Very exciting to have an authentic Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood. They just opened in January 2026 and have a smaller menu for now. Not too much customers currently but here is my thoughts of the food: The Soup Dumplings are decent to good. Good when you crave it. Salted & Pepper Cod and Calamari is really good. Seasoned perfectly. Sizzling King Oyster is a great vegan options. It's king oyster mushroom that is chopped to small cubes and stir fried. Overall, food is seasoned well and hits the spot. read more

Novo Lantern - Menu - Dim Sum Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Food was actually below average and nowhere close to being authentic. Seems as if they're selling to those unfamiliar with Chinese food. When asked what's their recommendations, the server said Beef With Broccoli! That's the very fake Chinese food Americans get at Panda Express! See the photos here: nothing was good about the food here. The crispy pork (see picture) was garbage -- it's a common Chinese dish and I can name many other restaurants that know how to make this dish well -- example, B2J Tasty Pot in Allston can do it way way better than Novo Lantern. Without exaggeration, I don't know how to make this dish, but am quite confident I can look up a recipe online and make it instantly better than what was served here... The server appeared to be either careless, or just extremely high, didn't even put in the order but lied that it was coming... The only thing pleasant about Novo Lantern was the hostess who seated us. read more

Novo Lantern - This dish was garbage -- it's a common Chinese dish and I can name many other restaurants that know how to make this dish well. - Dim Sum Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Novo Lantern is a rather new Chinese fusion restaurant in South End that opened earlier this year! We visited around 3pm and had no trouble getting a table for two. We had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to order & requested for the following 4 dishes: - crabmeat soup dumplings -fried cod and calamari -sizzling scallion fried beef -hot & spicy fried flounder fish Each table gets a complimentary scallion sesame pancake/bread with scallion olive oil to start. It came with four pieces & was pretty tasty! The scallion olive oil was subtle but lovely. The star of the show for me was their crab meat soup dumplings! We were kind of bummed out when we saw that they only do 3 soup dumplings/order, whereas most places do at least 4-5 dumplings. Once we tried the dumplings, we immediately understood why it was $9/3 pieces... SO GOOD! I might even go as far as to say, best soup dumplings we've tried in town? Everything from the filling, the dumpling soup broth, and skin was PERFECTION! Very FLAVORFUL and honestly great size per dumpling. They make the dumplings in house & have a counter in the back of the restaurant where you're able to see the staff make the dumplings fresh! The second dish that arrived to our table was the fried cod and calamari. We almost always order calamari whenever we go out to eat & this was not bad! It was a generous amount of cod & calamari. I do wish that they included the tentacles (my favorite part!) and not just the body of the calamari. This dish was also under salted, so we did have to ask for some salt from our server. The sizzling scallion fried beef was under salted, as well. I always love getting sizzling plate dishes, especially when they light it on fire hahaha but flavor was definitely lacking here. This was my least favorite of all the dishes we ordered but I have the say, the beef was very tender and soft! Lastly, we had the hot & spicy fried flounder fish. It wasn't spicy at all honestly and unlike the previous two dishes, this was TOO salty for my liking. I noticed they sprinkled a lot of salt and I found it hard to eat w/o pairing it with some rice. I believe they use a black bean sauce for flavor... which is usually pretty salty already. Other than the black bean sauce, I felt like it was missing some depth in flavor I would've liked to see. I did, however, like the batter they used, how they fried it to be perfectly light + crispy, and fish itself was cooked well. Overall, I'm glad we were able to try a couple of different dishes & now we know which ones we like! Would for sure come back again for their soup dumplings. Their service was AMAZING. Very rarely do I say that but the server we had was incredibly attentive and checked up on us every few minutes! Parking: street meter parking read more

