Ming's Seafood

This week we tried Ming's Seafood at 1 Brook Street, Quincy (it's actually on Newport Avenue in Wollaston, about a block from La Paloma). This place came recommended to me by the same friend whose parents are from Hong Kong and who recommended Yummy last time. The word was that it had very good food, but got crowded quickly.

It being Saturday night, we knew we had to get there early if we wanted to get a table. We arrived at 5 and there were already a couple of families eating, but there were still plenty of tables. Both diners and staff all seemed to speak Cantonese as a first language - a good sign. Also, I've always been told that the mark of an authentic Chinese restaurant is when you see tanks of fish in the window, and sure enough, there was a whole wall of fish tanks as we walked in, full of crabs, lobster, shrimp, and some fish. These were not for decoration; rather, they serve really fresh fish here.

Jim ordered the Beef Chow Foon again, and I ordered Shrimp Lo Mein. We ordered vegetarian spring rolls as an appetizer, and ordered Chicken Udon for the kids. After a few minutes, they brought out heaping portions of the food, and it was all really good. Nothing was too greasy or too salty.

Jim liked the Beef Chow Foon here better than at Yummy Cafe. I also want to mention that Annie tried all three dishes! (We promised her dessert if she tried everyone's dish). She said she liked everything except the onions in Jim's dish.

The service was also excellent. Everyone was really nice to us, even when Ian decided to throw a total fit in the middle of dinner (we ultimately had to take him out of the restaurant after he tried to pull the tablecloth off the table and knocked over a glass of water). The wait staff would come over to refill our water glasses and smile at him and try to make him laugh. They were very kind.

A downside to this place could probably be the parking - it could be difficult to park on Newport Avenue ( very busy street) or Brook Street. We had no problem finding parking, but we also arrived early. The other possible difficulty is that we could see how it would fill up quickly. There are only a few tables available. So it's a good idea, on both counts, to arrive early for dinner!

In sum, this seems like a pretty authentic, Hong Kong-style Chinese restaurant, with excellent food and service.

Given that we've now found two great Hong Kong-type restaurants, we are going to focus our search on yummy Szechuan-style food in Quincy! We're taking a break next weekend due to a business trip, but tune in soon for our next sampling.