Bo Lings Chinese

When I moved from the east coast to KC 4 years ago, I would have never imagined that I would give Bo Lings a good review. I ate lunch at the plaza location my first week in town, and it was such a disappointment. However, I finally tried the weekend dim sum at this location, and I regret not giving them a shot earlier. The quality is actually on par with a lot of places in Boston and even New York. The roast duck and the tripe are especially good. Hopefully I am not feeling this way just because my standards have gone way down.

We always only go here to get dim sum. For the most part their staff usually is really nice. I love that when they don’t have something you want on the carts the managers are always great at asking to see if they can get anything for you.
Their selection of dim sum is great! I would highly recommend trying the fun roll fried and also the honey ribs.

They made it right and issued a refund on half of what I spent on the meal. Thank you!

Currently the best Chinese in the city, and this location is particularly the best. Great food, great atmosphere, and excellent staff. A little bit pricey for Chinese, but when considering bo lings, it’s a steal. Enjoy yourself at this place. Try their egg drop soup, or general Tsaos.

I hosted a large private party, and had a lot of difficulties setting up the event to begin with. Once the party arrived, the restaurant was very disorganized and the management was rude. I had arranged for a set menu and drink options ahead of time, both of which were messed up and disregarded. Only one staff member was helpful, and tried to correct some of the mistakes.
The manager who I had made all of my arrangements with did not come to greet our group to let us know where our reserved tables were, and tried to tell me that I was incorrect about the mistakes that were made– even though I had our email correspondence with me.
I would not recommend having a large event here. They were disorganized, the food was not that great, my pre-​set menu was ignored and we were overcharged.

I don’t know if Bo Lings has gone downhill or it’s just this location, but we just finished eating our takeout, and barely even touched it. The General Tso’s Chicken was terrible — the exterior was mushy, the sauce terrible and the pieces of chicken huge and chewy. The lo mein was alight, but nothing earth shattering, and for a «vegetable» lo mein had very little veggies. We also ordered the spring rolls were which were also extremely underwhelming. For the prices, the food should be much, much better. We both wish we would have gotten cheap delivery or PF Changs…

I’d give this place 5 stars if it weren’t for two things that brought down my experience there: portion sizes and the quality of the boba tea.
The reason why we went here in the first place was because The Cheesecake Factory had an hour and a half long wait and Cinzetti’s had an hour and 45 minute wait. Called ahead and made sure there wasn’t any line here cause I went here with nine other people.
We ordered plates for the group and dishes ranged from $ 7 – 15, if I remember. I was really disappointed about the portion sizes because it wouldn’t even be enough for a regular family size (~4 hungry people). Other than that, the food was quite savory, but sauces for some dishes could’ve been a lot lighter.
I was super psyched to hear that they had boba tea. I’ve had original boba tea from Taiwan before, so maybe my expectations were too high. Inevitably, I was disappointed. I got the taro flavor and it was quite… frothy? I don’t know, something was off about the texture; it tasted like it should’ve been filtered or something. Some of the boba was still hard in the middle. My brother got the strawberry flavor and there were sketch black raisin-​looking things that were presumably dried up boba.
In their defense, it’s an art to cook boba (for those of you who don’t know what that is – it is black colored tapioca balls, about the size of… the balls in the game Hungry Hungry Hippo???)
Overall, the customer service is okay. They just need to learn how to get in the flow of serving big crowds. I want to come back here for boba tea again, just because I feel like they can redeem themselves… maybe. Until then, this place will have 3 stars.

I’ve eaten at many Bo Ling’s around the KC area, but this one is far and away my favorite (I think it’s the original location). Usually I come here when I need to eat my feelings or I’m not physically feeling well. The food here has healing powers, I’m telling you. Usually it’s for lunch since I work nearby. If you go slightly off lunch hour (11 a.m. or 1 p.m.) it’s dark and mostly empty (like my own soul). It’s a great place to curl up in a booth with a bowl of their fantastic hot & sour or egg drop soup and just get away from everything while you guiltily play Candy Crush Soda on your phone rather than check your work email. They also serve the best crunchy noodles I’ve ever had anywhere. Thick, warped, and fried (like my own brain), you can’t eat just one. Or 12. They always cook my food to order when I have requests that stray from standard menu items, and the food is plentiful and fresh.

