Hen Chicken Rice

My friend and I came around 2pm on a Friday. Other than one other table, we were the only ones there. After ordering at the counter, we got our food really quickly (all in takeout containers / disposable at the end).We both ordered the "The Mix" combo, which comes with both the traditional boiled chicken and the crispy chicken. To save you the effort of trying both, the crispy one is definitely better. The boiled chicken has a certain natural flavour to it, but even with the given sauce it is still rather bland and rather chewy in my experience. The crispy chicken was very yummy - crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.Also, the ginger rice is very fragrant and pairs well with the chicken, and the meal came with a bowl of the daikon soup which I loved! I was a bit peeved that the boneless chicken included quite a few pieces of bone. A few is understandable, but 6 out of 8 pieces included nontrivial bones.(Not a significant part but the Thai iced tea was good too.)We ended with the "The Mango" mango sticky rice, which was a bit of a miss for us. The first impression - seeing rainbow-coloured sprinkles - definitely set a weird tone, and unfortunately the rest of the dresser didn't really salvage that impression. The mango was mediocre - not very fresh, and many pieces looked dark or bruised. I understand mangos may be difficult to procure freshly / in season, but I feel like if that is the primary feature of the dish, then we should be able to expect more. The rice part was also decent at best - rather bland and sticky to the point of sogginess.Overall, the main entree parts were very yummy, and I would definitely come back for that again (although maybe just the crispy chicken next time). The dessert was disappointing, although I wonder if that is a specific thing with the mango (they have a fried milk dessert - which I love - and seems very promising!).

I ordered takeout from Hen Chicken Rice. I got "The Original" and Thai Iced Tea. To be honest, I don't think I'd bother ordering that again, since the chicken was pretty bland. However, I think that's just the nature of the dish, not the restaurant's fault. Maybe the crispy chicken would have been the way to go. The ginger rice was decent, but not something I'd go out of my way for.No issues in terms of service, since I just took my food to go. The restaurant was modern and had a decent amount of seating, but it was certainly a casual spot. I think there are better spots in the area, especially given that the menu is pretty limited.

I just like this comfort street food. It's a simple dish and I tend to crave for it occasionally. That being said, this new location is a below those of the competitors -- as well as below its other location in Sommerville.Hence, the 4 stars. Being said, worth trying if you want to have the comfort food, but it's not the best store to get such -- other than the location maybe.

You'd think that for a restaurant that specializes in one type of cuisine (in this case being chicken and rice), they would perfect every aspect of it. However, I found myself rather disappointed by what I had received. The food wasn't anything mind-blowing. I ordered the chicken and rice original, and that's what I got: chicken and rice.Again, you'd think that for a restaurant where their one protein is only chicken, they would cook it to perfection. However, I definitely wouldn't call my chicken tender or juicy, which is ironic since it's cooked by boiling. I've seen real Hainanese chicken that have just been dripping in juice, but this was not the case.As for the "ginger" rice, I couldn't really say I tasted much ginger. I just tasted like basic white rice.The only redeeming factor I could give to this restaurant was the sauce. It nicely wrapped everything together and gave flavor to what would have been a relatively bland dish.

I really enjoy Hen in Somerville, so I was thrilled to find one in Boston. Sadly, this location is nowhere near as good in terms of quality. I went during the weekday lunch hour and Hen was surprisingly empty. The restaurant is poorly lit and the signage isn't very eye catching, which may be why there's limited foot traffic. At 12:30pm, they already ran out of their signature chicken plate. My friend and I ordered 2 and 5 instead, the crispy chicken plates, and waited for nearly 20 minutes for our order to be prepared. During this time, there were 3 other customers waiting (2 arrived before me). The kitchen was staffed by one woman, and the cashier also went back to help. I don't mind waiting for freshly prepared meals but I saw one of the women microwave a container of the garlic ginger rice, so it clearly was not fresh made. With that in mind, I'm not sure why it took that long to fry two pieces of crispy chicken and plate it. The food itself was just ok. The chicken had a nice crisp to it, but nothing special. The rice was very wet and didn't have much chicken or garlic flavor. The chicken soup was nothing special. Overall, I would not get Hen again.

I always wanted to try Hen Chicken in Somerville but too far... finally get to try it since this location is close to my workplace. Simple menu, rice and chicken but the food was bland. I got the Islam and the mixed which the chicken was juicy and bland. The mango on sticky rice, the coconut flavor was good but the mango was way too raw. Waste money, good thing I ordered it through chowbus that they offered 50% off.

I went during dinner time 5:00 and it was empty! The place was very clean! Staff were friendly. I liked their food especially the crispy chicken. Definitely should check this place out.

The food is ok. I've had food from their place in Somerville and also had delivery that apparently came from their Boston location, which seems to be there primarily for the purpose of serving delivery orders. I ordered the crispy and the original. Each comes with their daikon soup, three slivers of cucumber, and one sauce. The sauce that comes with the crispy is different than the one that comes with the original.First, the chicken: you don't get very much. "The Original" is very bland, which, as I remember, is pretty consistent with this style when I lived in Taiwan and spent time in Thailand. "The Crispy" has a bit more texture, flavor, and body... because it's coated and fried.The rice: you get a lot. It has a nice, mild ginger flavor. No complaints. Possibly the best part of what they provide.The soup: it's an ~8 ounce (?) serving of chicken stock with a small piece of daikon in it. Not too terrible, but not rich or full of body and flavor. Probably from a box or other container, but not too terrible. The cucumbers: you get three slices and they're warm by the time the meal arrives if you ordered for delivery. That's more of an issue with ordering delivery than anything else.The sauces: this is where the whole thing goes wrong. They are just beyond mediocre. In my opinion, khao mun gai or hainanese chicken (or whatever regional name it has) is the best when it has a good sauce. The sauces that came with these two dishes -- a sweet-sour-spicy for the crispy and a more traditional bean-based sauce for the original -- tasted like something that came out of a bottle.It's priced at $12-$13 a meal. For a version of this meal that is this mediocre, I won't be ordering from this place again.

Love that it's conveniently located in the financial district. Chicken and rice is so good and a simple dish for takeout or eat in. Thai ice tea is nice and spicy fried wings!

Nice food and delicious meal. Definitely a restaurant worth visiting. I usually order takeout on Uber eats.