A major disappointment in regard to service! Was there with a party of 16. Appetizers AND entrees all came out at different times. 3 of us got our entrees after everyone else was done eating theres. Food was okay, but not amazing. Atmosphere was hectic and seemingly chaotic on this Sat night. If a large party cannot be accommodated on a Sat night, they shouldn't take the reservation! read more

Just have a waitress/ waiter take care of a set number of tables. It's like everyone is running around, exhausted and super unsafe in a restaurant by the way yet the customer food arrived late for all the table. You are reinventing the wheel of how restaurant should run and it is not working, not for customer and not for the staff! We ended up cancel two of our dishes because it takes forever to arrive and they literally didn't care. read more

Food is fine. Restaurant is total chaos. They do a strong door dash business. Problem is there's like three people working here handling the deliveries, the phone, tables, and food. Just a disaster. Apparently management is not going to hire enough people to run the place properly. I won't go back. Two and done. Was a stressful unpleasant experience. read more

5 stars! Delicious meal, every dish we tried was incredible. Loved the black pepper beef (so flavorful and tender), Singapore noodles and duck (which comes with a savory broth made from the duck bones). This has quickly become our new favorite Chinese restaurant in Montclair. read more

My family and I ate there for the first time tonight. The food was terrific, as was the service. I can especially recommend the green beans, the ma po tofu (I asked for it with pork. There's also a vegetarian version.) and the garlic bok choy. Highly recommended. read more

Take-out portions are shockingly small. Everything felt like it was served in miniature. The prices, on the other hand, were shockingly large. read more

I was excited to try this tonight, but very disappointed in the order I received through Uber Eats. The spring rolls were crisp, but tasteless...there was a mushy filling with no identifiable ingredients (veggies, etc.). The moo shu chicken was relatively bland and the pancakes it came with were very hard to separate. Also, moo shu as I know it is served with sauce (plum/hoisin) but that was not supplied. Not sure whether I would recommend this place. read more

Absolute disaster experience. I called in a takeout order at 7, was told a half hour, showed up on time and waited another half hour until 8 and the order still wasn't ready. The girl kept saying the whole time oh it's coming, it's almost ready, yours is next out. She didn't care. I asked to speak to the manager, he offered 10% off but there was no sense of urgency. He went to go clear a table instead of checking on what was happening in the kitchen with my order. I left and went to another restaurant. read more

So excited for a legit Szechuan restaurant in the heart of town! We got takeout that included Dan Dan (slightly too spicy), Chongqing chicken (numbingly deliciously), string beans, chow fun, and twice cooked pork. Everything was so flavorful! They also own Taste of North China in JC which I enjoyed when I lived there. Wish I took pic of the food before it got devoured. Hope to return many more times! read more

We were excited to try Paper Lantern based on the positive reviews. However, we were not very happy with the experience. One of the items we ordered was not included (a refund was issued), one item was wrong (ordered Chow fun and received Vermicelli), the order was a little late (25 mins past original time on Grub Hub), and the sesame chicken was thigh meat and the sauce tasted a little ketchupy. The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. Unfortunately I don't think we will try this place again. read more

Love this new Montclair spot for fresh, authentic Chinese food, wonderful service and relaxing atmosphere. Everything I ordered, from pork soup dumplings to Dan Dan noodles, was delicious. Looking forward to coming back soon to try the rest of the menu! read more

Paper Lantern - Chinese Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

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We really wanted to like this place. Menu looked different from your average Chinese places. Some great reviews so we gave it a try. We ordered through Uber Eats. All the food tasted fresh but overall was very bland. We got the kong pao chicken. No vegetables all chicken and no flavor. The Dan Dan noodles was like spaghetti in a bland light garlic oil. Not good couldn't even eat it. Steamed pork dumplings. Strange flavor and mostly vegetables no pork. Either way not good we were disappointed. read more

Food was delicious and the service was great! Peking duck is a must try! Other highlights included the spicy chicken and the pan fried pork buns! Will be back read more

Overpriced. A shrimp meal is $27.95. Takeout they charge you extra for chopsticks lol Soup dumplings had an embarrassing lack of meat in them., and friend rice has also little to no meat. Unacceptable. Common, if you charge these prices, give a proper amount of the quality ingredient. read more

Great food, loved everything we got, the duck was excellent. The service was fast and a great value. BYOB is a big plus. read more

Paper Lantern - Chinese Near Me - Montclair, New Jersey

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The food is consistently good, and the flavors are bold. There are a lot of unique it's to choose from.