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This spot is right on Washington and Mass ave, parking on Washington has meters be sure to be courteous if you find a spot and park close to the sidewalk, it is a BUS lane next to you after all. The restaurant is done up nice! Great for small group of friends or date night / luncheon. Sesame bread with scallion oil - free right now and was nice, light, and paired well with the scallion oil dip! Fish roe soup dumpling- texture of the dumpling was really nice for me; the wrap was not overly thick and held the soup pretty well. HANDMADE fresh when you order at the dumpling stand near the back. The filling was well marinated and the broth was flavorful. I enjoyed. Wish they did 5-6 pcs for the price but I'm happy with the dish though Sizzling beef onion and peppers, could be the style from the region of China the cuisine is from but I'm used to canto style with some more salty seasoning and black pepper sauce style. Overall meat was tender; flames table side YES haha the charred pieces were tasty! Salt pepper squid and cod enjoyed this dish for the texture, light batter, and well cooked seafoood. Now the seasoning was all on the onions and peppers BUT the protein had no seasoning. Unfortunate miss here. Fried flounder hot and spicy - YES YES, like taipei style food i enjoyed this dish a lot. Fresh fish fillet, battered, fried, great seasoning. Overall i think the prices are a tad higher than i would have felt this cuisine should be at per dish but can't complain too much since i did enjoy the food overall. Server named Jack A+ service my guy! Appreciate you! read more

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I honestly liked this place better when it was Nan Xiang Express. The food was pretty standard for Chinese (not the best in the area and not the best value either), but I guess it's the only sit down Chinese restaurant in this part of South End. They added a couple booths to the interior, the decor is clean and modern, and you can see someone preparing the food/dumplings at the front. It definitely tries to cater more to Western / more fusion palates with the use of kale, brussel sprouts, and gnocchi in some of the menu items (which we avoided). I think as a result (or maybe this just reflects the surrounding community), the patrons are largely non-Chinese, but I was glad to see how busy the place was! Our servers were a little rusty. For example, it seemed like they forgot about the vegetables we ordered because it came out much later than the rest of our food. read more

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We are in from out of town and wanted a nice midday lunch on a chilly afternoon- this was exactly what I wanted! The restaurant is clean and so cute. Great service. Everything we ordered was terrific! I highly recommend! read more

I visited for their lunch special on a weekday, and it was easy finding a table for the group of us. The staff were all very friendly, but it took 20 minutes for the food to arrive. My favorite part was honestly the complementary pancakes every table gets. We tried the fish and the general su tofu dishes ($16 or so), and the lunch special came with egg drop soup and rice. While my friends liked the fish, the tofu dish was rather disappointing with the tofu being dry if not in sauce and seemingly having an air-fried texture. The two pieces of steamed broccoli tasted fresh but were cold and seemed out of a frozen bag. I appreciated that there were plenty of vegan options on the menu, but I'd definitely choose something else if I were coming back. Overall some of the food was good, and I loved the free pancake appetizers, but be prepared to wait and maybe pick a different tofu dish than the general su tofu. read more

Novo Lantern - General su tofu - Dim Sum Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Novo Lantern opened for business on January 8, 2026 at the corner of Washington St & Mass Ave. At the time of this posting, they were in their soft opening phase with a limited menu, which offered a selection of handmade dumplings, noodles & rice dishes, wok fried dishes, appetizers, hot tea, & soft drinks. The pricing is moderate. The place has a bright full service dining room and also offers takeout. I stopped by Novo Lantern for a mid-afternoon meal and dined-in. The server informed me they just opened on Thursday and still in the soft opening phase, everything was homemade. I was given a menu and ice water. I ordered the Pork Soup Dumplings (3 for $8 plus tax), Crab Roe Soup Dumplings (3 for $9 plus tax), and the Egg Fried Rice ($17 plus tax). While I was waiting, a server brought out complementary homemade sesame cake with oil dipping sauce. The round sesame cake was hot and soft, very good. The soup dumplings arrived first with ginger sauce provided, followed by the fried rice. The soup dumplings were very hot filled with a light broth & meat fillings. The fried rice had strips of scrambled egg & scallions in soft lightly fried rice. The rice was a great dish for absorbing the broth from the dumplings. After I was done, I was given the check which was $36.38 with tax and before tip. A handheld payment reader was brought over so I could tap & pay by card. Overall, a very good early dinner at Novo Lantern with good informative service by two servers. I will have to stop back for more dumplings and other Chinese dishes when their menu is expanded. read more

