I was there the other night with a small group of friends and we made a reservation on a thursday. We arrived there on time and the lady told me to wait at the bar inside.

In the end we waited 45 minutes and had to inform ourselves whether we weren't forgotten or anything. Isn't that the point of making a reservation so you don't have to wait? 10-15 min OK, but I heard from friends that they had similar experiences before here as well as at their sister restaurant Coconut Paradise.

Even the most basic chinese places would at least offer you a tea or a drink and a snack to bridge the time, but here it was rather suit yourselves.

Otherwise, the food was excellent, very delicious (although the snacks arrived after the main courses) and the decor is just really nice. Food and decor wise I would definitely recommend it to friends and I will definitely return here but its just not a very pleasant thing to be kept waiting for 45 minutes.

I have always been very impressed with the whole experience at Lost Heaven on Gaoyou Lu, thought it was time I wrote a review about it! I find this to be the perfect date destination, lovely food and an amazing setting! A favourite must try dish is the lamb samosas and as a dessert the pumpkin cakes. The service is generally good but at times could be a little more attentive and perhaps the wine list could be improved but overall a great experience!

You go to some places for the food. You go to some for the decor. You go to some places for the aromas that waft out. You go to Lost Heaven for the atmosphere.
Food you'll get here is pretty standard Chinese food that is tasty, but the prices are much much higher than half of the fancy Chinese-Chinese restaurants. Paying a premium for the menu in English is how you should look at it.
The service is alright, especially for a venue that large and spread out. Sometimes you had to keep your arm in the air until the blood drained out of your hand, but most of the time a Fuwuyuan was shouting distance away. The decor of this place is really special, at least for the first few times you see it. Guests and business partners that are around for a few days would definitely love to see this place. If you are trying to impress a date, I suppose you could bring them to Lost Heaven. After dinner you could grab a drink and head upstairs to the rooftop and cuddle up on a couch. Very nice rooftop area actually, would be great with a large group of friends or even going up after to discuss some business.
The drinks here are pretty good, but be sure to not stir your drink with the SPICY RED PEPPER they put on the side for garnish. This will kick you in the face Every gulp! In my experience, they will not make you a new drink if you do not like it... *sigh* I guess not everywhere is like Starbucks.
Anyways, overall... this place is good for those special occasions, business schmoozing, wining and dining that special someone; but I wouldn't go alone to enjoy a nice hearty Chinese meal.

I was looking forward to dinner at Lost Heaven having read a lot of positive reviews. Like many have said previously, the restaurant is quite gorgeous, on three floors of a mansion. Very chic. The wait staff is in spectacular I presume Yunnanese garments, so there is a drama factor and I earmarked it for taking out of town visitors who want a memorable dining "experience" in a pleasurable ambiance.

We were running late so pushed our reso for 4 back by half and hour. When we got there, the table was not ready yet (perhaps they had given away our earlier table, but the server kept us informed) but we waited only another 10-15 minutes or so and enjoyed a cocktail in the downstairs lounge. Dramatic red lighting, plush seating, lots of South-east asian paraphernalia, i.e. buddha heads. One of my friends commented that they got one of the paintings from FACE.

I have never eaten authentic Yunnan cuisine before so I was not really sure what to expect, and I didn't order since one of our party had been there before many times, or I would have liked to experiment with some of the more regional things they have like certain kinds of mushrooms, vegetables, preparations. Fully english menu with a full glossary and extensive description of unconventional food items.

Flavour wise it was an unchallenging melange of Thai/Indian and Chinese, apparently competently executed. Two of our party doesn't really like spicy so we also stayed away from spiciness. Best: lamb samosas stuffed to brim with spiced meat, accompanied by a pale green condiment, a crispy veg pancake, a boneless shredded chicken dish, and a tender eggplant/tomato dish (tasty but very basic). We also had a fish dish which came garnished with perhaps charred garlic/ginger (not overcooked, but a little meh), another chicken dish, white rice, the "Yunnan" tea (indistinguishable from - very tasty Presentation was fairly standard, i.e. similar to your local Chinese place, shared dishes (except portions are noticeably smaller)

I think we could have gotten away with a bill around 1000Y for four people including one cocktail each, but two bottles of wine jacked up the bill by another 600Y. Chi-ching. That said I probably wouldn't recommend red wine with this range of spices. Like with Indian cuisine, beer is a better accompaniment and/or white wine. I should also mention that although I felt satiated and one friend even had dessert, within about 30 minutes all three of them were hankering for more food and ate a whole pizza at our next locale.

The only service flaw of the night was not having any napkins on the table (typical - what is UP with that?!)

I do still find it disconcerting when I go somewhere and it is dominated by waiguoren. Yes I am one...but still.

Menu & atmosphere warrant at least one repeat visit. But I'll probably try and sample other Yunnanese restos in Shanghai first.