Easily the best chinese we've had. We're visiting from Sydney so squeezed two meals in while in Melbourne it was that good. We ordered salt & pepper chicken, 5 spice lamb, beef & black been & all three dishes were delicious.
Food is always great here. Been many, many times and never had a bad meal. The owners are very personable and always there to greet you and say hi. Recommend it highly.
Absolutely delicious meal. Very friendly. Cosy atmosphere. Highly recommended
Easily the best Chinese food in Melbourne. Consistently great.
I'm from East Gippsland but every time I'm near Chinatown this is my go to place. The Salt and Pepper Calamari is awesome
Great atmosphere ,,, Staff lovely ,,, Great food ,,, Would definitely go again �
Very comfortable environment. A little gem in the cbd. Highly recommended
Food is so tasty, even the seafood which normally i dont eat, everything I tried (around 8 dishes) was delightful =)
Very nice food and friendly service. Great place to eat.
Wonderful food and service.
Busy place in Chinatown that does good fast Chinese food. Chicken ribs and mapo tofu were the highlights.
Dont be fooled by the name!
This place serves up amazing chinese food. They have an order to share concept where you order a few dishes to share
My absolute favourite here is the scrambled egg whites with fish or scallops. It is very unique and highlight recommend it
Their dishes are nice and I have not been dissapointed dining here.
Tried Scrambled Egg White! It is simply amazing. Tastes 99% like crabs but it was all eggs. Clean and healthy. Great choice if you want to lose weight. I added extra broccoli.
I went here for lunch last week. Just off the main thoroughfare of China Town. It has several small and large tables. The food was amazing, despite this it was very quiet so didn’t need to book. And the desserts we’re fantastic. We had fried pork dumplings, pork buns, wontons in chilli oil, hokkien fried rice and egg custard buns. The pork buns were so light and fluffy and the fried rice was the best I’ve ever had. The egg custard buns were larger than normal and had a lovely texture. Will definitely be back.
Ordered their Shanghai noodles here. Food is very tasty and consistent. Service is great, too. It has a good wine selection. The price is reasonable. What can you expect more? Probably the most reasonable Chinese restaurant in Melbourne.
My friend and i dined here for lunch, it wasn’t too busy surprisingly but we enjoyed our lunch of classic sweet and sour chicken, beef black bean sauce, serving of Chinese broccoli and two bowls of rice. Not too bad, service was great.
Ordered their shanghai noodles, stir fry beef noodles and chicken and sweet corn soup and everything was delish and the portion size was decent. The only thing was that they were quite busy that day so t took quite a while for them to finish cooking the dishes.
Little hidden gem in china town. The food has always been good and authentic. However the price point is also a little bit higher. You get what you pay for...
Stumbled in late Sunday night after a few drinks at Heartbreaker. Ordered all the good meaty, carby, fried things. Delicious dumplings, salt and pepper prawns, fried rice and smoked duck. Not cheap, but quality ingredients and fine cooking.
This restaurant located in small lane. Decent food with reasonable price. Scrambled egg whites has been our favourite order. Friendly service.
This Chinese restaurant has an extensive menu of buns, dumplings and other staples such as roast duck and honey chicken. I thoroughly enjoyed the chilli dumplings and the fried rice and salt and pepper calamari were also tasty -- sometimes you just want the classics done in the classic way you’ve grown to know and love.
Brought my family who are from overseas here cause I've tried it quite awhile ago and I quite like it. Not knowing if it'll be as good as before, I brought them there cause a lot of the other places were full. We ordered the golden chicken spare ribs, ants on the tree, pork string beans, black bean chilli beef, and the scrambled egg white and we all loved it! A nice restaurant to go to and the staffs are very friendly. Will definitely recommend anyone to try it out and will surely be back!
Cheap eat. Byo wine. Old skool Chinese pretty popular and good service. Eaten here many times for a boozy lunch with friends.
They have some specialty dishes. Fungy beef. Sizzling mongolian lamb. Spicy chicken wings long beans etc. All good. Large menu 100 items cheap Chinese beers. This is an honest Chinese restaurant.
Think this is a good middle ground China Town choice. Not as crazy busy as your Shanghai dumpling house or similar. Quality a step up, so to price. What I really appreciate at this venue as they don't seem too concerned about forcing you out the door. Sometimes I want to hang around and finish a few bottles without feeling like I am holding up the whole operation. Food is solid/ tasty without ever being exceptional. Expect to pay $25-$35 and leave pretty stuffed. BYO wine only.
