Solid 3 stars for this place. Veggie lo mein was good, but their orange chicken (that other reviewers raved about) was just meh. It definitely had the right texture and we were given a good amount for the price, but it was way too sweet for my taste and lacked any kind of stand-out flavor. Would've preferred it with a spicy kick (which, the waitress said was possible next time we visit). Overall, hubby and I were very underwhelmed and will stick with Blue Sprout for a fresher take on chinese food in the Logan area.
Review Source:If you think this is good...This nothing like the old Blue Willow. The best secret hot sauce and the best tasting mongolian beef and chicken wings. Too bad was sold to these new owners sevreal years ago. Miss the family that ran it! The closest is Asia river on Lawrence avenue. But when old owners had it, lunch special was great!!!..This new Blue Willow...aghhh avergae at best....ask the old timers.....
Review Source:The lunch specials are a deal that simply can't be beat. Â You get a ton of food for around $6. Â The quality of the food is good, but not great. Â You pay twice as much for food once the lunch specials stop, but you also get twice the amount of food. Â
I suggest this place for lunch.
Without a doubt my favorite Chinese place outside of Chinatown.
Cheap food that always tastes great and comes in giant portions. My go to dish is the orange chicken. A lot of times orange chicken can taste chemically but Blue Willow's always tastes like cooked orange peels, just like it should.
A great place to get delivery from, but also a fun place to go dine-in. The owners are super friendly and the place is clean, if a little worn down.
I really wanted to like this place, and gave them several chances, but after my last meal, I'm going to have to say that I will never get food here again. Â The egg rolls and spring rolls are ok at best, the egg drop soup is super thick and bright yellow but literally tastes like nothing. Â My chow fun noodles were over cooked and soggy and there is a weird sort of flavor to everything that really makes me wonder 'what's IN this anyway???'. Definitely not a good feeling.
I feel bad giving a bad review because the people there are super nice  and friendly, but it just doesn't make up for the fact that the quality of the food is terrible.  Yes the prices are ok and the portions are huge, but it doesn't matter if the food is inedible.
Ahhh yes, my neighborhood Chinese spot! Two blocks away, fast, yummy, and affordable. They offer delivery, dine-in (no BYOB though...womp womp), and carry out. The carry out is SUPER fast! I've called in and picked up my food 10 minutes later.
The food is up there with some of the best Chinese I've had at the price and location. They have delicious combination fried rice, which is really a meal in itself. I've also had the shrimp lo mein, which has MASSIVE shrimp and big fat noodles. Their mongolian beef is good too. The only thing I've had from there that I didn't really like too much was the chicken and vegetables. It was a weird color.... However, by far the best item there is the crab rangoon. I'm not really sure if it's real crab or not, but I'm not a crab snob, so I think it's super yummy! Plus, you get 6 pieces, when most Chinese places usually give you 4, or 5 if you're lucky. Overall, the portions there are HUGE!
In addition, they always give you tons of soy sauce, sweet and sour and mustard (who eats that stuff anyway?), and they are pretty friendly.
I'll be back, probably next week.
Blue Willow offers fast, friendly service, but their food leaves a lot to be desired. The dishes are loaded with canned vegetables like  water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, baby corn and yes, CANNED MUSHROOMS (bleh), and use the fresh things like bok choy, broccoli and peapods every so sparingly.
I've ordered....
Mongolian Beef. The sauce offers a perfectly sweet and spicy, slightly BBQ'd smokey Mongolian flavor and I like that the saucey meat and onions are served atop a bed of fried noodles. But beyond that, it's actually a ridiculously oily dish and beef is tough.
Shrimp Chow Fun. The vegetable were mostly off the canned variety + one or two bits of fresh broccoli and bok choy. The shrimp was definitely not fresh. Although it was pink, indicating that it was cooked, it's not fully obaque and has a sort of clear glassiness to it, which is really quite unappetizing. The texture was mealy -- leading me to believe it was frozen, thawed and re-frozen before being used. The sauce was white and 100% without any flavor -- not even a slight hint of garlic or ginger.
Crab Rangoons. Nice size and triangular shape, but zero flavor. Some places offer crab rangoons that are slightly sweet with a nice green onion depth, others more of a sweet crab flavor without so much onion. Blue Willow's are neither sweet nor savory; they're simply deep fried wonton stuffed with a very plain cream cheese.
