PL8 used to be one of our two "Go to" places in Barrington. (we're from Crystal Lake). Sadly in the last couple of years it has gone seriously down hill. Went there tonight with family. For starters, there was not ONE sake offering available. Server said there were supply issues. Sounds to us like someone is not paying their bills. The service was spotty. Food was underwhelming. Would love to see this place turn around. We will go to Region from now on. read more

I love this place. The best food of it's kind in the Barrington area, and I can stand by this statement. I could pay double the money to go to shakou, where they have half the quality and blasts music so loud I can barely hear my own thoughts much less those around me, or I can come to PL8. A calm, pleasant, no nonsense environment with just simply good food and no if ands or buts about it. I have to say, I've noticed the progress lately. The improvement in service as well as the go getter attitudes that their staff have been developing. I'd love to see more restaurant expansion/growth in the Barrington area one day, for now PL8 is certainly number 1 on my list. read more

Tried ordering food. Cancelled after 40 min with no reason I question how many times has this happened to you read more

This is an update from my previous review. Previously, roughly a year ago, I left unimpressed. This time, the opposite. The new ownership really cleaned up the restaurant. Better drinks, better chef, better staff, better energy, love it. More power to you guys! The new drinks are INSANE, the new bartenders are worlds better, these guys are ELITE. I've never seen bartending like this before, it's like a scene out of a movie! I learned that they got rid of that old chef and have a new guy that's an absolute savage on the wok, my black pepper garlic beef and singapore noodles were so good I had to ask my server to go back there and give the chef my compliments. Really excited to watch this place grow and level up!!! I'll be back this weekend for those Halloween drink specials!!! read more

New to the area just bought a house here. One of the worst places I have ordered from as of yet. Nothing is how it is supposed to be. Their pad Thai is awful paid extra for shrimp and frozen shrimp is what they must use here, fried rice that tastes just like boiled rice and is as white as regular white boiled rice tastes awful, their sushi (bought 4 different rolls) is awful. I can say more because I ordered more, but I'm just done with the whole thing. read more

We were taking an old friend out to lunch who is gluten free and she suggested we try this place. Our guest had a gluten free salad , tuna tatami, that she enjoyed. We all shared an order of Crispy Canton shrimp which well prepared in a tasty sauce and another order of Sichuan string beans which were very enjoyable. My wife enjoyed their tempura and I ordered a combination maki plate, the Otis road combo of spicy crab and California roll. We liked it so much that we returned today for lunch. Their hot and sour soup is complex and delicious and I paired it with Shanghai scallops, a preparation with a vinegar sauce, chopped water chestnuts, scallions, snow peas and ginger. My wife had the house ginger dressed salad and an entree order of crispy Canton shrimp. In summary this place is a winner. For lunch it is pricey but dinner is nice enough for special occasions. Extensive cocktail menu and the green tea is outstanding. We expect to become regulars. read more

Our go to spot. What a great place to eat, we've never had any issues, the food has always been great, the place is very clean and the service is always excellent. I miss Tsingtao on the beer menu, tho. read more

CONTEMPORARY ASIAN FUSION PL8, or "plate", is a fusion asian contemporary western restaurant and they do a ton right. Their sushi is delicious, they have one of the best soups I've had in the Chong Ching soup (man I hope I got that right, it sounds racist...), and their really pushing the idea of food as art in their presentation. The only downside is you pay for the privilege to eat here. It's really tasty and fills you up but does drain your bank account a bit if you are used to chinese buffet as your go to place. Definitely worth going to but be ready to pay a little more for the superior quality. read more

Pl8 has officially become our go-to local date night spot. From the sushi, the appetizers, to the dinner plates, everything we've had from Pl8 has been amazing. Not only is the food amazing but the staff and ambiance is great as well. Oh & don't forget to try their delicious cocktails! read more

This is my favorite place in the town for asian fusion food. They have a good selection of classic asian fusion dishes. The sushi there is okay, I would go just for the vegetarian sushi or for the entrees. read more

Nice atmosphere, but this restaurant is nothing special foodwise. Had the spider roll which was decent, but nothing special. Also had the Chong Ching soup. An extremely bland watery soup. If not for the chili peppers & loads of salt it would have almost no flavor. A very bland white fish was in the soup. Cod would help this dish. I like complex & layered flavors in my soup, this one didn't cut it. read more

