I accompanied some friends to Karaoke night (my first time ever!) and it was a blast. Low stakes singing, the host Demitri was personable, efficient in scheduling folks in and filling in gaps with his great voice. We weren't there for the food but got there a little early to get a bite. We all got some form of sushi. I had a California maki which was just the way i like it. The wait staff were courteous, prompt and efficient. No problem with separate checks for 6 of us plus 2 more who came later. I WILL be going back! read more

I stopped in for appy hour on a Wednesday and had the appetizer specials of the bbq bone in ribs and an order of the chicken wings. Well, the food is always great here. The service , employees , owner management all great all the time. The bone in ribs are some of the best around and I go here for these with the perfect candied char and meaty ribs. Elite and outstanding. The chicken wings not reheated but fried fresh and hot. The crisp skin , marinated just enough meat in the wing ... great wings . No beef teriyaki today for my order ; but this also last time cooked tender fresh. Very nice vibes for a beverage or two with lunch or dinner and nice bar, tv viewing. They offer trivia nights, karaoke and musicians entertainment. Located Needham downtown walking distance from train stations. read more

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New menu and items. I really love this long time Needham restaurant. They have some dishes that are outrageously good, like their chicken wings and ribs which are simple items on every Chinese food menu; but they do them great here. I recommend the sesame beef. It's sweet like candy. Pictured is the lunch special plus I added an extra app read more

Ray's New Garden - Lunch special wings & ribs & fingers - Sushi Bars Near Me - Needham, Massachusetts

Went for a quick combo dinner at the bar. (Combo of: Boneless Ribs. Chicken Fingers and Fried Rice, along with a Mai Tai.) I found the food pretty solid. The ribs were charred and very tasty, although I found them a bit tough. Chix fingers were hot and crunchy with good coating-to-chix ratio. I found the rice good, but a bit bland. The Mai Tais was just OK (it tasted a bit weak.) read more

We had dinner here on Sunday - it was good. We started with miso soup and hot and sour soup which were OK. The favorites were California rolls and the Peking ravioli. In fact, we ordered two orders of the ravioli's, they were so good. We also had the beef and broccoli and chicken chow mein which was good. The pork fried rice was kind of boring - just pork, rice, and soy - no egg nor veggies... My father-in-law had a sushi dinner which he enjoyed. The staff was really nice, and the restaurant was nice and clean. We were sat in the restaurant portion, which was boring compared to the bar area. We were seated at a pretty big table. That really could've used a Lazy Susan. We will probably go back my father-in-law really likes this place. read more

