Qingdao Garden
| Address: | 2382 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02140, USA |
| Phone: | +1 617-492-7540 |
| Rating: | 4.2 |
| Working: | 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10:30PM 11:30AM–10:30PM 11:30AM–10PM |
Location
Photos 65
Reviews 12
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Yin Luo
We tried Qingdao Garden more than 10 year ago, not impressed at all. Never visited again until today on our way back from our favorite place, Szechuan’s Dumpling in Arlington – didn’t know it was closed for renovation. We made an improvised decision to try Qingdao again, thinking maybe the owner/chefs have changed. But we regretted as soon as the first dishes came – happened to be the noodles. We ordered two types, dry/cold and hot in soup. Both were made from dried noodle one can buy from oriental supermarket, which we have not seen in any other Chinese restaurant we dinned in. Worse yet, they were both terribly overcooked. The flour pies were terrible too – dry and tasteless. I make better ones when I have time. The pork and lamb dishes were laughable (for the sake of my own health, I don’t want to be irritated by the food I’m served) – the cooked meat were laid on top of some shredded iceberg lettuce – hey, we are Chinese, we know what’s Chinese cooking, what’s not! The $12 rib dish contained 5-6 little pieces, but at least the veggies were properly cooked. The only thing that was reasonable was the dumpling. Two weeks ago at Szechuan Dumpling 12 of us spent $100 and had plenty leftover. Today, $80 for 4 with little leftover we didn’t even want to take (we did only for the reason not to dump food to trash). At the end, the owner came to our table, which I give him credit for, and asked how we liked the food. I told him the noodles were too soft and the pancakes were too dry, etc. He was polite and said he would let his chefs know. His explanation for using the supermarket dried noodle was that otherwise the cost would be too high :( He can be assured that we won’t be there again unless we are somehow convinced he has learned how to balance the cost with quality, his profit with customers’ satisfaction.
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Kristen Dority
Love, love, love! Wen (the owner) and his family and crew have been feeding us good home cooked meals for years. I love both their authentic Chinese food and American Chinese. Great vegetarian options and brown rice, there is something to please everyone. During their renovation, which took infinitely longer than expected, Wen paid his staff. Having done something similar for my own business, I have utmost respect for him. Now about food: My mothers family is originally from northern Korea so a lot of their food is what I ate growing up in S Korea. My mother in law, who grew up in CT loves their general Gaos chicken. My husband who loves all things spicy gets shredded beef with hot peppers and cucumber salad . My 3 y o daughter gets white rice the best rice ever!. My 18 months old son devours the entire order of chicken dumplings. I have been hooked to pork tripes and cold beef dish combined. If you love food, like we do, this is a must try. Ask what they have fresh that day.
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A Private User
It was our 1st time there tonight... we just got back and i couldnt wait to write this review, because the food was gooood! The cooking was not pretencious...not too much salt or grease... didnt look fancy... but very authentic home-style. Its northen style food...so definitely try their cucumber salad! and the other one that was excellent was potato chips cooked with green chillis... it was fabulous... of course their dumplings are great too, just like what the other reviews described. i wish there were more people eating there... its really good food, so i hope it gets enough customers so it stays in business! only thing is they dont serve qingdao beer(actually they dont serve any alcohol there)... but youre up for really vegetables and meats, thats the place!
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Emily Dirsh
Great chinese place close to Davis. Dont expect much in the way of ambience, or even very attentive service, but youre there for the food, right? If the owners around, be sure to ask him whats fresh. Our first visit was on a weekday, and the owner was very helpful - recommending fresh vegetables, fish, and a new (at the time), off-menu dish that was absolutely delicious: scallops and baby bok-choy in a ginger-soy sauce, nom-nom-nom. The dumplings are home-made with a thicker, chewier style of wrapper, and you can pick up a bag of 50 frozen dumplings to take home with you, which I highly recommend if there are any available. Weve only ever ordered from the northern chinese and house specialties sections of the menu, but everything weve had has been fantastic.
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Rachel Stevens
This is the most authentic Chinese restaurant in Boston outside of Chinatown. Try the Northern Chinese specialties, and if you dont see something you want on the menu, order it anyway - theyll probably cook it for you! And if youre not sure what to order, the owner will give you lots of suggestions. If you must go with Americanized Chinese food, the General Gaos Tofu is to die for. The decor isnt amazing, but its nicer than Chinatown. The service has always been good to me. This place is cheap and amazingly tasty.
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mary kissane
We had a 60th anniversary party for my parents and decided to order chinese food. It was just for immediate family about 20 ppl. The food we ordered was for take out and it was prepared wonderful. Everyone enjoyed the dinner. Everyone raved about the fried rice and all the appetizers that were ordered. I would not hesitate in recommending this restaurant to anyone for eat in or take out. Thank you for a wonderful dinner
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Philip Gladstone
We went here on a whim. The owner recommended all sorts of dishes -- but we ended up with adding a dish of seasonable vegetables to our Singapore Rice Noodles and Pork & Leek dumplings. The thinly sliced lotus root in the vegetables was excellent (crunchy). The dumplings were delicious and the noodles spicy. The decor is nothing to write home about, but that isnt why you go there. We intend to return when we are hungrier!
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Andy Valenti
The food here is wildly inconsistent. The homemade dumplings, frozen and dumped into boiling water, are vastly overrated. If the owner, Walter, is around, hell let you in on the off-menu items that hes got the kitchen cooking up. Hell also tell you whats been freshly purchased at the market in the morning. Order from the House Specialties or Northern Style portions of the menu and you are likely to be pleased.
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A Private User
I expected better after reading all the positive reviews, but was sorely disappointed. We ordered fried rice along with some seafood, and typical of the chinese food found in this area, both were lacking in flavor and heavy on MSG. The place however was quite busy and I noticed that most of the patrons were devouring their dumplings... so they must be doing something right.
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Ean Moody
Amazing Szechuan-style food. The owner is anyways ready to come by and tell you about the best off-menu items, and hes never steered me wrong. When they say "spicy" they mean it, you have been warned! I recommend the Qingdao dumplings, lamb hotpot, Szechuan style chicken, and boiled fish in firey sauce.
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Rebecca Chappelear
Seriously good Chinese food. Its hard to find Hunan Beef in New England but they have it here and do an amazing job. Also the dumplings are extremely well done, the dough is not overly thick. Other great dishes are the egg drop soup (ask for the dry noodles) and the kung pow chicken.
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Matthew Aronson
Best Chinese food in the area. American style, authentic Northern style, and dim sum cant be beat. No ambience, but thats not why you came anyway. Get the pork and cabbage dumplings. I love the mooshi pork and red braised pork, but the American classics are great too.
