Lao Sze Chuan (Grant Park)

We came to this location for lunch as we heard they had some solid lunch specials. You can get an entrée, a side of rice, a veggie roll, and a drink all for around $12. I ordered the fried rice with the dry chili chicken. The fried rice was quite good, and the chicken was decent with a nice crisp, but was a bit too salty for my taste. The portion size was good for the price. The service was friendly, and the food came out quickly. Clean, well-kept restaurant. Worth a shot if you like Asian food and are looking for a lunch deal!

The kimchi was delicious and an unexpected surprise as it was given complementary. The star was the fish with chili bean sauce! It was so delicious and cooked perfectly! Had so many delicious flavors and was crispy on the outside and tender and moist on the inside. Huge portion and very very good. I would go back just for this fish dish. Interesting ordering process, all online. Makes it hard to ask questions. Staff are friendly enough, if you can talk to them. Hot and sour soup was ok. It had very large piece that made it difficult to eat. The szechuan wontons were just ok. Flavors were off and seemed thrown together.

The place was nice and the staff was friendly. We ordered different dishes to try. The spring rolls were delicious. Our favorite dish was the eggplant with garlic sauce. We have the spicy cho mein noodles with the duck, the noodles were has a weird texture and were dry. The flat noodles were great, I would recommend them.

If you're looking for spicy, flavorful Chinese food, Lao Sze Chuan is the place to be. This spot does not hold back on the heat, and it’s honestly a breath of fresh air compared to typical Americanized Chinese food. I had the Chengdu Spicy Chicken, which was packed with flavor and a nice kick, and the dumplings were on point—crispy and juicy! My friend went for the Mapo Tofu, and she couldn’t stop raving about how authentic it tasted. We spent around $45 for two people, and honestly, it was worth every penny. The vibe is casual but cool, and the staff was super friendly. Definitely coming back when I’m craving some serious spice!

The food is awful here. I have ordered xia long bao, and those were more like pierogi, very thick skin and almost no juice. And their “famous” double cooked pork was way too salty, oily, and quite dry. Instead of the oolong tea they brought ginseng oolong. I don’t mind that, but still.. The 2nd star I give only for the sesame balls. I strongly believe that both, dumplings and sesame balls are store bought, not handmade. Paid $60! Crazy expensive for such a meal. Q

This restaurant is always nice to look at and clean. The fried rice is great when spicy. However, the staff are not very welcoming... and the transactions feel very rushed (Except Xian if that's his name, he's nice and welcoming).

The food is good as fawk but they need more than one person working lol, the only reason I rated them 4. I got Tony's Chili Chicken and Mongolian Beef last time. I ate the chicken hours after I got home, the next day, and the day after that, the chicken was still crunchy 😅 The sauce is phenomenal! Really good food.

Our food was excellent! Came at 5:30 pm on a summer Tuesday, there was only one other person inside so the wait wasn't long. Waiter was laid back and needed signaling to put in our order but that was fine by me. We intentionally ordered two items labeled chef's choice: Tony's Three Chili Chicken and Mongolian Beef Tenderloin. Both were cooked perfectly, the beef was very tender and the chicken was tender with a perfect light crisp to the breading. Restaurant smelled like cigarettes inside. Would definitely come again.

A bit greasy but the kick of spice really gets the senses going on a cold Chicago day.

Absolutely enjoyed the amazing food tonight. Super fast and flavorful!! We ordered the general tso chicken, crab ragoons, and Szechuan chicken. Then they are running a special for a free chicken fried rice.

This is one of the 20 top meals they recommend that you try while visiting in Chicago. The dish they recommend is their braised tofu in stonepot. It did not dsappoint. We also got their Sting Bean Spicy Black Bean Sauce, This dish was delectable. One of my favorites were their Xiao Lng Bao. So delicious. We also got their fried rice with egg. This dish was a nice filler. I am a fan of this restaurant because it is as authentic as it gets.

