Gao's BBQ & Crab

This place is definitely a hidden gem in Chicago. The food was not only great but the hospitality here from the wonderful employees and staff here was amazing. Keep in mind if you visit here on weekends it gets very busy and waits can be longer than usual. The prices were not bad at all. One of the nicest looking restaurants that was very clean and well maintained. I definitely plan on coming back soon

a fantastic spot for friends and family to get together! perfect for a casual meal. the meat is incredibly juicy and flavorful. Every dish we tried was delicious, and the service was friendly and attentive. Highly recommend this place if you’re looking for great food and a welcoming environment!

Gao’s Kabob is an amazing barbecue place. Their food is brilliant, their service is friendly, and the atmosphere is lively. First of all, the food is very tasty. The meat tastes fresh and savory and their corn is also amazing. The food comes out quick and the fries and onion rings are also great. They are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. The service is also fantastic. The staff was very nice and attentive and they made sure to fulfill all of our requests as best they could. The atmosphere is very lively and a little loud but still a nice place. It is a bit cramped but that was fine since every thing else was great. Overall, definitely recommend this place and come try it👍

The atmosphere is really cool. I got to this place on a rainy Thursday. The staff are friendly and the service was great. Food came out shortly after ordered. Every item is rich in flavor. The spices are just right, exactly the way I want. I like this place a lot more than other places because they allow customization while ordering and they make it right to my preference. They also offer to redo it if the customers don’t like. I liked it all. The tofu skin (20 pcs) is my favorite. I had the first set, and it’s so good that I had to order a second set. This was my first time, so I ordered different beef to see what’s the difference. Next time I would just order wagyu as it’s sooo goood. This is a great place to hang out with friends.

We got: -small beef skewers (👍) -big beef skewers (👍) -beef tongue skewers -small lamb skewers (👍) -big lamb skewers -bacon skewers -chicken skin skewers Everything was tasty! This is a great post-dinner spot if you have some extra room in your tummy. An casual late night shop to munch and chat with friends! Hansen and the staff are super busy but the service is really good!

Seafood boil was excellent - lots of garlic flavor! The shrimp was my favorite and tasted especially fresh. I also really enjoyed the lamb skewers, which were a steal at $1 each. The lychee green tea was a refreshing addition to our meal.

This was my first time here, and I didn’t expect much at first. The environment feels like a Korean club with lots of LED lights, which I really liked. The BBQ was above and beyond. It wasn’t spicy for us, but luckily they offer spicy sauce on the side. We loved the service the most. They have a bell you can ring if you need anything, which is nice because you don’t feel disturbed, but help is always there. Definitely coming back!

This is a nice little place tucked on a side street in Chinatown. The kabobs came out really fast and the cold soup was exactly as stated...cold, lol! The cabbage and chicken skin kabobs were the best. All of the ones we tried were good but those two stood out. The lamb and beef were little but tasty. Their onion rings came in a cute little basket. Also, a BYOB. Will certainly be back.

One of the few places open after midnight in Chinatown and great late night food! You order in the app and just a warning you may not notice the bill racking up fast. My favorites Kebobs were the pork belly and big or small beef. I'm not usually a lamb fan but honestly tasted great and wasn't gamey -- if you get lamb def try the xinjiang special. Notable mentions if you want veggies included the corn and okra skewers. Fries were crispy and hits the spot during late night food. I wasn't the biggest fan of the Dan Dan noodles which are cold noodles. We came in a party of 6, so there was already a 18% service charged included. Music is very loud so it's hard to have conversations

Nice chinese skewers place and opens late. They have great service but sometimes missed some orders. It's reasonable for skewers. Taste good and reasonable price.

