I experienced what could have been an average to good Chinese restaurant with nice atmosphere, moderately high prices on dinner items, and pretty good service. Â However, I encountered THREE very BAD food QUALITY issues the day I went!
Moon Palace does NOT at ALL live up to the 2 Star Rating Chicago Magazine gave it. Â If you're curious about checking it out because of that, and expecting that level or excellence, you may wish to save your self a trip that perhaps shall disappoint you.
I did not see many Chinese people in there, and I guess there may be a reason for that.
The service is not refined per se, but it is very friendly, shows great effort, and is just very diligent and timely. Â Drinks are always refilled quickly and dirty empty plates disappear like lightening.
Most dishes were nice and soups and appetizers were at a reasonable price point. Â Dinners were definitely higher priced than most Chinatown restaurants. They just were not better.
The clams in black bean sauce tasted very far from fresh, and they were a huge disappointment. Â The clams were also overloaded with what appeared to be too much ground pork in the sauce. Â The Hunan fish recipe was delicious but even under the mask of what was a nice recipe, the fish quality did not seem good enough, and I occasionally detected an older fishy taste when eating the dish... maybe there was also quite a bit of MSG / Sodium to hide the not so fresh fish taste I detected at times?
You also need to watch out for the Pot Stickers. Â They were served a little too soft and thick, with too much grease, oil, or fat oozing out to the plate, and that is not what I hoped for. Â If that is what I wanted, I would order xiao long bao or soup dumplings. Â Also, the meat in the pot stickers were not prepared carefully enough, as I tasted hard strange objects while I chewed them (that scares me about the meat quality inside). Â That was really gross...
If I lived close, I would perhaps go and try some other lunch specials, but it is hard to justify a special trip to the area just for that restaurant. Â Â On the weekend, lunch for 2 can quickly set you back for $60 with tip, without any drinks. Â It was Ok in some ways, but simply not that good to justify the trip.
They have some of the freshest chinese food I've ever had! I love everything I've tasted so far, but amongst some of my faves are the sesame chicken, sizziling rice soup and shrimp toast. A bit pricey, but worth it I think. I'll definitely be back and always recommend Moon Palace whenever I'm near Chinatown with friends.
Review Source:Worse service, they put friends ahead of you in line to be seated. Yell at you. Provide poor service and rude.
Before I say anything, I have been coming to your restaurant for 10 years. I love your food and was never swayed to change restaurant inspite of my friends and their opinions.
We arrived around 7 pm. We were sitted for a table for four. We had 5 adults, one 2 year old and one 3 months. We told the host that we will need a bigger table. The host then said she will move us to a bigger table. We waited for 15 mins, no one came back to sit us. So , we went to the front desk again to find out what happened. They said that they gave away the other table to another party and promised us the next free table. She pointed at the table that was finishing up their meal. We said we will wait . While I was standing infront of her , she got a phone call for a reservation for 6 people at 8pm. At that point I did not realized that she had promised them the same table she promised me. We waited for our promised table for another 30 mins. By then both children have been restless and hungry. Once again i approached the front desk to inquiry about the table and this time they said its for a reservation. The host looked at my direction and proceeded to sit the incomplete party ( there were only 2 guest out of 6 that was in the restaurant) to the table she promised to my family. We waited for almost an hour with two kids for a table that the host never intended to give us. If she has told us we would have left earlier to find a different place so we could put our kids to bed on time. She was rude about it and did not offer any solution. My group was really unhappy and left. Â Sad to say my long dedication to your restaurant had to come to an end after last night experience .
Ate here for the first time when family was visiting Chicago. Wonderful experience and will definitely be back. Impeccable service worthy of a restaurant far more expensive. Food was great- delicious bao, dumplings, soup. The Peking duck is the best I've ever had. Can't wait to go back!
Review Source:I love this place! Â To m, best Chinese food in Chicago. Â I'm a big Kung Pao chicken fan, and they make the best--by far. Â Not just hot, but you can detect the levels of flavor in the heat. Â That's the difference. Â Â Everything else has intricacy of favor as well. Â The service is attentive and helpful.
