Lao Sze Chuan Highland park

I recently visited Lao Szechuan and tried their newly offered all-you-can-eat hotpot. We had an amazing experience from start to finish. The ingredients were fresh, and the broth was rich and flavorful without being too heavy. There were plenty of options to suit different tastes. The all-you-can-eat menu also includes a variety of appetizers that my kids loved. Everyone in my family enjoyed the meal. Last but not least, the price is very reasonable. This will be my go-to spot, especially during the cold winter months.

My go-to place for Chinese food. My kid absolutely loves the crispy shrimp! They’ve recently added an AYCE hotpot, and the soup base is delicious. All the seafood and meats are fresh and high-quality. The staff is incredibly friendly and welcoming. We’ll definitely be returning soon!

I ordered the pan fried vegetable noodles with custard buns and both items were exceptional. You get a very generous portion of noodles, the flavor is good and it’s very filling. The buns have such a nice texture and lightly sweet taste, Not to mention the absolute adorable appearance. They were so cute, I almost didn’t want to eat them! This resturant was so good and very reasonably priced. When I’m craving Chinese, I have a new spot to go and recommend!

Google Review Our family’s favorite Chinese restaurant. We come every 2-3 weeks if not more often. Our favorites are the Dry Chili Chicken, Tony’s Three Chili Shrimp, Dan Dan Noodles, Fu Xi Fei Pian (Sliced Beef & Maw Szechuan Style - Cold Appetizer), Salt & Pepper Scallop, Chengdu Kung Pao Chicken, and Hot & Sour soup. All these dishes are mildly to fairly spicy except for the Salt & Pepper (not really spicy, but crispy and delicious). If you like spicy 🌶️ this place is for you. If you like their signature Dry Chilli Chicken, they can make it in almost any other meat choice (beef, pork, lamb, shrimp, squid, etc). Also love the complimentary spicy cabbage appetizer. 😋 Free street parking and lot on the weekends is a plus. Taste is always on point and reminds me of the original Lao Sze Chuan in Chinatown square but without the traffic/parking struggles. Service is great too!

Our family gave this place a try in hopes of finding a local Chinese place in comparison to traveling all the way to Chinatown. It goes without saying that this place is a delight. The food is delicious. I love fast Chinese food from all those late nights in university. Crispy shrimp in lemon sauce hit the spot. There were dishes that seem unique to this brand too, like the garlic sauce eggplant and lamb with cumin. Biting into the lamb with cumin reminded me that we may have been to the Chicago downtown location several years ago and had the same dish! I’ll have to come back and try the honey garlic beef/pork tenderloin, as that was my favorite from back then. I believe most spicy items on the menu can be ordered non-spicy or mild. There are some dishes that are known for being spicy, so some spice may be best to try. The environment feels like a mix between fine dining, intimate, and casual. I could come here with the family or bring a friend, and dressing moderately presentable would probably fit. The location has free parking along the street and paid parking in the back. There appears to me much to check out in the area too. The service was very attentive and considerate. We were recommended a selection of chef’s specialties and popular dishes. The menu has a lot of unique items compared to most Chinese places, so the service helped explain our dishes. I would definitely come back here soon. There are so many special dishes to try.

We visited Lao Sze Chuan and ordered the Egg Drop Soup, Beef Noodle Soup, and Singapore Rice Noodles. The dishes were very flavorful and the portions were extremely large — easily enough for 3 or even 4 people to share. The service was fast and kind One suggestion: it would be very helpful if the menu included descriptions of the dishes and some photos. The dishes were completely new to us, so we ordered a bit blindly. While the food was delicious, the flavors and presentation were quite different from what we had imagined. Overall, a nice place with generous portions and tasty food.