I should have walked right out when I walked in. There were two completely overpowering smells: cigarette smoke and mold/mildew. It was so disgusting I had to wait out in the cold for my food for 20 minutes. When I asked why it would take so long - considering there wasn't another customer in there, another red flag I shouldn't have ignored - he said it was because I ordered 2 things. What, they cook one dish at a time? You couldn't pay me to come back here, and the health department should really try to swing by this place. Add to all this the fact that this was the most expensive Chinese restaurant I've found in Chicago, and the fact that even though I was standing right outside the window as the guy watched me standing there, he did not wave or anything to let me know that my food was ready so when I went in at about the 17 minute mark, it was just sitting there on the counter with about five DoorDash orders. Didn't even feel lukewarm so it was probably sitting there for about 10 minutes. One star is too many for this dump.

Recommended by a Chinese friend, I had high hopes for Lao Sze Chuan, given its reputation for authentic Sichuan flavors, but my experience was a bit mixed. The mapo tofu and spicy dry chili chicken were fantastic--packed with flavor and heat. However, some of the other dishes I tried didn't quite hit the mark, feeling a bit one-dimensional and not as exciting as I'd hoped. I travel to Chongqing quite often, so I know what a good Sichuan flavor is. I can see why some people love this place, but for me, it was just okay. I might go back for a few standout dishes, but it's not a spot I'd go out of my way for.

As I've become a more regular customer, I've loved Lao Sze Chuan more and more. I regularly get the lunch box- my favorite items are the egg fried rice, mongolian beef, and sichuan string beans. The chicken is good, but when the beef is fresh, it's great. Ultra-tender with perfectly cooked and crisp veggies, snappy string beans with great wok-hei, and mild yet flavorful dishes are found in the lunch box. Don't forget the crispy fried rice, and nicely fried egg rolls. This chain concept works. The service is efficient and polite, and as I've become more of a frequent customer, I feel very comfortable reading or getting work done throughout lunch at Lao Sze Chuan. The restaurant is always clean and peaceful, and I recommend Lao Sze Chuan to become a go-to lunch spot if you work or live in the area.

This is a clean and better, yet casual, Chinese restaurant that we walked to. The area looks iffy, but the restaurant staff and food are great. This is a chain. We had eaten at the high-end one in Orange/Beachwood, Ohio. This one on Wabash didn't disappoint. The dining room filled with Chinese and a few other patrons. We were taken care of, and checked on several times. The dishes are large portions and can be shared. Friends shared the General Tso, lightly breaded chicken in a sweet/sour sauce. I liked my lightly fried Sole Fish with black bean sauce, although the sauce was like a sweet and sour, and brought half home. Hubby had Sauteed Three Delight. It was wonderful with shrimp, scallops and calamari with vegetables and a white sauce. This was a lighter dish than the other two. The sticky rice had a great flavor. The menu includes Dim Sum, Pots, Paste, and Tofu dishes, too. Take a walk. It was a good walk.

Ordered from Uber Eats when we arrived in Chicago - too tired and too late to go out! We ordered: Spicy dry chili chicken, garlic eggplant, Singapore noodles, orange chicken, dumplings, and sesame balls. The sesame balls were delicious Everything else was fine, but kind of bland - even the things we ordered spicy. Oh well.

Well I have been coming here for awhile, I work next door, the barbershop. I came today to get lunch and one of the items I wanted was rice. And I went to tell the man the last time it seemed like it wasn't cooked thoroughly, as I order rice everyday, it's my fav. The man didn't even let me finish, he cut me off said "you wanna see?" And proceeds to take me in the back, like I assume to watch it cook? Or tell the cook? I have no clue! But it was VERY uncalled for, I had to make him stop cause I'm on break I don't have time for this. But you don't do that, and he's just staring at me with death eyes, being kinda smart Ellic.... Smh. I don't even write reviews EVER but I felt this needed to be addressed as I know the company will see it and see there employee being disrespectful. And I don't deal with disrespect I'm very kind. And polite and respectful. So maybe they will contact me! Hope they fix it

They allowed another delivery person to take my food. When asked if they could re-make my food due to their mistake they said "no". Not only did they give my food away to the wrong person but they took no ownership of the issue nor did they try to assist with fixing the issue. Very poor customer service, very poor accountable, and very poor care to the people who are placing delivery orders through their facility.

