Chinatown

I have been traveling for awhile, but still haven’t been to a Chinatown. So our friends decided to show us the one in Boston. The Chinatown actually located in the middle of the city, as you as you saw some shop with the Chinese on the advertising boards, then you know you are there already. the size of it isn’t so big, but surely get some cool restaurants and shops. At the main entrance got a traditional gate which looks pretty nice.
It was my first visit to a Chinatown so far in other countries. It was quite interesting to see the culture of the oversea Chinese. Of course, not only Chinese are living here. We walked passed couple cool restaurants which looked quite good. But we wasn’t hungry, didn’t have the chance try them out. my friends told me some of few places here are quite popular and good. So if you in the mood to have a dinner in Asian style. why not come here and have a look. You might find something special and good.

Boston Chinatown is like choosing, door #1, door #2, or door #3? You never know what you’re going to get in entering a restaurant. There is more selection of restaurants in Chinatown; I’ve noticed that Shabu-​shabu, Malaysian and Japanese cuisines are evolved in popularity. I ate at this Chinese restaurant for breakfast, I ordered shrimp shumai and I noticed older adults sitting next to our table are eating enjoying chicken feet. If you are truly adventurous foodie, you might consider tasting the popular dim sum — chicken feet. As for me, I was not brave enough to try it and I don’t think I can stomach it. Whatever your taste palette desire, it will get fulfilled. There are a lot of choices of ethnic food that you might enjoy and even Chinese pastry!

Chinatown was the highlight of our Boston trip. Our hostel was on the very edge of it, so we were just one or two blocks away from delicious food and interesting shops. Everyone we met in the area was friendly and the streets were clean and covered in art.
The wafting smell of delicious food was throughout all of Chinatown, which is no surprise with the huge amount of Asian restaurants available there. We ended up eating Thai, Chinese, and Vietnamese all within two or three blocks of each other. There were food stalls, bakeries, herbal shops, liquor stores, trinket sellers, and more! We had a great time popping our heads into various retail shops and finding interesting imported items. Everything from chopsticks to sake sets to English-​dubbed Asian films were available at really cheap prices.
I was worried that this place would be like another NYC Chinatown where it’s all tourist crap and American-​ized Asian food. But it was the complete opposite with the majority of people on the streets looking like locals and not a single «Boston» themed item in sight. Even if you’re not one to shop for trinkets or strange imported liquors, at least stop by Boston’s Chinatown for a meal, you won’t regret it!

Good food
Bakery in every corner
Great imported beer
Crowded
No parking
This is the smallest Chinatown I’ve ever visited. I didn’t see many tourist, not very entertaining but what won me over was the food.
They have Vietnamese, Chinese, Indonesian and Malaysian food. Bakeries on every corner and the best: imported Japanese & Chinese beer! I went back to my hotel room with a pack of beer and a sorted amount of pastries :)
Street parking is horrible but I do recommend parking in a lot to save yourself from a hit and run.
Totally recommend. The bubble tea is very delicious and so is the beer.

We had a blast spending the afternoon in Chinatown!
Yesterday we spent the afternoon exploring Chinatown. When we first arrived we were afraid that parking was going to be a pain, but we quickly found meter parking a stones throw from the Chinatown gate.
Walking through this community was a blast, and we loved popping into the shops, buying fruit from their street vendors, and eating out in the park by the gate. We enjoyed all the stores we entered and not once felt like outsiders even though we do not obviously identify with the dominant cultures here.
Overall, this was a fun day out. Yes the streets were a bit dirty, but I will take the dirt and grim for some delicious cuisine and amazing cultural experiences!

Streets are dirty and have the smell of dead chicken wafting through them, but the food is bomb and well priced. Lots of amazing bakeries, restaurants, Asian grocery stores, cafes, and trinket/​paraphernalia stores in general. It might be called «China”-town but there are Vietnamese, Korean, Taiwanese, as well as Chinese people/​businesses here. Degree of English fluency varies as much as the color spectrum, but most people know enough to sell you stuff. Bring cash because a lot of the places are cash only. Other than that, get some bubble tea and have fun walking around.

