Restaurant Review: Shanghai Express in Lynchburg, VA

Shanghai Express is probably called "express" because it's a fast food restaurant. They even have a drive-through. But the food doesn't taste like fast food. I've been eating at Shanghai Express for many years. I couldn't even guess at the number of times I've been there. And only once have they ever messed up my order. And when that happened, they fixed it. I've never met such nice people working in a restaurant before. The place is always clean, including the bathrooms. And there is the option to eat inside or outside. The atmosphere isn't like a fast food restaurant either. Every time I go there, I can sit down and have a quiet meal in peace.

From the appetizer menu, I love their egg rolls. Shanghai Express has the best egg rolls of anywhere else I've been. At only a dollar a piece, you can't beat the price. My other favorite appetizer is the cream cheese fried wontons. You get four of them for only $1.30. They used to be called something else, but they changed the name a few years ago.

I usually order a regular dinner instead of the deluxe dinner. The difference is the dinner comes with only rice, and the deluxe dinner comes with rice, sweet & sour pork, and an egg roll. The rice comes in steamed and fried. It depends on what I'm ordering as to which rice I want. Sometimes I like to mix up the rice with the food and sometimes I don't. If you go through the drive-through and plan to eat in your car, be sure to ask them for a fork and soy sauce since they don't automatically give out these items. They also have duck sauce, but I've never tried it.

If you want to know what most of their menu items look like, they have pictures inside on a board near the register. This was a really great idea because it gives the customer an idea of what they are ordering. Some of my favorite items from their menu are listed below.

General Chicken - Shanghai Express has the best general chicken of any Chinese restaurant. I always order this as not hot. Any of their items that are marked as hot can be order as not hot, but it takes longer for them to make it. I highly recommend the general chicken.

Green Pepper Steak - This was what I used to order every time I went to Shanghai Express before I started trying their other menu items. It's strips of beef with green peppers, and I don't remember what else. But it's really good and I recommend it.

Beef Broccoli - This was the item that they accidentally gave me the one and only time they messed up my order. It's strips of beef with broccoli and it's really good.

Orange Chicken - This is another of their hot items that I order as not hot. The sauce isn't merely an orange sauce; there is other stuff in there. I couldn't tell you what, but it's very good. This is also one of my mom's favorites.

Sorry I can't comment on the soups and side orders. I've never tried them. Their dinner items are enough by themselves to eat and these extras aren't needed. As for the seafood dinners, well, I go to Shanghai Express for my favorites, and well, I haven't managed to order anything else that I haven't had before. Their amazingly cheap prices and full menu are available on their website.