I have a saying in my house when having a few gastro-intestinally challenged episosdes after eating at Mapo. You ready?
"No mo' Mapo"
Don't get me wrong, it's delicious but maybe not totally trustworthy. I have a tough stomach, but this place makes me....unpredictable? Please don't make me get graphic.
Have been going to this restaurant since it first opened due to its proximity to our house. Somewhere in between its first opening and now, the chef must have switched because the dishes I used to love didn't seem to taste the same anymore...
one of my favorites used to be their beef roll app with scallion pancakes, egg, and beef all wrapped together. last time I tried this, it just tasted try and flavorless..
their fried eggplant is pretty good as are their spicy hot pots filled with intestines and pork blood according to the rest of my family...haha I can't quite comment as it's not a particular favorite of mine.
This used to be number one on my list. After my most recent experience (lunch) one involving lack of service and blandish food (aside from their hot and sour soup), I must demote them (from 5 stars).
1. The staff clunked our food down -- at the edge of the table, not even in front of us.
2. Most of the staff gave us attitude and were impatient.
3. Our original waiter only came back for the bill.
I'll go back again, but until then, uncheck it.
If you're looking for full flavored, quality Chinese dishes with a Sichuan influence then go to Mapo. I have been a regular here since 2008 and while it has changed ownership once, the taste and high quality have not. This establishment, to date, is the best Chinese restaurant I have encountered and is the benchmark of all others so far.
If you love spicy then their signature Mapo beef noodle soup or Mapo tofu will leave your mouth somehow numb and delighted at the same time. As an example of their quality, the size of their Orange chicken is like a baby's fist and it is not all breading. Other mediocre restaurants seem like pebbles. They make their noodles in house so any dish with noodles you can tell the difference and quality. And to top it off, it is quite inexpensive when considering the amount of good you get and quality.
They've recently re-decorated the restaurant and it has made a big difference but I have always come here for the food.
Food- consistantly awesome. If you like spicy, Mapo is the place. They do it well.
Delivery- Haven't tried it. Sadly we live beyond the delivery range.
Take out- Food travels well and loses nothing in the process.
Dine in Service- for the most part the staff has been friendly, attentive and quick. There have been a few instances where you get the feeling you are barely tolerated (we call her the dragon-lady) but the food is just so damn good it is quite easy to smile and let those wonderful flavors take you into a dragon-lady-free euphoria.
Drinks- No booze but you can bring your own. Soft drinks (cans) are available. Water is tap but it's good. Hot tea is out of this world.
Lunch specials are a bargain. Decent size portions for a reasonable price. Lunch specials end at 2:30.
I could add our particular menu favorites here but since we have never sampled anything we haven't liked- Â I send you forth, to explore for yourself, the wonderous delights that Mapo has to offer.
You can thank me later ;P
My dad and I usually come here for lunch on weekdays, for three reasons:
1. It is quick
2. It is inexpensive
3. It is delicious!
The food here is very authentic, and tastes sooooo good! They have lunch special prices that are super reasonable, and the portions are huge. We always have left overs.
The service is great, and we rarely have to wait over 10 minutes for our food, even though they are typically really busy during the lunch hour.
This is a great place to have a quality lunch in less than 45 minutes!!
I was very excited to see all of the great reviews on Yelp about this place when my boss and I were in the area after a client meeting. He and I are big Asian fusion fans, so we decided to try it out.
After having some difficulty finding the place, we were a little disappointed to see that it was located in a strip mall. That should have raised a red flag, but again, we were trusting the reviews here that this place was good.
The decor was in serious need of attention. The place was anything but inviting.
The food was just ok. I took the suggestion of some of the Yelpers and had the fiery beef noodle soup. The only flavoring in it was the red pepper, which there was such an abundance of that I had to stop eating because my nose was running so much.
Definitely would not recommend or ever go back.
Mapo is one of the top sit down and take out Asian restaurants Naperville has to offer. It destroys the typical cookie cutter takeout joints that serve typical and uninteresting food. Which most suburbs are littered with. Mapo's cuisine is authentic and very tasty.
