I visited around 5 PM on a Thursday evening, and there was one other customer in the restaurant. The waitstaff and what appeared to be a manager were standing off to the side for most of the time, and overall the atmosphere felt unwelcoming. I ordered egg rolls, dumplings, and pad Thai. The pad Thai did not resemble a traditional version. It had noodles, but the sauce tasted more like a chili sauce rather than a peanut-based sauce. The dumplings were average. I was dining with my two sons, both under 10, and the experience did not feel particularly family-friendly. Service overall was limited. I had to wave the server down a couple times. While the server was more attentive to a takeout customer, our table did not receive the same level of service. Overall, the experience felt underwhelming and uncomfortable. I was nauseous after eating their food. I will not be returning and do not recommend it for families. read more

The online pick-up ordering is hit/miss. I never got a confirmation so I showed up and no order. They had a new order ready in 15 minutes, the Thai Basil was very good, but the fried rice was the worst I ever had, no flavor and lumpy texture. The waitstaff did not know how to smile nor were they empathetic to my situation. That said, I hope they read these reviews and improve because they have potential, (tho I would never eat in as the atmosphere is weak) and we need good Asian food in the area. read more

Simple pan Asian cuisine. Great Thai, good Sushi. Eat in is pretty modest, but the service is great and the owner really friendly

Food is hit or miss, bubble tea is good. Women that work at the establishment are not helpful and very rude. I hesitate to order because of how rude the ladies are. When I place orders online they don't start making the food until I call to confirm. It's too bad because the bubble tea is very good. read more

I love this place. Everything I've had is fresh and delicious. It's reasonably priced and the service is great.

I can't believe it took me so long to find this place. I was feeling under the weather, so I wanted a duck noodle soup, and my husband ordered the saki lover (5 pieces of salmon nigiri and a spicy salmon roll). We split it all of course. Duck noodle soup- broth was perfection! It hit all the right spots and was loaded with delicious boneless duck. They did not skim on the duck. The noodles were wonderful, and plentiful, too. We had leftovers. For lunch the next day. The Saki Lover- I have never had a better tasting Salmon Nigiri. This was so fresh! The salmon roll was just as good. The salmon melted in your mouth, and the perfect amount of rice was given to each piece. I can't wait to order avain from here! read more

Dowize Bistro - Duck noodle soup - Thai Near Me - Wilmette, Illinois

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Cool little Thai place located in Wilmette is good for lunch. Dowize is right, and you would do wise to come here for some good food and prices. It only has a small dining area, which seems to work because most people get takeout. Also they deliver. The lunch specials make lunchtime the best time to get your Thai fix. A lot is on the menu at this small cafe. It's hard to believe they have so much food here. They were only doing delivery and takeout. Now they offer dine in. Of course most people still get takeout. Upon seeing the inside, it's easy to see why. It's tight quarters. There's only a few tables. It was lunch on a weekday and they had specials going on. We got the Lunch Box, where you make choices on some items that come in this. It's about $10 depending on the protein choice. These all come with miso soup. It was light but full of salty bean flavor. You pick an appetizer from the list. Get crab Rangoon, egg roll, fried tofu, or gyoza. We each got the fried tofu. It was little pieces and fried to a crisp. This came with a sweet and sour sauce. After this you pick a protein. There's beef, chicken, shrimp, tofu, or vegetables. I picked tofu. She had vegetables. I thought the tofu had pretty good flavor. This came with rice and vegetables. Also you choose the style of how it's cooked. I got it as Spicy Kung Pao. It certainly had a spiciness but it wasn't too much to handle. She had it as Pad Kee Mao. It came with noodles, so it was a little different. There's egg in a few of these specials so be sure to say if you don't want any in it. Best time is at lunch to take advantage of the specials and save a bit. It has a lot that can be made vegetarian including pretty much any of the specials, because you can choose proteins and ingredients. They have dine in, but it's only a few tables so most people get takeout. read more

Dowize Bistro - Lunch Box Spicy Kung Pao Tofu - Thai Near Me - Wilmette, Illinois

The green curry was very bland. I have ordered this before and it was much better. I also ordered the yellow curry which I had never ordered before and it was very tasty and I would order it again. I ordered on line and it said it would be ready in 30-40 mins but it was ready in 20. read more

I had dinner last night. The food was delicious, and the service was great. I really liked the grilled pork with sticky rice. I will definitely come back again. read more

