Tiki House

As soon as you walk it to the Tiki House you get that feeling that is an old school restaurant that hasn’t been updated since the 80’s (This is a good thing) My concerns began as soon as I noticed the cook was also the cashier. I always wondered how many time they wash their hands after touching money, credit cards and shaking hand with customers. When I tell the chef/​cook/​cashier I’m there to pick up an order he goes to the open container that appears to be sitting open for some time. Needless to say I get my food and get out of there. The egg roll was as chewy as a piece of bubble game with just the taste of having freezer burn. The fried rice was just rice with nothing else in it INCLUDING NO TASTE. The lobster sauce was sitting out so long it had developed a thick film on top. This was so gross and salty it went right into the trash bin at the Burger King less than 1 mile up the road. If I was in the area again I would speed pass this place and find another spot to eat. Just thinking about the chef handling money and cooking the food makes me wonder how clean everything else is.

It was late at night and I was having the hungry horrors so I decided to look for a restaurant that I went to years ago on Moody Street. I drove around until I recognize the restaurant and went in and ordered some vegetables subgum chow mein with chicken and boneless spareribs. It’s mainly a takeout restaurant and they’re only three tables there. I must say I really enjoyed the food. Vegetables were crispy, the sauce was tasty and minimally salted and the chicken was crispy and the spare ribs really tasty. I met the owner and he was very friendly and he told me that he doesn’t advertise but he puts all his money into the sauces and fresh vegetables. He told me he’s been in business for over 30 years in that restaurant. I look forward to going there again.

I called on New Years Eve at 5:00 pm thinking I would call early for faster service. I told them I understand they are busy but asked for a estimated delivery time,… they said 30 to 40 minutes. I waited a little over a hour and called them,… they said it was on its way,… I said how can you say that when I didn’t tell you my address,… he asked and I told him,…immediately said on it’s way. A hour later still no delivery,… I am 5 minutes from the Tiki House. I told him I was not paying for cold food… he said to late I already charged your credit card and did NOT offer to refund any or all of my money. When the order finally arrived we sat down to eat,… it was cold so we had to heat it up just so we can eat,… most of the food was so undercooked we could not eat it,… what was not undercooked was over cooked… my son ate the shrimp he ordered and got sick and spent most of the night and all the next day being sick and unable to work. Then on top of it the are now packing the food in smaller packages to make you think your getting a lot but in the long run you are getting less. TIKI HOUSE is disgusting and should be shut down for serving bad food and not refunding people when they request one.

It was awful! The service was not great, but it was the best thing about eating there. The veggie lo mein and veggie fried rice were almost completely devoid of vegetables. The spring rolls tasted as if the vegetables had been sitting in the fridge for a week.

Filthy place and got a gun pulled on me by the owner when i told him the place was unsanitary. they also dont have any heat in the place.

I have been getting food from Tiki House my whole life, and have never had a bad experience. The food is delicious, prices are very reasonable (especially if there is a Tiki Platter you can agree on to share) and the hours are awesome. Chinese food till 3AM? Can’t go wrong there!

Excellent food! Excellent service! Excellent décor! The Taj Mahal of Chinese food.
The crab rangoon was heaven. It melted on my tongue. I have never been so in love with food.
The new manager has really done something with this place! Wendy is artistic and charismatic, and we had a great conversation.
I couldn’t tell the difference between this food and the food I had in Peking.
It tasted very healthy. As I ate it, I could feel my cholesterol dropping. I asked the waiter if there was any MSG in it, and I am pretty sure he said no.
What a great find! It’s not in the center of town, but with the quality of food here, I expect to see it becoming much more popular, so I would come quick!

not sure how to write this review.
during a late night dinner, ordered 3 things: beef stir fried rice noodles, bbq pork fried rice and crab rangoon.
rice noodles were tasty but super greasy. Fried rice was tasteless. Crab rangoon was awful — not authentic chinese food at all.
only good if you are hungry and have no where else to go…

Made the unfortunate mistake of ordering from here on New Years Eve. I placed the order 6 hours in advance and it still wasnt ready when I went to pick it up.
The food was miserable. We got crab rangoons, which were so overcooked and dry that it was like eating cornflakes (no real filling whatsoever to them). The beef terryaki was burnt beyond recgnition and was more like beef jerky. The chicken fingers were awkwardly breaded and tasted bland. The boneless spareribs were halfway decent, but slightly burnt. They mixed the white rice with a bit of pork fried rice so that was just dreadful to look at and eat. The scallion pancakes were floppy and soggy and tasted like they were still frozen.
I will never be ordering from here again, the whole establishment looked unclean and disease ridden. The only funny part of the whole experience was being hit on by a guy who dresses up as santa for christmas parties! LOL