First time here and our waitstaff Patrick timed Our large dinner order better then 95%of restaurants we have gone. The dumpling soup served boiling hot was a visual piece of chef artistry .The pl8 tempura was shrimp and delicious. The Thai shrimp was spicy but not burning hot and detailed . Melanie's tempura was all Shrimp. The deserts were from local pastries shops . The flourless. Chocolate read more

One of our local favorites! Always great food, dine in or take out! Seven flavor chicken is amazing... Did I say amazing? I meant amaze balls. ‍ read more

I wish I would have paid attention to the more recent reviews. We ordered delivery and it was the biggest waste of almost $50. The crab Rangoon has barely any filling, and tastes frozen. The pad Thai was by far the worst I've ever had, and he had absolutely zero flavor. The firecracker shrimp was the smallest portion I've ever seen, and was average at best. (Pictured below, I think we got 4 or 5) We will absolutely never order from here again... highly disappointed in every way. Big bummer as I was hoping for a delicious meal. We threw 75% in the trash, didn't even save the leftovers, which typically we fight over leftovers. read more

Pl8 - Asian Fusion Near Me - Barrington, Illinois

Really good food, always pleased. Prices are good and the service is spectacular. If you haven't been , you should.

Been to PL8 (eat in) and taken carryout many times over the years. We've always LOVED it. Actually, it's our "go to" Asian fair place. Our last carryout though was a bit disappointing. We ordered a few meals, three of which were the same menu item. Wide Rice Noodles, "mix and match" which means is SHOULD (and usually does) contain Chicken, Beef and Shrimp. All three. This time however, the three servings/meals were very inconsistent. One had a lot of pea pods, and little meat. One had very little meat at all, and just a few pea pods. The third had a pretty good amount of beef, and chicken. All three had very little shrimp. It seems like they cooked all three portions at the same time, but skimped on the three meats, then portioned them out the three ways. But obviously, the portions did not get equal amounts of ingredients. They should have, and seemed to have in the past, cooked each one individually and with the proper amount of each ingredient. We will still go back to PL8 again, but will be on "high alert" and much more critical about this. read more

NOM NOM NOM! Be forewarned this place gets packed on Saturday nights to be prepared to wait about an hour if you do not have reservations. I love the ambiance of the restaurant. It has a contemporary Asian flair to it. I love how the bartenders go down a couple of steps to the bar so it looks lowered. The drinks here were also really good. I tried the ginger ale which was homemade and had a cocktail that I do not remember the name of. They also make two different iced teas both were really good and I am not a big fan of iced tea! Our server was super friendly and informative. He let us know which dishes were popular and his personal favorites. Everything we tried was fantastic. The Hot and Sour Soup was awesome and the Crab Rangoon Sticks were to die for! I was a huge fan of the string beans. I also got a dish with wide rice noodles... super yummy! I don't understand why this place doesn't have better reviews. I did not find it overpriced at all for a Barrington restaurant with good food! read more

Pl8 is basically an Asian fusion restaurant that has a very modern feel to it. They have a cool looking bar and the overall decor of the place feels like a trendy restaurant you would find in the city. I actually really enjoyed the food. The portions aren't that big, but I would say its balanced by the great flavor. My go to dish is hands down the black peppered garlic beef. I'm a garlic lover and this beef definitely passes my standards. If you go with a group, they'll usually bring white or brown rice for the table instead of individual portions. The downfall of Pl8 in my opinion is the terrible service. I've been here several times and even hosted a lunch event for work here. Every time I've been here, the service has been extremely slow. I especially recall one time, all we wanted was a refill of rice because they just gave us one small bowl for the 4 people at our table. Our waiter didn't check up on us frequently even though the place wasn't busy, and even after we were finally able to ask him for more, he just flat out never brought it. While I think the food has good flavor and it's a cool looking restaurant, I'll probably choose to go somewhere else for my lunch hour because of the slow service. read more

If I could post no stars I would. We were seated outside and were having a nice time, had some good appetizers. Out of the blue, the manager comes over with a musician and tells us we have to move tables because a band is setting up. The only other available table in the shade had garbage around it and was by the exit door that the band kept coming through. My husband asked to speak to the manager again and said how uncomfortable this made us. The manager smirked in our faces and said we could sit wherever we wanted. We understand that a band was setting up but this was handled so embarrassingly for us- we still had orders placed that hadn't arrived yet. No one assisted with moving our table, including the drinks and food that we had in front of us. We dumbfounded, even the table behind us couldn't believe how the manager was handling this. A member of the band that was setting up told us to sit and stay, but the manager insisted we "find somewhere else". He smirked and laughed the whole time at us. We ended up leaving (we did leave a tip for our actual waiter). The food that we had was good, as was our waiter, but this situation was handled utterly unprofessional by the manager. Very disappointed as this was our early Father's Day dinner read more

