Comme ci, comme ca. Â There must be many better restaurants close by. We had party of six and tried several appetizers, wonton soup, and main courses. I don't get upscale chinese. It didn't work for me.
The portions were small and the prices were high. We all had the wonton soup and it was served in a beautiful bowl with a built-in candle to keep the soup hot. It was good but contained one measley wonton.
I had the seared tuna and again it was good but not really Chinese food.
The restaurant filled up and they have a lively downstairs bar that looked inviting.
I wouldn't go there again. I prefer traditional Chinese food without the fancy trappings.
So, I was a wee bit sad when Ben Pao closed. I didn't have a go-to place in the area to fill my craving of sesame chicken. I didn't find it in Red Violet but found a decent substitution instead - General Tsao chicken.
At one of my family's favorite Chinese restaurants back home, our number one order is General Tsao. While not THE best of the best, Red Violet's comes close to what I'm used to. It has just the amount of spicy flavor I like. Â It's not as fiery* like the other order I normally get - rock shrimp appetizer. Â Both orders run about $25+. Pricy yes, but then again it's around the same amount as most of the neighboring restaurants.
Red Violet also has online ordering (goes through GrubHub) which has come in handy when I work late at night and want it to go. It's normally ready even before I leave but have experienced an occasion or two where my order was sent out for delivery when I specifically asked to pick it up myself and then had to figure out where my food went.
*Fiery might be over-exaggerating since I'm sensitive to spicy foods. I enjoy spicy to an extent. This dish I can tolerate, so I guess it might not be that spicy to others.
We just hosted a dinner here for 20 people - I am always appreciative when a place can handle that many talkative entrepreneurs!
The two things that went wrong is that in the set menu, they knew already two of us were vegetarians and they still brought out the same scallop salad they served to everyone else! Seafood is not vegetarian!
Second, in doing the pairings, I specifically told them I didn't want any sake drinks and yet they kept bringing variations of sake drinks - that's just plain stubbornness on the part of the mixer.
I'd say the food is decent, good for large group dining, service is polite but not alert or aligned with giving people what they want.
Great food!
Probably one of the better meals you can get on Hubbard Street, nice service, reasonably priced.
Unfortunately, this place wasn't very filled, and it looks like the narrow tastes of most Hubbard St denizens are not intrigued by a decent Chinese joint.
If you happen to find yourself in the unfortunate position of dining on Hubbard St, you could do immensely worse.
When I first heard of Red Violet and read a few reviews, I brightened at the prospect of a new Red Light/Opera filling the void that those KDK gems left behind (RIP Paul). Â Anyway, disappointed. Â Another humdrum Chinese restaurant trying to be "lounge" and upscale. Â It's a hard thing to pull off. Â Most of us know that really great Chinese food doesn't carry a River North bistro price tag.
From the time a walked in, I knew what I was getting. Â Lot's of black lacquer, decor by Pier 1, dim lighting, dirty menus, and wobbly chairs at the table!
The classics were good and tasty and the service was very friendly. Â I am not panning the place outright, I am just saying that the place belongs up on Clark Street and it has no chance of being there next year...so hurry up if you want to try.
Not related to the rating, but it was suprisingly slow for a weekend night for such a big space in River North. Very friendly service with great menu knowledge. The best Hot and Sour soup I ever had. I was there with a group, and I tried a little of everything. There were some hits and some almost hits. Nothing was bad. I would recommend it if you want a quality American Chinese meal.
Review Source:If you order wisely you can get a good meal for a good price. Â The portions were large enough that we had a second meal out of the left overs the next day. Â
Wonton Soup was good. Â Pretty authentic flavors. Â A bit over salted. I would get it again.
Drinks were interesting (and half  priced the night we stopped in).
Better than most Rivernorth restaurants that have popped up in the last year.
Finally, great Chinese in Chicago! Â I had given up on finding a good, upscale Chinese restaurant in this town after years of looking. Â The ambiance is modern & elegent, though dimly lit as other reviewers have noted.