We love THIS location for dim sum! Have not tried other dishes so I can only rate on the Dim Sum. They have the real push carts but dim sum is only available on weekends.

I came here with my family upon the recommendation of my mom. However, I was pretty disappointed in everything. They had the usual dim sum dishes like xiu mai, dumplings, shrimp balls, shrimp rolls, etc. The one highlight of the meal was a fried roll with a sweet dark sauce on top. I have no clue what it’s called. Everything else was mediocre at best, and I’m only comparing them to other dim sum places in the area. My favorite part of dim sum is the sweet tofu, which is a nice palette cleansing dessert. The sweet tofu here was lukewarm, which was a bit unappetizing for me. The tofu also wasn’t silky smooth, which is the hallmark of any tofu. I would recommend Pine and Bamboo instead or the Bo Ling’s location at the Plaza over this location.

Don’t go with a large group. They have trouble keeping up with the flow of the business.
The fried pineapple rice is delicious. Also try the vegetarian dishes. Oh and the hot tea is a great add on.
Other than being overwhelmed the staff is trying hard to serve

Great restaurant.
All of their locations around the Kansas City area are just as great.
A must go.

This is among the better Chinese food restaurants I’ve been to. I’m vegetarian, so limited myself to steamed veggie dumplings and veggie lo mein. The helpings are generous and the service is speedy. The ambience is nice. Had it not been for the repetitive music I’d have zero complaints.

Let me begin by saying I have gone to this particular Bo Lings for the last 10 years of my life and I personally have experienced the demise in quality, quantity and service of this location.
As you can imagine, Kansas doesn’t have the best selection of Chinese food… but Bo Lings does a good job to satisfy your cravings for semi-​authentic Chinese food. I am not too sure if there has been a change of chefs, ownership or if this restaurant is strapped for cash… but the portions are COMICAL and the service is OFFENSIVE.
I think it is important to preface that my parents had their wedding dinner here at Bo Lings so our entire family has a soft spot eating here. I would say we would tolerate and justify more of their hiccups in service because of this sentimental reason… But this past December, my family went out to celebrate my little brothers birthday here. We entered the restaurant around 7:30pm and the first thing we noticed is that everyone dining in is American (which is a bad sign for a Chinese restaurant … especially at a restaurant where it is typically dominated by non-​asians). I immediately noticed this and that the restaurant was only 40% full but shrugged my shoulders thinking it was just an off Saturday night.
The portions are absolutely tiny and un proportional. For example we ordered the Chicken Pan Fried Noodle and typically the portions are 60% noodles, 40% vegetables, chicken, etc. This dish was 20% noodles, 80% chicken, vegetables, etc. This dish is horribly un proportional and expensive for what it is ($ 20). When the waiter brought the dish over, my mom immediately pointed out this ridiculous portion/​ratio and the waiter said unapologetically replied «this is how its supposed to be” — which isn’t true for a family who always order this dish for the past 10 years. Our other dishes were very small and greasy. For a $ 100+ bill, we felt jipped.
Service was very slow too. Our waters didn’t get fill our waters unless we flagged them down and when they came over, they were not friendly at all. This is unacceptable when the restaurant is no where near capacity on a Saturday night.
We will NEVER return here again. I advise everyone to go elsewhere to Jen Jen’s, ABC Café or Pine Bamboo.
Bo Lings is dead to us. If management is reading this, please know you need to change something because it’s only going to be a matter of time before Kansas’ Asian population fully shifts to your competitors.

This place was recommended to me by my cousin’s friend so I was curious in trying this place in Overland, Kansas. It was disappointing to say the least. From the uncooked dumpling and cold shrimp balls to the slow service. Water was constantly unfilled, but was quick to fill after reminders. They were nice enough to handle the matter quickly, but the food was not good. It could be an «off» day, but it didn’t seem that busy for quality service and food. The side that we were on had mostly empty tables.

