Bo Ling’s City Market

2.5 stars
The food is very, very overpriced. We ordered the General Tso’s chicken and the Walnut Shrimp. The flavor was quite good, but the portions were tiny, the place was dirty, and the wait for food was quite long. Also, the food was DROWNED in sauce! Needless to say, never again!
1 – 5 for value
1 – 5 for cleanliness
3 – 5 for service
3 – 5 for taste

Very good service. Average price with this level Chinese food. Tea duck is super good, goes with one kind of Chinese traditional wheaten food. I’m a Chinese, haha~ u know it’s hard to find a good Chinese restaurant in us, this one is over average, it’s already very good.

Bolings is my favorite spot for Chinese food in KC, no matter what location. I usually call in a to go order from this location, when I’m at work. Food is always ready when I get there. I order the cashew chicken and it’s always fantastic! I remember, several years back, they also had sushi here (but no longer offer it). I wish they still did, because that was amazing, too!

This was my first time ever eating at Bo Lings. I know, surprising since I have lived in KC all my life. I would have to say that this place excelled all of my expectations. The food, service, quickness were all excellent especially coming here during a weekday during downtown lunch time. The only reason why I took of one star was because of the cleanliness of the place. I’m not a fan of dimly lit restaurants but both the waters my mom and I had seem to have some weird greasy residue in the surface, and running my fingers across the top of the table you could feel some weird residue. Maybe it could be leftover cleaner solution but who knows, I just didn’t drink my water and washed my hands after I left. Would probably be back though– maybe check out the plaza location.

I thought for sure Bo Ling’s was a national chain, until my girlfriend looked at me like I was an idiot for having that belief. It feels so commercial! Which, I mean, is fine. I’ve been here several times for lunch the last few years because the lunch deals are superb. The lunch meals are very generous for less than $ 10 to $ 12. I usually played it safe and ordered the cashew chicken, mostly because of the fact that theirs has a really thick and tasty savory sauce, and it’s the best I have tried.
I went for dinner for the first time recently and ordered the chow fun with beef. I ordered this because it’s my favorite dish at ABC Café, and my girlfriend claims ABC is probably the most authentic Asian restaurant in Kansas City. So I wanted to compare Bo Ling’s to ABC. Sure enough, I found the beef to be prepared just right: not too dry or too moist. It’s the closest thing to ABC I have tried.
Geez, this is turning into a review of ABC.
Anyway, ABC is lacking in the service department, and I haven’t ever had issues at Bo Ling’s, even during bustling lunch hours. There’s this one server who said I look like Ricky Schroeder. One, I didn’t know who that was until I looked him up. And two, I don’t think I look like Ricky Schroeder.
I agree with my girlfriend; it’s probably the second best of this fare in Kansas City.
Food: ⁴⁄₅
Service: ⁵⁄₅
My Ricky Schroeder impersonation: ⁰⁄₅

We where checking out river market, and looking for somewhere to eat. We seen Bo Lings, so I get pumped and we head over there. As we walk in I notice it was not as clean as the one on the Plaza. We sit down and I notice the very wore menus. We where set next to the glass wall looking out at tables in another section, that seemed to be maybe outside. That section was dusty and dirty with leaves blowing around. This wouldn’t bother me except it gave the whole place that dirty feel, we had to leave. I was very sad! I hope the clean things up

Had a wonderful experience eating here. I’m celiac, allergic to egg, dairy, and several other foods. That staff was great and found a dish I could eat. That were very careful not to cross contaminate me. Staff was friendly and restaurant was clean. Another option for me in KC!

When I go to an Asian restaurant I value portions, taste, and price. Don’t give a shit about anything else.
That place had rather big portions (coming from a fatass like me), price was not bad, and food tasted alright. Their noodles selections was pretty decent, and their fried rice was good! Service was good too.
Go hungry, and you’ll most probably leave satisfied…

Good solid Chinese restaurant, upscale décor I have the cashew chicken and brown rice egg drop soup crab Rangoon $ 9.95 Service was prompt and attentive. Taste of the food was good. The table was not clean and could tell that they haven’t been cleaned over a long period of time. Not good. If I were in the neighborhood wanting Chinese I would return but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go there

Unauthentic, loaded with grease, so breaded it was unpalatable are just a few of the problems. My husband literally picked the breading off his chicken to find tiny pieces of chicken hidden within. The honey sauce was simply honey with no balancing flavors. This was the honey walnut chicken. But, it was the same with the General Tso’s he had a year ago. My vegetarian Singapore noodles were surprisingly not drenched in grease (as my eggplant and Szechuan green beans were before), but lacked flavor. Our take out tab was $ 28. After swearing this place off once before, I am sorry we tried it again.
Never again. Really.

