Dinner for Two

His

I could say that Marco Polo Garden had the best food I had ever eaten, but that’s just because I was very hungry at the time. Some nasty scheduling conflicts left Harmony and I with a very quick lunch, and no dinner until 8:00 p.m.

So that terrific food was actually just average Chinese food that you can get at any average Chinese restaurant anywhere. You know the kind, Typhoon Asia has it, and so does almost every other place in the area where meals cost less than $12 each. Now, that food may not be nice or fancy, but it is good; and you know the type of good I’m talking about: the unhealthy kind. I tried ordering something besides chicken fingers, beef-on-a-stick, boneless ribs, and rice, and frankly I regretted that when my Schezuan beef came out with Harmony’s meal of everything I just listed off. It wasn’t that my meal was bad, I just knew that all the other stuff would have been much better. It’s also worth mentioning that they have a huge selection of cocktails, and some pretty great prices on beer.

I don’t know if I can accurately judge the service, because like I said, we didn’t get there until 8:00. The place was quite literally deserted, with just Harmony and I alone in the dining area. To be honest I’ve had better service in a packed restaurant, but maybe Marco Polo is more attentive when there are other tables full.

Like I mentioned before, almost all of the meals were less than $12 for a pretty huge amount of food. This is pretty much standard for your average Chinese restaurant, so there isn’t anything really special about it. Like every other average Chinese restaurant, there are no free refills on any drinks, so that’s kind of terrible; however, like I said before, they had decent prices for beer. There’s not much to say besides that.

Now the date appeal of the place is the reason to drive half an hour to get perfectly average Chinese food. Sure there are a lot of closer places, in particular Typhoon Asia, that serve the same basic food. However, few of them have a dining area like Marco Polo. That is, few of them have a dining area that can hold more than a dozen people. In particular, Typhoon Asia will have you seated practically in a living room if you choose to dine in. Marco Polo isn’t exactly the nicest joint in the area (for Chinese food that would be either Cherry Garden or Lee & Mt. Fuji) but they at least have a real full-sized dining area.

In conclusion, Marco Polo isn’t going to ever impress your date, but it does make for a nice quick meal; and it will feel more like a date than some other places around.

Jay’s Ratings
Food: A-
Service: B+
Price: A-
Date Appeal: C-


Jay and I were in the mood for Chinese food, and I wanted to have a sit-down date instead of just picking up something and eating it in our rooms.  Marco Polo is a bit on its own on the outskirts of Keene, and it always intrigued me because of the name, which is named after the explorer Marco Polo who brought back a lot of Chinese culture. Another thing that I find amusing is that it has my name in a Mandarin character on the side of the building.

Jay and I got there rather late, and we were the only ones in the restaurant. We were promptly given a large squeeze bottle of what we assumed was sweet and sour sauce, and asked for our drinks. Although we didn’t order anything alcoholic, it is worth mentioning that the large variety of cocktails were priced between $4.50 and $6.50. My water and Jay’s Coke were even less expensive.

I was really hungry, and I had a craving for pork fried rice and boneless spare ribs, and I also convinced Jay to share an order of steamed dumplings. I ended up ordering a dinner combination D16, which was pork fried rice, chicken fingers, beef teriyaki, and my boneless spare ribs. Jay ordered the Schezuen Beef combination, which had the fried rice and an egg roll.

The dumplings were amazing to a hungry stomach, and I’m pleased to note that the dumpling sauce had a nice balance of ginger so that you could sort of taste it without overpowering the dumpling. There were six dumplings, which made it easy to share between the two of us. Since Marco Polo doesn’t serve any sort of accompaniment you don’t pay for, like rolls or crunchy noodles, we feasted on the dumplings. My actual dinner was great too. I do feel a bit ashamed ordering standard Chinese restaurant fare, but sometimes you need to have what you crave. I’m glad I ordered it, though. The beef teriyaki, which Jay affectionately calls beef-on-a-stick, was well seasoned and cooked perfectly. The chicken fingers weren’t greasy, which was surprising, since I normally can’t handle too many of them because they feel too heavy. But they were light and tasty. The boneless spareribs were amazing. I only started liking boneless spareribs after having the ones at Typhoon Asia, and most others cannot compare.  But somehow, Marco Polo managed it. They were sweet and savory and very tender. Jay did not seem so enthused with his meal, which was picked of all meat and the inner carcass of an egg roll. Jay’s avoidance of vegetables made it almost appear that he didn’t eat anything, but he ate most of the mound of rice and the crispy outside of his egg roll.

It took a while for us to be noticed when we first walked in, perhaps because we arrived at such a late hour. The server appeared whenever we needed him, but he didn’t tell us that a refill on the Coke costs something. They also took some time getting us our food, which I took to mean that our meals were cooked to order. Since we were the only ones in the dining area, it wasn’t like the server had to worry about anyone else. Because of that, it is hard to really judge the service.

The dinner combinations were around $10, which is a pretty good price for the amount of food, but not the greatest I’ve seen. The décor of the restaurant was really cheesy, with some leftover holiday decorations fighting with the normal Chinese good luck talismans and the Valentine’s decorations. There are plenty of seats, but the seating area was really chilly. It wasn’t the most romantic date, but it worked. It wasn’t really sketchy like some places, but it wasn’t very classy either.

Harmony’s Ratings
Food: A-
Service: B+
Price: B+
Date Appeal: C