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Great Wall Chinese Restaurant - CLOSED
Category: Restaurants Chinese Chinese [Edit]
777 Centre St(between Eliot St & Holbrook St)
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
Neighborhood: Jamaica Plain
(617) 522-0277
- Nearest Transit:
-
775 Centre St (192, 35, 39, 41, 48)
South St @ Centre St (192, 39, 41, 48)
Centre St @ Eliot St (35, 37/38, 38)
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Price Range:
-
$
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Late Night
- Alcohol:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
16 reviews for Great Wall Chinese Restaurant
16 reviews in English
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Review from Doug W.
Jamaica Plain, MA
7/2/2008
Okay, seriously, who rates a restaurant based on a little boy? I mean, c'mon, now. Sure, he's always there and willing to engage in conversation. Sure, I've seen him manning the phones during busy rushes, and I've helped him do the math when he gave me back my change. Okay, fine, the kid's really cute. He's a cute kid! Okay. You're right. You should go and pick up your food at least once so you can meet this little guy.
Oh, right, the food. You can talk smack about Great Wall if you wish, but this place has always done right by me. I'm an herbivore myself, and I've found that these guys can serve up some mean tofu dishes. Some JP Chinese places (Charlie Chans) try to sell you limp soggy tofu, but not Great Wall. They do tofu right. Overall they're not stellar, but they do satisfy. They've become my go-to Chinese food. And the kid's cute, too. -
Review from Matt W.
Updated - 12/21/2010
Sorry, Great Wall. You've lost 2 stars in my book. One for each of the times I've tried to order take-out since I first went there. I can't say whether the quality of your product has gone down, because both times, you failed to answer your telephone, despite my calling at least 10 times each time.
No message, either. Just something about your inbox being full. I haven't gone over there this time, but last time I drove by later, and you were definitely open.
Get it together, yo!1 Previous Review: Show all »
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11/19/2010
These five stars to not mean Great Wall is actually "as good as it gets!" These stars are relative… Read more »
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Review from Kristina M.
1/8/2008
Yes, the food is greasy, and probably not the best Chinese food I've ever had, but hell - it IS cheap and damn yummy (to quote Brett D.)!
For what is literally a whole-in-the-wall they provide amazingly decent food and have a huge selection to chose from. I have only had the Kung Po-Tofu so far, but I can say that it was pretty good and for only 4.50$ I have seldom felt so satisfied.
And the little boy really is amazing - I had a great conversation with him about foreign currencies (he had a collection which he showed me and we talked a bit about my good-old D-Mark that was part of his collection), foreign languages and some mathematical problems (which, embarrassingly, I couldn't solve - he consoled me by saying "You were really close!").
Because of their shabby appearance and some bad experiences I've had at similar looking places in the past I've avoided going there for a long time, but I'm very happy that I finally went. Don't let the look fool you - this is a gem! -
Review from patrick w.
3/8/2008
I am grateful for other Yelpers for pointing it out otherwise I would never have tried it out.
Five stars is a hard thing to earn. The vegetarian/vegan food I have is actually very good. Vegetables are very fresh and the sauces tasty. What's more a reasonable meal can be had $4.50. There is no way you would want to stay here to eat; let alone take someone here for a first date; though you might want to work on the jigsaw while you wait.
The kid, which others have talked about certainly adds at least one star to the place. The value adds another. This is a mom-and-pop-and grandmother-and-stircrazy-boy-child-greasy-chinese -takeout-place.
A Great Hole in the Wall. And I am grateful they are located just down the street from where I live.
EDIT: After eating there some more I really have to cut this down to a solid 3-star, not 5-star rating. The food is just not that good. -
Review from Bryanne R.
Philadelphia, PA
2/12/2007
5 stars because of the amazing conversation I had with the little boy who was here. He and I thoroughly discussed temperature: first he took the freezer thermometer out of the freezer and put it down his shirt so i could report his temperature as it rose. Then we talked about how hot the sun was, how hot the "summer of larva" was (he meant lava), and how he has a robot he "imaginationed" that can withstand temperatures up to infinity.
On the yelp side of things, they had delicious food, quick turn-around from ordering to eating, cheap prices and entertainment! Oh yea, and they have really crazy fake tats you can get for fifty cents. Yea! -
Review from M W.
Dundalk, MD
1/17/2009
First, I shall talk about the food. It's nothing special, but I've had worse. At least I didn't feel like I was eating cardboard halfway through, and my Roast Pork Lo Mein disappeared faster than I had expected. Of course, my expectations weren't very high, considering it's just Chinese Take-Out. I really don't understand what should be so special about that. But I will probably order from there again, as they are down the street from my apartment, their prices are very decent, and several hours after consuming my meal, I have yet to hear any complains from my stomach.