Tried the Spicy Mongolian Beef lunch special for carry out today. You get the standard sides of rice, crab rangoon, and egg drop soup and that’s practically it… serious it is! The actual portion of beef was incredibly small, especially for a Chinese restaurant. Also, I know that Chinese food tends to be very salty but this stuff made my tongue burn, it was so sodium-​laden!
Higher than average prices, lower than average portions and quality. Next time someone asks me if I want Bo Ling’s, Chinese Please! I will emphatically say «NO, thank you!»

Terrible. I started this review a few times trying to use words like «poor» or «unauthentic», but I just couldn’t find a more accurate word than «Terrible.»
The food… overly sauced, overly breaded, too tangy, etc… I ordered the string beans, the Hui Style lamb, white rice, and a friend rice (I need the variety to test out food). I’m a big fan of spiced lamb and lamb meat in general, but this dish was especially disappointing. Unexpectedly, the dish was breaded, and some pieces seemed more breading that lamb itself. The dish was also extremely saucy, which means the flavor of the spices and lamb were completely concealed. I could have been eating beef, chicken, or cardboard, and with that much sauce, I wouldn’t have noticed the difference. Sadly, the string beans were probably the best. Which isn’t saying much. The other dishes were just kind of… bland, nothing a fast food Chinese place couldn’t make.
The venue… located in the city market, so it’s somewhat convenient for anyone who lives downtown. It’s a large venue as well, so if you want to bring a large group out and have bad Chinese… they can definitely accommodate!
Overall… I’d rather have Panda Express, same style, just faster.

After living a block away and being able to see Bo Ling’s from my window I’ve made my share of trips. This place rocks, it is probably my favorite place to get Asian food unless I’m looking for a bucket of fried rice for 2 dollars.
If I had to give 1 pointer it would be that the portions can easily feed 2 people for most of the dishes. I think they are family style but I eat a lot so if I have a little faith in myself anything can be a dish for 1.
Bo Ling’s excellent best at making odd dishes accessible to new adventurous eaters. They have a wide range of dishes from a standard fried rice, generals chicken, Pad Thai all the way to beef tendon, pork buns, chicken feed and turnip cakes.
I almost always try to get 1 plate of dim sum while I’m there to try something new. Most recently I tried the turnip cake which was actually quite lovely. It’s shaped like a piece of cake but it made with soft turnips and fried to a light golden color in a pan. It also has a shrimp flavor to it. Its somewhat of a fishy dish but still very good and not too heavy on the stomach although it is dense and hot.
My other favorite is probably the Beef Chow fun when I feel like some noodles. Strips of beef mixed with a thick dark sauce and very thick strips of noodles. This is always a solid go to dish for me along with the Pad Thai.
I haven’t had a bad dish at Bo Ling’s yet. I’ve even done the thing where I order something that I have no idea what it is. It ended up being thin bean noodles topped with ground beef and a dark sauce. It was not what I was expecting but it still ended up being super tasty.
TL;DR if you’re looking for somewhere to expand your Asian experience outside of General’s chicken, go to Bo Ling’s

Came in on a recommendation so my hopes were high. The meal was great! The mongolian beef was tender and had a little kick. It is accompanied by white or white rice and upgrading to fried rice is not an option it is a separate dish. Which was concerning until the massive portion comes out! The rice was cooked really well and had plenty of its ingredients.
Beer was good, had a Sapporo and it never dissapoints.
The service… Once seated the greeting took around 10 minutes. My waitress kept addressing me by «honey», not sure if the region or her but could have done without that. The weirdest thing is it took another 5 minutes to get my brew but the meal was there in 2 minutes. How do you cook an amazing meal so quickly but it takes so long to bring me my brew.
Will I be back? I Unilocaled at least 5 restaurants in the area that were either closed by the time I got to them at 8pm or permanently closed. Its a very weird, «I am Legend» type of city. Its friday night and no one is out. We shall see what tommorrow brings.

