This spot is the definition of a hidden gem. This is no frills, just very good food, great portions, and even better prices. The staff are friendly and more than happy to walk you through their recommended menu items. I had the stir fried fish filet with spicy chili sauce and the deep friend chicken with red chili. Both were delicious but the fish was an absolute standout. Flaky, buttery, tender , and flavored with that classic numbing spice with the chili, it was phenomenal. Overall if you're looking for the kind of spot with a no frills ambiance that's going to serve up fantastic food, this is your spot. read more

Northern Taste - Stir Fried Fish Fillet w Spicy Chili Sauce 麻辣鱼片 - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

A very delicious and authentic restaurant. The service was pleasant and attentive. For the first time in five years, I finally had real 锅包肉 and 地三鲜, although the 家常莲菜 was a little too sour and a bit soggy. Still, I will definitely come back here again! read more

Northern Taste - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I always drive by this place but finally gave it a chance. I got their mapo tofu and dry chili chicken. Both were well above my expectations, and those are two of my favorite dishes. The service was top notch. The waitress was very friendly and cheerful; additionally, they even put the food into to-go boxes themselves when we couldn't finish it all. The ambiance is very simple and what you expect; however, there is a lot of space. I would definitely come back here again. I even noticed that they had lunch specials that were very affordable! read more

We drove all the way to this Northestern Chinese restaurant. The food here is authentic and the service was very friendly. We had a few hometown food which comes in big portion. read more

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We ordered takeout through their website which was quick and easy. The food was tasty and has a large variety of dishes to try, so you can't really go wrong any way. Our favorites were the stir fried noodles with chicken and green beans! read more

Northern Taste is a GEM of Bridgeport and one of the best Chinese restaurants in the city. The food is delicious, there are plenty of vegetarian options, and the service is phenomenal. The staff are wonderful, attentive, and sweet. I could not recommend a Sichuan restaurant more highly!! read more

Northern Taste is a quaint Bridgeport Chinese restaurant located on Halsted St. I remember when this place was more of a hole in the wall until they renovated the place years ago. You'll find some familiar dishes on the menu but like its namesake, there will be more spicy dishes from the Northern region. Fortunately not everything numbs your tongue even the spicy dishes. If you're looking for some Americanized Chinese food, they have some of that here, but why not venture into some other foods? The beef noodle soup is not really spicy and the quantity they give is plentiful. Service is friendly, and prices are also pretty decent. Northern Taste is one of my neighborhood favorites even if the menu isn't that extensive, but what they do offer hits the spot. read more

Northern Taste - Beef noodle soup - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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The portion sizes were very generous! They give you bottled water for free. The restaurant is spacious and pretty clean. The service is very friendly. General tso's tofu: the fried tofu was crispy perfection in texture. The dish was tasty but a little on the sweeter side. Not spicy. Boiled Beef in Chili Sauce: has a mala taste to it but it's a mild spice. Not too numbing. It was tasty but could be spicier. Scallion Pancake: a nice crispy snack with a subtle scallion taste. read more

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Highly recommend this location. The orange chicken/general Tso is amazing. The mapo tofu was good. The deep fried fish fillet is crispy and delicious. Each dish comes with a tiny container of rice. Very fair pricing and very delicious food. read more

Northern Taste - Deep Fried Fish Fillet with Salt and Pepper - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Best Chinese food in Bridgeport. It's not in a trendy neighborhood so it doesn't get too busy here. Northern Taste gets mostly a crowd of Chinese people. At least that's what it seems like. That's a pretty good sign if the food is good enough for them. After getting out from Chinatown, we found there's yet another Chinese place and decided to come eat. It was lunch during a weekend yet it wasn't busy, so we thought maybe this isn't good, but we were luckily wrong about it. This has a pretty good value. It's about $8 for an entree. There's a few that are vegetarian. Both of us got something with tofu, and liked it. I got the General Tso's Tofu. First impression was nothing special because it looked a lot like a typical version of it. The spices were much more pronounced than typical places though. Big portions also made this a good value and it was more than enough. This was some good shit for not a lot. It's pretty big. She had the Stir Fried Japanese Tofu With Vegetables. Good item. This is one of the vegetarian friendly items that also has tofu rather than just like eggplant or something. Good value because of the big portions for some tasty ass food. It's just kind of slow if any complaints about it. There's also not a whole lot that doesn't have meat, but there's some tofu items for vegetarians. read more

