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I really wanted to like China Pearl when I heard they had an amazing renovation. From the pictures and videos on social media, indeed it looked really nice. Very intimate and elegant. The decor of the dining area and bar was very pretty. That being said, the food was still bad... That has not changed at all. Steamed rice noodles were soggy and breaks apart when you pick up, chicken feet tasted old and so bland, the meatballs were also bland although they pour sauce on top, still bland, the shu Mai tasted old. It just had this old taste to it. Like it's been in the freezer for too long. The only thing that was decent were the spare ribs. Overall, I'll say, you come try it for yourself. Everyone's taste buds is different. Come and enjoy the beautiful decor and atmosphere.
Boston Chinatown is home to countless restaurants, bakeries and shops. Throw a rock in any direction and you'll hit a Chinese eatery or a bakery. Over the years, my experience at the restaurants in Chinatown has been good. Never disappointed and never really wowed. My biggest pet peeve with most Chinatown restaurants is that I don't believe anything is made or cooked to order. Regardless, we had a nice & cozy experience at China Pearl. The ambience is very charming, full of authenticity & Chinese character. Service was good while trying to overcome the severe language barrier. Evidently we didn't try hard enough given that our entree arrived before our appetizer, and we got Orange Beef when we had ordered Sesame Beef. Shu Mai This appetizer item was in fact tasty. However I couldn't tell if they were made fresh. Beef Fried Rice Extremely generous portion. Same pet peeve where I believe a huge batch is made ahead of time and portioned per order. It was good Orange Beef Not the biggest fan when beef is covered in cornstarch. But this would be considered a guilty pleasure. And it was a generous portion of orange marinated beef served with steamed broccoli. Paired well with our fried rice All in all, I've yet to be wowed at an eatery in the wonderful Boston Chinatown neighborhood.
First time coming here after the remodel -- the new interior looks great, way more modern but still keeps that Chinatown charm. We ordered a bunch of dishes and everything was delicious! Highlights were the black pepper beef tenderloin, garlic shrimp, and seafood soup. The mango pomelo sago at the end was the perfect finish -- light and refreshing. Feels like a little taste of Hong Kong right in Boston. Definitely coming back!
I've been coming here since I was a child. It's your classic dim sum parlor with the ladies pushing the carts. For a few years they had to renovate the interior, and they finally opened, and it looks beautiful inside. Come here for the classic dim sum experience. My go tos are usually the rice noodles (cheung fun) and the bbq pork baos.
I love this place for a casual Sunday dim sum or a dinner. Dimsum is good and solid. The Har Gau, shrimp rolls were all delicious. They come around on carts which so very authentic. Vibe is 3/5 - clean, good patrons and the interior looks very authenticly Chinese so you feel like it's an "occasion".
Man, I can't remember the last time I last went to China Pearl... must've been at least a decade ago? They had just finished remodeling not too long ago and reopened with this beautiful, modern interior! We came here as guests for a dinner with ~10 tables and were served the same 8ish dishes as the other tables. Food honestly hasn't changed much... not the best. But I guess China Pearl hasn't ever been known to be booked for the food, more so for the venue + how they have the space to cater for large parties of people for events etc. The chicken was a little on the rare side, very bloody lol. The crab meat & fish maw soup tasted peculiar. I usually enjoy this soup w/ reg vinegar and white pepper, but something was off about it & I still can't put my finger on it. Only took a few sips before putting it off to the side. The fish, although looked pretty appetizing, was kind of a flop too. It had this weird aftertaste and not much flavor behind it. Pretty much, in conclusion the food wasn't great. I will say though that the mango pomelo sago dessert soup at the end was probably one of the best dessert soups that I've had in the Boston area! Much better than the typical red bean/green bean/taro sago soups served at other Chinese restaurants. We were all agreeing at the table that this was like the quality we'd expect from establishments that mainly sell dessert soups and we'd definitely buy & order this again. Other than the soup, meh. Likely won't be back unless for an event.