The service was good, attentive but not overbearing. Â And the food was fantastic! Â We had the pork steam buns for an appetizer, which were filled with tender meat (but not too fatty) with a richly flavored hoisen sauce. Â Yum! Â My husband had a chicken dish, which was delicious & HUGE. Â I had the cashew crusted halibut, which was amazing. Â It had a delicious sauce and was nicely balanced with little pieces of shrimp and green beans. Â I highly recommend the chocolate symphony dessert - it's a fresh take on the whole molten chocolate cake craze.
We will definitely make this our go-to Chinese place. Â It's fancy enough for date night, so I hope it stays in business!
First, the food was very good, I had wild mushroom hot and sour soup, the halibut, and Creme brûlée (although I didn't like the blueberry sorbet in the Creme brûlée). I liked the decor (however, never like when I have to go downstairs to use the restroom).
But Red Violet gets so few stars for two reasons. One, the are closed between lunch a dinner, which isn't listed on their website. Â This posed a problem when I asked a friend to meet me for an early dinner... Â Second, the wait staff was absurd. They stood by the table and stared at us our entire meal, refilled our water glasses after every sip, tried to remove our plates every time we set our forks down and generally made it difficult to enjoy our meal. I nearly hit our server with my dessert spoon the third time he tried to take my partially eaten dessert away... Â I will not return even though I enjoyed the food.
uuummm.... first off, I understand you want to be a contemporary asian restaurant, BUT...
Being in the River north area, you should be having lines out the door (it's always empty in there), like all the other restaurants. Â It is so sad.
What's wrong is the restaurant is too dark for being a chinese restaurant. Bad CHI. All Asian restaurants are bright, whether modern or not. It can make a huge difference in traffic.
So brighten up the room!
Had brunch here on Sunday.
For $35, my date had their dim sum tasting, a side order of Szechuan noodles and an order of fried donuts.
It's an amazing value for the money. The dim sum consists of some tasty bao and a ridiculously tasty salad and there's really nothing like this in River North for brunch.
If you're looking for something different that's also an outstanding value, give it a whirl.
This is a big place! While we were eating it felt cozy and intimate but when I headed downstairs to the ladies room, it was crazy big. Nicely done lounge space, but although we were dining until about 11 PM on a Friday no one was using the space.
Food is good. We would definitely go back if in the neighborhood. Smallish portions, slightly high prices, but byo makes up for that! Â Service was good, non-intrusive although we lingered, and relatively quick.
Solid 4 stars!
Just visited this wonderful restaurant last night with my best gal pals and it was magnificent. The decor is gorgeous and I love the intimate atmosphere, very posh. Our server was friendly and personable. The dishes were not only delicious but eye pleasing. I highly suggest the vegetable spring rolls! (I wish I ordered two servings lol) The pricing for the entrees is a little more pricey for the average joe but I still think anyone can sample something from this menu. I'm an everyday working girl and I fished for items off the appetizer list which averaged about $7-8 each; order two of them and you've got yourself a well portioned meal as well as being kind to your pockets.
Review Source:We had a friend visiting for Canada and came here for a birthday dinner. All three aspects, service value and food were A+. The four of us had 2 bottles of wine shared some appetizers had our entrées + deserts all under $200! Amazing for a trendy place in River North!
FOOD & WINE
Hamachi Carpaccio & Halibut in Mustard Butter Sauce were so delicious (we ordered repeat of both)! It was seriously one of the best presentations of Halibut /i can remember and I am a foodie:) Everything else was very well done, all courses arrived on time, elegantly plated. They have an excellent and yet affordable wine list. The waiter knew his wine well but wasn't at all pushy.
AMBIANCE
We were impressed with low noise level and lounge music that allowed for easy conversation. The place had a contemporary Asian style interior with great lighting.