I asked them to make my dishes extra hot and that was more than satisfactory. It's the first time that I have had this authentic Chinese food ever since I came to North America.

Highly recommend the steam egg with special sauce. Perfect with rice. Kids & senior all friendly. I can have 3 order of rice with the egg. For the off the menu seafood, you gotta call the restaurant and rsvp. They also have a private room with karaoke if you want to organize a private party.

Very friendly environment, the food is super and authentic. I had spicy and sour soup which is very tasty and good enough to open your appetite, followed by the delicious sichuan boiled beef, a huge bowl with large amount of tendered beef and different kinds of vegetables. Will highly recommend!

My sister placed an order via Postmates one night since she had a promo code. We'd never eaten at Lao Sze Chuan but figured we'd give it a try. We didn't realize it was a chain restaurant when the order was placed. Anyway, long story short... the food was flavorless and unmemorable. We ordered the beef with snow pods, beef with broccoli, Szechuan chicken and shrimp fried rice. I wish I could say there was a saving grace, but there wasn't because every dish was bad. We both had a few bites of each dish and promptly tossed the rest. We didn't bother saving the leftovers because we knew we weren't going to eat them. Needless to say, we won't be ordering from this restaurant again.

I almost never post on Yelp but the 3.5 stars for this restaurant is a culinary injustice second only to world hunger. For background, my grandmother is from south China near Sichuan and I'd frequently visit growing up. I have yet to find another restaurant in the city that reminds me more of her and delivers such powerful childhood nostalgia with each bite. Chef Zhou is a true master of his craft. The jab-jab-punch of garlic, ma la, and chili in his Dry Chili Chicken still knocks me out my seat each time even though I know to brace for flavor impact. His Mapo Tofu is genuinely "ma" spicy (ask your Chinese friends what it means if you need) and I haven't had Yu Xiang Rou Si (Pork in Garlic Sauce) this authentic since I was in Cheng Du that I can't even bring myself to call it by its English name. Our other favorites are the Garlic Fried Prawns and the famous Boiled Fish Fillet in Spicy Szechuan Sauce (Shui Zhu Yu). Mary, Edison, and Meagan make us feel like family every time we dine here. The hospitality they provide with each meal, the efforts they put in wiping and sanitizing each table, the kindness they offer each patron is inspiring. This location opened up last summer, unfortunately during both COVID and a labor shortage (so apologies to the reviews complaining they don't pick up the phone fast enough) and has not received the publicity it deserves. Selfishly, I want this to remain my best-kept secret in Chicago but the folks that work here deserve so much more. I encourage everyone: before you post anything harmful against an establishment or its staff, please consider if the feedback should be geared towards the delivery or ordering platform itself. Chicago winters can be brutal enough already. But I've always entered here with a warm welcome and left with a full heart and stomach. While my grandmother is no longer strong enough to cook, I see her culinary spirit through these doors, welcoming me in, tossing the woks, placing the dishes--asking me what I'd like to eat. Thank you, Lao Sze Chuan.

Food was four star, but service was 0. People say this is typical for Chinese restaurants, but I'd say that those in California we've been to were never this poor. We placed an online order and to make sure they were prepared in time, I also called to confirm the order and was assured that the order would be ready in 10 min. However, the order was not ready until 20 min after the promised time. The attitude of the waitress didn't help at all -- she blamed me for arriving too early and ordering food that would take longer to prepare. She sounded way more grumpy than hungry travellers who walked a mile just to pick up the lunch! We also requested sets of utensils and small plates for 4 people. They refused to provide them. Instead, she suggested us use the cover of the togo box as plates. I think the food offered by this restaurant deserves a much better waitress.