They open during Christmas so we went to check it out since I haven't been there since I was a kid (before all the fancy renovations). Inside was about 75% full of people at around 1230pm. They still use the traditional cart method which in my opinion is outdated, inefficient, and poor use of staff. The other restaurants have switched over to check list menus with pictures, which not only does it lay out all the options for you but you also order everything in one go instead of having the cart aunties continuously circle around trying to sell their dishes. From a food perspective, this is not the best dim sum I've had but from a boston perspective, the bar was never that high for dim sum or even food in general. All the items were pretty typical. The soy sauce chow mein was lacking the crunch and looked dull. The egg tart was tiny bite sized. The typical siu mai and dumplings was nothing special from what you can get elsewhere. The rice rolls were also typical. The stand out item was the baked char siu bun, which we ordered multiple of. The tofu pudding was lacking the typical syrup flavor. Overall, they can renovate the place all they want but the dim sum does not hit, it becomes a front to attract a different audience. If I find myself in Boston chinatown again, I will try other dim sum spots. This wouldn't be my first option. As a kid, Windsor and great taste were the spots but as I remembered, they are small restaurants and crowd quickly.
China Pearl is that longstanding, well-known dim sum place right in the heart of Boston's Chinatown. It closed down for renovations a few years back but just reopened this year, so it was good to see it busy again. The service is pretty much the classic, traditional dim sum experience. They use the carts that servers push around the dining room, which is always fun. It definitely helps if you know a little Cantonese to flag things down, but they also have paper menus you can point to if you want to order something specific or just identify what's on the carts. The dishes themselves are the standard, classic types of dim sum you'd expect. We saw and tried things like chicken feet, sesame balls, bo luo bao (pineapple buns), and all the usual dumplings and steamed items. Each dish was around eight dollars, which is pretty much the going rate at other dim sum spots in Boston now. As for the taste, it was fulfilling and hit the spot, but we found it to be pretty standard as well, with it being solidly made and authentic, but nothing that particularly reinvented the wheel or stood out dramatically from other good restaurants in the neighborhood. It's a reliable spot for that traditional cart experience. If you're looking for a consistent, classic dim sum meal in a historic setting, it definitely delivers.
Came here for a graduation dinner on a Saturday evening and had a delicious meal! The renovations look great. It's incredibly spacious and the bathroom is nice (especially the mirrors). That being said, because it is so spacious, there's a lot of noise. Also, I really hope they are able to add in lazy susans to the larger tables, since it was quite tough to reach over the table to get to dishes and the serving dishes were heavy so it wasn't ideal passing them around the table. The service was very accommodating, and we appreciated their flexibility in rescheduling our reservation. Unfortunately, they didn't have any crab or lobster available (they ran out). They did seem a bit short staffed; it could have been because it was getting late on a Saturday. The food was delicious! We enjoyed so many dishes, including the pork belly (shaped like a pyramid) as well as the fried rice, the beef chow fun, the beef and egg soup, the walnut shrimp, the clams, and the candied pecans (a nice alternative to roasted peanuts that are typical at Chinese restaurants).
Randomly stopped by China Pearl for dim sum during a Chinatown festival. The restaurant has got to be one of the cleanest dim sum spots I've ever been in! Servers are pretty attentive and speak both Canto and English. Food was pretty good overall and have some decent size portions. They also have an expanded menu for more family style dishes but we didn't order. Great spot if you're craving dim sum!
My husband and I are so excited China Pearl has reopened after 5 years of being closed (2-the pandemic & then 3-renovation). They did an incredible job. I love the giant windows!!! Never had them before. Well they did but they were covered by drywall. And what's even more wonderful-the food is still amazing and the service always good but now - outstanding! I like how they serve cold water in tall glasses instead of small plastic cups like they used to. The host Patty gave us a welcome back hug. We always took the kids here at least once a month for Dim Sum. We will be back!
We originally went to China Pearl on a food tour and tried a few pieces of their Dim Sum and loved it. So on our last night of our trip in Boston we decided to go back for dinner, and if we were impressed before, well... We are in love now. We ordered a lot!!! In addition to more Dim Sum, we ordered, vegetable pan fried noodles, original chef's chicken, pork belly bao buns, Fried rice and Jazmine tea. Their serving portions are huge, family style. Every dish was so fresh, so delicious and warm. We loved everything. I highly recommend this place.
