My friends and I eat here fairly often on Sundays when we're in the city. We pick this place over Phoenix or Triple Crown mostly for convenience since we tend to hang out on the north side and Chinatown is just too much of a hassle to drive to. Parking in the area is fairly easy (there is also a validated lot, but the last few times we were here the lot was either too full or completely empty and looked like it was closed) on any of the side streets or if you use public transportation it's very close to the Argyle Red Line stop. Service is decent. There are always a few really young (high school) kids working who are kind of quiet, but they get the job done and that's what really matters I suppose. Like I mentioned, we usually do Sunday brunch here and order dim sum off the carts. We came here once after brunch hours and sat downstairs and ordered dim sum off the menu which was definitely not as good in terms of quality or service, so I would recommend coming when the upstairs is open and they have the carts being pushed around! As far as what to order, my favorites are the har gow, siu mai, chicken feet, spare ribs, taro puffs, gai lan (the price on this one is honestly not worth it, but if you need some greens in your life it's a good choice), and egg tarts. If you're careful about what you order you can easily get a REALLY filling meal for under $20 including tip. It's not the cheapest dim sum I've had or the best quality for the price, but since we're in the Midwest I really can't complain. It's also a good place to eat with a large group since you can sample more dishes! We've eaten here with groups of 20+ before and never had an issue. However, if you want to pay on separate tabs (for any sized group), BRING CASH. Overall, I would definitely recommend Furama for convenience. If you ever find yourself near Argyle and craving some Sunday morning dim sum, definitely check it out. read more

Dim sum not for everyone but for some. This place was my first dim sum experience. As my first experience it was neato and I relished in the fact that the food came to ME on little carts pushed by obviously bored teenagers. My first experience was incredible! It was my first afterall. Since that visit I have been back to this location numerous times as well as to many other Chicago dim sum locales. My observation: good for beginners and only mediocre for novices. Although the food comes to you on carts (pretty nifty if you've never experienced this before) it is often luke warm at best and lacks that certain luster freshly prepared food should have. It looks like it has been sitting around for a while and quite possibly might have been. The food taste is good; sometimes great and sometimes poor but mostly right in the middle. Most of the dumplings are sticky and room tempurature and the fried goodies are missing their deep fried warmth that makes them so attractive. Don't be intimidated by the sometimes hectic cart experience! You might not know what stuff is but the staff will answer your questions and won't be offended if you just point at something and say "that." If you don't feel like trekking to China town and you really want dim sum, by all means don't pass up Furama; however, if you are a dim sum pro (like members of the Chicago Naked Dim Sum Society; WOOT!) then you won't mind driving the extra distance to the much better dim sum found in China town and the South side in general. Bottom line, Furama is good for dim sum newbies but the die hards will find taking the extra time to drive South worth the extra quality found there. read more

This place has been an institution for several years now in the North Argyle neighborhood. Food is consistently good and services are always met with a loving smile. Best time to go it's on Sundays for dim sum between 11 AM and 2 PM. That's when most carts are in full operation on the upper level. Take out is average. read more

Furama Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Suwei was an awesome server and got us everything we needed in a snap! When going to dim sum with 4 kids who are well behaved but get antsy after a long time waiting for food to come, and carts to roll by, things can get super stressful so as a mom, man was this great! We ordered about 18 different dishes from pork, to beef and shrimp. read more

Dim sum was much better than their dinner, and service was patient with letting us linger. I was a little disappointed in the selection though, but we were there later in the afternoon. I would give it another shot, just go earlier. read more

I like dim sum restaurants that have carts because immediate gratification. But there has to be a reason for the restaurant to have carts -- usually it's because they have a lot of customers who want dim sum, so the carts are used to bring food quickly to everyone and the food is generally fresh and replenished often. Unfortunately, I think Furama is using the carts for the gimmick of giving costumers immediate gratification, but they don't have enough customers who eat there. Because of this, the dim sum dishes are often cold and have been sitting out for awhile, so that they're no longer appetizing. We had a big group there for a weekend brunch, and when we were seated, all the carts that were idle before immediately huddled to us. We tried a bunch of the standard dim sum items, and I've definitely had better elsewhere I think they should work on their strategy, since I'm sure that their food would bette rif it was fresh. Maybe for a restaurant like Furama, a made-to-order dim-sum model is better. read more

