Chau Chow Chinese Dim Sum & Seafood Restaurant

Take a walk behind this place and you will never eat there again! Dozens of rat traps employees smoking over buckets of pre made food! Place should be shut down!

Found Chau Chow while on a business trip to the Boston area (Quincy) and needed a very fast lunch spot. Didn’t know it was dim sum but that turned out well as it was fast service.
My first impression was that it would be authentic as the décor was spartan and it reminded me of some local places where I had eaten in Hong Kong. The floor was not level, the carpet was old, … Don’t go here for the décor, go for the dim sum. Place was mostly empty at noon, maybe 10 other people.
They immediately came out with the dim sum cart and we made express selection sticking mostly with shrimp dumpling items and a lobster dumpling plate (yum) along with a sticky rice bowl. We shared three dim sum items and the rice amongst three people and the bill was about $ 25.
We left very satisfied and we spoke of how we’d like to go back on another Boston area visit.
I’d certainly go back.

Unlike their chinatown location, I absolutely dislike this restaurant. I’ve been here for years on and off. I can honesyly say, if they don’t step up their game, this restaurant will eventually close down. At one point, they were pretty good but it’s been going down hill.
During weddings or other events held here, they’re a lot better with food quality. Take out food is a waste of money, time, and food. They have bad business practice here. They don’t throw away old food or discard any and try to save everything. Dining in is a bit better experience but there’s probably a reason why you barely see this place pack unless there’s a wedding going on. Worst Chinese food experience ever. Too many times I would taste extremely old food that should have been thrown away. Chicken fingers should be called lottery chicken fingers (same with the shrimps). Basically made out of weird dough breading and you barely have any chicken, maybe ¹⁄₈^th of the whole chicken finger… if you’re lucky. Beef teriyaki? Please. No. I’ve tried so many different beef dishes and I can tell they use bad beef. Sometimes I can’t even chew it. Take one bite and I know to spit it out before I get some sort of food poison. Even their beef with black mushrooms and bamboo is bad. I just throw away everything because even the mushrooms are bad! Shrimps with walnut is usually good but it cost more than other nearby Chinese restaurants. If I recall correctly, they charge $ 21 for a shrimp with walnut plate whereas nearby charges between $ 12-​$ 15. Its not like you get bigger portions or better quality. Fried rice and their noodle plates are a joke. SKIP! Dim sum is a hit and miss. It’s usually extremely greasy unless you go during prime time of dim sum on weekends. Service? Don’t even get me started. Random times, you will get someone coughing in your face or food. Enjoy your booger food.
On the bright side, there’s parking (unless you go during events then parking spaces may be limited).

Pretty good American Asian food! I was hungry. I had jellyfish, watercress, lobster, I didn’t have dim sum though

Ordinary Chinese food. Very good and taste fresh. I went back a week later to eat again. I’ll recommend this place if there’s nothing else.

Went here for some crazy drinking and party at night and also dim sum in the morning. Wasn’t that packed in the morning for dim sum and the food was okay. Then again i’m from Los Angeles and in the 626 area so maybe my standards are too high.

I love me some dim sum. Growing up in Hong Kong dim sum is a very important staple and I mean they are tones of those restaurants. So my expectation is pretty high. The egg tart was very good a bit oily but pretty yummy, the chicken feet I order taste old and the Rick noodle roll I could taste the the old rice taste hard to explain. The service was pretty bad also they all seems to be in a bad mood. I ordered their Singapore fried noodle also and there are shrimp in there and the shrimp was not clean out at all and it look extremely nasty. I am really not sure if it is because I order the wrong things but seems like everything is not good at all. There were barely any one there.

This is usually my go to dim sum spot. Mainly because it’s close to where I live, easy parking, and the space is pretty big — so even when its crowded it’s fairly easy to snag a table even for a large group. Most recently my family came here at 11:00am on a Saturday, prime dim sum time, and there was no wait for a table of 10. The food cart comes around pretty quickly. Quality is pretty good for the price. My only real complaints are it’s not the cleanest looking place and service can be hit or miss.

