Bao Nation

When I went to this restaurant on Jan 6 with two friends, we saw a bug problem in the restaurant on the tables and nearby wall inside the restaurant. I hope this got dealt with now.
This place tries to mimic the Chinese Baozi in an Indian style, so I think the name Bao Nation is misleading. Traditional Baozi refers to types of steamed bun filled with meat, seafood and/​or various vegetable fillings, and is in various Chinese cuisines. The Bao at this place is more like a sandwich, which is in a sense interesting but not authentic.
Added one star for the location. The graffiti alley next to the place is an amazing place to visit.

The quality of the bao was so bad. It’s like they served us old baos or something. I ordered the duck, a chicken one and pork belly. Chicken was the best and the sauce was good but because they used crappy quality baos, it takes away from the taste. The duck was over cooked, old, and so hard. For the price, I’m especially angry at the quality served. This place sucks.

So disappointing. I should have checked the reviews first.
I’ve been wanting to try this place for a while and my boyfriend finally agreed to it. Sad to say, the baos are not worth the ~$ 6.50 per order. Actually, I would go farther and say save your money and skip this place all together.
The baos are cooked in a microwave (first red flag!!!) which leaves them dry and makes them fall apart. Bao bread is known for its softness (because it’s steamed) which is why I’m so appalled that they even attempted to use a microwave…
As for the filling, I had the pork belly and my boyfriend had the fried chicken. The pork was covered with fat from sitting at room temp all day long and had a rubbery consistency. Properly braised pork belly should melt in your mouth and the skin should at least be edible. That being said, the chicken itself was not bad. The spicy mayo was the best part.
I wanted to like this place so bad, but the pork bao was inedible and overall, a waste of money. Stick to Chinatown when looking for a proper bao.

I got the miso bao and it was delicious. The kimchi and cilantro was great.
I got the eggplant rice bowl also and it was HUGE. It tasted okay. Wasn’t the best but still good. The eggplant was a little too mushy for me but the flavor was good.
It’s definitely enough food for like 3 meals though so great for students on a budget.

Everything I’ve had here has been tasty and gourmet. Not the fastest in the world, but well worth the wait. Pork belly is a bit fatty; I think it’s supposed to be that way, but I’d skip that one.
Bao Nation is a tiny counter embedded in Dosa Factory, which itself is behind the Shalimar Indian grocery store. As a result, while you’re sitting and waiting for your bao you can enjoy tremendous smells of Indian cooking and also grab a mango lassi if you like. Either is a great place for a slow lunch.

Unimpressive food.
I’ll admit, I can be a bit of a snob about my Bao, having eaten them all over Asia. However, it’s really awful that they use open steamed «buns» and just fill them with what you order. That hardly qualifies as a Bao! Seems like a way not to commit to any great products and hedge your supply. Better to make sealed, tastier, real steamed buns.
2 stars for a good dessert bacon bun.

Hidden gem in Cambridge! Nice to come in and get small quantity snacks.
The seating area is very small, and it’s nice and quiet. The best way to describe the food is that it’s simple and fast. Not filling though.

Update: 7÷17÷2015. Bao Nation ended up voiding my credit card transaction after I called and explained the situation, so I am adding back two stars and I applaud them for not charging me.
Bao Nation has the potential to be a great place to eat. The food is decent, it is in a good location in Central Square and its employees have good hearts. However, consistency of service is missing. If Bao Nation can raise the level of service, this place would be great.
Thank you again for not charging my card.
Original review: 7÷16÷2015. I ordered a pork belly rice bowl and a duck bun. I used those exact words. I was given two orders of buns instead. When I pointed this out, I was told that’s what I had ordered. When I said that I hadn’t ordered a pork bun (which isn’t on the menu) and that I needed the order changed, I was told the pork rice bowl was unavailable and there was nothing that could be done. I ended up walking away without the food I ordered and without a refund or any offer of assistance.

This is a hole in the wall type of snack joint, so don’t expect world class service. Love the Indian — Chinese mixed style of the bao fillings. We had the Bird Bao, which is basically fried chicken with toasted coconut bits and pickled veggies. The chicken was juicy and tender. We loved the pcoconut touch. Service is in fact a bit slow, but not intolerable. The bao parts were decent as well. Will definitely return to try the other stuff on the menu soon.

Disappointed with the overall experience but it definitely quenched the craving for a bao taco.
A few weeks ago while visiting the Boston area we decided to drive over to Bao Nation after having incredible cravings for bao tacos. While traveling cross country this fall we fell in love with Fat Bao in Texas and when we saw this similar shop in Cambridge we had to try it.
That being said, the overall experience was lack luster. The store was impossible to find from the main strip, the service was incredibly slow and the baos themselves were too soft and difficult to eat. The meat in the baos were delicious but not for the price.
In the end it totally filled our craving but this place could be so much more if the staff stepped up the service and food had a little more heart.

It’s hidden so as others have mentioned, it’s in a little corner of the Shalimar market. From Mass Ave, go through the market. From the lot, there is a door next to the Bao Nation sign.
The central Bao was not that great. The buns were almost borderline too soft and kept getting stuck in my teeth. And the overly soft bun made the dry pork belly difficult to eat. Flavor profile was OK…
Taro fries weren’t the best I’ve had. Fairly dry and flavorless as well. No seasoning of any sort. Not even salt or pepper. It came with a tasty sauce, but the sauce unfortunately does not pair well with the taro.
Likely not returning to try the other offerings.