This is a chain with several locations and my family and I love several dishes that we've had from the Skokie location. This one on Wabash is on my daughter's college campus, and we ate here after visiting the first time. We planned to take her to dinner here once a month and yesterday went for lunch after moving her in her dorm. They have changed their ordering process so that it's contactless and you make your selections online and they're sent to the kitchen. The app kept glitching and after we would add something to the cart, it would disappear. My daughter also clicked on something in error and it went to the kitchen! We were unable to recall it so we tried to flag down the waitress. When she came to the table we tried to explain what happened and she became exasperated with us and belittled us for having problems with their system! She rolled her eyes, had an attitude, and spoke rudely to my daughter about the mistake. The way she treated us was totally uncalled for when all we needed was a little help with ordering the dishes that we wanted. Due to her rudeness and absolute lack of customer service, my husband told her we would leave and not be back. We went to Chinatown and had a much better experience. Sadly this location has lost us as customers.

Had a great experience here for a friends birthday. The staff went out of their way to customize our experience, and made sure everyone had a great time. The food was delicious, really loved the fried rice! I also had the Kung Pao chicken which was excellent, and an amazing shrimp dish (can't remember the name unfortunately). Everything was fresh and cooked to perfection. Will definitely return the next time I'm in town!

I'm really perplexed by some of the reviews. Why are you marking down a restaurant for issues with the delivery service? I was never a Chinese food aficionado until I dined here. Unlike the fast food prepared at most Chinese restaurants, LSC food tastes fresh, well prepared, and it's always good quality. My go-tos are Xiao Long Bao, American Broccoli w/ chili peppers, and Mongolian Beef tenderloin. I've also eaten Lao Ma Chow Show, chicken lo mein, and orange chicken. Every dish was great. Yes, their dishes are well seasoned which some may find to be too salty, but the spices they use (garlic, ginger, soy) blend well together. My only recommendation to the owners is to 1. change the music (country music at a Chinese restaurant is annoying), and 2. assume customer is always right. Often, a frustrated customer creates a negative experience right at the entrance door because there is a misunderstanding. Most of the misunderstandings happen because of bad food delivery services. Assume these customers are right, get them their food, and penalize the food delivery service that's damaging your reputation!

Literally cried over the scallion pancake. Most delicious, authentic Chinese I have had in the US! A must-try!

I normally go to the one on Michigan Ave. Ordered dried chili chicken, spicy beef and green beans from this location by mistake. The food tasted different. What a disappointment. Will not order again.

Ordered this on Uber Eats during one of Chicago's Heat Dome waves. I wanted to like this place - but save yourself the hassle and try something else. Average food and didn't have much flavor. It delivered well and was packaged appropriately, but for the price, I wouldn't recommend. Ordered general tso's chicken, and it came with peppers and pineapple - so I'm pretty sure it wasn't the correct order. The noodles were only butter noodles and they were completely flavorless.

They Just recently added a Bento box lunch special menu for $10. Many items to choose from and more than just the usual suspects. We tried the sesame chicken and Mongolian beef, both of which came with eggroll, side of rice and a can of soda. Mongolian beef was very good but sesame chicken just average and will not order that again. But will be back to try some of the other options.

Delicious food and fantastic service. Thank you! I would recommend pork belly, dim sum, pot stickers, and duck.

Finally! A location in the south loop. Just a new spot, but still the same authentic Chinese food! I was able to sit in the party room for this, which is amazing. It is the only round table that is perfect for family style eating. There is only a private rest room and Kareoke machine for those who are feeling fun Before talking about the food, I must say, the service was fabulous. Hospitality is really a focal point. Now to the food. We started with crab Rangoon and pot stickers for apps. The crab Rangoon were huge compared to other places. It was so worth it! The potstickers were also very filling. Pair them with the chili oil, game over! We ordered the sesame chicken, dry chili chicken, crispy duck, green beans, shrimp in lemon sauce, and steamed egg. The sesame chicken was so delicious. It came out with the right amount of pieces and saaaaauce. The dry chili chicken was a table favorite. Literally crispy crunches of chicken with some dried chili surrounding it. It was not intensely hot if you don't eat the peppers, but these pieces of fried chicken were so flavorful. It's hard to not love it! The crispy duck was done so well. Duck is very gamey, but this was prepared in a way that that hides that specific taste. It is pretty dry, so make sure to have soy sauce! The shrimp in lemon sauce is MY FAVORITE OF THE NIGHT. The lemon sauce was thick with mayonnaise. This actually reminds me of honey walnut shrimp, but without all the sweetness. It was actually kinda savory! The shrimp were large and were likely battered! Lastly, the steamed egg was put in special sauce, which is a traditional dish. The egg was really soft and looked like the yolk was blended with the whites. The specifically sauce was tomato based with some green onions and cuts of beef. It was very a unique but gentle dish. Lap Sze Chaun is working hard in providing an expanding chain of amazing high quality Chinese food. This is a must try in Chicago 9/10 IG: Carlo_hiit_the_town

