Shanghai House Brings New Flavor to Commerce Street

Tacoma has plenty of fabulous Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese grub, but very little in the way of worthwhile Chinese restaurants. Shanghai House, which opened this spring on Commerce, is a refreshing deviation from this trend. It may not sport the fanciest of menus, but the restaurant is already doing a brisk business in affordable, quick lunch dishes not soaked in syrupy sauce or scooped up out of steam trays.

I'm not able to try their fried dishes, but I really enjoyed my Mongolian Beef/Kung Pao Chicken ($9.95) combo, which came with delicate, simple fried rice and a soup appetizer. Normally, I would prefer steamed rice but in this case I was glad I didn't order that alternative. The rice had a very basic chicken flavor which went well with the just-spicy-enough, not too greasy Mongolian Beef. Shanghai's Kung Pao was also decent, though it's hard for anything to compete with Tacoma Szechuan's recipe.

At $9.95, the combo dishes are the most expensive thing on the lunch menu, which offers a decent selection of less expensive single-item choices. With rice, soup, and hot tea you'd be hard pressed to find a better lunch deal downtown.

I haven't tried it with the family yet, but the informal interior, price tag, and calm atmosphere all bode well for dining with little ones.

Shanghai House
1126 Commerce St.
Tacoma, WA 98402
253-627-1859