I am not a big fan of the local Chinese places in Bartlett, but this was pretty bad. Â The service was reliable and the food was hot, but those are the only positives I can come up with.....the chicken was like soft, slimy rubber. Â The best way I can describe it. Â Just plain awful. Â I started gagging after my first bite, just from the texture alone. Â The veggies in the dish were ok, but I lost my appetite after eating the chicken. Â My daughter got the chicken noodle soup and spit out the chicken right away. Â I will not be ordering from here again.
Review Source:My first visit was for lunch- I ordered the lettuce wrap appetizer, sesame chicken and an order of bao and had to double check my bill at $27! It seemed pricey for lunch, but then again I think they only have one menu.
The food was great! Very fresh and great flavors. The servings were hearty and the staff was accurate when describing dishes. They were sure to explain how to eat the bao dumplings so we could enjoy all the flavors.
I would most definitely come back, but would prefer a lunch/dinner option. We took home half of our meal because there was so much!
Bao has an identity crisis and leaves the diner feeling between disappointed and cheated.
First, it calls itself Bao. Unless the owner has a completely different Chinese character in mind, one would expect to find a good selection of steamed and stuffed bao or buns on the menu. Â They are not on the menu. Â You have to ask for them and, during my visit, they only offered 3 kinds.
Second, they show a bowl of noodle soup next to the name, but there is only one such selection on the menu, spicy beef noodle soup. Â One would think, by the name and the graphic, that we would find a selection of noodles, bao and even steamed dumplings; a north eastern Chinese flavor. Â
Third, they claim gourmet Chinese food. Â The decor might suggest the possibility. Â It gave the place a "bistro" like feel. Unfortunately, the food is not up to par with "gourmet".
I ordered the spicy beef noodle soup. Beef noodle soup is not, by any means, a "fancy" meal, but what I had was not "gourmet" quality. Â The broth lacked richness. Â I could have bought the noodles at a local Chinese supermarket. Â The beef was sliced instead of cubed, and it was clearly pan fried prior to serving. Â It wasn't stewed with the broth and other ingredients that would make a classic beef noodle soup. The overall flavor was ok, but it is not worth ordering a second time. My guess is that it is not a popular dish. That they are just making it because they have it on the menu.
Verdict: A Chinese carry out that tries to pass as a gourmet bistro but has not found the ways to be a gourmet Chinese bistro. Â It is an identity crisis that leaves the diner feeling between disappointed and cheated.
I've only been here once so my observations are limited but what I do know is the egg rolls and won ton soup were both delicious. The pot stickers were good, too, but not especially awesome and I also prefer a thinner dough/wrapping.The bao (or steamed and filled buns) were good and I would order again, but it's not on par with anything in Chinatown, that's for sure, but it will do in a pinch. Despite the name of the establishment, the bao is not listed on the menu and you have to ask for it. I agree with the other reviewers that the dining area is pretty nice for a casual little place like this. Prices were very reasonable. I wouldn't go out of my way to eat here, but if I was in the area, especially to partake in lunch specials, I'd stop back to try some of the other dishes that looked so good going out to the other diners.
Review Source:Very disappointing. Â While the food we ordered was okay, sweet and sour chicken, shrimp fried rice, crab ragoon, we also asked for fried wonton. Â They provided it but it seemed to me to be microwaved - it was cold and tough. Â Chicken had a peculiar taste to it, too, like reheated left over chicken. Â It's a shame, too. Â It's close and convenient but next time we're going back to Silver Lake.
Review Source:From the name of the restaurant, I was expecting a high-end gourmet type experience with the food here and was also expecting to pay a little more for it. In reality, the food was okay but not "gourmet" in my book.
To order, go to the counter and choose your entree from the overhead behind-the-counter menu (think fast-food type ordering). Find a seat in the nicely decorated dining area and your food will be brought out to your table. This is not the idea of "gourmet" that I would expect.
I tried the Sweet and Sour Chicken with white rice. Flavor was okay. The dish had plenty of fried chicken pieces, but was lacking in vegetables. I had asked the gal who took my order if the chicken was deep fried (which I didn't want) and she said the color code on the menu indicated what was fried and what was not. Apparently I got it wrong, or the color coding might not be right? And I have had sweet and sour chicken in another place before where the chicken was not deep fried, so that's why I asked.
Overall, Bao Gourmet Restaurant is a step above a fast-food restaurant. Maybe the decor of the place itself tries to create that mindset. It's okay for quick sit-down Chinese food, but not the gourmet experience one may be looking for.