Review Source:I love this place. Every time we have family visiting and someone suggests a trip to Chinatown, we eat here. The service is always super friendly and attentive. The beef lo mein and wonton soup are delightful. The fried rice and egg rolls so tasty. We always have leftovers and everyone leaves satisfied. Two thumbs up.
Review Source:This is a hidden gem in Chinatown, seems like there's mostly Americans dining there but the potstickers is very authentic. It's juicy inside and lightly pan fried on the outside. My usual would be the lunch menu that comes with the sweet/spicy soup. My family and I usually order the orange chicken, moo shu pork, stir fry fish fillet, and the shanghai noodles. THe flavors are soo delicious. Minus one star, lotsa MSG and seasoning, you probably have to drink a gallon of water after your meal.
Review Source:Despite the recent additions to Chinatown, Moon Palace remains the only place that satisfies my cravings for Shanghainese. The place is run by an elderly Shanghai woman and her son. The wait staff is fluent in Mandarin, Shanghainese, and English. No worries on any language barriers!
My usual order consists of hot and sour soup, xiao long bao, potstickers, stir-fried Shanghai chow mein, and stir-fried Shanghai rice cakes. All of them are my favorites and I would usually pair them with soy sauce and red vinegar. The xiao long bao are slightly larger than the usual so it's a bit more filling but I love how they are gushing with hot soup. The rice cakes are usually served with shreds of pork and stir-fried to a soft texture. You do not have to chew on it for ages!
Saturday brunch in Chinatown. We decided on Moon Palace due to all of the positive reviews for their xiao long bao (Shangai soup dumplings). After reading the reviews and hearing the rumors of a chef from Din Tai Fung, I set out to see if all the buzz was true.
Upon walking in, I received a warm greeting from the wait staff and immediately noticed the well furnished décor. Oddly, the place was empty. Not a good sign when most places are packed around this time on Saturdays in Chinatown.
We ordered xiao long bao, xiao long bao with crab and pork, and shanghai fried noodles. The xiao long bao was a large pork meatball with very little soup inside. The other used imitation crab and was surrounded by more pork filling around the same size. Pretty good as a steamed dumpling on its own but a far cry from xiao long bao. After eating soup dumplings in California and New York, this was very disappointing.
To set the record straight, a chef from Din Tai Fung does not work here and this is not the best place in Chicago for xiao long bao. The service and interior are excellent but I would not recommend Moon Palace for Shanghai soup dumplings.
Today was my annual trip down to Chinatown to renew my love affair with Salt & Pepper Squid. I am such a happy girl. We also had hot & sour soup and steamed dumplings. The soup was good, the dumplings were delish!!!!
Christopher had the Szechuan string beans again this year. Once again it was quite good. But as for my Salt & Pepper Squid? Well, I missed watching the White Sox home opener (which they won, thank you very much), so I could come here. That's all ya need to know!! Â Happy belated birthday to me, from me!!!
BTW, if you come down this way, don't forget to get your parking ticket validated if you park in the lot. $2 if you do, $9 if you don't.
I went to Moon Palace a few weeks ago to meet up with a friend I hadn't seen in over twenty years. Â I was very pleasantly surprised. Â I have had some really ugly experiences in China Town, there are a lot of really dirty restaurants with bad food. Â Moon Palace is not one of them. Â
First of all let me say this place is CLEAN. Â This is not something that can be taken for granted in this part of town. Â The staff were friendly, there to take the orders when we were ready for food and drinks, didn't hover, came back when we needed them. Â
The food was really good. Â Had the scallion pancakes that get mentioned a lot and they are note-worthy. Â The entrees were good, well made, well seasoned. Â The food at Moon is not the typical slap-dash found nearby. Â It is made with concern by people that know what they're doing. Â
My only complaint was the bar and wine list are a little limited but I will say the server took the time to make several suggestions. Â
I will most definitely go back. Â This is above average service and food in a part of town not exactly known for either.
I visited Moon Palace after a seven year hiatus (lived in San Francisco), and the food is the same, which is to say great! Â Well, let me be more specific, the crab and pork xiao long bao (XLB) (Shanghai soup dumplings) are great. Â I think the flavor in the dumpling is quite good, and the amount of soup is sufficient (could be soupier). Â The one shortcoming is the wrapper, which can be charitably described as "rustic" and less charitably described as "thick" and "doughy". Â BUT: each dumpling is on the large end of the scale, slightly larger than a golf ball, a "two bite" dumpling. Â So having a thick wrapper is necessary just because of the bulk of the filling.