Pork Belly and Mapo Tofu with Seafood are my personal favorite. I only order from Mapo now when I crave good Chinese. So I'm greatly looking forward to trying all sorts of different items from their menu.
If you have yet to find this hidden gem, smack yourself, and get on it!
I like this place even though my friends say that it's gone downhill since the restaurant changed management.
My friends and I ordered the beef roll appetizer. It was tasty. The only thing I didn't like? The presentation... It was wrapped in tin foil, and it looked like something out of an alien movie to me. But I guess that's what it's supposed to look like...
We also ordered Mapo's special mapo tofu with fish. This was delicious as well. I had never had mapo tofu with fish, only with ground pork or vegetarian. The fish was an interesting take on the traditional mapo tofu dish. I liked it a lot.
My friends introduced me to a dish called Wu Geng Chang Wang. They were surprised I've never had it before, as it's supposedly one of the most popular dishes in Asia. Huh? It's a pot of spicy offal stew. In it were preserved mustard, tofu, pork intestine slices and congealed pork blood cubes. Yum? I liked it, but I'm sure that most people wouldn't.
The last two dishes I mentioned were spicy but not too much. I thought it had the right amount of spiciness, but my boyfriend continued to add more and more hot chili oil. That was surprising to me because these dishes were practically swimming in hot chili oil! I also thought the offal stew was just a tad more spicy than the mapo tofu even though to be quite honest, after eating the two together, the taste kind of became one. The offal stew also reminded me very slightly of the Mexican menudo dish (probably because of the offal) except that I did enjoy the addition of the slightly sour taste of the preserved mustard (FYI, I don't like menudo at all). I Â thought the mustard and the tofu helped to tone down the off-putting smell of the offal.
For our "non-spicy" dish, we ordered the Sichuan green beans. Sichuan is known for their spicy food, but this was the mildest food item (aside from the appetizer) that we got. This was pretty good too, but it was nothing spectacular.
I'd come back if I am ever in the neighborhood again.
came here a few times with friends for dinner when we was around the area... the restaurant was nice and simple, dining there was nice.. the service was ok.. i think the waitress could of been more attentive on refilling our waters..
we usually order the dried chili chicken, Mapo tofu with fish, Hunan Beef, and mapo's favorite pork belly... the dried chili chicken was ok, I've had better.. it comes with tooo much peppers! there was more pepper then chicken.. the map tofu with fish was pretty good and very flavorful.. the hunan beef was decent.. i thought the beef could of been a little more tender... the mapo's pork belly was delicious! it does have a good amount of fatty parts on it.. but if you aren't afraid to eat that.. its a must try! the meat is very tender and juicy, and it goes so well with rice!
ill come back if I'm around the area again but i would not go out of my way to come here and eat.. if you like spicy food then you should try this place out.. oh and some of the food is pretty oily too haha....
I come here so regularly, the waitress knows exactly what I'm going to order. Â I come in at least once a month with coworkers for lunch, and we feast family style. Â I never show up with less than 8 people. Â That way we get to eat lots of different dishes. Â If you like spicy food and want to know what to order, I've got the lowdown. Â Here's our typical order:
Dried Chili Chicken (I dare you to eat all the chilis!)
Cumin Lamb
Mala fish
Silken egg with ground beef
Farmhouse beef
Sichuan green beans
Cold Sichuan noodles
I also love the eggplant casserole and another eggplant dish that is on the special menu, but I can't recall the name.
Don't get me wrong. Â The food on the lunch menu is good quality, but it's mostly the typical Chinese restaurant fare. Â There are quite a few gems to be had on the dinner and special menus.
Let me warn you that they do not skimp on the oil or the spice in these dishes. Â This can wreak havoc on some people, so please keep that in mind.
I really like this place, although I've been told it's gone "downhill" since ownership changed. I've only been since the new people have been running it.
Dan Dan Noodles are awesome, beef tendon, salt and pepper shrimp, Mapo tofu (the BF likes it), and beef noodle soup are all delicious. I have found I really like the hot and oily taste of Szechuan food. And the numbing peppercorns.
