I almost didn't want to tell anybody about this spot. I didn't want to come in here next week and see a bunch of other foodsters, and then have to listen to them bragging about this "find" to their friends, or have to rub elbows with those financial district meat heads, trying to impress each other with their urban savvy. I also didn't want to hear the usual ignorant white-folk banter, about the probable health code violations, lack of chicken finger, and the usual quasi-racist comments about the strange array of unidentifiable organ meats, and, of course, the soup, which is actually a common table soup you'd get at many "home style" restaurants in China, (which is *not "dish water", folks, but most likely a very light chicken and seaweed flavored broth, perhaps with a tiny bit of ginger; something I grew to understand, eventually, when living in China).. But, I consider myself a proud champion of any business that offers real food (i.e.,not prefab, frozen & fried protein blobs with starch accompaniment) without trying to build an empire off of its patrons. I had to celebrate this place and what they are doing. While most spots in Chinatown are slowly inflating their rice plate prices, Potluck is exactly the same as it was the last time I came here, 5 years ago. But the food is even better. If you are interested in authentic, home style Chinese foods, which are markedly different than the lavish imperial creations like Beijing's roast duck or the fine, impeccably fresh seafood of Guandong, you might want to check this place out. As another review noted, you will actually find potatoes being offered, which, unbeknown-st to most Americans, have taken the rural kitchens of China by storm, and exist in thousands of diverse and delicious preparations, such as hot/sour/numbing potato shreds, spicy potato slices, and Yunnan-ese mashed ("Grandma's") potatoes. Though you'll have to go down the street for better "tu dou", Potluck offers a simple but satisfying potato dish, and next to that, you'll find sauteed liver, possibly kidneys, hong shao rou (red-cooked pork belly), spicy salted shrimp, deep fried with the head and shell, bai cai (white cabbage) with wood-ear mushrooms, and a host of other meat, fish and vegetable preparations. And since you're practically paying Chinese prices for this, ditch the soft drink and wash the food down with the accompanying soup: a light and slightly salty broth with a hint of chicken and seaweed. Its something many Chinese seem to have on their table, and functions as an almost medicinal component to the meal; hot broth is considered good for the digestive process. Meanwhile, my compatriots often go for sodas or cold water, which are known to disrupt the digestive process (partially due to the fact that your body now has to simultaneously expend energy digesting your food as well as heating up the cold liquids, to maintain stasis. Or something. *Note: I'm guessing many Chinese folks might think we're crazy for guzzling cold booze, soda and ice water with our meals--tea and room temperature water, and even warm beer, were apparently the most common drinks of choice at my neighborhood dives in Chengdu. Those "culturally sensitive" restaurateurs would know to ask us lao wai's if we wanted cold beer and water with our meals. So pile this up on a hill of rice and you've got dirt cheap, decently prepared (if not the most intricate or intriguing), reasonably healthy comfort food. When's the last time you had that? Now that we have trucks that sling gourmet grilled cheeses for $7. Or that new song and dance where fancy pants chef try to shed their pretentious...pants... and serve gussied diner food, like foie gras meatloaf, and dump truffle oil on the mac n' cheese...Keepin' it real? Can you get real comfort food anymore, at a comforting price. I noticed, in my recent return to being a Bostonian, that workers' wages haven't actually risen with the rising cost of living, transportation, and everything else that isn't labor. And now comfort food has become another commoditized, nostalgic brand of haute cuisine. Slumming it, getting 'rustic" and "authentic" for fun. Can't wait for the $200 "dumpster crawl" through Back Bay's finest public allies, where you will dine on "extra fermented eclectic fare", and get your own bonus rat and dirty wool blanket at the end of the tour, which will end with a nap at a roped-off section of the Commons. But after the next economic meltdown, when the last jobless liberal arts graduate has decided to park their food truck, and the fancy chefs have returned to their day-jobs as caterers for the ruling class, I know that Potluck will still be there. I'll be there, eating the kidneys and guzzling the mystery broth like a good wanna-be putong ren. read more