I have eaten a lot of XLB in Asia and the States, and these definitely have the right flavor. Â They are not the dainty, one bite perfection you will find elsewhere, but this is the Midwest, bigger is better.
Also, one order of six dumplings is sufficient for a meal. Â I never remember this and always order another dish, with the end result that I take home 75% of said other dish. Â I am not a light eater by any stretch of the imagination.
Finally, the regular XLB are fine, but spend the extra two bucks for the crab and pork versions. Â Money well spent.
This place is good! One of the vendors that my company works with ordered food from Moon Palace Restaurant while we were at their studio, and it was delicious!
We shared an order of their pork pot stickers, and they were really good. Like some of the other reviewers said, they were huge and juicy and awesome. Highly recommend!
For my meal, I decided to stay on the safe side and ordered the orange chicken, which came with white rice. Also very tasty. The flavors were spot on, and they gave you a lot of chicken.
Definitely recommend!
All the usual dishes, and everything was good. Except the lamb. That was great. Everyone at the table agreed. We had a large group, around 20, and the servers had no trouble pushing together tables for us. Waters never ran dry, and there were lazy susans on the tables so everyone could try everything. My favorite Chinese dish is sweet and sour chicken, and theirs did not disappoint. I liked their sauce, which wasn't as sweet as you get from takeout places, and there was no pineapple, which suits me just fine.
They validate your parking for the adjacent lot, just in case you can't find street-parking. Or, just take the red line.
I wouldn't necessarily say Moon palace serves the best chinese food in chinatown but definitely above average with reliable offerings
we typically would order the steamed dumplings or the pan fried buns, both pretty good (if you are a purist of the shanghainese steamed dumplings, let me tell you, there simply isn't one restaurant in chicago area that serves good soupy dumplings like ding tai fung or anything like that so you just have to travel somewhere else to get that), other good choices are the dan dan noodles, the moon palace chicken and the salt and pepper seafood
clean settings and friendly service so this is definitely a good place to introduce your friends to chinese food in chinatown :)
Overall it was just ok, to not really that good. Â Im honestly not even excited about writing a review about this place. Â I've had a lot better chinese at a buffet in a strip mall. Â Don't waste your time.
Oh and if anyone knows a great chinese place in the city PLEASE tell me what it is. Â I would truly appreciate the recommendation.
I had high hopes for this place after reading the reviews.
I thought to myself, 3rd biggest city in the US, bigger than Houston... food must be better!
Either we really do have superior Chinese food in Houston, or it was just an off day for Moon Palace? I don't know, but we were not impressed.
Perhaps it's because the very first time I took David to have xiao long bao was in Taiwan, at Din Tai Fung.... but he is a huge xlb snob now. And is highly critical.
The dough was overworked, which = sticky dumpling skin which = easy to break skin! which = precious lost soup.... =*(
I will say, the xlb's are HUGE, especially since you get 10 in 1 order! However, that is not how I have traditionally had it before.
We also ordered the pot stickers - eh alright. And snow pea leaves. That's it. We weren't very hungry and it was just the 2 of us.
Well, the xlb's and potstickers arrived, halfway through, I was tired of waiting for my veggies. I asked a waitress, and she asked "Oh, you want now?" I think to myself "ummm yessss...?" She explains the dumplings were considered "appetizers" while the veggies were "main"
Ok, makes sense. HOWEVER, we did tell them that's all we wanted to order. Did they really think we wanted to eat a plate of snow pea leaves all by themselves for the main?
Service was a bit spotty. Some of the waiters were great, others were not so great. Our snow peas were plopped down on the corner of the table without warning. When we were seated, there were extra chairs at our small table. Halfway through the meal, Â the chairs were suddenly scraped away at a quick and loud pace. Wasn't that awful, just disconcerting and definitely unexpected.
