne
2007-12-19 19:43:44 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 haven't been back since. —thelonepiper555
- Are you sure it was food poisoning? Did it appear several hours to a day later? Are you sure it wasn't 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. That's what his doctor told him the next day. I wouldn't be surprised if that was just a one-off situation that was of no fault of their own, but I don't blame my dad for feeling weary of the restaurant. -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) —MattHh
2007-12-27 13:54:47 My girlfriend and I love their vegetarian dishes. The eggplant and tofu chicken are especially good. Don't 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 can't afford to stay open all the time. It's 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. —hokusman
2008-02-05 01:06:02 This place definitely not open until 11pm. I've 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. I've been craving Chinese food and I really wanted to check this place out because these comments made it sound worth trying. —HopeBravo
2008-02-12 13:23:52 Appears to be closed? Has been closed for several days now. No menu in the window. —MupDup
2008-05-19 21:25:52 The phone number is disconnected —TiffanyWarrick
2008-08-31 20:19:08 As of 2008-06-09, the Red Orchid is open. See "their page Red Orchid Restaurant" for more info. —TomHinds
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