We ordered through the new app, Chowbus--mainly because no one answered the phone. Our order was not cheap, at almost $100. It was supposed to be ready in half an hour. My husband has been at the restaurant waiting for over an hour beyond the promised time. Nobody speaks English. We don't want to lose that amount of money so are stuck waiting. I would never, ever order here again. Also, the dining room looks unpleasant and dirty. OK, the food finally came--and it was not good. The kung pao chicken was full of gristly pieces that were almost inedible. The moo shoo pork was tasteless, and they had not included any plum sauce! Plus, there were only two pancakes instead of the four promised. The Mongolian beef, supposedly sirloin, was bland and tasted like it had had a whole package of tenderizer added. I don't know how this business became a chain. I'm terribly disappointed in every aspect of my experience and can hardly believe I paid so much for such a sub par meal. Panda Express is gourmet compared to this.

Dinner tonight... Did a takeout of piping hot mapo tofu and dry chilli chicken from Lao Sze Chuan (Grant Park) that opened up only a few months ago. Ordered them extra spicy and they certainly did not disappoint! Definitely going back again.

The duck was tasty except the bottom was burnt, the soup dumplings have no soup, and there's next to no service. The spring rolls were ok but also overcooked. The way they do sauce is confusing, they give you bowls with spoons but who spoons sauce onto their spring roll/plate? Let me dip my rolls!

Slow slow slow slow. Great food. Don't come here if you need a quick bite. Take out food is more important than the customers in the restaurant.

Food was super late being delivered. 70 min from ETA given at ordering and no communication until delivered. The driver did call and send a text showing it delivered which was super nice. Restaurant called after as well. Before I called and called. After one pick up no one answered. This is Impacting the score. You can order direct or on DoorDash. If you order direct no notes can be added. I called and was told yes yes for extra spicy on one and another not spicy (that's not supposed to be spicy any ways). Also a side of extra rice. None of this happened. MoPo Tofu was amazing. Mouth numbing in a good way and not overly spicy. Great flavor. Can't say enough on this dish. My gf got the chicken and broccoli that was super spicy and was not supposed to be by the menu and requested. Food is solid. Go in person to eat if you can. We just got off a 5 hrs road trip so ordered in

I ordered food for delivery from Lao Sze Chuan and they had amazing service, very prompt and timely! Their fried rice with beef and their golden sesame balls are to die for! Plus, the prices were amazing! I will definitely be ordering from here again.

Placed an order online two hours in advance for pickup using their website order service. Order never made it to the restaurant. Took restaurant 15 minutes just to figure out what happened and eventually just placed my order in again on site. Waited another half hour for the food to be ready. All in, worst pickup experience ever. Food was ready almost an hour late. I'll never order from here again.

I come here every time that I come to Chicago! The food here is delicious, fresh, and authentic and the staff is so welcoming and helpful. My favorites are the green beans and crispy shrimp with lemon sauce. We had a member of our group who is vegan and they were super helpful in recommending different dishes to us!

Perfect food for a cold Chicago day! This was our first time ordering delivery and it was on time hot and fresh! In person dining is even better! Great food!

I can't recommend this at all. And agree with another review from a few days ago that Panda Express is better. We ordered orange chicken, spring rolls, Singapore noodles, lo mein, crab Rangoon and scallion pancakes. Everything was thrown out but the pancakes it was that bad. There was no flavor in anything. Even the spring rolls, it was like mushy tasteless cabbage. The noodles were the most disappointing. Even putting soy sauce on the lo mein did not improve the taste or texture. And all of this was $100. Total disappointment and waste of money.