I must say, disappointed in Chicago chinatown fare =(
I went here for lunch with my coworkers. Â
First, I enjoyed the cleanliness of this place. Â There are many Chinatown restaurants that either: (1) have amazing, authentic food, but dusty carpets and scary bathrooms; OR (2) are clean, but serve "Chinese" food. Â
Moon Palace wins on flavor and cleanliness.
We shared Crab Rangoon, Pork Dumplings, and Vegetable Pot Stickers. Â The Crab Rangoon had the perfect amount of cream and crab. Â It tastes "fishier" than your average crab rangoon, but I liked it. Â Pork Dumplings were delicious! Â Fluffy outer shell, with juicy, succulent pork meatball on the inside, flavored with peppers and spices.
I ordered eggplant in sechuan garlic sauce for my main dish. Â It had a light yet slightly crispy consistency, and the sauce was flavorful with a lovely spicy finish at the end. Â Yum! Â I also tasted my coworker's squid. Â It was nicely flavored, and the breading was not too greasy. Â
Chinatown can be a bit overwhelming. Â So many restaurants. Â Where do you go for the best, most authentic food? Â Where do you go that you feel safe eating? Â Moon Palace is a wonderful find, thanks to my coworker.
The best place in Chicago to get Xiao Long Bao, hands down.
It's not street food in Shanghai or Taiwan, but it's the closest you'll get in Chinatown. You have to remember it IS Chinese-owned so that means service is non-existent, and the waitresses are not going to ask you about where you're from or how your day was.
However,
a) the food speaks for itself and
b) it is a nice place to people-watch as I've often seen many Chicago tourists wander into this place and leave satisfied
c) last but not least, it's a nice place to take whities who are used to crab rangoon and egg foo young as the inside looks classy, and they have upscale Panda Express options too
Once a week in 2010, I would leave my office at 9 PM and walk into Moon Palace. They would see my face, and someone would immediately bring a glass of wine and tell me they would start on an order of dumplings.
You haven't lived until you've been a regular at a Chinese place.
There's a lot to love about this place. I recommend the Mongolian beef..it's a simple dish but packed with flavor. The hot & sour soup is also one of the more complex and delicious things I've tasted.
Since I've been there they seem to be doing some proactive outreach - they are now on OpenTable, they have a Yelp link on their website, etc. I always appreciate when a restaurant does that. I'm just glad it was a local secret when I was there.
Holy crap! How did I not know about you when I lived less than 2 miles away?
I thank my boss for demanding the office join her for her birthday lunch within your quaint but classic walls.
I will cherish the memory of sitting around your lazy susan  enjoying your crisp salt and pepper fish, your luscious pot stickers, and dear god, your perfect shrimp dumpling soup.
I think I may love you, I think I may love you a lot.
They are Liars.
I'm currently planning my wedding and so far I've been fairly laid back about everything. Â I try my best to have a go with the flow attitude. Â
I thought that our family and friends would enjoy a chinatown rehearsal dinner, so I called around seeing who could accommodate 70 people and not require a per head minimum. Â Not many places did, but when I called Moon Palace, a woman answered and said Yes! we can definitely do that, no worries. Â I just had to call a couple weeks before hand to confirm the menu. Â
Ok yes, my bad for not getting a contract, so two weeks beforehand, I called and spoke to the owner Jones to reconfirm. Â He said he didn't see me in the system, but they definitely could still accommodate. Â AWESOME. Â I reconfirmed and asked again, so I don't have to do a 10 course meal with a per head charge and he said no, you can order off the menu for each table. Â Great! Â I let him know that I'd be coming in a couple days to have dinner, review the menu and confirm what we'd be ordering so they could prepare for us. Â
My BM and I go to dinner, order our dinner and we start eating - the food is great! Â Jones comes out and shakes my hand and we start talking....
All of a sudden, he had said that he was confused, that it would now be $60 per person because he'll have to shut down the restaurant for this event. Â WHAT? (I said that to him) I then let him know that I could definitely not afford that, so he said well what about $40. Â He then told me that he had gotten confused and thought my phone call was a big catering order, because people ask for catering all the time. Â I said NO - that is incorrect, how could you think it was catering, when we were discussing seating 70 people and if it fits in your restaurant....
