Anise - Modern Chinese Cuisine

I thought I hated Chinese food, until I tried Anise. I went here a couple of weeks ago with a friend, who suggested we grab Chinese. Begrudgingly I went along, assuming we'd walk out with some wire-handled carry-out boxes filled with chicken fingers and friend rice. Instead, what we got, was pretty much a killer meal. Pros: The ""traditional"" beef dish Cons: The music more

I am Chinese and have lived in the U.S. for 10 years. My boyfriend is caucasian. We just moved to a house a block away from Anise. more

Although the proudly displayed review plaques on the door boast a delicious, innovative, and unique take on Sichuanese cuisine, Anise is a major disappointment. The atmosphere is complacently comfortable, but oppresively boring. The food is just awful - bland, flavorless, completely unimaginative, prepared carelessly and indelicately. Chicken & Broccoli - slimy boiled chicken in salty broth, accompanied by overcooked broccoli. Beef with Chili Powder - slimy, chewy sauteed beef drenched in oil and some dull, slighly bitter mystery sauce, topped with a generous tablespoon of undissolved chili powder. Despite being friendly, the waitsaff seems rather unconcerned about the quality of your meal or your dining experience. The menu is extremely overpriced: two glasses of stale wine, an appetizer of generic springrolls, and two entrees summed to $60, including tip. more

I went with a friend on a Saturday night in February after reading a rave review in the Boston Globe magazine's ""94 New Reasons to Love This Town"" edition (1/28/07). Clearly, either the reviewer was spotted as a restaurant critic and served off a different menu, or he knows nothing about authentic Sichuanese cuisine. The pork bellies (hui guo ruo) and wontons the review specifically mentioned were just plain terrible. The former, which is a classic Sichuanese dish that is delectable when properly prepared, was rubbery, over-cooked, indifferently spiced, and quite honestly worse than the same dish I've had at mall food courts. It wasn't even warm when it arrived at the table. The wontons were OK -- but only marginally better than what you could make at home using frozen wontons from Super 88. They had also been soaking in the black vinegar-based sauce so long that the machine-made skins were completely soaked through with vinegar. We also ordered a scallop dish, which took some quite magnificent scallops, deep-fried them in a soggy batter, then drowned them in a strange, sweet-spicy sauce that reminded me of pre-bottled sauces used in Chinese corner takeout. Pros: Friendly waitstaff Cons: Uninspired, inauthentic, poorly prepared, overpriced food more