Reviews for Rain Modern Chinese in Albany, NY
Rain is upscale culinary experience in Chinese cuisine, we eat here at least 3x month, staff is extremely professional and aim... to please your palette. Ingredient's are fresh, if you want lobster or fish you can pre-order with Simon or Vinny or Paul,givethem 2 days. Short ribs with broccoli, onions,beef ,delicious, chow fun beef noodle hits the senses and satisfy any craving youhave for noodles, some dim sum dishes available, how gow ,shrimp in cloud of bell pepper, shrimp nestled in egg plant simplydelicious, you won't be disappointed, bring your appetite and sit back and enjoy.$$$ Read more
Rain Modern Chinese Cuisine has been on my list for a while now and I finally made it there yesterday: a GORGEOUS, warm, sunny... September day. Rain is right in the middle of the Lark Street neighborhood, which is really a fabulous area of Albany. Greatneighborhood. Great vibes. So many places to eat/shop/etc. First: Rain is a beautiful restaurant. The bar, the dining room, theentrance up the stairs from Lark Street with the glass wall of water. Really lovely. The dining room is a corner with windowsaround both walls looking out onto the street. I sat at the bar which is big, roomy, very nice comfortable seats. There was aTV. I do like to have a TV at the bar when I’m on one of my epic lunch outings. My approach to eating out is to try as manydifferent things as possible. Especially when I am trying a place for the first time. Rain was kind of perfect for that becausethey have a pretty extensive small plates section. I don’t eat beef, pork or poultry and there were plenty of choices for mewithout those. I started with steamed shrimp dumplings and edamame dumplings in broth and fried jumbo shrimp with honeywalnuts. And here’s where we ran into trouble. The two main “issues” with the food I had at Rain were lack of flavor andreally not great sauces. There are two things in American Chinese cuisine that make or break the dishes: fresh ingredients andREALLY GOOD sauces. The sauces I had at Rain were not good. At all. The first sauce I encountered was on the fried jumbo shrimpwith honey walnut. Now the fried jumbo shrimp were PERFECTION. Hot, crispy, perfectly fried with just the right amount ofbreading. Each was tapped with one excellent walnut. The problem with the dish was the sauce, which was clearly the “honey”part of the dish and had the thickness and sweetness of the icing you’d get on top of a cinnamon bun. Yikes. WAY too much. ONa variety of levels. The steamed shrimp dumplings had great texture and filling and were each sitting in a little bit Read more
From the outside looking in, Rain Modern Chinese was calling out to us...we're happy to have answered the call! The restaurant... was fairly empty on a Sunday night. The dining room is comfortable and quiet with nice music playing subtly in the backgroundand a nice view of Lark St through the large front windows. Our server greeted us with hot tea and offered assistance as welooked through the menu. We chose fried dumplings and crab rangoon for our appetizers. They are both good, standard choices forcomparing amongst restaurants. We went ahead and ordered our main dishes of Sizzling Black Pepper Strip Steak and Spicy CrispyChicken. I asked how spicy the chicken was and our server's response was 'not too spicy as you can pick around the peppers.'Being daring, I went ahead and ordered the dish. All of the food was incredibly delicious. We surmised that both appetizers aremade in-house. The wontons on the crab rangoon were the lightest and most crispy I've ever had. The dumplings were stuffed fullwith a tasty pork filling and were seared to almost being caramelized on one side. The only shortcoming would have been thesauce for the dumplings which was a bit thin and lacked the usual garlic-ginger zing that we're accustomed to. The steak dishwas overflowing with fresh, crisp vegetables and the tender steak was cooked perfectly. The chicken had a kick! But it was greatas the breading appeared to be made with rice flour giving it the lightest coating possible. The chicken, too, was tender beyondbelief. Both dishes were piled high with food - enough to serve two. Unlike many other restaurants we've tried, neither the beefnor the chicken had any fat or grizzle. If you want some quality food in a comfortable, relaxing environment, give Rain ModernChinese a try. You won't be sorry! Read more
Pea shoots, vegetable fried rice, & Virgin Piña Colada … China town nirvana. Bippity boppity glue, delectable dishes phò... true. Mad tea party of a staff, intermittently surly and bereft of tact. And yet, when the stars align… Lo & Be- springrolled, suddenly servers become shining beacons of hope. Long story short: a tenacious operation, oft bubbling with opulentmorsels gracing mastication. Ambiance swimming in that twinkly illuminated poise, almost fey… waves of floating awe wettingpalettes for tender Rain. One would be remiss to overlook the nuanced detail of this ethereal establishment, authentic andartistic. And, spearheaded and manifested by none other than the venerable esteemed local visionary: Tommy Watkins. Overallchemistry never ceases to amaze, the range of guests running the gamut… a confluence of regal, ragamuffin, & business casual. Menu: quite the merry mélange of animal, mineral, & vegan vitality. Sure, this dining den has had its fair share of petulantups & downs, but so has my blood pressure. Besides, a bit of insider trading of a similar vein: this little new-age dive wasLegit once the official medical site of Planned Parenthood, pivoting swiftly to its current incarnation— for real real, notfor play play. Auspicious? Nay. Rather, a perspicacious evolution… from picket-sign protestors to riveting restaurant;ravenous appetites rapt, pocket-books prudently deign to deliver, reveling spiritedly amidst a fresh & poignant reign. Read more
Went for a Christmas dinner and Everything was fantastic! Got soup dumplings and boneless ribs to start and they were delicious!... The Peking duck was perfect! Crispy and juicy the buns were well steamed and the cocktails were yummy. For a day when it wassuper busy I feel like I was still given great attention by our waitress. I definitely will be returning. Read more
First of all, soup was cold with no taste. Had to ask server to warm it up. Calamari had a weird smell. Black pepper beef was... the only dish was okay (not like before). Custom service is below average. They did not serve water either. I would notrecommend this place at all based on how low the quality of foods has become over the years. Read more
Every time we pass through Albany we stop for lunch here. It has always been a great meal. We love the awesome dipping sauce... served with the scallion pancakes. Soups are all wonderful and so are the dumplings. This was my fist time having the Beef ChowFun with gravy and it was fantastic! Read more
First time there and I definitely plan to come back! Great customer service, drinks and fresh food. I recommend anyone to try... that likes Chinese food. Read more