Lin's Mandarin

I was shocked to see the rave reviews for Lin's. Call me fussy. Call me a food snob. Either way - I found the food to rather mediocre. In fact, I think it fell on the less than mediocre side.

I had my first Lin's experience and it totally fell short. I work right down the street and have been avoiding Lin's for quite some time. Despite how coworkers rave about it, I had one bad experience with takeout and I vowed never to return. Or so I thought.

Let's start with the food. Yes, the prices for lunch (and dinner) are very reasonable. My guess is because the ingredients they use (particularly the meat) are questionable at best. Lunch options come with your choice of egg drop, wonton, or hot and sour soup. I went for the wonton (filled with pork). It wasn't the greatest thing I've ever eaten, but it wasn't terrible. My coworker opted for the hot and sour soup. We both found it tasted like sweaty gym shoes that had been sitting in a hot locker for 3 days. No exaggeration. There was a horrible pungent odor and taste that neither of us could get past. As for my entrée, I ordered Szechwan chicken with steamed rice. I was fine with the sauce and veggies, but couldn't handle the chicken. Let's put it this way, if what I had eaten had been in fact poultry, I would be shocked. I tried my coworker's General Tso's chicken and tasted the same rubbery chicken wrapped in a gargantuan sized blanket of dough and sticky sauce.

As for service and ambiance - once again, nothing special. The service was fast and I never had to ask for my water refilled. However, our waitress didn't seem to know what was in half of the dishes. The décor is definitely outdated and in massive need of an overhaul.

Final thoughts - You get what you pay for, and in Lin's you definitely sacrifice quality. In the Norridge area, there are definitely better options.

I love my Chinese food, but I think this is one of the best places around!!! The food is great, service is excellent, and the value is great. Definitely recommned trying this place. I prefer to dine in vs carry out... The dinner specials have great value!!!

The delivery took an 1 hr and 20 mins.  They are 5 minutes from my office.
We have ordered from them often but today they were so bad, i called there twice to find out what was taking so long? The driver mentioned nothing, so when I said he took and 1hr and 20 mins to deliver he stated he was SUPER busy today, so I told him that I was SUPER hungry today - I feel like the ownership changed or something did here because they used to be fast and half way decent.  This makes me sad because the next best option is Fong's and after eating fong's  you feel "Fonged".  And I know now that I am destined to be "Fonged", at least the food gets here on time and tastes good going down.  Super busy today - psh.