Red Lantern

I was a frequent diner at Red Lantern for a while. Not anymore. The waiters they hire are sleazy and the managers allow it. Let me explain:
I check my credit card statement and see an absurd charge for a dinner that only had 2 people. I immediately call them and tell them this must be a mistake. I remember only spending $ 60 tip included.
Turns out the waiter put a «2» in front of the tip I gave him. Why in the world would I give a $ 215 tip?!?
Manager sides with the waiter claiming I did give that huge tip. It’s fraud.

I’ve only come here for drinks so I can’t say much about the food. I am also not a huge fan of Asian fusion so I may be bias.
Red Lantern is located in a popular area, convenient to the train (Back Bay Station), easy to walk to (although, follow your Google maps if you tend to get lost easily — it’s on a drivable one way street that may also look like an alley), and meter parking all over the area.
The décor is very cool — lots of red and similar to many Asian fusion restaurants. It has a cool upscale vibe which I guess is their reason for their expensive drinks. They have a variety of cocktails as well as scorpion bowls. Nothing to special.
I feel like this can be a good spot to hit up before the rest of the night but usually not where I want to stay. There is room if you have a big group at night and don’t want to be in line to get into somewhere else. Servers are also fairly nice.

The only reason I’m giving it 2 stars was the service. The food did not meet my expectations. I have visited this restaurant numerous of times. Every Tuesday they have a special $ 25 all you can eat sushi. Not worth it. This is actually the first time I got it. The rolls they give you are not impressive. The only worth eating on the menu for the special is the crunchy roll. And they over do it with the rice. The spicy tuna roll was horrible. The steamed dumplings on the special of the day where out already. It was only 7 PM and the place wasn’t busy. Then i ordered the steamed shrimp dumplings on the menu and they where horrible as well. Overall the food was a waste. Both restaurants that the group owns. The quality of the food had gone done. To bad we don’t have a Philipe chow or mr chow in town. That’s better upscale Oriental food.

Lots of DUDES hanging around the bar. Definitely a spot for the singles crowd.):
I came here several times for drinks with friends. Love the interior– a lounge with an Asian flare!
Drinks: The red sangria is great here. But last night, I tried the white sangria and it’s amazing!!! The portion of each ingredient mixed into this one glass was perfect!
Bartender: She was super sweet and friendly. And with all the noise and drunks, she managed to handle herself well!
For a lounge, it’s lacking in management. With that many dudes, you think they would have a bouncer or something around. Some jerk kept leaning on me and bumping into me to the point where we just got up and left.

If you’re seeking a unique Japanese/​Chinese food experience this is NOT the place. But, if you’re seeking loud-​music-​cool-​ambiance then it is the place to be. Plus it’s in the Back Bay area, which adds to the experience since then it’s easy to go clubbing post dinner.
Cocktails: delicious. It’s great to start out with one of them
Food: the sushi rolls are way to big, and not authentic at all. They have mayo included and have to be sliced in half to eat.
Any shrimp option is great! Dessert was ok too.

Came here for a bachelorette party dinner.
I didn’t stay for the bar scene after but we did love our food.
The service, the ambience, the drinks, and the food were amazing. My friends had the rose petal martinis and lychee martinis and loved them. Our food was probably the best asian fusion food we ever had.
i had the surf and turf with the filet wrapped in bacon (idied) meet was cooked to perfection. The lobster was a bit dry but we didnt care it was still good, lettuce wraps were amazing, the ginger chicken (i think thats what it was called) was amazing. The noodles were great, the calamari was great. i can go on and on. just go there.

Nancy the bartender is the best! She treated my group of 10 (which eventually erupted to a group of 20) with great care and hospitality.
We ordered multiple scorpion bowls and she even put one on the house!
I would totally recommend pre-​gaming here before going to Brahmin… which is exactly what we did.
I haven’t been here for the food but I definitely plan on coming back… and asking for Nancy.

This place is purely an Americanized Chinese restaurant. Think PF Chang’s but with more sushi options. The décor of this place is pretty nice so if you’re looking for a loud music, decent drinks list and cool atmosphere for a group of friends, this is a good place. They serve big bowls of cocktail drinks that you can put 5 – 6 straws into and share.
The server is very nice and attentive. The food, however, lacks greatly. The duck buns appetizer is pretty tasty so that’s where the two stars comes from. The bun is perfectly steamed, the inside has shredded duck meat marinated well and tender. There’s pickled cucumbers and peppers inside as well as a side dish of it. This was actually good. Then we had the Pork Chops Two Ways. Both ways were eh… The sweet ginger soy glazed version came on a bed of broccoli. The sauce itself wasn’t bad but there is a strong ginger taste so beware if you’re not a fan of ginger. The pork was a bit thick and chewy. The other version was salt and pepper. The pork here was very dry and felt like it was tearing my throat on the way down. The flavor was there but not all the way into the meat. I found myself desperately scooping up the pepper pieces on the plate to make this dish bearable. A very Americanized Chinese food experience…

The food here is good but really over priced, but not great considering it’s a 10 minute walk from chinatown. The ambiance and cocktails are what I would go for. The drinks are $ 10– $ 15 but strong enough to make up for it. The décor is modern and it seems like there is always an event going on inside. Seems like a fun place to bring out of town guests.

