The good:
Delicious SPICY food. Truly affordable prices. Less of a wait than other popular joints like Lao Sze Chuan or Joy Yees.
The not-so-good:
The restaurant space is quite bare and cramped. Service was so-so.
RATINGS:
Kung Pao chicken: 4/5
Dry chicken red chili: 4/5
Cashew chicken: 5/5
Egg drop soup: 3/5
Ambience: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Some of the best pan-Asian food I have ever eaten. The Korean inspired housemade noodles are out of control, and the kimchi is next level. The steamed dumplings are something to write home about.
The space is nothing special, but what makes it such a wonderful place is the food- affordable, truly delicious and fresh, and impeccable service. Every time my parents are in town I immediately bring them here and they love it. Perfect for almost every palate.
Ok, so in the 2.5 years since I wrote this, we have been back to Lao Beijing several times, but always for HOT POT. They have excellent hotpot. Mounds of delicious paper-thin meats, lots of bok choy and mushrooms and vegetables I didn't recognize and just ordered by the sound of their names, which was a good way to go. Per my last review, I am still in love with the northern pancake, which you can get WITH your hotpot for free. I would suggest getting an extra one for each person at the table, bc it's just too good. I want to try more on the menu, but I just can't turn down the hot pot.
Also, you can get fish balls in your hot pot. I am OBSESSED with fish balls.
Had a very nice meal. Short wait.  People came in after us, but they remembered that we were there first and no problems getting seated.  Service was more attentive that I expected after reading some of the other reviews, so no issues on that front.  The food was fabulous - had the potstickers for an app (they were so good we ordered another round), chicken chilli, tenderloin with mushroom and a very simple duck (almost tasted smoked) with plum sauce that was the suprise favorite.  Very  positive experience and I will be back.  If you park in the lot, don't forget to bring your ticket into the restauarant for validation.  I left mine in the car. Ooops.
Review Source:Service first: the waitress was gone often even when the restaurant was only at half capacity. She brought us water late and refilled them only once. This wasn't a huge deal, although my mom and aunt (I think she's my biological aunt. It's hard to tell because every Chinese person is your aunt or uncle when you're Chinese) flipped a whole lot of shit over that, as older Chinese women are wont to do. So I'll dock a star there.
The food, though, was pretty great (even if everything came late and all at once). Potstickers were some of the best around.
This review is for delivery from Seamless ONLY. I've eaten at the actual restaurant and the service and food are good, probably 3.5 stars.
The biggest disappoint from Seamless delivery was the portion size. It was almost less than half the amount than eating at the regular store. Talk about a rip-off!
Also, they gave us the completely wrong dish for one of our noodle orders.
Worse of all, the food tasted sloppily put together and it truly seemed like they half-assed our entire order.
Shame on you Lao Beijing for such a disappointing delivery order, don't order through Seamless!
Food was amazing....and so was service. Â I have been to Lao Sze Chuan and have had continually bad service there so decided to try this place. Â I had an extremely friendly and attentive older man this time. Â However, I saw some of the same unfriendly servers at this place that work at Lao Sze Chaun. Â Since it is owned by the same person, they probably have interchangeable servers at both restaurants, so its probably just a hit or miss.
Review Source:Good food but the service was awful. Â I realize the place was packed but after being sat for 25 minuets with no water or even a hello, I had to get up and grab menus. Â From the sounds of things, each table around us was unhappy and most were missing things they ordered. Â As we were waiting, we wondered what of our order would we never see? Â For us, after the meal was done and we asked for boxes our appetizer came out as well the last dish we figured was forgotten. Â Can't say the food was bad but the lack of service might make me think before I go again. Â Will probably try again on a regular night.
Review Source:Went here a few months ago with a huge group, as we had a tour of Chinatown set up with the cultural center, then they set up a dinner for us here. The food was ok. Nothing great or outstanding.