Outstanding Experience – Give This Place the Grace It Deserves We ordered Lao Sze Chuan in Highland Park for New Year’s Eve and had an absolutely excellent experience!! Knowing it would be one of the busiest nights of the year, I placed a large family order three hours in advance, and I’m so glad I did. When I arrived, the food was ready exactly on time, 100% accurate, and clearly made fresh to order. Everything was hot, flavorful, and packed properly, with large portion sizes, which says a lot when you’re dealing with high-volume holiday takeout. This is not fast food, this is authentic, handmade Sichuan cuisine, and it shows in the quality and detail. As a local guide, I want to address the flood of recent 1-star reviews complaining about wait times on Christmas Eve and NYE holidays. Frankly, those complaints feel unfair. These are THEE busiest nights of the entire year, and anyone who has ever worked in food service knows that planning ahead is essential. What’s also telling is that many of those reviews don’t mention food quality at all, no comments about taste, temperature, or accuracy when they did get their orders, just generic complaints. Restaurants like this deserve grace, especially when they are clearly working incredibly hard under extreme demand. From what I experienced, the team at Lao Sze Chuan handled a massive volume of orders with professionalism and care. If you want authentic Chinese food in Highland Park, plan ahead, be patient, and you’ll be rewarded with an outstanding authentic meal. Huge respect to the staff for delivering quality under pressure, we’ll absolutely be ordering again. So glad to have you apart of the HP community.

I had an amazing experience at Lao Sze Chuan in Highland Park! The service was truly outstanding from start to finish. Our server was incredibly friendly and talkative in the best way—warm, welcoming, and genuinely interested in making sure we were taken care of. The food was absolutely delicious, bursting with flavor and perfectly prepared. Every dish exceeded expectations, and you can really taste the quality and freshness in each bite. Overall, a fantastic dining experience with exceptional service and incredible food. Highly recommend!

Lao Sze Chuan is a Chicago classic. If you like Chinese food and especially Sichuan cuisine the this is an amazing spot. This is the best authentic Chinese in the area, otherwise you will go to Chinatown. Great portion size too. I recommend: Shrimp dumplings Chefs dry chili chicken Fish fillet in chili bean sauce Boiled sole fish in spicy Szechuan sauce I'll be coming back again.

Very good authentic Chinese. Szechwan style. Order several dim sum like red bean paste dumplings. Shrimp shumai, scallion pancakes, crispy buns and soup dumplings. All were very good. Ordered several mains orange beef-excellent , beef with pea pods- just ok, cashew chicken- just ok, eggplant with garlic-very good, Peking duck - had better, shrimp fried rice- very good. Service was slow and they are wine and beer only and the waiter did not know what kind of wine they had. Stuck to Chinese beer. The owner comped us the sesame ball which is one of my favorite. All in all a 4/5.

I was pleasantly surprised by the deliciousness of the food from Lao Sze Chuan (for context: I'm not a Chinese food fan). I ordered takeout of (2) of their fried noodles and (2) of their chef's special dry chili chicken. PORTION SIZES ARE HUGE !! You definitely get your moneys worth here. The fried noodles (各式炒面) were alright. I'm assuming because I got takeout, that was the reason for the sogginess of the noodles. I think that adding green onions would also enhance the dish so much more, but the taste was alright & the chicken wasn't overcooked!! The chef's special dry chili chicken (香辣仔鸡) was amazing ... I got mild and the spice was just right (definitely considered spicy if you have low spice tolerance). The chicken was not too oily, perfectly seasoned, and not overcooked / burnt. Better than the ones I've had in California. I would definitely order this dish again and again!!!! I didn't get to visit the location; however, they also included a big box of white rice on the side for us!! The white rice paired perfectly with the chili chicken, and I appreciate the free add on :) Amazing service, thank you. I also cannot comment on the ambiance; however, I would definitely visit Lao when in the area again & try their hotpots!

Lao Sze Chuan Highland Park recently started offering an all-you-can-eat hotpot, and as a big hotpot fan, I couldn't wait to try it. I went with my two kids and my parents, and everyone found something they loved. The menu includes plenty of appetizer options that my kids especially enjoyed. For the hotpot, we chose the half-spicy, half-non-spicy broth. It smelled amazing, the ingredients were incredibly fresh, and we ate a lot! Best of all, the price is unbelievably reasonable--you can hardly find an all-you-can-eat hotpot for just $29.99. We'll definitely be coming back!