I like the food and, as one who lived in Chicago for 20 years and has traveled extensively, and who considers himself as Asian Cuisine snob, that is saying something. I've also had universally positive experiences with the wait staff - friendly, knowledgeable and attentive. The only 'weak link' is, and I echo other reviewers' observations in this regard, the hostesses: disinterested and uninformed seem to be best terms to describe. read more

Order the 7 Flavor Chicken if you like well seasoned, crunchy, sweet/sour and spicy. It was the best thing we tried. A close runner up was the scallops followed by a special - black peppered shrimp. The MaPo Tofu used very soft tofu but had a thick (almost too thick) spicy sauce. Chili fish was OK, flavor was mildly spicy but too soft in texture and needed more umami. The dry shredded beef had strips that were not shredded at all and it was not as flavorful as we expected given the description. Not bad, just not what we expected. The calamari were crispy with a panko coating that was a bit too dark from over frying. Spring rolls were delicate and crisp. Best app was the tuna tatami(?) chopped up spicy tuna on wonton crisps. Tuna poke roll was great. Mixed drinks were tasty - the Mai Tai was very authentic and the Gin2 had a nice hot of ginger and gin. read more

So good and we ordered takeout, not even dine in! It will be a bit more than your average Chinese take out, but well worth the extra price! One of the best egg rolls I've ever had. The wide rice noodles and seven flavor chicken were outstanding as well. Looking forward to dining in when the world is back to normal read more

With so many sushi places to try, and we've tried A LOT, because sushi is my go-to food, this place gets my vote hands down for its innovativeness, freshness, variety, and saki selection!! They even know what "fresh" wasabi is. The service was great too. I hear the chatter of a lot of happy patrons. You won't be disappointed! read more

Pl8 - 7 spice ahi, black mamba, and spicy scallop hand roll - Asian Fusion Near Me - Barrington, Illinois

As an asian-cusine novice, I continue to enjoy the new treats. The staff is friendly and will happily recommend a course. The freshness and presentation add to the experience. Makes me want to fly to Kyoto. read more

Total disappointment. It has been awhile since we have been to Pl8 which was one of our favorites in Barrington. However, today it was filthy!!!! Floor had crumbs all over and our table had broccoli chunks under it. Seats and tables not wiped off but we were hopeful for our favorite dishes. The 7 flavored chicken was anything but! Completely flavorless and chicken was chewy. Our other meal, sweet and sour chicken was drenched and overwhelming sweet. Don't think we will be back. read more

Great hidden Asian restaurant in the burbs. I have been there twice...here are my thoughts. The owner really needs to get rid of the young hostesses. They are awful. When you go to a restaurant you want to be greeted and seated when your reservation is made, not greeted with an annoyed teenage eye roll hello and then told that your table has paid and they are waiting for them to leave. Second time I went and same story both times. What's the point of a reservation. The bartender is never at the bar. You will wait and wait and no one will acknowledge that you want a drink while you wait. If only they paid attention they would make more money. The only reason I will go back is the great service by the servers and the food. Definitely try the Sushi Popper, Black Mambo, tuna and wonton crisps, red dragon, thai shrimp, 7 seasoned chicken, and sashimi. Avoid the beef dishes as they are awful. read more

Pretty good fusion de asian in the nw burbs. Still wondering what part of Asia they favour. Staff always friendly. My middle son still has this as his place to go for birthdays, years running now. A good pub in the same parking lot, just need one more and this could be an even better destination..... read more

STAY AWAY!!! Too many problems to list. Unprofessional staff, filthy floors, filthy menus, average food, high prices, HORRIBLE atmosphere/ambience. Do yourself a favor and STAY AWAY!!! read more

This place was great. I had wide noodles with chicken which was VERY unique. Not really noodles at all, more like thin crepe strips almost? Make sure you ask for them extra crispy...yum! My husband had a spicy beef dish with bamboo strips and scallions and LOVED it. Their pot stickers, pan fried, was some of the best I ever had. Service was excellent, food promptly served. We're going back next week for more. read more