Service is absolutely horrendous and food was terrible besides the kababs which were good. Waited close to 45 minutes to be seated but it's busy so understandable. I order my food while my friends all order theirs. Around 40 minutes go by and my friends get their food. I was waiting close to an hour before I asked where my egg stir fried noodles were and the waiters came out saying there was a mess up in the kitchen so it'll be out soon. They bring out my "egg fried noodles" which is shown in the pictures but online the picture had flat noodles and was what I thought i was getting. My friends all finished their food when I just got mine, so i just packed it to go since I was already upset at the wait and didn't want them waiting longer for me. The lady brings out the pay machine and after clicking "no tip," she asked me to still tip her by cash or run it through the card thing again (to add a tip). I just said "no" and she finally gave up. She stared down at all my friends making sure they all tipped too. Maybe I went on the wrong day but the kitchen disaster and lady forcing everyone to tip is enough for me to not visit again. Close to 2 hours including the wait time. Food came super late and not what I asked for. Lady stares down and forces you to tip despite horrible service.

This remains my favorite spot for BBQ in Chinatown. This time around I tried their fried rice and noodles along with a few of my favorite BBQ. Everything was delicious & the service was great. I love that they offer free sunflower seeds while you wait on your order. The neon lights are so cool and they play K-pop and other pop music videos on the tvs.

The $1 skewer deal is so worth it! The service has gotten way better, and they even added neon signs. They even give you complimentary sunflower seeds now :)

Great service, great food! Got lamb, beef, and chicken skin skewers and they came fast and didn't disappoint. Coming back here the next time I'm in the area.

Wow was I impressed with the skewers and their flavors! I could have ate them endlessly. I don't usually do lamb but those lamb skewers were tasty! Beef tongue was super good too! I also really enjoyed the cold noodles. I had seen it on Korean shows but I guess I was always a warm noodle person but I'm changed. The cold noodles were spicy, sweet, tangy and refreshing. I got home and still kept eating the leftovers. The bbq banana was surprisingly good too! Also notable dishes: Grilled buns with condensed milk, mussels, oysters, dan dan noodles I wasn't a fan of the okra or king eggplant texture. It seemed like the top of the eggplant was not cooked. It was just slimey and felt like it had no structure. The okra was just too slimey and I couldn't mix it very well with the sauce underneath it. So it didn't have flavor. I'd definitely come back and just get the skewers because that had the most flavor and I could have ate like 50 of them haha

Skewers taste really good. Meat Quality is great We had a great time here. Environment is awesome.

Amazing food. We often go here on the weekend and we love the lamb and beef bbq here. Would highly recommend this place :)

A few positives here. Service is excellent, friendly and helpful and the restaurant is clean. I wouldn't necessarily call this a sports bar. They had a couple TVs playing music, but I'm sure if you ask them to turn on a sporting event for you they would. As far as food this review will be for the skewers only. There are so many other dishes to try and looking at some of those dishes coming out, they looked delicious. Now, back to the skewers. We tried a nice selection of the skewers. Chicken, lamb and beef. One specifically was called a fatty beef. All of skewers outside of the chicken were extremely fatty. I knew that the fatty beef one specifically based was going to be chewy. But I wasn't expecting all of them to be like that. You really need to like a fatty meat. That said that they had incredible flavor. I personally could not get past the fattiness. The bacon wrapped mushroom was interesting. It was very different. - hubby like that one very much. But then again you say bacon, my husband's got his hand in the air! What's unique is this menu offers every part of the animal. Nothing is wasted. You can order anything from chicken bones to chicken feet and even tendon on a skewer. Overall, a super unique place. It was a fun, different experience.

We went here immediately after Lollapalooza on a Saturday night. We took the subway because we knew it would take a while to get an uber. And somehow, luckily, we managed to get a table before it got busy.. which was probably 10 minutes after we sat down. Ordering was done all online (on our phones) and food came out pretty fast. And everything tasted super good! We got maybe 30-40+ skewers for the 5 of us, plus green beans, eggplant, and the watermelon juice (one order of watermelon juice was a pitcher and not a cup so we shared). Getting the bill took a while, and the waiter admitted to not knowing English well (we tried to ask for spoons), but luckily we got a wide variety of people so a friend was able to communicate.