A group of 14 of us came here hungry after dragon boat practice in St.Charles. Many of us were repeat customers and all left satisfied. Many authentic, delicious Chinese and Szechuan dishes here, some highlights include (I don't have access to a menu so this is my best shot translating from Chinese): dry chili chicken, fish fillet in spicy/numbing broth, eggplant (yes, it was really good), slow cooked pork, beef pancake roll, and fried intestines (not my favorite dish, but others at the table really enjoyed it). We got some veggies too, they were good, but obviously not the highlight.
They're BYOB so you can run to HMart next door for booze. The service was so-so, but you're here for the food, not the service.
Just awesome. A down-to-earth, family run eatery that reigns in the salty sweetness so endemic to American-focused Chinese restaurants and offers up in its place a hearty, flavorful meal. Â They definitely don't hold back on the spice though, so beware if you're ordering anything with a Sichuan inspiration.
Mapo and Katy's Dumpling House are really two ends of the Chinese food spectrum, with Mapo having more of a Southern China influence, and the two best Chinese restaurants in the Naperville area. You're missing out if you haven't been here yet!
This one is a tough one to review. Â The food quality was good but there were some service problems that were really difficult to stomach.
We were very excited to try this place out, based on favorable Yelp reviews and word of mouth. Â We were especially looking forward to the pork belly. Â Â We got there and pretty much every table was occupied by Chinese people - usually the best sign that the food is good. Â We had some questions about the menu - evidently, this is frowned upon - possibly because we did not speak Chinese well - but whatever ... the waitstaff were particularly impatient with us. Â Did we feel rushed? Â Yes, and it pissed me off.
Anyhow, we ordered the pork belly (of course), the salt/pepper tofu, Chinese okra, wok-fried baby bamboo shoots, crispy chicken, and dan-dan noodles. Â We wanted some fish. Â We were hastily pointed to an item on the Chinese language menu (the most expensive one, of course) and somewhere in our exchange I heard fish fillet and the kids wanted that so I said yes. Â I really had no idea what this dish was but, whatever!
Ok, first we were told that the okra was not good today so order something else. Â Translation: We don't have it even though it's on the menu. Â We ordered green beans instead. Â Then we sat for awhile. Â The waitress came back over and told us they were out of pork belly. Â WTF! Â The whole reason for our visit! Â So out came the menus again and after some hasty negotiation in broken Chinglish, we settled on the BBQ pork hock. Â Pork belly ... pork hock ... close enough, right?
So the food begins to come out. Â First the salt/pepper tofu. Â Deep fried cubes of firm tofu with the standard salt/pepper accoutrements. Â Tasty, and a huge portion. Â The green beans were tender, crispy, and very garlicky. Â Nice. Â The dan-dan noodles were ok - probably wouldn't order them again. Â The bamboo shoots were tasty but could have use a bit more seasoning. Â The crispy chicken ended up being their version of "orange chicken" - we call it "chicken crack" Â and it was addicting, as it should be, also a huge portion.
The fish. Â The fish. Â Wow. Â This turned out to be that Sichuan specialty of fish fillets poached in hot oil and broth with tons of Sichuan peppercorns and garlic, and with a mountain of dried chili peppers on top. Â This was really, really good, and not as spicy as you would imagine. Â The spice is that lingering numbing heat you get with the peppercorns, and not so much the burning sweating chili pepper heat. Â The fish was super tender and the broth was incredibly fragrant. Â We had eaten this type of fish in Beijing at a Sichuan restaurant but it was not as good as this.
Finally, the BBQ pork hock came out. Â This was small pieces of pork hock, slow cooked, rubbed with Bull's Head BBQ sauce and then roasted. Â It was mainly skin and tendon and is really tasty if you like that sort of sticky chewy gooey spicy pungent finger-licking thing.
Overall, the food was 4 star quality but the service was 1 star - hence my 2 star review. Â I am hopeful that it can be better next time!
