Ray's New Garden — Restaurant in Needham

Atmosphere, Amanda behind the bar was extremely friendly and personable. Atmosphere was modern and nice. The food. I'm pretty confident in my pallette when it comes to food, especially Chinese food. Their hot and sour soup was amazing. Old school flavors, wood ear mushrooms, golden needles, tofu among other delicious fillers. Not only did it have perfect flavoring but it was traditionally garnished with sesame oil. It also had a good amount of heat. This soup should clear your sinuses while maintaining a strong flavor foundation, this totally does. Another highlight is the chicken wings. Most places have down the crispy and the juicy part. These also had a nice full flavor. Probably a five spind blend. It also kept the flavor when reheated. The egg rolls are made on location and pass the can you eat them without duck sauce test. Also delicious! The beef teriyaki was a red marinade but had more of the traditional flavoring. Very tender, and flavorful. Highly recommend! I thought the chicken fingers, boneless ribs, and crab rangoons were solid. Crab rangoons had a little sweetness. My only complaint, I liked the lobster sauce, but it was extra salty. I was able to use a duck sauce and some hot mustard to cut the salt. Ray's New Garden in Needham overall gets my initial stamp of approval on places that should be checked out. If you're a fan of hot and sour soup this could transport you back to one of your first times having it. I will...

DO NOT EVER PLACE AN ORDER OVER THE PHONE AND EXPECT TO PAY WHAT YOU SEE ONLINE. I am appalled at this restaurants customer service and operations. They charged $40+ dollars for an order that should have costed $26. They weren't willing to work with the person at first and that the customer was wrong in the first place cause they were looking at the wrong prices. There are only one set of prices to go off of so how can the customer be wrong? I just had to witness an issue where the receptionist could only say "sorry i cant do anything" about a refund and gave a web address to make online orders, and that doesnt even work! And when the owner came, he said "i cant do nothing about it". He being the owner couldn't do anything about updating their online prices or provide a reason as to why they were overcharging this customer or provide a refund. It was a struggle trying to get a refund for their overpriced food. I haven't had their food but if their service was anything like this situation then it's probably not even worth trying. Maybe after this review they will consider updating their website to reflect actual prices and not misleading a hungry customer. If I could give a score less...

Gotta say that I was pleasantly surprised by this place!

This place has the best crab rangoons I've had in years! They don't spare the filling! My only regret is that I didn't order MORE!

They don't spare the filling, it's texture is good and the evidence of the ingredients is unmistakable. Not just the cream cheese! You have to try them! If you want sweet and sour sauce you need to request it, some places serve duck sauce with them.

The restaurant itself is nice. They have a bar area that seems popular and has a decent size crowd. The whole place is well maintained, plenty of parand clean.

I also ordered beef teriyaki and eggplant with oyster sauce. Everything was delicious. I was not into the eggplant dish, but it was the first time I tried it. I know it was good, done right, but it just wasn't what my taste buds wanted.

The staff was friendly and very helpful. Customers were also very friendly and that helps to let you know what the customer base is like.

I have been in a lot of Chinese restaurants in my travels, rays is at the top of my list.

I will be eating...