Cancel

    Open app

    Search

    Lotus Garden

    3.0 (172 reviews)
    ModerateChinese
    Closed 11:30 am - 9:00 pm

    Lotus Garden Photos

    You might also consider

    More like Lotus Garden

    Recommended Reviews - Lotus Garden

    Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
    Yelp app icon
    Browse more easily on the app
    Review Feed Illustration

    Reviews With Photos

    Soup noodle braised beef
    Susanna C.

    Middle of the road review based on my experience. Restaurant is filled with Asian customers so it's a good sign. Of the dishes we ordered the best was the braised beef ho fun soup. The brisket was tender and flavorful. General Taos chicken was good, not overly breaded as with other places on the average side were their stir fried rice noodles. Shrimp with rice noodles and Singapore rice noodles were just average.

    Whole fried chicken
    Megan Z.

    My relationship with this restaurant spans over two decades. Lotus Garden is not beautiful - it has outdated decor and the lights in the dining room are dim, not for ambiance - but it is a staple in the Plainsboro community. Sitting here now, as I wait for my family to arrive, other parties come through the front door and the owners welcome them in with familiarity. Everyone comes here. The menu includes your typical American Chinese fare - the General Tso's is excellent every time. They have plenty of lunch specials. But most come here for authentic dishes. My mother nudges me "What's that? What are they eating?" at everyone else's spreads. You can't come here and order just one thing. Today, we ordered our favorites - seafood pan fried noodle, whole fried chicken, General Tso's (excellent again, no surprise). We also ordered a new favorite, crispy spicy pork chops. Crispy onions and peppers top tender and fried pork pieces that are lick-your-fingers salty. There's plenty of parking in the strip mall complex. I think any negative reviews are expecting more from this place, but Lotus Garden has been a constant in my life and I think it's just great the way it is.

    Chicken with Broccoli
    Leena S.

    I grew up on Lotus Garden take-out and that was nearly 40 years ago. I have not been here in years. After seeing some of the recent negative reviews, I was a bit nervous to go back, since I have just fond memories of the restaurant and their food. I'm happy to report that my experience with the food and service was solid! I was here for lunch with a friend. The lunch prices are definitely at a higher price point as with most restaurants. I ordered the Chicken with Broccoli and my friend got the Shrimp Chow Mein. Both entrees came with soup (Wonton and Hot and Sour). We both enjoyed our meals and didn't have any complaints.

    Parth R.

    One of the best and most authentic Chinese spots in central NJ. I've never had a bad meal here and order from here every year for Thanksgiving. Whether it is a quick weeknight meal or a large gathering weekend dim sum, this place offers quick and no-frills service with incredible dishes. My favorites are the Taiwanese style pork chops, Szechuan diced spicy chicken, and the salt and pepper squid. I also believe this place is BYOB so what is not to love about not getting ripped off for alcohol?

    lamb chop
    Emily N.

    Very tasty lamb chop. Water spinach was very oily. Rice was good. We've come here for years. The waiters are nice and fast. The authentic chinese food is on the back of the menu, but it is a bit more pricey. The restaraunt is big, not many people. It's a good place for the area.

    Fried apples

    I order take out once a week at least. Food is good every single time. Every dish is tasty. Please try fried apple and ice-cream. Not a dessert you will find anywhere else and delicious beyond description.

    Beef tripe and tendon spicy Sichuan style
    Jonghan L.

    Lotus Garden gets a bad rep from the Chinese American community in Plainsboro/Princeton. Having gone there a few nights ago, I was pleasantly surprised on how good and delicious the food was. Went with family and had a party of four at 6pm on Sunday night. Restaurant wasn't too busy that night so we were immediately seated. PROS: Highlights were definitely the steamed sea bass! You can immediately tell that fish was steamed with love - very saucy, aromatic, meat was moist, was seasoned to perfection, and had a great balance of sweetness from the fish sauce and saltiness from the soy sauce on top of all the aromatics such as scallions, ginger, and cilantro. Highly recommend anyone to order that dish. The 香干肉丝 (tofu with pork strips) was incredibly delicious as well! great ratio between tofu and pork, and had great flavor to it as well. Other highlights were the garlic spinach which was sauteed to perfection and the dungeness crab special for the night - the crabs were freshly caught as the server brought one of them out for us to see and were of very high quality - lots of meat and yolk coming from these dungeness crabs. Food was very authentic and flavorful! Server and the owner greeted us at the front and were very friendly and professional. Service was quite fast as we got our first dish within 10 minutes of ordering. CONS: 夫妻肺片 (Spicy beef tripe and tendons) was slighly underwhelming and dry. It's usually prepared in a bath of chili oil, but we were surprised on how dry and chewy the meat was. In terms of pricing we were in for a rude awakening. Total bill excl. tip amounted to ~$100 for four. The restaurant was surprisingly expensive for somewhere in suburban New Jersey. I feel like the prices for similar items could even compare for authentic Chinese restaurants in NYC. OVERALL: Very pleasantly surprised with the overall quality and tastiness of the food at Lotus Garden. Would come back again, although there will be a few items I would avoid ordering.

    All the celery and zucchini that is in an order of Kung Po Chicken that I separated before eating.
    Michael G.

