Shine's Fresh Asian

Don't be fooled by the staid interior and lack of in person diners in this local Asian establishment. This restaurant, serving mostly Szechuan Chinese dishes, is a real treat in the Belmont Center district. Walking in, you're greeted by ... 2 large screens. Yes! There are not many people at the register. The screens let you choose a variety of dishes, from hot noodle soups to more traditional entrees to cold dishes. It's a bit disorienting not to have more human presence, but I guess that's just the way they run things. The dishes themselves were often top notch. The homemade pork and chive dumplings were often a bit too tough on the skins, but you could tell that they were homemade. The hot and sour beef noodle soup with glass noodle was as advertised a nice mix of hot and sour; they noodle itself was chewy, not too mushy soft, and not too tough as to render it inedible. The peanuts were crispy and really nice. The wood ear added some nice textures, and the soup itself was flavorful. I would have limited the amount of oil in the soup. The XLB (Xiao Long Bao) was really good might be the best in the Boston area (not a town known for its XLB)! The skins were relatively thin and the soup inside really hot. Too bad there weren't ginger strips to accompanying the useful vinegary sauce. The Hand pulled Biang biang noodle with spicy cumin lamb was quite good as well. The dish could have been presented with a bit more finesse; the lamb bits were all mixed in with the noodle, and the noodle itself was a bit thick. But the flavoring was excellent and many of the lamb pieces were rendered tenderly. The baby bok choy with tofu skin was definitely stir fried in a lot of oil! They were really yummy, but I felt they got that nice crispy veggie effect by using a lot of oil. This environs presents something of a conundrum ... who's the market? It looks way too casual for the prices to be located in the low 10s high 10s range (dishes were served entirely in plastic containers). But the quality of food is on par (and in some cases better) than many other Chinese restaurants in the area. But those restaurants are usually conceived of as carpeted dine in service places. If indeed the establishment is looking to create a casual dining experience in the Belmont area, then maybe it should remove some of the more usual shared entree type dishes on the menu (e.g. hot oil spicy fish, the famous Szechuan dish). But again, who are the expected patrons here? If they do want to have a sit down place, make the chairs somewhat nicer (and maybe brighten up the place). Service was really quick. Looking forward to seeing this place do well!

• Utile
• Pas utile
• Répondre

Only got Xian dishes so can't speak to the others. Got onion pancake, beef and pork rougamo, beef biang biang noodles and green beans. Onion pancake and rougamo were 4 star dishes and noodles and green beans were 5 star. Noodles were particularly tasty, very interesting spice blend. Service: Delivery Price per person: $20–30 Food: 5

• Utile
• Pas utile
• Répondre

this place has fantastic xi’an eating. the meatbons and liang pi! I really like them. I'm not sure, but I guess they might have a new cook that made these dishes.

• Utile
• Pas utile
• Répondre

Not sure what I missed. The general tsou was certainly not fresh. Pad Thai was not flavorful. Gyozas were fine. May give them one more shot.

• Utile
• Pas utile
• Répondre

Service: Dine in Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5

• Utile
• Pas utile
• Répondre