I dined here with two of my best friends late Friday night, and we had a wonderful experience. The Kung Pao Chicken, Black Pepper Beef, and Crispy Fish filets were all incredibly tasty and flavorful. Be aware that most of the dishes we selected were very spicy, which was our preference. Our waiter was attentive, and [[HIGHLIGHT]]the restaurant's décor was attractive.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] I would certainly return. I enjoy trying different restaurants in Chinatown. read more

It's crazy to me that I haven't even left a review for Lao sze chuan yet. Lao Sze Chuan is my go-to for Sichuan food in Chicago! Yes, there are other (and cheaper) places, but Lao sze chuan is so bright and clean and yummy and the portions are always huge so I just keep coming back, I can't help it. Honestly these photos aren't even my favorite dishes but I'm too lazy to go back and dig up old ones right now. My favorite dishes are the Sour sole fish fillet with pickled vegetables, the green peppercorn beef, the spicy sole fish fillet soup, and the mapo tofu. Usually I add a vegetable like green beans or pea shoots for a healthy balanced, oily diet B) read more

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Pretty good Chinese food in Chicago's Chinatown! This is the first place my husband ever ate Chinese food when he moved to Chicago. He loves it and wanted me to try it. We tried calling for a reservation but they only take walk ins, which ended up being fine because it wasn't super crowded. We rolled up here after finding street parking and got seated pretty quickly. I checked in and we had veggie spring rolls that were free. I showed my waitress the check in and she clicked redeem. We of course ordered too much food - got the string beans, eggplant, earred mushrooms and mapo tofu. Luckily, she forgot to bring us the free spring rolls , but still too much food. The mapo tofu was tasty and had a nice kick. String beans were also good, but had a fishy tasty which she had told us about. I really like the mushroom and eggplant. Overall a good place. Noticed that there was another one in downtown and a food court version! Guess its doing pretty well! read more

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Food quality was good. Many vegan options. Service was fast and pleasant. Have returned three additional times since I first discovered this spot in China Town. read more

This place is very cute! My friend and I were exploring China Town and decided to go here for lunch. We ordered family style so we shared everything we got. First off, I love that they give a hot pot of tea and spicy cabbage when you sit down. My friend and I both don't like cabbage and could not stop eating it. It was delicious. We ordered the following: Chengdu Dumplings, Mapo Tofu, Szechuan String Beans, Fried Rice Noodles, Steamed Bread Szechuan Style, and White Rice. Our favorite items were the Chengdu Dumplings and Mapo Tofu. Both were excellent with a little bit of spicy. I would highly recommend both of these dishes. We were most excited for the Szechuan String Beans, but they lacked flavored, but we took home leftovers and these had more flavor when we heated them up the next day. Maybe they didn't soak enough? The Fried Rice Noodles were just okay for me. They worked well with what we ordered but didn't really have a flavor of their own. The service was good, food was good, our bill including tip was just over $60. For me, this is a bit pricey for Chinese food, but it was good and we did have leftovers. I would go back. I did enjoy the atmosphere and the food. Not too crowded during weekday lunch times. Also, make sure to bring proof of vaccine. read more

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The store is decorated with a happy vibe. Though it is Lao Sze Chuan, Cantonese music was played when I visited the restaurant. It's my first time to try Lao Sze Chuan after the pandemic. Maybe I had a high expectation for it, I feel the Lao Sze Chuan today was not as good as the one in my memory. First, the side dish, spicy cabbage, is flavorful. It really got me ready for my main dishes. But the smoked duck is a little bit too dry. And the egg plant is too greasy. Most of the staff members are nice but some of them had room to improve. I tried to use the Yelp coupon of spring rolls. The waitress refused to let me redeem it and said it is for other locations, then said it is for online orders. It is clear that she didn't know the offer for checking in with Yelp. Finally the manager helped me redeem the offer. The printing quality of the menu could be better. Positioning as the best Chinese restaurant in the US, the restaurant's menu should be presentable. But the menu in this location was not easily readable because of the poor printing quality. read more

Lao Sze Chuan - Deco - Szechuan Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

No waiters, had to order from iPad. Terrible . We were a party of 4 and I dish came out, without appetizers or beverages and another did not appear for at least 15 mins . We alerted the roaming servers Pot stickers were old and tasted off Everything but the shrimp and scallop dish was less than mediocre Very disappointing read more

