I live very close to Chinatown in downtown Boston. This is better than all of them hands down. Most the menus in Chinatown cater their menu to Cantonese diners. Sumiao caters to a different demographic of Chinese. Most of her clients are drawn from the close by universities and the dense biopharma companies In Kendall Square.. Her menu items are very unique, Hunan style cooking. None of the items I had tonight would be found in any of the Chinatown restaurants. There were five of us. I was the only Caucasian. We'll be back and soon,
If you like spicy food, this place is for you. You are welcomed by amazing smell as you approach the restaurant. We ordered purple yam bao which was delicious and scallion pancake which was flaky and nice.For mains we ordered a Sumiao hot dry noodles which was spicy and ofcouse dry. With chili oil it tasted lovely. 3 stars because I wasn’t satisfied with their cocktails. Lychee royale and common speech. All of the food we ordered were vegetarian/vegan
Overall was pretty good. The dishes were almost close to the traditional Hunan cuisine but not that spicy. ( I hope they could add more chili as a extreme spicy lover).
Hands down one of the best sit at the bar and have a great meal/cocktails experience in Cambridge. Excellent service. Excellent food. Ask for Johnny. He will provide the best recommendations if you’re a little unsure. Went two nights in a row and we were blown away.
Their owner is a smart guy in grabbing money, but not wise. We asked for a private room to minimize Covid infection, we actually got an open curtained space. But they charged me $75 room fee for that "room". Even worse, they added 5% admin fee, 3% kitchen fee. I bet you never heard of fees like these from a service business. I hope the owner give all the money charged to me to the server's who were really nice to us. I paid additional 20% tip on the food cost for the service of owner's employees. With such way of collecting money from customers, I hope such owner also treats his employees well. I ate there many time before, and I will never eat there any more. See the images of invoice I attached here.
Stumbled onto this place. The eggplant and string beans were good but the chili chicken left an odd sensation on my palate. A lil pricey for what you get. And $3.50 for a tiny bowl of brown rice. Meh. But service was nice.
This Hunan kitchen is different than your standard Chinese restaurant. This place has deep flavors and unique menu items that are worth a trip into Cambridge. The cauliflower is not deep fried, it's cooked in a delicious sauce to perfection and tastes amazing. The Sumiao Hot Dry Noodle is bursting with flavor in a bursting with spice and texture. This restaurant has a section on the menu dedicated to Beyond "beef" and the fire version is great! It's, again, loaded with flavors and spices that are a triumph. This place rocks and I'm looking forward to going back.
The “sizzling beef with chili and onion” was excellent as were the scallion cakes. We got everything “regular hot” (as opposed to “authenticity hot”) but we didn’t really think it was all that spicy. We didn’t have a reservation but they were able to seat us at the bar.
First the positives, the restaurant has one of the best thoughtful decors in the category of Chinese restaurants. Unlike those situated in Chinatown, nor like the westernized PF Chang, the design has an aurora of high end setting. You know it when the serving staff wear suits and dresses.Dish presentation is also quite nice, and an added bonus for giving out red pockets during Chinese New Year’s.Now the negatives: authenticity & price. We ordered Kung Pao Chicken & Deep fried horn pepper. KP chicken is a ubiquitous dish in Chinese restaurants and fairly straight forward to prepare. Unfortunately, it was overly salty and filled with pre-made sauces, like those from Panda Express (they aren’t bad if you are into fast Chinese cuisine). And the horn pepper tasted like it was draped in salt. The sample size was small but I was a little disappointed with the dishes.The price, being in Kendall Square and all, is definitely one of the highest priced Chinese restaurants in town. If you are on a budget, this is not recommended.I hope their dishes can get better. Decor and vibe attracts the outside, but it’s the taste of food that captures patron’s heart, or mouth to be exact.
All the food are so yummy, my dad and children love it so much.