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We all know that Little Bourke Street is Melbourne's Chinatown, and if you're lucky enough for your restaurant to be situated on that famous strip, you're always going to have high visibility with the consequent passing trade. I have found it interesting that there appears to be only two parts of Melbourne where restaurants tout for business; one is Lygon Street, and more recently we have started to see predominantly young Asian women touting outside restaurants in Little Bourke. Oh well, such is the competitive nature of the marketplace.
Ants Bistro is up against it from the start, given its position off the main drag in grubby Corr's Lane. It's not far off the main strip, but far enough not to be in your face when you walk past. And this is a shame, because the food here is great, and very reasonably priced.
I dined here recently with my son and his girlfriend. We always seek out places that are BYO so we can save some coin, and Ants is BYO wine only, which is fine. The menu is pan-Chinese, but there is an emphasis on northern and Szechuan cuisine, although some Cantonese favourites are also evident.
It's not a big place, although it does spread over two levels, and the decor is nothing to write home about. Service is efficient in the manner of most of the Asian eateries in this area. These wait staff aren't there to tell you their life stories or enquire about your day, although any questions about the are answered in a friendly manner.
We like spice, so we ordered a few one and two chilli dishes (the menu indicates the degree of heat--0, 1, 2, or 3 chillies). The heat here is nicely balanced. This is two chillies in the Dainty Szechuan style, but there's a real tingle on tongue.
All of the dishes we had were excellent and didn't take too long to appear: spring onion pancake, beef dumplings, spicy pork ribs (a highlight for me), Szechuan duck, ants climbing trees (best I've had; the clear noodles were light as a feather). $100 fed the three of us, and we're all big eaters; you can't complain about that.
If you're in Little Bourke Street and you want to enjoy an excellent Chinese meal, I can recommend Ants Bistro, particularly if you like a bit of spice. I will certainly be returning.
Solid Chinese. Good value and very tasty. Some msg though as you'd expect and service isn't the best but all in all, a good option for China town.
One of my favourite places for Chinese food.
Usually have to line up during weekends but as busy as it can get, food is still served fast and taste fresh. Been here on two occasions and wasn't left dissapointed either time.
Visited here as Sichuan house and Shanghai Street were fully booked (should have booked for a Friday night - doh!). We were persuaded by the lovely friendly girl advertising the restaurant outside Shanghai Street. Pleasantly surprised as the restaurant was very busy upstairs but still managed to fit us in. Had the Kung Pao Chicken and Chili Beef in black bean sauce. Both were good portions and tasty. Nothing mind-blowing but good food at a decent price. Friendly service all round especially by the girls in the place. Would go again.
I've been here twice and had good experience both times. I've tried:
Roast duck: nice, crispy skin, overall juicy but you do get the odd parts that are a little dry, comes with pickles which I love
Mapo tofu: spicy, coated well with sauce
Pork mince and string beans: nice, not very spicy, I usually prefer crunchy beans this one is quite soft but definitely not soggy so I'm ok with it
Steamed fish: really really good, should definitely try this one
Shredded pork stir fry?: really good to have with rice
Bamboo shoot stir fry?: this one is not so good as most bits are quite old, you do get the young part which is soft and nice but not a lot unfortunately
Staff is super nice and friendly. I really like the fact that they take booking here.
Definitely will come back.
Excellent food and quick service. The service staff is also quite friendly and accommodating. Ants Bistro never fails to relax me and recharge my energy. I again used my Liven App and got my $50 chargeback. Best place to eat in Melbourne
Food was great, service was excellent. Hopefully the owners will improve the living conditions for the occupants of the goldfish tank with the addition of some plants etc. It was just fish and water! Otherwise, everything else there was really great.
this is our favourite place all the time. we always come here on special occasion and all my friends love it. my favourite dish is minister chicken, this is a must dish. i don't know how to describe it but soooo good, can't stop licking the sauce. i have bought only that sauce before. i strongly recommend everyone to come to sit around lazy susan together!!
Tucked away from all the other bustling Chinese places in Chinatown - this humble shop is a hidden gem.
Go past the typical Chinese front and plastic menus and you'll find some really interesting dishes.
Things to recommend trying is their steamed egg and ants on a tree.
Place to go for your not so typical Asian dishes.
Good service, great food, excellent value.
Can get noisy at times, but that's because it's a popular destination.
I recommend the crispy egg noodles with beef or chicken, I keep coming back for this because it's so delicious.