This place really represents the worst kind of Asian Fusion restaurants, the kind that solely cater to white people. While I do have to say this place is pretty nice and has a trendy kind of feel, I am not a fan of how they’ve randomly thrown in Asian accents into the décor, that to me comes off as more tacky than stylish. Also the bartenders were all asian women wearing tight corset tops, which I get the point of, but maybe not for 5PM on a weekday when I’m just trying to get a quick bite and some drinks with friends.
I’m all for sharing and mixing cultures, but this place is actually the worst in trying to do so. I would give this place one star, but I do give them some credit for making solid drinks. So if you’re looking for a couple drinks after work then I guess this place can be okay; otherwise I do not recommend this overpriced, asian-​themed american restaurant.

Overpriced for the food they serve. We tried dine out menu and regular menu. None of 6 people was excited about it. The interior us fancy. Good place to meet and grab a drink with colleagues after work.

Came in at 8pm with appointment and got seated at 8:40… I would understand if the food was good and the service was decent as well but…
One of the worst service I’ve experienced and the food was terrible.
2 out of 8 dishes were edible.

I’ve come here a few times with friends, typically in larger groups, and have never been disappointed by the food. Most dishes are enough for several people to share, so don’t let the price tags scare you — it may look like a lot, but not so bad if you’re sharing (drinks, however, are $$$). The lobster rangoons are one of my fave appetizers. The sushi is very good, as is the pork fried rice — very light. The drunken thin noodles and tik tok chicken were also delicious, and I would definitely get either of those again.
The service both times I went recently was okay. My most recent visit felt like the server couldn’t get rid of us fast enough. It wasn’t that busy but after we were done eating he seemed to rush us with the bill. He did however, upon someone informing him of a birthday in the group, bring not only a dessert for the birthday guy, but brought enough for all of us to share. Also — if you are more than four people and want to split a bill, their new policy seems to be they can only split a max of 4 ways, which is annoying.

Never again, Red Lantern, never again. Only giving this place 2 instead of a 1 star because the restaurant’s décor is really nice.
Service:
Awkward hostess is awkward. One of the hostesses is really hell bent on making sure you check in & makes this judgmental awkward face when you don’t comply. She chased down a patron to make sure she was checked-​in, but the woman was simply sitting down at the table where all of her friends were waiting for her. Homegirl, let it goooo.
Our waiter was nice & friendly, so there’s that.
Prices:
HAHAahahahahalululululzulka;sdkfj what a joke. So overpriced for tiny portions. None of the sushi was worth it. I get that Boston is an expensive place to live, but when your special maki is consistently $ 16+ & terrible, you’re just being a jerk.
Food:
Hands down, the worst sushi I’ve had in Boston. Tuesdays are supposed to be AYCE sushi, but their menu is so pathetic that you’re better off spending $ 25 at Avana. The rice is way too sweet & needed a bit more rice vinegar to balance. It was also too moist to the point that it overpowered the fish. The proportion of rice to nori was too thick. Even Whole Foods has sushi that’s better prepared than this. The quality of the fish was so-​so. I got the «chirashi» naruto, which was really small & $ 16. I also got the eel & avocado roll, which was equivalent in quality to supermarket sushi. I would’ve ordered the spicy scallop roll or the caterpillar roll, but they didn’t have it on their menu sooOooOooOo spicy salmon it was. It was not spicy & the roll was covered in «spicy mayo» that resembled Kewpie mayo watered down with American mayo & Sriracha. Terrible.
Environment:
Beautiful restaurant suitable for first dates or whatever, but the food… dude just don’t do it. Maybe their drinks are okay?

I went into this dinner thinking I was not going to be full. Man, was I wrong. We started with the crab rangoons and they were so good. It comes with duck sauce and a tangy japanese ketchup which was super interesting. I believe six came in the little box. Then my friend and I split the white mountain roll and the black widow roll. The white mountain has a really really good tofu sauce on it that I honestly could have doused the whole roll in. Otherwise, it was kind of plain. The black widow is really good if you like eel, they don’t skimp.
I was full from the rangoons and rolls when I completely forgot we ordered the street noodles as well. These were the best. It was SO MUCH for two of us and I loved the variety of meat (the pork was my favorite part though).
I personally likes how they gave us our food one at a time — first the rangoon, then the rolls, then when we finished that, the noodles. It helped me get even more full as my body had time to let the food sink in. However, if that isn’t your style, specify that you want it to come out all at once.