Really recommend the pork dumplings! Everything was delicious and came out hot and quick. No one got sick which is always a plus when traveling and eating heavy food. Tea was offered with the meal and service was so kind. Place was pretty busy and full of happy faces. read more

As a vegetarian, I am always looking for a great tofu dish and let me tell you, the dry chili tofu is amazinggg. This is definitely my favorite Szechuan restaurant in town. Every single visit, the food does not disappoint. My husband has tried the empress chicken, dry chili chicken and fish respectively, and several other items. He has enjoyed all of them. This is definitely one of my favorite restaurants in town! read more

Went here on a weekend. Though only few tables were occupied and there's this one large group came, while we were eating, the large group was just so loud. On the other hand, food was good. Pricey. Please note: the rice is not included with the entree. I was shocked! read more

Lao Sze Chuan - Mapo tofu missing pork and pork dumplings - Szechuan Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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What better way to kick start year of the rabbit with some Lao. They forgot to give us the fortune cookies :( . We added steamed pork potstickers to our usual order of chili chicken and cumin lamb. The kids and husband enjoyed the food ... I shall dig in to the leftovers tomorrow. read more

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Horrible place ! Rude service, salty food ! Please do not go here and take your money somewhere else . Had to leave after having just a spoonful of the rice because of how horrible it was . read more

Ordered the clam and pork soup. The cloudy looking soup reminded me of dish water. Felt like it's overpriced considering how bland it tasted and there was less than 10 clams and few slices of pork meat in the soup. The steamed pork dumplings was served hot however it lacked flavor. The wrapper's too thick as well. Spring rolls were crispy on the outside but the filling inside was soggy. It can also be added with seasoning. Was enticed to go inside because of the many pictures Of celebrities plastered by the window. But when we had a few bites, the expectations died each bites. read more

Great food. The orange chicken is my favorite. I like the downtown location. The service is great.

You MUST come here when you're in Chinatown. Lao Sze Chuan has changed Chinese food for me. It's completely different than what I get back home. It's not overly salty like most places are. Everything was amazing - tasty and big portions! Come hungry and you will not be disappointed :) read more

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The food was very tasty and great service. I will come here again. The sizzling rice was different from what Im use to where the pour the hot oil on top of the rice and broth was clear but the one I ordered tasted good. read more

I was a long ago fan of Lao Szechuan and was quite disappointed. Maybe we ordered the wrong dishes, but the food was not good; really not good. The sizzling rice chicken soup was sweet and the rice cakes gummy - kind of like Rice Krispies treats. The mushroom heaven had canned and maybe some fresh mushrooms bathed in a miscellaneous brown sauce. The twice cooked pork's only taste was salt. It was basically dried out overcooked bacon strips with a few vegetables. read more

Always great food. Some of our favorites include: House Special Spicy Fish, Orange Beef, Dry Chili Chicken, Shrimp Fried Rice, Mongolian Beef, Empress chicken and Moo Shu Pork. Today we tried the Hunan Beef, which they show as being spicy on the menu but it's not, but it's very good. read more

Lao Sze Chuan - Hunan Beef lunch size - Szechuan Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I mean, by no means is this the best Chinese restaurant in Chicagoland, but I did have a great experience here with my friend visiting from out of town. We ordered a lot of dishes to share in typical Chinese dine-in fashion, and everything was excellent. Service was great, and it's always just so nice to have warm tea on the table to serve yourself while catching up with you friend waiting on food. There was a really rude customer and their family sitting a few tables away that was being obnoxious and getting angry at the staff members. The staff didn't deserve to be ridiculed and I felt bad for them. Some people expect a particular service sometimes, and I don't understand why. There is sometimes a cultural or language barrier, and some people just don't understand that a very Chinese (or some other Asian ethnic enclaves), the way service is provided is different than stereotypical American restaurants. You have to flag down servers more often than not and that's just how it is.. culturally. Don't take it personal! SMH. Anyways, while there are many Chinese options in the area obviously included several Lao Sze Chuan locations in Chicago, I don't think I'd particularly come back here often, especially in Chinatown. I'm always eating my way through Chicago to find the best food, so I'm glad to have tried this place, but for sure not that best out there! read more