The thing that got me what the service. First they were not prepared for our large group when we arrived. We had scheduled this two months prior and confirmed a week ahead. So why or why were you not ready for us. I fact, they had a group upstairs that was not finish eating when we got there. We had to wait anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes until this group was done. Then when I asked during the wait what was on the menu, no one could tell me...the organizers told us to ask the restaurant who didn't tell us until we were sited. As a group, this was bad because I had to make sure their were no nuts or seafood for persons in our group. And this made it hard to do when you don't have a menu. No one announced what was on the menu, no on greeted the group....nothing.
For the rest of our time there, things were ok. Service during the menu was good. Â Food was hot and good for the most part. Its been awhile, so I do not remember what we had, but there was nothing impressive that I ate.
Would not come again if in the area.
I don't know anymore. Yes, Tony Hu is taking over Chinatown, and making his way through the city, but to be honesty, a lot of his menus are the same at each restaurant. Do I like it? No. Is Hu a genius in doing that? Quite possibly.
The one thing that shined bright was the soup dumplings. That's about it.
Everything else we ordered, about five other items, lacked a lot of heat, some lacking flavor completely.
Am I going to continue to frequent Emperor Hu's restaurants? Probably just one of them.
Great food, horrible customer service. I usually order take out and the food is absolutely amazing but the last three times I have called they have asked me to hold and then put the phone down, off the hook... for 20 minutes. That to me is ridiculous. I can understand that sometimes they are busy but the last time I actually drove out there and they weren't very busy at all. 5 stars for the food, 0 for the service
Review Source:We had an amazing time here! Michael is the best, and he makes the best recommendations for you. We ordered the Beijing style noodles, the tofu noodles with pork, and another dish I cant remember but was liked stir-fried pork with veggies. We also got some fried buns which were OK, but not as great as our main dishes. Food is not too expensive, and if you are clueless about what to order, ask for recommendations! We asked Michael what he recommended, and we loved everything he chose for us (the tofu noodles and the other pork dish). The Beijing style noodles was perfect and could have been a main dish in itself. Great place!
Review Source:Ahh, yes. Â I have been addicted to dumplings lately and have been ordering from this place at least once a week for a month now. Â Their dumplings are all delicious, as are the pot stickers. Â I sometimes get adventurous, but the Tony's Special Shrimp and the pork moo shoo are my standby's (in addition to dumplings of course). Â I look forward to going in to eat at the restaurant eventually.
Review Source:I have been to Lao Beijing countless times and apart from its more expensive sister restaurant Lao Sze Chuan down the street, it is one of the best places in Chinatown (I live 4 blocks away and come almost every week to Chinatown). The menu is not purely "Beijing" cuisine, really more Szechuan. What are the highlights: any lamb (especially the lamb with cumin Xianjinan style--amazing), the Mongolian meat dishes, the soft-shelled crab (to die for, and if you have issues with spicy, you will the next morning), the pot stickers, dan dan noodles, Chengdu chili chicken (that and the dan dan should tell you right there that this is Szechuan).
Not everything is good here. They offer some dishes they should drop: anything Americanized (i.e. orange, sesame, kung pao etc.), moo shu (not sure why this is not good here), and the congee (even our friend Michael [waiter] recommended against it, but my wife was feeling under the weather and it is like medicine for her).
As for some of the criticisms below, I have been the restaurant countless times and seen people leave in a huff or worse. If you are coming to Lao Beijing for an authentic Chinese experience--guess what, you are going to get it. Which means there is no list of people waiting, they pretty much remember the first 3-4 or groups that come. Anything longer they don't bother, assuming you will walk off (which is usually true). They do not have a waiting area. That's what China is like in most places. Its crowded, hectic, but worth it for the food.