I told him that if we couldn't go with the original plan of ordering off the menu, that I would not host my event there. Â He then told me that if it was 50 people or less he'd do off the menu because if it was only 30, he could fit it in (yes you read that right, he first said 50, then said 30). Â I said, so 50 or 30, he replied 30. Â I again said, no that won't work, I will not be having my dinner here. Â After a little while, he came by to say - ok here's the "deal" if you do your dinner 9pm or after, we can do it. Â I AGAIN said, no I will not have my dinner here, because it is not what we discussed. Â He went on to continue about how he'd have to pay an additional shift of employees, just to service my group. Â After our interaction with him - we couldn't even eat, although we were starving... we were so furious.
What did he miss out on? Â Definite business and loyal customers - my family and friends will frequent a place if it really has impressed us. Â The food is good and the place is pretty cute, but I REFUSE to patronize a business that goes back on their word and doesn't do what it takes to impress a customer. Â
I've told all 70 people that Moon Palace backed on my rehearsal dinner. Â Talk about bad customer service.
When did Moon Palace start using MSG?! Don't get me wrong the food is still addictively good but as I was sitting there enjoying my spicy shredded beef I noticed a tingly sensation in my legs and a dull headache coming on. If you're not a fan make sure to request no MSG. Everything is really good though...hot and sour soup, crab rangoon, all your traditional American-Chinese food favorites. Bonus you get a fortune cookie AND an almond cookie with your check.
The place is still one of the nicest most American-style Chinese restaurants in Chinatown. If you're new to the area and a little apprehensive with trying some of the other more traditional restaurants than Moon Palace is the right choice for you.
I went on a date to Moon Palace last night and it was good!
My date swore by the place as a favorite in Chinatown. Â Not only was this my first time in Chinatown, but one of my first real Chinese food adventures since moving to Chicago.
Once we walked in, we sat at a table in the sparsely full dining room. Â There weren't many people there, which was promising to better service.
Drink:
Glass of Red wine and a blush. Â Nothing special on taste here, however the first glass of Red wine had some syrup on the inside of the glass as well as a hair. Â Ew.
Food:
---Crab and Pork Dumplings = HEAVEN!!! Â Beyond perfect
---Shrimp & Scallops with Hot Garlic Sauce  = Great!  On the spicy    side for sure, but the scallops were cooked perfect
--Fried Rice with Chicken = Sodium Overload. Â There was way too much soy sauce in this, but once I got past that, I was good. Â The pieces of chicken could have been bigger as well.
All-In-All it was a good experience. Â I know the place has great reviews, so I will definitely be giving this place another shot!
Moon Palace is one of the few places I have been consistently going to, and enjoying over the past 23 years, btw I am 30, Moon Palace has never declined in the quality and tastiness of the food. Whoever I have ever brought to this place, whether from chi or out of town, always wants to come back and there is one major reason behind this: The steamed dumplings.
When I walk inside Moon Palace, the waitresses see me and order 2 orders of steamed dumplings for me before i can say hello. They know how much I love it, and so does everyone else that knows me lol. Anyhow the dumplings are a must, they give you 10 per order they come in a tin tray served over cabbage, and the dumpling is always perfect, pork is basically what comes in the dumpling but you can also get it with shrimp, and the sauce that is in that dumpling is pure crack, and chances are that you WILL be hooked once you eat one, unless your a vegetarian. I have searched at countless other chinese, szechwan, and mandarin restaurants, in cities across the U.S. including NY and S.F., none have compared or even come close, and i find myself always disappointed when i bother trying to find a replacement.
Sizzling rice soup, made at the table, also very good, but can be very filling so beware
So you've already ate the dumplings and/or soup, now on to the main course, I have always loved the shrimp chow fun, which is wide rice noodles on top of sauteed shrimp with water chestnuts and broccoli, the sauce they use is incredibly tasty, and compliments the dish so damn well, its plain and simple awesome, and very filling.
The orange beef, while a bit spicy is also very good, again  the sauce is just awesome, makes everything ive had at moon palace taste great.
Cashew chicken, while it sounds regular dish type, is also one of the best I have found, tons of chicken, huge portion, water chestnuts and cashews, oh and again huge portions, throughout. Also i don't particularily like kung pao chicken but many have told me it is the best they've had
Mongolian beef, is another dish you cant go wrong with, though also a cliche dish, the texture of the beef is very soft and tender, and the sauce is sweet and extremely tasty
Expect to leave very full always, with a party of 2 generally spending under $35-40, if you over order you will probably feel like you over ordered and will be taking things home, but I will be willing to bet you wont be disappointed.
