Great to find a dedicated gluten free Asian Asian fusion restaurant! Food was delicious! The owner was very friendly and helpful, letting us taste the different sauces. Highly recommend! read more

4 stars for Brightwok Kitchen - this is Asian fusion food restaraunt where you can make your own bowls/salads, It's a healthier kind of lunch spot, I did the very spicy spice level and it really wasn't that hot to be honest. They have a variety of vegetables and proteins - it is on the pricier side, but not that surprising for downtown. The bowls are a good portion size and are pretty tasty. Overall, it's like a BiBiBop and I'd recommend if you're looking for something in that realm of food. read more

Brightwok Kitchen - Build your own bowl - Asian Fusion Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

After all of the great reviews, I finally decided to try brightwok kitchen. This is a chipotle type of restaurant where the fresh ingredients are chosen, and then made to order on the grill top. I ordered the earth, curry and fire and added chicken. I really wanted to love this place but unfortunately it wasn't my cup of tea. My dish had a bit too many carrots and not enough chicken or tofu. read more

Brightwok Kitchen - Earth, curry, and fire - Asian Fusion Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

After walking by a handful of times, I finally decided it was time to give Brightwok a try. I stopped in for lunch, and ordered the Earth, Curry, and Fire, only with steak instead of tofu. The bowl did have a lot going for it. Everything seemed well balanced, as there was an ample amount of steak, enough veggies that I feel less guilt for another lunch eaten out, and rice for the starch element. Finally, the sauce had a little heat and sweetness. Good combination of textures, too. However, on the flipside, with a name like "Brightwok" I would hope the woks would be, you know, bright. Alas, this was not the case, as the bowl was a little flat (dull?). First, I felt the dish could have benefited immensely from some lime or other acid to elevated it. Second, while the sweet heat was appreciated, the curry and coconut notes were lost on me. Finally, credit where credit is due: the bowl was very filling, and at a reasonable price. The service was kind, however as I was here before the lunch rush kicked into high gear, I can't really speak to the speed. Thus, while Brightwok delivers a good value, and was enough to satisfy my voracious appetite, the execution falls short of expectations. read more

Five of us pulled up for lunch and placed our orders. Honestly, the food was pretty flavorless. I appreciate the vegetables and all, but all of us thought it was meh at best. Not sure about all these stellar reviews - maybe we were there on an off day? read more

I love places that are "make your own" like this concept but I didn't really enjoy Brightwork. The food took awhile and once it came out it all kind of tasted the same. read more

Brightwok Kitchen - Asian Fusion Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

See all

The earth, curry, and fire with steak came out great. It was delicious and I got 2 sweet potato fritters with it. The flavors worked really well together. I could probably eat 20 sweet potato fritters. The girl working today was very helpful with my buddies getting them samples of the different sauces to try. Everyone enjoyed our food. It was a bit cold and we had the dining area to ourselves. It was clean and neat. The kitchen area is kept very clean as well! She had the stove pulled out and I took a picture. That's always a good feeling when you see the restaurant doesn't neglect cleaning. read more

See all

Amazing! I was blown away by the umami mushroom bowl with steak. Full of flavor and the steak was so tender, it pairs with the umami flavor nicely. Love that this places emphasizes healthy alternatives. read more

Brightwok Kitchen - Woke up restaurant - Asian Fusion Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Looks good and fresh. Just ate but wanted to check it out for next time. Based on what I saw ir will be delicious. read more

See all

I feel like people have forgotten how delicious and fresh this place is. Prices are especially reasonable for the loop. Order online or pop in! read more

You choose your favorite combinations of vegetables. Create your own bowl. And it is stirfry for you and you choose your sauces and condiments For the top. Very fast but healthy except for the stirfry both my husband and I liked it. The ambience is clean and minimalistic. The service was fast. Recommended. read more

We ordered/scheduled ahead for a team lunch. I ordered a medium-spice BYOB with chili coconut curry sauce, white rice, tofu, onions, green kale, purple cabbage, and edamame. The bowl was delicious and a good lunch portion, however it needed more sauce as some parts of the bowl was dry. I got a medium spice level but could definitely go for hot next time as this didn't have any spice. It leaves you feeling full and healthy. Overall, I would go again and maybe try the rice noddles. read more