I would come back here if I had a craving, but it's definitely not good dim sum. I was here for lunch with a friend, and the entire place is kind of sketch looking (on the second floor, a little dirty, with layers of thin plastic on the tables). We were both craving the same thing (fried radish cakes) and those were absolutely the best things that we had, really fresh and hot, and honestly just really good. It might have helped that that was the one thing that we specifically asked for, where the other things we just grabbed off carts as they passed. We also got two shrimp dishes, the bun-shaped ones in the clear wrappers and the shrimps in a blanket style ones (my descriptions are so on point, I know), and the shrimps were sparse and the wrappers too thick for both of these. The roast duck we got was lukewarm at best, and there were several pieces that were literally just skin, fat and bone. We also got the steamed custard buns (good) and the custard rolls (way too dense). Like I said, I might come back if I had a craving and absolutely couldn't make it down to Chinatown, but I'll definitely stick to just the things I'm craving, eat, and get out. No more getting sucked in by all the options! read more

I've been going to this furama for their dim sum for years. I choose this location because it is more convenient, and while it's not the best in town, it is quite good. Service is quick to get to get to you, and most people are helpful, as long as they understand what you're saying. some chick said this place was dirty and smoky. The second floor is non-smoking as long as I can remember (maybe because I only go on the weekends?). Maybe it's because she's from california and i remember white table cloths at a dim sum spot in LA. snob! read more

Confusion, disbelief, satisfaction, and perhaps time-space continuum disruption, that is what I think of when I think of my Furama dining experience. You see I arrived with two friends, and before we could even take our seats at the table, a waitress arrived with a dim sum cart and asked, "Are you ready?" Answering "yes" without even a second of hesitation was both our best and worst decision of the day. You see, within 30 minutes the three of us managed to tackle 13 different dim sum dishes and smoothies, all to the sweet tune of around $16 a person, all without knowing what the hell had just happened to us. We were subjected to a blitzkrieg of dim sum. Before we knew what hit us, another wave of tantalizing delights arrived that we simply could not say no to. Unfortunately, as we were left without a menu I cannot provide specific names for what we had (although the servers were able to clearly describe each dish well enough for us to choose), but let it be known: it was all mindbogglingly good. And let's just say if they ever offer you some sort of doughy, dessert roll, for the love of god take it. Not only does it taste incredible, its texture is so amazing that you'll want to have a mattress made out of attempted: Watch out! Tasty dim sum dessert rolls are gunning for your business! The only downfall to the whole experience is that we just couldn't say "no." Had we taken our time it probably would've been even more enjoyable, but then again, how would I rate it, as Furama is already getting 5 stars from me! read more

Can't even begin to describe in words how disgusted I was with my dim sum meal there. It was for sure one of the worst, if not, THE WORST dim sum experience I've ever had. It's for sure the worst dim sum you'll find in Chicago. I really should've heeded the advice of the other reviewers here and stayed clear of this restaurant, but alas, I wanted to try a new dim sum place and took the risk because it was relatively close. Out of everything I had, the tea was the best tasting item, which unbeknownst to me, they charged me $0.90 for! I ordered the tripe, shrimp roll, chive and shrimp and chive steamed dumpling, and steamed bean curd with meat. Honestly, everything looked like left over food that was microwaved for me. Frozen dim sum that you buy at the chinese supermarket would've been better than the pitiful looking food that Furama served me. I really expected the supposed made to order dim sum to be a bit more fresh than what I had received! Both the shrimp roll and the shrimp and chive dumpling had these itty bitty pieces of shrimp that had an incredibly disgusting, fishy after taste. The bean curd was the soggiest dim sum bean curd I've ever had and the tripe tasted like it was made eons ago. As for the appearance and upkeep of this place, it honestly looks like an abandoned, run down Chinese wedding banquet hall - I've never seen a sadder looking wedding banquet hall that has been so poorly maintained. Honestly, if you are in or near the Uptown area and are thinking about coming to this place because it's convenient, don't! Do yourself the favor and look for a higher quality dim sum restaurant. I'm not sure what the owner has in mind for this restaurant, but from the lack of upkeep and how the food was prepared, it looked like it's about to fold at any minute. And if it's not, then the owner needs to put in more effort towards maintaining it and have the stuff put more care into the food - you know, like actually make fresh dim sum to serve to customers, instead of providing them with what looks like reheated left overs. read more

