Ancient Ginger

Ancient Ginger has consistently had the best Chinese food I’ve found throughout my 5 years living on LI. Very high quality food, good portions, reasonably priced, polite staff, etc. I moved out of the area and still travel to this place often, as they never disappoint.

Probably the only proper sit down Chinese restaurant on the island. Food is good and staff very helpful. The only reason the ⁴⁄₅ star because sometimes they take the American express card and sometime the staff says they never take it. inconsistency is what annoyed me. Over all food is good and Bill is not too hefty

Delivery was *incredible* earlier tonight. Despite a late dinner order our food arrived lickity split to Stony Brook Hospital. (Specify if you’d like the ER or main entrance valet area. The driver will meet you outside.)
Portions are generous and spice level can be made to order. The Green Prawns were a delightful bright shade of green. Perfect for St. Patrick’s day :)
The Lo Mein was also a hit with the family. Next time I’ll go with egg drop soup when I pick a platter. Main entrees are accompanied by rice (brown, white or fried), a roll (spring or egg) and soup (egg drop or sweet and spicy).
I can’t say enough great things about Ancient Ginger. Chinese food made right.

First visit to this place and definitely a place you should stop into if you are in the area! Greeted very pleasantly by the staff when you walk in and really great ambiance. Low lighting and soft music. Ended up going on a weekday so it wasn’t very crowded which is perfectly fine with me! Haha
The menu is quite large actually and they have your traditional Chinese food plates along with their own speciality plates, and very affordable might I add. I ended up getting the pineapple chicken and shrimp dish with white rice and a side of pork fried rice. Very very tasty! I also got an egg roll to start. The portions here are very large! I had plenty of leftovers. Definitly worth it!
Stop in!

It was my first time going to this place and to be honest I wasn’t expecting much but I was wrong this place has the best Asian food I have had in a really long time I couldn’t believe how clean, accomidating, and delicious the food was at this place I will deffinetly go back no question about it I had the golden trio it was amazing and cooked to perfection. Keep up the good work at this place :)

Love this place!!! First time but not the last. Best high quality Chinese food around.

Delivery. this is first time ordering They just gave me a bad impression over the phone. This is my first time ordering a delivery from this place. As usual like other chinese restaurant. «Free delivery with minimum. blah blah blah.» After I put in my order and before we hung up, the guy on the phone clearly told me «you HAVE TO pay 3 dollar tips». I never had a problem paying 3 dollars tip or more for delivery but what not please me is how demanding he was. I feel a little bit offended. That’ was pretty rude. I will add more comments when I get my food lol (030)

This place is fantastic. I grew up in Brooklyn, so I have tried all kinds of Chinese foods from hole in the halls in Brooklyn, to local gems in Chinatown to upscale Chinese restaurants you need reservations for and I have to say this place really surprised. Short of those speciality restaurants in chinatown Chinese food is usually about average 3 stars if it’s okay. And that’s usually a pretty good ranking for most places I have been. And because of that you sort of get used to okay Chinese food. However, this place blows all the other Chinese places out of the water, especially in this area. The people are always friendly and nice. The décor is beautiful and the food is fantastic. This place has made me rethink what good Chinese takeout good be.

I was really disappointed because I’d seen some great reviews of this place but it was absolutely awful. I ordered Genereal Tso’s chicken, pork fried rice, and egg rolls. The egg rolls tasted stale (I didn’t even know egg rolls could be stale), the chicken was too crispy to eat with almost no actual meat, and the fried rice was literally almost all red from the pork. I couldn’t stomach any of it. And to top it all off, even the fortune cookies were stale :(
Would not recommend.

Love the food and the people that work there. Also pleasurable to dine there. Speedy delivery too.

Very hit or miss with each dish each time I have come here. Tonight I had the vegetable dumplings which were pretty awful (very doughy and almost tasted fishy) and the chicken with peanuts which was pretty good, standard Chinese restaurant quality. This place def needs some refurbishing.

Not impressed. The dumplings were rubbery and had a frozen food feel. The sesame chicken was equally rubbery and incredibly generic. you know the kind you have 4 or 5 bites of and then get bored of it. and it goes in the fridge. and then the garbage. It’s moderately expensive and exceptionally average Chinese food.