They have a full bar, Tsing Tao being my favorite beer to drink there, they also have very tasty mixed drinks including pina colada's, mai tai's and other strong drinks as well.
Expect to spend about an hour or less there, they are quick but not too quick, and usually moderately busy. Very friendly Chinese family owned sit-down restaurant. A must go in Chinatown, despite anywhere else you have already gone in Chinatown, nothing compares. Enjoy
This was my first visit to Moon Palace in many years. Â We were a party of seven for lunch today, all Chinese except for me. Â Oh, what a treat was in store for me!
My DP is Hong Kong Chinese and I have had the pleasure of eating Chinese all over the world, in some truly fine restaurants. Â I would have to say that, based on today's meal, this is as good as I have had any where else in the world.
You should know that Moon Palace is not the place to order your Cantonese usuals. Â This is a place to go for Shanghainese food. Â If you're not familiar with the difference, I suggest you take a look at their website before you go. Â You also might want to talk to the host or hostess or ask for the owner and talk things over before ordering. Â They can be a good guide for non-Chinese customers and can make sure that you get the right level of spiciness.
I won't recommend any particular dishes here; you know what you like and don't like, so talk it over with the host and place your order with confidence. Â I don't think you'll be disappointed. Â Â
I understand that the place had a bad fire last year (they are right next door to a fire station, so that was convenient!), and they have done a wonderful job of remodeling. Â In fact, theirs is one of the nicest places in Chinatown now. Â The spent some big bucks, and it shows.
Service was good for us, but maybe that was because one of my group knows the owners. Â From reading some of the other reviews here, it seems as if service is sometimes an issue. Â If you're not getting the service you need, maybe you should ask to speak to the manager. Â I suspect if you are nice about it, they will do their best to make your meal a good experience.
Parking is always an issue in Chinatown. Â However, Moon Palace is only about half a block from the public parking lot on the corner of Cermak and Wentworth and they will discount your parking for you--just give them your parking receipt.
This used to be my favorite restaurant to get soup dumplings, sweet and sour soup, and noodles. I used to faithfully go on a bi monthly basis. However...
I finally went after their much expected reopening after renovation. The restaurant looks classy and expensive. Dark wood and fancy tiles everywhere. We order sweet and sour soup, noodles, and, for the first time, peking duck.
I asked the waitress several times BEFORE i order the duck to make sure that it is made the day of and wrapped in steamed buns. She assured me of both and placed our order.
the soup was SUPER sour. The noodles were SUPER salty, and the duck was super dry and OLD. It was hands down the WORST peking duck, or any duck, that I have ever had. it was dry and jerky, without an ounce of fat anywhere, AND it came with chinese tortilla wraps that were obviously frozen then microwaved.
I was in shock and I asked the waitress why the duck was so dry and if it was really made that day. She said that ALL AMERICAN ducks are dry, and if i had juicy peking duck, it must have been in China. I replied that I had excellent duck in Phoenix, and she didn't have anything to say. Then I overheard her talking to the owner, who said loudly that "of course the duck is dry, because the meat sucked up all the fat."
The fact was, the duck was days old and kept in the fridge, then microwaved quickly before served. No complimentary dessert, no waive charges for horrible duck. As a duck lover, this is the worst duck and worst attitude/lies I encountered at any restaurant. I will never return to the restaurant for anything. They have lost a faithful customer.
How is it that no one has talked about their black pepper scallops??
I was craving black pepper scallops and the only place I had it before was at Ben Pao (and at restaurants at U of I). Â However, I wanted to try it at other places too so the bf and I started our quest by looking at online menus for it. Â Surprisingly, a lot of restaurants we saw didn't carry scallops until we saw Moon Palace's menu. Â
The scallops are soo good! Â I love scallops since they don't have much of a flavor alone but when paired with a great sauce, they are just delicious and Moon Palace's succeeded. Â The funny thing is that we've ordered carry out from there twice so far and the black pepper scallops were different. Â Both were very good but the first one had the crispy noodles while the second didn't and it had a little bit of veggies and more sauce. Â Very interesting. Â I wonder what I'll get the next time I order this dish.