Orange Chicken. Nice sweet, spicy orangey sauce flavor, but very greasy. Â The fried chicken was ill prepared, resulting in gobs of sauce soaked breading and only tiny bits of meat. I liked the steamed broccoli garnish -- at least it was fresh veg, unlike that in my Shrimp Chow Fun.
Szechuan Chicken. The sauce was a tasty firey and sweet chili pepper creation... but again, very greasy.
All portions are very generous. Prices are moderate to low. You get what you pay for.
I am kind of partial to this place based on reasons other than their food.
Location, delivery/pick up ready time, prices, friendly service, etc.
Don't get me wrong, their food isn't bad at all, it's just the combination of all the aforementioned things that adds to the establishments "goodness".
Pros: Cheap, quick, and portions are enormous. One order can defintely last at least 2 meals.
Cons: After eating, prepare to camp out next to your toilet or wear a diaper. This food does not agree with GI tracts.
Obviously I did not expect this to be the highest quality Chinese food, but I wasn't expecting it to be the worst. Â Maybe the bbq pork was just having a bad day, but I will not be going back.
I'm not sure what happened to this place recently, new mgmt? We only live a few blocks away so Blue Willow was very convenient for us...decent food, excellent price. Had been ordering from them for years. Over the last 6 months the quality has gone waaayyy downhill. The egg foo young used to be good, now it's practically a burnt patty of who knows what and the sauce is pretty bad too. This isn't just a one time experience, I gave them multiple chances. I agree with another reviewer, the beef is always a little rubbery and tastes funky. Even when we still liked this place we never ordered the beef. Just ordered from there Tuesday, got the chicken with Chinese mixed veg and the pork egg foo young...again, you'd think I'd learned my lesson by now. Again burnt egg foo young and now the chicken dishes are getting really bland....that was the last time they'll get our business, which is sad since it was located so close to home. On an up note the egg rolls and fried race are still good...so if that's all you're looking for, then go for it, otherwise you'll probably be pretty disappointed.
Review Source:Living in Logan Square my whole life, I've walked past this place for two decades without ever stopping inside. Setting out to rectify that, I checked Yelp and placed an order for pickup. Â Mongolian beef.
The food was ready when I got there, but I had to wait while the woman behind the counter ran around doing everything else. But who cares about any of this, down to the food.
The portion was massive, clearly more than I could eat in one sitting (and I can pack away the food!). The beef was kind of spongey/rubbery and the whole dish was sitting in, I'm not exaggerating, one inch of solid grease. luckily, they'd put the whole dish on top of those crispy fried noodles which provided a scaffolding for the beef to not be actively marinating in that.
Now, I consider myself a gastrointestinal machine. I can eat more or less anything and it come out fine. This place gave me digestive problems, and for that, I will never forgive them. I went two decades without trying them, now I'm going two more before I go back.
Used to be a 5 star place, as of a few months ago they have new ownership, large fried rice with extra meat used come  in a giant quart sized box, now its only a pint.  Previously the carryout time would be between 5 to 10 minutes after calling, I was convinced  the people answering the phones their must have had ESP.
The food quality seems to have suffered and the while the prices have been raised the serving sizes have shrunk. Â Silver lining is that it did force me to "get back out there" and I discovered Lee's Chop Suey near by and they have great fried rice and a amazing lemon chicken.
Holiday Party Hangover and all I could think was MUST GET CHINESE FOOD, quickly followed with, Must find phone. Â I found this place here on YELP and it was the only one in my area that was open during my hangover emergency. Â
For starters, easiest ordering experience I have ever had over the phone  It took all of 3 mins and I did not have to repeat myself.  I really dislike ordering food over the phone, i suffer from phone ordering anxiety and get flustered when i have to repeat myself.  I would like to thank them for making it painless.
They stuck to their 30 min delivery promise.
The Crab Rangoon provides the deep fried goodness one with a hangover desires and its actually good, not overpowered with the fishy flavor.
My dish was good, but nothing to yelp about. Â It did it's job.