I tried this place for the first time about two weeks ago. I kept hearing from my friends that this place was a better alternative over the other Chinese take-​out/​delivery places. The food here was surprisingly good the first time I had it. The food is less salty and oily than some of the other similar places I’ve ordered at. When it comes down to it, this place serves westernized versions of Chinese dishes for an okay price. The first time I ordered, I ordered for pickup. I guess I headed in during the dinner rush, because the place was packed and there were people struggling to get into the restaurant. One thing that I noticed immediately was that I was the only Asian customer in the entire restaurant. The host/​phone guy was friendly and energetic. I saw him making conversation with many customers as they waited. I got my food quickly and it was a good experience overall. The food I got was probably cooked fresh and the portion was relatively generous for the price I had paid. The dinner combination plates came with entreé (your choice of main dish with rice), soup, and egg/​spring roll.
My first experience led me into ordering again tonight for delivery. One thing I noticed immediately is that for a $ 15 minimum, the prices are adjusted in a way that it’s really difficult to hit the minimum without going over and spending a few extra bucks. I understand that this is a fairly common practice across restaurants, but it makes it difficult for someone to order alone; you usually end up with too much food. One thing I did appreciate was that this Chinese restaurant actually had the correct prices for their menu items online as opposed to many of the other Chinese restaurants in the area. The guy who took my order over the phone was the same energetic host I met last time in the restaurant. There is no online ordering available. He told me at the time that my total for two dinner combination platters was like ~22 dollars or something. At the time I had assumed that tax and delivery fee was probably applied already; after all my total for food should have only been $ 18. I’m really not too stingy about a couple of dollars so I didn’t ask at the time. My food was delivered fairly quickly. I had prepared $ 2 for the driver, like I usually do for delivery.
I was surprised to see that the driver was the same energetic host himself. It was dark outside, but I think I signed for $ 19.55. He told me that typically the minimum tip for delivering to the university was $ 3. He told me it was okay this time, but I ended up giving him the $ 3 he wanted. I think my confusion was that he had originally already applied tip because I paid with card. My checking account has only been charged for $ 19.55 at the moment, but I’ll update if I get an additional $ 3 charged. Initially, I thought that I had been charged ~22 and I had to leave an extra $ 3 tip, but I guess not. For future reference, people who order delivery with card, please note that tip is probably already included or ask beforehand. He seemed a bit annoyed with me, but whatever I guess. I would probably order again, but this is the second time that utensils were not included.

Great Chinese food for a great price!

Went for the first time in almost two years –way better this time around. The food was fresh and flavorful. Flavorful, crisp vegetables and tender meats. Atmosphere has greatly improved and the place is much cleaner! Staff was friendly and personable. All in all, a decent Chinese sit down. Will go back again.

Friendly staff, best Chinese takeout I have ever had! I order it at least once a week. The restaurant is very cute and small, but I absolutely adore it. Food is amazing and for the price, you can’t beat it!

Used to be great. My husband and I think that the place was sold. We no longer see any of the people we know and the food is terrible. We used to love this place and now we just can’t eat it. We just ordered for the last time today. There was no taste and we just can’t keep hoping it will improve. They don’t admit to new ownership, but we no longer like the food.

Went here on the recommendation of a friend and glad we did.
We dined in, the waitstaff was attentive and nice.
The food portions were generous and quite flavorful, we didn’t go for traditional Chinese dishes but with some of the specialties of the house. Everything tasted fresh and was well prepared and presented.
I had the rainbow chicken and shrimp which was light yet tasty. Others in my party got the four precious with spinach, the double q and the seafood treasure platter. Everyone was gracious enough to share a taste of their meals and we all agreed they were outstanding.
A new found favorite.

This is my go-​to spot if I am in the mood for Chinese food. I usually get some of the more common dishes like chicken & broccoli, general tso’s, sesame chicken, veggie fried rice, or veggie lo-​mein. I like their food because I find that it’s lighter and less greasy than other typical Chinese places on Long Island. They’re not as heavy on the sauces, and perhaps that makes the food not as flavorful for some people but personally I wish all Chinese places prepared their food like this.
I have only dined in at Ancient Ginger so I can’t comment on the delivery or take-​out experience, but I have never been disappointed here. It is a cute little place; very clean and the staff is always friendly.

Went for dinner last week. Popular! Despite being busy, the waiter handled our group with efficiency and professionalism and even some good humor.
Green prawn dish is excellent (corroborating the claim on the menu). Medium spicy was not very spicy, at all. Two of my colleagues had the General Tso’s, and raved about it.
Fairly small dining room, but comfortable and nicely appointed. We were casually dressed, and that was fine, but would have also felt comfortable in business casual.