Gourmet Garden

Even though other Chinese-Japanese fusion restaurants are closer by, we come back to Gourmet Garden (formerly Asian-C) for two reasons. First, the food is delicious. For example the sautéed spinach we recently ordered was lightly cooked, lightly seasoned to let the fresh taste really come out. And second, the manager. She welcomes us when she sees us, and she takes care of us. She and the rest of the staff usually look happy to see us. That's why we've been going back for twenty years now.

This is my favorite restaurant on the south shore for Chinese food. I have never had a bad or even mediocre meal here. The sushi is always super fresh and delicious. The Shanghai boneless duck is my favorite meal. Loaded with perfectly cooked duck and fresh vegetables. Honestly anything with duck is a great choice. Just go there you won't be disappointed.

Thought i ordered for delivery not pick up, when i called to clarify the woman who answered continuously put me on hold and didn’t know who i was when i picked back up. said she could deliver to me and hung up… with no address. i called back to give her the address and she said she couldn’t deliver that far. i said okay can you refund me? at this point she starts actually yelling at me that she can’t do this (I just didn’t know..) and to cancel my order. over some sushi. restaurant workers are stressed right now but there’s never a reason to berate someone like that.

My family has been to Gourmet Garden many times and we’ve always liked the food and service. But this review is concerning their sushi. My wife and I wanted to go on our own sushi crawl so we picked out four places, not all Chinese restaurants, to try the same sushi roll and rate each one. The roll was one that had shrimp tempura and spicy tuna. Gourmet Garden won hands down. Everything in the roll was super fresh, it was a good size, and the flavor of the tempura was delicious. It was surprising how hidden the tempura flavor was at the other restaurants. I won’t name the other restaurants we tried, but most have good reputations for sushi. Two of the others in particular I have been told by separate people have the best sushi on the South Shore, respectively. Although prior to this sushi crawl I didn’t think first that Gourmet Garden is one of the top sushi places on the South Shore, I do now.

The food was very very good! The problem was the waiter. He could not get to us in time or get us food out in time. We waited a half an hour to get appetizers and it was not that busy in the restaurant. Did not come back and asked if we needed anything. When he did come he spilled water all over my hands and my daughters as he was pouring. Luckily we pick the cup up away from our plate so he could fill it or else our dish would have been full of water. Very unpleasant demeanor. Apparently he was upset at all the work he had to do that night. There was a woman who waited on the tables next to us she was phenomenal she took their order after hours was put in and they got their food before we did. So if you go there make sure you ask for her. The only saving grace was that the food really was excellent.

Having been long time customers it is upsetting to leave a bad review but unfortunately the food has been continually going down hill and now the service has as well. Tonight our sushi arrived (looking poorly) over an hour after estimated delivery time. Having called 3 times to see where delivery was I was only given the answer that they thought it should be arriving soon. While on the 3rd call asking for a refund the delivery driver arrived. I was told that I could not get a refund and if they were to give me one I could no longer order from them. Will be checking our statement for refund and promptly finding somewhere better to loyally spend our money.

If I could leave this less than 1 star I would. We used to love this place. Came all of the time with our friends. Lately it has been bad. WAY over priced for what it is. Sushi not fresh. Overcharged for drinks and no help from “management” when we approached them. Not good, not happy with response from “manager”. We won’t be back!