Upon entering you get greeted by a cramped waiting room that really fills up on the weekends. Luckily we arrived before the dinner rush and were seated immediately. Thank goodness, because my craving was growing stronger by the minute! The dining room is fairly large and dimly lit. Deep red paint, Chinese markings, and Chinese art adorn the walls.
The menu actually covers both Chinese and Thai cuisine including freshly made curries and a stir fry bar, to help satisfy multiple palates. Our waitress arrives promptly and we start off with the chicken pot stickers and I order the “fresh ginger” ale. The pot stickers are pan fried and stuffed with chicken and vegetables and then served with three dipping sauces. Sauces include soy, sweet and sour, and a curry mustard sauce, which were all excellent. The pot stickers had great texture and very good flavor. My ginger ale was good but very different than what most of us are used to. Not as sweet but with a little more bite than the bottled variety.
For our main course my wife chooses the lemon chicken while I decide on the Mongolian Beef. Our entrées arrive literally within 5-10 minutes of ordering them and are steaming hot. The lemon chicken is crispy strips of chicken and red peppers that have a lovely medium lemon flavor that does not over power. My Mongolian Beef has plenty of tender strips of beef, button mushrooms, onions, and a slightly sweet sauce that blend very well together. Each dish is served with a mountain of Jasmine rice and served on warm square serving dishes.
Dessert is a time to try something new this week. My wife goes for the cinnamon wantons and I decide on the ginger sundae. The wantons are six wanton chips dusted in cinnamon and then topped with coconut ice cream and a chocolate drizzle. The wantons were crisp, the ice cream had bits of coconut in every bite, plus the fun factor was great since you eat them almost like nachos. My ginger sundae had creamy vanilla bean ice cream topped with chunks of chewy ginger brownie bits and then drizzled with chocolate sauce. The ginger bits had a real kick to them and really added a different dimension to your typical sundae.
Final bill with tip came to about $55 for the two of us, which isn’t bad for the amount of food we received. Overall “Big Bowl” offers very good traditional and innovative dishes for a reasonable price. Come early to avoid long waits and you’ll enjoy a top notch dinner. Rating *** out of ****.
Locations
Chicago, IL
6 East Cedar
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 640-8888
Chicago, IL
60 East Ohio
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 951-1888
Lincolnshire, IL
215 Parkway Drive
Lincolnshire, IL 60069
(847) 808-8880
Schaumburg, IL
1950 East Higgins
Schaumburg, IL 60173
(847) 517-8881 Home