My host, a longtime Needham and Natick resident, considers Ray's New Garden to be one of the most reliable everyday restaurants in Needham. He ordered a lunch special and was completely happy with what he had. I ordered less wisely. I did have the hot and sour soup which was first rate. The bowl was miniscule for what you pay. But, the soup was filled with tofu and good stuff. Hearty fare and a good start. * * * Then there was the Pu Pu Platter for one ... Cough Cough Cough * * * I was born and raised in Needham, Mass. I am a graduate of Needham High School. Back in the 60's, the New Garden was THE Chinese restaurant in town. Every one went there. Every one loved it. Ray is a fine guy - but Ray hadn't entered the story yet. One of the many attractions of the New Garden was the Pu Pu Platter. Back then, the New Garden served what was a standard pu pu platter for Boston Area Chinese restaurants of the era It had 1) Huge fluffy fried butterflied shrimp to die for. 2) Bright red Chinese BBQ ribs to die for. 3) Fried wontons that were pretty good. 4) Chicken wings that were pretty good. 5) Egg rolls that the kids gave to the grown ups. (If a kid opened up the egg roll, he or she could see that the egg rolls had vegetables inside. Everyone knew that eating anything with vegetables inside was gross. Parents ate that stuff but then parents drank scotch too.) That said, anything on that platter that was not an egg roll was an unmitigated delight. Needham's New Garden is where I learned to love Chinese food. * * * Chinese food has evolved since then ... Many of those changes were good: Szechuan Chinese. Dim Sum. Hot pot restaurants with lots of organ meat. * * * Pu pu platters however have taken it in the shorts. They have gone downhill nationally. They have gone downhill at Ray's New Garden. At Ray's, fried shrimp are small pathetic uncrispy disappointments. The chicken wings were edible but lame. There were fried chicken fingers that were absolutely godawful. They have Crab Rangoon - and Crab Rangoon covers for a multitude of sins. I have never met a Crab Rangoon I haven't liked. They mercifully skip the sweet red sauce BBQ pork ribs. That dish which used to be good is now an abomination every where you go coast to coast. Fatty cloying pork ribs coated with preprepared colored corn syrup out of a bottle. Thank you Ray for not sticking those on our plates. In lieu of the ribs they do a teriyaki beef kebab. The kebabs were tough and hard to bite off the stick. They tasted damm good though. I could have eaten twenty of those skewers. Overall, a lousy lunch, but the teriyaki beef and the crab rangoon provided some comfort. * * * My honest guess is that if I had ordered a lunch special off of the regular menu, I would have been a much happier camper. So I am not going to condemn Ray's New Garden to some sort of Yelp penitenary - Particularly for a dish that no one else cooks very well these days either. * * * There is another way however to think about Ray's New Garden. Ray's is set up like a sports bar. They have an actual bar and they have TVs all over the place showing you various games Iif it is daytime - you can watch various talking heads discussing sports and highlights. When I first saw this, I hated the concept. But the more I think about it the more I like it. If I am going to get drunk and watch the game, Why do I have to have a burger or buffalo wings? Why can't I have a big plate of crispy orange chicken with fried rice? Why can't I have egg fu young? I don't live in Needham - so hanging out at Rays is not an option for me. But I think if I wanted to see the big game, Doing so at Ray's with a big plate of beef with oyster sauce in front of me, Is actually an appealing idea. * * * So Sports Fans, Take note. If you come to see the Pats, or the Red Sox or the Celts, You can probably do well at Ray's New Garden. Drink whatever beer they have. Don't order the Pu Pu Platter. read more

Came here for take-out after seeing all the good reviews. The spot looks great inside, but the food . * House fried rice combo (boneless spare ribs + fried chicken): rice was whatever, ribs were fine, but the fried chicken wasn't even fully cooked. * Lo mein: undercooked. * Prices: way too high for how mid the food was. The reviews had me thinking I was in for something good--I got played. read more

First visit to Ray's New Garden (Needham MA), walkable from the heart of downtown Needham but off the beaten path. Convenient parking lot. Japanese and Chinese. Bar area has high tops and many large TV screens playing sports. Weekend lunch visit had only one server (the bartender), but she handled the crowd admirably. Egg Roll: Available at $4 each (no need to commit to two), an easy bar snack or combo add-on. Big props for this. Very crunchy, somewhat moist, and generously loaded with bright red roast pork crumbles. Good flavor even without duck sauce, but the duck sauce helped the moisture along. Solid. Combo Plate: These are available for lunch daily and include soup, but also available after 3pm for a $1 upgrade and no soup. Reasonable. I went with the boneless ribs and beef teriyaki combo with pork fried rice and hot and sour soup, adding on an egg roll (c'mon, a no-brainer). Details follow: - Hot & Sour Soup: On the thin side texturally but strong of flavor, bringing the sour and the peppery of the peppercorn and vegetable kind. Piping hot and tasty with dense vegetable inclusions. - Boneless Ribs: Thin-cut, very bright red, very well coated, very moist (juicy even), and very tender. Taste and texture about as perfect as can be. Zero fat or gristle, zero dry spots. Only lightly charred, but flavor was still there. One of the best I've ever had. - Beef Teriyaki: Definitely moist, definitely not bland, and none of that elephant skin texture nonsense you fear (okay, maybe not you, but I fear) when you order beef teriyaki. Tender too. Only thing though--and it's not necessarily a bad thing--is that the lacquer was the same red stuff as on the boneless ribs. So it might not hit that beef teriyaki ideal, or it might not be best paired with ribs, but a solid showing. - Pork Fried Rice: Simply put, this was good rice, but more in the rice pilaf realm for flavor and texture than the classic old school New England Chinese Food variety, so a bit of a letdown, but doable. Decent pork inclusions though. Singapore Noodles: Vegetarian wife ordered these with the vegetable option. She's generally not a fan of suburban Chinese but raved about how fresh tasting and surprisingly non-oily they were. read more

