Pine Garden

I have always loved the food at the Pine Garden. The «new Pine Garden … not so much. Earlier this spring I put in an order of egg rolls, the house special soup and my favorite: shrimp with pea pods and water chestnuts. I also ordered brown rice instead of white rice. When I get home I readied myself for a fine Chinese dinner. Uh oh, Not so fast. The egg roll was okay, the soup lukewarm but the shrimp dish was the biggest disappointment. Instead of shrimp, pea pods and water chestnuts I got carrots, some vegetables, and a few shrimp in a thick tomato sauce. When I called to report the mistake there was no apology. Rather the irritated voice on the line asked did I want to «change» the order? Well. YES, I replied. When I picked up the new order I pointed out that their «shrimp with carrots» wasn’t even on the menu. The woman at the desk simply shrugged.
By way of my background I am a child of parents who experienced the 1930’s Depression. We never throw food away. When I took the second order home and tasted it, it was not acceptable. Therefore, the tomato/​shrimp concoction along with the white rice went into the compost. I won’t waste my money at the New Pine garden. Hopefully there will be a change in ownership/​management and the Pine Garden will again offer actual Chinese food.

Delicious Kung Pao shrimp, Sushi deluxe and crab Rangoon !! Along with the plum wine and good company makes for a wonderful meal. Friendly service too! You should check it out and try it!

Decent food and prepared quickly, great for take out. The food comes hot and flavorful, the right place for when you don’t want to cook but also don’t want to spend two hours eating out somewhere.

Can’t say much good about the food, and if you try to point out that they got your order wrong, they’ll take part of said order (as if they’re going to fix their mistake) and eat it right in front of you. I know there are better Asian restaurants in my area so I really don’t think I’ll be going back to Pine Garden.

Soooooooo good !
Good quality fresh foods
worth the money

Very surprised to see the other positive reviews after our experience here. We won’t be going back to give them a second chance.
Restaurant was empty at 7pm on a Friday night — that should have been the first warning.
After getting seated it literally took 15 minutes to get our order taken — again we are two of four people total in the restaurant. The waitress then took our order so fast and ran off without every asking about drinks. It took another 10 minutes to flag her down for drinks.
Hot and sour soup was bad. To Fu, and some water with pepper in it. By far the blandest, most flavorless hot and sour soup I’ve ever experienced.
When the food finally came, it was terrible. The lo mein had a very fowl flavor like the noodles were soaked in dishwater or something nasty like that. The general tso’s chicken was 95% breading and 5% chicken — chicken which was dry chunks of overcooked dark meat. The garlic beef almost seemed like it was made of steak-​ems rather than real meat.
Hands down the worse Chinese food I’ve ever had in my life.
Never got our check. Went up to the cash register and had to ask for the check.
I’m usually one to go back and try a restaurant again if there was even a hint of possibility… there are no signs of life at Pine Garden so that won’t be happening this time.

Been there, done that — I have the leftovers to prove it… Never again, food was sub-​par by dine-​in standards. I would say it compares more closely to Chinese food you would find at a mall food-​court. Most of the food came quickly (10 minutes); which speaks volumes about the place as there were only 2 other tables occupied (on New Years Eve!!!) — Other than having a side dish finally arrive well beyond the midpoint of our meal… Service was exceptional if you weren’t looking for refills, needed another napkin, dinnerware or wanted to pay your bill. Also, they have 2 TV’s, neither of which were on a channel showing anything, they were instead on the channel you get when you don’t pay your bill. Jade Garden puts out much, much better food.

We come here monthly and love it. I should say BF loves it… I am not a huge Chinese food person. I pretty much stick with chicken wings. The wings are great and he reports everything else is great for his food. I had two drinks… the zombie no then one the sweet waitress recommended… it was great !!! She listened to the kind of drink I liked and nailed it. I had been eating for YEARS at another place with a huge language barrier… No ones fault… but none of that here. Friendliest waitress we have had in a long time! Made our night extra nice !
As always appreciate the heartfelt thank you from several employees as we left. They genuinely appreciate the business and care for the customers.

Reasonable prices, quick service, and the Pork with Peapods, Shrimp with Tea Sauce and Beef Pad Thai was especially tasty. Friendly service too.

Love coming here! The service is always friendly and either for a quick snack or a meal it’s one of those stops that is nice.
For years we just would grab take out but on our last visit we decided to dine in. Service was quick and the food was great!