Brightwok kitchen is easily one of my favorite places to grab lunch in the city! I've tried multiple sauces over the past few visits and everything has been so tasty and fast:) my favorite one is probably the Thai basil but tbh you can't go wrong with any of them! The staff are all very kind and knowledgeable and the restaurant is very well maintained! I can't wait to come again soon read more

Brightwok Kitchen - a bowl of vegetables on a table - Asian Fusion Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

See all

After ordering online, I arrived at the Adam's St location at the time specified on the order 12:25p and was told my bowl needed to be remade, would need 3 minutes. After repeatedly asking me what vegetables I ordered, what sauces I ordered (then letting me know "I have your ticket here" to stop me from giving the rest of the details), I was then asked - what base did you order, what level of spice? At this point, after watching several patrons who walked in get their food. I asked to speak with the manager. "That's her" was the respons. I waited 20mins on my lunch break to get back to my office and try to eat. ALL the food is burned. Like I open the container and you smell that it's burnt! I Nothing was edible. So, the fact that the manager refunded my money and gave a gift card for a free bowl was actually not helpful as I wasted my lunch time and can't even eat the food. The service was deplorable and I can't even believe they sent out BLACK sweet potato fritters. I called to let the location know that all the food was burned, I was asked if I could "bring it back " which unfortunately I can't as I was on my lunch break. This is unacceptable and I'm posting pictures to share. read more

Comparing to 8 years ago, they burn the vegetables, they no longer add rice in when cooking and they don't use enough sauce. My corn was legit black I could not even enjoy it read more

My go-to takeout is Earth, Curry & Fire w/ Tofu. It has the right balance of spiciness and good protein-veggie-rice ratio. You can customize it (e.g. as-is or steamed with less sauce). The staff is always welcoming and the place is cute! I have never eaten it but groups frequent this place. Many large tables for work lunch groups! read more

See all

10/10 fast casual experience. Service is always fast and friendly. The flavor combinations offered are delicious (my personal fav is ordering a bowl with both CJ's BBQ sauce & Creamy Cashew sauce). Large portions. SO MANY vegetarian options. They are eco friendly; offering either compostable or reusable containers. To top it off, Brightwok also supports various nonprofits around the community & even recognizes high performing Chicagoland students via gifting complimentary bowls for A's on exams. If you live/work nearby.. this should be your daily lunch spot. I am always happy to support this local business. read more

Love this place. Food is always good and consistent no matter what you get. Staff is friendly.

Love their panang; and the ingredients are very fresh. I'll definitely come back on my next Chicago visit! read more

Brightwok Kitchen - a bowl of food on a table - Asian Fusion Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

TL;DR Solid fast-casual and healthy meal option in the Loop (that's even open for dinner!). The food comes out fairly quickly and I like that there is self-serve water and sriracha. The staff members are also very nice! ===== Went here for the first time for dinner on a weeknight and enjoyed it. It is bright and spacious inside with ample seating and the food came out quickly and was cooked to-order. I ordered the "Build Your Own Bowl" with rice noodles, tofu, zucchini, carrot, bean sprouts, creamy cashew sauce, and kale (which shrunk so small I almost forgot about it) ($9.15 before tax). The portion size was good (I ended up taking ~40% of it in a to-go box) and everything was all reasonably well cooked and palatable. Normally I'm on the more carnivorous side but I don't think I was really missing anything by not ordering meat. I also ordered the masala chai ($4) which was a little too sweet but well-spiced and also non-dairy! My friend ordered the "Everyday Eat Right" bowl; it smelled very good and he seemed to enjoy it. As almost always I do have a few nitpicky areas of improvement to list. The flavor of my bowl was a tad under-salted and bland for me but much improved with dollops of the sriracha sauce they had available. Some small parts of the tofu and vegetables were also slightly charred and I'm very paranoid about eating burnt food - I realize this probably adds to the flavor but the best stir-fry in my opinion has food that is nicely browned, maybe even to a darkish brown, but never, ever black. Nitpicking aside I would definitely be happy to come back and try the other things on the menu and the other, hopefully more savory, sauces! read more

Brightwok Kitchen - My Build Your Own Stir Fry Bowl - Asian Fusion Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

See all

Yummy bowls - my favorite is the Eat Right Everyday bowl with chicken. Good, quick service. One of my go-to's for takeout lunch in the loop.