Food is tasty and the restaurant is clean. The service was very pleasant. I highly recommend.

Nothing but good things. I got Tony's Chicken with three chili. The chicken was nice and crunchy, and the flavor was fantastic. I'm only here for about 20 hours so I'll be back tomorrow! 4 out of 5 stars only because I don't think I've had their best dish yet!

I can't recommend this restaurant. I ordered through Uber Eats and went to pick up my order. I had to wait an extra 20 minutes even though it said my order was ready for pick up. I understand if there's a lot of customers, but there were only two groups of people dining in. The restaurant was spacious enough to serve at least 10 groups. While I waited, underneath the cushion seats there was so many crumbs and pieces of hair. This includes the floor. Setting that aside, my order was not up to standard. The crab ragoons had too much cream cheese and no crab. The fried rice was under stirred, so there were a lot of spots with white rice.

Yesterday I ordered the eggplant in garlic sauce lunch special and the fried rice with chicken and vegetables. The eggplant dish was so absolutely deliciously amazing that I'm thinking about going back today to have some more. On the other hand, the fried rice was average at best and I definitely will not be ordering that again. I'm looking forward to trying other menu items, but that eggplant..

This Lao Sze Chuan location just opened up recently -- same good food as what we've had in other locations and an ambiance that exceeded our expectations. We were a group of 9 and they brought us to a private room at the back. Server was very nice, helped recommend a few new dishes for us and even set up a karaoke system for us to use.

Great food, good music, had a great lunch here with my friends. I really enjoyed the oxtail, as well as the chili oil fish dish. Great service too, my glass of water was always full.

I ordered from them online and scheduled for delivery at 7pm. At 7:30 I called 3 times and couldn't get through on their phone line. It kept telling me to enter an access code. Who runs a restaurant and turns off their phone? So I walked down there about 5 blocks in the freezing cold to try and find out what happened to my food. They were open and the person there said the delivery guy left 5 minutes ago. I told her I was going to wait there until he arrived. I called my partner to tell him to call when the delivery guy got there. She offered me something for free, so I picked pot stickers. My partner called to say the food still wasn't there and we decided to cancel the order. While she was cancelling the order he called me again. Said the delivery guy told him the restaurant made the order again and paid him $20 to deliver it. Obviously a lie because I was at the restaurant the whole time. They didn't remake it and he never walked in the restaurant while I was there. Door dash was the delivery service but we didn't order through them. So the problem is twofold they don't answer their phone and they work with more than one delivery service and you don't know who is going to deliver. I told her to contact the driver when I first got there, but she said she couldn't. I was ready to leave but she told me the pot stickers were ready and went to get them. I have to say the pot stickers were good. We will never order delivery again, but we might go back and pick up the food.

Great sze chaun food. Love lao sze chaun in general, very satisfied with this location.

I'm still waiting approximately 2 hours for a simple to go order. the staff will not speak to me regarding timing. this is the worst customer service and kitchen operation I have ever seen

The three cups chicken is really disappointing- like a blend overcook chicken stew. Plus the white rice is also of bad quality. On the other hand, the spinach with ginger source is tasty and fresh. This restaurant seems to be run chaotically. The fire alarm blast for 5 mins while I was eating there. The fire truck came quickly, but no one working in the restaurant bothers to explain to or console diners.

Place was awesome great food, great vibes, great people. Edison was a phenomenal host. Must eat place! Tony's Special chicken is amazing!

So many choices, we just scratched the surface, and it was all very good. I wish this was in my home town, i would order many different things. The scallion pancakes for one were fresh and crispy.

Took few bites and couldn't eat anymore. Don't order any dish that might be salty since they pour entire bucket of salt on the dish. Ordered simple green beans garlic and spear rib. Spear rib is fried so i expect it to be salty but this place pours double the salt. I'm Chinese and eat Chinese restaurant everywhere and I'm shocked this place is a franchise with multiple locations. Boogles my mind how this restaurant has asian customers. The sad part is usually even if the food isn't that great I can still eat it. This food inedible

Amazing food and hospitality. Would definitely come back again. Our favorite dishes were the griddled squid and shrimp and ox tail.