Tried this for first time because drinks on Tuesday are half price. The atmosphere was nice and server attentive. Drinks were great and vegetarian egg rolls delicious. Then entrees of Kung pao  tofu and Dan Dan noodles arrived. We like spicy but these were inedible. I picked out a fistful of hot red peppers in the tofu dish. I am not comfortable sending things back but when waiter saw we hadn't eaten anything and asked if he could box it up I said they were too spicy to eat.  He said ok and brought the bill.  There was no offer to remake the dishes or take them off the bill. We will not be back. If you want to try this restaurant beware.
Review Source:I scheduled a business lunch here with some clients and colleagues based on a recommendation. I had never even heard of the place to be honest with you. The vibe is pretty cool. I can see how this would be a great spot at night. The downstairs is really neat too with all the seating and bar downstairs. At lunch, it was pretty dead. Maybe people don't know about it? Maybe people don't want to eat chinese for lunch? Not sure.
The food was really good. They have a lunch special where you get like an app, soup, salad, entree for like $16 or $20 or something. It was a good deal. The portions aren't enormous either so you aren't falling asleep at your desk when you get back to the office. The service was meh. Our waiter might have had too much going on, but we seriously sat for like 20 minutes before we placed our order. Not cool when you are there for lunch during work. Other than that though, I have no complaints! I would definitely try it again at night to check out the ambiance then.
So I went here a few weeks ago and randomly last night was thinking that I forgot to review it. Â Funny that I thought it about it last night because my friend Frank was apparently dealing with some rude messages from who I think is the co-owner of the restaurant, Cherie Cheung, based on his previous bad review of the restaurant.
Look, the food is 3 stars. Â I went once before and had a tofu lunch special which was really pretty yummy, and the second time had shrimp fried rice which was just okay.
Unfortunately, Â I just can't go here anymore, despite its close proximity to my work, because I can't support the behavior of Cherie toward my friend. Â Prior to first visiting Red Violet I called to ask if a Rue La La voucher I had was good for lunch. Â I was told that it was and so went on my merry way. Â We didn't end up using it that time because my friend and I's bill was so under the value of the voucher, so I saved it for the next visit. Â Called again to double check before we went the second time, told again no problem.
Fast forward to my next visit. Â Four of us sit down, are handed the lunch special menu (same as the last time I visited), and that is the only menu we are given. Â Which to me means that this is what you have for lunch. Â Otherwise, give me an additional menu. Â We order, our server is great. Â She is friendly and attentive and no complaints about her. Â I put my Rue La La voucher in the bill when all is said and done and she comes back and explains that because the voucher says that it is not valid for "happy hour specials," that unfortunately we can't use it. Now, pretty much every person in the U.S. understands happy hour to be late afternoon to early evening and usually involves discounted drinks/apps. Â Not lunch at 1 in the afternoon. In fact, Merriam Webster's definition of happy hour is as follows: "a period of time during which the price of drinks (as at a bar) is reduced or hors d'oeuvres are served free." Â Doesn't sound like happy hour is a lunch special to me! Â The server was nice about it and approached it fine, but I asked to speak to the manager because I knew that was the only person who could resolve the issue.
Who I now understand to be Cherie comes up to us and says "I understand you have a question about your bill." Â I fully admit to not being the happiest person at that point given that I've previously been told that I could use this at lunch and that they were trying to argue this b.s. "happy hour" clause as a reason to invalidate the use of my voucher. Â So I say that I don't have a question, but that I should be able to use my voucher. Â I tell her I called previously and somebody told me it was an option to use at lunch. Â She explains that her staff would have never said that (except that they did), and that it can be used at lunch (wait, I thought you just said nobody would've ever said that?), but not on the specials. Well, that's the only menu you handed me so how the heck would I know if there were other food options? She says something to the effect of I'm going to let you use it, but I want to explain to you x, y, z (I can't remember the points but they were the reasons I shouldn't be able to). Â I said thank you, but explain that to your staff since they were the ones who told me it was available for use. So in the end she accepts the voucher and the right thing is done. Great. I probably would've still given the place 3 stars were it not for the next part of the story.
