Red Lantern

My wife and I have been going to Red Lantern on a routine basis since we discovered it in 2011. Before going forward, I never give any place 5 stars as you will always find something to pick on — there is no «holy grail» location anywhere.
The food — top notch Americanized Chinese Food and a huge variety that satisfies everyone. I stick with the classic chicken dishes where my wife has her favorite shrimp dishes. I so enjoy reviews that complain that it’s not true Chinese food; having been to the Far East, I can say that it’s a good thing that it’s not true Chinese as real Chinese is on the bland side and contains mystery ingredients that are best left unknown. Just like pizza and Italian meals from Italy are nothing like pizza and Italian meals in America (all you need to do is look at the huge portions at so-​called Italian restaurants) — so complainers get over yourselves.
Ambiance, the interior is showing its age with the ripped seats, no lie. But I’m there for the food. It does get a bit loud in the Bar Area, but sit far enough away, and you can easily ignore the rude locals.
Service — the sole order taker/​server/​drink maker «Alex» does a wonderful job by himself. He is always courteous, takes the orders without issue, and whips up the drinks without anything watered down. There are times when the restaurant is filled to maximum, the orders are going in and the food is coming out and you would think that Alex is overwhelmed. It’s during these days that he may be abrupt but its forgivable considering the current pandemonium he is working through. The man travels from my hometown on a weekly basis to provide excellent service.
Delivery — sorry, I never do delivery/​pickup at any restaurants; I’ve lost that bit of trust in restaurants many years ago. But I must say that giving a bad review due to you leaving the pickup area to go the the Bar is idiotic — why did you not wait at the cashier area like everyone else? Your food was left sitting for an extended time because you did not look at your watch and keep track of your own time; after five or so minutes, you should have checked to see if it was ready, not depend on others to track you down. And a complaint about PuPu Platter portions? This type of meal is a selection of hors d’oeuvres for two people — not a meal replacement — and they are always overpriced in any Chinese food establishment, in a similar way that tapas restaurants are usually overpriced. Did you not read the menu to see the price before ordering?

I’ve never dined in but I’ve had take out and delivery several times.
My go to Chinese staples are sesame chicken and general’s chicken. But are fairly disappointing here and they are disproportionately expensive for the quantity. With the other options in Chinese in the area you can usually do better.
The main strength they have is that they’re open a little later than some of the other Chinese restaurants around here.

Great for vegans/​vegetarians. Great mixed drinks. The waiter is really abrasive but nice, one of my favourite parts of eating here.

My girlfriend and I ordered delivery from here. We ordered a pu pu platter for two and vegetable rice noodles. The order came to $ 27.50. For this amount we received two chicken wings, two terriyaki sticks, two egg rolls and 4 spare ribs. The rice noodles also came very spicy and inedible. We contacted Red Lantern and were told that is the normal order and the rice noodles come very spicy. When we asked Red Lantern if they would exchange the rice noodles they said we would have to re order and pay again. Terrible customer service at this restaurant. Avoid. Would give 0 stars if I could.

Absolutely terrible food. I know this is just Americanized Asian takeout and expectations shouldn’t be high, but the over-​reliance on salty previously-​frozen sauces and limp vegetables kills it for me. Topping it off, the last time we got takeout from here at work, everything had a plastic aftertaste.

I ordered a bunch of sushi rolls and appetizers. The sushi tasted like it’s been siting out for a long time. The rice was hard and the sushi altogether was awful. I also ordered fried dumplings which weren’t even fried but also horrible, I couldn’t even finish one. The scallion pancakes had no flavor at all and I do not recommend it.
The waiter was rude and very impatient. We had literally just sat down and he stood there waiting for us to choose what we wanted to order. I didn’t even get to look through the menu yet!
Overall, the food was horrible and so was the service. I do not recommend anyone eating here.

Red Lantern is mediocre Chinese Food at best.
As far as delivery goes, the food is better than most of the selections in the area, however this is only because Worcester is terribly far behind the rest of the world as far as delivery options go.
On the plus side, there are a lot of vegetarian options, particularly if you enjoy all the fake meat processed garbage. But there are far better options for Chinese-​style vegetarian in the city. Unfortunately, none of those other options deliver.
The ambiance inside could use a makeover. Many of the booths are ripped and duct-​taped together. That said, it is not recommended as a date spot. The service is decent if you eat in or take-​out, but a warning if you plan on getting delivery — expect the food to take AT LEAST an hour and expect the food to be cold when it arrives. Also, expect to have to run out to the delivery driver’s car, as they will call you from outside and not go to your actual door.
Unfortunately, the only reason this restaurant deserves a star is that the quality of the meals far outweighs other Chinese delivery in the area. If you can drive yourself to get take-​out, there are many more, MUCH better options.
How is this place even still open?

After waiting an hour for delivery I called and was promised the driver had already left. 45 minutes later I called and canceled my order because he still hadn’t come. This was on a Wednesday afternoon. Pathetic.