LB does have issues with staffing. They always seem to be over or under staffed. Not sure why, so I can see aggravation there, but rather than get that constipated, whiny, annoying American attitude, try to smile. Usually the weekend suburbanites who dare to come into Chicago and try "the real thing" leave exasperated. Please go to PF Changs and save us all from ugly American tantrums. They know when they are behind and they will make it up with free food or extra drinks, but only if you smile. Seriously. Trust me on this. Otherwise, they do not really care--just like China. And yes, just like China, just because you order appetizers, that does not mean they come first. You get what you get when it comes.
So I recommend you give this place a chance, even if you have not had a good experience before. Also, try coming on a weeknight or after 9 and you will have a much different experience. And if you pay cash, they knock 5% off the bill.
Cheers
Disgusting food, terrible service.
We went there for lunch on a Saturday. Here was our experience:
(1) Nobody greeted us at the door. We were standing like idiots, until a waitress pointed at a table that's ready.
(2) Nobody asked us if we neede anything or if ready to place order. We had to ask them!
(3) There will be a long wait before we had any food to eat. 30 minutes at least.
Most importantly, the food is horrible. Two of our dishes are too salty. I'm used too salty dishes, but those dishes were barely edible. The "cook" obviously put in salt and MSG like crazy.
To us, this is the worst of Chicago Chinatown.
I don't quite understand all these Lao additions to Chinatown, especially Lao Beijing. The menu is very vast but it doesn't exactly point out what's so Beijing about it. I see a variety of Hunan and Sichuan dishes, but don't we already have Lao Hunan and Lao Szechuan?
My friend and I ordered the following: Â house special cumin lamb, stir-fried home-style tofu, and twice cooked pork. The cumin lamb and tofu was on par, but the twice cooked pork was very gamey. Nothing too particular about the dishes other than having both meat dishes drowned in mostly onions. There weren't much meat to be shared.
Lunch specials, on the other hand, were much better. There's still nothing particularly Beijing about the menu though. I had the kung pao chicken for approximately $7. It was pretty darn spicy but very flavorful.
I truly heart potstickers and Lao Beijing has one of my favorites. Every time I go, I need to order the pork fried potstickers and their sunshine (seafood) dumplings. The weird thing is that I actually am not a big fan of the sunshine dumplings made fresh and actually think they taste better the next day when reheated...very strange but I tested this out 3 times and my husband agrees as well! What's awesome about this place is that they also have many of my favorite dishes from Lao Sze Chuan but just with no or little wait. Be warned that just like at LSC, their spicy dishes can be SPICY.
This place would be 5 stars for the food alone but the service can be spotty at times.
I must have the worst luck finding restaurants since I moved to Chicago. Either that or 90% of the restaurants in this area just suck. By law of probability, in a city this size, you would think that you could walk into a busy restaurant and it's good, right? Ha ha ha...
Where do I start? We walk in and we're told that we will wait 20 minutes and they make us stand in the doorway, where all the action is happening, obviously. So, there we are, looking like idiots saying sorry for a few minutes as we're in everybody's way, and the dude tells us we have a table within 5 minutes. Solid. Perfect. Music to my ears. Well, we have a bout three servers and they all suck. A plate of cabbage drenched in red chili oil is served complimentary. Really, for just greasy, spicy cabbage, not bad! They can't explain to us what conch is, even to my girlfriend who is Chinese, and my friend orders some to try it. The conch arrives and we think it's more cabbage. It's not. And, it also turns out that conch is giant sea snail. Good thing we were on our way to audition for Bizarre Foods!
I order some hot pepper beef dish. The server asks me how spicy. I reply to burn my ass off spicy. My girlfriend gets some cold noodle dish and my friend gets a fried, stuffed shrimp. Now, my dish is spicy. It's supposed to be spicy: burn my ass off spicy, if you do recall. After my friend is served his dish (they bring the food all at different intervals?), they bring mine out a few minutes later. Oh boy, I'm so excited when this sizzling plate of beef is sat in front of me. I'm going to burn my ass off! Wrong! NOT ONE HOT PEPPER IN THE WHOLE DISH!!! The dude told me he would give me a medal if I could eat food that spicy. Really?? Granted, this beef was good and so was my friend's shrimp. But then, they forgot my girlfriend's food! I'm sitting there eating like a pig, almost done, and they finally bring her food after we had to ask them! Wow, really pathetic. Terrible service and miscommunication really turned good food into a terrible experience.