This is my very first Yelp post. Yes, I had to figure out a way to somehow share my horrific experience so that no one else ever goes to this restaurant again. 1) Food was NOT good. Quality was bad and it didn't taste good, as simple as that. 2) Service was POOR. Whenever we asked for something (such as another menu since there were three of us and they only gave us one), all of them seemed so annoyed as if they were doing us a huge favor. Not to mention, the restaurant was pretty empty when we were there. 3) Messed up our bill (this guy couldn't do math) and argued with us until he realized that he made a mistake. He quickly changed his face and apologized but geesh, we had to hear him argue in loud voice for a few minutes. 4) I got sick afterwards. Please do not go to this restaurant. read more

My girlfriend was in town this past week and was craving dim sum. I heard about Furama from a classmate who recommended it highly and I must say it did not disappoint. We went during lunch last Thursday and it was a nice, quiet, and relaxing atmosphere. The service was solid as was the food. We ordered: -Steamed shrimp dumplings -Shumai -Shrimp fun roll -Fried taro root puff -Stuffed eggplant Every dish was really good (I recommend the shrimp dumplings and fun roll especially) and we had more than enough to eat. The prices were a little higher than what I was used to (I'm from Michigan) but overall the experience was one of the better ones I've had for dim sum. Definitely will be back! read more

Great food It's worth every penny!!! I had dim sum today it was done perfectly They have great service I will definitely come again read more

It wasn't terrible but it wasn't that great. There on a Saturday night, the place was a ghost town. I guess it was understandable that they didn't have people walking around with those carts full of delicious dim sum options in that case, but that was disappointing as I personally find that to be a large contributor to the experience. Because the place was empty, you would think the service would be optimal in that case but it was mediocre (maybe adequate would be a better description) at best. Next time I'm in the area, I'm headed to Tank Noodle cause that place was packed. read more

This is the North Side extension of the South Wentworth restaurant. The food is just as good, but the dinning room is nicer. I've never had the dim sum, but I'm terribly fond of several of the dishes. It's a good lunch spot, but I'm not sure this would be a place I'd go for dinner. It's fine, just maybe more of a family spot rather than a "date night" spot. read more

We came for dim sum on Sunday around 11:30am. There were a good amount of people but still not crowded. The dim sum was being pushed around by carts and I expected the food to be room temp. However, all of the items we took were hot, except for the fried smelt. Servers passed by our table with carts almost immediately after we were seated so there was virtually no wait time. Food tasted fine enough that I would come back, but nothing was outstanding. What I really liked was the service. I have two little kids (3 and 1 year old) and the servers were so kind and attentive to them. They even helped us stop a tantrum. It can be difficult to enjoy dining out with kids but we had a pleasant experience here. We will definitely come back. read more

I didnt like Furama at all. I didnt try the Dim Sum, and maybe that was the mistake. What I can tell you is that the prices, in comparison to the other restaurants by argyle, suck. Everything is more expensive, even for the same exact dish. One exception is the chicken wings appetizer, which they accounted for with a smaller portion. Food taste was nothing special, more like something I could get from a carryout joint. That put aside, the service was not all that bad. The food was quick enough, and the waitress was very courteous and attentive. Due to the fact that there was good service, I'll give em an extra star. In fact, I'll give em another try soon to see how good this dim sum that everyone is raving about. But only for that, because I wont be ordering anything else off of the menu soon. read more

