Reviews of Sumiao Hunan Kitchen (Restaurant)

Alex Swotinsky

Place must be struggling if they charge $6 for a cup of tea. Food was mediocre.

Jonathan Godbout

This place was fantastic. The person who greeted us was very friendly, and everyone was super great to my little one. The food was very spicy, though we ordered everything spicy. My only complaint is it was a little expensive, but worth it for a date night!

John Ohrenberger

Absolutely delicious plates, nice to mix and match. The spicy fried tofu was very intense but rich and satisfying. The scallion pancakes were some of the best and softest I've seen. Would go again.

Dennis Grady

Great lunch spot. I've gone twice now and had a great meal and great service on both occasions. I expect this to work it's way into my regular lunch rotation. I'll definitely be visiting again.

Dan Black

Amazing food and even better service from our waitress (Laura) who was brilliant. Will definitely be visiting again next time I'm in town.

Amy Liao

Delicious, elevated authentic Hunan food. For those who are not familiar, Hunan food is known for being very spicy but not numbing like Szechuan (ma la). I highly recommend the sizzling eggplant, butterfly shrimp, and the beef on fire. Baijiu sidecar was also great, complex yet drinkable

Samara Peters

Great flavor chinese food in excellent portions. Awesome seating for a large group.Just awesome. Super friendly servers and staff.

Sharon Xu

The food was just okay, not authentic actually. And they are extremely overpriced, can’t believe a lunch for two people is almost $100.

tammy Sun

Clean place and good food!

yunqiao ma

Price is high but these dishes generally worth it. Really spicy which is a good thing for Chinese.

K S

Good tasting food with fresh ingredient! Great service!

Kerri Goslin

Awesome, awesome, awesome! Everything was fantastic! High quality and delicious drinks, appetizers, entrees, and desserts!! Really cool space and the staff was super friendly and helpful too!

Yilun Li

Modern delicate Chinese dishes

Young Kang

Great Hunan food! Happy with most dishes except for the dessert.

Katie Yao

My coworker recommended this restaurant because she tried it out and said the the dishes were traditional Hunan dishes. We ordered the house crispy duck, free style meatballs, beef and egg rice noodle, and string beans with eggplant. The duck skin was crispy but the bones showed that it have been clearly deep fried. The meat was quite powdery and dry. It’s pricey for $36 for half a duck considering the base price for the duck is $29 in Chinatown (whole duck). The duck also came with a side of buns. The free style meatballs were deep fried dough with fish and pork inside. The beef and egg rice noodle was great. The sauce was well balanced with peanuts, pepper paste, cilantro and pickled long beans on the side to mix in. The string beans with eggplants were amazing. The eggplants soaked the spicy flavor of the sauce. The spicy level can be adjusted for most dishes. The server Eliza was incredibly nice. The restaurant has nice decor and they play classical music while you eat. It’s an expensive place to eat.

John Saccoccio

Food is great, bring your wallet for the Cambridge rent extraction.

Joe Shirer

Good food and fast friendly service

Rol Bris

Food has always been great and staff is attentive to provide great service

Wendy Wang

Food is just ok, but overpriced. A cup of tea costs $6. it's ridiculous.

Charles Juan

great dining environment, good food, great service.

Arda Odabasio

Amazing food, great service.

Jacqueline Rivera

Most amazing food with unique flavors! A must try!

Matt S

Bartender is very nice food is good drinks are fun.

Garrett Frampton

This place is good

James Vermilyea

Authentic Hunanese food according to my partner from Wuhan. Dishes were excellent, the ambiance and service is five stars too. A bit of advice, they ask you for mild, hot or "Authentically hot." It's not as spicy as food in Hunan.

Kenny Chan

Only thing great about here is the decor. The food was mediocre and extremely over priced. Do yourself a favor and go to China Town, it'll save you a fortune. You'll even be getting better tasting food. (Cup of green tea is $6..)

Jacob Martin

Strong drinks, and good spicy beef

Xiaoyu Lei

Authentic, upscale.

Jing He

The only authentic Chinese food in Kendall, as far as I know. Excellent restaurant ambience, average service, and tasty dishes. I'll round up to a 5.

Danny B

The Avacado Meatballs were very good. Service was fair.

Stavros Macrakis

Ambiance and service much better than standard Chinese restaurants. Dishes a bit more creative. Prices much higher.