I went there many times after they reopened. I love the Stir-fried Pork Trotters & Peppers. It tasted exactly the same as what I had in Szechuan. My daughter loves the dry chili chicken a lot. It's crispy outside and tender inside. I'm so glad we have this place nearby. Whenever I'm craving for spicy food, I know where to go.

Wow Lao has been on my list. Food was excellent ! Really great menu. Fresh ingredients. Large portions. Everything came out piping hot. Egg plant and pork shrimp with salted egg was ok. Delicious egg roll Yummy potstickers Excellent seasoned pot sticker Sweet n sour chicken sauce wax hood and veg were yummy chicken was average Chicken fried rice was ok Moshu could have. Even cooked longer and there was no egg. The menu is great . We were with bf grand kids so not the normal fare. I'll be back great service nice portions piping hot diverse menu, Definitely will be on my rotation

Closest thing to authentic Chinese Szechuan food without going to downtown China town Restaurant is in beautiful downtown highland park

We consistently get good quality dishes and fast delivery from Lao Sze Chuan. The egg rolls were still hot, extremely crisp, plump with veggies and good tasting. The orange chicken was a slightly spicy and prettily garnished with orange slices and strips of orange peel (there was a rogue piece of broccoli hidden there and actually I would have liked more). Green beans were garlicky and crisp/tender. The only thing that missed the target was the cold noodles garnished with strips of cucumber and tossed in a cold sour sauce. What I would have liked is cold sesame noodles with sesame seeds and green onions. Whether that was the fault of the family member who ordered this or the chef who executed this, who is to say? I still would like some sesame noodles. Still, pretty good dishes with fast delivery? That's always a hit with me!

Lao Sze Chuan never disappoints. What I love most is the brand's dependability no matter which location I visit, the food is consistently flavorful, delicious, and satisfying. The dishes are authentic and packed with taste, which makes it an easy go-to whenever I'm craving great Chinese food. It's comforting to know that wherever I go, Lao Sze Chuan delivers the same high-quality experience every time.

This was the best Chinese we have had in a long time! The service was friendly and fast. The orange chicken and pan fried noodles were VERY good! We will be back!

I regularly get food here via delivery service on Ubereats or Grubhub. Today was the Dry Chilli Chicken & Yang Zhou Fried rice. I stopped ordering for a while as the chilli peppers was more than the chicken but happy to report that today's order was generous. Thanks! Those 2 dishes are my go to but anything with dry chilli is incredible, love the seafood & squid too. I got mild spice as it can affect my tummy if it's too spicy. Not a 5 as it's a little more salty than I like today. Yang Zhou (Not certain of the origins of the name) fried rice is super delicious & comes with shrimp & spam/lunch meat. It can sometimes come with a ton of shrimp depending on who cooks it. Be sure to order this vs their fried rice. Their fried rice is mediocre & doesn't have that fragrance & flavor. Highly recommend Lao Sze Chuan for authentic Chinese food in the Northshore.

When I went inside, there were immediately people that seated me. The customer service was absolutely awesome and the place is very clean. The food tasted absolutely amazing, it is one is the best restaurants I've ever been to! I'm so glad that this restaurant opened, I barely see any nearby me so having some real food actually makes me really happy. I was able to talk with one of the staff and they were super polite. They looked like people who love their jobs. I could come to eat here everyday! 10/10 I would recommend going here!

Ordered delivery from Lao Sze Chuan this weekend and it hit the spot. The food was delivered relatively quickly and met our spice preferences. For appetizers we got the Spring Rolls and Crab Rangoon. Both of which were very crispy and tasty. For mains, we got the Dry Chili Chicken, fried rice, and spicy chow mein noodles. The Chicken was flavorful and crispy, the fried rice was super tasty, the noodles were very tasty, but a bit dry. I believe they were fried so that might be why. I ordered online and was only able to order veggie fried rice but was hoping to have chicken. Overall, it was quite good and I would definitely order from here again.