I come here with one specific thing in mind every time: Chong Ching Soup. It's a spicy soup- with cellophane noodles, whitefish, mustard greens, and red chiles. They basically serve it in a cauldron and it can feed 4 people easily. I love bringing it home and enjoying the leftover soup the next day. It's making my mouth water just typing about it... I have tried other things on the menu and they have been pretty great as well. FYI: The sushi is a little pricey. Overall great atmosphere and food. Highly recommend. read more

PL8 is a go-to for our family, cannot count the number of times we've been or ordered take-out. Our kids love the sushi and potstickers. Their signature rolls are really good, try the Sunset. Seven flavor chicken, spicy chili fish and peppered beef are all stand-outs on the menu. If they have a new special on the menu, I typically order it and usually love it. For an amazing cocktail, try the lucky pl8tini, the pear puree is so good! read more

A coworker highly recommended PL8. The entire staff is polite, attentive and the service is prompt. The food is outstanding it was well worth the 45 minute drive. read more

This place has amazing food. Always have a hard time deciding between sushi and a cooked meal, so alw wa us have both. This time I had a Red Dragon Roll (one of my favorites there) and their special which was a hunan burrito a return for last years specials. The sushi was amazing as always, the burrito was a bit messing which was diffrent than last time, but still delicious. read more

Pl8 - Hunan Burrito (May Special) - Asian Fusion Near Me - Barrington, Illinois

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A few of our friends have been telling us to come here so we finally decided to order carryout last night. First off, I will say the only reason I am giving 3 stars is because the food was fresh and also tasted good. The food quality is high though I would say that all of the food we had was rather bland for Chinese food. We ordered General Tso's, sweet & sour chicken, crab Rangoon chopsticks, pot stickers and hot & sour soup. There was little no spice on everything we ordered and hardly any filling in the crab Rangoon chopsticks. There were two high school age girls working the hostess/carry out. They did not smile, were rude and lacked all customer service skills. We wanted to get a drink while we waited so we sat ourselves at a bar high top. The server walked by twice without saying hello and we were left to ourselves. When our food came the girl handed it to us, didn't say thank you, didn't smile and still didn't help us get a drink. We left without one. Bc of the food quality we will give this place one more chance but we're largely unimpressed read more

Nice environment. Great design. Intriguing menu. Kung Pau beef. Great! very tender and tasty. Crunchy garlic shrimp kind of dry and disappointing. Sweet and sour fish a hit. Huge portion! Hand grenade rolls very good. read more

Pl8 - Asian Fusion Near Me - Barrington, Illinois

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The food is amazing My family and I go here every now and than Barrington has some good places to eat. read more

I've tried this place twice in the past year and have had the same disappointing experience both times. The floors are consistently dirty and unswept, the staff (mostly teens, it seems) is indifferent bordering on rude, the service is excruciatingly slow, even when the place is empty, and the food is mediocre -- unimaginative sauces substituting sweetness for flavor. Also, this won't matter to most people, but my dad is in a wheelchair, and they block wheelchair access to the bathroom by storing all their chairs in the hallway and positioning tables in a way that blocks access. If you go with someone in a wheelchair, you'll need to give staff about 10 minutes' notice to move tables and chairs for restroom accessibility, and you can expect some attitude from them. After the first visit, I reached out directly to management a couple of times to give them feedback. They never replied. I'm not sure why I tried the place again -- triumph of hope over experience, I suppose. The second visit will be my last. read more

Food can be inconsistent. Have ordered their scallops several times and each time was different especially with regards to flavor/seasonings. Service has varied between outstanding (Austin) and downright rude (bartender, a while back). Thanks to excellent service from Austin we'll be back and stick to the maki which is always good. read more

Just want to start off by saying when Pl8 first opened, their food was so good. I would say the last 6 times I ordered, I was disappointed. I keep on giving it another chance thinking it will be better, but I'm done now. Today, I ordered lunch for my boss and I. We had the Seven Flavor Chicken. Not only was it too expensive (price online was $5 less than actual price), but the quality of the dish was not good at all, in fact, I hate to say it but it was terrible. The chicken was was extremely rubbery, and had no flavor at all. It wasn't fresh either, I'm sure it was bagged frozen chicken. I really hate giving businesses poor reviews, but I also hate spending money on food that isn't good. read more

So disappointed tonight that 40 minutes after placing our delivery order the restaurant cancelled the order and informed us that the kitchen was closed. So much for supporting a local business. Beware of placing an order and getting your hopes up. By the time our order was cancelled, our options for ordering from somewhere else were limited read more