This was the food highlight from my last trip to Chicago. This was the best Chinese food I have had in a long time — authentic, delicious and unpretentious.
My experience was outstanding and I will remember eating here for a long time — and dream of returning. I would be a regular here if I lived in the area.
Their menu is extensive and I would love to try many of their other dishes — I have no doubt that it only gets better once you get to know the menu. The food was very flavorful, very well prepared and generally quite spicy as well.
This is a popular place — and it can get very busy and you might need to wait, but your patience will be rewarded.
Prices were very reasonable and portions were generous. Service was friendly and efficient. A beer would have been nice with dinner, especially given the heat of many of the dishes — but they don’t have a liquor license — at least upstairs.
Our dinner included the following:
- Salt & Pepper Scallop: Perfectly cooked, very flavorful. Delicious.
- Chicken: Spicy, perfectly prepared, delicious and very memorable.
- Pea Shoots with Garlic: Outstanding — very fresh and perfectly cooked — nice flavor with lots of garlic.
- Dan Dan Noodles — hot and spicy — as well as delicious!
- Special Hot and Sour Soup — vegetarian — spicy, chili oil, fresh vegetables, tofu and herbs. Delicious.
- Lamb with Cumin: Good –but not nearly as good as the Lamb with Cumin at Hong Kong Palace in VA (so at least I can find solace in that I have one dish in DC that can compete with Lao Sze Chuan).
Hope to return. Must return. Strongly recommended.
Lao Sze Chuan
2172 S. Archer Avenue
Chicago, IL 60616
(312) 326-5040