Astrid Co

Quality of the food really bad. Definitely not an Asian restaurant. Desserts are taken directly from supermarkets, they're not home made (12 dollars for that....). I definitely not recommend this place. They're located in a posh area and they took this opportunity to increase prices of the meals they offer..

Andrew Brown, Jr

Mmmm... How to describe authentic, perfectly seasoned food and the heat of the spice thereof? My Mandarin tutor from MIT and I had Sumiao recommended/endorsed to us by another Chinese student. We asked for hot dishes as described. We asked for no extra heat/hotness NOTHING. The heat, for which we both searched, knowing Hunan foods to have heat, was nigh perfect! First on the nose, the pepper signals a hidden complexity - not revealed completely just from the olfactory - promising more. On the palate + olfactory is where the magic happens. Heat builds on the tongue and lips as an erotic kiss redolent of the 5-spice but now umami and heat, and salt and heat, and pork fat, a hint of sweetness and heat, and pepper and it builds. GOD HOW IT BUILDS. This level of heat isn't 'razor-across-tongue' but a craft of crescendo. Think of 4th of July, Esplanade, fireworks then the grand finale. Yeah... Like that. EAT HERE!!

Jason Wehrs

Delivery minimum is $25 +$4 deliver charge (before tip). After 1.5hrs tonight I received my delivery - General Tso chicken, cold, missing rice. After the time and money, hardly worth the money or a rating.

Albert Lee

Great food and service. They know how to cook Hunan style Chinese which delivers waves of spices and flavors. A bit pricey but worth it. I see lots Chinese people and that is a good indicator for an Asian restaurant.

Weidong Xu

very good.

Feng Hou

Nice rice noodles

Kevin Kelly

Great food and atmosphere is. I liked the portions even though other reviews said otherwise. Between two people we ordered two dishes and rice bowls each. I would recommend ordering with the rice which is an extra cost. Manager was very polite to us after a small error was made. He did not have to give us a complimentary dish but still went ahead regardless.

William Machanic

Unique and excellent Hunan cuisine with lots of choices to share at the table. Attentive service

Sam SungCBook

I've lived in China several years. Love hunan good. Not very authentic

Michael Pappone

Sneaked in without reservations at 7:00 tonight and nailed a couple of seats at the bar. The host was most helpful in getting us oriented to the menu specials. The bar attendant was equally conversant with the drinks and the food. He let us sample wines and beers and helped us pair them with the food. We had the cabbage and a bacon dish with brown rice. Both were unlike anything we had had at other Chinese restaurants. Perfectly prepared, and went together well. We will be back!

Nicole Fusco

I tried to order something off the menu (beef with broccoli) and was told by the waiter that this was authentic Chinese, not American Chinese, so I needed to be adventurous and eat something else. He wouldn't listen when I told him I didn't want it. I explained that I don't like spicy food (I came as part of a work dinner), and he said it was fine, they would just make it not spicy. It wasn't spicy, but the food was also not good. For many foods, it completely changes the food to remove one of the components, so taking out whatever made it spicy also made the food taste awful. I told him I didn't like it and he didn't apologize or offer any kind of replacement. If you like spicy food and you're not too picky about what you get, maybe this is a great place for you, but I'm still so angry that the waiter wouldn't let me pick my own food and didn't try to help when the food he insisted I order was bad.

Sean Patrick

Spicy modern Chinese food. Pricey, but worth the price of admission.

Jason

the food is relatively authentic which is phenomenal for Asian food in the Boston Market. The prices reflect high-quality ingredients, even though you may not associate that price point with Chinese food. My only complaint is the decor and the quality of service which tends to be far too casual for the price

Preetam Bakshi

Visited here on the thanksgiving night. Place was crowded but the ambience was perfect. Amazing bar selections and the food available was an absolute delight. Vegiies or meat, everything was delicious and an absolute delight.

Robert Stasio

Utter garbage. I feel like I am in an abusive relationship with this place. I have been there about six times, each time they only bring out half the food wait about 45m and then bring the other half. Literally every time. Some of the food is ok but most is rubbery, small portions, and WAY too expensive. I have learned my lesson here. Never again.

Lawrence Hui

The restaurant looked nice. The food wasn't bad, but pricey for what you got. You are pretty much paying extra for the location.