So, Frank writes his review.  She publicly posts that our conversation was "recorded," which is definitely criminal since it was without our knowledge. But she later clarifies privately that she means the security camera caught it.  Okay, don't care. Was I super nice to Cherie? No, because they were trying to screw me.  She also says to Frank that  I was "extremely rude the minute [I] sat down." Totally untrue, I was full of pleases and thank yous and was never rude until they tried to screw me. Let's see footage of the WHOLE meal Cherie and we'll see who is telling the truth.  She also says to my friend Frank in her private message that "Bloomspot requires the customer to mention the certificate before ordering which she didn't."  Well, a) I don't even know what Bloomspot is but that isn't the kind of voucher I had, and b) it says only that the voucher "must be presented at the time of redemption." It doesn't say ordering, it says redemption. Not the same thing Cherie.
She then says to Frank "Please, be honest...," basically calling him a liar. Well, Cherie, you've certainly got balls but don't have integrity. Â Calling a customer a liar for posting a perfectly honest but bad review about your restaurant is not good business. I think we probably only saw the smallest bit of your bad side so far given that several former employees have messaged Frank saying that you were an absolutely horrible person to work for.
Do not support Cherie's restaurant people, the food isn't worth
I am a pure pure Chinese, have been here 3 years. Also, I am absolutely a gourmet. so, my friend always ask my suggestions about good restaurants. especially, for Asian food recommendation. When my friend  ask me which restaurant serve the best Chinese food in chitown, I always tell them it's hard to say cuz none of them can really satisfy me. but, now, I know where to recommend them to go! HERE
Chinese food are somehow assumed to be cheap, and the restaurant environment in chicago are normally simple and low end. but. Red Violet totally inverted my impression! Â It's so classic, upscale, romantic, and sexy! An ideal place for dating! the food are delicious and exotic. It's exotic for both American and Chinese cuz it's fusion! especially, I love their desert! YAMMM!!!!!!!!!!!! the price are relevant higher than other Chinese restaurant but definitely worthwhile.
I am planning my birthday party in their private room!!!
I absolutely LOVED this place!
Came here for a friend's birthday with a huge group. We were given all of the downstairs space. I came first, so I had some time to observe all of the rooms and all of the happenings, and oooh was I impressed. The round room downstairs impressed me the most! I am now looking for an excuse to come back and use that round room (are half birthdays celebrates). I also found out that this restaurant has the same owner as NIU Sushi, my all time favorite sushi! I was ready for a deliciously exciting evening!
The decor is modern and impressive, looks a bit upscale.
Appetizers: Hot and Sour Soup, Xiao Long Bao and tried the Calamari
Entree: Filet Mignon and Pork Belly
Drinks: Raspberry Truffle Martini and Cappuccino Martini
Dessert: Chocolate Mousse thing, forgot the name. Tried the dognut
I can not handle spicy things so I was scared of the hot and sour soup but it was not spicy! It was very hot in temperature because it was served on this very awesome dish that had a candle under the bowl. So cool! The soup had a loooot of seafood, and I mean a looot. It was absolutely delicious. The buns were great too. Very soft, meat very tender and when you bit into the bun soup poured out just like it should. yuuummm. Next time I will be ordering the calamari though. I dried one from a friend and I wanted to have the calamari for the rest of my meal! It wasn't the little circles you get at all the other restaurants, these were about 1 inch by 4 inch sticks of calamari. I want to call it calamari steaks. They were glazed in a sweet sauce that perfectly complimented the dish.
The entrees were very tasty, but I must say I liked my bf's filet mignon much better than the pork belly. The filet mignon is not served like you would expect, it is stir fried with veggies in a bowl. The veggies were tender and cooked to perfection, the meat was flavorful but not overpowering. mmmmm ... The pork belly was served with steamed rice. The meat itself was very tender but I must say I am not getting pork belly again it just way too fatty.
We chose the chocolate mousse for our dessert and it was so, well, chocolaty. There was a hard layer of chocolate on top and a brownie and mousse texture on the inside. Very creamy and yummy... Next time I am ordering the doughnuts though. A friend gave me a piece to try and that was to die for! It's not like a dunkin doughnuts greasy doughnut, it was more of the grill made doughnuts. It was so sweet and glazed. I am salivating just thinking about it!