Dowize Bistro has the best and affordable lunch here in Wilmette. I got the pad Thai with fried tofu as the complimentary appetizer. It also came with a small salad and soup. Big hearty portion! The food quality is excellent, and the variety is pretty extensive across several different cuisines and including multiple protein and vegetarian options. The ingredients have always been very fresh and prepared beautifully, and served generously. There is an array of traditional and modern Thai and Chinese dishes including curries, rice, noodles, bento boxes and sushi, and complete entrees and special meals. A personal highlight is they have ice-blended fruit freeze bubble tea drinks, which are a real treat on a nice day. Great little restaurant- Thai and Sushi. Everything very fresh and tasty! Efficient and friendly service. Highly recommended! Definitely will be back soon. read more

We have ordered delivery from this restaurant when we're craving Thai food. They serve Japanese and Thai items. Coming from California, we definitely have a lot of Thai restaurants. The dish I'd recommend here is the Pad Say Eww. They are generous with the amount of meat and veggies they place on this dish - thanks for that! Pad Say Eww - flavorful (my go to dish) Green curry - Good Fried Rice with Chicken - Decent Kids Mac and cheese with Katsu - kids LOVE this dish (and they eat the broccoli too) California Roll - OK Spicy Tuna Roll - Meh Spicy Salmon Roll - OK I'd definitely stick to the Thai dishes vs ordering sushi here. Love that they have fast delivery! read more

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Idk. This place is fine. It's not knock your socks off Thai food, but then again it's more of a pan-Asian place. The Thai food is one dimensional and has no depth of flavor. We ordered the red curry chicken and it was good but not great. The lard nar (sorry if I spelled that wrong) had beef that was overly tenderized and the sauce was way too soupy. Apps were way better: shrimp and veggie tempura were spot on! The shrimp shumai was deeeelish! Service was efficient but then again the place wasn't that busy for a Saturday night in Wilmette. I think this place survives more on their takeouts as there was a pretty good traffic of customers coming in to pick up their orders or it could've been a delivery service. I prob wouldn't write this place off but there's limited choices on the North shore. read more

Very good Japanese and Thai food. Also, very fast pick up. The first time I tried I felt it was a bit bland about a year ago. I'm so glad I gave it another chance bc I've ordered now at least four times and always delicious. read more

Came her for lunch with my husband. The menu was extensive. They have your usual Thai options as well as Japanese options. The prices were very reasonable for downtown Wilmette and the portions were generous. We ordered the Pad Say Ew and my husband ordered the Pad Thai. Both were excellent. The lunch special came with 2 generous sized egg rolls each in a bento box which was a nice presentation. We eat at a lot of Thai restaurants and I would put this restaurant at the upper echelon. The pad thai wasn't too saucy like other places. The ambiance was very cozy as well. They have bubble fruit freeze options which I look forward to trying again. Overall, good food at a good price. Look forward to coming back again. read more

Just the best! The prices are fantastic, and the food is all great. My family and I have been ordering dowize consistently for probably 10 years now, it never disappoints! I always get pad see iew but have loved the pad Thai, eel unagi, cucumber salad, crying tiger salad, and chicken satay. Can't recommend this place enough. read more

They have the best Pad Thai one of my favorites ever. The sushi is also pretty good as well as their appetizers.

The servers were very rude and implied we were wrong about our order. We met the owner the first day and thought he was great. But the two female servers were unfriendly enough to cause us to never return. read more

I haven't been to Dowize in awhile. I'm trying to be better about supporting Wilmette businesses. Ordered take-out yesterday. For now, it's take-out only. Their online ordering is super easy. I only order Thai food here. FYI, if you want sushi, go across the street and order from Koya. I think at this point, I've had all their noodle dishes. Food is consistent. Never had anything I didn't like. Yesterday's order was Pad Kee Mao and papaya salad. Good flavors and appropriately priced. read more

Great lunch deal! For a busy lunch hour when I can't cook or go somewhere in downtown Evanston, this is my go-to place to grubhub now for lunch. I've ordered around 11:30 right when they start accepting orders, and even though grubhub always estimates delivery for around 1hr, we get it within 30 minutes. And it's always packaged carefully. Sauces on the side, soy sauce wrapped, soup in a separate bag, etc. There's also coupons for free items on qualifying orders which make me feel soo much better about the delivery fee. The lunch bentos and plates are both really great deals. A salad, soup, california rolls, tempura for ~$10. This an enormous around of food - I only finished half of my entree with everything. Then again, I think the best option is still the $7 lunch plates. I love that it comes with a small order of an appetizer. I love variety, and such great prices for it in this area is so rare. The food... teriyaki chicken and pad thai were pretty generic. The pad thai tasted particularly boring, like peanut+soy sauce instead of an actual recognizable pad thai. Enjoyable though, even if it's inauthentic. Best of all, it's not overly salty. The tonkatsu (apparently) does come with an authentic tangy plum sauce, but out of the twice we've ordered it, one of the pork chops was dry and fried too long and way too salty... so maybe there are some consistency issues. The sashimi they serve is mediocre though, even for Chicago. Food isn't outstanding, but it's not bad at all, especially for the price. Gonna be ordering from here a lot more, especially with winter coming. read more