Northern Taste - General Tso's Tofu - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Beware of going here. I stopped in for a quick bite. I bought some Tofu and Cabbage soup with pork chop and eggrolls. It comes in a huge gigantic bowl white bowl. I knew I wouldn't be able to finish it. It was really hot and salty I only had about 4 spoons and took it to go. I figured I'd just add water to it at home. The older lady took it to the back to pack it up for me. The bowl of soup was so heavy she even had trouble lifting it. She came with one container wrapped to go in plastic. I immediately couldn't believe all that soup fit into one container. When I got home I transferred the soup into a medium sized plastic bowl. The soup did not even fill the bowl half-way and it was clearly way less liquid. The lady clearly threw out some if not most of the soup. I was so frustrated which is why I decided to write this review. Just terrible!!!!!! Why not just give me my liquid in another container? Very disappointing. read more

Very spacious, great northern style food. We ordered 3 treasures of the ground veggie dish, spicy boiled fish, and pork in scoop traditional style. Staff was friendly and attentive. read more

Great to have a place close to work that has a lunch special menu that has regional Chinese options in addition Chinese American options that others are looking for. Still keeping their prices generally in the $7.50 range while including a soup or egg roll with. Quick on preparation and service and not busy during weekday lunch. Park in the residential neighborhood rather than on the street by driving around the block off 34th. Order more than one dish and take leftovers home or share with company family style. read more

Just moved into this neighborhood and figured I gave this new place a try. Picked up the orders and started eating in the car and to my SURPRISE THERE WAS A COCKROACH in the orange chicken!!!Went inside to complain and to get a refund. The lady there was super rude and was denying it was from their restaurant the whole time. DONT EAT HERE....ROACH OR NO ROACH....the food wasn't good and the service was rude as heck!! never again!! read more

Northern Taste - ROACH in orange chicken - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

We ordered takeout from here and really liked it. We ordered: Cumin lamb, which was great. A little spicy, but not much. Pork and peppers, which was good had a light brown gravy Scallion pancake, which we always love. This one didn't come with sauce. Combo fried rice: exactly what you'd expect Eggplant with minced pork, which was very garlicky and great. We would go again. read more

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We ordered from Northern Taste for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Turns out that was our last time ordering as well because it was gross. It looked good, but that's where the positivity ends unfortunately. It was greasy and bland. There's no way to sugarcoat it. It was awful. We ordered egg rolls, Mongolian beef, orange chicken and shrimp fried rice. The egg rolls and orange chicken was nasty. We took one bite of the egg rolls and immediately tossed them. The orange chicken wasn't much better, but we tried to eat some of it. The Mongolian beef and fried rice was edible, but flavorless and nothing spectacular. On top of all of that that the food was really greasy. So much so that you could see the grease once the plate was empty. The food was so bad that we didn't bother saving the leftovers. read more

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Not bad overall, but the cold noodles were too tough to chew. Also, the beef pancake had hardly any meat in the takeout order. read more

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Northern Taste can be ordered through Chowbus and often have discounts. I like their portion sizes and in general, food tastes fresh and great, but sometimes the flavoring isn't consistent, but that's ok. It is still one of our go-to Chinese food restaurants for delivery. Like this time, the salt and pepper fish fillets didn't have much taste but the Japanese tofu was very flavorful and delicious. Their garlic eggplants have been consistently pretty good. Cumin lab as well. Veggies dishes we get pea tip or Indian leaf lettuce. The rice they provide is on the dryer side, which can be great for fried rice the day after or you could add water to make a porridge as well. read more

Northern Taste - Japanese Tofu, Indian Lettuce with Garlic Sauce, Eggplant and Minced Pork, Cumin Lamb, Fish Fillet Salt and Pepper - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

The ambiance is no frills. Super family friendly restaurant. They had booster seat high chair for little ones. The food is really good and comes out fast. We go 2-3 times a month. read more

