Myers+Chang — Restaurant in Boston

Overall: Yummy food with just a couple missteps, landing them at a respectable 4/5. It's imaginative food that goes beyond the standard recipes, and I appreciate that effort. I'd love to, and plan to, try the rest of their menu.

My favorite was the pork belly bao. Super fluffy steamed bao bun, filled with a juicy, savory chunk of pork belly slathered in a tangy, sweet hoisin sauce. Some daikon cuts through the savory pork with a refreshing, light crunch.

The thai lettuce wraps were tasty and I was happy with them overall, but they lacked some pop, relying on the dipping sauce to add a kick of flavor. The meat had a fair amount of spice and some nice char on it for crunch. It could have used some acidity; the menu lists lime as an ingredient, but it wasn't prevalent enough. Unfortunately there were some splinters of wood in one of our pieces of meat, from the (very) charred stick they cook it on. The lettuce came on the side with some cilantro, deconstructed.

The shrimp & grits had potential, and almost got there, but fell short. The shrimp were great, but the grits stumbled. I like the addition of the liquid smoke, but it was just way too heavy-handed. It was like eating a campfire. A bit too oily as well, the oil ended up pooling in the surface. The green tomato chunks were tangy and flavorful: a good compliment to the salty, savory grits. The dish wasn't bad; but less liquid smoke and a little less oil would have made it a lot better.

Chicken and waffles were tasty and generally a success. Juicy chicken covered in a thin layer of sweet, spicy, sticky glaze. The waffles themselves tasted like regular waffles, but the combination of the sesame butter and the syrup gave them the creative kick that made it unique... Would have liked to see a little more of both on the plate, maybe even in cups on the side. The waffles are billed as "ginger waffles", but I didn't taste much ginger at all. A heavier dose of ginger would have set the waffles on a new level, allowing them to stand on their own without relying on the butter or syrup. Our waffles were almost too cooked, would have liked to see them a little less dark, but they were still far enough away from being burned.

For dessert, I tried the lemon-ginger mousse. It came with a big ole fortune cookie. I enjoyed the mousse, but like the chicken dish, I struggled to taste the ginger in it. The sour of the lemon was far more present than the spice of the ginger, and it tasted sort of like whipped lemon yogurt. I'd love to see the same dessert with extra ginger to give it more spice to compliment the overpowering sour of the lemon. The cookie itself was great, and provided a crunchy texture to the soft, fluffy mousse.

I've had my fair share of thai milk tea, and I can give my stamp of approval on theirs. Seems like they brew it themselves and add the milk, instead of using a mix or powder, so that was great.

The atmosphere is lively and energetic. Some of the tables are in an odd position with lots of passing traffic (as was my case), which is a little annoying when every customer walking by brushes your table with their coat.

All of the staff were super polite and very helpful.

I'll be...

Imagine that you don't get into the city that often, and in this case the city in question is Boston. You don't live in the suburbs; you're out beyond the suburbs, in the hinterlands of Southwestern New Hampshire. But it's a special occasion, and your wife is taking you to Boston to celebrate. There's an endless variety of restaurants to choose from, but you recall how much you enjoy Joanne Chang's Flour Bakery, so you make the decision to visit her other establishment that she owns in partnership with her husband. You decide to enjoy Dim Sum at Myers+Chang.

Arriving right on time for our 11:45 am reservation, we were quickly seated at a two-top near the bar that borders two sides of the open kitchen. We're close to the action, but not too close. On a subsequent visit, perhaps we'll request a seat at the bar. The Dim Sum menu has 34 items to choose from ... and they all look great. Dim Sum is a style of eating Chinese food; where from a menu or a cart, you select small plates to share at your table. The staff at Myers+Chang is amazing, always present when you have a question about anything, friendly, and extremely professional. We feel like we are dining among good friends.