We came here for DIM SUM and have a very relaxing place to eat! Was told this place is the perfect spot for Dim Sum....the Staff come around stops at your table and you can choose whatever you're up for trying! BE ADVENTUROUS! The small portions are best to try multiple dishes as we did! Each has a special ingredient to make dining interesting! W We tried several dishes and each was better than the next! Go and explore your culinary Options. read more
Very nice Ambiance, food was delicious, plentiful, excellent service. Not cheap for Chinatown, it's worth it for delicious food, ambiance and fast service. A venerable institution in Chinatown's culinary scene, this restaurant was one of the longtime anchor Resturant, and main resturant for hosting Chinese wedding banquet and long lines for dim sum on weekends, since I grew up in Boston, times and changes in Chinatown took a toll in its outdated style to adapt with current times. Now the reopened after an extensive renovation following a prolonged closure. It's back!!!! We sampled their dim sum a few months prior and revisited for our inaugural dinner meal since its relaunch. The experience was exceptionally good!!! Delicious! read more
I really wanted to like China Pearl when I heard they had an amazing renovation. From the pictures and videos on social media, indeed it looked really nice. Very intimate and elegant. The decor of the dining area and bar was very pretty. That being said, the food was still bad... That has not changed at all. Steamed rice noodles were soggy and breaks apart when you pick up, chicken feet tasted old and so bland, the meatballs were also bland although they pour sauce on top, still bland, the shu Mai tasted old. It just had this old taste to it. Like it's been in the freezer for too long. The only thing that was decent were the spare ribs. Overall, I'll say, you come try it for yourself. Everyone's taste buds is different. Come and enjoy the beautiful decor and atmosphere. read more
Boston Chinatown is home to countless restaurants, bakeries and shops. Throw a rock in any direction and you'll hit a Chinese eatery or a bakery. Over the years, my experience at the restaurants in Chinatown has been good. Never disappointed and never really wowed. My biggest pet peeve with most Chinatown restaurants is that I don't believe anything is made or cooked to order. Regardless, we had a nice & cozy experience at China Pearl. The ambience is very charming, full of authenticity & Chinese character. Service was good while trying to overcome the severe language barrier. Evidently we didn't try hard enough given that our entree arrived before our appetizer, and we got Orange Beef when we had ordered Sesame Beef. Shu Mai This appetizer item was in fact tasty. However I couldn't tell if they were made fresh. Beef Fried Rice Extremely generous portion. Same pet peeve where I believe a huge batch is made ahead of time and portioned per order. It was good Orange Beef Not the biggest fan when beef is covered in cornstarch. But this would be considered a guilty pleasure. And it was a generous portion of orange marinated beef served with steamed broccoli. Paired well with our fried rice All in all, I've yet to be wowed at an eatery in the wonderful Boston Chinatown neighborhood. read more
First time coming here after the remodel -- the new interior looks great, way more modern but still keeps that Chinatown charm. We ordered a bunch of dishes and everything was delicious! Highlights were the black pepper beef tenderloin, garlic shrimp, and seafood soup. The mango pomelo sago at the end was the perfect finish -- light and refreshing. Feels like a little taste of Hong Kong right in Boston. Definitely coming back! read more
I've been coming here since I was a child. It's your classic dim sum parlor with the ladies pushing the carts. For a few years they had to renovate the interior, and they finally opened, and it looks beautiful inside. Come here for the classic dim sum experience. My go tos are usually the rice noodles (cheung fun) and the bbq pork baos. read more
4 months ago
7 months ago
I love this place for a casual Sunday dim sum or a dinner. Dimsum is good and solid. The Har Gau, shrimp rolls were all delicious. They come around on carts which so very authentic. Vibe is 3/5 - clean, good patrons and the interior looks very authenticly Chinese so you feel like it's an "occasion". read more
2 months ago
24 days ago