Ryan Holland

Great food and great service. The portions are really generous

Victor Xiong

I like Hunan food, and that's why I stepped in when I saw it while I was planning to go some other place. But given the price, the food was horrible. I didn't even finish my dish. Very disappointed.

Graham Boylan

Solidly good food, value ranges from slightly inexpensive to slightly overpriced on a dish by dish basis but on average meals are reasonably priced

John Johanson

The quality of the food, level of service, and authenticity of the recipes are great! This quickly became one of my favorites, with each visit another opportunity to try new dishes.

Andrew McLoughlin

Good interpretation of modern Chinese cuisine. I recommend the lunch special.

Wu Chen

Nice environment, authentic food, good service

Cándido Pérez

Excellent hunan cuisine at reasonable prices

Yihao Li

Excellent food, service and vibe. One of the finest Chinese restaurants in the greater Boston area.

Yao Li

Great food. Those who love spicy food should try their lava fish at authentic spicy level.

Danqing Liu

Very good Chinese restaurant with nice decor. The water egg is delicious! - and they’ve removed the egg and changed the menu for the worse since my original review. One star removed.

Tara Tai

Reviewing high end Asian restaurants as a Chinese-American person is always tricky. How tasty is it? Is it tastier than Asian restaurants of similar cuisine? And if it's not tastier, then how much weight do you give to decor and service to justify its price point? There’s a feeling that Asian food (not including Japanese food here) should be cheap and tasty, and that some of its tastiness DERIVES from its affordability. But I believe that’s a dangerous construct, one that perpetuates the racism against minorities and upholds the idea that non-Western cuisine can’t be fancy, can’t be philosophical, can’t be expensive. Sumiao has an absolutely gorgeous interior: a riot of colors amidst an exposed ceiling and industrial-looking furniture. A long bar circles the restaurant; there is great contrast between the curved wooden high-tops and the more geometric square low-top tables. Service is mostly prompt and friendly; we ordered within 3-5 minutes of sitting down and got our food shortly thereafter. Was the food good? Sure. Was it the best Chinese food in the area? Maybe the best Hunan food, but definitely not the best Chinese food. The salted duck egg yolk corn was tasty ($18), although wasn’t quite as crispy as I would have liked and skewed sweet in my opinion. The sesame noodles ($12) were a bit oily but the noodles themselves had great mouthfeel. The mountain yam ($18) was my favorite: spicy, crunchy, a little gooey, with nice chunks of pork belly and garlic. The Hunan ½ duck ($36) was a little unwieldy and I wish there had been a crisp element (green onions or cucumbers for the soft buns) but the duck itself was cooked well, with great crispy skin and not too much fat. (Side note: like a good Asian, prior to the waiter coming to box up our leftovers I separated all the meat and skin from the fat and bones…but when they boxed it they threw away the skin! I was so sad.) Finally, how innovative is it? In many ways, innovation in Asian food is just not as much of a thing, perhaps because there’s so much local pride. Moreover, mixing flavors from Sichuan and Hunan and Shaanxi could be very innovative but for American audiences, it's all just "Chinese” – it doesn’t push the envelope in the same way as, say, a southern-style Dungeness crab & grits “pushes the envelope.” Sometimes, it feels like the only way to innovate in Asian food is to combine with Western cuisines (think Pagu or Little Donkey) and then you run the risk of being branded with the dubious term “fusion.” So Sumiao isn’t…innovative, exactly, except for maybe on their tropical / rice-wine inspired drink menu. But they offer up some dishes I truly haven’t seen outside China (osmanthus cakes, yam bao with lotus paste filling) and that I appreciate. Tl;rd: 4 stars. We spent $120 after tax and tip for 2 people: 1 drink, 4 dishes, with a good amount of leftovers. Service is great. Ambiance is fun. Pretty tasty. Value is decent.

Mike S

Food is good, but the service is atrocious! Plan to spend a lot of time waiting for your food even when it's not busy. They brought our side of rice out 30 minutes prior to the food so the rice was cold. We ordered 3 meals and they brought them out about 10 minutes apart! I won't be back for awhile.

Kai Lim

Delicious Chinese food at reasonable prices. Some of their best dishes in my mind include dumping (steamed and fried), duck, pork, and cabbage

Rex Wang

Lunch is not that pricy, good spicy food.