Went to this place per a recommendation from our Architectural tour guide. She recommended the Mapo Tofu and some chicken dish, but 2 of the people in the group are pescatarian so we didn't order the chicken dish but ordered the Shrimp Fried Rice, Spicy Eggplant in Garlic Sauce, and Fish Fillet with Black Bean Sauce. Everything was really good, except the fish dish was a little bit salty. That's why I'm giving it a 4 instead of a 5. These were all family style, and there were more than enough for 4 of us. I like that the food came out fast, and if I had to pick a favorite, it was probably the fried rice. read more

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CRIMINAL FORCED ENTRY. My wife ordered food, delivery driver insisted she open the door for a tip, she did, but then when she was going to get cash she tried to close the door and he forced her back and the door open. I didn't know this at the time, he had no idea I was there either. She called me over and I told him to shut the door. He said ok and so I went to grab him a few dollars. When I came back the door was still open. This pissed me off but I just wanted to get rid of him so I gave him the cash. When I learned he forced the door open against my wife, now we have a huge problem. Why are criminals delivering food? Had I not been there, who knows what would've happened. I filed a police report, called the restaurant, who just responded with a "oh. I'm sorry" and a lot of stuttering. We tried to contact the manager providing the phone number of the delivery driver and he said he'd take care of us- no response. I'm going to find this manager in person and talk to him, and if that does nothing I'll press charges or contact Tony Hu. Needless to say go to the restaurant next door, it's a lot better at this point and we've never seen anything like this before out of them. We've been going there 12 years at least. This place is always terrible when the Chinese Tony Soprano / Mr. T hybrid isn't there. Locals will know who that is. But NEVER order delivery from here, it's dangerous. Or be sure you're armed. read more

Lao Sze Chuan - Szechuan Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

We absolutely loved Lao Sze Chuan. Stumbled into it on accident and had an absolute ball. We ordered the dry chili chicken, mapo tofu, and green beans. The beans were okay, a bit salty for my taste, but not bad. That is where the negatives end! The mapo tofu was among the best I've had in my life-extremely flavorful, soft tofu, and a very generous portion (this could be said for everything we ate!) Not too spicy, but enough to make you feel alive. The dry chili chicken was straight up addicting. I could not stop eating it. So crispy and juicy! I loved it. My personal highlight though was something we didn't even order. It was served as a sort of accouterment before our other food came out: lettuce shreds coated in chili oil? Not quite sure, but this was a fantastic accompaniment to each dish and I actually finished the plate before the rest of our food even came out. Felt no shame asking for another portion. read more

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Checking out China Town in Chi-Town! This is how much excitement we had heading into Chinatown. When we entered this restaurant, it seemed very promising. Nice ambiance, lovely wall painting and decor. We came here because a Yelp post said they had the best mapo tofu in all of Chinatown. Since it was my daughter's bday weekend, what my baby wants my baby gets. So we ordered the mapo tofu, broccoli beef and their famous 4 spice chicken. I asked them to not make the food too spicy since my girls can only take so much. Well, the food came out in 5 minutes, the chicken was all peppers and spice, yet was the most tasty dish they had. The mapo tofu just didn't taste right to me and my daughters. Maybe it's the Chicago seasoning, but it was far from the best we've tasted. The broccoli beef was average but at least we finished it. The chicken as good as it was, was just too spicy so we didn't even bother taking it or the mapo tofu to go. Our biggest problem with this place is their less than friendly service. I mean I know Chinese restaurants aren't known for their amazing servers, but the lady who was serving us completely forgot about us even though there were only 4 tables at the time. A cute couple came in with their baby and they must've been regulars because the servers all flocked to them and played with the adorable baby. Needless to say, this place fell way short of our expectations, we spent a lot of money on food we didn't even care to take home with us and received less than Chicago style hospitality. Whoever turned us on to their mapo tofu, needs to get out more. Come visit California and try some of our mapo tofu next time. Thanks for nada Chicago Chinatown. We'll stick to Chicago's deep dish pizzas instead. read more

I love this place so much!! We've been coming here for 9 years and it has always delivered. They start you out with a free spicy cabbage app that's so spicy you're almost guaranteed to start coughing. Seriously. Try it! Funny but true. It's also delicious though, so push past it. When you check in on Yelp you get a couple free veggie spring rolls. These + the fried rice are probably the only mild things on the menu. Tonight we got chengdu dumplings, dry chili chicken, Dan Dan noodles, and chicken fried rice in addition to the spring rolls. Everything was excellent. Juicy meats. High spice levels - the real deal with no holding back. If you're into spicy you've got to come here and get yourself some szechuan style food. You'll love it!! They have high chairs here and are family friendly, but you can definitely also come here for casual dates, by yourself, or in any other context that will get you some of the best food in Chinatown. read more