This is my 400^th review and I decided to time this one until I had finished a few more so that it would be the 400^th because the experience was that great!
At most Hong Kong-​style dim sum places the items on the cart are of an unknown age and one has to guess at the residual enthalpy. Sometimes you get it right and other times you get cold food. Not here! At this place, everything is piping hot and fresh. I’m not entirely sure how they manage but maybe it has to do with the scarcity of carts combined with the willingness of the servers to go get you whatever you desire — either from a cart or from the kitchen. Boy oh boy was it wonderful.
A couple of quick notes:
The wrappers they use for their steamed dumplings are incredibly fresh and they seem to have their steaming times down to a science as each variety I tried was cooked exactly right. There was also a slight sweetness in their dumpling wrappers.
The steamed pork buns were a good deal better than what you usually get at dim sum places. Why? Probably because they are cooked exactly right. Possibly because their dough is exactly the right balance between chewy and sweet. It could have something to do with the notion that that the amount of pork filling was perfectly proportioned to the size of the bun.
Chang fun? Yep — they have that too but not just the usual suspects. This place also offers a pan-​fried variety which I haven’t found anywhere else.
Add in great service and this is a place I will gladly go anytime I am in the area!

I may lose some credibility for this review, but this little place on the outskirts of KC served some of the best dim sum I’ve had. I almost didn’t believe it myself, and had to think really hard about it and other places I’ve had dim sum before deciding.
The service was great! It was a combination of cart service and to-​order, with excellent teamwork. We could ask anyone for anything and it would appear. Kind of fun.
Speaking of fun, they did a pan-​fried fun roll. It was the fun roll noodle, rolled tightly and crisped up in a pan. Delish! They didn’t have as much variety as some of the bigger places I have eaten, but they had all of my favorites and everything tasted fresher than most places. Which was strange to me, considering that I have eaten dim sum in lots of places that gave off a much more authentic vibe.
I thought it was odd and nice, but the servers explained how they were marking each of the dishes as they were served to us. It allowed us to keep track of our spending, but I didn’t think the prices were out of line for the quality of the food.
In most of my favorite dim sum places, I am one of a handful of non-​Asians. This place had a mix of several ethnicities. Everyone loves dim sum at Bo Lings and you will too if you get the chance to give them a try!

We had a party of about 18? It was a Sunday for dim sum. The environment is hectic and chaotic. Everyone and their moms, kids, and bros are piling in to get in on the dim sum hours.
Nothing was terrible, most things were okay. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that anything was spectacular. Steamed pork buns are some of my fav in big cities, but around here, ABC Café’s is better. Bo Ling’s will make do. Other mentionables: baked pork buns, rice porridge, shu mai.
I’d come back, but I’d need more perusing time.

I went to Bo Ling’s for Dim Sum on a Saturday. Let me just say first off that my previous experiences with Dim Sum have been at restaurants in Chinatown in Oakland, CA where if you show up more than 5 minutes after they open, you’ll have to wait an hour or so to be seated (they fill up immediately), the servers shouted the names of the dishes but would not explain any, and my table was usually one of maybe 3 non-​Chinese people in a room filled with dozens and dozens of tables.
I knew this experience would be different and probably less «authentic» (assuming my Oakland experiences were in fact authentic) and it was quite different, but I very much enjoyed myself!
When we were first seated, we were sort of ambushed by 4 or 5 carts back to back to back. I would have preferred a slower service, one where we could get 2 or 3 dishes at a time, then get more depending on how hungry we were instead of ordering 8 right off the bat. After the initial ambush, it was hard to get the servers to come back! They came around with desserts but we had to ask for the savory carts to come back.
But beyond those problems, I had a lot of fun! I think my favorite was the shrimp toast (off the fried cart). It was very heavy but so delicious! I also really enjoyed the seaweed salad, the shrimp in rice paper dumplings and the little custard pies. I was a little worried about not knowing what I was ordering (when I’d gone previously, I’d always been with a Dim Sum veteran) but the servers were happy to explain and the hostess (or owner?) came around to check on us and was very friendly.
It’s worth looking at the cost of items before you go so you have an idea of what you’tre getting into. (Their menu is online.) We spent about $ 50 (pre tip) for two people (around 10 dishes in total, I think, and just water to drink) which maybe seemed steep, but we were FULL at the end. We could have easily skipped our last 2 dishes, but we were there to have fun, so we went for it.
I’ll definitely be back!

Regarding the dim sum, I’m going to give them at least three stars for two things, 1. the food was unique, 2. No Buffet.
Otherwise the place was really overpriced for small portions of food. I blew past $ 50 in no time and was still hungry. It seems like a good deal until you see the dim sum portions. Confusing items, confusing prices, at times they seemed confused or a little reluctant to clarify because they knew the less they explained the more likely we were to just say «ok, we’ll take it» to get them to move along. So service was average at best. Rest rooms sucked.