Nan Ling

Ok, so I went here to get a snack. I ordered pork dumplings with chow mein, they gave me rice and veggie wontans. Then, this «gang» walks in cause dis deir hood yall… They start yelling at the cashier then she yells back in Chinese, and im like, WTF U SAYIN, are u like a chinese rapper or wut ._​. Then they start cursing at her, throw their drinks at her and the ground and leave. This place is soo durty and it does not even smell good. When you walk in, that should not be a good sign… Never comin back…

Nan Ling is truly closed. I saw the signs. The space will soon house something with Dumplings.
Nan Ling was awful. The Sweet and Sour sauce tasted like Maple Syrup. The food was terrible. The décor was sub-​par for budget Chinese places.
It was a place. A place that served awful food.

Granted Ive only eaten here after the club. but I’ve been coming back for More than 14 yrs!!! I still consider Nan lings my only chinese take out while in Boston. I LOVE this place! It never disappoints. Not the best communication over the phone… (go in person, point to your favs on the menu) Great food. Fast service. Best deal anywhere! Crab Rangoon is a MUST!!! Chicken fingers, BBQ pork, shrimp fried rice… Mmmmmm Other places say they have it, they don’t. Only Nan Lings has crab Rangoon. You can dine in, take to go, or they deliver. Open until 4 am! This place rocks! It’s Mass Ave, so don’t expect the impossible. It’s just good. Go get some. :)

It was 2am and I was starving after leaving work, and nan ling beckoned with a soft neon glow.
The interior was sparse, fluorescent lighting and old fiberboard tables that haven’t been changed since the 1980s. Looked promising.
I ordered one of my favorite American Chinese dishes — sesame beef with broccoli and some crab rangoons, not authentic Chinese by any means but basic fare for a late night Chinese joint.
The look of trepidation on the faces of the cooks as they heard my order should have been a red flag, they looked as if they wanted to pull me back from the brink of food hell that I was willingly heading into, almost apologetic colored with a tinge of bleak desolation
I got back to my apartment and opened the boxes to find limp and off colored crab Rangoon, funky smelling duck sauce and sesame beef that looked like it was made with grade D meat. Rubbery like chewing a tire and tasteless as if all the meaty juices had been purposely sucked out and replaced with water.
It was the worst Chinese I’ve had since golden light in Somerville, which is to say almost dog food. In fact I think a lot of dogs would have a hard time scarfing down this swill.
It gets an extra star for being open until 3.

