Great Wall

A steady and consistent family favorite over the years. Especially given that my mom is quite good friends with the owner and head chef. He used work at the Grand Mandarin for many years prior to it closing (<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/grand-mandarin-restaurant-lisle">http://www.yelp.com/biz/…</a>). Afterwards, he decided to open his own restaurant, which is really family run hence the small, homey nature of the place! I believe his wife and older kids often help out.

Some favorite dishes over the years:

1) Apps: Pork Ear in Red Chili Sauce and Salty Duck: Both are made in house and have such a great flavor to them.

2) Fish: Dried Bean Sauce Fish and Great Wall Fish Head Casserole Soup: The Bean Sauce Fish is made with a large fillet of Sea Bass steamed then topped with dried bean crisps. All in all the soft and crunchy texture along with the taste variations make it a great dish. The Fish Head Soup is one of the most famous dishes that he makes and needs to be pre-ordered!

3) Meat: Three Cup Chicken, Hakkanese Sautéed: Both are great dishes and authentic in their Taiwanese nature!

Overall, quite an authentic Chinese restaurant, you just have to take a little bit deeper dive into the menu to order the house specialties! Definitely recommend.

Thought I had this review written after we ate and carryout from here a dozen time. There are a few items my family are really fond of. But keep in mind that this place is tiny and services are kind of hit or miss

Our favorite dishes are 3 cups chicken, Great Wall's Tofu,  salted fish fillet, Hakkanese Sautéed, Pork chop noodles, and fish head soup (need to order in advance). Other than  Hakkanese Sautéed, all listed are none spicy food and kids friendly. They could be a bit heavy and greasy. But all really delicious and very consistent so far.

We were not too impressed with beef with broccoli nor Fish fillet with Chinese broccoli. They are fine but not that impressive.

The services, however, were not consistent. Half the time I have to call the wait person to get what I need. A few of my friends were not treated politely when they were there. So carryout has been my recent approach.

11/13/12: Lunch stop here after visiting the DuPage County Children's Museum (not nearby but on the way to our next destination). Small, quiet restaurant located in a generic strip mall. We got a table without any wait (Tuesday noontime), I'm always a fan of supporting a Taiwanese restaurant, especially since in Honolulu there are none. The lunch specials are a great value and taste delicious. I ordered a pork chop plate that was very tasty, rice was served with some traditional Taiwanese accouterments, we loved it.