Man, I can't remember the last time I last went to China Pearl... must've been at least a decade ago? They had just finished remodeling not too long ago and reopened with this beautiful, modern interior! We came here as guests for a dinner with ~10 tables and were served the same 8ish dishes as the other tables. Food honestly hasn't changed much... not the best. But I guess China Pearl hasn't ever been known to be booked for the food, more so for the venue + how they have the space to cater for large parties of people for events etc. The chicken was a little on the rare side, very bloody lol. The crab meat & fish maw soup tasted peculiar. I usually enjoy this soup w/ reg vinegar and white pepper, but something was off about it & I still can't put my finger on it. Only took a few sips before putting it off to the side. The fish, although looked pretty appetizing, was kind of a flop too. It had this weird aftertaste and not much flavor behind it. Pretty much, in conclusion the food wasn't great. I will say though that the mango pomelo sago dessert soup at the end was probably one of the best dessert soups that I've had in the Boston area! Much better than the typical red bean/green bean/taro sago soups served at other Chinese restaurants. We were all agreeing at the table that this was like the quality we'd expect from establishments that mainly sell dessert soups and we'd definitely buy & order this again. Other than the soup, meh. Likely won't be back unless for an event. read more
They open during Christmas so we went to check it out since I haven't been there since I was a kid (before all the fancy renovations). Inside was about 75% full of people at around 1230pm. They still use the traditional cart method which in my opinion is outdated, inefficient, and poor use of staff. The other restaurants have switched over to check list menus with pictures, which not only does it lay out all the options for you but you also order everything in one go instead of having the cart aunties continuously circle around trying to sell their dishes. From a food perspective, this is not the best dim sum I've had but from a boston perspective, the bar was never that high for dim sum or even food in general. All the items were pretty typical. The soy sauce chow mein was lacking the crunch and looked dull. The egg tart was tiny bite sized. The typical siu mai and dumplings was nothing special from what you can get elsewhere. The rice rolls were also typical. The stand out item was the baked char siu bun, which we ordered multiple of. The tofu pudding was lacking the typical syrup flavor. Overall, they can renovate the place all they want but the dim sum does not hit, it becomes a front to attract a different audience. If I find myself in Boston chinatown again, I will try other dim sum spots. This wouldn't be my first option. As a kid, Windsor and great taste were the spots but as I remembered, they are small restaurants and crowd quickly. read more
10 months ago
China Pearl is that longstanding, well-known dim sum place right in the heart of Boston's Chinatown. It closed down for renovations a few years back but just reopened this year, so it was good to see it busy again. The service is pretty much the classic, traditional dim sum experience. They use the carts that servers push around the dining room, which is always fun. It definitely helps if you know a little Cantonese to flag things down, but they also have paper menus you can point to if you want to order something specific or just identify what's on the carts. The dishes themselves are the standard, classic types of dim sum you'd expect. We saw and tried things like chicken feet, sesame balls, bo luo bao (pineapple buns), and all the usual dumplings and steamed items. Each dish was around eight dollars, which is pretty much the going rate at other dim sum spots in Boston now. As for the taste, it was fulfilling and hit the spot, but we found it to be pretty standard as well, with it being solidly made and authentic, but nothing that particularly reinvented the wheel or stood out dramatically from other good restaurants in the neighborhood. It's a reliable spot for that traditional cart experience. If you're looking for a consistent, classic dim sum meal in a historic setting, it definitely delivers. read more
1 year ago
Came here for a graduation dinner on a Saturday evening and had a delicious meal! The renovations look great. It's incredibly spacious and the bathroom is nice (especially the mirrors). That being said, because it is so spacious, there's a lot of noise. Also, I really hope they are able to add in lazy susans to the larger tables, since it was quite tough to reach over the table to get to dishes and the serving dishes were heavy so it wasn't ideal passing them around the table. The service was very accommodating, and we appreciated their flexibility in rescheduling our reservation. Unfortunately, they didn't have any crab or lobster available (they ran out). They did seem a bit short staffed; it could have been because it was getting late on a Saturday. The food was delicious! We enjoyed so many dishes, including the pork belly (shaped like a pyramid) as well as the fried rice, the beef chow fun, the beef and egg soup, the walnut shrimp, the clams, and the candied pecans (a nice alternative to roasted peanuts that are typical at Chinese restaurants). read more