I ordered my chocolate drinks with dinner and I am very happy that I did. You can never go wrong with godiva chocolate martini, yum, yum, YUM! If you are a coffee lover go for the cappuccino martini.
All of the food was served on very impressive bowls, plates, etc. I won't go into too many details not to spoil it ;-)
If you want to impress a date or company go to Red Violet. Order any of the things I listed, or I would assume anything on their menu and you will not be disappointed!
Note: we ordered for delivery only Â
Absolutely not your neighborhood Chinese restaurant. This is a couple steps up in cuisine.
Everything we ordered was excellent, near perfect.
We had salt and pepper calamari. Â Crispy and spicy wonderful.
Duck fried rice, above average, with little bits of duck and obviously cooked with duck fat.
Hot and sour soup - nice taste, though a bit weak on actual content of ingredients.
Beef Kung Pao. Very tasty and spicy as promised( served with white rice). Nice tender beef.
Our biggest complaint - portion size. We were three people and there was absolutely  no leftovers. For over $5o we expected larger portions. I knew as soon as they handed me the delivery bag, that we would not be completely satisfied with the quantity.
Last plus- Â delivery was scary fast, incredibly fast. Food was here within 20 minutes, piping hot and very fresh. Would order from here again, maybe even tomorrow night.
Came here for date night dinner on a Wednesday evening. Â The place is lovely. Â Sleek and stylish. Â Comfy chairs, backed with red silk pillows. Â Nice attention to detail. Â Definitely felt "upscale." Â
We started with drinks.  Hubby got a coconut martini, which disappointed him a little.  It was described as featuring chocolate, which it did not.  Waiter said the bar was out of the chocolate.  Also, it seemed kind of  small for the cost, but then many drinks in upscale restaurants are.  Now my ginger mojito, in contrast, was great!  And pretty substantial, too. Â
So, on to the food. Â Overall quite good. Â Their blurb on Open Table mentions vegetarian options being available, but there really was not much on the menu. Â However, the waiter informed us that I could have the hot and sour soup done with mushrooms in a mushroom broth. Â So I ordered that and a side of vegetarian mapo tofu. Â The tofu was good, but the soup was amazing! Â It was so rich and flavorful! Â Hubby tried it and promptly ordered his own bowl. Â However, he chose the standard seafood and meat version that is on the menu, which he said was good. Â But, he said that mine was better.
For his entrée, hubby ordered the pork belly, which came with rice and bok choy.  He proclaimed it yummy.   He also got a side of taro fries, which he said were just okay.  (I couldn't try them as they were fried in pork fat.)  Presentation was well executed.  Everything was very pretty.
For dessert we shared the almond mild panna cotta with spicy mango. Â It was a good choice!
So why only three stars?  Well, there were some service  issues that left me a bit troubled...
When I ordered, the waiter expressed concerned that I wouldn't have enough food. Â He suggested maybe I should add a salad. Â I told him I was a pretty light eater, so I imagined I'd be fine. Â When the mapo came out was huge! Â I could only finish half of it and had to take the rest home. Â I could not fathom why the waiter thought it would be too little. Â Then I looked at the check and saw that he had up-charged me for a large mapo instead of the side that I had ordered. Â (Large mapo was not on the menu, by the way.) Â The price difference wasn't substantial - we're only talking about four bucks - but the principle kind of irks me. Â He could have told me that a large was available and asked me if I'd like it. Â Don't presume!
And hubby's side of taro fries did not appear at the table until he had finished with his meal. Â I was done eating, too, when they came, so basically, he ate them while I watched. Â I didn't mind so much, but he was a bit irritated.
On the plus side, our server put another side of rice with my leftover mapo for me to take home. Â I thought that was nice of him.
Will we come back? Â Maybe. Â If we are in the neighborhood. Â That soup was really good...