是一間在跟朋友們決定要聚餐 或是肚子餓想不到要吃什麼的時候就會想說"不然就去那兒吧" 的餐廳(笑) 因為紅螞蟻在唐人街這麼多的餐廳裡是味道很實在而且服務周到的一家。
朋友們一致都最喜歡吃他們的賽螃蟹, Salted egg chicken ribs 還有 minister chicken。
順道一提 前幾天第一次從這裡打包了外賣, 回到家才看到他們把盒子剪了孔, 到家時雞肉外皮都還是又酥又脆, 此舉實在是太貼心了哈哈
My friends and I love the Scrambled Eggwhite, Salted Egg Chicken Ribs and Minister Chicken from Ants Bistro, It is our go to place in the city when we can't decide on what to eat because they deliver consistent food and service. The other day I got takeaway for the first time and when I got home I realised they've cut the takeaway box lid so the chicken won't become soggy, it's a tiny gesture but it's super thoughtful and it really made my night.
The place is nicely set up and gets quite busy around dinner time. We ordered salt and pepper calamari, cold noodles, chilli dumplings and a pungent fish. All the items were done well, however pungent fish was done exceptionally well. Chilli dumplings could have been better. Overall a decent place in China town. I would return
Melbourne does upmarket very well, Melbourne also does trendy very well, what Melbourne seems to lack severely is comforting budget food - enter Ants Bistro. I discovered this homely little restaurant as it is situated opposite one of my favourite bars and it has never disappointed in my many visits there. Definitely a shining star in the space of Chinatown.
The dishes are so well prepared and reminds you of simpler times, when you did not have to pay a part of your mortgage toward a dining bill. A whole lotta lovin' from me :)
First time here tonight and the food was delicious. It's a loud little restaurant (due to design... But also the woman next to us who could have eaten more just so she'd friggin' shut up. Urgh, shouty diners), but everything we ordered was fresh and delicious and service was quick and polite. We had the salt & pepper tofu and the Minister Chicken. Will definitely be back to try more of the menu.
Had lunch today. Ordered Crystal noodle salad, Minister chicken, and Scramble egg white for three. Everything was delicious except salad because it might have been left for a while after being cooked. The lady who served us was very nice even though she was very busy.
Good quality Chinese restaurant and it's not very expensive too. Good value for money and one of my favorites. ;) Very nice and caring auntie and uncle too.
A variety of dishes, from dim sum to clay pot and spicy dishes to fried rice and dessert. A great place to go with a few friends or more so you can try different dishes.
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Been here once about 6 years ago, the most memorable and recommended dish was the scrambled egg with crab meat, although looks boring but taste very good, texture was very special too.
Went back again yesterday with girl friends, ordered few other dishes to try out.
Bean curd cold appetiser, I think it was the sesame paste, taste ok, but personally not quite use to that style of dish 5/10
Vermicelli with chilli mince meat, I like it because wasn't oily at all compare with other Chinese restaurant 9/10
Stir fried chilli beef with capsicum, like it with the sesame seed, taste good 9/10
Stir fried mix veggies, would be better to have more mushrooms 9/10
Chilli oil fish fillet, like the taste of its Sichuan chilli oil, not oily as I expected, love that they serve the bean sprout in the soup base, it mix very well with it to serve together 10/10
Scrambled egg white with crab meat, love it, must try and highly recommended 10/10
This is good value for money dining, portion not very big but I think is good so can try more different dishes, great services. We've been chatting for a while after finishing dinner, staff still continue refilling water for us, didn't feel like kicking off at all like other places, will definitely go back again to try more.
Ants Bistro is a small Chinese restaurant tucked away in an alleyway off Little Bourke Street. Lunchtime would be the best time to try it out as their lunch specials are excellent value with one generously sized main dish with a side of vegetable rice for no more than $11. I usually order the Minister's Chicken, namely deep-fried chicken served with a spicy "kung po" sauce. It never fails to satisfy; the chicken ribs are moist inside and yet crispy on the outside, drenched in a sweet and sour sauce with heaps of spicy and vinegary flavor and kick. I also recommend the Shallot Beef and Fisherman's Pork, but all pale in comparison with the sheer deliciousness of the Minister's Chicken.
I've been here many times. Food is very tasty and consistent. Service is great, too. It has a good wine selection. The price is reasonable. What can you expect more?
Probably the most reasonable chinese restaurant in melbourne. There are very few authentic chinese restaurants in melbourne, and this is not one of them. But the price is good, the service is fine, and the food is pretty tasty. Not amazing, but for the price it's pretty great (especially at lunch time).