Lao Sze Chuan in Highland Park is seriously amazing. The food is so flavorful and always hits the spot. I've been a few times now and it never disappoints. The Dry Chili Chicken is my go to. It's crispy, spicy and just addictive. The Mapo Tofu and String Beans are also top tier. The vibe is chill, the staff is super nice, and the food comes out fast and fresh. Whether ur eating in or grabbing takeout, it's always a great experience. Easily one of my favorite places in the area. If you haven't tried it yet, U SHOULD

We didn't go in with much expectations but came out pretty happy with our experience. Not loud and packed like other asian restaurant, food was overall decent. Out of everything we had, the pickled veggies with fish, the pig blood dish, the beggar chicken and mala lamb (or was it beef? We will never know) were the highlights! My favorite was the salted egg paste with eggplants! Skip the beef noodles soup, soup dumplings, and pot stickers ! The lycheetini was good but on the very weak side! Lol! But for $10, I could do a couple :p

One of my favorite Chinese food spots in the area. Love the chicken egg rolls. The fried rice and orange chicken. The lamb is awesome as well. Cozy busy spot in downtown highland park and a local favorite. Lots of parking in the area. The service has been fast and friendly every time I've been there.

Probably the only place to get dim sum on the north shore! And it's awesome! Dry chili chicken is always a favorite as well!

AMAZING FOOD!! I was treated well and the workers are kind. The atmosphere was warm and nurturing.

Soup dumplings were nothing special. Add that 20-25 minute wait time during their dinner rush and it was the absolute worst choice that I could have made for a hungry table! They came out with the other food. Everything was a slight variation. Crispy Shrimp w/Lemon Sauce was soaked with that creamy mayo-based sauce served with two pieces of broccoli. The Honey Garlic Pepper Beef Tenderloin was sliced surprisingly thin over a bed of sliced onions. One was the other way around -- bed of broccoli for a cream sauce and a garnish of sliced onions! The beef curry noodle was my favorite dish of all.

Its under new management! Exatly what it needed. I stopped going to the previous Lao Sze Chuan. We just had dinner and it was really really good!! If they get busy they are going to need more help.

Amazing food been there dozens of times wide range of food and great service, and overall vibes highly recommend the shrimp with lemon sauce and the peppercorn series. All in all great place!

Appealing room and expansive bar. Unfortunately no liquor license. Why? Various inscrutable reasons. So if a beer or cocktail is what you want with your meal, you'll just be teased by the attractive bar display. Based on the business activity it would appear they are more equipped for carry out and dining in is an afterthought. Our table of 4 was the only dine-in action for the hour we were there.

Hearty portions, delicious flavors and a huge selection of entree choices. Lao Sze Chuan consistently serves fresh, Asian cuisine and never disappoints. The sweet and spicy flavors in the szechuan filet of sole was one of the best I've ever tasted! Great service as well and open everyday from 11a-9p and 11a-10p on weekends!

Don't order egg rolls and fried rice horrible no flavor . Mongolian beef and orange chicken good Can add spicy if you like. LAo sze Chuan please fix fried rice NO flavor

Best Chinese in town. Authentic delicious always great quality. Try the cumin beef or the cashew chicken and the kimchi fried rice is a must. If you are sensitive to spice get no spice. Medium has a kick.

I walked into the restaurant at 6:15pm to place an order to go. Waited 15 minutes for someone to acknowledge me. When the person at the register finally saw me, rudely told me that if I was going to order anything, it would be 2hr wait. The restaurant was almost empty in the dining area, besides a family who was waiting to be attended, but when they heard the man loud and rude say it was a two hour wait they stood up and left too. There was no good customer service! AWFUL experience.