It's good. I was close to saying 4 stars but settled with 3. The food and drink was fantastic. I love chocolate martinis but I'm picky in that many places don't make them very well. The martinis here were incredible. I even tried a few martinis with some added chambord for a rasberry chocolate taste. I believe Kate was my server and she was very attentive and fun.
The food was good but I thought the portion size was rather small for the price.
I went there on a Sunday afternoon and the place was rather empty. I'd love to see the place during a rush period out of curiosity and to see what the vibe is like.
Came here with a Bloomspot deal, left as a potential repeat visitor!
Looks like the revamped menu is working out nicely because we had a wonderful experience.
Appetizers: Hot & Sour Soup, Calamari, Xiao Long Bao
Entrees: Halibut & Filet Mignon
Dessert: Lychee doughnuts with black tea semifreddo
I would recommend all of the above items!!! Hot and Sour soup has lots of seafood in it (and shavings of black truffle), in a small dice, giving it a dense texture. Although we're not big fans of fried calamari much preferring grilled, we decided to try the "crispy calamari" dish and were very pleasantly surprised! Long thick strips of calamari strips are lightly coated with crumbs and seem to be quickly sauteed, letting their fantastic flavor and texture shine.
Dumplings were ok, they're mini dumplings, so there isn't much room for the soupiness that we were expecting.
Presentation is fantastic... the soup is served in beautiful bowl and plate that's warmed by a candle.
Besides the presentation of the food, the interior design of the restaurant is amazing. You may be tempted to request the couch seating, but I would recommend sticking to the normal tables because the pillows on each chair are HEAVENLY!
Drinks: Lychee martini is delicious! Bison grass cocktail does indeed taste like pie, but was a bit strong at first, so wait for the ice to melt to balance out the drink.
We went to Red Violet on a Thursday night for the new menu with a couple of our friends. We were very happy we made the decision to dine here and now we are a fan.
We started with hot and sour and wonton soup. I like the idea of the soup coming in a warmer since I like my soup to be hot and it is not lure warm at the last bite. Tuna tartar spring roll was fresh and tasty. The salt and pepper calarmari is the bomb. It's the right saltiness and not chewy like other restaurants. We also tried the hamachi appetizer and we actually ordered more after we finished our order. It was so good. I have to say it is better than some famous sushi restaurant in the area. The diver scallop salad was fantastic. We had filet mignon, cashew crusted halibut, Peking duck and whole lobster with black bean sauce. Even their desserts were unforgettable! The coconut custard with almond milk is my favorite. Even though I was so full by he time we finished our entrees, I could not stop eating it.
The vibe at Red Violet is hip and upscale. Definitely worth a try and I'm sure you will want to go back for more.
Lovely place, very elegant and decorative. Love their furniture (watch it be from IKEA) lol! Anyways...the location is in a perfect location where all the clubs & bars are located. Â However, parking was difficult to find cuz they didn't have valet (at least not on the day I went, which was a Wednesday.)
The menu did not gve me too much to choose from but the one I chose turned out delicious! The Tsao Chicken was yummy!! Â Drinks were good too! Â Depending on your $$ spending, if your tight on money, this is not the best option cuz their salads and soups run about $8 & up. Â My meal alone was $20 without tax. so don't say I didn't warn you! Bon Appetit!
For upscale Chinese food, this place isn't bad, but I don't know if it's quite worth what you're paying.
The lunch special was a good deal, but I don't think I'd be back for dinner and pay full price.
I had seafood noodles, which were good. Â I could tell that the seafood was pretty fresh, but the noodles were still rather greasy.
I've not had a full meal at this place so I can't fully speak to the entirety of the food, but I've got some thoughts on an appetizer and the drinks to share generally speaking.
I've been here multiple times, always on Tuesday nights, after my classmates and I sit through 3 hours of a grad class down the street. Â Cocktails are needed and fortunately for us, on Tuesdays, their mojitos and martini's are half off making them $5 and $6! Â Count me in! Â I've sampled their ginger and coconut mojito, both of which are lovely! Â We've also shared the vegetable spring rolls on occasion which I would also happily order again.
