Blue Ginger

This place tends to attract extremes of opinion. Have enjoyed eating here -- place has good service, good food, pleasing ambiance. Expensive. Not a lot of places of this type locally, more common on the West Coast. Not sure if it's worth a special trip from Boston (it's in the ritzy suburb of Wellesley), but simply not as bad as some think.

I went to Blue Ginger on 3/14 for the first time for my wife's birthday. I will also say it will be my last time. I had ordered spring rolls with 3 chili sauce for an appetizer. The spring rolls themselves weren't that flavorful, the 3 chili sauce was bland at best. One would expect this soy sauce with chili's to complement the flavor of the spring rolls. The soy sauce in my opinion was a let down. One because there was only mild heat and the sauce didn't enhance the spring rolls at all. Next we ordered garlic-pepper lobster and the demi-glaze lamb dish. I requested the lamb to be cooked "medium". The dish came out as medium rare. The waiter explained that the way we cook is in a French style. So medium is like medium rare in American restaurants. I was disappointed that my dish wasn't cooked properly. Next my wife ordered a dish recommended by the waiter. She ordered the garlic-pepper lobster. The waiter said this was Ming's signature dish! For one the waiter didn't explain that this dish would set your tongue/mouth on fire due to the amount of black pepper in this dish. The menu also does not indicate this. Most Asian restaurants indicate the level of heat offered in each dish. My wife wasn't able to enjoy her lobster because her palate was muted from the amount of pepper. She couldn't enjoy her drink or even my meal. Since the level of heat was never communicated by the waiter or the menu, we were both very disappointed. Even more so that the manager said this was the signature dish. In my opinion this dish is not a well balanced dish at all. A succulent dish like lobster shouldn't be drowned in black pepper. My wife couldn't enjoy the lobster because her palette was ruined by the amount of pepper. This dish didn't have a proper balance of ying and yang.

The food is supposed to be a blend of oriental and western, however, it achieved neither. I ordered its smoked duck in clay pot. The presentation was good, it looked really nice! But the taste was anything but. The duck was bland, the stock was very greasy, tasted like it were from a bad Chinese takeout.
The price tag is about $60/person, at which you would expect decent service and food. Well, the service was spotty as there are too few waiter/waitress and too many tables.
Definitely NOT recommended