曾宇瑄

I love it!!!!! Incredible food, very authentic, love the atmosphere here! Recommend Beef Tongue!

Lushen Wu

Best Chinese restaurant in Boston... I have no idea why it's not a 4.8!

John Gonzalez

Modern clean Officiant, a cool place to share food with friends. A cool, Modern twist to Chinese food, a little spicy but very good. Up and coming and will be hard to get in once the Masses start to find it for sure. Hint add some music from China soft in the background would be a very cool touch...

Kate D

I've been there twice now and was underwhelmed each time. The plates are pretty pricey and they didn't come with any special oomph or leave me with feeling like I wanted to go back.

Morgan Y

Ordered beef and broccoli, dumplings, and mushrooms. The mushrooms were terribly salty, the dumpling I bit into had a bone in it and I was worried I chipped a tooth, and the beef and broccoli is tasteless... honestly doesn't taste like beef. Waste of $50.

Lukas Renggli

They can turn most of the vegetable dishes into vegan ones. Quite spicy. Particularly liked the pumpkin desert.

Celeste Finn

Lovely design and service! High quality food.

Haoyu Wu

The prices are higher than its food quality.

Christopher Frye

The food was too salty for me. The AC was not cold enough when I went there. I ordered hot and sour soup, lava fish, and beef and egg noodle. The fish was good, but the beef was too dry for me. Also, the noodle was kind of soggy and not enough soup. I personally would not pay the price again to eat there.

Santiago Caicedo

Solid 3. The food is not bad, but it is definitely not worth the money - it is expensive, and even when the food sounds creative, it falls into laziness. Shumai dumplings were dry ($12), steamed Bao’s meat was tiny and mediocre ($12) and minced beef was poorly served with just lettuce ($24 small plate). Service is good, friendly staff.

Ali Dawkins

Great food and portions. A little expensive but the food is very flavorful especially if you like spicy dishes!

Akash Srivastava

Reasonable lunch menu, fast service, good food but a bit surprising that a pot of normal tea costs more than a full meal :)

Liang Xing

We are from Hunan and very happy to find this amazing place. The food is very very authentic! It's real spicy. Recommend spicy cauliflower and beef on fire!

subinur mardan

This is my favorite favorite favorite restaurant in Boston! Really authentic Chinese Hunan food! Really fancy restaurant,and a higher quality service! The picture at the bottom it’s Summer special, it’s pre-order lobster! I am so much in love is this place.

Deniz Temel

Great food and reasonable priced for cambridge Area. We got pork belly, pepper with centruy eggs and pepper oil chicken wings. Except wingd everytjong was delicous. Do not get me wrong wings were good top but not really Hunan style. I was expecting a Ma La taste from pepper oil but nope. I gave them to my coworker and they loved the dish. i also love century eggs with eggplants. Maybe next time they brjng eggplant centruy eggs into menu. overall good place to eat!

Xin Zhang

The food is pretty good, but according to the price you paid, the food is okay. The service was very mediocre in such a nice ambiance. The waitress was not able to explain how a dish is cooked and what it tastes like. This is a Chinese restaurant, but it is interesting that most waitresses are not Chinese nor Chinese Americans.

Zepure Talar Ajoyan Kurumlian

The family style authentic Korean cuisine is amazing. True, I've never been to Korea, and honestly, I've never really had much other than Korean barbeque. However, this isn't Korean barbeque. This is honest Korean dishes with flavors taken to another level. I can't attest to how authentic it is, because I wouldn't know. What I would know, is that you're guests and taste buds will be quite pleased with this choice of eateries.

Karishma Changlani

Love the food and aesthetic.

Srinivasan Venkatachalan

Tasty and good food. Very pleasantly surprised.

Justin Marchessault

Good service, atmosphere, and food. Would definitely come again.

Melinda Kothbauer

Huge variety of authentic dishes. A little pricey, but very much worth it

Lucy Zhang

Really authentic Hunan Chinese food! I was delighted and surprised by the variety and authenticity of the food there. Tasted better than my mom's home cooking.