My only concern with this place is that in looking at their menu, the prices seem a little steep for a P.F. Changs like menu. Â Perhaps I will someday try the entrees and will be blown away, enough to spend close to $20 a plate for the meal. Â Besides, this is River North where almost everything is about $5 over what it should be, so if you want to dine in the area, bring your wallet and if not, try somewhere else.
What really stood out most here was the service from our waitress Katherine as well as the manager. Katherine was friendly and knowledgeable and very accommodating. One of my drinks was too sweet so she had it fixed ASAP without me asking. She was also supportive of the restaurant, telling about how they have private dining and can accommodate large parties etc. Extra star given.
We ate near the bar which could have been nicer. Being on Hubbard St, I was surprised that they didn't invest in a better bar area and take advantage of the bar scene. We didn't see the other areas.
Food:
Shrimp spring rolls - they use whole shrimp and not chopped. it was decent.
Pork buns - stay away. very little pork and the dough was ick.
Sha cha shrimp - loved it! I loved the toasted spices and chillies.
Beef tenderloin w/ Peking sauce - a special of the night. This is a dish where "less is more". There was so much pineapple and onion that it was hard to find the beef but it was tasty.
River North suffers from decent Chinese food so if you don't feel like going to China town, stop in here.
I really, really, really wanted to love Red Violet. Â Perhaps it was the whole loungey, sexy, city vibe that drew me to there or the romantic croonings of Musiq playing through the speakers as I was walking by. Â Whatever it was, I was excited to finally try it.
When we walked in last night, it was empty for a Thursday night at 8. Â There were perhaps only two other tables there besides us. Â Typically, this would have been a turn off since I love the energy of places that are a buzz with laughter and good conversation from all the patrons sitting around me. Â But I tried to look past that and focus on the beautiful atmosphere instead.
Once seated, we began to peruse both the standard and seasonal menu. Â Other than the mushroom truffle wild rice and the house specialty rice that had caviar in it, everything on the menu seemed to be standard Chinese fare at very inflated prices. Â I will never understand how a restaurant can charge $18 for Kung Pao Chicken. Â But maybe that's just me?
My bf and I ordered the vegetable spring rolls to start and for drinks, I ordered the Lychee Spritzer and my bf ordered the Raspberry Lemonade.  The meal actually started off with a bang!  The spring rolls are probably the best I have had in any Chinese Restaurant.  They were perfect in every sense of the word. Golden on the outside with the perfect balance of veggies on the inside (I feel like many restaurants use  cabbage, cabbage, cabbage and more cabbage than anything else in their spring rolls).  My drink came garnished with two lychee's, which were actually quite rubbery and tasteless.  But the spritzer itself was light and fresh and just what I expected.  The Raspberry Lemonade was also fresh, lots of raspberries and you could taste the lemon. Â
For my entree, Â I was determined to pick something unique and off the beaten path so I wouldn't feel so guilty about paying $20+ dollars for an entree. Â I chose the Hawaiian basket off the seasonal menu. Â It was a combination of scallops, shrimp, lobster, shitake mushrooms and a veggies served in a taro basket. Â It was so bland and so disappointing that I didn't even eat all of it. Â Majority of the basket was filled with water chestnuts and snap peas. Â I found only two measly bites of lobster (that I almost mistook for broken water chestnuts) , 4 shrimp, and 4 scallops in my entire entree. Â
My boyfriend ordered the Chicken Kung Pao, since that's probably one of his favorite dishes and a measuring stick to compare what he has had to Red Violet.  He asked for it to be extra spicy, and boy did they make it extra spicy.  Careful what you ask for!  The dish was OK.  There was nothing that made it stand out.  He actually said that Pei Wei's  Kung Pao was of a better quality!  WHAT???
Thank goodness we ordered the Mushroom Truffle fried rice.  That and the spring rolls are the only reason Red Violet is getting two stars instead of one.  The rice was delicious.  The flavors of the  truffle oil and mushrooms in the rice  were balanced and unique.  Our server told us that it was one of her favorite items on the menu.  I just wish it had come out sooner so I could have eaten more of it.  For some strange reason, it came out much later than our other two entrees, though by that time, we were the only people in the restaurant.  It's OK.  it is now sitting in my fridge calling my name until lunch time.