In honor of my 500^th Unilocal review, I’ve saved something very very special. As Sophia Petrillo would say, picture it — Boston, 1997.
I was a transplanted Californian in my freshman year of college, and one of the pickiest eaters on earth. Let’s put it this way, I had never met a chicken finger I didn’t like. But oh how I adored Chinese food. Suckin’ the brown sauce out of the fluffy end of a broccoli spear in my order of broccoli beef. Dippin’ the raggedy end of a spring roll into a tiny tub of sugary red sweet n’ sour sauce so that it resembled a tasty severed limb. Miles and miles of chewy noodles in my chow mein, savored as I took in my salt ration for the month in a couple of messy bites. Life was gooooooood. So imagine this suburbanite’s delight upon my move to the bustling urban sprawl of Boston, MA that in metropolitan towns like this, you can get nearly any kind of food delivered at nearly any time of day. If this all hadn’t happened before the advent of online classrooms and I hadn’t been forced to leave my dorms to trek to class, I would probably be writing this review from beyond the grave. Gluttony — my favorite sin.
Nan Ling knew exactly what they were doing when they littered my dorm’s front door every day with copies of their pink takeout/​delivery menu. I harmlessly picked one up to peruse, and the realization that I could summon Chinese food at any hour cued songs in my head! «Here I am — rock you like a hurricane!» Or was it «I feel the earth move under my feet!» Either way, life changed forever. And my freshman 15 showed up in record time.
Here’s the thing about New England Chinese food that I remember — it’s BROWN. True of Nan Ling and other nearby spots, no matter what vegetable your dish includes, it will be rendered brown either by cooking, saucing or witchcraft. Never in one order Nan Ling’s fried rice did I see an orange carrot cube, or a crunchy green pea, or even a yellow chunk of egg. But I saw piles of rice, withered overcooked eggs and crusty bits of BBQ pork. At first sight my maiden voyage in Nan Ling’s takeout was horrifying — a Californian has no idea what to do with food devoid of color. But I had paid for it with my near non-​existent cash flow, as is the college way, and it was enough food to keep me alive for days. Along with the colorless fried rice I ordered chicken fingers (cuz I’m me), the Caucasian-​friendly chicken chow mein, and the oh-​so-​intriguing barbecue boneless spareribs.
Dry simple rice, weird beer-​batter breading on the chicken fingers, and my first lesson in the east coast riddle of the difference between chow mein and lo mein. In California, you see one or the other on the menu at your local place, and there is no clear distinction. In Boston, it’s night and day — chow mein gets you a soupy congealed glop of meat, veggies and corn starch served over Chun King-​style crunchy noodles that most people only use as Chinese Chicken Salad toppings, while lo mein gets you those long soft pan fried noodles you probably wanted. So as I opened my Nan Ling takeout container to see chicken glop, I was horrified. But I tried it. I tried it all.
My twisted brain went to work and shoved the chicken fingers into the juicy mess of the chow mein, and that creepy batter had now transformed into a sponge. Each squishy bite was better than the last! I learned their fried rice tasted oh so good with sweet & sour sauce poured over until it congealed into a sugary Rice-​Krispie-​treat-​like wad. But the true magic lay in those BBQ boneless ribs — that might be the one thing they do truly right. Char siu sauce absorbed into every molecule of the pork, equal parts succulent and chewy as hell. Sauce and grease will run down your fingers. Your heartbeat will skip. You will lose control. I did. For 3 ½ straight years, at least once a week like clockwork, they delivered that same order to my dorm. Remember in that Sex and the City episode when Miranda calls her favorite Chinese place to order her usual and they laugh? I have lived that moment, many times. A quick perusal at their website shows that all items I adored are still available for about the same price. The pictures on Unilocal are like a trip in a time machine. My mouth shamefully waters at the sight!
I haven’t had Nan Ling’s creepy delights in more than a decade, but I still miss it. Who knows if it even tastes the way I remember. It looks exactly the same. And judging by the miles of grossed-​out reviews, not a thing has changed. The rumor mill when I was in school was there was a Chinese delivery place that had famously delivered a takeout order topped in jizz, an urban legend so ridiculous it was immortalized in Good Will Hunting. Many people think Nan Ling was that place. Are you brave enough to sample their wares, despite what all the naysayers spout off? Will you survive the night? Just take a deep breath, and dial that delivery number…

The terrors and tails surrounding Nan Ling inside Berklee’s campus are so vast that you end up wondering if they are folklore or a gruesome truth! Well yes indeed! The place is disgusting but an inevitable choice if you are hungry after midnight since it’s open till 3AM. Incrediy rude and everybody swears they spit in your food. My story is even more tragic. I had a food order that was estimated on the phone to be 22 dollars. The driver comes and I hand him 30 dollars. While waiting for my change he says «This is tip money» and then he run off before I had time to react! When I was awoken from my indefinite shock I made my self swear that I will no longer support this atrocious restaurant of grease and terrors.

The first review I’ve ever written… And it goes to Nan Ling.
Probably one of the worst Chinese places I’ve ever tried in my life. I’ve eaten from several Chinese-​American restaurants but Nan Ling is on a whole new level of disgusting. HORRIBLE service! The lady who picked up the phone had no matters whatsoever. Their food is horrible, never have I eaten such disgusting General Gau’s chicken in my life. Don’t bother with this.

I specifically went to this place because the reviews for it was so bad. Like one reviewer said, it was only bad chinese, not awful. I didn’t see any pimps or hookers. There was one bum that tried to get free food. The lady upfront probably could be a little nicer, but think about all the crap she has to go through day in and day out, and you would be a little mean as well. One weird thing that I noticed though was that when the phone rang, one of the cooks would yell out, «lalalalala», which I though was a little weird. That phone did ring ALOT when I was there, probably something like 5:1 versus the number of walkins. This place is still fairly popular despite all the bad reviews about it.
My food came out and it was pretty much as I imagined it. I did get 5 giant crab rangoons along with my meal, which was pretty much unexpected. They tasted lousy, and I only ate about 1 ½ and threw the rest away. Just like the other reviewers have said, given this is the only place of its type that open this late around this area, it’s not really that bad. If I had a place like this near where I live, I would give it 4 stars.