Dowize Bistro - $7 lunch pad thai - Thai Near Me - Wilmette, Illinois

Second time eating here and it did not disappoint. The food is absolutely delicious and the variety is unmatched. Everyone in our group is always satisfied with the options. The service was excellent as well. I'll also add that there is fountain soda, not cans, which is a bonus :) read more

My work treated us, and I got panang curry with duck and 2pcs sushi. Maybe I'm spoiled as a California native, but the curry in particular really surprised me. The panang curry was mostly sweet potatoes and what seemed like an ocean of sugary-sweet sauce - not at all the panang curry flavor I am used to. I asked for broccoli with it, and I think there were 3 florets in the whole thing. The pieces of duck were nearly microscopic. I've yet to find Thai food in Chicagoland that reminds me of home, but this is not it. My sushi wasn't hand sanitizer infused like that other reviewer, but it didn't taste especially good or fresh. I had to douse it in wasabi to give it flavor. read more

Fresh and delicious food in a lovely setting with great service. We had the spring rolls, won ton and tom yum soup as well as panang chicken curry and spicy thai basil with beef. We definitely plan on returning to try more of the soups and entrees. read more

This place is underrated. Food is consistently good and it's great for kids. It's definitely not the best pan-Asian place, and certainly not worth a special trip, but nice if you happen to be nearby. Their bubble smoothies are a great value and a nice treat to add on. Go for the mango. read more

Sunday evening take out order. Spicy Tuna Rolls and Tuna Negiri and Salmon sashimi was fishy. Not edible. Tuna left a bright red residue on the rice. Also smelled bad. In fairness we've ordered other times and it was fine. read more

We tried to support this restaurant but have given up. A hair in the food, small portion sizes, spoiled meat---with no apologies, as noted by other reviewers. Very sad because it used to be decent! read more

We've come to this place several times largely out of convenience, but in the past I've been happy with the efficient service and the quality of the food. Unfortunately, both the service and the food quality have gone way downhill based on my last two visits. The noodle dishes that I ordered on those visits were Pad See Iew and Kao-Soi Noodles. The flavors were unspectacular but adequate. The real problem with the dishes was the beef. It tasted as if it had been boiled. The texture was slimy and spongey. I couldn't finish either dish. I don't remember ever eating such poor meals in previous visits and so I wonder if they've changed something in the kitchen. The service was horrific. During my last visit there the server dropped two bowls of noodles on the floor and ended up getting a bunch of sauce all over my son and wife. My wife reached out to try and help when she could see that the server was losing it but in doing that the dish ended up all over her arm and the side of her skirt. My son wasn't equally drenched but it did splash on his shoes and pants. This is totally forgivable. We mostly just felt bad for the poor server, who was clearly horrified. I don't blame her at all because things like this sometimes happen. What was really disappointing is the manager's reaction. He came out shortly after to bring new servings of the dishes that were dropped. But he didn't apologize or ask if we were ok or anything that I'd expect a manager to do. He just delivered the dishes and left. The floor was still covered in sauce and noodles and he didn't try to clean it up. Throughout the rest of the dinner the mess was just there. My wife ended up moving over to the other side of the table. Her water glass, which caught some of the flying sauce, was never replaced. Nobody offered to comp any of the bill. There was no reaction from the manager. They just seemed too busy to even bother. I was pretty shocked by the whole thing. I would have expected at least a slight reduction in the bill, but no. At the very least they could have cleaned up the mess all over the floor around our table, but no. So, I won't be going back there. They definitely earned a one star review. read more

Ended up doing either uber eats or grubhub or whatever to order from here. Food was alright. Wasn't crazy spectacular or outstanding, but I thought it was still enjoyable. Comparable to other similar restaurants. read more

I have been enjoying food from this restaurant for 2 years now. The food is high quality, flavorful, nicely portioned and a great value. Yellow curry with chicken is a favorite of mine. read more

solid sushi and thai food. We had a big group of people at lunch and they managed us very well. I thought the food was very tasty and was had significant portions. I had the beef teriyaki bento box and thought it was a great meal. would recommend this place to anyone read more

Great lunch specials. I really like their Thai food but think the sushi is just okay. Great Pad Thai