Love the fake meat on the vegetarian dishes served in this place. Drinks are good and very strong, the service is OK. Did I say that the fake meat is the best?

they made me amazing custom chinese dishes and their sushi is GREAT!

I am a huge fan of Chinese food, and this is my go-​to place in Worcester. I almost always go for the beef Lo Mein and the veggie spring rolls… they are the best! The restaurant itself is pretty clean, with plenty of room for big groups. They also have a bar that has a pretty big selection of drinks, including bubble tea. They always have your food out promptly and fresh.
We love this place, just wish the parking was a bit easier, but that’s Shrewsbury Street for you. Red Lantern is one of the few places that has a small lot of their own though :)

On a scale of 1 – 100
Food is about an 82.
I like singapore mei fun The sesame chicken is good, but can be better if it wasn’t swimming in the sauce, but the chicken was crispy.
Service: 55. It would be nice if the wait staff would smile.
Physical appearance 68
Casual dining setting.
Front End 40
It would be nice if the front end staff would wear uniforms or dress nicely. What really bothers me is when staff plays games/​watches movies or listens to music while on the job. There is a time and place for personal entertainment. It is not while workinng and in front of customers.
Overall 61.25 out of 100.

I have always been a fan of the Red Lantern. My concern has always been the location. Shrewsbury Street is lined with such nice businesses that have been renovated and updated. Not here. The window seats have air draft leaked that are stuffed with napkins and the décor can be a little honky tonk. The crowd, at times, sketchy. BUT… The food is always fast and fresh (not frozen), reasonably priced and served by, from what appears to be the one waiter on staff, Alex. He somehow manages to briskly wait on the entire filled room himself. It;s impressive. Those who have not been there, might be taken back by him. (I have heard people say he is abrupt and rude) Note, reservedness is part of the culture and you have to get to know him. He runs the pace, and efficiently. I also noticed he has a loyal following shared by customer hugs.
Be careful with the drinks, Alex scoots behind the bar and does a blind eyed free pour on most of the drinks.
Bottom line, Great Chinese. Give it a try. 4 drinks, and 2 – 3 apps with cost less than 40 bucks.

The Red Lantern is no joke. The people that rate 1 star or even 3 stars are WHINERS. The type of people that don’t shower for days then go into a place and write them a bad review because it smells like CRAP — when it’s all their fault.
Real Talk though, I don’t even like chinese that much but I could eat the lantern every day. Dine in is better than take out (standard). But above and beyond the best chinese everything I or anyone I know has ever had. General Tsao’s doesn’t mess around. Quiet dine in, has keno. I think one of the 1-​star morons said untalkative service — ummm, language barrier? They are very friendly, especially ALEX, and will bust their butts to serve u and serve u fast. You will NOT be disappointed if you go there i GUARENTEE!

Stupidest place to Dine In. The Food was ok but the service was very bad. The waiter treats as if we came for free food. I used to take carry out from this place felt the food was good. So took friends out for dining and got very harsh treatment for the waiters.
Will never get to this stupid place again …

DO NOT BOTHER!
Tried this place one before and it was pretty bad. Gave them the benefit of the doubt and tried them again. NOPE!
We went in and ordered takeout, then sat at the bar. After 30 minutes I asked if the food was ready, it had been sitting by the front desk for over 10 mintues. Ordered 2 orders of crab rangoons, got one. Ordered two fried rice, got one. We did however get an extra order of white rice, wasn’t that nice of them!
On top of it all, the food wasn’t good at all. I am no expert on Chinese food but I have had it enough to know what is good and what isn’t. And this was not good!
Like I said it wasn’t the first time I tried Red Lantern, the first time it took an hour and a half for delivery. Called to cancel and less than 5 minutes later the delivery guy arrived. Gave us a whopping 15% discount and the food was horrendous that day as well.

Ordered delivery. It was very late and the sushi was terrible. It was comparable to pre-​packaged grocery store sushi. I was very disappointed and couldn’t eat any. Threw away $ 19 :/

Good food and quick service.

This place has horrible customer service. I placed an order for delivery over the phone and was told it would take about an hour to get here. After an hour and 15 minutes, I called to see what the status of my order was and was informed that they had taken down the wrong address and the driver was lost. They apparently called the driver to tell him the correct address…30 minutes later and my food was still not delivered. I asked for a refund and was told that the best they could do is not have me pay a tip! As if that was up to them to decide!
A total of 2 hours have passed since I first placed my order and the restaurant has been completely unapologetic about the delay. Outrageous. DO NOT order here if you ever intend on actually eating or being treated with respect!

Unilocal! I am crying out in pain here.
It’s probably a bad sign about the food when almost all the people around you at a sit-​down restaurant are just drinking. I wish I was drinking– Kaopectate that is.
A terrible, terrible Chinese restaurant. Beyond disgusting, the food here is outright inedible. Barf!