It seems like I had an outlier experience based on the average rating of this restaurant- but my food gave me very bad food poisoning so I would be cautious. read more

Ordered a take out ( noodles with jalapeño curry and other vegetables ) . What I got is noodles with some carrots . Horrible . Example of how a good place went downhill . This used to be one of my fav take outs in Chicago . Just so bad . No sauce or any other vegetables . read more

Brightwok Kitchen - Asian Fusion Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

While the atmosphere is welcoming, and there is plenty of space for small to large groups to convene, the meal was not that delicious, and I wouldn't recommend this restaurant to others. Both mine and my cousin's meals were doused in sauce. There was also very little chicken added to my bowl. I liked the ease of online ordering and that the packaging materials were compostable, but the food was unenjoyable unfortunately. read more

Brightwok Kitchen - Joe Peach Tea - Asian Fusion Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

When I first walked in, my impressions were this place is so spacious and clean. We came on a weekend and it was mostly empty so really easy to get seating. Place is also quite large so plenty of seating. I'm guessing this place is really popular for weekday meals since it has many healthy options and easy to grab and go. I ordered the sweet umami mushroom bowl. teriyaki, rice noodle, steak, mushrooms, squash, carrots, onion, peppers, zucchini. Lots of ingredients all stir-fried together, made fresh. Concept of this place is pretty simple, but it turned out really good! read more

Brightwok Kitchen - Sweet Umami Mushroom - Asian Fusion Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Ordered it for lunch at work. Had the Sweet New Year and Magic Cake. Magic cake was awful and tasted terrible. The sweet potato fritter was bitter. As if that was not enough, my stomach hurt after eating and had diarrhea! Definitely would not recommend to anyone! Negative stars if I could. read more

Great place for quick, healthy - and most importantly - delicious food in the Loop. Brightwok has rapidly become one of my go to lunch spots, and I highly recommend it. read more

I always liked brightwok but it's been inconsistent recently. I placed an order online for delivery and an hour after I placed the order the delivery person informed me the restaurant was closed. Won't be ordering online again. read more

Brightwok Kitchen is one of the most healthy meal options in the Loop. There was a period before the pandemic when I attended Brightwok four times a week. The bowls are made to order, and you can select your meal spicy if that's your preference. If you want a healthy lunch option that is made to order (vegetarian or low carb) and tastes great, Brightwok is the location. read more

I love this concept! It's like a chipotle, but for noodles. They had one noodle type and then various sauces and proteins and veggies. All of the sauces were vegan which was really nice to choose from. The veggies were all good quality and plentiful. They had kale, edamame, broccoli, various onions, tofu, etc. I got a mix of two sauces plus about 4 different veggies. Then they heat and mix it up in a wok, and voile! Also, I really judge a place by its ice tea and their iced tea was SO delicious. Really flavorful and they poured it from a growler because they only make a certain amount each day. I wish they had bright wok kitchen in California because I really think the concept would take off here! A clean, healthy, flavorful noodle house that's café style with very reasonable prices. Would definitely return, or if I found some in any area I was in I would definitely go there! read more

Great quality food and very reasonable pricing Dining in setup is simple but authentic and staff is friendly read more

Definitely a popular spot during the weekday lunch rush. But fear not if there's a line - it moves fairly quickly. This is a casual Asian fare restaurant so just order up at the counter, pay, get a number, and wait for your meal to be stir-fryed up! For my bowl, I decided on the "Eat Right" with a brown rice base. And when asked if I wanted to add mushrooms and an egg, I just couldn't resist. The result? So good! And filling! But the extras were a little pricey (my bowl ended up being ~$14). Other than that, their whole deal is high quality and health conscious food so it leaves you feeling pretty guilt-free. read more

Brightwok Kitchen - Eat Right with an egg on top (is there any other way?) - Asian Fusion Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I got the Earth Curry and Fire with tofu takeout. air was tasty! I forgot to take a pic but takeout picture is not nearly as appetizing as the one on their website. so just forgot that haha. It was good with fried egg! I m not a big fan of runny yolks but the crispy fried egg white was so good! Also the green tea they have they claim is #1 is so good! read more

