The Shang Bala is perfectly located for Jokhang Temple and Barkhor with good restaurants within metres.
The hotel is a little dated but more than acceptable. The lift was broken down for our entire stay making the suffocating affects of altitude sickness all the more prevailent but hey, this is Tibet.
Breakfasts were good. The Summit Cafe in the Hotel entry was excellent (but pricey).

Shangbala hotel is a 3 star hotel. Shangbala Hotel 's location is very good as it is in centre of the town but room is very small.

We stayed four nights in the Shangbala Hotel, we had a standard double room for 150 Yuan, which was a massive discount from the advertised rate on the reception board (Y480).
The hotel is fairly new, with carpet, nice bathroom and air conditioning. It is of good international standard and clean, although lacks character.
The location is excellent for touristic interest and restaurants.

Our heater in our room didn't seem to work either although we did ok without it. We were with a group and our guide asked that all of us with problems like heaters, water etc let them know so we could be moved to another room. It must be a frequent problem there.
The drapes in the room were shredded.
When we signed up for our tour we were supposed to stay at the Lhasa Hotel which has much higher ratings.
The bathroom wasn't very clean but only one hotel on our trip (19 days )didn't have dirty tile grout or mold so we were used to it. In most of the hotels we stayed at in China the air conditioners were not turned on in the building even though our rooms were 80 degrees. We were specifically told by management in one hotel (Beijing Henan Plaza) that the air conditioning isn't turned on until it is 28 degrees centigrade outside.
So a room on the cool side was a treat.
The food was fine, we had breakfasts and several other meals there. The Nepalese gentlemen working in the hotel restaurant management were very cordial and took good care of us at meals. They were the best feature of the hotel.