I'm from San Francisco and I've been to Hong Kong a few times so I know what good dim sum is supposed to taste like. This place comes close to having good dim sum. There are a lot of choices on the menu and some even come with pictures! Sometimes you can order the dim sum off the menu or you can pick your food off the carts. The wait staff is friendly and will try to accomodate your tastes if you are vegetarian. Also, they will tell you if a dish is available so you dont have to keep looking at the carts for a particular dish. Prices here are cheap and affordable. Great for groups! read more

Food was really cold. It was pretty expensive for the quality of food. Cold dim sum is not a great experience. The service however was ok thats why I'm not giving it 1 star. read more

This review is for dim sum. This place is huge. If you are closer to Uptown than Chinatown and craving dim sum, this place's got pretty decent food. No wait for a table on a warm spring Sunday. Most of the steamed plates we got were $2.xx so the prices were fair too. Two turn-offs: the place is very no-frills so it looks kinda greasy-dirty and most of the cart-pushers were teenagers, who just seemed overall inattentive and a bit careless with their work. The adult workers (the ones who get you tea and your bill) were nice and helpful. read more

TO DIE FOR: Fish fillet stir-fried with Chinese greens. I call this dish the wonder of Cantonese stir-fry. You can feel the wok chi bursting out of every bite. Some people call it the heat/temperature but wok chi is a lot more than that. It's this burst of energy from fast high heat cooking that was sealed in and it rushes out into your mouth when you take a bite. It is magical. Dim Sum is awesome here too! Uptown Chicago rules too! read more

Hot food, cold restaurant. Bring a jacket... seriously. Dim sum and lobster/seafood dishes are all top drawer! The decor leaves a lot to be desired, but the food will always make you come back... or order to go! read more

This weekend was all about the year of the monkey, celebrating chinese lunar New Years with various friends... We went into argyle area when it's mostly Vietnamese Restraunt & found furama which serves dimsum... The servers come to your table with carts & you pick & choose different dimsum dishes... Very good.. You also can order of their main menu which is chinese, Cantonese style ... Definitely will be returning... Try the chives/shrimp (my fav) BON APPETITE!!! read more

Furama Restaurant - Dimsum baby!!!! Lol - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Went for lunch on Sat. It was my first time here, but had said I wanted to try it for years. I'm sure now I should have waited longer. We were seated promptly and the service (water, cleanup, another napkin, etc.) was excellent. When the first dim sum cart came to us (we had no clue what dim sum was) it looked interesting. I told the lady we knew absolutely nothing about this, but would like to try it. She did a great job of confusing me completely. We ordered one thing each from the first cart. It had obviously been sitting for a while-cold and soggy. Since we had no clue how it worked we ordered from the menu. The food was brought promptly and was average at best. The other patrons seemed to be enjoying the dim sum and we really felt left out. I think we will leave Furama out of our places to eat list. read more

Overall 2.5. The dim sum cart items were not fresh or was mostly getting cold by the time we sat down at 1:30pm on a Saturday. The service was prompt when we ordered items from the dim sum menu when we didn't see anything we liked in the carts. Their shumai was decent with a more rustic feel packed with meat. It was just annoying to eat the green vegetables cold or room temperature though. The bean jello pudding was good. The sticky rice is lotus leaf was decent too. Not sure if I'd so out of the way to come here for dim sum again unless other people want to go. I'm sure if the items were more freshly prepared we'd have enjoyed it more. read more

Worst dim sum I've had in Chicago. Food was lukewarm to cool, didn't taste fresh, and was not varied. And that was a sunday, prime dim sum time. I left feeling bruised and beaten. Guess I'll stay with Chinatown. Or just eat Dim Sum when I'm in other cities. Crushing, really. read more