Hey, there are few Chinese joints in the immediate hood and this place is a surprising find! Mongolian Beef, Egg-Rolls- you're gonna like em. Very good chicken wings, love the special friend rice (Jalapeno, pineapple and pork) and even the Egg-Foo Young is totally working. Affordable, fast and accessible if you're in the Logan Sq area and need a fix de asian fast food.
Review Source:The good news is, this place gives you LOTS of food. Â The bad news is, you won't want to eat all of it. I go to this place sometimes cuz it's the closest Chinese place to my house that doesn't give me digestive problems (another point in its favor). Â The chicken, the meat itself, tastes weird, sort of rubbery like it's frozen or something.
Review Source:This place reminds me of home. Family run Chinese place.
Anyway, the food is as close as I can get to home without flying back south. Family/staff is friendly and they put up with my dissipating Cantonese very well. Small beef fried rice with extra bean sprouts, mushrooms, and broccoli set me back around $8 but it was worth it. Love the BYOB policy, and I'm so happy I have a Chinese place within walking distance of me. Let me know if you want to go!
Alright I'm a little biased because I was a HUGE fan of Blue Willow when they were on the corner of chicago and damen (where subway is now). If I was rating them before the move (It's been well over seven years now) they'd get 5 stars but now this place just doesn't cut it.
They used to have these spicy hot chicken wings (not regular hot wings) made with their "secret sauce" and they were amazing). Alright, alright chicken wings aren't exactly "chinese food" so I'll briefly comment on the more traditional options. The orange chicken is meh at best and the fried rice tends to be hard.
They get two stars for nostalgic reasons.
Mediocre food at best.  I was craving Chinese and this did not  satisfy my craving.  I ordered the Chicken Kung Pao with fried rice which was ok but when they wrapped it to go they dumped the Kung Pao and the rice together in the same take out container which irritated me to no end.  I like to taste the rice separately, ya know?  I gave it two stars as the experience wasn't a complete disaster but I doubt I'll be back.
Review Source:I was definitely disappointed with the food I ordered from Blue Willow last week.  I ordered the shrimp lo mein and the sesame chicken combo  (which includes pork fried rice and egg roll).  The lo mein was overcooked and mushy and the flavor was lacking.  The shrimp were a good size so I just picked them out and haven't really waste my calories on the noodles. The sesame chicken had too much breading on them and I could barely taste the chicken.  When I did taste the chicken, it was tough and overcooked as well.  The fried rice was ehh, alright I guess.  The egg roll is still sitting in my fridge and more than likely I will throw it out this weekend.  The only good thing I can really say is that the serving sizes for both dishes were pretty generous, but unfortunately the rest of the meal was disappointing.  It's really too bad since it's the only Chinese restaurant in my neighborhood within walking distance.  I guess I'll have to settle for delivery instead.
Review Source:There are only two types of food I eat the day after I completely destroy my liver. Â One is yummy submarines from Heros, and the other is Chinese food, I don't care where I get it, I just needs me some beef, broccoli and white rice! It's a simple order so I just go to the nearest place I can find.
Today, I went here to refresh my love of blue willow and I have to say I'm not disappointed. Â The food was still good and definitely satisfied my need of Chinese food at that moment. Â The service is still the same, as soon as they give you the food, the waitress disappears and you have to track them down for the bill. Â But I'm okay with that here, I had time to stop and smell the roses today and I learned how to say roast duck in chinese.
I have been trying to find a good local Chinese place for while. I decided to give Blue Willow a try after reading reviews. I have to admit that i was not too impressed. I ordered the Hunan Shrimp and an egg roll to go. When i walked in for pick up i noticed the dinning room was small but clean. Nothing to exciting about the decor, but typical for your local Chinese place. Â
The portions were substantial and the prices are good, but i didn't really enjoy my dish, something about the flavor didn't seem right. I will probably give this place another try and order something different. But I am still on the search for a favorite neighborhood place.
An above average neighborhood Chinese restaurant, and better than many I've been to in the city. The menu here seems to be a little more extensive than many neighborhood Chinese places I've eaten at, prices are very reasonable throughout, and it doesn't hurt that I noticed they have over 15 lunch specials for $4.95 you can choose from if you go on weekdays before 3pm.
