I enjoy watching Ming Tsai on the Food Channel, and am wondering whether or not to eat at Blue Ginger on my upcoming trip to Boston. Is the food really interesting? Is it overpriced simply because of who owns it?

I agree, Cindy...Ming has a very engaging personality and television preference. I love watching him. I have not been to Blue Ginger, but I would love to go. Try Zagats.com and see if his restaurant is listed there. There also might be a link to any website he might have thru foodtv.com. Based on his tv shows, I think the guy can really cook And he is cute as all get out too, lol. Looking forward to seeing some replies here.

I haven't been to Blue Ginger but friends who have say it's great. It is located in Wellesley, not Boston, so you'd need transportation to get there.
Reservations are hard to get though, so plan ahead.

Have been there twice. It was excellent and expensive (but not more so than any comparable restaurant in downtown Boston would be). One time the service was quite less than competent, however.
We prefer "Lumiere" in West Newton - less than a year old, with rave reviews, including (I believe) one where the chef is currently (or about to be) listed as one of the top 10 new chefs (perhaps Food and Wine Magazine?) French bistro - expensive but worth it.

I have been to Blue Ginger and enjoyed it. It was not pricey by Boston standards - as was said above its more or less what most places in the City seem to charge. Which might seem very expensive if your from elsewhere. I haven't been to Lumiere yet- but I've heard great things.

Cindy: I have been to Blue Ginger and have to say that it is extremely over-rated. Very average dinner and actually poor service (the excuse was that they had a big party in the front - apparently they can't serve a table of 14 and the rest of the restaurant at the same time). I would recommend not making the trip out to Wellesley for Blue Ginger - plenty of outstanding restaurants in Boston.

I agree with Karen that Lumiere in West Newton is definitely worth a trip. Been there several times and each time service has been as wonderful as the meal.

Went to Blue Ginger for an anniversary on a Tues. night right after work so we were fairly early. Wanted reservations for 6:00 and were told that was impossible but 6:15 was O.K!! Place was half empty when we arrived. Service was horribly slow, about 1 hour between appetizer and main course. Food was O.K. but definitely not worth the hassle or the attitude. Go to Lumiere.

I would highly recommend against going here. I live in the Boston area and go out to eat quite a bit. I have never been treated as rudely as I have at this place. The food here is decent enough, but the service completely ruins the whole experience.

There is nothing worse than spending $200+ on a meal and as you are leaving having the head seater make a rude accusation about taking too long to eat. Especially when there were plenty of free tables at the time. I am not sure if she was just having a bad day or didn't like us in particular, but it completely ruined the evening. It made me wish I had not spent so much here. I thought the food here was very good. Usually even bad service does not out-way good food, but when the staff goes out of its way to be rude to its costumers, then it ruins even the best of food. For anyone planing to spend any sort of money here, I would highly recommend reconsidering. The risk of having your evening ruined due to the rude staff is just not worth it.
I have been here twice now. The first time was pleasant but the second time completely ruined this place for me. I will never eat here again or recommend this place to anyone.

Wow, you had to create an account, and resurrect a 10 year old thread to complain about a server at a restauraunt?

In the interests of giving a more balanced view of Blue Ginger, I've been 3 or 4 times in the last 2 years. I find them a bit inconsistent these days. I suspect it is because Ming Tsai is rarely in the kitchen any more. Some dishes are excellent, some are just okay. Service is generally pretty good. I've never had a problem with th maitre d/hostess at the front of the room.

But I have a hard time recommending it to a visitor to Boston. It's long shlep out of the way, and very expensive for the inconsistent quality. You can do better downtown.

And even 10 years later, Lumiere is still a better choice in the western burbs.

(Can't believe I am responding to a 10 year old thread). Have been twice for lunch - once because I was working down the street at the time and also this October since my mother loves Ming Tsai so I took her for her birthday.

It was a good meal, with some interesting options on the menu. Service was fine - no attitude or rudeness as mentioned above; spped was reasonable for us and appeared to be same at other tables. Cost was a bit high for suburbs, but not terrible. So in total it was a nice and not especially memorable lunch - can't honestly even remember what we ate. I would only go again if I were close by or a dining companion really wanted to say they had been there. (I live on the other side of Boston and it took almost an hour to get there).

I live close to Blue Ginger and Lumiere and have been to both, recently and when each first opened. They are very different restaurants, with very different menus. Neither is so special that you can't get the same thing in Boston. Blue Ginger in particular was outstanding when it was new, but so many have copied Ming Tsai's style that you can get comaparable in Boston. Also, you need a car to get to either, so think on it before you run out there.

Have been to Blue Ginger before. I've certainly liked what I've had there and never experienced service problems. But I'm not sold on the idea that it's worth making an extra-special trip here for someone playing tourist in Boston. That of course doesn't mean the place is a tourist trap -- it's not.

Note that opinions on the place at Chowhound are all over the map, with varying degrees of hate to love expressed.

Like china_cat, I'm suspicious of one-shot poster AnneNowland's motives here in dredging up a 10-year old thread.

Note also that one can indeed reach this restaurant via public transportation. You have to take the Worcester-bound commuter rail from South Station out to the Wellesley Square stop to do so. It's a modest walk from there.