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The restaurant was fairly empty when we were here on a holiday week. There were more guests within the bar area than the dining room so we had our choice of tables. The menu is varied. There were typical Chinese dishes like beef and broccoli, chicken with black bean sauce, lemon chicken, and lettuce wraps. There is also an extensive sushi menu. My niece, who has a tiny appetite, ordered both the California and spicy tuna rolls and ate them both (a rarity). My brother had the chow fun, which he wished contained more noodles. I liked the orange beef I ordered, coated, fried beef in a flavorful sauce. Note that rice is available as a side (for an additional cost). The restaurant does a brisk takeout business, as well. Our server was new and did a great job. read more

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To be sure, food was delicious BUT the experience was awful and very disappointing . I made a special trip from New Hampshire, even reserved a table for lunch, thinking that Fridays would be busy even at lunch. The young woman at the host stand who was also the server didn't respond to my saying I had a reservation, but did show me to a seat in the lounge (long bar counter where two people were already enjoying their drinks and chatting with the bartender even though I had waited in my car until exactly noon.) The room has hightops and regular 4-tops, so I asked if I could be seated in the dining room which has booths and is brighter, but the host/server said they don't use that side for so few customers. So I sat in the lounge, she brought two large cards: the food menu labeled Chinese on one side and Japanese on the other side, and the slightly smaller drink menu with lots of choices. I ordered a Tsing Tao beer and said I'd start with hot and sour soup. She went into the kitchen and the bartender headed over with a glass of red wine. I told him I had ordered T-t so I don't know what she had told him. He quickly returned with a cold glass and a bottle of beer (but didn't pour any into the glass). He seemed very friendly. She brought me a large bowl of soup and a Chinese style soup spoon and asked if she could bring anything else. Yes, I said, a napkin and silverware, which she then brought over. (She had brought a glass of water so I was surprised she didn't set up the table.) In the meantime I had ordered shrimp husaing, but only after that did I notice that a list of Chinese combos appeared on the Japanese side of the menu. I was really angry at having ordered dinner size portions when I had come for lunch. The combos look great, with soup and an appetizer and choice of plates including the item I ordered, plus rice. So be sure to look for that list even if you aren't interested in the Japanese items. Also had a problem with verifying my presence to Open Table. Neither she nor the bartender have been trained to check in guests, which apparently only happens at dinnertime, but afterwards she did follow up with the manager who was offsite but told her he could handle my checkin remotely. I gave up the idea of trying any of the appetizers although that's what I had expected to enjoy, had most of the large and expensive portions of soup and shrimp packed to go, and left. I suggested to the server, whom I had told this was my first visit, that she tell customers that the Chinese combos are on the Japanese side of the menu. She retorted that she thought I'd had plenty of time with the menu but would consider my suggestion. I was a great server myself back in the day, but overall was so annoyed that I left an unusually small tip. However, as I stated earlier, the food was really excellent. The soup is some of the best hot and sour I've had in New England, second only to Panda North in Brattleboro VT, and the shrimp were large and not overcooked in a delectable sauce. Worth a second visit if they let me in read more

Went for lunch, was good but boneless ribs which looked great were really tough. Beer teriyake and the fdied rice were good. read more

Ray's New Garden - Rice, beef teriyaki and boneless. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Needham, Massachusetts

Great food and fun atmosphere! Especially on karaoke nights! I had a problem a meal and the manager came right over and corrected it. read more

Absolutely incredible. Wish I lived closer. Get combo plate and crab rangoon! So so so good