This place is legendary. I give it 5 stars based on the category, «Chinese takeout.» You’re an idiot if you only rate places like Morton’s with 5 stars. It’s all relative. I went to college in the area and as many others have noted, this place is a staple for late night Chinese food. I don’t remember ever having a bad experience here. The people taking the orders /​cashing out out are always friendly and will have fun with you if you’re drunk and happy. Also, this place arguably makes the best crab rangoon in the world. Yes, the world, not just Waltham, not just Massachusetts, not just the USA, the WORLD.
I’ve had so many good experiences here that I don’t even live in the area anymore but when I’m passing through, I’ll sometimes stop for my Tiki House Fix. Let it be noted that I’ve only ordered pu pu platter type items (crab rangoon, chicken fingers, boneless spare ribs, egg rolls, teriyaki beef, etc) and pork fried rice, but all of those items have always been prepared to perfection.
Again, for a chinese takeout place, I don’t care if the place is too dirty, outdated with stale air to not give an optimum dine-​in experience. This place is a takeout gem and anyone that hasn’t tried it should not let anyone scare you away. Order the rangoons! You won’t be disappointed!

I was almost okay with the fact that this place produced sub-​par Chinese into the wee hours of the morning, especially during those self-​deprecating moments when the only thing I can focus on is crab rangoon and pork lo mein doused in soy sauce.
Then one day during a saunter on Moody Street I peered through their wide windows (which give you a clearer view to the kitchen than a flippin’ Krispy Kreme doughnut shop) and saw everything just hanging out.
Is it gonna stop me from ordering in the future? Probably not, but in this case ignorance is bliss, and I wish they would black out those windows.

I got a question. Is the person who takes orders a man/​woman?

At Tiki House I get exactly what I would expect to get from a place as run down and somewhat questionable as this — greasy, americanized, MSG goo. And I love it.
When I get Chinese takeout I expect and want greasy, bad-​for-​you, MSG filled food. If I wanted something healthy — I would not get Chinese takeout. So for me, I do not have an issue with their quality since I have exceedingly low expectations. However, the few times I have been inside it makes me want to take a shower. Immediately. It’s unfortunate because a lot of the repairs that need to be made wouldn’t take too much time or effort/​money if they just set aside time to do it.

I don’t know what Margaret (a prior reviewer with stellar marks) was talking about, its the same management and the same staff.
Food is okay, their house special rice noodle (chow foon) is the only thing on their menu worth eating. I still get some of the other things, but for crappy late night Chinese in this side of town, there are only two choices, tiki house or dragon chef. I go to whichever has parking in front. Tonight dragon was crammed with cars, so I kept driving here.
It’s amazing when the Chinese workers speak fluent Spanish. Wowza! It’s like little Mexico here. Let’s fiesta now, cause once we eat we will be in a msg coma.
A drunk guy got out of his car and stumbled in here. He ordered three things off the menu and proceeded to pay with his credit card. I witnessed this. He went back to his car and emerged ten minutes later to continue to wait for his food. His food came out and they tried to charge him again. I stood up for him, don’t know what the outcome was, but, tiki you lost a star for shady tactics. You had two without this incident. Regardless of my negative post, this place will stay in business, sadly.

Atmosphere: Not sure, I got it delivered
What to Eat: Nothing, it’s all disgust
What to Expect: Just avoid it all together, it is plain awful

Since I was very young I have been in love with chinese food. I have always taken pride in finding and sharing, with friends and family, my favorite chinese food restaurant around the globe. I loved to go over seas, or into a new state, and find a good (prefer a great) place for chinese. Never in my life have I had such terrible food from any restaurant let alone a chinese restaurant.
First: they messed up my order, and tried to blame the whole thing on me. Because I don’t know that I can’t eat fried food so I ordered fried food.
Second: The food my friend ordered was so bad, he took one bite and couldn’t stomach the rest. Was happier to go hungry tonight than to eat the stuff they try to pass as food.
Third: they actually charged for this stuff they delivered and tried to call it food.
My recommendation: DO NOT EAT HERE!!!

Get drunk, get crab rangoon from Tiki House, and it is the best thing in the entire universe.
Try it sober — hate yourself.

Really? No. They weren’t serious, were they?
Ordered delivery, got pepper steak & rice. Opened the container, there was the biggest mound of rice ever, completely covering the box. I thought the entrée was maybe in a separate container. Nope. The FEW pieces of meat, MORE pieces of pepper, and SLOSH of gravy were hiding under the rice.
Ugh.
I was sober. It was lunchtime.

So I came here late night and sober for some take out. I got some. It was delicious.
Soooo no complaints! Just good late night food.

I love coming here after a late night at the Skellig, sitting at the booth waiting for my food-​to-​go and drunkenly laughing at the other restaurant patrons… Who are usually absolute characters who could probably do me some serious bodily harm if they knew I was laughing at them.
Food is decent, and you can’t beat the fact that if you’re craving fried rice and general gau’s at 2AM… they’ll deliver!