Hey everyone! How are you guys doing? We hope everyone is having a great summer so far. This is Rachel and Calla, and we’re working at the Admission Office this summer! You’ll be seeing a lot from us in the next five weeks, and if you visit campus at some point, you can put some beautiful faces to these blog posts. After work, we made it a goal to explore and review some of the restaurants in downtown Amherst that we’ve been wanting to try. Is it just an excuse to eat food outside of our dining hall and spend an hour of our work day eating delicious local food? Maybe. So, we decided to start a food blog series! In today’s post, we are excited to write about a spot we recently visited: Lili’s.
The admission office interns and a few others took a trip to Lili’s after work last Friday. A lot of people at Amherst know that Lili’s is famous for their delicious noodles—and it’s not just us who are saying that. It’s actually ranked as the #4 Top Chinese Restaurant in the US on Yelp! If you don’t want to just take my word for it, you can read Yelp’s official Instagram post on the subject (which is linked here and will take you to a new window): https://www.instagram.com/p/DD2YWWVzDHZ/?img_index=4
As we stepped inside Lili’s, the wall covered in menu items instantly grabbed our eyes. The aroma and sizzle of pan-fried yumminess captivated our senses as we pondered our choices: cold noodles, hand-pulled noodles, noodle soup, or maybe a non-noodle dish like dumplings, fried rice, or scallion pancakes. A bunch of us ordered different things so we could try a little bit of everything.
Calla:
I decided to try the Biang Biang noodles, which were sooo delicious. My friend would always order it with pork, so I thought that was the only option – spoiler alert: they have a veggie version, which is my new favorite dish from Lili’s. The hand-pulled noodles are chewy and lathered in rich sauce, with sautéed cabbage that adds an element of freshness and crunch to the dish. But the best part of all? The generous portions, meaning you can prolong your enjoyment for multiple meals. Overall, this is a solid 9.6/10.
Rachel:
I also ordered Biang Biang noodles but with the pork. It was soo yummy! The portion of the noodles and the pork is very generous at Lili’s. The sauce has a very rich taste mixed with some veggies. I also took some leftovers back to my room and ate it later that night. The noodles were still very chewy and fresh even after a few hours. Overall, I give 9/10.
Here are some reviews from a couple of the other interns!
Esther:
I’d heard a lot about Lili’s during my freshman year at Amherst – many students consider it one of the best restaurants in town! This was my first time there, and I admit it exceeded my expectations. I’m not very familiar with Chinese food, so I decided to play it safe and order the Chicken Fried Rice – a warm, fresh, and delicious combination of chicken, carrots, green pepper, onions, scallions, and rice. The portion was so generous that my friends had to help me finish it! I’m definitely planning to go back soon, and next time I’ll be more adventurous and try their hand-pulled noodles. Highly recommend giving Lili’s a try! 9/10.
Grace:
As an international student from China, I tend to be pretty picky when it comes to Chinese food. Lili’s specializes in Shanxi cuisine—the regional food from where my mom went to college. I’ve visited Xi’an, the capital of Shanxi, several times (most recently in summer 2024), so I’d like to think my standards are decently high. Lili’s definitely lives up to them! I’ve been to Lili’s a few times before and was consistently impressed by their hand-pulled noodles, stir-fried dishes, and pork burgers. This time, I went straight for the pork burger, and it was just as good as I remembered. To be fair, the pork burger is probably the one dish on the menu that isn’t totally traditional. In China, a “rou jia mo” (literally “meat in bun”) usually has tender pork tucked between two rounds of flatbread—soft, chewy, and warm. Lili’s version tweaks it a bit: the bread is pan-fried until crispy on the outside. It’s a departure, but honestly, it might be better (hopefully I don’t get excommunicated for saying this). Highly recommend giving it a try.