I am going out for dinner with a party of 8 this Saturday night. It will be all family and we aren't looking for fancy dining. I also don't want PF Chang's or any chain Chinese restaurant.

My husband and I will be paying for 5 of the 8 dinners (our 2 adult children and a significant other of my son) so we were thinking Chinese food might be fun and more economical than 6 $20 something entrees.

Is there a really good Chinese restaurant in Chinatown? I remember as a teenager going into town with my friends to House of Roy and other places; I never think to go and haven't been in years. Since we are going to be in town (near Dewey Square) I thought of Chinatown. by the way, I know we don't want so authentic of a menu that we will have pig's feet or brains!

If the answer is NO to going for a great meal in Chinatown, any suggestions for a non chain great restaurant not too far from Dewy Square area. Thanks.

Well, the good news is that there are no chain Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, though this doesn't mean there are no bad ones nor that one family might own more than one restaurant.

You need to look on Chowhound where most serious Boston Chinese foodies will post. I could give you advice here, but it would be out of date. My favorite restauraant is gone.

You have had a good thought if everyone likes Chinese food, and you could probably pay for everybody yourselves since it is generally very reasonable in Chinatown.

The real Chinese stuff like pig brains (sic) is not likely to be on the menu, so you won't have to worry except at Dim Sum when some very odd things come around. But try to get away from sweet and sour into something a little more adventurous.

With a few exceptions, your best bets for Chinese food in Boston will indeed be in Chinatown. A broad-based list, including non-Chinese options:

Dim sum: China Pearl, Emperor's (aka Empire) Garden, Chau Chow City, Hei La Moon.

Chinese seafood: Peach Farm, East Ocean City, New Jumbo Seafood.

Taiwanese: Taiwan Cafe.

Other good Chinese options: King Fung Garden, Hong Kong Eatery, New Shanghai, Pearl Villa.

Japanese: Shabu-Zen (shabu shabu), Ginza (sushi).

Malay: Penang.

Vietnamese: Xinh Xinh, Pho Pasteur, Pho Hoa, any bahn mi sandwich shop.

If you're a party of eight and want to keep with Chinese food, places that should best fit all parameters are Peach Farm, East Ocean City, New Jumbo Seafood, Pearl Villa, New Shanghai, or any of the dim sum spots. As good (and cheap) as King Fung Garden is, eight people would come close to filling this tiny spot. Making a reservation is probably wise with this many people.

Not much otherwise to recommend, and nothing remotely near Dewey Square. Allston has Shanghai Gate (Shanghai style food) and Cambridge has Mary Chung (Szechuan) and Qingdao Garden (Shandong style) and Mulan (Taiwanese) and Changsho (a little more Americanized than the others but still very good).

Agreed with Ackislander that checking the chowhound website is a really good idea.

I had lunch at New Shanghai last week and it was exactly like what I ate (and loved) in China in September. I highly recommend the Ma Po Tofu and the General Gao's Chicken!

I will check out your suggestions. amyb, given you just ate at New Shanghai and liked it, I will definitely look into it. I am not sure why, but I have never really gotten too interested in or trusting of Chowhound. bachslunch; have you eaten in any of the places you listed?

The owners of our favorite Japanese restaurant go to Shabu-Zen all the time (they don't serve shabu shabu at their restaurant) and highly recommend it. We still haven't made it there even though we both love shabu shabu.

My recommendation is also a bit dated but we've always liked China Pearl, especially for dim sum, and Penang. I used to work near Mary Chung in Cambridge and went there fairly often with friends who liked it. It was not my favorite and I could never understand the almost cult worship.

Juldie, I have in fact eaten at every one of the places I listed above. I wouldn't suggest them without a qualification if I hadn't.

And if I had brought them up anyway, I'd have disclosed that I haven't eaten there but have heard good things. I have done that on occasion, but I always say so in such cases.

I don't recommend restaurants I don't like.

sharona, I've had good experiences the few times I have gone to Mary Chung, though it has been a couple years since the last time I went. And while I have seen several positives from other folks about the place online, that's not universally the case. Greater Boston is not overloaded with Szechuan places, so this may be why it gets mentioned with some frequency. I did not much like the food at Sichuan Garden in Brookline the time I went, or I would have considered recommending it.

Juldie, I found New Shanghai on Yelp and have found other recommendations there for non-Chinese cuisine to be fairly accurate as well.

sharona, can you tell me about the atmosphere at Shabu-Zen? A lot of the reviews of many of the places mentioned here speak of how loud the restaurant is. I do want to be able to carry on conversations. Thanks,

Hi Juldie. If you will go back to my post you'll see that I recommended Shabu-Zen based on the feedback from another Japanese restaurant owner. We haven't been yet. Sorry I can't help with the atmosphere. Our friends have only mentioned that they consider the food to be very good.