I went to Mapo this past Wednesday based on Yelp reviews, thank you fellow Yelpers for introducing me to such delicious food! Mapo looks like a small place from the outside and you can easily pass it if you blink. Once inside, the restaurant is bigger than it looks from the outside. When I went with my friend at 6 on a Wednesday, there were only a couple of other tables. I'm surprised it wasn't more busy! Our waitress was very nice & attentive throughout our entire meal.
We started with the Mapo's Favorite Pork Belly which was a bit scary when I saw the price of $17. I had seen the pictures on Yelp though and we both knew it was something we wanted to try. It was so friggin good. Perfectly cooked and in a sea of soup & juices, it was absolutely delicious! Plus it was HUGE way too much for the two of us to eat which explains the high price. Yum, yum and more yum. It did have quite a bit of fat on it though which some may find off putting. For our second dish we had the Sesame Tofu. I love me some tofu and I had never seen sesame tofu like this in my life! It was just like the same sauce you'd get with sesame chicken except with a tofu substitute which makes you feel like you're being much more healthy. The sauce & flavoring in the sesame sauce was spot on and the tofu was cooked with just the right mix of soft & firmness.
All in all, the meal was fantastic from beginning to end. We also got hot tea which is always a good bonus on a cold winter night. I'm craving that sesame tofu right now as I type this...so you best believe I'll be back!
Mmmm...mmm..mmm...giving it a 4- for now, but probably will get an upgrade upon my next visit.
3 adults and a one year old. ordered much, too much food but hey, that is how a food whore rolls.
1. Pork Belly dish - $16 but work every penny. they give you a dish with a 10"x10" slab of blubbery, yet tasty pork belly in a brothy sauce and some bok choy. Not for the faint of heart. Loved every bite
2. I wanted some spicy beef so badly but because my son couldn't eat spicy, we asked for a recommendation - it was just ok. I don't even know what we got but it was firm marinated tofu with julienned beef. my son enjoyed it but the rest of us wanted something with more heat. Oh well, the things we do to feed our kids.
3. Dan Dan noodles - AGAIN, I'm finding szechuan dan dan noodles. I can't find my Shanghainese style (peanut sauce) anywhere it seems! Â But these were real good noodles. Excellent bite on the noodle and not too oily for the hot sauce and very flavorful. Loved it.
4. Garlic stir-fried veggies, aka "A-Choy". very standard but that is what I wanted. it wasn't oily or greasy and glad they didn't make a thick corn starchy sauce for it.
Coming back very soon for some dan dan noodles and probably the spicy beef noodle soup (I wonder how it compares to Katy's Dumplings???) as well as the Mapo tofu.
This place used to be awesome... what happened? Â I don't know if the chef left or something, but it really took a nosedive recently. Â
I used to come here every week, and over the years, I had eaten over 200 bowls of their incredible niu rou mian (aka spicy beef soup noodle). Â That's no joke. Â Over 200 bowls. Â This was my favorite dish in the world. Â
But whoever was the mastermind behind this creation has obviously left, because the last few times it has been really different, in a bad way. Â The niu rou mian here is not good anymore, which made me quite sad because that's what made me a regular here. Â It used to be wonderfully rich, spicy, complex, with melt-in-your-mouth tender cuts of beef and awesome noodles. Â But now it's always thin, salty brown broth that tastes like the powder from a ramen packet, and the beef has been hard and gross, and the noodles just taste like the crappy ones you get at the store. Â What happened????? Â I've also noticed the website is gone and there seems to be new management too. Â
This place used to be so good. Â If anyone knows where the previous chef went, please message me and let me know, because I was their biggest fan!
UPDATE:  After doing some online research, I found them!  The old dream team from the good-old days of Mapo are now at a place called "Lajiao Asian Bistro & Noodles" on Route 59 in south Naperville.  So if you're like me and you've noticed that Mapo sucks now, there's your answer!  The website is <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lajiaonaperville.com%2F&s=221b64282d04e703a8515c7ac81a205b4b5ad39ab350b343dd1a11925471f694" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.lajiaonapervi…</a> and I've already been there, all the old familiar faces recognized me and it was damn good!  Now I can work on getting up to my 300th bowl of niu rou mian!