Pictures of the celebrity chef meeting with all types of celebrities including Bill Clinton and Yao Ming adorn the glass walls in the front of the restaurant. If only that celebrity treatment were given to all customers I'd say this place might be more promising.
Ordered the egg drop soup, duck, a tofu dish, and clams with cumin sauce. Granted it was around 3pm but the servers all had that 'eat s**t' face when we ordered. The food itself was quite good though and definitely worth trying. Duck was pretty juicy with a crispy outer skin. Not a big fan of the cumin sauce on the clams.
What was more than annoying was that during the entire meal the loudest voice in the room was the waiter yelling into his cell phone at unreasonably loud volumes in Chinese.
If you can put up with crappy service, then the food probably will be worth it. Wouldn't make a special trip out for this one though.
After a day of wandering and shopping in the Mag Mile and Gold Coast, we might have spent all the money designated for dinner. So when our stomach growled, we decided to take the train to Chinatown for a cheap bite.
Upon reaching Chinatown, I realized that my go-to spot, Chi Cafe, was perhaps too cheap for a dinner - I know, is there ever such thing? But we had a visitor from out of town, and we didn't want him to think that we're that poor to have to eat $5 noodles all the time. Truth is, we had been to Chi Cafe about 2 times within that week for very late dinners and the very last time, I might have over ate while still drunk, resulting in pro-long discomfort and bad taste for Chi Cafe's food (but just to make my point straight, I don't blame them, it was entirely my fault).
Long story short, having spent my dinner budget on a new shirt, I agreed to go to a "fancier" Chinese place, and Lao Beijing was the Tony-Hu-owned choice of the day.
The restaurant was small, and packed, and smelled like Chinese food (duh). As usual, servers/busser/hostess were running around doing various things except acknowledging that we had entered their restaurant and wanted a seat. Luckily, my friend speaks fluent Mandarin and Cantonese, so it made things a little bit easier. We were told to wait a little bit for another couple to finish their meal. So we just stood there, right at the entrance, awkwardly looking at people's meals, while trying to jump when a server rushed through.
But about fifteen minutes in, we sat down, and were brought some hot tea. No complains on the services thus far. As a matter of fact, I love this part about authentic Asian restaurants. If I'm being pampered, I just feel like that restaurant isn't authentic.
Their menu was huge, and of course we had a hard time deciding what to order. To make matters worse, we had some sort of a conflict of taste due since:
Me - Vietnamese
My best friend: Chinese Malaysian
Her boy friend: Korean
I know, I know. Such a diverse group of friends (and there are more not being mentioned). You ask, how is it possible that we know each other, let alone become great friends? And no, it wasn't like we were born in the same neighborhood outside of Chicago and grew up together while attending asian camp. We are from those countries, shipped over here as teenagers, and some how it just happened that we became friends. Although secretly we bash about each other's countries and think our country is better. Only when it comes to dinner time that we often unite since we have to share food. (For the record, Vietnam is the shit).
Anyway, back to Lao Beijing. After a long deliberation of what to order, we decided to go with dry chilli chicken, ma po tofu, fried rice cake, and dumpling. We were all really hungry, so we might have ordered more than necessary, but again, we all have asian metabolism, so who cares?
The food came out after a while. The portion was HUGE, and the food was delicious! I struggled with my personal choice of not eating meat, but my Malaysian friend lured me into eating the dry chilli chicken by telling me the story of her growing up and eating it (I swear her story was THAT good it made me nostalgic for that dish). Everything was ridiculously good and very authentic (according to my Chinese Malaysian friend of course, and before you want to argue, she lived in Beijing for half a year). They didn't skimp on the meat, or the tofu, and they gave us more than enough rice for the 3 of us.