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We visited Novo Lantern for a graduation dinner. We were lucky to find a place 2 weeks in advance with availability! We got stuck in traffic and they were very accommodating and held our reservation. Half our party was vegetarian and can recommend the kale dumplings and salt and pepper eggplant both which were amazing. Nothing special about the scallion pancake and general tso tofu. The veggie Singapore noodles tasted good but could use more vegetables. The meat eaters loved their chicken dishes and the salt and pepper fish and squid was really tasty and a large portion. The mango sago dessert was different and delicious. Our waitress was so sweet but seemed overwhelmed. Not an issue for us since we were in no hurry but we had to remind her about a couple of things. The restaurant was half full at the time. Ambience was very cool and we'd love to visit again! read more

Such a great little addition to the South End. The space is small, minimalist, and beautifully designed -- simple and clean. And the handmade dumplings, right in front of you... absolutely delicious. Fresh, flavorful, and clearly made with care. Every dish we tried was comforting and full of flavor. Owner and Staff were incredibly kind, welcoming, and attentive, making the whole experience feel warm and personal. A small place with big flavor. Definitely worth a visit. read more

Novo Lantern - Dim Sum Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

We're visiting Boston for the first time and stopped by this restaurant because it was walking distance from the hotel. Such delicious food! We got the cumin lamb, green beans, pork soup dumplings, and pan fried pork buns and, for desert, we got the mango sago. Everything was absolutely delicious and tasted exactly like mom's cooking. If anyone wants authentic Chinese food in this area, this is definitely the place to go! read more

Had dinner at 6pm. Was very quiet. The waitress was very attentive and said they were looking for feedback. They get points for presentation - there is someone making dumplings in the back, we got nicely presented scallion pancakes (more like bread) as an appetizer on the house. The soup dumplings were flavorful but I wish the soup spoons had been bigger to accommodate. Please note you are only getting 3 large-ish ones per order so plan accordingly. Unfortunately we were limited by my temporary spice intolerance so perhaps we were ordering the wrong dishes. The crispy fried cod had an interesting presentation and was indeed crispy - but the flavor was mainly from the sweet and sour sauce. Another review commented on apparent to American tastes and I'm sure that's what they tried to do here. The ginger chicken tasted more "authentic" but wish we had been advised we needed to order a side of rice since it comes without. Overall, I think it's worth a try but you might need to try the spicy dishes. And maybe do more soup dumplings read more

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So happy there is a tasty Chinese restaurant in town. Food was really good. Loved the kale wontons in chili oil! Malabang noodles was also delicious. Be sure to order tea - they serve it in a beautiful glass pot and it adds to ambience in addition to adding balance to the meal. The decor is elegant - minimal but not stark - classy and modern. Service was excellent. read more

Novo Lantern - Chrysanthemum tea - Dim Sum Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Nova Lantern delivers a standout experience from start to finish. The food was exceptionalclean, confident flavors that immediately took me back to time I've spent living in Asia. The xiaolongbao and potstickers were beautifully executed, but the cumin lamb was the undeniable star of the table bold, aromatic, and deeply satisfying. The rest of the menu held up just as well. Service was excellent: warm, precise, and genuinely attentive without ever feeling intrusive. A thoughtfully run restaurant with real respect for flavor and hospitality. Since it's a new spot, I really hope people go check it out it's absolutely worth a visit and deserves the support. read more

Atmosphere look good but foods taste bland and tasteless. There's a lot of servers but service were extremely poor and slow

Get on to this place early because it's great... I live in the neighborhood and this will be my go to for great food.... 5 stars​

New gem in the South End. Delicious food, everything tasted fresh and rich in flavor. The classy city vibes and attentive service is top notch. read more

The Food was excellent the service was good the place was very nice and fancy my daughter and I enjoyed are self alot read more