Chau Chow City Restaurant

(617) 338-8158

81 Essex St
Boston, MA 02111 42.3524 -71.0603

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Neighborhoods: Chinatown, Central, Downtown, Chinatown / Leather District

Price:

$

Last updated 1.24.11

Category:

Restaurants

Payment Methods:

American Express, Cash, Visa, Discover, MasterCard

Restaurant Special Features:

Family-Friendly Dining, Brunch, Family Style Dining, Lunch Spot, Group Dining, Carry Out, Cheap Eats

Cuisine:

Dim Sum, Vegetarian, Chinese

Smoking Permitted:

No

Editor's Tips

What People Are Saying About Chau Chow City Restaurant

Featured Review

Contributor

Contributor

In Short – Chau Chow's first two floors offer seafood; the upper floor serves dim sum. All areas are patrolled by dutiful, formally-dressed waiters. The menu includes hundreds of offerings, from the familiar (moo goo gai pan, sweet and sour chicken) to the more exotic (honey-glazed jumbo shrimp with walnuts, conch with ginger and scallion, scallop with green beans and Macadamia nut). The dining rooms are often filled with wildly mixed crowds, as boisterous groups of Chinese-Americans sit alongside well-dressed club kids or tentative tourists.

Editor's Tips

When to Go:
Tired of settling for pizza after closing down the clubs? The restaurant stays open until 4am.
ambiance
50.0% positive
  1. “Affordable and nice atmosphere for all ages!”
  2. “can live with the atmosphere but the food was not impressive”
drinks
0.0% positive
  1. “one thing special about this place is, any club-goer knows this is THE place to go to for after-party eats and "cold tea”
food quality
85.41999816894531% positive
  1. “Fast, good food and not to expensive, this eatery is well worth the trip into Boston.”
  2. “If you work at One Financial Center, then step out the back door and take the short stroll to Chau Chow for dim sum (or check out the lunch menu, where you can find a great meal for very little cash).”
  3. “Best customer service i've ever dealt with in all my Chinese food years.”
  4. “Crusty dried up rice pieces on utensils and their sauces for all their dishes were so weird and so thick and creamy.”
  5. “WIDE variety of selections, fast service and tasty food.”
  6. “Great food.”
  7. “The only thing good here is their egg tarts.”
  8. “Clean, tasty and fast service.”
  9. “great fish dishes and dim sum !”
  10. “The food is somewhat fresh but the taste is ok.”
  11. “The food is not quite as good or interesting as what you would get in the big cities of Asia or California, but what do you expect?”
  12. “The area by the kitchen was really dirty,the tsing-tao's were warm and the food seemed re-heated as opposed to fresh cooked.”
  13. “can live with the atmosphere but the food was not impressive”
  14. “The food is great, but you should always ask them to cook it the 'chinese way' so they won't add too much msg in it.”
  15. “also attended a large party here and the staff was more than happy to serve a vegetarian meal that was not part of the set menu.”
  16. “recommend the spicy salted squid, crispy fried chicken, and any of their steamed fish dishes.”
menu variety
100.0% positive
  1. “If you work at One Financial Center, then step out the back door and take the short stroll to Chau Chow for dim sum (or check out the lunch menu, where you can find a great meal for very little cash).”
  2. “WIDE variety of selections, fast service and tasty food.”
  3. “also attended a large party here and the staff was more than happy to serve a vegetarian meal that was not part of the set menu.”
service
85.71000099182129% positive
  1. “It also has great service and people from everywhere come to eat here.”
  2. “also attended a large party here and the staff was more than happy to serve a vegetarian meal that was not part of the set menu.”
  3. “expect bad service for a Chinese restaurant but this goes beyond.”
  4. “Clean, tasty and fast service.”
  5. “WIDE variety of selections, fast service and tasty food.”
  6. “The service was OUTSTANDING.”
  7. “Best customer service i've ever dealt with in all my Chinese food years.”
value
50.0% positive
  1. “This place is a bit pricey for dinner because it's a dim sum house.”
  2. “Fast, good food and not to expensive, this eatery is well worth the trip into Boston.”
5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended

08/27/11

This is one of my fovorite hangouts

by The Adventurer at Citysearch

I just love this place! It has awsome food and reasonable prices, If you like authentic Chinese cuisine then you will find it here. They also have some Chinese-American dishes for the unadventurous. They have plenty of space and parking, and it's open till 3 AM! The seafood is so fresh, it's still swimming in one of the tanks when you place your order. They also have the game on in the evenings and karaoke upstairs late at night. The Dim Sum is probably the best in Boston.

5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended

05/07/10

Simply the best

by CSMobileUser2 at Citysearch

Open late. Best customer service i've ever dealt with in all my Chinese food years. If your dining in, wonderful tranquil area with great scenery. average pricing, and in all honesty probably the best all around Chinese food experience you will have. Highly recomended!

1 Star Rating: Poor

09/30/09

Adding Tips By Yourself?

by LoveWilma at Citysearch

I ordered a takeout and 3 days later found out that the restaurant overcharged my credit card 10% of the amount I agreed to pay. This is rediculous - so the restaurant ASSUMED that I should pay tips without my awareness? I called the restaurant and was just pushed around. I guess this is a way they make profit!!

  • Cons: Overcharged My Credit Card
5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended

11/21/08

Very good dim sum in Chinatown!!!

by chuchumouth at Citysearch

I just love it. It is so good and tasty that I go there once a week!!!! Their Dim Sum is probably once of the best in Boston Chinatown. The only inconvenient is it is very hard to find a parking in Chinatown.

  • Pros: Excellent Dim Sum
  • Cons: No Parking
2 Star Rating: Below Average

07/21/08

I can live with the atmosphere but the food was not impressive

by PK2008 at Citysearch

As far as atmosphere, Im not hard to please so I wasnt concerned with the place itself. My friend was raving about the calamari and it wasnt good at all. The fried rice was the only thing that was good. I ordered beef lo mein and I wasnt impressed at all. The noodles were super thin, and I asked for no bean sprouts and they still put them in there. For the amount of money I spent, I should of gone to PF changs.

The Details on Chau Chow City Restaurant

Place Categories:

  • great food
  • fast customer service
  • pricey place
  • best dimsum
  • fantastic dim sum
  • thick sauces
  • huge story restaurant
  • best hands
  • bad service
  • great meal
  • happy staff
  • great fish
  • cold tea
  • excellent dinners
  • great scenery
  • recommend any
  • nasty first
  • great people
  • highly recommend dim sum room
  • not pleasant but
  • good quality
  • fresh cooked
  • good not as
  • affordable atmosphere
  • recommend fried chicken
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