Andrei Barbu

Rest easy while you eat your under-seasoned, overcooked, poor-quality meat that tastes of yesterday's leftovers because they will move so slowly that you'll have plenty of time to enjoy the pretty decor. This is the worst Chinese food experience you can have in the greater Boston area. We had a reservation and they still made us wait over 15 minutes. Our food took forever to come out. Then the server forgot a dish just to bring out the wrong dish. They forgot/screwed up the heat on the dishes we ordered. To top it all off, the food was bland and boring. We should have ordered hotter dishes because the few things that were edible relied crucially on the heat to mask the taste of the lousy food. Do yourself a favour. Check out the Chinese food options in Central and Harvard square. A short walk away it doesn't matter if you go to the most expensive or cheapest Chinese food, you'll definitely have a better experience in every way. Well, every way but one. The decor.

Bi Nima

It’s my third friend who wants to hold birthday dinner here but has a poor experience. For the first and second time, they reserved the private space since we have a 12-people party. However, for both of the cases, when we arrived, we were told the private space was occupied by other people. We reserved it in advance. Come on. For the first time, my friend Vicky just accepted their solution: moving to the public dining area. She did not blame them. It’s so nice of her. For the second time, my friend Bella was still frustrated after moving to public area so Sumiao manager gave us desserts as apology and let us enter the private area after that party left. The people occupying that area were so rude to Brenda but the manager did not take action to that, which is disappointing. This is the third time. My friend Louise reserved a 15-people party in the private area one week in advance. They said they would send her a confirmation today, but she didn’t get anything, so she called today to ask. Their response was: “ I don’t know who received your confirmation. We know nothing about it. Someone reserved the whole restaurant tomorrow so we don’t accept your reservation.” The attitude was so poor. I feel like they just want to earn more money since that person reserved the whole restaurant. And they just cancelled our reservation to earn that money. Such a shame. Now Louise already sent invitations. She feels embarrassed to inform all the friends that we have to change the restaurant. To be honest, I’ve never seen a restaurant with such a poor attitude. I don’t recommend people to go there, especially for special events. I gave two stars because they apologized when Bella had to move, or I would give one.

YiJia

Extremely delicious Hunan cuisine. Compared to other Hunan cuisine in the area, this one is better, faster, cleaner and enjoyable.

Brian Go

The food is good. however the service still needs a lot of attention. and I can't believe I was charged six dollars Tea that was very much mediocre. Half the experience with good Hunan food is to pair it with a great tea. there is no option to get something that isn't a teabag. ruin my entire meal

Christopher Chang

Authentic chinese food. The ambience is nice and the restaurant is large. It feels spacious and the service is very good. I think they have multiple servers looking at each table if you need something. The food is good and has large portions. The price is more on the expensive side, but its worth it.

Buddy T

Great Chinese food! Incomparable to others. Very unique, awesome, taste great, flavorful, and likely to go back again. It is very $$$ though, be warn of what you are planning to order. Overall, great experience and everyone was super nice there.

Kaiwen Chen

After hearing various reviews about this place for a long time, I finally got a chance to try it myself. The first impression of the atmosphere was more chic and upscale than I expected. When looking through the menu, some items immediately jumped out as things I would order and eat in Changsha which set the expectations high for authenticity. We ordered a good mix of Hunan dishes and general Chinese dishes and a few cocktails. First off, the baijiu cocktails were amazing and I've never thought you could mix them in cocktails so nicely but I really enjoyed them. The baijiu taste is pretty strong and not for everyone, but if you're a fan of baijiu like me, I'd highly recommend them, especially the Pyroclastic one (can't remember exact name). As for the food, I'm torn because the quality was all very good, but I still don't feel liked they tasted like Hunan dishes (though I did look up the restaurant again and I notice they claim to have modernized the flavors so it's understandable it doesn't taste traditional). In this aspect I'm a little disappointed, but the quality of the dishes were all excellent. I especially loved the stone pot cauliflower and the eel pot also. The tang you ba ba (gelatinous rice dessert) was also not quite the right flavor, but maaaybe my expectations were too high, might still be worth trying if you've never had though. I was hoping to finally have an authentic tasting Hunan restaurant, and while I feel that this isn't it, the food was still quite good and I'm definitely interested in trying some other things on the menu. Although another thing to watch out for is that the pricepoint was also way higher than I expected!

Scott Anderson

This place has the slowest lunch service in the entire Kendall/MIT area. Would only recommend for a sit down meal.