As always when go out for Dim Sum, we order more than we can possibly eat: Thai Chicken Ginger Salad with Vermicelli; two orders of Spring Rolls with Peach Duck Sauce; Hakka Eggplant; Braised Pork Belly Bao; Two orders of Mama Chang's Pork and Chive Potstickers; Nirvana Chicken Congee; Tea Smoked Ribs; and a fried rice dish called Nasi Goreng, with pork, pineapple, and egg.

Each dish arrives at the moment it is ready, one after the other. We split the braised pork belly bao; it's a mouthful of heaven. We were wise to decide on two orders of the spring rolls with duck sauce; they were perfect. The congee, which we've never had before, is beyond expectation. Certainly we'll be looking for Congee recipes to prepare at home, we decide. The potstickers are very good. properly prepared and delicately flavored. I'm no huge fan of eggplant, but the hakka eggplant is delicious. The tea smoked ribs were prepared perfectly, and compared to the smoked ribs I make, had a very different flavor profile that complemented the other dishes on the table. The Nasi Goreng was tasty, and the pineapple in the dish really made it a stand out.

The last dish to the table was Thai chicken ginger salad. It was the only cold dish we ordered, and neither of us were a huge fan. When our waiter asked how we liked the meal, we mentioned it wasn't something we'd order again ... there wasn't a problem with the dish, but it just wasn't to our taste. When the check came, we found that she removed it from the bill, which was appreciated but certainly not necessary. The experience at the restaurant, from start to finish, was great. Nothing fell short or was wanting. This is exactly what you'd look for if you wanted to enjoy the perfect celebratory meal with a few good friends.

Doggy bag in hand, we left full, happy, and very impressed with Myers+Chang ... we were well fortified for the rest of our...

Came here for my boyfriend’s birthday dinner on a weeknight, and we were both super excited as Myers + Chang seems to be typically regarded as a modern day Boston culinary institution. However, we were pretty disappointed with our meal and experience.

To begin, we were seated at a two person table uncomfortably close—maybe 6 inches—to the couple next to us. I could tell this was meant to be a four person table (2x2) pushed against the wall, and to accommodate us they just pulled the second table slightly away from the first. We thought this was weird as there was clearly an empty two seater table at a window further back in the restaurant.

To drink, I got a sake cup and my boyfriend got the bloodlust margarita. The sake was fine, just overpriced. The margarita had almost no discernible tequila in it at all.

For food, we ordered the tofu fresh rolls, the lamb biang biang noodles, grilled mushroom longevity noodles, and Taiwanese fried chicken thigh to share. First, timing was a bit off—we expected the rolls to come out first, but instead had the lamb noodles first, followed by the rolls, then chicken and then the mushroom noodles.

The lamb noodles were pleasantly spicy, and had a good amount of lamb. Unfortunately, the noodles in both dishes were extremely overcooked and both were also very oily. The mushroom noodles were reminiscent of mall food court offerings, and the “crispy tofu” was soggy.

We were told by our waitress that the chicken thigh came with four pieces, but we only received three. Not a huge deal, but worth mentioning. The chicken was crispy but also extremely salty. The coleslaw that came with it, however, was probably my favorite part of the meal.

The tofu fresh rolls were not memorable. Very overpriced for what you get, but I was craving something lighter and they hit the spot.

I mentioned in our reservation under occasion that we were celebrating my boyfriend’s birthday, and was maybe naively hoping that we would receive some sort of acknowledgement at the outset, or maybe a small dessert—not atypical at a restaurant of this caliber. Instead, we were just asked if we would like dessert, and we decided on the carrot cake just for the sentiment. I’m 100% sure it’s just cake from Flour, just extremely marked up ($10 a slice here v. $6.30 at the bakery)—I get I’m paying for the convenience, but this amount of markup seems a bit ridiculous. When the cake came out, there were just two candles stuck haphazardly on top.

All in all, food was not good, even erring on the side of bad. Maybe it was my fault for coming in with high expectations, and maybe we just ordered the wrong things, but I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to come here. If you’re in the area, maybe it’s worth a try—otherwise, skip it and get yourself a noodle bowl, sandwich, and slice of cake at Flour instead for tastier food at a quarter...