So we pigged out while carefully trying not to inhale rapidly or laugh, because the food was spicy, and trust me, a wrong inhalation would send you coughing your lung out! I literally ate too much I couldn't move, and I was very glad I wore a dress instead of pants that day. The result? We had left over that last us another meal. And and the cost of 15 per person, I will come back for sure!
The server stole my iphone!!!!! my phone was on the table and i just noticed i didn't bring my phone when i just about to walked out of the front door. i came back in right away and it was gone! it took me about 10 seconds to back in and me and my friends were looking for it everywhere my bag, floor, etc and even called so many times if someone would answer it. However, after about 10 min later one waiter came to us and took the phone out of his pocket. wth?? i assumed when he saw the phone on the table he put it in his pocket instead of giving it to the front desk. what a thief!! and he even saw us looking for my phone for 10 minutes. arrrrrrrr
Review Source:Hmmm...I gave a "OK" for this restaurant is because ~~~~~~ How can you serve Peking Duck with Tortillas not "spring skin" for wrapping????? Â Also, Peking Duck Skin should be in slices, not threaded in the long strips...Very disappointed when this dish came out to our table, I have a table full of guests with me, trying to impress them with authentic Northern Chinese Food....and this.....oh my.....the picture below with duck...it is not what they serve...not sure where the stock photo came about, it is definitely not what they serve us that day.
I have to say though, prior to this Peking Duck Dish, everything was going great! Â that's why I gave a "OK" instead of "I've experience it better".
This review is long overdue!
All the food I've had here is terrific. Â A little pricey compared to other fare you can get in Chinatown (that was a tough mental hurdle to overcome at first, lol!), but the food is definitely worth it.
My mother and I went all out and got the 4 seasons dumplings, tofu casserole, stir fry wild mushrooms, congee, salt and pepper beef, special steamed eggs (I don't think these are even on the menu?? GO MOM), tom yum goong, onion pancake, and a mushroom rice tower.
Everything is delicious! Â Definitely will come here to pig out again.
Great food, great dumplings, great onion pancakes, great noodles, all of it. In terms of authenticity this place ranks pretty high. I went here for hot pot and I loved all of it. The environment was warm and brightly lit. I have nothing to complain about this place, except for one thing.
I am only giving it three stars because it seemed the entire restaurant served us until one of them was actually able to do his job. As most Chinese restaurants are, they have great food and terrible service. Most of the staff was very forgetful, and absent minded. I asked the waiter for extra chopsticks IN MANDARIN CHINESE, and they gave me silverware. I asked for lamb, and they forgot about it until I asked them two more times.
Five stars for food, one star for service.
I am a scibing for my future roommate who ate here with me b/c she is actually Chinese and knows what constitutes good, authentic Chinese food.
"This is a fairly authentic Chinese place. You could tell the noodles here were fresh and home made. It was doughy and fairly fresh tasting. I wish they had Siracha sauce. The service was kinda poo poo, but you never expect good service at a Chinese place. Plus it was kinda cheap!"
I may be a late arrival to the Tony Hu bandwagon, but I'm now a happy card-carrying member.
Came here with a large group of co-workers for lunch at the recommendation of the coworker I'd rate "most likely to recommend a bad lunch spot". Based on this single data point, and having done zero research beforehand (unlike me when it comes to eating), I expected a sad Americanized rendition of one of the world's best traditional cuisines. What I got, however, was my mind blown.
It was a cold day in March, and either this place didn't have heat or chose not to use it. Much to the chagrin of my controlling personality (at least when it comes to food), there weren't enough menus to go around so coworker X took the lead on ordering for the table as I gripped my hot tea, partly to keep warm and party to control my frustration. I had written this place off before the first dish ever came out of the kitchen.