Die Chinatown 波士顿唐人街 befindet sich im Zentrum von Boston und ist das einzige historische chinesische Stadtgebiet in Neuengland. Wir sind nur aufgrund der günstigen Parkmöglichkeiten dort gelandet.
Wer eine Chinatown wie in New York oder San Francisco erwartet, wird eher enttäuscht sein. Das Viertel ist keine Attraktion und auch noch verhältnismäßig klein. Die Bauwerke sehen recht unspektakulär aus und es wirkt dort ein wenig schmutzig. Im Dunkeln würde ich mich dort nicht wohl fühlen.
Das Highlight aus meiner Sicht ist das typische Eingangstor zur Chinatown, ein sogenanntes Pailou mit Wächterlöwen auf beiden Seite. Man findet es an der Kreuzung von Beach Street und Surface Road.
Im Viertel hat man eine Auswahl an chinesischen und vietnamesischen Restaurants in verschiedenen Preisklassen. Darüber hinaus findet hier regelmäßig ein Markt satt und man findet Asia Läden mit chinesischen Lebensmitteln und anderen Waren.
Mittlerweile sind viele Geschäfte in den Stadtteil Quincy umgezogen, da dort viele chinesische Immigranten und im Exil lebende Vietnamesen wohnen. Den Besuch der Chinatown in Boston kann ich nicht empfehlen.

Work, live and play here!!!
It’s sad to see industrialization and affluence become the dominating part of this once working class but impoverished community. Although I do not miss the combat zone, I’d like to see the working class living here not just coming to work. The revitalization of the area is amazing. I work on the border of Chinatown and Downtown Crossing. 20 years ago no one would go out at night in this area, slowly it is changing. When the theaters are going, it is hopping. After work is a great time to go out and of course there is Shabu Zen, House of Dumplings and the China Pearl, to name of few of the great places to eat. All in one area.
The Chinese New Year in February is a celebration not to be missed. Look on your local calendar or do a quick google search. If you have never been, it is a Boston experince that you must do!!!

On our last day in Boston we had visited all the famous landmarks I had scheduled and dined at all the seafood places we wanted to see. We had a few extra hours and decided to add in a few stops. On any trip that I plan I always put a big question mark for the last day to eat in their respective chinatown. Some major cities we visit, we have time others we skip. The reason is, we know we can always find some good eats, and it’s interesting to compare what we have here in Houston vs other places in the US.
Boston’s chinatown seems very old. It is dirty, but not as bad as NYC. The best way to describe it is a smaller, cleaner, less crazy NYC version. But it’s compact and very walkable.

Though Boston’s chinatown is small it houses a great variety of old school bakeries to the more contemporary style ones, Cantonese, Szechuan, shanghainese, Taiwanese and Chinese bbq restaurants, markets, hair and beauty salons, and gift stores. There is something for everyone here. It’s within walking distance to downtown and right off highway exits. Also very accessible by train too. Occasionally they have street fairs here too which can be great cultural fun for the family.

We were walking from the Boston Public Gardens to the South Street Rail Terminal and knew that we would walk through Chinatown. Based on what we saw, it mostly consisted of restaurants and cafes that sold Chinese food. That stretched for several blocks. I could tell much of the good reviews were focused around those places. Well, those who enjoy the Chinese food would probably enjoy some of the restaurants and cafes here.
My major turn-​off was the overall appearance of the buildings. It all looked «runned» down and dirty. I didn’t see a lot of décor in this town either. I’ve been to the Chinatowns in NYC, SF, and Toronto, and there was a lot of décor. But here, it was little to none. That’s not very appealing at all.
At the time we went, there was construction in progress. That made some parts of Chinatown look a little worse than it already was. If this construction was for the improvement of Chinatown’s appearance, then that would have been all right. But based on the positions of the equipment and barricades, it was really hard to tell what it was for.
Unfortunately overall, this was probably the worst Chinatown that I’ve ever been to. A higher rating would have been warranted if the appearance of this place was nice. Sure the gate there was nice, but that was it. I probably won’t be returning there again. For a small Chinatown, this is as long as this review is going to get.

Small, dirty, and overcrowded with tourists and old smoking regulars.
This one has an interesting Chinatown gate history, being that it honors the Tiananmen massacre.
There is a crime watch and an undercover police car driving by occasionally, so no bad business!!!
Most places are cash only.
Check out the egg puffs in this nondescript food court on Beach Street near the gate. It’s pretty good.
If you give yourself a chance to walk around, you’ll be surprised by what you find — lots of places don’t advertise themselves or if so, in Chinese which can be bothersome.
So, bring cash and enjoy yourself.
It’s near the common and the Tam so you can make a day of it.

Decent sized chinatown. A good variety of asian cuisine can be found. Viet noodles (phở), soup dumplings, roasted pork belly, bao, dim sum, flat noodles with beef, fried milk balls, etc.