I've heard of Ants Bistro from my friends many times, and have been wanting to go since forever! Finally gotten the chance when Alfred and his mates were gonna head there for dinner :D We found ourselves there on a Friday night, thank god we called in to make a booking as we were making our way there, or else we wouldn't even have gotten a table to dine out cause they were almost all booked out! Szechuen Duck We started with some Szechuen Duck , 8 pieces. I am so sorry for my horrendous picture, but they wrapped it up for us, so I wasn't able to get a picture of the full platter :( This was the bomb!! Boneless, meaty pieces of duck, with some plum sauce, wrapped in thin crepes. I prefer this version than the peking duck ones. This made such a great starter and was really appetising that it all of us look forward for what's to come. Grandma's beancurd This was the winner dish out of the lot for me. Grandma's beancurd is essentially Ma Po Tofu. The tofu was silky smooth and it had a tiny
Located in Chinatown, from the outside Ants Bistro appeared very much similar to other typical, non-upscale Chinese restaurants but from the inside, Ants Bistro looked... yeah, okay,
Great food great atmosphere reasonably priced.. We were recommend Ants Bistro by a friend (Chinese) so we thought give it a go even though a lot of the other reviews weren't great.
The service was quick, polite and smiling. They didn't seem in a hurry to get rid of us(unlike some other reviews) even though the place was packed.
Duck San chow bow (?) Was probably the best I've had. Satay chicken skewers definitely better than most. Sechwan beef was nice and peppery with lots of beef and veg, again best I've had. Honey chicken crispy batter and just right amount of sweetness. Only thing I was slightly disappointed with was the Singapore noodles which were a little soggy with not enough veggies.
Overall we would definitely recommend and will be going back next time we're in the city.
This place doesn't sound like a Chinese restaurant but the location and decor and crowds of extended Chinese families enjoying long long lunches dispels any doubt. This is the real deal, with good food backed by friendly service.
It's a great place. Very tasty Chinese food. Tastier than usual if you're happy with a bit of spice. I really like this place. Couldn't fault one dish. Today was a work lunch and it couldn't have gone better. I'm reminded that I need to come here more often.
Previous review
Seriously lovely spicy Chinese food. Every dish was great. Fast, efficient and friendly service. I'm returning and soon.
The food is amazing! Service is surprisingly good for a Chinese joint lol
Hidden gem. Wonderful food and amazing service. We will be back again
Love it. Great staff and friendly service. Nice flavours. Will be back.
Went here on a Saturday night with some friends before heading to a birthday party. We didn't make a booking because we knew there would be plenty of options in Chinatown. I'm really glad we went here. The waiters were attentive and friendly and we ate incredible food for a very good price. I'll be keeping this place in mind for the next visit to Chinatown.
Best Peking Duck I've ever had. Went based on good reviews and managed to get a table straight away at 8pm on a Saturday night. Disappointed by the "must-try" minced pork buns so don't bother with those and the prawn toasts were good but pretty greasy. However the peking duck was incredible - would go back just for that. Comes pre rolled in pancakes and is amazingly tender. Good service too.
Yum. Great food great service no need to say more just go there and see for yourself
Went here on Sunday during lunch time. Weren't sure what to expect, but turned out to be an amazing experience. We ordered Five Spice Duck, Salty Egg Prawns & Grandma's Tofu (Mapo Tofu). Serving was generous, it fed for 2 hungry tummies but i think it could feed for 3. Every dish has its own unique flavor. We loved it & didn't mind to pay the price. Will be back for more!!
Brilliant location brilliant dumplings. Ant's is a fantastic lesser-known restaurant off Little Bourke Street. Just around the corner from the hustle and bustle I've never found it hard to get a table and the service is friendly and efficient. The dumplings are fantastic and value for money. I've had one other dish - the Mongolian lamb, this was also delicious. The drinks list is also very cheap, including cocktails for under $10.
Ants for Lunch. Went here with friends, one who was vegetarian so good to find a chinese place with good vegetarian menu options. Lunch menu was extensive but not expensive. Very nice food. Every dish nicely done - sweet sour pork, kung po chicken, veg spring rolls, spring onion pastry, vege san choi bao, s&p calamari. All good tasty and good portion size, friendly staff too.
Hidden gem. Came across this restaurant by accident as it is in a laneway off Little Bourke Street . Food was delicious and they allow BYO and only charge $2 per person!
Had to wait awhile for the food to arrive as they were busy serving large groups, but very apologetic when they brought the food out (which is nice that they recognised this instead of pretending to be oblivious to it)! Will go back.