Their website, raysnewgarden.com, is outdated and has inaccurate and erroneous information as of the time of this review. For example, the online menu states that a Mai Tai is $11.50. About 1 year ago, the price for a Mai Tai there increased to $13 and a few months ago it went up again to $14. I'm not sure if it is legal to publish one price online and charge another in Massachusetts, but at the very least, it's an extremely poor business practice which alienates patrons who are savvy enough to uncover the price discrepancy. Their Facebook page is a hodgepodge of stale dated event posts, the most recent of which was dated August 2, 2024. They have Karaoke every Thursday and Saturday, and unless you're a regular who knows the routine, it's virtually impossible to figure this out from their web site or their Facebook page. On Friday night they have a band or a DJ. The bands are very loud when you take into consideration the fact that the lounge area is a confined space with poor acoustics. In fact, some bands are so loud that you literally have to scream in people's ears for them to hear you. For the last several months, they've been grossly understaffed as waiters, waitresses and front desk personnel have been leaving in droves and they have difficulty hiring and retaining new help. I realize that high turnover is commonplace in the restaurant industry, but Ray's New Garden takes the term "high turnover" to an even higher level. On a recent busy Friday evening, I saw a single waiter having to cover the entire restaurant and lounge area. The manager stepped in to help as best as possible, but she was busy bartending too as the regular bartenders were on vacation. The kitchen seems to have its act together somewhat as the food is decent and served in reasonable time frames even though the price you get charged for it seems to be a crap shoot. In addition, the food is woefully overpriced. I totally understand that restaurants need to make a profit, but this seems like price gouging to me. The last observation I would make is that neither the manager nor the owner responds to any of the reviews for Ray's New Garden on Yelp, positive or negative. Do they even care or have they thrown in the towel? Whatever the case may be, I feel as if they're putting themselves in a position to fail. I get the whole COVID thing, but my assessments are based on how similar restaurants/bars have emerged successfully from the COVID crisis compared to Ray's New Garden. Indeed, there are some stark differences! With all that being said, I sincerely hope they turn it around and succeed, but they'll have to do it without me as I will never patronize Ray's New Garden again. read more

Food was excellent. I had the combination plate 10B which is chicken broccoli, rice, chicken fingers. Flavor was excellent in the chicken broccoli. The chicken fingers were crispy, with quality chicken in them, and the pork fried rice actually had tender pork in it instead of pieces of pork fat like other places. The restaurant interior is clean and the person who works at the front desk was friendly. Thanks Rays New Garden. read more

A lot better than I remember! My family used to get takeout here a long time ago before the remodel, but stopped after the quality went down. After dining here in-person for the first time in like 10 years, I can honestly say the whole experience was excellent. We had the Peking raviolis, garlic shrimp and scallion pancake. All were great and flavorful. Our waiter was kind and attentive, and the new(ish) inside is lovely! I'll have to come back for drinks and sushi. read more

The Service was okay, but the food itself was super dry and salty. The ambiance of the place was super pretty and clean, just wish the food was little better, for being how expensive it was, was expecting better. If you're going here for food, just call your local Chinese food delivery service, it'll be cheaper and better. read more

So, I've only had 1 thing at Ray's New Garden: their pork dumplings. And I want more. They were the perfect dumpling: lightly fried with a dough that wasn't too thick, and a delicious, moist pork filling. We sat in the bar area, which is loud, but it's a bar, so that's to be expected. I can't speak to the dining area. We each got some wine, which was good, and the waitress was very nice. I'm sure we'll try it soon for a full Chinese meal, but for now, I'll just dream about dumplings.... read more

Love their beef teriyaki we have to order double! Favorites are the chicken lo main scallion pancake boneless spare ribs.. Food is always fresh! Fast service too read more

To be fair, this review is only for apps served in a group event last night. I haven't had a full meal there so can't offer an opinion in that regard, although from my first experience here last night, it's not likely I would come here for dinner. Our group consisted of 50-60 people reserving the 2 rooms at $20pp with a cash bar. Apps were to be served during social hour at 8pm, with the 9pm TV program to be viewed by the group. The 5 chafing dishes weren't ready until after 8:30, offering doughy dumplings, tiny slices of scallion pancake, and 3 different thin skewers of dry over-grilled meat. The amount of food was paltry so people just took 1 pc of each. The dearth of staff was just as well since they were surly and unpleasant. By the time people went back for a few more apps, the containers were practically empty. Drinkers paid for drinks at the tiny bar, and there was not even water available to nondrinkers. A small wall-mounted TV was to serve as the focal point for the large group. No one could hear anything once the program started. In contrast, the main bar area had many TVs for the patrons. The restaurant took in at least $1000 for a couple of hours. The way this restaurant handled this booking was inexcusably inadequate and disappointing. A big thumbs down. read more

