Brightwok Kitchen and Catering — Restaurant in Chicago

Unfortunately an honest review. I drove from Milwaukee to Chicago on a recommendation to this place, drove 90 minutes just to come here and I was super excited to try a gluten free restaurant and spend the day in CHI.

Unfortunately, when I walked in I was not greeted by staff. There were not any other diners there while I was there. There was one employee (who appeared to be the manager that other people have reviewed positively) cleaning the bathroom doors and another cleaning the grill at 2pm. As a manager he should be cooking and not cleaning. I approached him and talked to him and asked how he was doing and he complained about working 7 days in a row and said that he would “Rather be tired than broke.”

Which I found personable, but rather unprofessional because he was walking around with a bad attitude and wouldn’t have even said hello to me (the only customer in the store) if I had of not approached him.

I went up to the employee at the counter quietly and meekly said:

“what can I get for you?”

“How does this work I never been here before, what would you recommend”

He pointed up and feebly said:

“You order off here.”

I ordered a create your own bowl with steak tofu, rice noodles, sesame sauce and vegetables, an egg and sweet potato fritter. About $25. My food was hot, that’s about the only plus. Steak and stuff is all premade commissary kitchen like food, almost like a Condado Tacos or Panera quality which isn’t bad quality but it’s fast food. The food wasn’t good. It was hot like I said but he overcooked the noodles in the wok and burned the fritter. The food had a weird after taste, somewhat like soap or cleaner. (Although to be fair, I feel like that could’ve been the sesame sauce taste and just my perception of things because he just finished cleaning the grill).

Overall bowl tasted like home made slop—it was hot, but wasn’t yummy or didn’t have any distinct flavor at all. Didn’t have any salt or anything available or sauces except siracha which made it kinda spicy hot slop. I asked for barbecue and they seemed annoyed that I asked, but I couldn’t discernibly taste the sesame sauce I paid for.

The food was bearable it wasn’t disgusting. It tasted like if you took frozen veggies, pasta, tofu and steak and put it in a microwave for 5 minutes topped it with some sauce and then burned it in a frying pan. It wasn’t good, and definitely not a good recommendation, I was pissed.

What made it all worse though is halfway through my meal a bum came in and begged the staff for free food and they told him no he had to pay. It seemed as if the two staff and the bum knew each other or at least this wasn’t an irregular occurrence. They allowed this bum (a young black man in his 20-30s, obviously high) to continue to stay in the store and he actually came up behind me as I was eating, grabbed my shoulder aggressively, and asked me if I could “get a “n-word” some food.”

I immediately got up, brushed him away, and left the restaurant with my food half finished on the table to avoid further confrontation.

I’m from Detroit originally and have never had something like this happen actually in a restaurant all the while the manager was just wiping down the same bathroom doors still. He didn’t even attempt to do anything about it.

I left Chicago for the day after that experience because I felt a headache coming on. I wish I had the wherewithal to take photos of the slop they served me with an egg on top, they overcooked rice noodles so much they turned to mush. The burned char on my sweet potato fritter.

The restaurant itself was beautiful and seemed like a good vibe but was hauntingly empty—and it got more scary when hungry and aggressive crack/meth/fentanyl fiends are allowed to harass their one paying customer. Maybe they do better with door dash, the to go order meals looked a lot more appetizing than what they served me. Maybe I ordered wrong, but that’s why I asked the guy for help at the beginning. I can’t imagine there is a way to “order right” here.

Gluten or no gluten, I’m allergic...

They have a lot of vegan friendly options which made it appealing and easy for me to build my own bowl. Their bowls follow a similar structure of brown rice as a grain, choice of protein, then topped with veggies and some type of Asian inspired sauce such as a tahini-sesame dressing or their chili oil.

I enjoyed the two tofu bowls that we had here although I found them to be overly saucy and oily. I would suggest requesting to go light on both if you are able. Their tofu was good and I appreciated the many veggie options. Plus their fried plantains were also a nice side to accompany the bowls.

Service here was really friendly and helpful, and even when you dine in, your bowls will be served in takeout containers. This is helpful if you aren't able to finish your food in one sitting but seems wasteful when you toss it out...

I came in all I had was cash and an African American man tall I'm guessing maybe late twenties said we don't accept cash sorry, just as I was about to leave he said I could make you a bowl and you could put that as a tip the fifteen dollars I had in my hand, I guess that explains why they don't accept cash, apparently they have employees who can't be trusted with cash, if he's willing to steal a sale from his boss how do I know he wouldn't steal from me?How do I know he wouldn't give me my change back and lie and say that he did? I hate having to have to snitch, it's very unpeaceful having to have to report anything to the police or a boss, not a comfortable feeling at all, it would be nice if people could understand were suppose to live in a world of trust and not steal especially on a job where you're hired...