Then the first dish came out of the kitchen. Delicious hot & sour soup and the richest, crispiest, most cream-cheesy crab rangoon I've ever tasted. From there the rest of the meal was a daze that even now comes back to me only in bits & pieces: tender & flavor-packed orange beef; sublime salt & pepper shrimp; mongolian lamb; Szechuan-style beef; hand made northern style noodles; Famous Tony shrimp, perfectly crispy and a delicate balance of sweet & spicy; the wise-cracking head waiter making a joke about not eating our plates along with the food; a single television featuring a Mandarin-speaking early 90's soap opera; and another half-dozen dishes equally delicious but which I'll likely never be able to name.
Amazing and unexpected food experiences do still happen. Don't stop believing.
Shame on anyone who gave this less than four stars. Shame on your parents for the poor job they did raising you. If you are Chinese, you are hereby kicked out of being Chinese. If you are not Chinese, you are a racist.
First of all, Qingdao/Tsingtao. Always welcome. Don't get any of the American beers (especially not Chicago's overrated local brew) when Qingdao is an option. As far as atmosphere is concerned, they have CCTV and a wisecracking old waiter (he is funnier in Mandarin than in English though). So obviously that's a plus.
Now for the serious business of the food itself: Everything we ordered was mighty tasty (our party was split between pork eaters and lamb eaters, so I can't speak for the pork products, but those who ate them really, really enjoyed them). It's definitely serious Northerner food, which is always my preference when it comes to Chinese cuisine, and just as I always prefer with Northerner food, I recommend people just order a bunch of lamb dishes at random and share them. Eating "family style" rendered the whole experience quite affordable as well, although of course the real money saver would be to get this take-away, avoid the tip, and get a case of Qingdao from a nearby liquor store to enjoy with friends at your place.
In conclusion: Eat this food.
I've been here quite a few times and I find that the food here is really just "aight". I remember the first time I was pretty impressed; however, after these past few times I realize that the dishes weren't very consistent. Some lacked flavor and others were too salty. The beef in the beef chow fun was a tad bit salty. The peking duck was bland, the skin was crispy, however lacked flavor; cumin lamb was ok; twice cooked pork, hmmm was a disappointment; the salt and pepper squid and the Spicy pepper diced chicken were still the best dishes in my opinion. Â
Luckily they serve Tsingtao... you can't have spicy Northern style chinese food without having a good beer.
I'll be back, just because my Kung fu masters love this place ;P
I was a little apprehensive visiting another Tony Hu's restaurant (after what happened at Lao You Ju), but Lao Beijing exceeded my expectations.
We ordered the:
spicy dry fried chicken (diced)
steamed soup dumplings
napa cabbage with garlic and dried shrimp
green onion pancake
The spicy dry fried chicken was not overly spicy but definitely had some heat.
The steamed soup dumplings had good flavor but lacked an appetizing dipping sauce. They gave us two sauces (in containers w/o lids and looked dirty like others had dipped their food in it). I think if I had used these sauces, I would have gotten sick like I did at Lao You Ju. I would have preferred a simple vinegar that could be poured out of the bottle (like soy sauce bottles).
The napa cabbage was good and had large slices of garlic in it. Perfectly salted. Plus the dried shrimp was actually edible.
The green onion pancake was good but lacked flavor.
It was Easter sunday and everyone had just gotten out of church and filled the plaza. Â The restaurant had a line of people waiting to eat. We felt a little rushed out of the restaurant as the waiters kept asking us if we were finished. When we told them we were not, they said "okay a few more minutes" as if we only had a few more minutes to sit there and eat.
Also, the place is worn down. The chair my friend was sitting in was taped together with clear packaging tape. Â Our tea pot was also held together with a tooth pick (in place of a screw).
So there's this thing called Hot Pot. Â It's kind of like meat fondue. Â Imagine a huge bowl full of boiling, flavored broth and piles and piles of raw meat, fish, veggies and noodles served on the side. Â You put your proteins, noodles and veg into the big vat of boiling broth, wait for it to cook and then scoop it out with a wire spider thingy. Â Eat. Â Enjoy.