Me, pointing to a dish that looked like frog legs: "What's that?" Lady behind the counter: "FISH!" Me: "hmm, that's weird, looks like frog legs." Me, pointing to some small whole fried fish: " What kind of fish is that?" Lady: "FISH!" Me, pointing to an indeterminable seafood dish: "How about that?" Lady: "FISH!" Me, now seeing a trend, pointing to what is clearly squid: "This?" Lady: "FISH!" Me, pointing to rice: "?" Lady: "Oh, well that is actually Jasmine rice cultivated from the Guangzhou region of China, we steam it in a rice cooker for 32 minutes and .... uh, I mean FISH!" I like coming here when I'm feeling lucky. I plunk down $5 and point to 3 dishes that I of indeterminable ingredients. I call it Lunch roulette. Some dishes here are pretty good, and some here are pretty bad. Pretty good: Any of the salt fried seafood dishes (squid, head on shrimp) Clams in black bean sauce (certainly not the greatest, but not bad for the price.) Pretty Bad: Ma Po Tofu (it wasn't terrible, but it didnt taste like Ma po tofu, not spiciness, no meat, not stir-fried.) Duck with Taro - Almost no duck, all taro in a mediocre sauce. Anything else I've had has been fairly average. The soup they serve tastes like seaweed broth with bits of seaweed in it. I've learned to just pass on it. read more

best deal, good quality food.

When I first moved to Boston, my job was on Beach Street, a block outside the Chinatown gate, and my first real experience with central Boston was walking from the Chinatown stop on the Orange Line, along Beach Street to my new job. With no big city living experience behind me, and having grown up in Schenectady (never a paragon of civic beauty), my reaction to Beach Street was "Oh, so this is what it's like" rather than "Dirt, ew." Potluck Cafe is Boston Chinatown as I know and love it...which may not be the Chinatown experience you're looking for. The sidewalks are often crowded, the pavement is broken, the dumpsters sometimes overflow, the streets have poor drainage when it rains and get appallingly hot in summer, but while none of these are exactly selling points, they're things that have never particularly troubled me or put me off my appetite. If they do trouble you in those ways, or if you have a need for table service, can't stand a crowded lunch line, and can't tolerate the uncertainty of point-and-take-a-chance ordering, you might reconsider a visit to Potluck Cafe. You have been warned. But from where I'm sitting, Potluck Cafe combines the sovereign virtues of convenience, great food, great price, and nostalgia to boot. Next to Ding Ho, it is probably the fastest lunch in Chinatown, even if you arrive at the height of the lunch rush. The food is really tasty and there's a huge variety. There are always several dishes that would look fairly familiar to an eater of Americanized Chinese food (chicken chunks breaded and fried in some kind of sauce with some kind of vegetable), and if you want to eat this "General chicken" (generic chicken?), well, it's there for you. But even if you're playing it safe, you owe it to yourself to take a chance now and then -- come on, you get three types of food, and enough of it to feed the Russian army! Order one unfamiliar thing, it could be your new fave dish! Eating that way, you'll quickly develop a Potluck Cafe repertoire of "that thing with the tofu and chilies and I don't know what but yum" dishes. Today's selection: mabo tofu, a really tasty barbecued chicken, and a thing with pork belly and tofu tied in knots...no clue what that's called, but wow, good. At $5.50 the plate, it takes me back to the days of the Chinatown Mall, home of sub-$5 rice plates. And the big downside, you have to take a short walk down a dirty alley and order from people who don't speak fully fluent CNN English? I can live with that. read more

Great for $6.50 you get rice, 3 choices and soup. And fast. And a little more authentic Chinese. If you are highly squeamish about unusual foods, it's ok ... I'll have yours. Thanks! read more

The 3 choice lunch buffet is now $5 but it is one of the better deals in Chinatown. There are several choices for vegetarian, but the seafood and meat dishes are a a great value in my opinion. The baby squid I had on Tuesday was incredible. The soup was delicious a bitter melon broth. This is not an American Chinese friendly location (coagulated blood anyone?), heck they don't really speak that much English. I'd estimate 90% Chinese patronage, I usually go with my Chinese pals from work. read more

went saturday with the kiddo. had the special dumpling soup; thin broth, meh dumplings, salted chicken; must be a poverty thing, not my favorite thing in the world, pork stomach with green chilis; not what i was looking for but ok, narrow strips of stomach in a thin brown sauce, chewy, porky, no squeak, snails with foo chow sauce; a freekin' mess to eat but not too bad once you get the technique. also got the beef with peppers to compare with TC and it was the same taste but a different prep on the beef and peppers. will probably be back for some crab and eel, both of which they did not have when we were there. read more