Came here with my friend to have lunch, we sat outside. We noticed upon arrival that once we sat, staff took a long time to arrive and attend to us, once they got to us they took our order but were not very friendly, also I was there with my daughter, they do mot have kids booster or any kids chair, this is inconvenient when you have small children and want to sit outside. Once we placed out order we waited, food arrives and it was a bit cold, we ate it because we were so hungry, tasted good but again it was a bit cold. The staff was not very attentive of our table compared to other tables from what I observed. We felt neglected... Also note my child is well behaved in public despite there should be no reason to neglect customer service. Lastly we find out they sell Boba tea but you have to order separate and inside because it's a who separate menu, very inconvenient so we skipped. Overall I would not return or recommend.

Good food. Ambience is pretty good service is great. Food needs a little work but good over all

I ate here years ago, and recently they popped up on DoorDash, so I ordered again. It's quickly become our new go to Chinese takeout. Their crispy orange beef is so crispy, and the sauce is delicious! I also love their fried rice, Szechuan wontons, and scallion pancakes. Definitely recommend!

Food is very good. Service meh. Go here for quiet dinner or takeout. Don't expect great service but the food is yummy.

Tried several dim sum items- excellent choice Service very good. Let us know if items take longer Ambiance- some tables outside but they were full so we ate in which was clean but nothing special

This is one of the best Chinese meals I've had in Lake County. The mu shu pork was very good and my partner enjoyed the sweet and sour chicken. We will be back to try more but for now This is a best of area Chinese. So many others take too many canned short cuts but so far not here. What I would love to see, even though this is cross regional are drop dead incredible egg rolls with shrimp, pork, veggies etc and peanut butter

This place is really great. Just ordered for the first time last night and everything was excellent. They have a lot on the menu and really interesting sounding dishes that you don't see in traditional Chinese food restaurants in the suburbs. Will definitely be making this my go-to place.

If I could give this restaurant no stars I would. If I had anything to eat! On Tuesday I made an online big order for Xmas eve dinner to be picked up at 4:30. We got there and they had No record of ever receiving the order. There were other customers waiting there and they had made online orders too and their orders were missing Don't ever patronize this restaurant. I have never been so mortified by a restaurant ever

I forgot to take a photo before eating it, but I can assure you your plate will look like mine EMPTY!!! This is hands down the best Chinese restaurant in Chicago. 10/10 recommend and will eat again!!

Came here for lunch and it was fine. Started with spring rolls and crab Rangoon. Both were good. Hot sour soup and egg drop were meh. Entree wise we all got chicken go figure: general Taos chicken, 3 chili chicken and dry chili chicken. All three tasted pretty much alike

Authentic Sichuan food. Would recommend mapo tofu and spicy beef casserole ("water boiled beef").

We came here after walking the Botanical Gardens. It was around 3 on a Saturday afternoon. It wasn't busy, just one other couple there. The place is gorgeous and spacious. The place was very clean. We ordered the Crab Rangoon and the Lao Ma Show. Both were fantastic. The Crab Rangoon were super stuffed and the Lao Ma Show had a kick but wasn't crazy spicy. We also ordered the Salt and Pepper Squid and the Sesame Chicken. The squid was tender and delicious. The Chicken had a lot of pieces that had a ton of breading but it was still really good with a subtly sweet sauce. We also had two bowls or rice with our order. We forgot to order veggies, but we wish we had. We had plenty of left overs and are super satisfied.

The entire neighborhood was anticipating this restaurant for months. First there was a promising poster on the window, then came the pretty sign above the door. Finally the grand opening on July 1st. Seating: several tables outside of the restaurant, with adjustable overhead umbrellas. Perfect for the summer ahead of us. Menu: wide variety of meals, helpfully organized in sections. Food: everything we ate here was delicious. We ordered the scallion pancakes, spicy short ribs, Kung Pao chicken, string beans, and rice. Golden sesame balls for dessert. Portions: yes, these are large portions and we ended up taking half the food home :) Service: attentive and friendly. Location: corner spot in downtown Highland Park. Some parking available adjacent to the restaurant and there are more spots across the street near the Bank of America. Covid 19 accommodations: all the menus are paper and one-time use. Tables and chairs are wiped after each customer departs. Servers wear masks. Diners are kept well apart.