I wish I could not give a star! This place is the worse. I ate here over the summer so I thought getting a delivery would be just as good! Wrong!!!The beef teriyaki nasty tuff was not even marinated well. I took pics posted so see for your self. Save your money! Never again!

Definitely one of the more hilarious experiences I’ve ever had … not just at a restaurant, but in life. 3:00am. 30 people in an overly fluorescent circa 80’s décor. Everyone in various states of intoxication (potentially even the cooks), three surly English second language staff shouting numbers, angry people asking why there isn’t more shrimp in their dumplings, fried rice strewn all over a table, and an overwhelming urge for sesame chicken. Things got super weird when shrimp dumpling girl approached the counter, asking for her money back because she «wasn’t happy with the customer service.» The cashier just stared at her with creepy eyes, and for a half-​second, I thought shrimp dumpling girl was going to storm the register. What an experience. No dysentery yet. And the sesame chicken hit the spot.

UPDATING my review via copy /​paste of my own comment from this late night bites talk thread
. As you can see, I am not a huge fan.
«I quit Nan Ling after simultaneously puking and shitting fire (when not drunk, just ordered in while studying) from eating their food. After that I was scared of Chinese food for a while. I will still never go there. When I pass their storefront I debate throwing a rock through the window. Fuckin hate that place.» — Me

I’m actually let down by Unilocal.I ordered from Nan Ling because I was promised the worse food possible, but it’s just bad Chinese food. From these reviews I expected the delivery of my food to play out like the ending of the movie Seven, but it was just my food and as far as I know everyone I know is still alive. The food arrived 30 minutes early, so that’s a plus right from the start.
I ordered online (like someone from the future) unlike a vast majority of people that seem to actually want to speak to someone on the phone. I think Chinese restaurants only hire grumpy women to answer the phone, so the fact that Nan Ling has a grumpy woman answering the phone doesn’t surprise me. I’d be more concerned if the reviews said they only saw white people working in restaurant. I’ve been to such a Chinese restaurant, and believe me I didn’t go back.
I got the General Gau’s chicken meal with two sides: boneless ribs, and teriyaki steak. The General Gau’s was terrible. The smell was bad, and reminded me of an ashtray, so I didn’t eat all of it. I’ve had bad General Gau’s before, but this was the worst. The taste of the fried rice was OK, but it was literally just a plate of brown rice which had presumably been fried. All the rice would need are some vegetables, and it would be an passable fried rice dish.
The boneless ribs and teriyaki steak were excellent, and I’d definitely get those again. I also got a strawberry bubble tea, which was also excellent. I can’t give it a one star because the food came super fast, and there were some parts of the meal that were actually very good (for Chinese food).
Maybe I put off Nan Ling so long not because I thought it would be bad, but because of what I thought it would say about me if I liked it. I’m happy to say that I wouldn’t order from them again, so I guess that means I’m not a total scumbag. That said, you still have to try it once, and it’s probably suggestions like that that have kept them in business.

This place makes the legit worst Chinese food ever. When you walk inside, it doesn’ t even smell good. Shouldn’t that be a sign? I think that even if I went to school nearby, and I was starving at 3 AM, I’d rather hit up the 7 Eleven than subject myself to the nasty, questionable Nan Ling food.
My boyfriend ordered some dumplings on his second visit thinking to give the place a second chance, but it was a no-​go. They offered this little plastic container of the weirdest smelling dipping sauce I’d ever encountered. It wasn’t soy sauce, it wasn’t vinegar, there was no sesame oil or garlic involved… It was a mystery sauce. By the smell of it, it seemed that the junk had been made pre-​Back– Bay– blackout and had just sat there in some corner of the kitchen waiting for the blackout to end— 3 days later. Can you say EW?
If you’re reading this on your smart phone as you prowl Mass Ave looking for some noms, please take all our advice and avoid this place like the plague.
PS for all the different bubble tea drinks this place offers, they don’t make the classic milk tea drink– only slushies. wtfux.