China Pearl Restaurant

06/27/10

Beware of poor restaurant practice!

by andy501076 at Citysearch

I been a faithful follower of China Pearl for years, but recently service there has been disappointing that made me want to retract my previous good reviews.

Today, one of the dish we order was fried, and when we got it, it was very cold. When we called the server over and request for a new one, he and she wanted to simply throw in the fryer to reheated. I cook fry food from time to time, and fried food need to be hot to be delicious, other wise it's going to be mushy, or trap too much oil to be delicious. Long story short, THEY TOOK THE FOOD BACK AND PUT IT DIRECTLY ON THE COUNTER, AND PLAN TO GIVE IT TO OTHER CUSTOMERS.

This is very disturbing for a frequency diner, and I think this is a poor business practice. I want to inform other diner of this issue, and dine at your own risk. Thank you.

• Pros: price and environment
• Cons: they put returned food out for sale again

02/08/10

Dim Sum Yum

by bffoodie , Citysearch Contributor at Citysearch

Once upon a time I heard that Ming Tsai of Blue Ginger fame liked China Pearl for dim sum, so I grabbed a bunch of friends and off we went.

We were not disappointed. Dish after dish tasted fresh, and authentic. One of our guests was not a huge dim sum fan so he was a bit tentative especially when it wasn't clear what we were eating. The rest of us just dug in and enjoyed every bite.

• Pros: so much good food
• Cons: you might not know what you're getting

01/13/10

Best Dim Sum Ever Eaten

by Ronda S at Citysearch

Took the family (2 adults & 2 children) into the China Pearl. We were greeted nicely at the door by a gentleman in a suit. We were the first to arrive for the evening. We were carrying a lot of packages from a shopping trip, the Host helped us to find a place to sit the packages so we could be free to fully enjoy our meal.

The service was outstanding. Very clean and professional. The staff was aware of our table and would promptly arrive with water or tea before we even asked.

Even though the service was wonderful, the food was the star of the evening. We tried several different Dim Sum items and each one was a treat in itself. Fresh made and hot. Presentation was outstanding, to the point that we took photos. We had the steamed BBQ pork buns, and they were out of this world, the best we had ever eaten. The seafood (shrimp, mussels, and crab) were fresh and tasty. Everything was exceptionally good.

Would I recommend this restaurant... oh yes! We have added it to our "must visit" places for out-of-town guests. We will also be returning quite frequently, for the prices were comparable as well.

• Pros: Best Dim Sum
• Cons: None

10/17/08

Great food, mediocre selection, quick service

by scottieb3 at Citysearch

We had dim sum brunch before catching a train at South Station and found this place to be perfect. The food was as advertised, delicious and constant with a good amount of selection. I've been to other dim sum with more varieties, but we reached full stomachs well before we got bored with the food. Though we were stuck in an out of the way corner, we still had constant service and were able to get in, eat, pay and leave all within a busy Sunday morning hour. Our one downside was the apparent drought: we were never once offered water and only after getting up and bugging some of the other servers did we finally get any.

• Pros: Service, quality, speed
• Cons: Busy atmosphere inside, poor water service

09/21/08

I don't get the hype...

by JillyMink at Citysearch

Dim Sum is one of my favorite ethnic options and I have been really curious to try China Pearl after having read so many positive reviews. I appreciated the friendliness and efficiency of the staff, the paramilitary way in which tables are seated and the distinctive Chinatown ambiance. However, the bottom line for me was that the food just wasn't that good. The dumpling wrappers were thick and over-cooked, the fillings themselves lackluster. I also found that there wasn't much variety in the choice of dumplings. Almost all were some sort of shrimp plus something option, just another generic assembalance of the same ingredients in different configurations.

If this is truly the best Dim Sum option in Boston, I think I'll skip it and wait until I leave town.

• Pros: Efficient service, cheap
• Cons: Food isn't up to par