Mary Chung Restaurant

My last review of Mary Chung was more than 8 years ago, so here is an update. It is now apparently pick up only since COVID, and I have ordered take outs from here a few times. The food is always decent at a reasonable price.

It is old style Chinese, both the restaurant and the food. I wish some of the dishes could be less oily. I think I first came to Mary Chung 30 years ago, when there were not many Asian or Chinese restaurants in Cambridge. There was Yenching at Harvard square, which went downhill in the 2000s and closed a few years ago.

I am waiting in line for the doors to open. A few ahead of me is a couple that drove down 2 hours from NH, the guy behind me drove up from RI.

The food here is reasonable if your expectations are calibrated correctly. Having spent most of my life in California, I struggle to find good Chinese food here in Boston. This place isn't the solution to that, BUT it fits the bill of comforting, "home-style" cooking.

For Szechuan cuisine, their food isn't really spicy (or at all), although you'll have a hard time finding properly spicy food in Boston. Their fish in chili water/oil/soup is decent and well portioned. The dan dan noodles are, again, more peanut buttery than flavorful. The sauce for the dumplings was quite good, though the dumplings themselves may not have been the freshest.

Overall, Mary Chung's satisfies the craving though I am a little critical of it as I have clear expectations of what this food could or should be.

I grew up going to Mary Chungs, my Chinese parents used to go eat there before they got married. Mary is the matriarch of the establishment and is so kind. When I was a kid she dug through the trash to get my retainer that accidentally got thrown out (I wrapped it in a napkin like an idiot.)

The food here is pure comfort food and specializes in Taiwanese Shanghainese style food. If you're expecting Szechuan super hot numbing dishes then this is not it, it is the Taiwanese version of the same dishes.

Our favorites:
Scallion Pancakes - Order extra sauce, its so good!!!
Peking Ravioli's - Same fire sauce as the scallion pancakes
Suan La Chow Show - Wonton's in a spicy sour sauce, their famous dish. If you Look up Choushou on Wikipedia Mary's is listed there!
Dan Dan Noodles - Thick noodles with delicious meat gravy sauce
Ma Ma Pie - Scallion Pancake breading filled with braised bok choy
Beef Noodle Soup - Taiwanese Classic
Sliced Rice Cake With Meat And Vegetables - Slice rice cakes (like Tteokbokki stir fried with your choice of meat and cabbage.
Lion's Head - Traditional dish with a giant stewed meatball and vegetables

SUPPORT THEM THROUGH COVID!!! Mary chung's is take out only during Covid. Mary, her son and the staff are all older so they are not risking dine in. The food is still just as good and now their dim sum items are available all day.

From the week they opened until the week they closed, we've been total fans. The Chung's food and family have been entirely good - we'll miss them so much! Birthdays, anniversaries, out-of-town visitors have given us opportunities to chow down with gusto, ending with "Chi bao le" (We're stuffed)! Our new year's project is duplicating the flavors from our stash in the freezer. Wishing all the Chungs a bit of peace and quiet - a well-deserved rest. 'Having eaten our way throughout eastern China, theirs was at least as good as anything we had there.
We loved Mary's !!! 密稠密

I loved everything we got here, for pick-up. I came in search of a special dumpling dish called suan la chow show, which I had heard tales of. These pork dumplings in a spicy sauce were awesome! The filling was so flavorful. I think these are my favorite dumplings in MA.

Still as good as it's ever been for more than the thirty years I've been going here. Unfortunately, they only are doing take out since COVID. My two favorites are Suan La Chow Show and Stuffed Eggplant.

Don't judge from the outside! Central Sq is now full of places for tech workers willing to pay 3x more but this mom n pop place has been serving poor college kids over 30y. So happy to return and learn the food is as good as I remembered. Peking ravioli, Dan Dan mien and of course the suan la chow show. The latter is cited in Wikipedia! Unfortunately only take out and outside seating is over by Tosci's.

This review is solely just for the Suan La Chow Show. I have eaten at Mary Chung's multiple times in the past 2 years since moving to Boston, but last night I decided to try out the Suan LA Chow Show based on yelp reviews and word of mouth recommendations, and can I say oh my god...it was as if I had uncovered all that way holy....I have NEVER tasted something so amazing. HIGHLY recommend ALL the food here but ESPECIALLY the Suan La Chow Show!!!

It's been nearly a decade since I've lived in Cambridge, but Mary Chung's was the best Chinese food north of the river and I still miss it. Thanks for all the meals.