3 months ago
Randomly stopped by China Pearl for dim sum during a Chinatown festival. The restaurant has got to be one of the cleanest dim sum spots I've ever been in! Servers are pretty attentive and speak both Canto and English. Food was pretty good overall and have some decent size portions. They also have an expanded menu for more family style dishes but we didn't order. Great spot if you're craving dim sum! read more
My husband and I are so excited China Pearl has reopened after 5 years of being closed (2-the pandemic & then 3-renovation). They did an incredible job. I love the giant windows!!! Never had them before. Well they did but they were covered by drywall. And what's even more wonderful-the food is still amazing and the service always good but now - outstanding! I like how they serve cold water in tall glasses instead of small plastic cups like they used to. The host Patty gave us a welcome back hug. We always took the kids here at least once a month for Dim Sum. We will be back! read more
1 year ago
We originally went to China Pearl on a food tour and tried a few pieces of their Dim Sum and loved it. So on our last night of our trip in Boston we decided to go back for dinner, and if we were impressed before, well... We are in love now. We ordered a lot!!! In addition to more Dim Sum, we ordered, vegetable pan fried noodles, original chef's chicken, pork belly bao buns, Fried rice and Jazmine tea. Their serving portions are huge, family style. Every dish was so fresh, so delicious and warm. We loved everything. I highly recommend this place. read more
11 months ago
Overall, good dimsum. My favorite is the shumai. It's big and packed with flavor. The steamed rice rolls with meat are good and surprisingly have a lot of filling. Xiao long bao doesn't have too much broth inside. Hargow skin is a little too thick, but there are pieces of chopped shrimp inside. I don't really like the filling of the second to last picture. Tofu with sweet ginger soup is good! The restaurant is very spacious and is nicely decorated. read more
1 year ago
My family and I love the new China Pearl. This is my husband's favorite dimsum place in Boston. The decor is instagram worthy and very clean. The service is good-- the staff were very attentive as we had someone who didn't eat meat and allergic to onions. Every thing we ordered was delicious. We are already looking forward to going back. read more
If you are ever in Boston, this place has wonderful Dim Sum! They came by our table with the traditional carts offering different types of dumplings, soups and spring rolls. Ambiance was very cozy and nice dragons on the walls. Service was great! I think my favorite was the soup dumplings and the red bean sesame balls! read more
4 months ago
7 months ago
Pretty mid. Sticky rice was the best but have to chase someone down for hot sauce every 5 seconds. Shrimp Egg rolls were next but cold. Dumplings, bean curd, and turnip cake were all lacking flavor and flair. Turnip cake needs way more crisp and they put hosin sauce all over the side we didn't ask for. They should just have sauces at the table. My water glass had someone else's lipstick on it. Cute ambiance but think it speaks volumes I prefer an Illinois chain (minghin) over this Chinatown restaurant. Started sweeping on top of us while eating. Also tried to put us in the white pol section when we're Asian smh. Service is decently fast but not that friendly read more
3 months ago
1 year ago
We came here on Sunday morning, we didn't need a reservation, but it does get busier during lunchtime. It's your traditional family cart style where you can pick whichever dish you like. The quality is OK. Most of the food is kinda on the soggy side, but it does fixate the dim sum craving. Unfortunately, there is no soy sauce bottle so if you need to get more sauce, you have to request it every time. there's parking for 20 bucks for two hours right next to the place otherwise it's tight street parking. read more
2 years ago
China Pearl, 9 Tyler St. Chinatown has reopened after remodeling!! I stopped in today for dim sum and it was excellent as usual! read more
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More info about China Pearl Restaurant
9 Tyler St
Boston, MA 02111
Chinatown
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(617) 426-4338
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Ask the Community - China Pearl Restaurant
Do they serve dim sum with carts all day and during weekdays?
They do, but the choices are more limited. I don't blame them as they don't want food sitting around if there aren't the crowds like on weekends.
Are they wheel chair accessible?
Not really. I just spoke with them and their dim sum is served on the second floor, no elevator. Plus, judging by the photos here, there are two small steps leading to the front door.
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