This is the 2nd time I've gone here and today's experience was great! We had a lil from the dim sum menu, and then we ordered from the regular menu. They didn't have the carts rolling around after 230pm so we just ordered from a picture menu. All our selections were fantastic. Then from the regular menu we got the house special fried rice, mongolian beef and salt and pepper pork ribs. Again, all delicious. Service was great, quick and very attentive to fill our water and take away our empty plates. We also had the smoothies and they were nice and fresh and refreshing. I'll definitely be back for more. read more

Went to Furama today for dim sum-parking is no longer free in their lot, even with validation! (Grr) dim sum is, well, dim sum. It's comparable to any other dim sum I've ever had, but the fried shrimp and chive dumpling was so freaking good!! I've inly ever had the steamed ones. We also ordered a shrimp filled empanada looking thing (came with 3) and each of us took a bite to find that... The shrimp inside was raw! I've eaten at furama many many times, even for weddings, and never came across anything like this! The waitress saw it and apologized and returned with more about 15-20 minutes later. I just so happened to snap a pic of them before trying them (the first ones). Prices are fair for dim sum, but just because of the incident, and up in parking $, 2 stars. read more

Furama Restaurant - Shrimp filled, fried empanada looking pastries. - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

This will always be my favorite Dim Sum house period. It's the real deal. After years of eating here and loving their sticky rice and shrimp dumplings and so any others I am spoiled. When I have Dim Sum anywhere else it just is not as flavorful and well done...even in Hawaii and NYC. It's not super updated and slick but if you want flavor and selection you can't beat it! Also through the years the staff has been so attentive- I hadn't been in, in awhile and she remembered my order!!! read more

Mf and I get takeout here at least twice a month. Same thing every time. We're those people. We also affectionately refer to Furama as Chinese Heaven because we love it so. I'm pretty sure heaven has a Furama AND a brown line. Just sayin'... The food fills my need for greasy Chinese food and is even good for leftovers the next day. The delivery is like lightning. I swear. We order and they're at our door in under 20 minutes. No joke. We time them now because it's that crazy fast. Pizza tracker is no match for the people at Furama. This past Saturday was the only time the quoted delivery time of 40 minutes was correct, but there was a whole bunch of snow so I'm not mad about it. Cost effective, fast, and delicious, Furama is all you'll ever need for Chinese take out. read more

NO. Bone dry allegedly fried rice, tastes pre cooked, possibly frozen. Terrible service, sketchy area. HAIR! yes, HAIR in the rice. This area is known for Asian dives sadly, this one you must skip. there is better in the surrounding neighborhood. Unfortunately, all the places on the 4900 Broadway block are a no go. read more

There are a ton of better places to go for food in the Argyle region rather than going to Furama. The food is bland, overcooked, and overpriced. It often tastes like subpar cafeteria food and the flavors all start to taste the same over and over again. I wonder if some of this stuff is frozen/ready to cook instead of being 100% homemade. The service is pushy and overbearing. If I want more food, I'll ask you for it. Don't get in my face when I've clearly shown that I'm done eating. Also, if you aren't with a ton of people, your meal is going to be way too expensive so don't bother. Finally, the atmosphere is just tacky. Plastic table clothes, outdated decor and furniture, and an overall feel of the 1970s, Furama fails to make itself modern and attractive. Save yourself the trouble and find something better in the area. read more

I'm so upset because I have to change my raving review to a bad one. Wonton Soup is my absolute favorite but I am allergic to shrimp. Since I have moved to Chicago I have been unable to find a non-fish version of this soup! I specifically asked if there was shrimp in the Wonton Soup. Furama assured me there was none and a trip to the hospital proved different. I've had other food here, I used to love this place. I don't know what happened.... My boyfriend got some rancid fried rice in his last two orders. Furama! Why have you forsaken me!? read more