Bao is not Silver Lake. (Neither is it "gourmet", but... whatever.)
This is the first thing you need to know about Bao. The second thing you need to know is that... curiously, its namesake food isn't anywhere on the paper menus. It's only on the electronic menus -- $1.65 each for a minimum of 3. I found this odd, but I also never really figured that most Americans would go for bao anyway.
They sell veggie, BBQ pork, chicken and sweet bean. They were out of veggie, so I got one of each of the rest. The chicken one tasted odd, and wasn't so great. The sweet bean.... well, I'm still not a fan of it, but it's not their fault; it tasted just like the ones I used to have. The BBQ pork was the best and reminded me of the best baos of my childhood. Next time, I'll order 2 or 3 of them.
That said, I'm not sure the baos were made from scratch on-site... but I liked them all the same.
I also had a spring roll, which was crispy and crunchy, but not all that large. The wonton soup I had was excellent; fresh, the wontons cooked right, and a steep amount of ginger in every bite. The broth wasn't strong, but there were enough other flavors that I liked it anyway.
Maybe next time I'll try the food that Silver Lake *also* makes. But for now, I liked what I had enough that I would gladly go back.
Let's be honest here. It's a tough  to have better Chinese food in Bartlett, than TLs, and Bao isn't quite there. On the plus side, they are leaps and bounds better than Silver Lake, or any of the other places in town.
Good food, good prices, and reasonable portions. The menu is a little small for my tastes, so to speak, but hopefully they can expand that in the months to come (they've already added a few items to their online menu).
On the other hand, who the hell names a restaurant 'Bao Gourmet', and then doesn't serve Bao? Shenanigans, I say.
All in all, good stuff. We'll be back.
I wanted to try this place because it's close to home. There have been a lot of businesses in this location in the last five years. I hope this place makes it, but I doubt it.
The place is small, bright, and very clean. The staff I spoke to were very nice and helpful.
I agree with other reviews in that calling this "gourmet" is a stretch. Â I ordered the General Tso chicken lunch special that includes fried rice and egg role. The food was delivered very quickly. Â Almost to quickly. Â How do they make it so quick?
The egg role was good. The chicken dish tasted good but was more like sweet and sour chicken. The lunch portion is not large but was enough food to fill me up and there was plenty of chicken in the dish. Â The fried rice was only so-so.
I'll try them again sometime and get a different dish. I wish these guys luck. There is a lot competition around here and so far I don't see anything very special at this place. Â At this point I would not recommend Bao.
Bao seems that it could be a great Chinese restaurant to eat in or take out, it has a Noodles and Company look to it. However this is not the case at all.
I went to pick up some takeout, and was surprised that for the price I payed I got very little. Their portions are very skimpy, and I think it's fair to say quite a ripoff. The food is drenched in sauce and is nearly tasteless. I would definitely steer clear of Bao. You can get A LOT more for your money elsewhere, and a lot more taste. If you want a comparison, I would say that it is just as good as Panda Express, that you could get for nearly half the price.
I wanted some Chinese food and was near this new place. Â My gut told me to go to Silver Lake instead, but I thought I would give them a try since they are new and I hadn't yet tried them.
Well - that was a mistake. Â For starters, the teenager that was running the counter was not very friendly or very familiar with their limited menu.....not a good first impression. Â After ordering, our food was brought out of the kitchen pretty quickly (I was impressed with their speed and that is the only reason I didn't give just 1 star).
I ordered crab rangoon, wonton soup, and szechuan style chicken. Â The crab rangoon were chewy/tough, but they actually had pretty good flavor. Â The wonton soup was bland. Â Now for the "best" part......I was really looking forward to the szechuan style chicken - and instead I "enjoyed" a dish of onions, celery, and hot peppers - not a single piece of chicken! Â I don't think I will be back to this place.......I'm headed back to Silver Lake.
Picked up some chicken fried rice and General Tso's chicken. The food was good. I preferred the chicken fried rice out of the two. The General Tso's chicken was more like sweet and sour chicken. I guess I'm use to the way Yu's Mandarin in Schaumburg makes their General Tso's chicken. It's not as sweet and syrupy.
The decor is very clean and nice. Good service. Reasonably priced. Think of it as a step above Panda Express. The dining area is a little small but spacious.
Across the way is an Oberweis ice cream, in case you're looking for dessert.
I'll probably stop by again...as it's hard to find a decent chinese place that's clean and has good food out here in the suburbs! :-D
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