Went there early of June 2024, very nice location and decoration, however, the food was not good, too salty!! I knew it is not genuine Chinese food, but they were off too far! I won't visit again.

2-17 update: Spoke with Jayden, Manager. He has agreed to refund my money and that it will take 7-10 business days. I'll check in w y'all then...

Here we are 2 years later and this restaurant still has not improved their food. Service is great and it's clean but the food is not good... I'm sorry they need a new chef there! Their other locations are great! This one in Highland Park sub par

Food was awful. We ordered green beans, dan dan noodles, dumplings, a chicken dish and eggs rolls. The green beans, greatly over-salted, were the only edible item. The dan dan noodle dish tasted soapy as did the dumplings. The dan dan noodles also looked like spaghetti. I was afraid to try the chicken dish and the egg rolls after tasting the other items. Not sure what happened here but it was very bad. Giving one star instead of zero since they refunded our meal.

What a disaster... This was formerly our "Go To" restaurant. Granted it was Christmas Eve, but nonetheless... We placed an online order and were given a pick uptime for 4:30. Got there at 4:35 and thankfully there was only one person ahead of us but she seemed quite distraught. It seems that they had no record of her having placed an order and they were frantically looking for it in their system and in the kitchen, but after 15 minutes or so (with me still waiting and no one else to assist her) they told her that she would have to place her order again and it would be at least 45 minutes before it MIGHT be ready. She said "Do I have any choice?" to which a man simply said "No!" When they finally got to me, guess what? They couldn't find my order in their system either. They kept checking in their system and running back to the kitchen and looking at all the orders laid out in bags on the counter, the table and the booth, but mine was not to be found either. Apparently their online ordering system lost many, or perhaps all the orders placed through it. By that time, the line waiting for pick ups had grown to eight, all anxiously hoping that their online orders would be found. As I left, I asked the hostess: "Does the owner of this restaurant know how much money he has lost tonight?" She just gave me the famous "deer in the headlights" look. We wound up ordering from PF Chang's and THEY got out $200 instead of Lao.

My favorite Chinese spot in the suburbs. They do great takeout and dine in as well...fantastic handmade dim sum and all the classic dishes you wants.

Lao Sze Chuan has converted my husband into loving Chinese food. I am grateful for this, because I adore different regional cuisines of China, and I can finally enjoy takeout with my husband,

Brought my daughters here for an early dinner, ordered them moo shu chicken, it came with clearly store-bought tortillas?? I can make shitty moo shu chicken and serve it with tortillas at home. Not sure if this is how they always serve it or if they were short staffed or what but it was about 5 PM and empty. The staff made me uncomfortable as well, won't be taking my daughters there again.

Amazing authentic Chinese cuisine. We love everything from the Mapo Tofu to Crispy Duck, all amazing. And Szechuan dumplings are perfection.

A solid Chinese food option with a large menu and well prepared food. Delivery was reasonably quick and everything was packed nicely Appetizers included pork potstickers, hot and sour soup, and Szechwan wontons. Potstickers we're evenly browned and had a generous amount of filling. Hot and sour soup was balanced well with lots of numbing spice. Szechwan wontons had a very flavorful chili oil drizzled on top that make them a standout. For entrees, I sampled the king pao chicken, beef with snow peas, crispy shrimp in lemon sauce, and chefs special dry chili chicken. The sauce for the kung pao was spicy enough for my liking and like lots of other dishes it can easily be adjusted on spice levels. Crispy lemon shrimp and beef with snow peas were good foils to compliment the spiciness of the kung pao. Lemon shrimp was my favorite; definitely a must try. Dry chili chicken wasn't my cup of tea; just wouldn't get that again. Lots to try here to definitely come back to for Chinese food staples and other dishes that are more unique.