Second, I feel the boy should be addressed. From reading other reviews, I think a blog or something could be started, possibly titled "Close Encounters of the Asian Boy" or something of the like, telling various stories of the tales this kid has spun as you are waiting for your order. Today, it was his gory details of his conquest of a Scottish army because they were preventing the Canadians from trading with the Europeans. He told me he was a spy, so I'd be wary when I place my order. (Little did he know that I too am a spy, and was giving him secret code when I was placing my order, which he failed to pick up, which leads me to believe we are working for opposing sides.) He also gives some bratty attitude, and good luck ordering over the phone when he's answering.
Oh, have cash if your order is less than $10, or you will get super serious rolled eyes from whoever is taking your money. -
Review from Quinn E.
1/8/2008
My roommate mistakenly ordered Great Wall instead of Food Wall one night. They delivered the food after a million years (sign number one) and I was all excited for some beef and broccoli and then... Wait a minute. This isn't Food Wall. I'm not sure how to describe the specific yuckiness, it's not that it was too greasy (hello, I wanted Food Wall) or mystery meat. It was fine in those respects, it was just not right. Too slow, just kinda soggy and unhappy. That roommate never lived down his mistake, every time he ordered from then on, we gave him hell. Learn from him.
Listed in: Centre Street
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Review from Sara H.
Manhattan, NY
4/8/2009
Bad. Not the kind of bad that will make you physically ill, but definitely the kind of bad that tastes like ass. Not worth it. If I want Americanized take-out Chinese, I'll just jump on the Orange Line and go to Chinatown.
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Review from B D.
Jamaica Plain, MA
10/13/2007
Cheap, damn yummy Chinese takeout (takeout and delivery ONLY!) and they get 5 stars for it (c'mon people, what's with this "it was greasy" crap? It's a TAKEOUT WINDOW CHINESE PLACE.)
The pepper steak I've had twice, both times the meat was impressively high quality for a takeout-only place. Watch out for the minimum credit card order...I think it might be $10, which is somewhat reasonable. They're closed Mondays. -
Review from Andy B.
Boston, MA
Updated - 10/14/2009
Great Wall, you were just closed for Columbus Day! How silly of me to think you were out of business. OF COURSE you observe Columbus Day!
2 Previous Reviews: Show all »
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10/12/2009
Great Wall, did you get shut down? It looks like you dun gone broke Great Wall! Read more »
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Review from Max B.
Jamaica Plain, MA
6/28/2005 1 photo
Honestly, subpar. Same greasy, tasty food as everywhere else, but marginally more expensive and with sometimes fluxuating quality.
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Review from Joel G.
Jamaica Plain, MA
6/20/2008
Just average Chinese food at best. The only thing that keeps it afloat is that it competing with Charlie Chan's.
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Review from Marco m.
Boston, MA
8/28/2005
Pick up your food there because their deliveries take forever. Other than that the food is kind of greasy but what can you expect? Prices are reasonable.
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Review from Bob H.
Jamaica Plain, MA
9/7/2007
I lived in JP for a few months before I decided to actually check this place out. I was skeptical at first, the place looked a little sketchy. It's a little hole in the wall chinese take-out place with two tables and graffiti on the door that they roll down after the place closes. But after getting sick of Charlie Chan's (and I do mean literally) I decided to check the place out and I don't regret it. The lunch specials leave a little to be desired for some reason, but the individual orders are pretty much what you'd expect for a chinese take-out. It's really no better or worse than your average place. The prices are reasonable and the food is nice (if you expected gourmet cooking maybe you shouldn't order from a take-out joint). I like the chicken with garlic sauce.
The reason I give it 5 stars instead of 3 or 4 is to even out the 1-star review below me; I don't think that the fact that the place was closed for a few weeks deserves such a low review (especially considering there's only 7 total at this point). Give 'em a break, the place is run by like 5 people, they were probably on vacation or something. The kid was probably out of school for the summer and they wanted to spend time with him, who knows?
Anyway, don't judge a book by its cover. I was worried that it went out of business or something, but I'm glad to see it's back. It's my favorite local chinese place. And Bryanne R. is right, that kid is great. He even took my order once (he figured out my change before I did) -
Review from Mindy L.
MA
9/3/2008
My favorite take-out Chinese food place in JP. Okay, so there's not that many to choose from, but still.
Pros: food is actually not bad (this is speaking as a genuine Chinese American). My faves are the General Tso's tofu and the curry chicken. I always ask for white rice (the fried is pretty blech) and I like the boneless spare ribs or the crab rangoons as the appetizers when getting the combo plate.
Cons: It can be ungodly slow at times. Like more than 30 minutes between walking in, ordering, and walking out with your food. And the kid is cute, but really, he's not THAT entertaining. Actually, he's a little disturbing, considering that the last time I went he was talking about the worldwide war between the boys and girls, and the thousands of girls he killed with his machine gun last night.
Overall, better food than its appearance would suggest. -
Review from Jennifer K.
Jamaica Plain, MA
7/11/2007
it's in jp, they deliver and it's edible most of the time. not great tastewise but it works if you need something quick and fast