Thank you Becca H for sharing with me this great restaurant!!!!! A fellow yelper took me here and now I dream about this food. The food is enough for family style with left overs. Some of the things we ordered were:
-Beef Rolls
-Crab Ragoon
-Dry Chili Chicken
-Kung Pao Chicken
-Mapo Tofu with Shrimp
Everything was so yummy I can't wait to go back.
I'm giving a four star because I remember what Mapo was like when I first started going years ago, but it seems to have changed hands (again) and I'm not a fan of the service there anymore. Maybe it's because I speak Cantonese instead of Mandarin.
Anyway, the price for the dried chili chicken is pretty steep, but I haven't found a place that makes it just like Mapo's. TL's Four Seasons in Bartlett is a close second. Other dishes I order are Mapo Beef Rolls (watch out for foil shards!), Mapo Tofu, Szechuan string beans, and the fried fish. Basically, if it can be fried (tofu, fish, beans) and combined with hot peppers, they will make it. Another dish I had last time was a beef puree on top of an egg souffle, quite tasty.
The lunch selection is good too, if you're in a hurry and want something other than the H-Mart food court nearby. The price for lunch is reasonable.
I went there with a group, so we ordered lots of food. Most of dishes there are spicy. It is not like traditional spicy. They put many different kinds of pepper and spice in their dishes.
The taste was good, but the waitress there was not that kind, even we can speak mandarin. Maybe it is exceptional... I don't know.
If you have a car and are a spicy food lover, you will like this place.
For me, I don't like spicy food, so only 3 star.
I recently went to MAPO tofu and thought the food was OK. (not as good as it was before) I know before that food was really awesome! However, I heard that the chef that used to work at MAPO has switched locations---to TANG Dynasty in Naperville. I have yet to check out the food at Tang Dynasty. If this is true, than I know TANG Dynasty must have really GOOD, authentic food (since the food at MAPO was amazing!)
Just wanted to share with you all. =)
I think dishes here are better than those in   Chinatown! We went here at 4pm, no waiting. Service is good, and the place is quiet and clean.furthermore, dishes are plenty and it's quite a lot for three to order three dishes!
Recommendation,
Mapo Dofu with fish, it's recommended by the boss, little bit spicy but local!
Mao's pork belly is also my favorite! The pork is tender and smelly! Yummy! But maybe not good for girls who are on diet, cause it's sort of oil..
All in one , nice place, I will go back here!
Eh.. must've ordered the wrong dishes or something. Not a fan.
My dad's friend took me and my brother here for lunch, for which they have a separate menu. My dad's friend must know her shit cause she ordered something that was only on the dinner menu, called "rou juan". It's basically this Chinese green onion pan-fried pancake with beef inside and rolled up with aluminum foil and cut into pieces. VERY good, but the only thing I had that was good.
We also ordered Mongolian beef, tofu and vegetables with brown sauce, and almond shrimp. Apparently lunch is served differently than dinner, instead as individual portions as opposed to the "family style" that typically accompanies Chinese food.
Almond shrimp was disgusting. Okay, maybe not disgusting, but none of us wanted to eat it. Just not very tasty. Vegetables with tofu was almost as bad. Sauce wasn't good and tofu was just.. silken to soft tofu cut into cubes and tossed into the mediocre sauce? Didn't like the vegetables with it either. So picking at the tofu, it was just plain. Didn't pick up the taste of the sauce but then again, do I really want the tofu to taste like the lackluster sauce? pass.
Mongolian beef was okay, just okay. But the thing is, each dish was served with fried rice NOT plain rice, which made everything way too salty, especially the mongolian beef. Glanced around the room and not a single person was asian. Yes, we were the only ones. So perhaps this fried rice bullshit was to please the Americans who have a tendency to favor overly salty/sweet things. In this case, the only edible dish wasn't edible because of the rice it came with... such a disappointment.
All in all, I think i ordered the wrong things at the wrong time so I'm willing to give this place another shot sometime. Just remember: don't order the tofu and vegetables with brown sauce or the almond shrimp. just terrible. oh and specify you would like plain rice if you prefer, as by default they give you fried rice during lunch.