We ordered: Xinjiang Special Lamb / Beef Tendon & Tongue / Pork Intestines / Bullfrog Legs / Quail / Squid Tofu Skin W.Onion / Fish Tofu / King Oyster Mushrooms Northern DanDan Noodles & Kimchi Fried Rice Cajun Seafood Boil Skewers were super flavorful. How well cooked each skewer is varies. Lamb, beef, and pork were tender. Squid was a little chewy and quail was dry. Frog legs were decent. Tofu Skin was rubbery. Other veggies were tasty. Dandan noodles and kimchi fried rice were well made and delicious. Cajun seafood boil was cooked properly and flavorful but they should cut up the sausage and potato. Employees were very nice. Decent amount of seating for small to medium size groups but you can probably push tables together. Prices vary from reasonable to pricey depending on the dish.

Lao Gao's Chinese BBQ is hands down one of the best food experiences I've had in a long time! The skewers are grilled to perfection -- juicy, flavorful, and seasoned just right. You can really taste the authentic Chinese street food vibe in every single bite. What I love the most is the variety. From classic lamb skewers to chicken wings and veggies, everything comes out fresh, smoky, and delicious. Pair it with a cold drink, and it's basically the perfect night out. The staff here are super welcoming and make you feel right at home. The atmosphere is casual, lively, and great for hanging out with friends. It's the kind of spot where you just want to order way more than you planned because everything looks and smells amazing. I'll 100% be back -- this place is a gem in the city for authentic Chinese BBQ!

The food Is amazing !!! The skewers special are $1 ! The noodles are perfect dish to share . I highly recommend you stop by . You won't be disappointed Follow me at @ohmymairaa for the full foodie review experience!

Love this place! Delicious food and fast service. We always come during happy hour and get the $1 skewers.

First of all, food was really good. Idk why the low rating. Second of all, absolute god send that this place was open until 2am cause I didn't know if I was going to be able to go on without food. Skewers were absolutely delicious. Kimchi fried rice was good too, but not if you can't handle some spice. Noodles were good too. Overall def recommend!

I love this place. So good. And open late. The skewers are flavored perfectly. The frog legs are my favorite. (Not pictured)

Super yummy and good ambience for a date night. The best is the lamb skewers for sure but everything's good.

Not bad, the chicken skewers were good and the green beans and corn were great. The pepper beef was flavorful and cooked nicely, but was a little fatty for my personal liking. Because we wanted to get some vegetarian dishes, we order the tofu. The "special" tofu. Little did we realize this was apparently the Stinky Tofu. It was very possibly the worst thing I've ever eaten. Ever. Probably wouldn't go back, but it's worth a shot. And if you really want to remember dinner, get the special tofu. ;-)

Food is really good! Fresh and flavorful service and ambient is great! must come for midnight snack!

As a Houston transplant, I've been missing seafood boils during these warmer months--and Gao's was a fun discovery. I found them on DoorDash and opted for the chicken and steak kabobs with a side of potato rice instead of going full boil (the prices were a bit steep). The kabobs? Phenomenal--juicy, flavorful, and grilled to perfection. The rice was underwhelming, but I'll definitely be back in person. The interior looks lively and inviting, and I love that they're open late.

If you're craving authentic Chinese BBQ skewers and seafood, this is the place to go. It's tucked away in Chinatown, but the atmosphere is laid-back and lively with music and a late-night crowd. Be prepared for a bit of a wait, as they grill the skewers to order, so don't expect super fast service. Would recommend going with a group so you can try a little bit of everything.

What an amazing dinner GAO's! If you come here you are ensured to leave very very full and happy. The skewers were one of a kind, each meat was delicious in its own way! The seafood bag was amazing and flavorful! The crab legs were huge and had so much meat which is hard to find in Chicago. Highly recommend their Don Don noodles and Kimchi fried rice!