Bachslunch, considering Mary Chung, yes, I know it's not universally adored but for those who like it they REALLY like it. You're probably right that since there aren't many Szechuan restaurants locally that Mary Chung maybe stands out for the sheer novelty.

I was given a recommendation to Taiwan Cafe. It is not too far from South Station (Dewey Square) and the reviews are very good for reasonably priced, authentic and quality food. Have you been there?

sharona, yes I saw your suggestion was a referral; just wasn't sure if they might have talked about the atmosphere.

Re Shabu-Zen, I've been there several times, and while it's not a hush-hush quiet place, it's not horrifically noisy either (as places like Grill 23 or Summer Shack can be). I'd class it as a place one can have a conversation while dining, as I've done so before, though other diners will be doing so as well. I don't think of this place as being any more noisy than other Chinatown eateries when they're busy. I very much like the food there and consider it far superior to its primary competition in the neighborhood, Kaze, which I can't recommend. It's not Chinese food, of course, rather Japanese shabu-shabu.

I enjoyed the couple experiences I've had at Taiwan Cafe. Its menu is definitely Taiwanese oriented, though if memory serves, they'll have some standard Chinese dishes as well. It's in Chinatown, and this neighborhood is indeed close by South Station and not far from Dewey Square. Not sure if they have an online menu, but it's probably worth a look to make sure it's what you want.

Found an online menu for Taiwan Cafe. No idea if it's current, but what's here looks like a lot of Taiwanese items as well as some standard Chinese ones:

http://boston.menupages.com/restaura...iwan-cafe/menu

I don't think you'll go wrong with Taiwan Cafe or Peach Farm or New Shanghai. Of the 3, Taiwan Cafe is the smallest and least fancy ( in terms of decor).

FWIW, these 3 serve different Chinese cuisine. Peach Farm serves Cantonese food and is best for getting live steamed fish.

Chinatown in Boston is small. All these places are within a few minutes' walk from one another; about 5 mins from Dewey Sq.

I would not choose a dim sum restaurant for a Sat dinner. It's just not "right" - dim sum is a breakfast food. Although you can get dim sum in Chinatown in the evening, chances are they won't be as fresh.

If you decide on a place, I suggest you call the restaurant in advance and make a reservation. It may not be easy to get a big table for 8 in Chinatown on Sat night without a wait.

Thank you yk; it' good to know any of the 3 should be good. In terms of 6 people wanting to catch up with each other do you think one's ambiance is more suitable for that?

I think Peach Farm or New Shanghai will be better than Taiwan Cafe in terms of ambiance. Having said that, Sat night dining in Chinatown always run the risk of

1) the restaurant being noisy with lots of families gathering for dinner
and
2) your party being rushed to pay and depart after you've finished dinner - if there's a long line waiting for tables

The above are my own suspicions - I rarely dine in Chinatown on Sat nights, so I could be wrong.

I want to thank you all for the suggestions. I thought I would let you know how last night turned out. I realized having reservations since we were a party of 8 was very important. My sister told me her friend had recently been to Penang and really liked it. I called and they were very kind and accommodating. They were happy to give me a reservation and they have a number of large round tables which was perfect.

The food was very good, something for everyone, although for the 2 vegetarians (no fish also) there was a limited selection. Although they bring the food out very quickly, we never felt rushed. The atmosphere was fun, spacious, festive, bright and airy with large windows facing the street and high ceilings. It was also reasonably priced. Some of the portions of the appetizers were huge so we decided to cut back on the entrees and not get an entree per person which was a good move. All in all Penang worked out perfectly. (it is actually a chain with locations in a number of states).

Juldie, thanks for reporting back. Too often people don't let us know and I always wonder if they went to a recommended place. I'm glad Penang worked out for you. I like it, too.

Tell me Bachslunch, yk et al...are you old enough to go back to two of China town's favorites: #9 Tyler Street, and IIRC, #8 Tyler Street? Having been born and raised in the Boston area (Quincy), my family used to frequently make a pilgrimage to both the aforenamed. As a young adult, I continued the practice...and of all my worldwide travels, I still rate Boston Chinese food at or near the top. I must admit I haven't been in a very long time since transferring to California (1957).

Just curious to hear whether those wonderful kind of eerie little places still exist. At the time ('30's thru 50's) a small loaf of very fresh Italian bread was always served with your meal, with little dishes of sesame-seeded kumquats for dessert. (only in Boston had I seen bread served!)
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