Come for the dan dan noodles, stay for everything else.
Of the half-dozen or so items off the menu we tried, the properly ma la spicy Szechuan-style dish stood out as the best. Flavourful, hearty, and packing a punch, it had my nose sweating and my lips tingling. Order a bowl to share between two to four people - everyone will want a taste, but you'll want to save room for other goodies.
While there isn't much in the way of proper green veggies on the menu, the string beans don't disappoint. Crispy, yet tender, this is a consistency you can only get with the exceptionally high heat of legit industrial stoves. The fried spicy garlic tofu is also a treat... as long as you don't chomp down on one of those brilliant viridian decorative peppers by accident.
And for the fatties out there like me, you'll want to pre-diet in order to feel ever-so-slightly less guilty about chowing down on the Mao's pork belly. Ours was savoury and meltingly tender - the skin, fat, and meat - every single bite. Simply superb.
If only the service matched the cuisine. Admittedly, it was busy... even at around 1400 hours on a weekend afternoon. Still, it got to the point where my mom had to go up to the cashier in order to put in our order. Same story with getting doggie bags to take home leftovers, and for finally obtaining the bill. It seemed as though a server would come by two or three minutes -after- we'd finally decided no one was going to show up.
Self-service or no, the food is pretty much beyond reproach. Especially if you're into your capsaicin-heavy culinary treats, you'll want to make a stop at Mapo early and often.
Considering the neighborhood, this place really stands out. I am a regular here no doubt.
Things to get:
-Broiled Beef - we order this without fail
-Mapo Tofu with Fish - this one too
-Wok Seared Fish (it's kind of sweet but the spicy kicks in out of nowhere) this dish is starting to become one of our regulars, too
Be prepared to have your mouth on fire with these dishes! My tip is to pick out the pieces of pepper before eating - that's the only way I survive. :)
Go when it's not crazy busy for better service.
It's also not too expensive if you go in a group and order family style!
After my blowup at the local gym, I needed some spicy food. My friend and I were on our way to another Chinese restaurant when fate intervened and Ogden Ave was blocked off.
Based on a recommendation, we ended up at Mapo. For a Thursday night this place was packed. We hardly could find parking. Is that bad? No, that means the food must be really good if people are jamming in.
I ordered the Hunan Beef, Spicy Beef Noodle Soup and a Shrimp Fried Rice as a takeout (Argh, my mom). Now in my defense I thought the Beef Noodle was a cup of soup. Holy Lord, it was a big ass bowl! No wonder the waitress looked at me when I went on to order another dish.
The spicy beef noodle is excellent. It lives up to the hype. It was all the flavors I love: beefy, spicy, cilantro-y, noodley ... perfection in a bowl. I could make a meal out of that alone.
The Hunan beef was also very delicious. It was very flavorful and spicy without blowing your head off hot. The beef and veggies were also cooked perfectly. No too chewy meat or overly crunchy vegetables. Just yum.
Prices are slightly higher but the portions are huge. I still have some leftovers that could last a couple days if I wasn't such an oinker.
It's a shame I have probably drove past this place so many times (I've always seen the printing company signs) not knowing the deliciousness inside. Definitely a highly rated restaurant on my list and probably in the top three Chinese places in this area.
I don't like Chinese food. Â I don't. Â
A strange way to start a review I know. I've never gone of my own volition, it's always been my better half's idea to get Chinese food. Â
Crab Rangoon. Â Oh My Batman they are SOOOO good.
Food has always been really good. Â I don't know what I order, I can't remember names of dishes. Â I just look for a beef or chicken dish, look if it's spicy, and pick one at random. Â Thus far it's all been fantastic.
The dining room is cozy, and seats parties of 2-12 very easily. Â Wait staff never left me wanting for drink, and they offer carryout. Â
Prices are good, portions are huge, I have absolutely no complaints.
I love that this place looks like absolutely nothing from the outside, and is downright hidden. Then you walk inside and it feels like a real Cantonese place in China, with the tables further apart.
Rock star sized portions and authentic Cantonese flavors reign supreme here.
Tofu: yum.
