By: Joel Faretra – March, 2020
After our successful visits to Millers last month, it was time to get back to the Chinese review. There are a few in Methuen. Chef Co, Lucky Dragon, Fu Hing, China Star, and Wah Sang to name a bunch. Fusion House is more of a sit-down restaurant in my opinion so I didn’t include them in this column.
With all those choices, I am going with Wah Sang as the best takeout option in Methuen.
Wah Sang is located at 42 Hampshire St. in Methuen you can call them at (978) 686-4118
Appetizers- When you think Chinese food, 90 percent of it is the appetizers. My favorite one from Wah Sang is their crab rangoons. We always get an extra order with our dinner and they never make it through the night. The boneless spare ribs are tender, not stringy like other places. Other family favorites are the Peking raviolis and their egg rolls. The chicken fingers and chicken wings are good; wings are crisp and the chicken fingers have a good amount of batter, not too doughy. On a few combo meals, an option is a curry beef puff. First time I can recall that as an option for Chinese food.
Main dishes- For the most part, we are a combo plate family and don’t venture deep into the menu. Their General Gau’s chicken has improved over the years. Not too spicy and the pieces of chicken are not overcooked. The sauce for the sweet and sour chicken was warmed up a bit too much. It warped the plastic container and had a burnt taste to it.
Most likely, you are getting rice with your meal. I think this is one of the places Wah Sang separates itself from the other take-out restaurants. The rice is tender, you do not get crunchy clumps like other places. I will usually get a #13- Chicken Wings, Fried Rice and Lobster Sauce. I grew up on fried rice and lobster sauce from Jumbo House in Everett and it took a while to find someplace in Methuen that came close to the quality of lobster sauce that I grew up with and Wah Sang is that place. Nothing better than a chicken finger dipped in lobster sauce!
The kids are fans of the lo mein. My oldest daughter, who is a vegetarian, will go with the meatless lo mein instead of the rice (and a side order of scallion pancakes). My son will get an order of shrimp lo mein and will finish it in one sitting.
DJ Beauregard agrees. Here is his review. “Methuen has its fair share of great Chinese restaurants. However, in my view, Wah Sang takes the cake. You can’t beat ‘em, especially with it comes to their appetizers, like their chicken fingers and crab rangoons. It’s all so darn good!”
I will give Wah Sang an overall rating of 3.5 beards. It is good and pretty consistent.
We have a couple of new places coming to Methuen. Mommy’s Pho is coming to Ayers Village Road in early March and Pdudz, a new pizza and sub shop, will be opening up in the old Vinny’s Star Haven location on Howe St.
I will be venturing out of Methuen for next month’s column and will be reviewing craft breweries in the area. There are many and hopefully one can come to Methuen soon! Feel free to reach out to me at jfaretra67@gmail.com with any feedback or recommendations! ◊