Asia Gourmet — Restaurant in Athol

If dishes like Happy Family or General Gau's Chicken or Yu Hsiang Seafood make your taste buds dance . . . If you're dying to try a lunch of Kung Pao Chicken or Moo Goo Gai Pan or Beef in Szechuan Style . . . If you're excited by Thai Fusion and Ginger Chicken or Masaan Curry with Shrimp or Chicken Tropical. . . or if you're looking for some great sushi appetizers or plates.........well, then I have fantastic news for you. Athol's long-awaited newest restaurant--Asia Gourmet--is now open! Asia Gourmet is located in Athol's North Quabbin Commons, just off Route 2 at Exit 18 in Athol. It is the newest business at what many people refer to as the Market Basket Plaza in Athol. The beautiful new restaurant is large and very nicely decorated, and has a warm atmosphere.. When I visited tonight at about 7:30, I found a good opening day crowd having either drinks or dinner or both. The dishes were very colorful and the presentation was lovely. As my wife, Anne, always reminds me, 'You eat first with your eyes." People really seemed to be enjoying themselves--AND their meals! The menu at Asia Gourmet is truly extensive--varied, eclectic, and appetizing.

This past week we had our first dinner at the new Asian Gourmet Restaurant at the North Quabbin Commons (Market Basket Plaza here in Athol. Admittedly, we arrived early--5:15 p.m.--and we were seated immediately in a comfortable booth near the windows. The service was excellent, as was the food. First we had the A2 Appetizer plate (A 2. Beef Teriyaki, Boneless Spare Ribs, Chicken Finger & Egg Roll). Then we had our main dishes (pictured); General Gau's Chicken (Deep-fried battered crispy chicken leg meat sauteed with spicy--or not so spicy-- seasoned sauce, broccoli on side) and Beef Negimaki (Beef rolled up with scallion). Both were delicious. I spoke with the hostess, and told her that I had been in earlier to take photos of the restaurant and some patrons that I had placed on facebook. I told her that I had read many comments on facebook that the food was terrific, but that they needed to add more wait staff/servers. She acknowledged that, and noted that so far they had only had their "soft opening." She said that when they were ready to have their "grand opening" in a week or two, that they would then have more staff. I'm sure that will be helpful, though for us, the staff was great: fast, courteous, and very responsive, keeping our water glasses filled and checking on our enjoyment of the meal. I am hoping that those who were disappointed with the service when they visited soon after the soft opening, will return in a couple of weeks when the restaurant has its full staffing. We absolutely loved our first visit to Asian Gourmet. We will...

Great place! All of the food we ordered was good, no complaints here! We got the Sesame Chicken, Pu Pu Platter for 1, a Thai dish whose exact name I forget (Triple Thai? It has chicken, tomatoes, pineapple, green snap peas, and mushrooms I think), and Naruto sushi roll which is wrapped in perfectly thin sliced cucumber instead of seaweed. The sushi is made fresh on spot so it took 15 minutes, and included 6 decently-sized pieces. The waitress did mistake my order of Pineapple juice for Apple juice, but they are the same price and both good. She probably just misheard. I'm sure if I had mentioned the mistake they would've gladly exchanged my drink, but I was fine with Apple juice and didn't want to cause extra work for them. Very good service. We were seated nearly immediately although we had no reservation and it was a Friday night. The food came reasonably fast, and the waitress was friendly and patient when I was taking a while to decide what to order. If you ask the servers questions such as "ooo what is that dish the other table got?" they will gladly help you out and point it out for you on the menu. Don't be afraid to try something new! The prices are fair too. Loved the environment and decor of the place. You can tell a lot of effort was put into it. I will say that none of the customers were wearing masks while waiting for their food or waiting to be seated. I guess none of the white people around here wear masks... All of the servers and restaurant workers were wearing masks though. There is also no outdoor seating as far as I know so these are some things to keep in mind. It felt like a nice, more-casual, family, city restaurant which I didn't expect from a suburban place located next to a dollar store. It is convenient though, as we stopped by the nearby Market Basket for groceries...

Just got take out from Asia Gourmet and we are disappointed. We have eaten there for table service before and thought it was decent. But, the take out experience was a let down. I think most important thing for a restaurant to do right is have good food, without that there's no point to go there. After having good food, the most important aspect of take out orders is getting the order correct. Well, this take out order missed on both accounts. The beef teriyaki sticks and chicken tenders were bland and underwhelming. And, they forgot the Alaskan Roll. They took the initiative to call me after I left with the order, which I was actual impressed by. But, I was 2 minutes from home in the 40 min round trip so I opted for a refund. Then, they had to call me again because to person who told me they would make the refund did not know to take my card info again. So, then when I got snippy and said "so, all this for 8 bucks back, huh?" the woman replied "yep, all this for 8 bucks back" with a snarky tone. I am well within expectations to be annoyed by them failing on the basics of take out. Also annoyed that they feel like a refund for the exact amount of the one forgotten item is supposed to fix it in my eyes. Why, would I give them...