Joshua Gerber

If you think all Chinese food should be 9.99-12.99 simply because its Chinese, and the first thing you turn to on the menu is General Tso's chicken, this is probably not the place for you. However, if you're interested in a creative take on Hunan food in a bright and creative atmosphere, this is a VERY welcome addition to Cambridge. Out service was excellent (funny, direct, and prompt), and we had some standout dishes. The Sumo Shang Gan was spicy, steamy, and full of flavor, the scallion pancakes were flaky, and came with a sauce unlike any other I've had, and the Spicy Cauliflower was tremendous. We're excited to return for another meal.

Boris Efroimskiy

Really liked my main dish: shrimps with peas while the melon soup was mediocre. We have also ordered meatballs with avocado such which were good as well.

Harry Tao

Especially like the braised pork belly and lava fish with medium spicy.

Feng Yvonne

The decoration is modern and fashion. The staff are very friendly and helpful. Within 10 mins, all dishes we ordered were served. They were authentic Chinese Hunan food. Born and raised in Hunan, I can promise it is one of the most authentic I've tasted. Left my hometown since age 18, never thought I'd have something reminding me of my childhood in Boston.

Maria Ivanova

This has become my favorite lunch spot in this area. The portions are generous and very reasonably priced! For $13 you get a soup and a main meal. I always have to take half of it back to the office and have lunch the following day. The food is delicious, the atmosphere, fantastic, and the service excellent. I have two lunch meetings next week and am thinking of booking them both at Sumiao. Have not found a better place in the neighborhood for a pleasant lunch!

rafat qadri

Loved the food and the environment

Zihao Song

Nice food, loved by both Chinese and others.

Zhiying Li

Good atmosphere, nice interior, maybe the dishes are authentic, but not sth my taste buds longing for

Bhargav Krishna

Food was good but the service was pretty slow

Wilson Chen

The food tasted great, and the menu is refreshing. There aren't that many good hunan places around. The reason I give 3 stars is that the food is over priced, and our waiter was inexperienced. Even though the place was only a quarter full, the waiter forgot my rice and forgot to come around to refill our water. My glass empty for a good 15 minutes before anyone came around.

Deepali Gotur

Beautiful restaurant, excellent Chinese food!

Lala Mammadova

Food is Delicious!

Steven Chin

Soup Pork Dumpling was very tasty and flavorful. Their signature simian was delicious.

瓜瓜客

Taste very good but the price is kinda expensive

Sara Sarkhili

Amazing food. The best Chinese I've ever had.

Zen Birdie

My third time here. First two times were good - food good and service impeccable. Today was a huge disappointment. Our appetizer didnt show up even after two main dishes were out. Next table who came later got the exact same appetizer before us! Food was super oily and salty. There was a big crowd & the staff said the crowd had came without reservation and hence they were unusally busy. Thats not acceptable. If the resto is unable to accept the group (without reservation) they should turn them down. But instead other paying clients were penalised. My biggest beef was really the quality of the food - replacement chef or complacency? This is not the standard i had prior times. Great disappointment.

Tyler Cheng-Tau Chan

Authentic Chinese food. Highly recommend.

Swati Gupta

I did not find many vegetarian options, I got the sumiao fried rice which was basically rice sautéed in soya sauce .. service was good.

Lee L

Great traditional Hunan！The food here is truly authentic and delicious. Sumiao is going to be one of my favorite restaurants.

Yang Shi

Authentic Chinese food, super delicious and spicy. Bamboo shot is a must have.

Lee Fay

I love this place so much that I want to come back everyday ! I’m on business trip here for 3 weeks and honestly, having this place next to my hotel makes my life here much better !:)

Sean Kruzel

We had high expectations for this place after attending the soft opening and meeting the nice staff. The food was good at the time but the service needed improvement. After several weeks the service has not improved and the food quality has declined. The price remains high even for the neighborhood. 8 dollars for a poorly chopped cucumber with hot oil on it was indicative of the rest of the menu. The waiter awkwardly fumbled with the electronic tablet for way too long. He also had no knowledge of the drink menu; he plopped the sake tasting flight down with no description of the items and had no idea when I asked.

Kevron Jimerson

The food is outstanding! Some of the best General Tso chicken I ever had. Also, The Steamed Pork Bao and Hunan Street Noodles were also very good. The service was the best. We will visit again before leaving.

