Marco Polo Garden

Looking at the outside décor, I was really afraid to try this place when I first moved to town, but everyone assured me they were top notch
Never judge a book by its cover! I have never had fresher veggie stir fry from a Chinese takeout than at Marco Polo. The apps are delicious, and not all the same tan color you would expect. Good, flavorful food!

I thought the food overall was good. Chicken and vegetables seemed fresh and served hot. Sauce was a perfect mix of spices and taste.
However, the service was not great. I was the only one in the restaurant around 4pm, and couldn’t even get my server over to the table to get a refill on my water.

This place makes fantastic Chinese food! This place is keeps it clean and they serve very good Chinese chicken, lo-​mein, egg rolls, chicken wings, fried rice, pretty much everything. The service was not bad and I go there pretty much mostly when I’m in a mood for Chinese.

The food is OK here, but the customer service is not. Back in March we called asking if we could reserve a space for our rehearsal dinner in september– we were told, yes it’s free, but we don’t accept reservations this far in advance, give us a call in july to book. July comes, we call– oh, it’s not free. Come to find out, when we called in march it had already been reserved in feb (even though they said they dont take reservations that far in advance???). Leaving us two months to scramble and find another place when we were trying to get ahead of the game. Did they apologize? nope. We kept being told we had to call back to speak to the manager, yet everytime we called back when they’d say magically the manager still wasn’t there. Mistakes happen, but not making it right or at least apologizing is not acceptable… and avoiding rightfully disgruntled customers is REALLY not okay.

Plenty of tasty food, nice patrons.

Love the service. Locally owned. Owners are great. Good serving sizes. Always have some to bring home. Good prices.

Really good General Tsos Chicken.

Very disappointed. Arrived for a late lunch to a frigid 50 degree dining room with no other customers around. The lunch took over 25 minutes to arrive, and the ribs, and dishes were average at best. Another thing I was not pleased with was paying $ 2.50 for a soda, and no free refills… With salty, genuine flavor deprived food soft drinks seem like they should not be at a huge premium.
Next time I would stick with Cherry Garden (EXCELLENT) or King Garden which has my favorite chinese food in the area but not accommodations.

Service is lousy and the food is nothing special. Had too many bad experiences there, will not go back there again.

I would swear I’ve been to a dozen Marco Polos in my life. It looks just like every Chinese restaurant from my childhood, and doesn’t taste much different either. That’s not a bad thing, if you’re looking for comfortable, cheap eats.
Feeling nostalgic, the mister and I ordered the pu pu platter, one of my favorites as a kid… this one has BBQ pork, sukiyaki, chicken wings, fried chicken pieces, fried shrimp, shrimp toast, and crab rangoon. Yeah, it was heavy, but the chicken wings were the absolute best restaurant wings we’ve had in years, with a light cornstarch coating to crisp it up, instead of any breading. The hamkey enjoyed the shrimp toast and chicken pieces and sukiyaki, though I was surprised she didn’t like the BBQ pork since it was way too sweet for anyone else. I really enjoyed the crab rangoon, but it’s one of those things that pregnancy seems to enhance, strangely enough!
We also got a couple combos, but the pork fried rice served with both was not very fresh or good, and the entrees were meh to the point that I can’t even remember what we ordered.
So why four stars? Well, as I said, it was comfortable and inexpensive and nostalgic, and the chicken wings were excellent. Also… the mister ordered a mei tai and HOLY ALCOHOL. Somebody at the next table ordered a zombie, and it was served in a very full pint glass and she sure sounded like she was having an *awesome* time.
Cheap booze, cheap food, cheesy décor, good times!

If you’re into Americanized «Chinese» food in the Keene area, you could do worse than Marco Polo, which is located on Route 101 near Keene’s downtown.
I’ve come here quite a few times through the years, but most recently, I came with a group of family friends. Even though it was dinnertime on a Saturday, all six of us were seated immediately. There were several other large groups of people, probably because Keene State’s graduation was the day before.
Anyhow, the menu offers what you’d expect to find at such a restaurant. The dinner combinations were popular with the other people in my group. The combos were reasonably priced and included a variety of choices, like General Tso’s chicken, beef teriyaki, etc., but no vegetarian or pescetarian choices. I opted for the sweet and sour shrimp dish, which was $ 10.95 and included a side of white rice. No complaints about the rice, but the shrimp was a little doughy inside, and there was more breading than shrimp. It wasn’t greasy, though, and it came with sliced carrots and green peppers. The portion was large enough that I had plenty for dinner and a nice-​sized lunch the next day.
The menu has a variety of fun drinks, and they are cheap! Most of them are only $ 4.95. The Mai Tai I ordered was tasty, but I didn’t think it was particularly strong.
The service at this restaurant is friendly, but it’s not especially efficient or fast. The interior is clean and the lighting is dim. The Christmas lights and garland that were still hanging up kind of give the place a tacky vibe, though.
Marco Polo is OK as long as you don’t go with high expectations.

Marco!
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Marco!
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Marco Polo is a very popular swimming pool game that I played a long time ago. Had lots of fun beating the summer heat!
This Marco Polo (Garden) in Keene is an old school Chinese restaurant and lounge serving Szechuan, Hunan, and Cantonese cuisine. They offer 30 Lunch Specials served Mon-​Sat before 3PM ($ 5.25-$ 6.95) and 20 Dinner Combination platters ($ 8.25-$ 9.95) and they give you a lot of food. See the menu at
Whenever I’m working in the area or passing through Keene, Marco Polo Garden is very reliable for Chinese takeout. I’ve called in orders for Lunch on the road and the food is hot and ready to pickup when I arrive 10 – 15 minutes later, plastic utensils, sauces, and fortune cookie provided in the bag.
The Lunch Special #3 ($ 5.75 with tax) is my favorite carbo loading meal, which is a pile of roast pork or chicken lo mein, pork fried rice, and an egg roll. The lo mein has a good mix of vegetables (carrot, onion, sprouts, celery, sauces, and meat) tossed with firm noodles just right. The pork fried rice (tan) has tender roast pork cubes (a few fat pieces), onion, and egg. The crispy egg roll has a thick wrapper with a modest amount of shredded cabbage and ground pork. The food does have some MSG, so I make sure I drink a lot of coffee to stay awake.