The service was great and food portion size is good as well. Manager was nice and even gave my son a nice red lantern for souvenir

Loved Paper Lantern. Excellent hot and sour soup -- best in NJ, and believe me I have tried a LOT. Potstickers (AKA pork fried dumplings) were very good and plentiful - 8 in an order. Chicken with string beans also excellent. Service was good, not rushed but efficient. Ambience was nice and comfortable. Prices were typical for good Chinese in NJ. We have missed Sesame so much and Paper Lantern will be our new go-to for great Chinese. read more

I see lots of good reviews, maybe mine was an off day. Maybe second week growing pains. I don't know. All I know is, my food took forever to be ready, after I had received notification that it was ready. Knowing it was maybe new joint jitters, I expected the service to be bad. But they were all over the place. I thought, at least the food will be good. It unfortunately was not. The fried rice was so bland. And the spare ribs were just not good. And for what I ordered, it wasn't exactly cheap either. I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon, but I hope they get better. read more

Pick up orders take a very long time to be ready after receiving notification that it is available.

The waitstaff was very friendly and attentive. However, it went down hill from there. The food is mediocre at best; could've been from a local Chinese takeout place and I would not know the difference. Vegetable dumplings to start off with were ok. Strange sour tasting ponzu sauce. Chicken and broccoli entree was nothing special. Tasted like happy Ming down the street. The spicy chicken was unfortunately dark meat and almost inedible with the amount of Birds Eye chilis. No actual flavor. Not worth $21 per entree. Just stick to your local takeout Chinese spot because this is nothing special and not worth the prices. read more

paper lantern is the new hot spot in town. we made a reservation for 8 & we came in early & were sat at 7:45. they have wifi readily available to join if needed as the service is spotty. they have soy sauce & chili oil on the table already & the atmosphere is very busy but warm & the lighting is inviting. we ordered pork dumplings - you get 8!, scallion pancakes, & cold sesame noodles. the portions are huge & great for the price. for entrees we ordered dry sautéed string beans, the vegan mushroom fried rice (amazing that the menu lists out if it's vegan or vegetarian), and kung pao chicken. the service was amazing - always quick to be at the table for what we needed, packed up our food quickly when we were finished, very attentive. also byob! they also have great calming music playing - also a speaker in the bathroom which is a nice touch! i hope they continue to see success as they are a great addition to montclair & we'll definitely be back. read more

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The food and service were great! We had the cumin lamb, Mali tofu and green beans. All were fantastic. A good new find in town.

Paper lantern replaced my daughter's favorite restaurant. Today was our first day back to try it- and she really enjoyed it! We'll be back.

Must have been an " off night"... just ordered from Uber eats because of it he lovely reviews... the buy one get one specials of sesame chicken chicken and broccoli fried rice and an order of salt & pepper chicken w/o any peppers etc for the child... ofcourse it had countless slivers of unwanted peppers , onions etc ... toss that along with the chicken and broccoli that I assumed would be white meat... all of it was large, very large pieces of chewy chicken thigh... ugg.. watery brown sauce.. totally unedible... we really wanted this to be good, but not in the dorection its going tonight. read more

Take out was yummy! Tried for the first time. Definitely a step up from many past experiences. Will return again and again!

Food is fantastic! If you want Chinese food in Montclair make sure to go to Paper Lantern. Staff is attentive and the ambience is very relaxing. Must try! read more

Excellent food. It was fresh and perfect balance of heat. Loved the ambiance and staff was great.

Delicious food; nice atmosphere, caring staff. The staff more than made up for one small problem that came up. Will 100 percent return!

Wow wow wow, this is the best, most authentic Chinese restaurant in town, period full stop. We ordered chili oil fish, beef stripe, tan tan noodles, pork ribs, pea shoots, and fried rice. All of them were so delicious, flavorful, and well portioned. The spicy dishes had some real heat and the chilly oil fish had the authentic numbing Sichuan taste. Even the "simple" noodle and fried rice dishes were the best I've had in the area. Finally, Montclair has real authentic Chinese food! (not just the Chinese American style - which you can get at Paper Lantern too). Can't wait to try all the other dishes! read more

So happy to have amazing Szechuan style Chinese food in town. All the food was incredibly flavorful. It was like having a party in my mouth. Favorite dish was the chonqing spicy chicken (fried chicken with peppers). Always get dan dan noodles. Will be going back for sure. read more