Pine Garden has recently changed hands and the quality has plummeted. It’s really a shame.

Fantastic «Boston» chinese, I am from Boston and its like I am getting it right down the street in my old neighborhood. If you know what I mean and you are looking for the closest to Boston chinese, you’ve found it… wicked good stuff!

I was not that impressed. After reading the Unilocal reviews about Pine Garden, I decided to stop at this full service restaurant and lounge for takeout recently.
The menu offerings include the standard Chinese dishes (most $ 5.75-$ 10.95) and house specialties ($ 11.75-$ 19.95), plus they offer 37 Luncheon Specials served with soup (dine-​in only), chicken wing & rice (steamed, brown, or pork fried) $ 4.95-$ 6.75 served Mon-​Sat 11:30 AM to 3:00 PM, as stated on the menu.
For takeout, I ordered the L35 Shrimp Lo Mein ($ 5.50) and received my order in about 10 minutes. However, when I opened the stapled paper bag, there was given only a paper Chinese quart sized takeout container with condiments. I opened the top of the container, which had only one chicken wing on top of the lo mein, no pork fried rice* (BOOO!!!) which was supposed to be included with the luncheon specials as stated on the printed menu.
The menu should be more clear about which luncheon specials come with rice and which ones do not, as some Chinese restaurants I’ve been to already make it known on their menus. I was taken aback expecting an actual Chinese combo lunch instead of a semi-​à la carte dish, but decided to not to drive back to Exeter. A similar situation happened at another Chinese restaurant (Panasian) in Brattleboro, VT, where I ordered a «lo mein» lunch combo and I was not given rice, which should have been included since the menu did not state «rice not included with lo mein.»
As for the food, the chicken wing was good, which was deep fried crispy on the outside and juicy meat inside. However, the lo mein was disappointing, which was very overcooked with very mushy noodles, very soft shrimp (some not cleaned), onions, and cabbage. I’ve had better lo mein at other Chinese restaurants in the area including at the nearby Szechuan Taste.

My son and I decided to try this out to celebrate Chinese New Year. The atmosphere is pleasant yet odd. It is clean and spacious with red leathery looking booths and Chinese music playing loudly while large big screen tvs hanging from the ceiling had the latest Pats coverage going on. We were seated at a comfortable booth and ordered tea (which was not on the bill so I assume free), shrimp egg foo yung, pupu platter and steamed dumplings and coca cola. The food was delicious and quick but the service kind of less than attentive. Luckily we liked everything since our server never came back to ask. The grand total including 20% tip was $ 36. Also got excellent fortunes in our cookies. My 17 year old son’s said «You will be unusually successful in business»!

I go here pretty regularly in groups large and small, and while service can be a bit slow (they like to pace your eating for you, which is sort of bemusing) they are very peaceful, quiet, and awesome!
Key: they keep the tea flowing (it’s automatic, you don’t ask for it –almost always a good sign), food is good, hot, consistent, & plentiful.
We love the scallion pancakes, the house special soups (large portions), yummy. Meat dishes tend to come with orange slices! For dessert, you get fruit — pineapple, usually, but sometimes orange… a nice quiet place to have a peaceable meal & conversation, lots of tea, a beer or two, or maybe a Scorpion Bowl, if Grandma’s feeling spicy: P Beer in bottles only.

Pine Garden is where I usually go for Chinese food. Their food is so good. I love the Vege Lo Mein and orange chicken. The General Tso’s chicken they make here is to die for! Prices are very affordable and service is great. The servings are more then you can eat. This is such a great place if you want to get a quick lunch or dinner. I have never had a bad experience there and I have never known anyone who has had a bad experience at Pine Garden. You should give it a try. I bet you will fall in love with it as well if you like Chinese food. I highly recommend them for their quality and great tasting food!

While I can’t say how it was five years ago, Pine Garden is one of my favorite Chinese places in town. The staff and service is excellent, the food is good, and the prices are very reasonable.
We go to Pine Garden every other week and have yet to be disappointed!

I undertand why I am the first reviewer of this place. I dont think anyone else that does there would want to admit it.
Admitedly its been about 5 years since I have been there but at that time they were the only asian option in town.
After taking one bite of the leathery chicken I politley spit it into my napkin. I saw a similar reaction in my wife’s eyes. I put down the cash for the meal and we both walked out.