Last night, on a beautiful Buffalo summer evening, I went to Shanghai Reds on the waterfront for the first time. I cannot believe what a great place this is and how it showcases all that the Buffalo waterfront can become. With fire pits, and a beautiful setting - watching the sunset over the water with the sailboats - it was amazing. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t been there before or that a patio like that was pretty much empty. -CMR
Thanks for the note CMR. RoBear and I went over to Shanghai Reds yesterday to check out the scene and are happy to report that the scene is finally starting to 'happen' at the restaurant. We spoke to Mark Beeston, Midwest Regional Manager, who joined us at our table for a spell to discuss the waterfront restaurant and how it is finally getting over its lengthy growing pains. Mark told us that Shanghai Reds is starting to cater to Buffalonians. "We're getting live music on the deck a couple times a week. We've also teamed up with Moondance and visitors are happy to grab a drink here while waiting for a ride on the commercial sailboat. Things are friendlier all around and it shows with our numbers. We've also had an incredible wedding season."
Shanghai Reds is starting to see 400 dinner nights as a regular occurrence... numbers that bode well for the success of the business. I'm sure the beautiful weather has not hurt sales either. Many boaters are sticking close to home due to the soaring price of gas, and that means that a trip down to the marina might entail a prolonged visit to nearby restaurants on the water.
When we paid a visit yesterday there was a fair number of people (photo: many two-tops), eating... even though we had arrived in-between the lunch and dinner hours. It was sunny and relaxing and I remembered the email that CMR had sent raving about the atmosphere. How can you beat spending a day on Buffalo's waterfront next to a bustling marina watching all of the boating activity? I still have not been there in the evening to enjoy the fire pits, though I will have to put it on the list of things to do this summer.