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    Lucky Cafe

    3.7 (107 reviews)
    InexpensiveChinese, Barbeque
    Closed 9:00 am - 7:00 pm

    Lucky Cafe Photos

    Business Info

    LUCKY CAFE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Quiet
    Casual
    Good for kids

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    Recommended Reviews - Lucky Cafe

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    Menu as of Dec 2023
    Kweilyn C.

    This is the only spot in greater Boston that my partner will get his char siu, siu yuk, and all the other roasted meats from. Check it out!

    A price 3 dollars more than what was advertised, old chewy shrimp, tiny pieces of meat and veg and tough, undercooked possibly old rice?
    Yelp R.

    Closes early every single day. They do NOT close at 9pm. Not by a long shot . It's 8:46pm and they are closed. Who knows when they actually close? They just do whatever they want every day. UPDATE: Do not order "Sticky Rice" new menu item. Here is why: 1. "Sticky Rice was advertised as 12.95. They charged me 15.95. 2. Shrimp pieces were hard as rock. If I wasn't so hungry I would have returned the whole thing. 3. Rice was either undercooked or old. Each grain was tough, more than just chewy. Didn't look anything like the picture. Picture had succulent pieces of meat and good sized be vegetables. Take a look at the pic and judge for yourself. I had no idea so many things could go wrong at the same time.

    Front of restaurant.
    Ian G.

    I used to get the BBQ here and thought I would introduce it to my kids. Drove out in the rain and made the order and pulled out my credit card. Cash only. Is it ok to complain about this?. In China itself, I understand you can use your phone to buy practically anything even in the most remote province. But here in Dorchester, at Lucky Cafe, you can't even use a credit card. They want me to go across the street to use an ATM where I'm sure I'd have to pay an exorbitant fee. So I canceled the order and won't go back. This is such a bizarre thing in 2023 I don't understand it. So I cannot report on the quality of the food. It used to be really good.

    Char sui and roasted duck
    Diana N.

    I LOVE char sui (Roasted Pork BBQ) and roasted duck. Unfortunately, where I live, the quality of these two dishes has gone downhill. So, on an adventure to find both pork and duck bbq outside of Boston, I visited Lucky Cafe. How lucky was I! The pork was lean, crispy, and had enough fat to keep the meat moist. The duck was also lean and very crispy. Do yourself a favor and get extra sauce with your order. The owners of the restaurant are extremely kind and helpful when ordering. They speak English, Vietnamese, and Chinese to list what I heard. I can't wait to come back!

    Roast duck, pork (char siu style) and chicken (steamed with ginger scallion sauce) rice plate.

    An oldie but a goodie on Dot Ave for those lazy day meals. There's some greens hiding under the meat as well

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    2 years ago

    Great food i usually order the roasted pork and its always good. I also enjoyed there chicken curry. Great flavors and very consistent.

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    5 years ago

    Roast pig, char sui, chicken, duck, over rice, YUM! Definitely would recommend. I could eat here everyday!

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    6 years ago

    Amazing food! First time trying and will be back in the future. I suggest the R1 rice plate and chili oil! Very good

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    7 years ago

    No matter what, I just love this place. every dish is delicious. Cash only. Best roasted duck in the neighborhood for sure.

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    Ask the Community - Lucky Cafe

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    China Station

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    3.9(86 reviews)
    1.6 miDorchester
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    Taking a star from my previous review. Honestly if I knew the price I would have ordered from the…read moreHaitian place because their food is healthier and roughly around the same price. Even the Jamaican place's price is similar! No matter how good the food is I hate when takeout places display the wrong price and then expect you to pay the higher price. I thought the price was 15.75...reasonable in 2025. Then he asked for 17 something. Guys...I know the public education system isn't great but anyone can tell that's more than 7% tax. Anyway, they just boldly asked me to pay the higher undisplayed price...much like the Texas BBQ place next door! I'm sure this is illegal. Let's hope the food is good or this review is dropping even lower. They did throw in a free egg roll to pacify me which is more than the other place did...and I'm fat so I accepted the bribe. Nevertheless. Restaurants...do better! Also...I'll be posting this when and only when I exit with my food!

    Great food! I ordered delivery and everything came so fresh and delicious. I ordered the combo of…read morethe Shrimp with Broccoli, 4 Crab Rangoons, and Pork Fried Rice for $15.75. First of all, that is a pretty good price for that much food. There's definitely some places that have cheaper combos, but they usually have just a main dish, fried rice, and a single appetizer. 4 crab rangoons is a lot! Secondly, the amount of food that actually came in this order was massive. It is enough fried rice for at least two meals, and the shrimp with broccoli was a good portion as well. Third, the restaurant gave me a free egg roll on top of it! And lastly, the taste. The crab rangoons had scallions and imitation crab in them and were still very crispy. The egg roll had mostly veggies in it, but the duck sauce that came with the order is some of the best duck sauce I've had - it's not that orange or yellow stuff - it's the real deal made with the right proportions of apple sauce, vinegar, and sugar (and other things too?). But the point is that the duck sauce was GOOD. The pork fried rice was dark brown and the perfect New England style fried rice with bean sprouts (also not always included by other places) and BBQ pork. And the shrimp tasted actually really fresh and plump while the broccoli was crisp and absorbed the sauce well. All in all, 5/5 for sure - this is place is great!