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The Michigan Ave location is better, which was a surprise to me. Visited on a crowded weeknight, the wait for a table wasn't too long but was very disorganized: no wait list, no indication of how long the wait would be, no person to check in with - you just stand in the doorway and employees will just grab the next party when a table opens up. The wait for our food was very long. Our server took about 20 min just to come take our order. We ordered Peking duck which we knew could take a while so we ordered some other dishes that we thought would be faster - they weren't. Our server also did not bring us the spicy pickled cabbage we saw every other table getting so we just sat and waited with nothing for 30+ min after ordering. We came to get the Peking duck, which was just ok. The tortillas were too big and not the right texture - especially once they cooled (we weren't given anything to cover them with to keep them warm) they were very unpleasantly dry. The duck itself was average. At the Michigan Ave location the duck is crispier and they give you a first course of extra crispy duck skin with sugar to dip it in - didn't get that here. There were no other courses included in the $50 price. For $10 we added on the soup, which was a great deal for $10 - highly recommend this addition. The other items we ordered were the chili eggplant (garlic flavor) and chengdu dumplings, I would recommend the chili eggplant but thought the dumplings weren't anything special. read more

Lao Sze Chuan - Peking duck - Szechuan Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Love Love Laugh Lao Sze Chuan. Lao is my favorite restaurant, I'm completely obsessed. The House Special Spicy Sole Fish Fillet paired with Spicy string beans is my go-to for this location. I prefer takeout over dining in personally. I'm so happy a good friend introduced me to this restaurant. I hope this gem stays around as long as possible. read more

zero stars from me! they acted as if they didn't want to serve us!!!! we walked in and waited... and said they'll seat us then another party walked in after they acknowledged them instantly and were trying to give them the table they were gonna give us after they sat us they still were attending to the party after us... gave them water & appetizers while we sat there parched and hungry discrimination? maybe racist? maybe am I surprised? no Don't say ur the best Chinese food with a 3.3 on yelp. treat ALL ppl of color better and do better. It's embarrassing atp. what happened to grace and respect? read more

I would come back here. We ordered the mapo tofu, crispy shrimp with Mayo and my husband got the lamb cumin. The mapo tofu was delicious. Hubby loved his lamb. Neither of us enjoyed the shrimp- it was too sweet and tasted like it was coated with a sweet honey mustard. The portion sizes are also great for what you pay. Service - the service was slow. The place was consistently busy and not enough servers. read more

Love it! Absolutely love Lao Sze Chuan. I have eaten at several locations (a few in Chicago, Evanston and Aurora/Napervile) and have never been disappointed. I live 20 minutes from another location and go there often. We were there on a Sunday when they first opened and had Szechuan pickles, chili eggplant, and empress chicken (we don't usually order any of the fried chicken with a topping - orange, lemon, etc.) We were extremely pleased. Our waiter and the staff were friendly and helpful. We will definitely go back. Some people mentioned the iPad; there is a reason why some restaurants have people order from an iPad, so you get exactly what you choose. The process is usually, you put your order in on the iPad and they review it with you before it is submitted. This cuts way down on incorrect orders. Smart! read more

I feel conflicted about this place. Food is great, but service is questionable. Food: I ordered the mapo tofu. The flavor was excellent. The tofu was just soft enough for the dish to make it a great meal. Paired with a bowl of rice, this was a fulfilling dinner. Service: I entered in and was confused about how to get seated. The staff was super busy and I was redirected to a man in the front who I didn't see before. He put me at one of the front tables. Waiting to order took a while. Having the one dish served also took a long time. Staff is nice when you interact with them, but service is super slow. Price: A little bit more expensive than other places, but the portion size was not bad at all. Ambiance: Pretty modern for a Chinese restaurant. Inside is clean and walls are pretty aesthetic. Overall, the food is great and the portion size is reasonable for the price you are paying. My only concern is the service - it's super slow. My experience could be different from yours, so still give it a try! read more