Cheap, good-quality-for-your-buck Chinese food. It's now $6.50 for the special value meal, but hey, that's still way below the average price of a meal in the area... You get to choose three dishes to go with your rice or noodles.. and that includes kung pao chicken, orange chicken, mapu tofu, salt and pepper pork, duck, beef and bean sprouts, yu choy, among many other meat and veggies combinations. read more

I work close by, and this has become my go to for lunch when I don't brown bag it. I strictly do take-out, its not the sort of place you stick around for the ambiance. I'm completely addicted to the garlicky bok choy, its one of the 30 items you get to choose from to go with your rice and soup. The other vegetable stuff and tofu is usually pretty good too. read more

I used to come here all the time, and I thought it was the best deal. I came in today and the food was deplorable! They had no selection like they used to, they skimped out on portions, and the quality of the food was not very good. They also just opened up a new crepe station that I would recommend avoiding, unless you want to pay $9 for dried bread and egg. What a bummer. Used to be my favorite go to authentic Chinese food spot, but no longer.! read more

Well this place is small and nothing really special. Just like cafeteria style if dining in. Their options are amazing for 5.25 but the food is decent and some are just nasty.Never get the fish they have it usually under cook and taste extremely bad. But for variety and okay food they get 3 stars. I would suggest people to try Cafe de Lulu, they also have three choice for 5.50 and I found their food tasting better, but there options are not as expansive as Potluck. read more

No-frill eatery with cost-effective food. Besides some regular items, their special offers showed on the walls worth trying, though most of the posts are written in Chinese only. Feel free to ask the servers to explain. read more

Potluck Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

One of my favorite cheap eats places in Boston, and a great escape from places that serve Americanized Chinese food. I've either had lunch here or taken it to go dozens and dozens of times, and I have never, ever been let down. Sure, it doesn't have much atmosphere and it is on an tiny, somewhat dark and dirty street, but what do want when you pay $5.75 for a sit-down meal? That is the magic of this place, and if that disturbs you, then you should take your designer-label shoes and appetite down to Newbury Street. The variety is great, but when you go, remember that it is a super-fast joint, try to bring close to exact change (CASH ONLY), and make sure you limit your questions. Otherwise you'll piss off the staff and the fourteen people waiting behind you. read more

The best deal in downtown Boston. $5.75 gets you 3 dishes, a soup, and rice! I lived in China for two years, and the noodle soup with lamb or beef is on par with the best noodles I had over there. Four stars instead of five because of cleanliness. read more

They recently renovated. Adding lighting, painted the walls, and added a Chinese Crepe station. I think they're kind of like Jian Bing, but they used a Chinese donut, instead of a fried cracker, still good though. read more

I wasn't a fan of the seaweed I got for one of my 3 but I loved the tofu (and I usually hate tofu). Next time I'm just getting three orders of tofu and emptying an entire bottle of sriracha onto the pile, it will be awesome. read more

One of my favorite quick lunch spots in Chinatown. Sort of in an alley/side street. Great price and super filling -- definitely post lunch nap time. I always get the rice with 3 dish choices. The soup that comes with the lunch is kind of bland, but it goes nice with the white rice. read more

I'm here once a month when I need to get my fix on Americanized Chinese food. I bring my own Pyrex bowl to avoid more styrofoam in landfills. I don't eat much, so I get both lunch and dinner for $5.50. I avoid the soup since I'm hesitant in drinking anything hot from styrofoam. A jewel of Chinatown, but the place can be a tad bit cleaner, but impossible due to some of the sketchy customers. read more

This place is the best! Super cheap and so good - every time I go it's at least enough food for 2 meals and it's always $6.25. Lots of variety too - I usually go for sweet and sour chicken and some veggies but the braised tofu is really good and so is the tomato and eggs. The lo mein is good too if you don't want rice. All in all it's a great spot for quick food! read more

Potluck Cafe - Lo mein with sweet&sour chicken and broccoli - Chinese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