The service is not very good at this place but I love the spicy fish! It's not authentic Sichuan recipe but still tasty, the baby bamboo shoots were also lovely and so was the crispy chicken ribs in a sweet sauce that was to die for! They do need a larger dumpling selection though
Good reliable Northern Chinese food. Been coming here for years and thoroughly recommend the Minister's Chicken, delicious crispy deep fried chicken ribs in a spicy sweet and sour sauce. Service is generally polite and attentive. The one criticism I have is that prices have risen slightly recently but forgivable as thankfully, standards have not fallen
One of the best in Chinatown. I've been coming here for 6 years or more and the food is always fantastic with great hospitality from Steven and Maria. I've brought so many friends here who in turn have brought their friends, I should get a commission! It's my "go to" place when I'm asked to organise a good Chinese meal by my colleagues (I'm Chinese).
In my opinion the best dishes are the Tea Smoked Duck and the Wu-nan Pork Ribs and the cold starter platter reminds me of my childhood days in Hong Kong.
Headed for dinner on a busy Saturday night with no booking but were promptly seated after a wait of a just a few minutes. Great menu and great prices, each dish was PERFECT. The spicy ribs in particular were my favourite. Easily now my favourite Chinese in Melbourne, can't wait to go back.
I really like this restaurant, the service is great, I tried the smoked duck, and I addicted to it. This is the best Chinese restaurant in China town.
This was our second port of call during our Duck Crawl. We opted for the smoked tea duck which was divine - highly recommended!
Best chinese in the cbd. I .... Best chinese in the cbd.
I ordered sweet and sour chicken with a side of small fried rice.
Both dishes were perfectly cooked, clean authentic in flavour
Service 9/10
Quality 9/10
Experience 9/10
Best Chinese food in Melbourne. So yummy
Sizzling beef is tasty, even if a little sweet!
BEST!. Best place to go to dinner, we go here roughly once a month! only thing bad is its pretty squishy but the food is to die for!
Try it. We stumbled on this place for lunch. We were heading up to Dainty Sichuan on a Tuesday only to find it closed. Ants Bistro is in the same little lane so we decided to give it a go.
Good place for a no frills Sichuan style menu. Very cheap for lunch (most dishes under $10) and the food is good and a bit different to the menus you see in 95% of Chinatown. Try the Hunan ribs and the Kung Po Chicken. The restaurant space is not much to look at, the service is ok but at these prices and for this quality food you can overlook a lot of sins. Was packed to the rafters when we visited, always a good sign. Don't worry about the name, give it a try.
Ants bistro is delicious!! Have been going quite regularly and is one of my fav Chinese restaurants. Szechuan chicken, wunan pork ribs and gravy beef are some favorites! Great service as well! Definitely recommend !!
Loved the vibe and the Szechuan Duck, Salt n Pepper calamari was a bit oily and would pass on the braised eggplant. Great chili oil and dumplings were very good
We visited Ants for the second time on the weekend remembering how good the food had been on our previous visit. What we had forgotten was how amazing the service was! Not to mention the reasonable price. A great venue.
Great for lunch. I often go to Ants Bistro for lunch with friends/colleagues - the food is reliably good and the lunch menu is very affordable (my favourite is the house tofu). Service can be a little cold at times but otherwise it's great.
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Good food and great service. It has been almost ten years since I went to the Ants Bistro. We were looking for a place for Yum Cha on Sunday but most of the places were fully booked by the time we rang. We called ahead to make a reservation at Ants' Bistro. However, we were surprised to see an almost empty restaurant at noon. I was slightly suspicious as a quiet Yum Cha Chinese restaurant on a sunday arvo could mean that the food is dodgy. To my pleasant surprise, the food was fresh and nice. The duck san choi bao was delicious. The lettuce was crunchy and it was a perfect compliment to the filling. The scallop dumplings was presented in the shell itself. The taste was delicate, flavored by a slight hint of fresh ginger and soy. Apart from the food, the staff was really attentive. The only thing missing from the restaurant is the restaurant buzz that you would expect in most Yum Cha places. But then again, a quiet place for a sunday lunch can be enjoyable when food is fabulous. Overall, two thumbs up and we will back soon!
Best Chinise in Melbourne. Fresh and tasty food, great variety, very well priced and attentive staff. What else can you ask for?
Consistently good food and service. Ive ended up here many times after a few after work drinks on a Friday night and have always walked away with a smile on my face. The food is fresh, delicious and prompt. I tried a variety of dumplings for lunch this week for the first time and was pleasanty surprised. I've tried other places in china town but will always gravitate back here. While they may get you moving on a busy night, they will also try and find you a spot quickly. Will be back time and time again.
Food was really good. Service was slow, which was no issue for me, but definitely need some help out front
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