I met up with 2 others here, and we all got the family dinner for 3 special($32.50). They also have family dinner specials for 2 and 4 people($22 and 44 respectively), and basically in all their shared dinner specials each person gets an egg roll, choice of soup, hot tea, and shared portions of Mongolian Beef(which you can order mild instead of spicy), and 1-3 additional entrees based on how many share the dinner special. The entree portions they give are somewhat on the greasy side, but were very sizable and great for leftovers. Entrees were tasty and good enough(our special came with Hong Sue Shrimp and Chicken Chop Suey, besides Mongolian Beef), but neither really great nor terrible. The only small complaint I had is that the booths were on the wee bit small side if you're tall(like myself), but at least it isn't as bad as some restaurants I've dined at in the past.
What really stood out about Blue Willow, and how it clinched an additional star, is that they do have really good hot tea and great smoothies(love the option of NOT having bubbles/pearls in the latter, unlike many Chinese/Thai/etc. restaurants!). I would agree with others about the family proprietors being friendly, despite the occasional language barriers. Â Finally, they do a very brisk take-out business, and I couldn't help but notice how they tended to have great timing on getting the orders done before people even arrived to pick up their food. I'm sure I'd probably get take-out from here often, if I were to live in Logan Square.
I must disclaim that this place is right down the street from me. Â I usually go once a month. Â It's good and cheap. Â You're not going to find some gourmet Chinese food here, but if you know what to order it's pretty good. Â Always avoid shrimp and chicken at any take out Chinese place.
I typically order the General Tso's Chicken or the Sesame Chicken with some beef fried rice and some hot sauce. Â The smoothies are the MF-S&^% (especially mango).
The hot sauce and the smoothie is really the draw for me.
You can feed 3 for under $24.
This is your typical, greasy good chinese. I got the standby General Tso's chicken and crab rangoon. I've had a hard time finding a Chinese place in Chicago that serves the Tso's the way we do back home. (Wisconsin that is, and you know we know Chinese in Wisconsin.) This stuff was greasy, sugary, barely spicy, and cooked with only broccoli, just the way we do it back home. The crab rangoon was actually really good. The portions were large and a bit over priced. I would definitely go back.
Review Source:A previous reviewer used the phrase "processed mush" and I have a hard time thinking of a better description than that for the food at Blue Willow. Â It's not expensive to eat there, but you'll still feel like you paid too much after you take one bite. Â The Orange Chicken is awful.
I don't know why the bar for takeout chinese is so low in Logan Square, but man, is it ever. Â I am baffled as to how this place stays in business. Â All I can conclude is that folks have never had good takeout chinese to compare this to.
A pretty average grease spot in terms of Chinese food. It really did have fast take-out service from what I remember. Nothing at all remarkable except I will second the recommendation for the Mongolian Beef. It's pretty unfair to declare it the best ever, but I will say that it will put you to SLEEP. It's good in that bad and disgusting way and you could paint a house with the shits you'll get from it.
Review Source:The couple who runs the place is really funny. I don't understand them and they don't understand me--yet they seem to remember what I order every time!
That said, they think they know what I want to order, but 80% of the time it comes out as something else and I just shrug and try it.
I myself don't really like the food here, but my friends do. I think it's greasy, which upsets my tummy. They love the orange sauce, orange beef etc. I like the fried rice, but I wish they could make it without the oil.
The restaurant has a funky atmosphere - dull lighting, pinkish tablecloths, etc.
At least they make Boba smoothies here.
Overall, I far prefer Friendship Chinese (clean! tasty! less greasy!), but my friends prefer this place for some reason...sigh
This is literally the worst Chinese food I've ever tasted! Â Per recommendations on here, I order the Orange Chicken--TERRIBLE! Â The chicken feels like a processed mush, the orange sauce was salty to the bone, with no hint of sweetness.
I also got the crab rangoons, as recommended. Â They forgot the homemade sauce that was suppose to be so good...
I highly advise against getting delivery from here.
Summary: Good value for money. Â Food is ok.
Ordered takeout tonight. Â It was definitely very reasonable but the food was just OK - very large portions. Â No more Korean fare available. Â Egg rolls were a little too salty but the spring roll was nice. Â Chicken had a little too much breading but otherwise tasted decent. Â Overall it was pretty much right around mall food quality food. Â The food could probably last us (we ordered a total of 2 dishes for the 2 of us) at least 3 meals.