We also tried the potstickers, xiao long bao, hot and sour soup and mushu pork. Â Potstickers and xiao long baos were decent but I agree that it is kind of odd to call them xiao long bao when there's barely any soup in them. Â Just think of them as dumplings and enjoy. Â Mushu pork wasn't bad but nothing special to me. Â They really do need to give more wraps like someone else said. Â And I was glad I got to try their hot and sour soup but I think New Chinatown's is still better. Â I felt like the soup was missing something...but I couldn't put my finger on what.
Best. Dumplings. Ever.
Well, maybe not ever. Maybe not even in the city. I'm willing to concede that surely somewhere in Chicago there are better dumplings. But maybe not for sale. Wherever these allegedly better dumplings are in the city, at a better value, I'd like to know, because I have not found them.
Now, the service at Moon Palace is hardly service. I hate that the staff sits around a large, round table, in plain view of guests. And I've had some hits-and-misses with a couple of their other dishes, but all in all the dumplings are worth stopping in for. Just ignore the staff.
The location is convenient for visitors to Chinatown: close to the Red Line, across the street from South Wentworth, perfect for a dumpling snack.
Hubs and I journeyed down to Chinatown for an afternoon of exploring and hoped to find a good Chinese restaurant in the process.
No such luck.
Food: 2.5 stars
Greasy, sauce laden, soggy, etc. Biggest disappointment? Their egg drop soup was the blandest stuff I have ever tasted. Seriously had to add half the salt shaker to give it some taste.
Service: 1 star
Our server took our order and that was the last we saw of her. Normally at a restaurant, the waitress will come and check in on you, right? Nope. I had to flag her down to get a refill.
Let me tell you, no refill = pissy missy = bad rating.
AND...to make matters worse, she was EXTREMELY attentive to the group customers right next to us.
The short of it = don't waste your time.
There are SURELY better places to enjoy Chinese food in Chinatown. We just picked the wrong place.
Get the dumplings...for $7 you get 10 HUGE, lovely little pockets of dumpling divineness. It's a meal in itself, or a VERY large appetizer...either way, you'll be satisfied.
Crab Rangoon: very satisfactory, with lots of crab (or imitation crab, but still..much more than just a glop of cream cheese. Not that I argue with glops of creamy cheese, but some substantial crab really puts it over the top...)
I sampled some of the Crispy Duck, my first ever...hmmm, not sure if I'd get it again, but it was prepared well and came in a very large quantity. The bones irk me a bit, too much work. I ordered Pork Moo Shoo, and it was very good, came with a lot of rice, and those darling little pancakes. Mmmmm, Chinese burritos!
Service was a bit curt, but overall satisfactory...def a good option in Chinatown (my first ever, so it shall get a special place in my heart!)
My fortune cookie had a blank fortune, so I suppose that means I get to write my own :)
*sigh*....
I really wanted to LOVE this place. Â I heard SO much about it! Â I heard that the Xiao Long Bao was the best! Â But...was disappointed.
I've had some of the BEST xiao long bao, probably in the world. One time at the YuYuan market in Shanghai three years ago. Â And then again at Ding Tai Fung in Toronto. Â
The meat in the bao tasted good, but there wasn't enough soup in it. Â It's supposed to be a soup dumpling and its supposed to ooooze out of the dumpling. Â I didn't really get that. Â I also though the dumpling dough was WAY too thick. Â and the dumpling itself...way too big. Â But I guess it's just a portion problem we have in America.
I then ordered a pickled veggie and sliced pork noodle soup. Â Hmm..not how I imagined it. Â The veggie and pork tasted good together but the broth was SO OILY. Â Which, I didn't expect. Â I've had this dish before in Shanghainese restaurants in Toronto but it wasn't like this.
I guess I'll have to try it again with more people so I can try some of the other stuff. Â I thought it was decent priced.
10 xiao long boa
1 bowl of soup
$17 including tax and tip. Â I had some leftovers.
I give it 3 stars for the Shanghai Noodles.
We ordered carryout the other day.