I love Bo Lings. Obviously the food is great but it’s also a great place to chill out after a long day’s work. I particularly like the décor in this specific Bo Ling’s.
I usually get crab rangoon, meat dumplings, mongolian beef and general tso’s chicken for my husband. It’s a little pricey but it’s enough leftovers for another meal the next day.

Met a friend for lunch here on a Tuesday. There was construction going on in the River Market area, which made it more difficult to find a parking spot.
I hadn’t been to this location in about 3 years and was looking forward to the food. I was underwhelmed. I remembered their fried rice to be so much better than it was. The General Tso’s chicken was good though.
The service was good. Our waiter was attentive and seem to be considerate of the fact that we were both probably on our lunch breaks. He brought both our food and our checks in a timely manner.
I will probably be going back for lunch during the week, simply due to the convenience of the location.

Definitely a classier twist on the typical Chinese restaurant. It was surprisingly dead when we went in on a Saturday night, so the waitress had no problem being attentive. She lined us up with some yummy sake and vietnamese spring rolls to start out, both which were good.
I had chicken pad thai and the Singapore Sling cocktail, which was delicious! Overall, I thought the food was good quality and tasty, but it just didn’t blow me away. I also wasn’t expecting to spend so much money here, but perhaps I shouldn’t have ordered so much alcohol?
I’d like to come back to try some rice and dumplings. Based on other reviews, it sounds like I need to check out the lunch specials as a more wallet-​friendly option.

All I can say is… I want to shove the crabrangoon in my mouth all at the same time. I have class, I wouldn’t do that… in public. Bo Lings is my go-​to Chinese restaurant no matter where I am in the metro area. Yes, I know, there are complaints about it not being authentic, but regardless it is wonderful! All the years I have been going there, whether it was eating in or take-​out, I have never been dissappointed. Only when the crabrangoon is gone. I don’t even know if I am spelling that right…
Anyway, the City Market location is great. They have a modern atmosphere and a wonderful bar if you want something casual. The outdoor seating is lovely for spring and summer dining.
I recommend the Dim Sum on Sundays! Love it and it is reasonably priced and a bit more «authentic» than the general menu. Telling you which dishes I recommend would take forever. I love a lot of them, but if you haven’t tried it before go with something you know. You won’t be dissapointed. Lastly, please for the love of food, don’t forget the crabrangoon, lettuce wraps, or spring rolls!

I’m Chinese and was taken to this place by another Chinese person who had been here before several times. Walking in on a Monday for lunch, my first impression was, «Oh no. We’re F’ed. We are the only yellow people in here.» Ultimately we were pleasantly surprised.
The various dimsum dishes were actually very good. A solid test is that they had chicken feet and it was actually very, very good. The other dishes like the spicy fish soup were also very good.
I suspect there are a lot more yellow people in here on the weekends but on a weekday it’s mostly office workers. The food here is fairly authentic.

3.5 stars.
I’ve always passed by here when I was in the area but never went inside until recently. I ate lunch here with 2 of my coworkers and it was pretty busy around lunch. I ordered the Spicy Curry Chicken ($ 8.50) from the lunch menu while my coworkers both ordered the General Tso’s Chicken ($ 9.00) and we split some potstickers ($ 7.00) which were actually called Pan-​fried dumplings. The items on the lunch menu came with egg-​drop soup (or for 55 cents more you can get another crab rangoon or hot and sour soup), crab rangoon, and choice of white, brown or fried rice.
The egg-​drop soup was good and I finished it in no time. Later, the potstickers came out and they were good as well. My Spicy Curry Chicken was just okay and not really spicy. The curry was very soup-​y and not as thick as it should have been. My coworkers’ General Tso’s Chicken looked pretty good and I think I’ll have to order it the next time I decide to eat here. The service was as fast as it could be on a busy lunch time.
Overall, I thought it was about the right price for the amount of food you get. Next time, I’ll try the General Tso’s Chicken because my coworkers seemed to like it even though they both couldn’t finish it.