I order delivery from here from time to time. It's reasonably priced and it's pretty fast service. Â But the food is only ok. Nothing too special. We ate in one time and that was fun. We ordered massive amounts of food. Â We liked the crab rangoon the most and didn't care for the egg rolls. I like the shrimp fried rice here. Nothing too extraordinary .Cute little restaurant though and friendly staff.
Review Source:I placed a carryout order last night with Blue Willow. Â After giving my order (Shrimp with Chinese Vegetables, Sesame Chicken), the lady on the phone said, "Ok, your food will be ready in five minutes ... "
Five minutes!
Never in my life have I had a carryout order of any kind be ready in five minutes. Â Usually I have to sit and wait at least 10 minutes before heading out to the restaurant just because I hate getting there too early and having to stand there and wait for my food. Â After I hung up the phone, I was in a semi-state of shock at first before I decided to haul ass over there just to see if the five minute promise was legit. Â I got there in about six minutes and as I walked up to the counter, the lady was just finishing putting my food in a bag. Â Needless to say, I was impressed.
Oh and in case you're wondering, the food was quite good too. Â The Sesame Chicken was not too sweet and had a tiny bit of heat to it -- very tasty. Â The Shrimp with Chinese Vegetables had loads of veggies and was also very good. Â I'll definitely be back again, though next time I might just start driving there first before I place my order.
The wonton soup is tasty. And...it's huge. It's gotta be a quart, or something. It's not your usual bowl, let's put it that way. It's a bowl big enough to fit a small mammal.
The crab rangoon is also tasty. As are the fried wontons. Try these as your appetizers. You shant be disappointed.
The beef chop suey is good, but the sesame chicken combination platter is better. BEST, even. It comes with a huge heaping pile of pork fried rice and a delicious egg roll. (warning: this is a spicy dish. I'm fine with it because I love spicy food. You might be able to ask for it in a 'mild' version.)
Dine in or carry out. Either way, the food tastes good and they give you the same size portions every time. HUGE portions. Yum. :)
I live around the corner from this place, and eat here on a fairly regular basis as it is so close to home. Â It is a cute, tiny, family owned restaurant and the proprietors could not be any sweeter. The interior is unremarkable and the Chinese food is fine but unexceptional. Â Just a friendly, inexpensive, local restaurant. There is, however, a secret within that makes this otherwise ordinary restaurant worthy of four stars.
As far as the Chinese menu goes, they offer the standards with a very affordable lunch special. Â For around 5.00, Â you get soup, an appetizer and an entree. This is very popular lunch spot in the neighborhood, especially with families. Â Definitely a kid friendly establishment and people really do seem to enjoy it. Â They do a fairly brisk business at lunch, but I've never see a wait for a table. Â
While I'm not enamored of the Chinese food here,  I must admit that I enjoy the crab rangoon, especially when I'm hung over and it is served with a side of  the hot sauce that is made on-site by the grandfather.  This hot sauce is a fantastic concoction - pungent and savory with just enough kick to make you take notice - and is the real reason I give them four stars. Definitely my fave hot sauce in the city, I swear I could drink the stuff.  Apparently, they do a brisk business on the side with this intoxicating liquid, so you can actually purchase it in large quantities.  Make sure you ask for it when you order, they don't hand it out otherwise.
They also have a  "special" menu, which is where they hide the Korean food!  Who knew - Korean food in Logan Square? This could be a trend - the Fullerton Diner at the corner recently added a few Korean dishes to their menu as well. The Blue Willow only offers  Chap Chae (about 7.00 with chicken or beef, 8.00 with shrimp)  and Cham Bong (6.50), but both are fairly tasty, with the Cham Bong being big enough to share and packed to the brim with shrimp and chicken. There are better places in town to get Korean, certainly, but not south of Lawrence and not at such bargain prices. Also not on the menu is kim chee - be sure to ask for a side of it. Always great and, I suspect, also homemade.
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,611 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,972 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,318 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,915 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,987 Views | Category: Press Releases
Not Logged In
BUSINESSES
Local Businesses
Near Me
My Favorites
SOCIAL
Blog & News
MY ACCOUNT
Login
Register
Contact Us
Add Your Business