I'm a all for an interactive meal when the mood strikes. Â Hot pot is fun with friends or perhaps even on a date. Â It gives you something to do, something to see, and certainly something to talk about. Â I see the appeal.
The problem I have with fondue, KBBQ and now hot pot is that I never feel like my food really tastes as good as it should because I cooked it myself. Â And that bums me out. Â I'm either freaking out that it's not cooked long enough and I'm going to get salmonella from raw shrimp or I let those mussels sit in the broth so long they taste like rubber. Â On the upside, though, I always end up eating fairly light when I'm at a DIY restaurant, so I guess... winning?
Whether I'm a huge fan of hot pot in general, I can say that the version at Lao Beijing is fairly well executed. Â We were clearly on a mission from the get-go for hot pot, so the waiter didn't even bother letting us scan through the regular menus. Â Hot tea was on the table pronto as was our massive cauldron of two types of broth - regular and spicy. Â Regular broth is just that. Â Regular flavor, no heat. Â The spicy is serious business. Â Lao Beijing doesn't mess around when it comes to spicy. Â Our proteins and veggies were beautifully presented on different platters. Â Even the "fun bread" which is what our group started referring to the pull-apart pancake was tasty and, well, fun to eat. Â I also wouldn't skip the dumplings and what I can only compare to some kind of scallion quesadilla.
Prices were very reasonable and the service was friendly. Â I'd go back when the mood strikes me for an interactive meal.
THIS PLACE IS FILTHY. They're lucky their food wasn't THAT bad.
First to start with the negatives:
SUPER crowded, only inches away from surrounding tables, cannot get by without touching people with your ass.
It's really..really..REALLY dirty...tea cups were stained, share bowls had DISH WATER IN THEM, my dad thought they gave it to us to drink -_-
They sat us down without a disposable cover sheet on the table and WOW the table was filthy, we considered leaving, but I wanted to have faith in my fellow Yelpers so we stayed.
All you can eat hot pot for 18.95 p/p:
Many selections, as much as you want, except they didn't have everything on the menu, and instead of telling me that they ran out, they just didn't bring it to us.
All the dipping sauces were old. Â The sesame sauce settled and was hard to stir, the hot sauce was dry, and the soy sauce was thick and really potent, which is what happens when it ferments for too long.
Service was also horrible, which I understood because it was very busy, but I'm kind of regretting giving them a 20% tip now that I think about it...
Anyway, I actually don't really have anything good to say; all their seafood came out frozen; they didn't even thaw it, so it took a lot longer for us to cook our food, which kept us from eating as much as we could have if we didn't have to wait that long.
I'm guessing the other food on their menu is better, but I can't let myself eat somewhere that is so unsanitary.
And I much more prefer Shabu Shabu over hot pot.
Believe me, after going to Lao ______'s a million times with family I am more than happy with Tony Hu's success and popularity in Chicago. However, with great popularity comes great responsibility...when dealing with my new biggest human pet peeve: THE FOODIE.
While family and I snacked on xiao long bao (soup dumplings), chive & egg pockets, baby bok choy with mushrooms (amazing sauce!), and outstanding (great texture!) Chinese pancakes we were subjected to listening to the dialogue of the most irritating conversation between two self proclaimed "foodies" in the table next to us. How am I supposed to fully enjoy Lao Beijing's expertly created hand pulled noodles while these jerks name drop every restaurant in Chicago? The cherry on top of this sundae of pretentiousness, was that they somehow made the trek all the way to Chinatown...only to eat orange chicken and eggrolls. Insert Rage Face here. (<a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fknowyourmeme.com%2Fmemes%2Frage-guy-fffffuuuuuuuu&s=9b93c7a078cbca732e4c9d072f7faacfb0b5ecc04ae295c5468f874fdca3e0e6" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://knowyourmeme.com/…</a>)
This lunch had me on such an emotional roller coaster...I was enjoying my food and family time, but my ocular nerves were becoming strained with the constant eye rolling from listening to these people. My experience shouldn't deter you from coming to any Lao ______ restaurants by any means, but please PLEASE make sure you don't become the uppity consumer I have described today.
