Lao Sze Chuan (Downtown)

They have disgusting gangster rap so-called music blaring very loudly. The gangster music is using lots and lots of profanity, violence and sex vulgar language.
The ambiance is scary and restaurant looks filthy. The food is overpriced and seems like cheap quick food.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Rude staff, missing food, and zero accountability.

I ordered three dishes on Fantuan for pickup. When I arrived, the front desk lady told me my order had already been taken by someone else — and acted like it was my problem. She was busy, impatient, and completely rude. Instead of helping, she told me to contact Fantuan myself.

When I said that wasn’t acceptable, she told me to leave and even called me “a terrible person.” I couldn’t believe it. A few minutes later, she suddenly came out with a bag — but when I got home, there was only one dish inside, not three.

To make it worse, I asked for a refund through Fantuan for the two missing dishes, and the restaurant refused, claiming they gave me everything. Just unbelievable.

Horrible service, no professionalism, and no respect for customers. Lao Sze Chuan used to be one of Chicago’s top Chinese restaurants — now it’s just embarrassing. Never coming again.

Food: 1

Service: 1

Love it. Great flavors!!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 4

If you want a vast, consistently excellent meal served with genuine warmth, stop your search and come here. It’s the gold standard. Four stars—my high standards were definitely met! 😉

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 5

Lao Sze Chuan on Michigan Avenue is a delightful paradox. Tucked away in the oddly silent, slightly mournful Nordstrom Mall food court, this place is anything but dead. The décor leans into a regular high-end Chinese theme that may have seen better days complete with a cat theme quirky robot server, yet the food is dead serious. The fun-and-games continue with a quirky cocktail menu, but the real star is the kitchen, which offers authentic gems like my favorite chicken feet. Above all, the Half Peking Duck was excellent—genuinely one of the best ducks I’ve had in Chicago. It’s perfect for large groups and sampling. A true culinary gem hiding in plain sight; I’m going back, partly the food and partly the cat theme robot.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 4

The first photo is what I got for full set, 99 dollars. I was surprised at the portion, so small. Only one box of the duck meat. And the second photo is what I saw online, I was told it’s half set.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Terrible. Horrific service, food took over an hour and is extremely overpriced. Go to the China town Lao Sze Chuan. This one is god awful.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Excellent crab rangoons (yoummy), spring rolls, beef fried rice and chicken & snow peas! Service was good and prices was reasonable overall. We have enough for a second meal at home!

I ordered the Chef’s Special Dry Chili Chicken and Szechuan String Beans to go ($49.06) from this place near my hotel. I waited 30 minutes, and I was so disappointed with both dishes. The portions were okay, but the food was bland. Both the chicken and the string beans had no Szechuan heat and no flavor at all. I love spicy food and can tolerate very spicy dishes, but these had no spice whatsoever. Honestly, if I could, I would give this place half a star — just because the white rice was cooked well. I love Szechuan cuisine and know the mouth-numbing spice this should have — this didn’t deliver. I will not be coming back.

The service was fine; the staff was polite despite being busy, and the space is actually cool and spacious. But if you’re here for authentic Szechuan flavor, look elsewhere.

We had a nice family late lunch. Definitely try the Dry Chili Chicken. This dish is also good for those who can't tolerate a high level of spice since it's not spicy unless you eat the chilies.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Special thanks to our server, Willow — she was kind, attentive, and very professional. She explained the menu, gave great recommendations, and made sure everything was perfect during our visit. Her service truly made our evening even better.

I highly recommend this restaurant and will definitely come back again!

Service: 5

Very bad

Great green beans

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

We used to go here and order from here all the time. A couple times a month or more. In the last couple months, I think they got new ownership (our usual wait staff that we knew there are no longer there), the service and takeout reliability has gotten bad. Our order this last time never came and they just blamed it on DoorDash. The order was over 1.5 hours late and one door dasher went there and left already. The lady on the phone asked the chef in Chinese where our order was and she told us the chef said it was already made and picked up. Except we are Chinese and could understand the conversation with the chef and that isn’t what the chef was saying. The chef had no idea and the lady was trying to convince him that he already made the order. When we called her out on the phone, she said to complain to DoorDash and hung up on us. We called back a couple times and tried to convince her that no one has picked the order up (DoorDash sent a second dasher), but we weren’t getting anywhere. We had to cancel the order. Ridiculous.

Food: 3

Went here for a work lunch. The restaurant is in a mall, and empty at lunch. Overall I would say this place is not worth the money. The ambiance is tacky, with the decor in the restaurant falling apart (paint peeling off walls) and the lazy Susan’s are greasy to the touch. Gross! The food was extremely mediocre, my beef and broccoli was equivalent to a frozen meal. I probably won’t even eat the leftovers. And that entree was $23! The diet cokes were also flat and in cans…. Like how do you mess that up? This meal was free to me, and I never would have picked this place anyways, but if I paid money for it I would be really annoyed. The severs also barely talked to us, which is fine, but there was nobody in there….. I don’t recommend this place. I don’t know why anyone would go here unless they had to. The Panda Express across the hall is probably yummier. Very generic and low quality.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 2