The food is hit or miss. Sometimes we're really happy and other times it's mediocre. Usually we stick to the Chinese side of the menu, but I recently got a spicy tuna roll which was really good. I got chicken lo mein recently and it was pretty terrible - not sure if it was just a bad batch (which is totally possible considering like I said it is hit or miss in general) as I don't usually order it and just had a craving. The gau, rice, beef and broccolli, crab rangoon, peking ravioli are all usually good. We placed an order to-go on New Years Eve and walked over early to get a drink while we waited. They required $5 / person to be allowed in the bar for a 10 minute drink even knowing we were waiting on a to-go order. We didn't pay and just had to sit in the lobby while we waited. Turned down our $40 unless we'd give them $10 - not a good business model. I MIGHT understand a cover if people are there to participate in karaoke, but even then it's still Needham and people wouldn't typically pay a cover to be forced to listen to karaoke....but because they've already made their way over and it's off the beaten path, they don't really have a choice. Every person the guy asked "Are you here for karaoke" said no LOL. read more

Great food and service. Nice atmosphere. Easy parking. I would recommend this establishment for dinners and events.

I've been a few times, generally have a reasonably good experience, but it's definitely expensive and adds up very quickly for what it is. Food is ok, I wouldn't go out of my way for it, but it's not the worst I've had. Drinks are expensive, and I feel like they don't use the best quality liquor, but they go down better than the next day feels. The karaoke (thurs/ sat) by Demetri is great! Honestly that's why I go, without that I likely wouldn't. My experience last night with the waitress and her attitude left a very sour taste in my mouth. From the beginning she wasn't very friendly or helpful. I get it's busy but at points she was just rude, rolling her eyes and such during interactions which frankly when you're dropping over $200 for 2 people you can do without that. I also asked her to run a prepaid card, which she ran the wrong amount for, then argued (literally argued) with me on the amount I asked her to run. She then ran it a 2nd time, wrong again and gave me a snarky attitude saying there wasn't enough money on the card (which there was) so she picked an arbitrary amount to run it for giving me MORE of an attitude for a 3rd round of a card run, which only happened because she didn't listen. At that point I decided I'd had enough of her abuse and choose not to tip her. I refuse to tip someone who treats me like garbage because I'm trying to pay the bill. Probably won't be back again for a while, if ever. Overall the strong point is the karaoke. read more

Neighborhood Chinese restaurant with average food. Definitely over priced tonight. Got two beers, appetizer platter, rice and soup and was $72 with tip. Waitress Brooke was great. Attentive staff but not much fun. Miss sarge Riley on Wednesday nights. Will not be the same without the Needham treasure of mile. Please bring him back ASAP! read more

Have been there many times over the years but today was the worst. Food extremely salty and almost inedible. Asked the hostess for water because our waiter was very busy. She rolled let eyes at me and walked away. In the past the staff has been great, not sure what happened today. Hope things recover in the face of Covid. read more

Ordered delivery from this restaurant and they continued to delay my order. After an hour and a half they decided to decline my order. Good luck. read more

Stay away! The place is cute and quaint but not worth the aggravation or the price. My friend, my son and I went there after a long day of shopping... and boy what a disappointment .... we ordered a grapefruit drink got a lychee martini, sprite and got no syrup... when we asked for another cup we were told no, it takes to long, ginger-ale was not any better. Ordered pan fried ravioli got steamed, we ordered regular chicken wings for us and a crispy and spicy wings for my son. My son ordered sushi and it came on my sushi plate and then when I asked she didn't know what I was talking about. My son got his wings but it looked like normal wings and even though we asked repeatedly if that was regular wings we were told no.... and told our wings would come out in 20 min.... so my son chowed down. 20 min later guess what???? Wings came out the clumpy batter only - bit of chicken inside and was told that she made a mistake, she had given my son our order. It was gross!!!!! It was a disaster .... the drinks were good and the crab Rangoon was good. Oh did I mention our lo mein came out with our apps... so when we got our food it was COLD.... Definitely not worth the $200 bill we paid. We didn't have the energy to argue or dispute the bill..... What a disappointment! Never again! We should have paid attention to everyone who was walking in only were ordering drinks! Save your $$$$. read more