I've been waiting for this place to open ever since I saw the construction license on the window. Growing up, my family always stuck to Cantonese restaurants. It's only this past year that I started trying out more local spots in my neighborhood of Bridgeport and lo' and behold, there are 4 northern Chinese style places! I really do like Homestyle Taste on 32nd street but a girl's gotta try different places! We ordered the deep fried chicken with red chili (I don't think Homestyle taste has the numbing Sichuan peppercorns which this place does. I'm not a fan but it's not a deal breaker. There is a good amount of chicken AND there aren't as many/zero bones!), deep fried fish fillet with sweet sauce (big pieces, not as big of a fan of the sauce but the boy liked it), steamed lamb dumplings (they didn't have lamb skewers so I ordered this instead. The skin isn't bad and it had a good taste to it). I agree with the previous review that the indoor seems relatively spartan, but meh. Who cares when the food is tasty? Service wasn't too bad. She meant well and was friendly. I need to come back to try out their lamb skewers to compare to Homestyle Taste! But overall, pretty happy to have something within walking distance to my house. *Please ignore the black specks in my pictures. I replaced my iPhone camera shortly afterwards. read more

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Taste really good, especially the noodles, service are good too, kindly and full of smile, make you like a VIP read more

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One of my favorite Chinese restaurants in Chicago!! The owner is from Dong Bei (northern China) and their dishes are super authentic. We ordered garlic spinach and chili chicken. The portion is huge, like HUGE!! Three of us only finished half the portion Def highly recommend this place if you wanna try authentic Northern Chinese food. read more

Northern Taste - Garlic Spinach - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Northern Taste has grown on me to be my go to for Northern Chinese cuisine in Bridgeport. I've eaten here at 8 times in the last couple of years, the owner and her daughter even recognize us. I've brought friends here and my family for this past Christmas Eve, and everyone has been impressed. The service is good, its usually just the 2 owners running around serving everyone, but they do it with care, manners, and a smile. I think they deserve a 4.5. I know some people are probably coming here for Chinese American food, egg rolls, wonton soup, fried rice (actually the fried rice is good), but none of these legit Chinese places care about cooking this food. Stop eating it haha. Their Xiao Lung baos are mad underrated, the skin is delicate, chewy, super flavorful soup and great meat. My mom ordered these on a whim for Christmas and we were blown away. Seriously yummy. The spicy cold beef tendons and other meat appetizers in spicy Red Chili Sauce are legit, great flavor and packing that fiery heat. I really enjoyed their cumin lamb skewers too, but they don't always have them, its a shame though. The scallion pancakes, money money money. I think they set a really high bar, sometimes its a little under-cooked but its hard not to order these. West Lake Beef Soup, I adore thee. Warm beef broth, egg, veggies, really hardy, tasty soup. Can be a great dish alone or supplement to a big feast. The mains are all solid. The hot pots with pork belly and glass noodles, stewed lamb with bones, etc. The meats all pack rich flavors, heat, and great textures. I ordered a random fried fish dish, and the batter was awesome. A little heavier than the typical Chinese fish batter, but it was crispier and had a real satisfying crunch. Any of their stir fried eggplant or Mapo Tofu dishes are delicious as well. I'm starving just writing this. Can't wait to stop by to satisfy those cold-weather Northern cravings. read more

Perhaps I came on a off day (Thursday), but the food and services were below decent. I expected a bit more flavor from a establishment showcasing Northern Chinese delicacy, but I was greeted with a very basic Chinese cuisine. The sweet and sour ribs dish had the ideal flavor but lacked a kick to it, and the poultry was not cured so I can still taste the griminess. The hot and sour fillet lack sourness and its spices can be summarized as msg, salt, and pepper. Then, the dish I was looking forward to, beef pancakes, came out short on flavor as well and seems like something I can create if I had gotten some pancakes from the market and stuff it with beef. There were two servers, but we were never checked on and they just continued playing on their phones the whole time. The setting was low light modern vibes with a traditional dining set up and ceramicware, wish there were music to set the mood. The only upside was the price, as it was quite affordable coming in at $42 in total for two people to come out feeling stuffed. Very hard to recommend Northern Taste as of this experience, perhaps I will need to come on a busy day to reevaluate. read more