My girlfriend and I decided to try the Dim Sum at this place as we wake up one lazy Sunday morning. Been to numerous dim sum places both in United States and oversea in Taiwan, I have to say this place really got nothing out of ordinary in terms of culinary achievements. Don't get me wrong, this does not mean that this place has horrendous food. The food is good and typical of what you would expect of a Dim Sum place in Chicago area. They match the standard of other dim sum places that Chicago has to offer, but that is simply it. Though I do have to say, I personally enjoyed the Doh Hua (soft tofu desert) that they have to offer. Most Doh Hua in dim sum places simply rest in a syrup soup. But this place's Doh Hua actually is accompanied by ginger syrup (which is how they do things in Taiwan). Definitely an accent in my dining experience here, but other than that, it's just your typical dim sum place. read more

oldskool, great Dim Sum. Bubble tea! Cocktails! A fun, quirky great restaurant.

We trekked it to Uptown (okay, took an Uber) on a blistery, cold night in search of hot soup and dim sum. I was mostly disappointed that we were the only diners in this place, despite the reviews I found on Yelp and other sites. We were sat in what felt like the annex of the restaurant at an outdated table and chairs. We were up against a curtained window, where when pulling back the shade we saw a much nicer and plush dining room-- also empty. Hmm. At any rate, we did appreciate the dim sum menu -- a fold out paper with photos of each dish. We made our selections and also tried the beef noodle soup (think simplified version of pho) and the food came out quickly. Everything we tried was tasty -- I especially enjoyed the bok choy and steamed BBQ pork buns. Dirt cheap, too -- I think we had 6 dim sum items and the soup and the bill was just a tad over $30. As we ubered away, I saw other similar restaurants that looked more lively and...modern which made me second guess the selection as a whole. Sigh. Oh well-- there's always next time! read more

There are not a lot of Dim-Sum places on the north side of the city. If you need Dim-Sum and don't want to travel to Chinatown this is the place to go. It is served upstairs and it feels a bit like a cafeteria, but the mix of people and the range of servers makes it fun. We had a very old woman who said "yes good" to everything we said, then a teenage girl came over and translated everything for us. If you have questions and can't speak Chinese ask the teenage servers for the things you want and they will have the right person bring it over. The quality. It was OK to good. I was happy with most everything I ordered. Sometimes when doing Dim-Sum you order some stuff that might seem a bit strange. That is just how it goes. We ate most everthing we ordered, but the dumplings and pork items were the best. The pot of tea, was, a pot of tea. Always a good touch and required for the Dim-Sum Experience Chaotic Dim-sum fun. Yum. read more

My good friend and I frequent this place from time to time and have always had a good experience. We both enjoy the concept of the carts bringing small plates of food over. The food itself tastes fresh. It gets pretty busy on weekends so it's best to get there early to get a good table. Don't want to be sitting on the outskirts and trying to flag down carts that may or may not have what you want. Regardless of this if you don't see what you want, you can request an item and they'll bring it to you eventually. My favorite dish is the egg custard pie. Total cost also seems pretty reasonable. Our total bill usually falls between $20 - $25. read more

This place is my Chinese food savior since I moved from the South Loop (near Chinatown). It reminds me exactly of the New Furama in Chinatown, right down to the crappy and tacky decor on the second floor of the building, and the food is legit. It's not the kind of place you want to come on a date but if you want authentic Chinese food in an area that's got plenty of Vietnamese and Thai but little of the former, then this is your spot. read more

I'm surprised at the not-so-great reviews Furama received. Anyways, I went here today and I loved their dimsum. Maybe I came at the right time, but everything was fresh and warm. The servers tended to us well and we got our tea and water in no time. I love that they have a location in the northside. There's no need to trek out all the way to Chinatown when I can get some good dim sum just a few minutes away! Also, I love that there's a free parking lot. Although, today was a mess with all the snow. Cars were piled on top of each other! I'm just glad that there was someone to let us out. Oh yeah, I like this location better than the Furama in Chinatown. The servers are much more friendly and they have a larger selection of dimsum. read more