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    Yunnan Kitchen - rice cakes

    Yunnan Kitchen

    4.0(127 reviews)
    1.9 miSouth End

    Unfortunately, Yelp doesn't allow for half stars, but Yunnan Kitchen would be a solid 4.5/5 for me…read more A group of friends and I made the trek to the South End on a rather sad, rainy day, so we had high expectations for the food. For the most part, Yunnan delivered. We came in on a Sunday at 5 pm, and the restaurant was moderately busy. We were able to find seating and order relatively quickly. Based on one friend's suggestion and a bit of online help, we ordered the Boiled Fish Fillet in Chili Oil, the Mint Beef, the Potato Pancake, and the Stir-Fried Rice Cakes. Overall, the meal was pretty good. The stars of the dinner were the Stir-Fried Rice Cakes and the Mint Beef (which was realllyyyy minty and herbaceous), while the fish tasted pretty standard for a typical Chinese restaurant. The Potato Pancake added some nice texture, but it wasn't particularly memorable and I probably wouldn't order it again. Now you might ask... okay? Cozy restaurant, fast service, good food--why the 0.5 off? And sadly, it was the dessert. Call me picky, but this was the part I had the highest hopes for. After finishing our meal, we decided to get the Coconut Delight and the Devil Sweet Sticky Balls (their words, not mine). The Coconut Delight was... okay. The best part was the bread (three pieces per cup), which, when soaked in the coconut milk, was just heavenly. But beyond that, the dish resembled a rather sad, runny coconut sago. The Devil Sweet Sticky Balls weren't much better. We loved the texture of the rice balls (chewy!), but the brown sugar syrup tasted burnt and left a strange, bitter aftertaste. This may have been a one-off, so we'll have to return to verify (and when we do, I'll update this review). But to give Yunnan the benefit of the doubt, I'll round up to a full 5 stars for now. For main dishes, fast service, and a cozy ambiance, Yunnan hits all the right boxes (just not quite dessert!)

    The gentleman at the door greeted us promptly, it was a busy evening with larger parties! 5 min…read morewait for a party of 2 though. Our host was very nice. Quickly seated and started to cruise through the menu. We settled on the following dishes: + stir fried rice cake, first time having a dish like this. Stir fried with pickled mustard greens, minced pork, egg and tomatoes. The rice cake was easy to eat but lacked any sort of flavor depth for us. I don't know how it's meant to come across, but felt like it was missing salt or something for a punch. + sweet and sour fish, i honestly was thinking it might have been with chili's or something thinking (Noah's kitchen) but that's my fault. It is sweet and sour so more like orange chicken but with fish fillet battered. I honestly liked this dish fish anyways, portion size was good. Fish was flakey had crispiness to it. +Shiny fried ribs I'd have to pass next time around I was thinking from some pictures I've seen that it may have had a honey or some type of chili honey glaze. Probably would have elevated it more for me. Don't get me wrong I'm not a Michelins recognized anything but just my humble opinion. Didn't work for me. Began looking around and I'm thinking the dish to get is the spicy fish fillet soup. Or the whole fish dish. Most other tables seem to have the big pot of spicy fish. Server was nice overall, when taking order and initial check in after food arrived. After that didn't see them again until we were done (needed a drink refill some ginger ale haha) Overall a miss for me but it does offer good location, street parking, casual atmosphere with good portions. Might have to give it another go with the soup based dish next time. The dishes all presented well, good portion size and will get you full.

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    Just Thai Kitchen - JTK - Coconut shrimp

    Just Thai Kitchen - JTK

    4.1(108 reviews)
    1.0 miDorchester, Fields Corner

    I was here a few years ago and it was awesome…read more I happened to be in the area so stopped by again It is more authentic Thai food which is the only good thing I can say though you'll get a bunch of rice and little meat. They have a kiosk you order food. The first thing you see is how many pennies they will charge you for any fork knife spoon plate bag etc. it's making customers wonder if you're stressing over pennies what's the quality of food like are they skimping on that too? I ordered a pad kra pao. It's always been served with an egg. Not here, that's $2.95 extra! The price doesn't include any meat/tofu, you have to choose one that's at least $1.95 more So $17 plus tax for a takeout and they make me pay .03 for a fork and no napkins anywhere to be seen btw. The dish was almost all rice. There was maybe 6oz of basil peppers and minced chicken Gf had a panang curry which was also almost all rice I won't be coming back sorry to say especially given the horrible traffic that plagues this area. That's my .03 or the cost of their stupid plastic fork....... Next time I'm headed north on 93 to Bangkok spice in reading

    Pad Thai wasn't bad, a little amateurish but still tasted good. For a place that gives McDonald's…read morevibe it was fine. The chicken could have been less dry and tofu appetizer is better than it looks. Super crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside with tasty sauce. Reasonable pricing

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