A literal gem. I built my own bowl with 1/2 rice, 1/2 mixed green base. for my veggies, I got peppers, broccoli, carrots, and kale. Then added tofu, a fried egg, and chose the coconut curry sauce. It was so good - I love how you can see exactly what is going into your bowl, how they cook it right in front of you, and how convenient this is! A great fast-casual, healthy lunch option in the loop. My complaint is that they are only open during lunch hours - I feel like they would get a lot of business for dinner, too, and they're also closed on the weekends! Good portion size - not TOO large so that you don't leave feeling overfull. Will definitely go back!!!! read more

Brightwok Kitchen - Asian Fusion Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Traveled for good meal Nourished by chat with Founder The Future IS Bright #NOLA_Haiku @brightwok #GlutenFree #LocalEats #EatRightLiveBright #BrightWok #Chicago #TheFutureIsBright #DairyFree #FoodPorn #TheLoop #WindyCity read more

See all

I wanted to grab a quick, late lunch/early dinner before my flight. Brightwok Kitchen fit the bill. I didn't feel like customizing my own bowl so I ordered the Crunchy Crave and a hot green tea. I had gotten food poisoning the day before (not from Brightwok) so it was comforting seeing everyone at Brightwok using gloves and proper food safety. I also like that each order is made in a separate wok and new spatula to prevent cross contamination. Maybe it was still my stomach bug speaking, but I didn't find my bowl to be ultra amazing, but it was a good portion size for the price. I did like the hot green tea though. It was a tea bag with "fresh" leaves, not the processed Lipton stuff. The tea was piping hot and strong. It hit the spot. I wouldn't necessarily seek this place out, but Brightwok is a good stop for a quick and relatively healthy lunch. read more

Brightwok Kitchen - Asian Fusion Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

The food is nothing special and extremely overpriced for what you get. The dishes/woks are dirty with old dry food from previous customers. It doesn't surprise me after witnessing how the owner treats the staff. I saw him yelling at a man in the back that was coming back and forth with woks. He seemed to be working very hard yet was bashed pretty recklessly. The long line and noise made other oblivious, and that kind of bothered me. The only other time I went there the same owner was giving off awkward creepy vibes towards females in the store. I don't recommend going here and supporting business owners of that caliber. ... Thanks for your response. Unfortunately the same man in the picture under other yelp reviews "business owner: Jeremy K." Is the one I'm talking about. I would hate for an innocent employee to get blamed for the actions of the owner. I believe low-income workers deserve respect and should not be used as a scapegoat. I would appreciate if you listened to my concerns rather than attempt to discredit them. Best regards to your employees. From what I saw, many of them are hard workers. Thank you. ***Edit*** ... And yes I just sent you an email. It explains that this occurred on the 21 Adams Street location by the State & Adams Red Line. I live and work in Chicago and frequent the area, so I've seen this man before in passing through the area. Sorry for any confusion on which location this occurred. Thank you for your time. read more

I'd give it 3.5 stars. We tried this make your own bowl, Asian stir fry restaurant last night for dinner. First you choose up to two sauces (I chose thai basil and green jalapeño curry), your carb (brown rice, white rice, or noodles) then your protein (chicken, tofu or steak), and finally up to four vegetables. They stir fry your bowl and call your number up when it's ready. Pretty good, and well priced at $10. My bowl was a little too heavy on sauce (which makes it too salty/strong when you get half way thru the bowl), otherwise I'd have given it 4 stars. The restaurant is clean and bright. The staff is friendly. A good place for lunch or a simple no-frills, healthy dinner. read more

Brightwok Kitchen - Asian Fusion Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

See all

Filling, tasty food on the go. Kick'n Panang - 4/5. Good flavor. Lots of veggies. Medium spicy. Large portion. Came for lunch on a Friday and it was relatively busy but operates like a well oiled machine with employees busily working over their wok stations. It appears that it is a mostly order ahead business. Requested the dish with brown rice, an egg, and grilled pineapple. Something got mixed up and didn't get any of those. Brought it to the staff and they quickly added the egg and pineapple (I didn't realize the rice swap until later) and gave me a coupon for the future. read more

Fantastic wok fare! Everything is ordered by app/phone, but it is all cooked to order and takes 5 minutes or so. We have tried four dishes and liked them all; the sweet potato fritter side is nice too. Nothing but good things to say, honestly ; nothing has disappointed. But read up on your sauce before ordering, as they really Makes it breaks each dish read more