Kung Pao Beef - Not much flavor and wasn't very spicy.
Moo Shu Pork - It was good, but wish they gave 6 wraps instead of 4 only.
Shanghai Noodles - This was good.
I usually just get the Shanghai Noodles from here. A tad pricey.
Love= Any place that can produce Peking Duck without an hour wait. Â
Let's do some math now.
If the above is true then; Â Love=Moon Palace
I'm in heaven really. Â It's the only Chinese food that I ever really crave and it's so hard to find (without the hour long wait). Â Moon Palace is perfect for my craving and serving up Peking Duck in a flash. Â Also, they have some YUMMY hot'n'sour soup.
Even if my server poured my hot and sour soup into my eye sockets I would still like this place. Â There is nothing, and I mean nothing, like polishing off 12 dumprings, uh I mean dumplings, just for starters. Â My server of choice is Sour Apple, or so she calls herself, and she has the quickest lip this side of Jiangxi. Â She always has recommendations ready for me and even has my sweet and sour soup and dumplings ordered when she sees my fat ass walk through the door.
Sweet and sour soup, XAIO LONG BAO DUMPLINGS!!! Â salt and pepper shrimp, bok choy with garlic, sesame chicken, etc.... Â The list goes on and on and on... Â Just ask the waitress for a reco and she will be happy to send something tasty your way. Â The place is clean, the food is fresh and doesn't leave you sweating MSG out of your pores when you are done. Â
The only thing that needs work is the removal of the waving kitty clock and the endless John Mayer CD playing. Â I mean John Mayer on repeat - at a chinese restaurant??? Â I never realized how hard it is to use chopsticks listening to the white man's music.
I could be nice and give this spot 3 stars...but I guess I'm just not that nice. Â
I asked for some knives...The server came over and dropped each knife on our empty plates. Â If my dad was there to witness this, I'm sure he would have let her know she messed up. Â While dropping the 2nd knife down, she splilled my water....then she came back and dropped a napkin on top of it, to soak the water up and walked away.
The mongolian beef was ok at best, the chow mein noodles were pretty burned and chunks of ginger small enough for us to miss yet large enough to bitch-slap my tastebuds everytime I'd bitten into a piece. Â YUCK! Â The pork fried rice was the best thing we'd ordered. Â
I knew I should've braved the elements and walked to the secret spot!!
+ : affordable, quality food, abundant portions
- : slow and inattentive service
moon palace is good food and it's conveniently located right by the el. Â the waitress was a little "hands-off" with our party, and was having a bit of an issue with getting our order right, but ultimately i would say it was a deal. the 3rd star is for the entree, rice and soup, all in generous amounts, for $6.
I used to love this place but it has been gradually going downhill. Â I had to edit my original review based on my experiences in the last year.
The food was consistently above average but has recently been greasy. Â I can;t say the same for the orange chicken or beef, it is still the BEST in the city (that I've tried). Â The eggrolls are great and the shrimp toast is perfect with their house mustard. Â My wife swears by the cashew chicken and I have no complaints. Â I love going with friends and discovering new dishes.
I love Moon Palace... Â This is the perfect place to take out of town visitors, or just go with your friends... Â They have good food and a bar for drinks.
They seem to get a good mix of people, local Chinese people, tourists, workers on break, etc.
They have "dinner for 4" "dinner for 5" etc etc., so that's a good way to feed everyone without paying a buttload and also you end up getting things you might not otherwise try. Â If you don't want the family style dining you can also just order whatever entrees you want. Â They are also very accomodating to substitute items if you want something added to certain dishes, etc.
One of my favorite reasons to eat out is to have something I can't cook myself. Â OK, maybe, I could have made the shrimp and pork buns (but it would have made me grumpy, whereas the waitress was friendly.) Â But the fantastic Jelly Fish with Turnips - I wouldn't have known where to get the ingredients, and it was so crunchy and delicious with just the right amount of sesame. Â And I don't begin to know what was in the Shanghai Style Eel Fish, but it was delicious.
Chinatown is not far away. Â I keep forgetting that. Â It's right down the Red Line from Lakeview and Lincoln Park, and with a car, it's a breeze. Â And there's parking. Â Actual free parking!
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