I came here after dinner one evening but I wanted to try something out. So I ended up with a Singapore chicken «puff», which was pretty much just a chicken samosa. The filling was passable, with some decent curry chicken flavor. However, it was a little dry. The shell tasted like a samosa you’d get at an Indian restaurant… like the one just ten feet away.
The sauces, however, really stood out as I enjoyed the green garlicky sauce (I should’ve asked what that was). I love garlic, plus the sauce was spicy too. The price for that garlicky bliss was apparent: I had dragon’s breath all evening and into the morning, despite running through copious amounts of mouthwash. Good thing I wasn’t on a date.
Maybe I’ll give the baos a shot, but that chicken puff at $ 1.75 is a nice deal.

I got the Harvard Bao ($ 6.50 for 2 bao), with ginger chicken (also cilantro, sushi-​ginger, chipotle mayo).
I wasn’t sure how ginger, and chipotle mayo would taste together but they actually came together pretty well with the chicken. Then again, chipotle mayo can make anything taste good.
The bao (steamed bun) part was very good. Soft and not dry. The chicken was supposed to be «ginger and garlic» flavored, but I’m not sure exactly what flavor it was. It still tasted good, though.
$ 6.50 was a fair price for 2 bao. Just be aware that 2 bao is probably not enough for a full meal. I’d give it 3.5 stars if I could. Overall pretty good but not a «must have».

It was A-​ok. For some reason, I expected more when I saw the sign some many months before as I was heading to the H-​mart. Headed in, and it’s a little stall amongst an Indian place. The meats were sitting in warmers. We went with a couple orders (each came with 2 baos). A good sized appetizer, could have been made into a meal. We got a pork belly one, and we also got a fried chicken one. Was fast to make. An instance where my expectations were not met for some reason. Looking at the meat in the liquid was quite unappetizing. But a one go for me. I can find better.

Stopped by tonight to try their veggie dumplings. Got really excited because a lot of vegetable dumplings have eggs in the filling, but since this is run by Indians, they go by the indian definition of vegetarian, which means no eggs!!! There are so few places with good vegetable dumplings in Boston!
And…sad to say… This is not one of them. Really, it’s not. My 6 dumplings were tiny, sad looking things served with a tomato-​y chutney. The part at the top where it was folded together was crunchy in that definitely not cooked way. It was nicely pan-​seared but that had clearly been done ahead of time, so the dumplings weren’t fresh. All in all… pretty bad.
Had come here before and tried the miso bao. It was interesting, but in a good kind of way! They have since changed pricing and size, so each bao order gets you two — which is still not a meal. Both vegetarian baos have mayo in them (as I suspected!) which they now state clearly. Friends preferred the Harvard bao to the MIT one.

I’m glad Bao Nation finally opened! I was really confused at first, because Bao Nation was supposed to open in the back of Libby’s Liquors, but they ended up changing locations and opened in the same space as Dosa Factory (walk into Shalimar Indian grocery store off Mass. Ave. and go allllll the way to the back).
SERVICE. The guys behind the counter were SUPER friendly, which was really surprising since the guys behind the Dosa Factory counter have always been unsmiling and unfriendly.
FOOD. Its takes at least 4 bao, and probably 5 bao, to make a meal. I got 4 of them (the Chinatown, the MIT, the Bird, and the Central) and was still hungry afterwards. Total price was $ 16. Every bao I got was tasty, though not the sort of thing I’d crave or go out of my way for. As others have said, the same sauces/​dressings/​toppings are used on several different bao, so the flavors are somewhat similar.
I hope Bao Nation survives and revises its flavor options to make each bao more original and distinctive. I also think they’d do better charging $ 3 for each bao, given how small they are. I’d go back, but for less money I can fill up with about the same quality food from either Dosa Factory or GoGo Curry (inside Hmart).

My wife and I had been waiting for this place for too long. She’s a bao enthusiast. Suffice to say, we were pretty underwhelmed.
The bao are small, all different flavors (chicken, duck) taste pretty similar, and they weren’t cheap! My review would have had a different tone if we were taking about a couple dollar boa, but $ 3/​ea for a chicken and $ 5/​ea for a duck? I saw another sign advertising a chicken dumpling soup for $ 10 and veggie dumpling soup for $ 9. The price would be OK if the food was really good…
Seems like they started with a good idea, but then everything imploded once it came to execution phase. Almost like they know nothing about boa but decided to give it a good old fashioned pretentious shot.

I was so so so excited to try the food here.
Like beyond the hills. I love baos, practically obsessed and the only place I found in boston that I can kinda eat is Mission Sushi but I don’t even like theirs as much…
Anyways, tried the Harvard, Chinatown, and Central. Had no idea which one I ate because it was all in the same container and all look kind of the same. All tasted more like indian food. It wasn’t bad… If the meat was juicer, not as dry than I’m sure it would be very tasty.
Price is ok, decent. Three baos will get you full, $ 3 – 6 depend on which one you get so spending $ 15 for lunch isn’t bad.
Biggest mistake of my life is the watermelon smoothies… Oy, I guess it’s my fault since its not watermelon season and my watermelon addiction have made me desperate. But what I got was a pepto bismol-​like drink that tasted like bubble gum powder :(I feel bad, but I really really did not like the drink.
The guy that took my order was very nice and helpful though! I do hope they will improve because there are some great potential. Hope to try again some day and maybe give a much higher rating next time…

eh.
I was so excited for this place to open up. But all I can say is ‘eh’. The bao (steamed bun) was nice, but the fillings were not very exciting and they definitely had more of an Indian spice-​feel to them than a Chinese feel.
I may be back, but probably not.

First off, try and get over the fact that it’s inside an Indian restaurant/​shoppe, you’ll try these suckers. They are pretty decent, I’d say borderline delicious.
Dunno if they are worth the $ 3.50-$ 4.00 that they run. It’ll easily take 4 – 5 of these to sate your hunger, so wallets beware. Still, worth a snacking.