Arrived 9PM. ordered house brown rice, crab rangoon, fried shrimp, chicken teriyaki, clams in oyster sauce, wonton soup, and egg drop soup. The server was friendly at first. Before we could finish our soup all of our food arrived to the table. I must say we felt like we were served reheated food. not fresh at all. When mentioned to server she no longer spoke English. Requested Manager and he did not apologize he just sent over the $ 70.00 bill. I guess the service is only good for morning Dim Sum… so bummed

Random lunch on a weekday and it was practically empty with like 4 tables filled and this place is pretty spacy. Food cart was waiting for my friend and I when we walked in and we immediately started to order food. Of course it ain’t freshly made, maybe it was made like an hour ago but the food was still good.
I ordered typical things; ordered shu mai, har gow, ha chang, feng zhao, cha siu bao, and fried shrimp rolls. All were expected, not the best, but filling.
My mouth is drying out because thinking about all of the MSG that’s in this food. HAHAHA. Y’all know what I’m talking about if you’ve eaten dim sum before.
This place has mad parking too, literally a huge open parking lot and I don’t remember this place ever being full, unless you go on like a weekend morning obviously. It’s not Chinatown, but it’s only like a 15min drive from the city.
This place is also relatively cheap, can’t forget that. We ordered so many dishes (list above) and I somehow managed to stay under $ 25. Very nice.

I’m only forced to go here for dim sum if my friends and family wants to dine here. The food itself is really good but the service is terrible! Especially the tofu fa lady with short wavy hair! We ordered 4 tofu fa and she put them in a to go fking container! We asked if we could have it in a bowl to eat here? She rushed over yelling at us in Chinese which we didn’t understand. The waitress came over and apologize, we ended up eating in the to go plastic container which took the whole experience away.
Another occasion we had dim sum with a party 12, I paid and my brother left the tip in cash at the desk and left as we are all heading out. The waitress took my signed receipt and demands her 18% tip! Wow I mean who the fck does that?! I told her my brother tipped at desk already, she still said 18% tip! Not sure if she understood me but I just walked away. I should’ve made a scene and talk with the manager. But I didn’t This type of behavior is unacceptable!
Oh and on another occasion the same tofu fa lady was pushing dim sum carts around and we got some plates. After she gave us our food and stamped she coughed in our faces without covering her mouth! She then saw my husband’s unused napkin laying in front of her and conveniently decides to wipe her fingers on it!!! Me and hubby looked at each other in misbelief!
I will never willingly come here EVER!!!
Disgusting attitude from cart ladies and waitresses

The dim sum is horrible, never coming here again.
I would recommend going to China Pearl in Quincy instead.

Dim sum here is phenomenal. Tons of parking. Quick service. Barely or no wait for tables. And cheap.
The food here has so much flavor and everything is made really well. I love Dim Sum and this place is much better than the ones in Chinatown.
Only thing that some Chinatown places has over this one is that, the environment in Chinatown is more warm and welcoming. They try more with décor.
This place is.

Went to dim sum with my brother and boyfriend here this morning. Let’s start off with the interior, look beat up and out date.
The staff doesn’t speak English and rough. The food were just okay, nothing really special. Overall, just like everyone else think, 3 stars it is.

This is one of my favorite dim sum locations. I honestly grew up going here, my dad doesn’t go to any other. He knows the guy who helps in the parking lot.
I only go here for dim sum so I wouldn’t know about the other food served after dim sum. My favorite is the Banh nouc with shrimp, I can order plates and plates of it before getting sick of it. The only down side is the food is very oily compared to Hei La Moon in Chinatown. I go here when I’m craving a quick fix. They also have a private lot to park so it’s much easier than driving around Chinatown trying to find a spot.

Great non-​Chinatown dim sum find. Tables are little sticky but dim sum is solid and open early.
House pae don sau yook jook (lean pork with 1000 year old egg) is very good.
Large free parking lot.