Fabian F

A little pricey but good Chinese food.

Andrew Huang

I swear there's a systematic downward bias in asian restaurants. Ice cream shops and french restaurants are auto-5star. Shu Miao is surprisingly authentic with a gorgeous interior. This is an upscale Chinese restaurant that's clean and well executed.

Joy Li

Would love to see more elegant and authentic Chinese restaurants like this. The green pepper with Pidan is my favorite as well as the chicken wings.

Andy Zhang

Good place for authentic Hunan Chinese food, spicy food and Chinese bacon. The braised pork 红烧肉 is nicely braised and definitely melt-in-mouth. The lava fish comes in great portion and with the most authentic Hunan chopped chilie sauce 湖南剁椒 you can get around Boston. Don't be fooled by the modern/American appearance: this is a great place for real Chinese food. A bit pricy tho. Plan to pay 45+ per person.

Darren Carlton

The food is pretty, but I thought a little bland. I had a special from the lunch menu, so it's probably not the best representation.

Gavin Peters

Good food, service is a bit slow especially after the meal has arrived at lunch.

Yi Dong

Finally a decent Chinese restaurant with authentic Chinese food.

Anonymous User

Great place for a nice dinner out.

Kenn Soendergaard

Went here for a birthday and we were a crowd of about 20 people. Super service and true Chinese food, not your American run of the mill version. Live band in the weekends. We will be back.

Tony Huang

Went there 4 times in 5 days, because it is that good.

Amanda Wang

Excellent addition to Chinese food scene in Boston. Really unique and delicious.

Brendon Puntin

Very well cooked and spiced. I like to ask for their spicy dishes extra hot or else you won't really get any heat.

Kenya Green

The owner is awesome and the food even better!!

Naim Nazef

Came here for the first time and the food is so delicious. The portion sizes are plenty and the service is excellent.

Markus Jones

If you like small portions for ludicrous prices then this is the restaurant for you. I order the lotus wrap and it had no flavor, I feel bitterly cheated.

Rocephin W

The food was amazing-authentic and flavorful. It was my first time here, I definitely enjoyed it. Quality was high and the wait was short. However, I took one stars of because their customer service wasn’t that great. The front door hostess seemed emotionless. Their waiters and waitresses didn’t seem that happy to fetch me water. I took another star off because the place was expensive! Nonetheless, the food was great. I forgot the name of the fish we ordered, hahaha but it was delicious.

Alexander Justin

Went here for lunch. I loved the atmosphere - modern with good music playing. I tried their beef on fire and really enjoyed it. Plus, when you choose the authentic spice level it definitely brings the eat. Overall had a pleasant experience here.

XING LIU

Food is great but long wait during lunch time.

Samantha Broady

Everything is delicious. The bao buns are amazing (especially the purple ones), and the spicy cukes are perfect. You really can't go wrong with just about anything on the menu.

Dennis Salotti

Very authentic Chinese food in a contemporary setting. Dishes are served family style which is great for groups that want to try a bit of everything. While the menu has very traditional dishes not for the faint of heart . . .it also has plenty of recognisable favorites.

Qihan Liu

Authentic Hunan dishes and nice environment. But be cautious that authentic Hunan dishes are really spicy. They also offer many none spicy non-Hunan dishes. However, those dishes are rather mediocre. The place is a little bit pricey but worth it if you ordered the right dishes.

Mindy Lui

Hip restaurant with relaxed atmosphere. Space is limited but the food is delicious with spices that wake up you up without burning out your taste buds.

Bruce Bruce

Chicken gizzards and five sense braised beef are really good But the braise pork is below average and not authentic

Yavuz Karaman

Good food. Average service. Overpriced drinks. Trendy crowd. Better value for lunch.

George Madrid

The decor and atmosphere is okay, but the service was borderline and I really didn't like the food. I ordered three things, a cocktail and two small plates, and I didn't like any of them.

Melissa Icaza

The decor is beautiful, the menu looks great, and my appetizer, the pan seared peppers was excellent. But then my vegetarian entree came full of meat. The server's reaction made me think this is a common problem. When they remade it, it still tasted meaty. I wondered if they just picked out all meat and replated it. Then we received the wrong dessert. I'm kind of tempted to try again because my partner liked all of his food, but the kitchen/service dysfunction is pretty hard to get past.