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Food is still amazing! I love their Stir-fried Cumin Lamb or Beef, Fish Fillet with Tofu (spicy, Stir-fried Eggplant, Sautéed String Beans and Fish Fillet with gravy. All their spicy items are delicious. If you enjoy spicy and never tried northern Chinese style cuisine, then you must eat here. Northern cuisine is typically medium spicy. They also offer many non-spicy options. Their dining area is open to eat-in. Street metered parking is easy to find. Service is always great. read more

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This is our new favorite Northern Chinese place in the Bridgeport/Chinatown area. Really authentic cooking, and a great value- one dish to go was enough to serve three people. Even in an area with lots of Chinese options, Northern Taste stands out. Our favorites are the smoked pork pancake, broiled fish fillet with red chili sauce, sautéed string beans, Yu Xiang eggplant, cumin beef, and salt/pepper Japanese style tofu (just to name a couple). Super kind staff that speaks English and Chinese. My spouse speaks Chinese with a thick English accent, and they treat him like a native Chinese-speaking customer (which often isn't the case). Food is always on time, and they are super careful about sanitizing, masks, and social distancing. read more

HELLO LUNCH SPECIAL. My friend and I each ordered a lunch special. I ordered the kung pao chicken lunch special for 5.50 and when I was done, it looks like I had barely touched it! They absolutely have a heavy hand when filling up your lunch box. It's packed to the max. The chicken was extremely tender, but there were SO many peppers in there and were spicier than we were ready for. My tolerance for spicy food has gone up, so this dish was enjoyable. But of course my nose was running quite a bit by the end of it. Scallion pancake was delicious too! Such a good deal, fast delivery, and would love to have a lunch special again soon! read more

Today I ordered the sesame chicken lunch special. Online through the Yelp app, it's stated that it comes with an eggroll, soup and a lemon tea. It was around six dollars with tax. I went to go pick it up and the girl at the counter told me only an egg roll comes with it. It was not a big deal because it was still cheap. I didn't like the chicken at all. It had a weird taste to it. Kind of reminded me of fried pork or something. The white rice tasted plain like regular white rice. I'm not sure that I would come back, just didn't think the chicken tasted how it should be. read more

Northern Taste - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Inexpensive, great tasting, big portions, I just hope that it stays. Not from northern China so I am not sure how authentic they are, but I don't really care about authenticity as long as they taste good. I have ordered stir fried beef with cumin (孜然牛肉), deep fried pork with sweet sour sauce (鍋包肉), stir fried pork belly (成都回鍋肉), and some veggie dishes from them and they all tasted great, not too salty comparing to other northern Chinese cuisines/restaurants in town. I especially like their stir fried green vegetables. Just found out that they have spicy numbing stir fry (麻辣香鍋) and am excited to try that out next time. read more

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There seems to be many Northern China cuisine in this area, plenty to choose from but I consider this to home. Yes, all of them have similar dishes but this is the place that your tummy will gladly thank you. I love the grilled lamb skewers and spicy noodle dishes. I can't eat too spicy but for some reason the heat does not kill me here. The service is impeccable and the dishes are authentic. You can't go wrong here at Northern Taste. read more

Very spacious, large groups are very welcomed here! Staff is attentive, friendly! Place closes at 830, no pressure to leave as it was after 9 and we were still chatting it up! Plenty of parking on the street, might be more difficult during a Sox game, but not sure. read more

The best hometown cooking I found in Chicago so far and I will visit their place again tomorrow It's tough to find a real Northern style restaurant in the USA read more

Northern Taste - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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I ordered a few dishes from Northern Taste last night through Seamless. Seamless had a good deal with $10 off of a purchase of $30 between 5-9PM. I got the Kung Pao chicken, Yu Xiang eggplant, and Japanese tofu with seafood. I understand that takeout food is never as good as food eaten on the spot, but the quality and taste were really lacking. The only good thing about the order was that it arrived exactly at the time I had scheduled it for, but I think that's more of a nod to the driver. The food arrived cold, so I imagine it was prepared way ahead of time. The Kung Pao Chicken was extremely spicy but not salty enough. The Japanese tofu had good texture and flavor, but the "seafood" was just imitation crab and a few pieces of frozen shrimp. Lastly, the eggplant was unlike anything I've ever had. It was sweet/salty which was what I expected, but the eggplant was breaded and fried and by the time I received it, everything was a soggy, sour mess. I hate wasting food, but I had to toss the whole thing. Not sure that I would order from Northern Taste again, but maybe I would come back for dine in to see if it makes any difference. read more