Another hit for the Lao series of restaurants! Came here with a buddy last night, and it was most excellent. We split the pork dumplings for an appetizer, which come bursting with broth and tender meat. Mongolian beef was tender, perfectly balanced between sweet and salty, and served with minimal sauce, as it should be. This may have been the best rendition of this classic dish that I have personally tasted - an absolute home run! Lamb Xiaojiang (I think?) is more of a middle-Eastern than a Chinese dish (I take it Xiaojiang is in the Gobi desert part of China, hence the culinary influence of this dish) served with fennel and cumin. Very unique, and not something I personally have seen elsewhere.
Pricing's fairly standard for Chinese food - $20 after tax and tip. Tea is hot and rice is sticky and tender. I have also heard great things about the hot pots here, which looked excellent but which were intimidating to my dining companion; I'll have to get one next time. Highly recommend!
I went to Lao Beijing for dinner on a Friday night, and didn't have a wait...that was a nice treat given how long Chicago's waits can be on a Friday. I got the Mongolian beef and it was literally the best Mongolian beef I've ever had (and Mongolian beef is my default order at all Chinese restaurants). My buddy got another beef dish that was more middle eastern than Asian, and it didn't taste that good. We also split a pork dumpling appetizer, which was awesome...except that it came out at the same time as our main course.
If you're looking for really good Mongolian beef, I recommend Lao Beijing. However, if you're looking for cheap Chinese food, this may not be the best place...40 bucks for 2 of us.
I placed an order around 6:30 through grubhub, with an estimated delivery time of 7:30. After no sign of food, I called the restaurant at 8:15 and later around 8:40. Each time, they assured me they had my order and it was on its way. The food arrived just after 9:30, and it was cold. One of the containers had spilled in the bag, creating a nice greasy mess.
We heated the food up, and it tasted ok. We got two entrees - orange beef and garlic eggplant. Both tasted the same and really only differed in texture. All around, it was a disappointing meal.
It seems like a lot of folks here have had great experiences visiting - maybe Lao Beijing is better dining in that delivering?
I've been to a couple of Tony's restaurants over the years and never had any bad experiences. Â Tonight I decided to order delivery to the office. Â I ordered a couple egg rolls, general tsao's chicken for the main course and some rice pudding for dessert. Â To begin with, the order took just under an hour and a half to arrive. Â The chicken itself was very good - the sauce is sweet and spicy and everything I'd want for this dish. Â Then came dessert.
It was the worst, guys. Â It was a dried, burnt, rubbery pile of crap. Â You know how cranberry sauce from a can looks? Â That's how my pudding came out. Â When I went to take a bite, my spoon dented the rice. Â DENTED. Â It took about ten seconds of working at it to sever a bite-sized clump of it onto the spoon. Â And I have only myself to blame for the taste, because anyone else in their right mind would have killed this dish with fire by now, but I went for the bite. Â My life will never be the same again. Â What I hoped for was Lao Beijing. Â What I got was something that you might find in a stall of the Panda Express men's room.
One star for the chicken and one star for... nostalgia, I guess? Â Like I said, past experiences were good but I don't think there will be any future ones.
My grandmom was from Beijing so I was really looking forward to this little place in Chinatown especially after seeing all the celebs pictures outside of the restaurant.
We had a few appetizers and the crispy chicken, even though I feel the appetizers are in general too greasy (soaked in spicy oil or sesame oil), they are indeed very tasty. Their menu is like a Northen style Chinese food bible and covers lots of grounds, but the dishes are rarely overlaping.
Working out on the elliptical for hours after each meal here is worth it.
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