Thursday night date night was a hit at Guy's kebab sports and Grill. My wife and I took a trip to downtown Chinatown talk about changing the forecast without leaving in the city. Everyt green tea, hing we ate was very delicious. My wife is not eating meat and she found several items on the menu That she was able to pick from and we ordered everything from barbecue eggplant egg skewers boil bag, corn skewers, but the one that took it over the top or the grapefruit green tea. You will definitely have leftovers bring a friend but share it with a small circle. Definitely five star experience. The service was we were greeted by everyone when we walked through the door. Make sure that you get you some extra sunflower seeds to take home and even when we left everyone told us good night and thank you for coming out.

Super delicious barbecue place open late at night, everything's super yummy!!!! Would totally recommend

The food is delicious. All the skewers are well-seasoned and flavorful. Good for people who can't eat spicy food.

Service was crappy and the host and waiter there were rude. The chicken skewer was good though. Spicy and crispy and good.

It was kinda sad because all the meat came out not hot... Most of the vegetable skewers are flavorful and yummy! Fried Ramen was very mid, probably would not get again.

OMG... Wanna to come back pretty soon.. The food here are amazingly delicious, the grilled skewers and seafood are well seasoned. And beside my table the ladies said, the food is not good but AMAZING.. love the place decoration as well, it's underrated place..

This place food it's amazing, so fresh and delicious! I love it By the way, Good for kids too, my kids love it

Good food, every skewer was tasty even with or without any seasoning. Good service, got seated right away & got our food quick. Ambiance cute street light decors.Can't miss out on the $1 lamb skewer during happy hour

Food was okay. Overpriced and overseasoned. The restaurant did not have the dish I wanted. Only went because of a tiktok ad my niece saw. Ambience included seeing one roach in the restaurant. Ive worked in fast food restaurants and never saw roaches. Service was okay.

Around 12:30pm on a Sunday, the place was empty, granted it is on a side street. The place might be more lively during Happy Hour. The lighting is dark and they go the casual route with trays and paper plates. I would suggest that the owners do a deep cleaning as the floor was sticky. Service can be slow as it took 30mins for our food to arrive. We ordered online, but the kitchen didn't accept it and the waiter came out to ask. We tried the Fatty little lamb skewer, beef tongue, and pork skewer. I liked the tongue and pork skewer over the lamb skewer. There was a lot of cumin on the lamb skewer. The Dan Dan Noodle is vegetarian, though I like the fry soy beans a lot for its crunchiness. I removed some of the pepper seeds on the side before I mix it to have it less spicy. The Korean Fry Rice have a wet texture with the hot sauce rather than dry as I am used to with fry rice. There are bits of calamari in the fry rice that gave it an interesting texture.

量非常足，套餐一个人完全吃不完，还是一如既往的好吃，色香味俱全，下次再尝尝其他没吃过的。 店里的东西非常的美味可口，造型也非常好看，香味也非常的独特，是我吃到的非常美味的食物，我以后还会再来这个地方的。 这家店的老顾客了，一如既往的好吃，等于我的第二个食堂，吃的安心放心。店家菜品很全，有很多都可以吃的到，而且味道超正！超级好吃！强烈安Ii！ 这个餐厅的菜品丰富，味道又好，非常值得推jian。 这家餐厅环境很好，非常干净整洁，食物不仅外形美观，重要的是味道非常棒，色味俱佳，清新爽口。而且菜品选择非常多，价格也不高，适合带着家人一起去。 真心很不错，色泽比较好，而且价格优惠价格实惠，服务周到，好评！ 味道超赞，而且一看就让人觉得很有食欲，但是分量不大，属于比较精致的类型。胜在菜品也很新鲜，味道咸淡适中，而且火候掌握的刚好，上菜速度很快。

Food is great and service is also good too. If you want to go for BBQ. This is definitely a great place with family and friends.