Alicia Mahony

Beautiful atmosphere and delicious food, but very pricey! Stick to Windsor Cafe in Chinatown for half the price

Barret Pfeiffer

Delicious and elevated experience of Hunan chinese food in Cambridge.

Brian Morin

After a not great first experience, I had a really excellent lunch here. It was eggplant and green beans- very very flavorful and a just spicy enough. Our rice came about 5 minutes after the rest of the entrees which was strange, but good otherwise.

W Z

Authentic Hunan food!!! Some of their waiters/waitress seem to have bad hearing though. Make sure that they get the right dishes for you.

Space Cow

Make sure you ask the owner to sing! She's amazing!

Valessio Brito

Yanyan introduced me to this place. It's amazing, delicious Chinese food. Reminded me of my last experience in Hong Kong. Thank you.

Rahul Moghe

Epic authentic food, I want to try every dish here

thatail Guy

If you do nothing else in Boston come here and eat the food is great and authentic. So authentic the white people will give it a bad review because they don't know any better. The lamb the lobster the noodles everything was great!

Ronika Lewis

Went here for dinner. General tso’s was just okay. Should have went to Chang’s on Mass Ave. Pricey. Service for one was not worth the $50. One appetizer (nom numb wings) ginger beer, and entree.

Mi Gah

The food is great, a little bit pricey compare to its portion, but the flavor is authentic. Nice environment for gathering, date, or just friends hanging out. I went there a couple of times. All the previous experiences were pleasant, but until today, it was very disappointing, mainly because the waiter was very unprofessional. He was way too quiet or simply rude to be a waiter. He didn’t come to serve us after we sat down for 10 minutes and we have to call another waiter to come over. Then he was really unprofessional when he took our order. Then he just put down the dishes without saying anything and left. Then he didn’t come to pour water or ask how is everything during the whole dinner. Then he asked if we finished, we said not yet and he just turned around and left. I understand anyone can have a bad day, but when serving customer is your job, shouldn’t you be professional and provide a pleasant experience to your customer? Shouldn’t you say what the dish is and say enjoy when you put them down on the table? shouldn’t you just simply say take your time or something like that when we said we haven’t done yet? Remain silent was like giving us attitude and we didn’t even do anything to make him treat us this way. Why should I pay to be disrespectful to and have a bad experience? If I were the manager, I wouldn’t keep him in my restaurant, simply because he is driving customers away with his attitude. However, I do hope it’s just him having a bad day today and we were unlucky enough to be served by him. I think for a waiter, he/she doesn’t have to be energetic or talkative, just simply be professional, friendly, polite, attentive, and hospitable, and that will make any customer happy.

Sage Carbone

Quality and portion sizes for the high prices leave much to be desired. The restaurant also consistently uses residential space to store their food beyond the scope of inspectors. Most often, staff can be seen sleeping in the common areas or outside between shifts.

Ryan Kilpadi

Great food, great service! Everything I ordered was amazing.

Anh Dinh

Good food. Fun decors.

Qingrun Meng

Very good food but very dishonest way of doing business. I ordered several entrees over the phone and drove there to pick up, no one let me know that it doesn’t come with any rice. What kind of Chinese restaurant offer entrees without rice? I’m fine paying for it but at least someone should tell me that I don’t have rice yet... The website says 10% off if you take out, I then ordered over the phone, which gives them the excuse to refuse giving me the discount. I don’t see any difference between ordering online and ordering over the phone and pick up myself...

Michiel Niesen

Tasty food, if you like spicy

Joseph Kesselman

In the evening, Anglo faces are a minority... Which I take to mean their menu and preparation are more authentic than most. That doesn't necessarily mean "better", at least to American tastes -- I still prefer Mary Chung's, but that may just be what I'm used to -- but Human Kitchen is definitely worth trying, especially if you're in Kendall Square anyway.

Ryann Flannigan

Amazing food! Little pricey in si.e of their options but we went with a group of four and eat everything family style and it worked out great. Give you good portion sizes. Owners are very nice. We will be back.

Julie Liu

Interior is fine. Food is ok, not authentic. Overly priced for the quality. Service is the worst. Our waiter was very rude and arrogant. There r plenty to dine around Cambridge. Not recommend - 1st and last time customer.