I've been coming to Dowize for years and it's never failed me. I love their Panang curry, scallion pancakes, sushi, gyoza, and fried rice. They're always fast and attentive, too. I've also wanted to go for lunch since they have a great lunch special. read more

I haven't gotten the chance to try any Asian restaurants in the Wilmette area, so this was my first shot, and I was disappointed. Food is food, and their prices were pricey considering the food itself is pretty lackluster and has surprisingly small portions, especially the lunch specials. The service when I went to go pick up also wasn't especially friendly, more dismissive than anything else. Since we're in Covid times, I had to get these items to go, but we ate them pretty much right after pick up. Anything that was fried was soggy, which you might think is no big deal. But I've ordered plenty of take out since Covid began and many restaurants that were delivered to me figured out ways to keep their fried items crunchy. So it makes me think that these fried items were just not using the right batter to begin with. The egg rolls had a bit more crunch but weren't very flavorful and tasted like the frozen variety you get at the store, and not the good kind. The vegetable tempura was not tasty, nor was it well-fried and just didn't have the usual batter I've come to expect from tempura. After having gotten a bento box and getting taste a few items from their menu, I wouldn't recommend ordering their Japanese entrees. Chicken teriyaki was nothing like I expected, it was more of a Chinese style of teriyaki sauce sauteed with chicken and mushrooms, with a mound of rice. The california rolls were imitation crab and small. Surprisingly, I liked the cucumbers with white vinegar they provided, which tasted fresh and juicy. We also got the pad thai lunch special which came with the egg roll and a salad, which I would've expected to come with the bento box instead. It had the typical Japanese salad dressing with it, but ultimately it just wasn't very much food. Although it was only $7.95 can't really complain all that much. The flavor was there but it was a bit too sweet. But if you're going to order anything from this restaurant, I'd recommend sticking with their Thai dishes. read more

My go-to spot for Thai food. Their pad see ewe is delicious - I order it once every two weeks. Prices are reasonable, service is fast, the staff is super nice and friendly. When I order take out it's usually ready in 15 minutes even when it's a super busy night. Definitely check this place out if you're craving Thai or in a rush to get dinner read more

I love this place, their Thai and sushi are both fantastic and they are very vegetarian friendly. Cannot say enough good things about them!

Really solid spot! I'm not sure why it took me five years to give this place a try, but they do really good thai and have solid sushi. They know what they're doing and their prices are reasonable. They have a nice online ordering platform and it's easy to get in and get out safely. It's going to be on our regular rotation now that we finally gave it a try. read more

This was the first time ordering at Dowize. We really love Thai food and eat it quite often; this place is very good! Their scallion pancakes, their fresh roll, Panang Curry and Cashew dish, everything was very flavorful. We don't eat meat, but this place has many options to go around that. We're going to order here every week! read more

The food was fine. However, there was something going on with the kitchen. There were five of us, 2 adults and 3 children ages 11, 9, and 6. The older two ordered from the adult menu. The 6 year old ordered from the children's menu. The food came out at three or four different times, without explanation. The last plate to arrive was the children's menu plate. I can't imagine what was going on in the kitchen that it took them an extra 10 minutes to make two pieces of chicken, half a cup of rice, and three pieces of broccoli. To me, everyone knows you try to get the kid's meal out first. And our server never stopped by to apologize or explain why the food was coming out piecemeal like that. I was underwhelmed. Food okay. Service, pretty bad. read more

It's pretty difficult to find good authentic Asian foods in this part of the world, although a few attempts are being made. Dowize is a family run place that's been in Wilmette for about 5 years trying to make an impression on the local market. Though nominally Thai, the menu items include some classic Japanese and Chinese items. This is a business decision to capture as much of the demand for 'Asian' food among the locals as possible, so that is the survival strategy. Apparently it works because families like to come here and can get a range of foods. Personally, I would prefer a concentration on some good Thai dishes, but I do understand that the market or appreciation for this stuff may be limited in this neighborhood. They actually had a duck item on the menu, which I tried. The duck itself was good, but I didn't think the orange sauce worked. I look forward to going back and try some other Thai items. read more

We've been dining here for years; great neighborhood joint. Goofy combo is for the young ones is nice, the sushi is good and reasonably priced. Kao soi noodles are great, as well as the veggie miso soup. Tom kha kai and pad thai are decent but not as good as I've had at dedicated thai places. read more

Took my daughter here for her birthday on June 17th. We were not able to eat in the restaurant because they are still not allowing anyone due to covid. However, ordering on their website was easy and fast. We ordered the typical pad Thai with chicken and crab rangoon. Price was great for the portions we got. Highly recommend this place for their quick service, delicious food, great portions and priced right. read more