We typically love this restaurant for food and service. It's a true favorite of ours. BUT we were completely stunned that when we ordered last week and came in for pick-up, no one working there had a mask! ZERO precautions were being met. All social distancing out the window as well. It is up to the restaurant to organize this procedure. How is this ok? Is the board of health checking these establishments or are they simply allowed to do whatever suits them. And to top it off, it just didn't taste as tasty and fresh as it usually does. read more

Ray's did an excellent job of catering our Pickleball social last evening 1/26/23. Plenty of food, variety and great service. The room was the perfect size. The staff was very accommodating & easy to work with. Thanks again. We'll be again soon. read more

This was the second time we had a social at Ray's New Garden. The staff was very accommodating & easy to work with. They were great at customizing the menu to please all the different dietary requirements. The sushi was amazing. All the various appetizers were delicious. Staff was very friendly & helpful. I highly recommend having dinner or a social here. read more

Poor food. Poor Service. Poor Management. I went around 5pm on a Saturday on my dinner break from work. Not very crowded. My waiter took forever to come over. Then took forever to come back to take my order. I got a spicy tuna roll and a philly roll. Super basic, super easy. Can't mess that up. He finally comes back and the amount of fish seems pretty small in the rolls. But maybe it's hidden in there. Nope. See photo for the TINY amount of fish in the philly roll. And honestly, I don't think there was ANY tuna in the spicy roll. Just crunch. I thought maybe I had a bad bite or two, but nope, the both rolls were useless. Waiter brought my check, never asked how anything was. I had to get back to work, so I talked to the owner so he knew what his chefs were serving. And he YELLED at me. Adios. DON'T GO HERE. read more

Ray's New Garden - Let's play a game called find the fish! Tiniest sliver of fish I've ever seen in a roll. And the spicy roll is nothing but crunch. DON'T GO. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Needham, Massachusetts

We had reservation. Our greeting was hostile with employee waving hands in the air yelling what's the name . We were seated immediately. A few minutes later they tried to take a table from us,leaving 6 people at table for 4. We resisted and our service was delayed. The employee then slammed her pen on our table several times, attempting to intimidate us, which didnt work. Dishes we did not order were on the bill as well as dishes we ordered were never served. Employee's name was May a d she was terrible! read more

Two words...Mai Tais! They are THE BEST here! Highly recommend them :)! On top of that, the staff is extremely nice and attentive!

Ordered take out from here and it was so good! Very friendly and attentive over the phone. The receptionist was really friendly and my order was there waiting for me :-). I'm not sure why there are poor reviews? #NewLunchSpot read more

Talk about an amazing restaurant! Ray's New Garden offers Asian fusion with delicious sushi options, as well as extensive Chinese options. I'm a big fan of the Sweet Tempura Dragon Roll. The food is great but what's even better is the staff and the regulars you'll see in there all the time. Ray goes out of his way to interact with customers and puts on great events like Karaoke and Ladies Night. Each Tuesday you can eat for free from the special Ladies Night menu if you're a female. Only in Needham, right? read more

Have always enjoyed Ray's in the past but yesterday's visit was well blow average. Picked up Yuzu Yellowtail Roll...fish was dried up and appeared old; two lunches, Spicy String Beans and Shrimp with Lobster Sauce...both dishes were very bland and no flavor; Won Ton Soup also bland/no flavor; added bone in ribs...ribs were dry and burnt. Would give them another chance but not rushing back. read more

so bad the food tasted so bad sorry but it was just so fucking gross it tasted like literal ass like it was disgusting read more

Ray's New Garden - Sushi Bars Near Me - Needham, Massachusetts

$17 dollar grub hub for five pieces of shu mai?? Are you kidding me? 4th negative event with them. This is the last one. Before, the Rangoon didn't taste right, before that was in person with a friend and they ran us so late (2hrs), first time they almost didn't pay me back for double charging so I filed a formal complaint with my credit card company read more

excellent food and service. the best Chinese food in town!!!

Don't believe the negative reviews. I've been coming here for several years and Ray's has the best chinese food around!! It's always hot, fresh, and made to order. It's extremely tasty unlike a lot of the competitors. I'm from Boston and I drive all the way to Needham just because the food is that yummy. The restaurant staff is friendly and the owner is fantastic. Ray's is a great place to go with friends and family. read more