Joyful Garden Watertown

You want your dum sum with the carts but without the craziness of Chinatown and easy parking? This is the spot! Get there early because the wait time can be long. The food is delicious as you would expect for dim sum and comes out piping hot. We always get our regulars of shu mai, hai gow, rice noodles, chicken feet, spare ribs and turnip cake. You can't forget about the bakery cart that comes around with dim sum sized Dan tats :)

Long overdue. Way overdue, this shoutout for something this special.My second most frequented restaurant of all time. Not for long because the other one is back in California and no longer immediately accessible. They are both alike in many ways...3.5 stars on Yelp, service unpredictable, but the food always consistent and stellar. However, this place is aptly named...because I always find joy whenever I dine here.Long story short, once you hit a certain age, you begin craving certain memories to come back. Luckily, it is much easier with food. Those in the industry who dish it out consistently despite the absolute brutal busy days are what make everything memorable. Those who peddle the food in the dim sum carts who eventually remember you and verbally tell you how glad they are to see you well and back. The particular servers that you connect with eventually that treat you with specialty that rivals high end restaurants (P.S. I'm saying that about a Chinese place and service...). Here, I've found that and it's irreplaceable. It's quite an achievement when you're remembered by several servers at an extremely busy restaurant that caters to just about everyone that they'd take a bee-line just to shake your hand and say hello (despite their allocated section at the other end of the large space). It really is amazing when they actually veto your order choice because another combination would be even better due to dishes coming together in pure harmony. It really is special and I have found it here on top of all the other places I frequent.And that's why in the short time here in Massachusetts, this spot has quickly become my number two most frequented spot of all time (and soon to be #1). They don't play. They just work and dish it the way it's supposed to be. I respect that. I love it. It really brings me much joy.Aptly named.It is truly a Joyful Garden. A plethora of absolute culinary delight.

We went today again, we often frequent this restaurant as it was always good. Recently we have seen a decline in quality. Today the restaurant was full again and we went around 11 AM. They only had 1 cart going and everything we got seemed o really old, like it was leftovers from yesterday. It was all really over cooked, the hargow, and shumai were steamed so much the skin had dissolved.Also, and this is not the first time we have seen it but when visiting the men's restroom, someone had gotten sick in the sink.The reason Im writing this review though is both my partner and I are now incredibly sick after eating at Joyful garden.This place was once amazing and I recommend a lot of people there but after this visit, I caution everyone and I hope the management takes this seriously and takes proper steps to ensure their guests don't get sick!

What a great surprise this Cantonese Chinese restaurant is absolutely a keeper. Visited with my wife and the restaurant was full of local Chinese. The Seafood fried noodle dish is cooked to perfection. Their lobster is also amazing. They also have great dim sum over the weekend. The service is efficient and professional. Henry is a great host and welcoming gentleman. The ambiance is busy and buzzing with one of the very large buffet style Chinese I have had a chance to visit. Go there enjoy you will not regret it!!!

Recommended by my husband's coworker, it was nice to experience a new dimsum place outside of Chinatown. Most places you have to wait outside but the beauty of it being in a mall gives you shelter from the cold or rain or heat outside. You can go explore the mall in the meantime while you wait because they give you a buzzer for when your table is ready - but set a timer to head back incase the buzzer is too far out of receptor.Not that I've been to many restaurants for dim sum but I love when I experience a new place and what their special item(s) is that'll bring me back which is the fried eggplant and shrimp dish for me. We got it to try, loved it and ordered more. The food overall was good the staff was friendly.

Here's a breakdown of Joyful Garden. Would I go again? Yes. PROS:(+) You don't have to drive into Chinatown and scrounge for street/garage parking to enjoy some weekend dim sum. Plentiful parking and it's in a mall between Best Buy and Target for post-meal shopping. (+) Our group of seven walked in at around 11:30 on a Saturday and didn't have to wait (unheard of for dim sum places in Chinatown or Quincy). By the time we finished about an hour later, there was a long line outside the restaurant. So come early. (+) The food in the carts was fresh and tasty (with one exception below). My favorites were the shrimp har gow, sesame balls, and egg tarts. We stuck to the dim sum off the carts but there's also a bigger food menu you can order from. (+) Clean and spacious banquet-style dining area. CONS:(-) The service was typical of a Chinese restaurant. If you can speak Mandarin or Cantonese, it makes things a bit easier. (-) The spare ribs, which is usually one of my favorite dishes at dim sum, was not good - a ton of gristle, super oily. (-) The variety in dim sum seemed relatively limited - I didn't see tripe or chicken feet or egg custard buns but it's possible they were there, you just have to ask.

Just an update, this place is always amazing, and we go there every time we are in MA. We got their fish with broccoli and a beef chow fun. Everything was delicious. It was very nice that we got complimentary red bean soup for dessert. We will be back.

Recently returned for a weekend dim sum experience, and I'm reminded that why I'm not a huge fan of weekend dim sum here (or anywhere really).1. It's very crowded. We were in a group of 10, so we didn't have to share tables with others. But we did have to wait for about 20 minutes to be seated when we arrived at 10:30 AM.2. The roller carts staff mostly speak Cantonese, with very limited English. There was one or two "head" servers who speak good English. There is no picture menu, so your guess is as good as mine when the staff bring over dishes that I don't normally order and ask if you want them.3. Some servers are rude, but that's just the way it is. Each time I'm here, I'm reminded how chaotic this place can be (though not unique to Joyful Garden), and everyone runs around doing everything. They get so busy.I remember coming here before, and had to be seated with others in a shared table. If you speak Cantonese or are very familiar with dim sum in general, then you will be fine here. I don't recommend this place if you have never had dim sum before, since it can be so overwhelming.The indoor air quality during crowded lunch was okay, around 1100 ppm. It's surprisingly "acceptable" given how crowded it gets. 4 stars for the weekend dim sum lunch.5 stars (previous review) stays for weekday dinner experience.

It has been a while since I came and had Dim-Sum here. Being that I had to get my License Renewed at the RMV, and Joyful is right next to the RMV, chose to come and get my Dim-Sum on.I was not disappointed. Unlike coming on the weekends, where this place is elbow to elbow with people, Monday is nice a quite, where I didn't have to wait for table and still got all the selections I would get on the weekend. Additionally, Parking is amazing on Monday mornings here.The Food was delicious and piping hot ( I can't count how many times I burnt the roof of my mouth.) Beyond Dim-Sum, there are lunch options and American Chinese options, such as General Taos Chicken, Teriyaki Beef, and many other lunch combo options. The place has been well kept and clean. The Carpets look like it is washed and shampooed regularly and the chairs are wiped down and cleaned after each guest. Definitely a better option to go when Quincy it too far away and Chinatown is too busy and too hard to find parking.

Come here for dim sum and you won't be disappointed. Came as a group of twelve on a Sunday, and as soon as we sat down, we were hounded by waiters with food. It helps to have a Chinese speaker in your group, but it's not impossible without one.For the more popular dishes like Shrimp Chang-Fen, there was a bit of a wait, but not too long. Everything was delicious, but I had been craving the XiMiLu (sago dessert), which really hit the spot.