Lao Sze Chuan
| Address: | 1633 Orrington Ave, Evanston, IL 60201, USA |
| Phone: | +1 847-868-8989 |
| Site: | evanstonlaoszechuan.com |
| Rating: | 3.9 |
| Working: | 11AM–9:30PM 11AM–9:30PM 11AM–9:30PM 11AM–9:30PM 11AM–10:30PM 11AM–10:30PM 11AM–9:30PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 10
CH
Chuck Buck
What a disappointment. We wanted an upscale place to celebrate a milestone birthday and what we got was a loud, over price restaurant. The wait was ....? The waitresss name was ....? Could not hear? I asked for hot tea to drink for all three and what I got was one small pot with one cup. What about the other 2 people? Waitress brought us a big pot. Hot and sour soup was neither hot or sour, almost a gravy consistency. Before we were half done with our soup, the entrees were served. Fish with bok choy and chicken with peapod were good, but no better than Joy Yee around the corner and $4/dish more. Beef with tofu had a layer of oil on top that I had to skim off. Perhaps, chili oil? Too greasy for my taste and cholesterol. The waitress asked if we wanted rice with our meal. Is the pope Catholic? Then to charge a buck extra for a tiny bowl of rice on top of an over priced entree is un-American or un-Chinese. And lastly, on a very crowded Thursday night we were seated in the back, which turned out to be by the bathroom separated by fake bamboo. The jasmine tea smelled like toilet bowl deodorant. We left full, $20/person lighter, but able to hear. Will not be back.
MI
Mimosa Shah
The latest entry in the Tony Hu empire has arrived in Evanston, and not a moment too soon. Unlike its Chinatown location, this iteration of Lao Sze Chuan favors high ceilings, enormous panda bear posters, and plush green chairs. Service is a little slow, understandably, as the restaurant works to smooth any kinks during its first month. Try the Ma Po Tofu, silky, soft, spicy, and perfectly balanced with plain white rice (which really should come with the entree instead of costing an additional $1). The veggie chow mein is crunchy and zesty. Servings are generous, so be certain to go with a group (or know that youll be seeing leftovers in your near future). Even if the idea of a Chinese restaurant in the suburbs is a cliche to you, look ahead to this empire: theres bound to be something you havent tried or at least, havent experienced quite like this. My next trip will most certainly include one of the hot pots (meant to be shared as well).
SA
Samuel Tan
Be warned - the food here is spicy, Almost everything on the menu here has a spicy logo next to it. So if your tastebuds are not accustomed to spicy food, you should look elsewhere for a meal. However, if you are into spicy food, then this must be heaven for you. The food here is prepared in the traditional Sze Chuan style. The dishes are adequately portioned and cooked very well. The string beans were crunchy, meaning that they are fresh. The stir fried beef that we had was cooked very nicely, tender and juicy, with just the right amount of seasoning. The flavors were just right, not too sweet or salty. One thing though, the service is slow. It seemed like there was only one server for the entire restaurant so be prepared to wait for service, even if the place seems empty. The music can get a little loud, coupled with the conversations where everyone seems to be shouting, this place gets loud quickly.
CH
Christopher Peterson
We had a party of five for lunch on a Wednesday around noon, so we expected a short wait. There was an open table for four open (with no other customers waiting for tables), and after ten minutes of watching waiters walk by and occasionally tell us that theyre waiting for a table, we asked if we could pull up a chair to the table of four and they said okay. They were admitted busy and had a couple of large parties, but they appeared to be severely understaffed (tables went uncleaned for a long time after customers left). After the waiter took our orders, we waited for an hour for the food to arrive. Four of the five dishes were fine, but the fifth (fried rice) was burned. Side orders of rice were forgotten and no apologies were made. Ambiance is great, locations not too bad, prices are higher than necessary for what you get, but the quality control and service are abysmal.
HA
Hantao Jing
Good food for the price. Usually a great place to eat when my parents are in town, but after this weekend we will probably not come back. Normally we order about $60 dollars worth of food, then add like a 20% tip, so it usually comes out to around 70. But this time we were billed 90, because our waiter pre-added the tip (which none of our previous waiters had EVER done in the 6-8 times weve eaten here), and didnt tell us. So we then added our tip without knowing the tip was pre-calculated, costing us an extra $15, and still no one said anything. When we called back, the same waiter picked up and pretended he didnt know what was going on, and we couldnt talk to the manager either because he/she was unavailable this week. Overall left a bad taste in our mouths.
NE
Neil Berger
Ate twice cooked pork and cashew chicken. The port dish had nice fatty pieces of port with leeks in a spicy sauce. Egg rolls were not overcooked and NOT greasy. Rice was $1 extra per bowl (the waitress cringed when she mentioned we had order it separately.) The food was spread over a very large plate, and not particularly hot to begin with, was ice cold within 5 minutes. Te twice cooked pork and leeks was actually a memorable dish, not so much for the cashew chicken. Service was OK and ambiance was nice. Many of other dishes on the menu seemed grotesquely overpriced. Practically nothing of any substance was under $11.
DA
Dave Smith
No lunch menu. I had chicken with dried chili which was very small pieces of chicken over fried. Nothing else came with the dish and it cost $12 or $13. My wife had a similar chicken dish with white meat only and it was slightly better. Would definitely not come back for lunch. Way over-price and quality was not that good. Hot and sour soup was decent, but not nearly as good as the Pineyard--so sad that place burned down. Look forward to their return.
ME
Mehul Shah
The flavors are there for the latest Lao Sze Chuan location, but this one seems to be understaffed. The dishes youve come to love are all there, with the menu nicely pointing out vegetarian options. The decor is a bit more hip/modern, but they really need to hire more people. Carry out is a great option here if you are worried about wait times. Well be going back for more, because its just too close to avoid if you are in the northern suburbs.
JU
Julie Chen
Ordered the food online two hours ago and specified the pickup time, and the order was not put in until one hour later we went to pick up the food. Waited for another hour, and was told the food was still not ready and they did not even know when the food would be ready for pick up. I then waited and called to find out. No one even answered the phone! Terrible experience! Will not be there again!
VO
Vocaloid_Victrix
The service is excellent, and the food is delicious! I had the pork xia lo bao (dim sum) and the chili-fried chicken, and they were both perfect. A bit on the pricey side, but its well worth your money! The waiters are extremely nice and always come with water and anything else you need. If you like Chinese food and fancy places and dont mind splurging a little bit, come here!