My favorite in Boston. MaLaTang is just great! Cash only

One of my favorite places in Chinatown! I stumbled upon the place 5 or 6 years ago, and have been going back ever since! The cost has gone up around 25 cents per year, but it's still an awesome deal for a quick, delicious and filling lunch. The only downside is that I understand absolutely no Asian languages, and very little writing is in English. Because of this, I usually order the 3 main course with rice and soup- but would love to order other things if I only knew what to say! Lol. Ps. Get the bok Choy- until I found it I would never cross the city for a vegetable but it's worth it! read more

Not up to Chinatown standards but cheaper than mostly anywhere-including McDonald's. A big mac, fries and coke will cost you more than potluck cafe. Authentic choices, communal eating, fast service but indifferent staff and no ambiance. Portions too big for one meal-2 small eaters could split one meal which means if you do so you'll pay $3.25 each for small eats. 3 entrees, rice and soup give you enough variety too. Cafeteria style means there is no tipping necessary and $6.50 total price includes tax. The only place anywhere cheaper than potluck cafe is ding ho (nearby in Chinatown, kneeland st) but ding ho closes earlier, is take-out only and has only 2 or 3 dishes from which to choose. Even worse, their chicken often is undercooked and has chunks of bone found in sauce. I have never gotten sick eating at ding ho but the chicken there gives me pause. read more

This is probably one of my go to eaterys in Chinatown area. I usually order with my rice eggs w/ tomatoes, mapol tofu and veggies or a fish dish. Plus there is free soup what more can I ask for. Then a good meal and enjoy it. read more

In a nutshell: This is my favorite restaurant ever. It's brilliant. I wish they had a meal plan. I know the alley looks gross. But honestly I feel that Potluck Cafe is quietly eclipsing the entire culinary vanguard of Boston with its supreme cuisine! Recommendations: (1) Mei fun - one day you must try the mei fun. It limits you to two entrees, but it is pretty tasty, and I guarantee you that you will still be full upon leaving the restaurant. Note: coming here after 1 pm nearly assures that you will not be eating mei fun. Lunch time only. (2) Salmon - they frequently have salmon or some fish that looks like it. Could be steelhead trout. Anyway, it's all good! (3) Vegetable - varies, but is usually some sort of stir-fried bok choy. (4) Eggs and tomatoes - they always have this. Comfort food. (5) Steamed fish with black bean - they have this dish about 1-2 times per week and I highly recommend it with white rice, a veggie, and fried shrimp. (6) Salt & pepper fried shrimp - it could use some more salt and pepper, but it's really good anyway. (7) Chicken and mushrooms - good standby. Always delicious. Sometimes they just do chicken or pork with broccoli. (8) Soup - the soup is good, but I often try to take it easy on my body and environment by forgoing it (comes in styrofoam). (9) Bring Cash! -- and tip the ladies. (10) Do not double park in front of the restaurant. You will be swiftly fined. (11) Buddha table - seek enlightenment at the corner table, under the shadow of a large Buddha. read more

The one and only positive factor about this place is that it is super cheap. You get a packed styrofoam container filled to the brim with three different types of entrees and rice. I heard about this place from my supervisor and I almost ran there to take advantage of such an amazing deal. When we went into the cafe, the food shimmered in all it's glory. There were at least 20+ options to choose from ranging from fried sardines to tofu. I choose to get some potato dish, a tofu entree, and roast chicken. My coworkers and I eagerly choose our entrees and left beaming with smiles. When we got back to the office, we started eating it and the first few bits tasted amazing. Then after about the fifth bite, the oil and the MSG started to sink in and our stomachs became to feel the result of eating shimmery food. Also, the soup tasted as if it was water from the dishwasher mixed with oil from the wok. It was absolutely disgusting. I had a bad aftertaste in my mouth after eating the meal and eagerly sought out some mint or gum to eliminate the disgusting feeling in my mouth. This restaurant truly exemplifies the saying, "You get what you pay for." I'm not going to lie, despite my grumbling, I saved my leftovers and had it for lunch the next day. Did I still complain about the taste? Yes Did I realize that I'm eating a $2.75 meal? Yes (5.50 meal divided by 2) Did the price tag make the meal taste a little better? Yes. So overall, I can't complain too much because honestly, this is what someone should expect when you're paying $5.50 for a styrofoam container full of food read more

Food is bland and greasy but the price is nice and the selection is wide. I can never bear to dine here as the environment is very very disgusting. I once saw workers bring garbage into the dining area, which is very disgusting. I recommend take food out and enjoy it in some clean place. read more