Scallion pancake: delicious
Sesame beef: I've had better, but not bad
Sweet and sour shrimp: fantastic.
The service here is friendly and fast, and this place is not for the person on a salt diet.
My only real problem with this place is that they have a tendency to make assumptions about westerners that are not valid: like that I want a fork and not chopsticks. This has happened both times I went. I'd like to be asked that question, not just presented with a non-Asian utensil.
Also, they have a tendency to take sauces away from the table prematurely. This is a pet peeve of mine.
That said, they are delicious, reasonably priced, and I will be back here often with my friends.
Try to find it it's worth the treasure hunt.
I agree with the high reviews of Mapo. My family and extended family have been going here for years after it dynamically transformed itself from its predecessor, Old Peking. I grew up in the neighborhood and remember when my family (Chinese American) had to drive to Chinatown to get decent Chinese food. Thank goodness those days are over.
When we have casual family get-togethers, we always go to Mapo and love the experienced, day-to-day managers and servers there. They know their customers and always appreciate the business.
We always order several of their more banquet-type dishes, but every day favorites include: the mapo tofu, eggplant w/ basil, beef roll appetizers, dan-dan noodles, kung-pao chicken, and the noodle soup (pork/pickled cabbage).
This is NOT your typical Chinese fast-food take-out/delivery place, so no moo goo gai pan or egg foo young for you if that's what you're into. Be prepared for flavor and freshness. Mapo serves REAL Chinese food, while still making the food accessible (in flavor and how it's presented) to those who aren't as experienced in the variety of Chinese food flavors. Note that many of the diners are Chinese and those who know their Chinese food!
Salt n Pepa Tofu in the House!
Ahhh, eat it - eat it real good.
Get up on this!
At first bite (in the car on the way home), it was the best thing I'd ever eaten (I was sooo very hungry). By the time I was home and halfway through the dinner, I didn't exactly feel the same way. I think it was due to a combination of my being a little piggy and all the heavy oils everything was cooked in and starting to coagulate in my now aching belly.
The spicy green beans I ordered were also good but I would have just called them spiced green beans because they definitely had spices on them, but they weren't spicy in the least.
My BF got the beef roll appetizer, per the photos that Tricia L. posted (great pics!). Â The roll was so much food and certainly enough for a meal for one. Next time he's going to get the spicy beef noodle bowl, per the delicious pic that Howard L has posted.
Mapo's menu is ginormous and I like that they have so many photos of their entrees on their website. We will certainly be back, and next time I'll make sure to not inhale my Mapo goodies before even making it home.
Oh Mapo how I adore thee... Back in the days when I used to work a full-time job I would stop at Mapo nearly every day for lunch. Over that time I admittedly fell in love with two of the more Americanized lunch items: Orange Chicken and General Tso's Chicken! Hey, fuck it, it's lunch time and you can't always be a cultured, foreign food aficionado. Plus those lunch items are the epitome of deliciousness.
Since then I've sampled roughly 30 or so different dishes and EVERY SINGLE ONE has been tasty. The Spicy Beef Noodle Soup is the best I've ever had (shout out to Drake). AND Holy Buddha... I came in for dinner once and ordered a spicy beef entree... It came out in a big ass casserole dish and I literally had left-overs for a week... Literally... And I eat quite a bit.
As amazing as the food is, the service here is even better. I no longer come in daily and often take several month long hiatuses, but every time I step foot into Mapo I'm instantly acknowledged with a "Oh hi! We haven't seen you in a while!" It's awesome. The waitresses are adorable, EXTREMELY attentive and I've never had any issues customizing my food. After I clear my plate I'm always given an almond cookie, which I've never seen them give to anyone else. I think they adore me too! Either that or I have the face of someone who enjoys almond cookies.
I couldn't believe it had been over a year since I'd last eaten here! "Sunrise, sunset..."
Ahem. Anyway, My boyfriend had never been here, and we felt like Chinese, so I suggested Mapo as a dining option and we went on a Saturday night. The place was bustling but we still easily got a table. He was excited about the Sichuan fare since he likes spicy food.