    Please note that pictures below are NOT what you will get. I separated the meat, red peppers and peanuts from the zucchini and celery and the vegetables were over half by volume of the entire meal. Couple of other things here - first their Kung Po Chicken is made with dark meat and not white meat. Texture was not initially what I expected but since the menu only says "chicken", I guess I have to adjust my expectations. This meal was $14.95. Second thing was I asked for it to be Spicy/hot and it was mild with no heat at all unless I ate the whole peppers in there. They could easily do a much better job with this meal but choose to cut corners at each step. I am happy to pay $14-$18 for a meal but use the best ingredients and don't put in a lot of cheap filler ingredients. Use sweet red pepper and maybe sno peas. Give it flavor not filler. Not worth the money. I will not be back.

    Ins: silvia.journey

    See all

    2 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    15 days ago

    Great food! Take out a few times a month and always consistent. Modifications are easy too.

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Ann M.
    41
    22
    3

    5 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 1

    2 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 1
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 1
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 4
    Thanks 0
    Love this 7
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 2
    Oh no 0
    Photo of E M.
    0
    399
    184

    8 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    1 year ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 10
    Thanks 3
    Love this 5
    Oh no 3
    Photo of André B.
    195
    13
    5

    2 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    2 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    2 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 1
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    8 years ago

    Helpful 5
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    8 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    6 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    5 years ago

    Helpful 20
    Thanks 0
    Love this 16
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    5 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 0
    Love this 2
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Tim L.
    6
    76
    24

    3 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Lena J.
    288
    350
    9444

    9 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 1
    Photo of Adriel N.
    327
    79
    11

    5 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 0
    Love this 2
    Oh no 0

    2 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    5 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Sam H.
    595
    3
    0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    2 years ago

    45 minutes to our order and our food is not served yet. Only 2 servers that functions as runners as well. What has come into this place?

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Don W.
    0
    73
    4

    4 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    7 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    Page 1 of 5

    Lotus Garden Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Lotus Garden

    You might also consider

    Verify this business for free

    People searched for Chinese 7,188 times last month within 15 miles of this business.

    Verify this business

    First Wok Chinese Restaurant - Singapore Noodles

    First Wok Chinese Restaurant

    3.4(108 reviews)
    3.1 mi
    $$

    I'll put more effort into my review than the people who run First Wok put into serving quality…read morefood. Here goes: Simply awful. Despite the menu hyped description of a dish called the 'Seafood Treasure', the entree was nothing more than deep fried salt bombs that resembled pieces of stale shrimp and non-identifiable fried pieces of what is supposed to be scallops (I think...) Wifes Sesame Chicken, was no better and the soups are now served in tea cup size bowls at $3.00 per...What happened to soup being served in adult size soup bowls? Trust me when I tell you that restaurants are just sticking it to customers over and over again with shotty quality, poor service and lack of care in what's coming out of the kitchen...Not to mention, overpriced menu items and greedy service charges. First Wok is no exception. Grade: F

    I have no problem with the food which is always well prepared however, I must take exception to the…read moreaddition of a 3.9 percent "operations surcharge" and a 5 percent credit card surcharge. I should have anticipated the grift when my fortune cookie warned me that "the line between good fortune and schmuck is sometimes unclear." If this nickel and diming when dining is truly the future maybe it's time to reintroduce myself to my kitchen stove. Just raise your prices and stop the charade. My bill shouldn't look like the window sticker on a brand new Toyota.

    Photos
    First Wok Chinese Restaurant - Chicken with eggplant

    Chicken with eggplant

    First Wok Chinese Restaurant - Lunch Menu

    Lunch Menu

    First Wok Chinese Restaurant - Chicken with garlic sauce

    See all

    Chicken with garlic sauce

    XiBei Cuisine - Chinese hamburger lamb

    XiBei Cuisine

    3.6(27 reviews)
    3.6 mi

    On our way from NYC to Philly, we decided to stop in Princeton for some excellent regional (not…read moreAmericanized) Chinese cuisine. Luckily for us, this is the small place we picked. We only had to wait 15 minutes for a table. Comfy benches are around the corner to the left. Ricardo greeted and helped serve us. He was especially gracious with my 90 year old aunt. Her safety and enjoyment were my top priorities! We enjoyed our unhurried meals, asking that each dish come out when it's ready so we could all share. Full and happily satisfied, we resumed our road trip! Life is good with north western Chinese cuisine!

    Cool little shop for a taste of Northwest China, but the spicy wasn't much spicy, the servings…read morelooked big but ended up being small and not deep dishes on the tins above heater bowls that weren't heated, and the hand-pulled or knife-cut noodles - noodles were premade, not handmade. Pass. This might satisfy a homesick student because there's nothing better, but we can do much better at home or at Flushing. The best dish was the chopped cabbage dish - that was closest. Lamb skewers were too thick and not seasoned enough. Monstrous plate chicken - good thing we had two, because they weren't all that big for 6 of us, and no spicy adjustment allowed (couldn't do not spicy, but ended up eating it.. and it wasn't spicy). Beef w/tomatoes was better - potatoes felt like they were deep fried and thrown in, not at all taking in any of the sauce. Big groups could have a hard time finding seating - this gets busy and their tables are really designed for 2-4. Staff was also mostly non-Mandarin speaking students that hung around and talked amongst themselves instead of checking on our experience, refilling water, or getting the check until we flagged them down.

    Photos
    XiBei Cuisine - Inside

    Inside

    XiBei Cuisine - Crab meat pork soup dumpling

    Crab meat pork soup dumpling

    XiBei Cuisine

    See all

    Lotus Garden - chinese - Updated May 2026

    Loading...
    Loading...
    Loading...