Chinatown is Chinatown. Not sure what else to say.
Good food (if you like Chinese…) and, depending on the shop, always changing or always there.
Make sure you’ve got GoogleMaps up on your phone…

It’s a great place for authentic Asian food. It ranges from Chinese to Malaysian, so there is a lot of variety. I’ve been coming here since I was little. If you want really good dim sum, I would suggest Winsor Dim Sum Café. If you enjoy the whole pushing carts experience, then I would suggest Hei La Moon, Empire Garden, or China Pearl, but their food is not that great. Hei La Moon is a bit too pricey for what they have to offer.
Overall a great place, but very dirty. I will probably end up writing a review for all the restaurants there.

There are many types of Chinatowns out there but my honest opinion is that the best one is in Los Angeles at the moment =) SF is in second place. I have to say that right here in Boston, there is a 4 starer with a grand array of restaurants and shops that sell 100 zippers for less than a dollar.
Of course, it is conveniently located right down the street from Faneuil Hall and the Aquarium. There are plenty of parking spots on the street but there is also a garage. The best thing about Chinatown that I think we can all agree is the food! Can you really beat the egg tarts from the Chinese bakery shops? What’s better than roast duck over rice? What about a whole steamed fish from the Chinese seafood restaurant? This is why places like Chinatown exist… to make skinny people fat!
Well you definitely have your knick knack shops as well. Your faux jade buddhas, tiny teapot sets and … ninja swords?
Great place to just walk around, enjoy a snack or a large dinner and then walk right back into downtown. Come in and stop by!

Ah. Chinatown. It’s not the biggest, and it’s not the best. But the food is amazeballs.
Pros:
Ho Yuen bakery has black bean cakes. Bao Bao Bakery has yummy bubble tea and pastries. Phở Pasteur has ahmazzzzing phở, and Hong Kong Eatery is tasty and cheap. New Jumbo Shrimp has great seafood and family style dining. At night, there’s karaōke and entertainment in and around the area.
Cons:
Chinatown is up and coming, but still needs work. An elderly housing building is going up as well as a brand new apartment/​condo building on Surface Road. Chinatown could use a bit more cleaning all around because it’s right in the city and just needs a facelift.
Other than that, I’m cool with Chinatown. It’s not as suffocating as NYC’s Chinatown which I appreciate :)

It must be imprinted in my genes but wherever I am I will invariably find my way to Chinatown or wherever my people congregate. I do because of the awesome food to be had and simply to fellowship with the descendants of the Dragon.
Ok, that’s just bull. I’m a bloody tourist and I do what I want. I just like to eat good inexpensive food and I know I will find that in Chinatown.
I like Boston’s Chinatown. It isn’t as awesome as Frisco’s or New York but it’s infinitely better than what we have in L. A…that one is a damn joke.

Street fest twice a year is fun to go to. Many people still think Chinatown is a scary place to go but it has been cleaned up over the years and is actually much smaller than you would think.
There are only a few main streets within Chinatown with lots of places to pick from to grab a meal, some pastries, a bubble drink or some trinkets.
It is more fun to go with a group so you can order and buy things to try and not get stuck with something you don’t like.
Customer Service can be a bit different based on the culture. If you want something be sure to step up the counter and place your order. I am not suggesting you need to be rude but really just don’t be shy. Sometimes if you are waiting for service someone else may step up and place their order in front of you which wouldn’t be uncommon.
Dim Sum, Hot Pot, Dragon Dances are just a few highlights. I’ve brought a few groups here to visit and tour around and its lots of fun.

One of my travel mates always have this urges for Chinese/​Vietnamese/​Asian soup noodles whenever we travel.
Taking her around Boston’s Chinatown, I asked her to just pick one restaurant to go in. Maybe it is the vibe, or it was in the afternoon when you can see all the greasy windows and smell the dirty streets.
She ended up asking me «Can we go have a beer with some oysters?»

It’s one of my favorite places in Boston. Hello, who doesn’t love Chinatown? Doesn’t matter where I am in the US, I always feel a sense of comfort whenever I’m in some sort of Chinatown. Perhaps, it’s the smell? the sketchy-​ness? the older Chinese grandpas playing chess? the older Chinese grandmas who shove you aside while you wait patiently in line? Anyway, Boston’s Chinatown is no different than the others I’ve been to (SF, LA, Oakland, NY). The only thing I can think of is that it’s tiny, a lot smaller. But small is cozy and more homey, no? :)
Bottom Line: Definitely the neighborhood for some good & cheap Chinese food and cheap grocery shopping.