We started with the crab rangoon (at my insistence, since I still remembered the wonderful inclusion of chives with the cream cheese and crab inside the fried wonton pockets). Just as good as before. I must admit that if I was having a bad day I could get a couple of orders of these and just make dinner out of this. (Not that I have yet.)
We did not stop with the crab rangoon, however; I ordered the Hawaiian fried rice with shrimp, since I am always happy to see it on a menu, and he got the iron-wok chicken, a Mapo specialty consisting of chicken with woodear mushrooms, leeks, bamboo shoots, peanuts, and chiles in their "special hot sauce".
Both dishes were a little disappointing. The fried rice, while tasty, was pretty skimpy on the shrimp and other tasty bits, so you were basically just eating a giant mound of...fried rice. It was well-cooked, but still. Also, the pieces of pineapple in it were rather mushy (i suspect canned! Sinful!)
The iron-wok chicken came to the table in a miniature cauldron, a feast for the eyes as it was filled with vibrant red chiles and verdant green veggies, but we quickly realized that the "special hot sauce"'s main ingredient (aside from the mouth-numbing Sichuan pepper corns liberally sprinkled on top) was clearly fish sauce, which got really off-putting after more than a few bites to both of us. Neither of us mind heat in a dish, but this was more the particular twang of fermented fish, which was abundantly present and just not appealing in that amount.
Service was quick and attentive, especially for as busy as it got by the time we were leaving.
I think I just haven't hit on the dish for me at Mapo yet, but I'm still willing to give it a shot; after all, the Naperville Asian community can't be wrong (every time I go in I've been one of the few non-Asian folks in there, and I figure they know where to go); this clearly isn't Panda Express (thank god!) Meanwhile I'll keep loving on the crab rangoon as I try other dishes.
The far suburbs of Chicago are starting to get some restaurants actually worth a damn and Mapo is one of them. I have a tradition of getting a Chinese lunch on Christmas and Mapo ended up being a fantastic present to myself. Mapo is located in a non-descript 1970s strip-mall and you could easily pass by this place and not realize what a gem it is.
For one thing, the food is authentic and edgy. Mapo is not your average take-out joint for General Tso's or fried rice. You come here for fresh, substantial, unusual dishes that challenge your palate and that you can't find elsewhere.
Naturally, I had to order a mapo tofu ($9.95). The portion size is huge and the dish was wonderfully prepared---spicy, filling and briny. The tofu was smooth and silky. The waitstaff was very accommodating and knowledgeable about what dishes are vegan and this dish was one of them.
I also had a basil eggplant ($9.95). This dish was similarly fragrant and delicious. The eggplant was beautifully bright purple and melted in your mouth. Chunks of baked garlic added tons of flavor to the dish as well.
A couple days later I came back with my parents and had a scallion pancake appetizer ($5.95) which is basically fried dough filled with scallions. It was pretty amazing and remarkably simple and addictive.
I also had a hunan vegetable ($7.95) because my parents don't like tofu but do like mixed vegetable dishes. This one was okay, but Mapo clearly doesn't put as much effort into their mainstream Chinese dishes as they do with their authentic stuff.
Lastly I had a tofu skins with mustard greens ($10.95) which was tasty, but not spicy at all. I thought the sauce was a little too watery, but you don't see tofu skins on menus very often, so this was a nice offering. My parents even liked the dish, probably because the tofu skins look like and have the texture of noodles or pasta.
The next time I went I got a yu shan broccoli ($7.95) and a dry chili tofu ($10.95). The yu shan broccoli was tasty enough (it consisted of broccoli, bamboo shoots and black fungus in a sweet sauce) but pretty simple and similar to what I've seen in stripmall Chinese joints. The dry chili tofu was unusual and extremely tasty (golden fried tofu cubes and tons of red chilis) but the tofu lost its crispness very quickly, and didn't re-heat well at all.
My only gripes with Mapo: no brown rice and no mockmeats. Also, the vegan dishes are not labeled so you do have to ask questions (but again, the staff is very friendly and helpful about this).
Mapo is worth the long drive from Chicago proper as this is some of the best Chinese food in the metro area.
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