Loved coming here on weekends with my family. Great memories. My go to is the Shu mai, Ban Nuoc with Beef or Shrimp. The Stuffed Tofu With Minced Shrimp. Chicken Feet are good but they give you only a little bit. Dumplings are average. I like the Crab Ball thing but dont know what its called. The Fried Birds nest is great too with a soup. I usually end the feast with the Sweet Tofu Pudding. It really settles your stomach after stuffing yourself. Great environment and ample parking.

It was late, we were starving, it was snowing, and Chau Chow was 2 blocks away. It was a match made in heaven…
We were the only ones in the entire place except for a lone girl drinking alone waiting for her date to show up. Apparently they have a massive boozy drink «that’s a thing.» We didn’t partake but it looked like a stomach ached waiting to happen.
There were 4 of us so we just decided to get «the meal for 6.» We were a hungry 4… it was a pre-​fixe order so we didn’t have to think. They brought us a delicious montage of Chinese apps, sides, and mains. I loved their skewered beef, fried rice, and egg rolls. It was all pretty solid, but nothing spectacular. Some of the more sauce-​y dishes tasted like carry out but still hit the spot. There are better options in the area but Chau Chow isn’t bad if you’re in a pinch.

I’ve been to this place about a dozen times (not counting the many times I visited back when it was the historic Linda Mae’s). I’ve found the dim sum to be fresh and delicious, if not as varied as some of the Chinatown places like See Sen Moon and China Pearl. The service here is excellent. The room is very large, so I’ve never had to wait for a table. And the dim sum comes by in steady waves.
Today I had lunch and ordered off the menu, bravely resisting the temptation to add to my order with dim sum. I had the Singapore Rice Noodle — a great rice noodle in curry sauce with pork, shrimp, and egg. I would have liked it to be a bit spicier — something I remedied with copious amounts of hot pepper paste that they supplied. But even though I found it under-​spiced, it was delicious and huge, piled a hand’s breadth high on a large oval plate — easily enough for two normal eaters. As usual, the service was quick and attentive, the staff friendly and warm, and the food delicious.

The story is no different here than many other large Chinese banquet restaurants: solid Dim Sum offerings, subpar service, mediocre dinner service /​wedding food. The experience at these types of places typically fall in the «lesser» category, but when it comes to the price, group friendliness, ease of parking, Chau Chow suddenly becomes a viable option.
Folks who might question Chau Chow as a legitimate Cantonese restaurant might have a case since it’s really not. If the name didn’t already give it away, the Dorchester location (aka Boston’s Lil Vietnam) most certainly would have. For the Vietnamese locals, ordering here isn’t a problem. Most everything has a Viet-​Chinese option and it’s more like than likely the management /​staff are of Chaujinese decent, as a large number of overseas Chinese speaking Teochew (Chaujinese) reside in Vietnam and SE Asia.
Highlights from their Dim Sum aren’t high enough to merit much praise. The har gow (shrimp dumplings) are a little thick on the skin and the har cheurng (shrimp rice crepes?) are plentiful, both of which ironically end up being the most edible of the usual cast of Dim Sum characters. Not surprisingly bland are pai gwut (pork ribs?), siu mai, fung tsau (chicken feet /​phoenix talons), and any of the meatballs (fish /​beef). The BBQ buns tend to be a little on the doughy side, but at least they feature on rare occasions, lai wong baos (egg custard buns?).
The wedding spread (10 courses of various seafood /​gourmet dishes) is on par with the rest of their Dim Sum, if not a little worse. Salt and pepper squid was dry and greasy, yangzhou fried rice was terribly bland, crispy chicken was oily and tough, and even the steak + gailan was unmemorable. If there is a thumbs up dish throughout the night, it was the ginger scallion lobster. Fragrant, juicy, and falling right off the shell, it was a runaway hit with our table.
While the place is huge and has plenty of parking, it’s not enough when the food quality is always questionable. Unless I’m having to come here in a group (like the last time), I’d rather settle for much better Viet options in the hood. (#1)
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(#1) I’m not insinuating that Viet and Chinese food are interchangeable. I’m simply saying that Vietnamese food in Dorchester is a sure thing.