Came here with friends to indulge in grilled meat. Gao's delivered with delicious, juicy, and fatty skewers! We ordered lamb, beef and pork belly skewers. The lamb and beef were both incredibly delicious when eaten hot -- sprinkle some hot pepper to elevate it! The pork belly was alright in comparison. Stir-fried clams were spicy and salty, so good! And the egg fried noodle were slightly sweet with a hint of vinegar. We also ordered BBQ leaf lettuce, cauliflower, and tofu skin. The lettuce was good but lacked flavor/seasoning. The tofu skin was disappointing. It was a floppy mess and tasted like nothing. Overall, great experience and good service. Definitely satisfied my skewer craving.

The service was excellent, and the food even better!!! Definitely a must try! The Peach green tea was so refreshing and delicious

Great Service! Great value for $1 Happy Hour Lamb Skewers! Great ambiance and music! Amazing lamb skewers!

I think they have a misconception about barbecue. I came here with high expectations to eat barbecue, but they gave me fried food instead. I don't understand why the food was still cold when it was served immediately. And why did they tell us there was no stock for happy hour? What's the point of writing that out? Disappointed to the core.

Food is tasty and ambiance is okay. Service is not very good. We went for the happy hour: - Happy hour is 5pm - 6:30pm where there are $1 lamb skewers - You cannot take it to go (unfinished is left at the table). - This is not mentioned on the menu or by the waiter, we found out as we asked for boxes while leaving. - Ordering is convenient enough through their app which is connected to the table number - When you pay, they will bring the payment device to you and watch while you decide whether to tip them 18%, 25% or 30%. Overall, I'm just upset with the wasted food. I'm not sure what they can do with it besides toss them. Hopefully this helps someone to avoid food waste. Something I thought about afterwards was if I could just pay full price for the left over skewers (7), I would much have rather done that than to waste them.

Fantastic service, delicious food, everyone's so nice!!! Get the rice cakes 10/10 we ate here 4 nights in a row

Not too terrible for Chicago I suppose. I guess being the only Chinese bbq place here, there's not much to compare to. However, heads up to their extremely long wait time and slow service. We ordered aloe for three and two tables that came after us got water before our prepackaged bottle of aloe arrived...(I literally reminded them 5+ times for our drink) Frequently maybe 2 skewers would come out first and we have to wait for the 3rd of the exact same type, are they not cooked together? Our first 2 beef skewers and sausage skewers came out dry and cold right after we ordered, which leads me to think it was precooked and waiting for us. Overall, I think it's pretty good, just recommend better services and pay attention to what customers ask for. (She would sometimes forget to put down our orders so we wait a long time to need to order again)

Very few places with flavorful crawfish - better than Lowcountry. An interesting find!

My boyfriend and I have been coming to Gao's for years now. Their food is almost always on point! If you are a fan of numbing spiciness and charred deliciousness, the food is a must-try! Today, we got TWO orders of crayfish (so addicting), a chicken wing (love that you can order items individually), eggplant, and small lamb skewers. We wanted the big lamb skewers (they are more juicy), but they unfortunately were not available. We also love the squid skewers but they did not have them today either. Nonetheless, all the dishes were yummy and we left knowing we will be back again soon.

Lots of friends recommended this place. Really delicious food and lots of choices. Feeling like going back to China.

Great place to enjoy and have fun with friends!!! We had a good time here and feel relaxed all the time:)

Amazing BBQ! Juicy, flavorful, and perfectly grilled. Great service & cozy vibe! Definitely be back again!

I'm so confused as to why Gao's has bad reviews because it's such a solid skewer place. The name is a bit strange because it sounds like a sports bar, but it's a pretty traditional Chinese skewer spot with K-Pop playing on every TV with Chinese subtitles (LOL). My favorites were the lamb and beef skewers, and they're flavored well. I also loved the thin noodles + scallop dish. Food came out pretty quickly, and they're also open very late night! I would love to come back again.

Nice good and service! Would definitely recommend! The flavor is good with good quality meat and veggies.