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One of the best Chinese restaurants I have been following in Chicago. We went for lunch , it was very busy but we didn't have to wait for long to get seated. The place is small so can get crowded and noisy sometimes , but it didn't quite matter much to me since the food was so so so good . We loved whatever we orders , but for me the showstopper was the LaLaLa chicken . Such a perfect blend of that Szechuan taste and it's Spice. I had been craving for this since so long and now I know where to go to when I am in Chicago. Dont miss their chef's special dry chilli chicken as well , they are totally mind-blowing. Since we were very excited to find this location, we think we ordered quite much . The portion of the food were also large and since we were only a group of two, it was also enough for us for our dinner at home later that day !! read more

[[HIGHLIGHT]]If you're looking for an upscale Asian/Chinese/Cantonese food experience this would be a lovely place to take out of town guess.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] I actually prefer most of the smaller places in the Chinatown area. The food was ok but the prices were slightly more pricey than I would prefer. read more

For many years, this has been our family's go to Chinese spot. The workers are friendly and the food is always delicious. This past time we went for dinner, we got crab rangoon, shrimp fried rice, string beans and lamb with cumin powder. With the exception of the string beans being a bit salty, the food was fantastic as always. It also comes out quite quickly. Overall, always an enjoyable experience! read more

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The food is excellent, but be aware that the bathrooms don't have a changing table. Such an easy thing that shows how much a business cares about their customers. read more

Came here with my family food was alright but the service was horrible we ordered two rices only got one and when we told them about it they told us that the one rice was mixed with both but then we tipped them 15 dollars and the waitress made a public fit over it and complained that for a 160 order we gave only 15 and then proceeded to pick up the money and slam it on the table never coming back after that disrespect read more

WHY IS THE SERVICE SO BAD? went in on 7/23 which was a Saturday night and they had many available tables. We were a party of 4, my husband, mother, toddler, and I. Waitresses seem like you're a bother to them. I had a restaurant for 20 years and know first hand what it's like to wait on tables to I'm very considerate in not asking for too much, I try to ask for everything up front so once I get my food you don't really have anything else to do for me. I asked them to wrap up leftover rice which was almost the whole plate and she brought me a small box, meanwhile all the other patrons had their food wrapped by the waitress. She quickly took all the utensils and now I didn't have any to pour it into the box. Notified her and she brought me another box, no utensils. WTF is going on... paid for our food and left. I didn't notice they automatically charged me 18% service charge, why? I will not be returning. Ever. read more

Lao Sze Chuan - Receipt with automatic 18% service charge. No signs posted anywhere about this charge. Robbery. - Szechuan Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Returned to Chicago and opted to visit their other location down the street from the legendary Green Mill Jazz & Cocktail Lounge. We ordered all of the same things as the last time but this time around we also got the won ton soup which had cabbage & carrots for a different twist, the chicken egg rolls were very good too with a nice mix of chicken and veggies. We tried some new things- the pickled jalapeño eggs actually weren't spicy but they had a nice flavor. We also ordered a cold chicken appetizer which was really good too. I didn't get any photos- but I can't wait to go back! read more

Everything we ordered was tasteless and dry! We ordered crab rangoon that was fried to oblivion and then orange chicken and mongolian beef that had zero flavor. Took forever to get service in the very small empty restaurant. go to minghin next door! read more

Slightly westernized Chinese food while still retaining its Asian roots. It's safe for the non adventurous. That's not to say the taste is mediocre, far from it. The quality is evident in every dish. The complementary cabbage in chili oil is not bad and so are the Shanghai egg rolls. The signature dish of dried chili chicken doesn't pretend to be spicy, it's one spicy nugget that packs a punch of flavor. The salt and pepper seafood of shrimp, squid and scallops is just a good. We also had the combo pan fried noodles and garlic spinach. Both good I especially like the spinach. Slightly westernize means the shrimp was peeled most salt and pepper shrimp comes with the shell deep fried with it and is most satisfying. Nonetheless I would not hesitate recommending this place. read more

The service was iffy to say the least. A female employee came to take my family's order and started drooling all over herself making the whole interaction awkward. Towards the end of our meal we payed and proceeded to leave but were rudely interrupted because the server wanted more money. We tipped 20 dollars on a 100 dollar order. Mind you She was only at our table twice while other workers came to make sure we were doing good. read more