Came here for NYE, great ambiance I must say. Unfortunately, we were tucked away in a back room separate from all the décor and lighting. No big deal really.
We had ordered a bunch of sushi, and they were ALL highly underwhelming. We’ve quite frankly had better/​fresher rolls at a sushi joint in a mall food court. My babe and I are confirmed sushi aficionados, and were eagerly awaiting some satisfying rolls, but we definitely won’t be back for their sushi, even if it is unlimited on Mondays. The salmon was incredibly fishy and inedible. The expensive specialty rolls were bland and covered in sauces to make up for the lack of taste. Even their cucumber and avocado roll was just… eh.
Other than that, our drink was enormous for $ 48 (heavy on ice, light on alcohol.)
We probably won’t be back.

This is a decent Asian Fusion restaurant, very lovely décor. The menu is quite extensive as a sharing menu with a group of people, but it is not completely extensive if you plan on getting a 1 person only entrée.
Lots of sushi here… and pretty decent sushi at that. Very good Sashimi, I loved the Tuna Sashimi! We got a huge sushi/​sashimi boat… they told us it was good for 4 people (we had like 8 at our table) and we did not finish the thing! We had to ship it over to our neighbors (who were part of our large party) and have them finish the thing off! Very good selection of sushi in it though. I will mention that we didn’t finish the boat in one go because half our table got their own entrees on top of the sushi as well.
The service was good… there were 16 people in our group and they handled us pretty darn well! There was one hiccup with heated sake coming quickly but it wasn’t all that devastating.
Would come back! Although I can’t say it really stands out above any other sushi places, its sort of your typical Asian Fusion spot.
Overall–
Service: ⁵⁄₅
Food: ⁴⁄₅
Price: ³⁄₅
Ambiance: ⁵⁄₅

Great ambiance, delicious food (love the Crispy Rice Bites; blackened rare tuna with corn and tomato sauce and spicy tuna or tuna tempura) and delicious drinks.
But no blue cheese stuffed olives!
I always have a great experience at Red Lantern.

Faux asian in every way. Sushi next fusion with neither done particularly well. The staff is friendly but it seems very much a corporate business spot.
My dinner was a noodle dish that looked beautiful but was overall pretty bland.

Interesting dishes with lots of flair but fairly expensive compared to neighboring restaurants with more refinement. Full array of drinks with experiences from awful to awesome. Great service by our waiter but chaotic hostess and seating experience.
Drinks: The Tiki drinks were on display during our stay. It was quite an array with some true to form and others a ways off from the originals with awkward tastes. I’d stay away from anything with crème de menthe as their teaspoon must be everyone else’s quarter of a cup. That being said, their classic and original drinks were very inventive and well done. Quite the night and day experience.
Food: The funnest dishes seem to be a lot of sushi specials. We had quite a few and generally enjoyed their take on the sushi fusion genre. The price per roll made me feel I was in O-​Ya, however. Ronin, Spicy Yellowtail, and Rock Roll were highlights for us.
The white miso soup was generous and had plenty of umami. The duck buns were no momofuku but quite good with just enough sweet to go with the savory. The tofu buns were very underwhelming and needed some of my duck bun hoisin sauce for my companion and myself to finish them off. The buns themselves were very well done with a near perfect doughy sticky-​fluffiness going on.
The lo mein was fairly good but a mistake to order, as the appetizers were much larger than expected, especially the buns, and we took most of it home.
Dessert was impossible as we’d ordered so much food.
Our server was very accommodating and when we couldn’t finish one of our Tiki mint-​bombs, we replaced it with something of equivalent value without charge. The hostesses were having serious trouble that night, however. They seemed to be scrambling a bit and when we requested a seat with our backs to a wall, we repeated the request twice to their bewilderment, and then found ourselves seated in an open space right next to a large cocktail hour hosting standing room event when there were plenty of seats next to the wall that went unfilled for the hour and a half we were there.
The atmosphere is definitely for the fun-​loving going out crowd who is adventurous in both drink and food. The dishes are generally well done with some being very good but the price for our time dinner came out to $ 150 when generally for two people in the area with similar amounts of food and one drink each without dessert would run $ 100.
Return? I think it’s a fun place with great décor that I’d probably come back for drinks and a small bite. It could be fun to come with a large group and order a few dishes but I’d also worry the check could get very steep very quick when I’d rather due that at more typical $$$$ labeled restaurants.