Northern Taste - 106. Yu Xiang Style Eggplants - I would not recommend - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

My husband and I were SO excited when this place opened -- it's a five minute walk from our apartment, so we just had to try it out. While we plan to dine in there sometime in the future, we've only ordered pick-up so far. When we come in, we're immediately greeted -- everyone is so friendly! And our orders have always been ready before the stated time. First, I have to say that they have the best fried rice I've ever eaten. We get the beef and kimchi fried rice, and it is fantastic. The rice is flavorful while not being at all greasy or oily; definitely a go to. The lamb skewers are also well worth the price; deliciously flavored and perfectly cooked. Another favorite of mine is the scallion pancakes. The only dish I've had from them that I wasn't a huge fan of was the fried chicken with red chilies; the chicken is too dry and there are way too many chilies in it. I can't wait to try more of their food -- we're definitely going to be regulars here! read more

Even when I'm visiting Chinatown, I often go a few blocks Southwest to Northern Taste on Halsted for Szechuan cuisine and affordable lunch specials. One of the most affordable places around. Northern Taste staff are friendly and attentive, perhaps moreso than many of the restaurants in Chinatown proper, at least to this non-Chinese. Great hot pot and dry pot. And the lunch specials absolutely can't be beat. Huge portions and unbelievable prices. This place is a keeper. read more

Comcast was down in the area, so sadly I couldn't call ahead or use credit card, but the host was very apologetic about it and gave us 10% off our order. I got the yellow crouper, a dish I had never had before, it has bones in it, but aside from that it was good, came with rice and this other side I wasn't sure of. My friend got general tsos chicken and it looked big and good. I live down the street so I will likely be back read more

Northern Taste - Yellow crouper - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

One of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the city. Staff is super friendly and food is great. Love the fish fillets, the soups, the noodles, everything. Must go. Open for pickup which is great. read more

My friend took me here for my birthday and I enjoyed my dining experience here very much! I was immediately delighted when I saw the WiFi code painted on the walls - no need fear rejection when asking for the WiFi password. We were served complementary fried salted peanuts when we were seated. The menu is YUGE. The few the dishes we tried were very good: a) fish filet in chili oil, b) sze chuan spicy green beans, c) cumin lamb with bone in. The flavors were on point, but I will request for a higher spice heat level the next time around. I still like the spicy Chinese food at MCCB or Yang Bang Cai (sadly its closed now) better, but this place has many available street parking and very nice service. They also have a private party room too! I will definitely return to explore the rest of their menu! read more

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Northern Taste is having 20% off for their grand opening, and with no reviews I decided I'll give them a go. Very simple interior. I would like a view more things on the wall personally, but it can easily be considered minimalistic. I feel like they're still getting their footing. All the small tables had dirty dishes son them, but they quickly cleared one off. The staff for the entirety of the stay was extremely attentive and filled my water constantly which was great because I drink a lot of water. I don't know enough about the differences between regional Asian restaurants, but this place seems like their dishes would be spicier. I ordered beef and kimchi fried rice, and it had a surprising kick to it. It was delicious. Even my sweet and sour pork, although not spicy, seemed extra tangy, which is just a step away from slightly spicy. No vegetables though in a dish, which I'm a fan of. Egg roll was standard but the sauce with it was great. For most, if not all the dishes, there's only one size: large. So come hungry, with backup, or prepare for left overs. My pork dish was put in late, and it took a while for me to get it, but to apologize they gave me a pancake dish for free, which made it good. Especially since I'm patient. Overall, this place was pretty good. I already have my "usual" Asian restaurant, but I wouldn't mind switching it up every once in a while for here. And with a little time, I feel like the few kinks I had here will iron out! I definitely recommend this place, especially while it's 20% off for their opening! read more

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Egg rolls different yet delicious Wish they had Lamb skewers Lamb I had way too much cumin Horrible horrible rice read more