It's too bad that Red Violet didn't live up to my hopes because it clearly has the potential to be something wonderful. Â When you end up spending $100 on dinner, you want to be wowed and walk out feeling like you got what you paid for, especially when it comes to Chinese. Â Sadly, this did not happen here and I will not be going back.
Red Violet is a fun place for a meal, but still seems to be figuring out its identity.
The modern, trendy atmosphere with an Asian flair gets it pretty much right, if the aim is to be a restaurant that stays open late and caters to the trendy after-dinner crowd.
Our waitress was obviously just learning the ropes and had another server training her, so I'll try to overlook any shortcomings in the service department.
The food was basically good Chinese food, more similar to what you get in mainland China that what you get at P.F. Changs. Â That said, the addition of a few Western elements in a dish or two doesn't by default make it "modern" cuisine. Â Violet can't seem to make up its mind if it wants to serve truly authentic Chinese dishes, Americanized Chinese, or trendy reinterpretations of Asian classics.
For example, Pan-fried Radish Cake is a traditional southern Chinese dish, General Tsao Chicken is Americanized Chinese, and Foie Gras Wonton Soup is a fresh take on a Chinese classic. Â I could pull three more items off the menu and they'd fall into the same three categories, but you get the point.
If they can chose one style of cuisine and really run with it I think Red Violet can become a five-star affair. Â Until then they get a 4 for effort.
After reading the mixed reviews on Yelp, I was unsure of what to expect. Â But, loving the idea of a new spin on traditional Chinese dishes, I forged ahead. Â We were seated immediately for our reservation and a cocktail order was taken. Â I loved the fact that they had Vigin mojitos on the menu and got a raspberry one - delicious. Â We ordered a whole slew of things - mushroom hot and sour soup (this is seriously spicy - I could not finish it on my own), the mixed appetizer platter that had a variety of yummy Bao and dumplings and the pork rolls that were kind of like a long, thin egg roll. Â As an entree, I had the duck fried rice and husband had the wagyu beef with pistachois. Â Both were delicious and had tons of flavor. Â I got the salted caramel vanilla cake for dessert - so good. Â Whole meal, with drinks was only about $100, which is really reasonable. Â
Service was stellar and fast and we were out in about 75 minutes or so - making the husband happy. Â We will definitely go back.
Great theme and ambiance!
The purple color scheme, antique Chinese chairs, Dragon head door handle, BIG BOWL sink are the most noticeable stuff when you come in. The lighting is just right so that the whole restaurant delivers a trendy+traditional relaxing feel.
Berry mojito is somewhat thick n condensed, but it just taste good! Foie gras wonton soup comes out with a spoon rest, lol. cute and creative! high end chinese restaurants do chopsticks rest, and RV just goes beyond and offers that little thing.
Every detail seems impeccable. Menu selections are targeted at the popular Chinese dishes and you know what there's no lack of authenticity.
Just end the review with excellent Mandarin speaking young server, not Chinese, but with decent pronunciation.
Two excellent dishes we had here:
Wild mushroom fried rice with black truffle oil - not too fried, more like "mixed rice". Excellent.
Wok-searedwagyu tenderloin with pistachio nuts, spring onion, celery, toban sauce - this was stir fried with asparagus which made for a balnced dish. Served with a side of Jasmine rice.
Drink list is huge as well. Would be fine to come here even just for cocktails! Go here.I support this place and you should at least give it a try.
The "signature Peking duck" was singularly one of the most unpleasant things I've ever put in my mouth. I got it delivered, and there wasn't a trace of crispiness to the skin, just a greasy gelatinous mass. The pancakes were vile and tasted of raw flour. If this is their signature dish, I pity anyone eating any of their lesser foodstuffs.
Oh yeah, and it cost $40.
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