329353 Wed Sep 27 13:36:43 -0700 2006 2 12 Boston Area 0 1905263 Has anyone tried this place? I keep hearing ads about it but I can't find out any info! Wed Sep 27 13:36:43 -0700 2006 43315 simmons_girl 1 1905280 Ginseng Restaurant & Lounge (508) 620-0102 220 Worcester Rd Framingham, MA 01702 Cross Street: Near intersection of Worcester Rd and Dinsmore Ave Wed Sep 27 13:45:55 -0700 2006 1905263 12889 Taralli 1 1967610 I went to Ginseng tonight (Monday night) for dinner. The interior is nicely decorated, although the restaurant does feel very empty when you walk into the main area where the buffet used to be. But the seating areas to the left and right of the buffet area are quite nice and feel very intimate. Not many people were there, but again, it's a Monday night. We started with chicken and ginseng soup which was a clear broth with two pieces of chicken in it. My bowl, split with my husband, had one piece of dark meat ("very juicy," he said) and one piece of white meat (very dry). But we all agreed the broth itself was tasty. Then we had two yakitori dishes from the yakitori menu. These run from $3 - $5. I thought that was expensive because each yakitori is just one piece, even though the yakitori menu shows colored photos of two pieces on every plate. The yakitori are appetizers, and not necessarily skewers of meat. The lamb chop yakitori (a very cute and very small lamb chop) had chopped onion, pepper, and tomato on the side. The chicken and asparagus yakitori consisted of 4 pieces of chicken wrapped around a piece of asparagus and skewered on a stick, accompanied by some salad leaves with a nice dressing. These were both pretty tasty, but very small portions for the cost, I thought. We then had a half portion of Peking Duck. The waiter made each duck pancake for us, which was nice in that we got well-wrapped pancakes, but not so nice in that the last person (me) got a pile of duck meat that was half the size of the meat in the first pancake. Other dishes: House fried rice--came out cool, and tasted like it was buffet fried rice and had been sitting out the whole day. Nothing special. Sauteed white fish and asparagus -- okay, but a bit bland. Steamed beef with asparagus and black mushroom -- this was marked on the menu as "From the Bamboo Spa Selection: Refreshingly healthy alternatives." Frankly, it didn't seem like something I would have chosen as a healthy alternative, but it was the tastiest dish we had. I don't know how, but somehow we ended up with a lot of asparagus tonight. I think the asparagus just happened to be the vegetable matched up with the dishes we wanted. Green tea was bitter, and comes out in a tiny teapot that is only good for two people. We had four people, and 1 round of tea pretty much emptied the pot. Service was spotty. Our main waiter spoke English okay, but he seemed to have trouble understanding what we were saying. It was as if he'd taken too many drugs as a teenager and had trouble comprehending things. I don't think the issue was necessarily a language barrier, though. My parents couldn't get much out of him even when they switched to speaking Mandarin. We also asked for extra spoons (never got them) and chopsticks (he forgot about them and we had to ask again). The other waiter seemed fine, and was quicker to remove empty dishes on our table and refill the teapot than the main waiter. There is no drinks menu (alcoholic or otherwise) and also no dessert menu. I'm not even sure if they offer dessert, but the waiter just brought our check with some very stale fortune cookies without asking if we wanted anything else. The best way to describe the overall meal is healthy. Nothing tasted greasy, but there just wasn't much taste. A little more taste and less healthiness would have gone over better with us. Tue Oct 24 01:33:41 -0700 2006 1905263 48682 taterjane