Brightwok Kitchen and Catering — Restaurant in Chicago

My wife is on the strict Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) diet for various health reasons, and as a result has been unable to eat restaurant food in over a year. We were working at a camp near Chicago this week, and our hosts offered to take us into the city one evening. I decided to Google if there were any AIP-friendly joints, and a site by the "Phoenix Helix" had a list, and Chicago had two places, one of which was Brightwok.

We went, and we enjoyed it! My wife could only have veggies as a base and couldn't have any of the sauces due to soy sauce. She also had the Tumeric Ginger tea. I had rice noodles, Thai Basil sauce, and steak with various veggies. I also got a Ginger Beer.

I thought the rice noodles were a little overdone, and the sauce had very little flavor for some reason. Added siracha sauce to improve it. They didn't announce our drinks were ready when they were ready, and I stood there with my ticket waiting but the guy never asked me about it.

Besides that, I enjoyed it. Good food, good ginger beer. My wife wishes they had AIP-friendly sauces, though, and that would be a plus.

Final thought: Assi, the woman behind the counter, was so nice and friendly and helpful. She...

My overall experience at Brightwok Kitchen has been great. I have visited many times and each time Brightwok Kitchen meets my expectations. Their staff is undereducated; as a server you are supposed to know what is in every single sauce or find someone that does. Standing there saying “I don’t know” is not okay. Their process is very simple, you pick a sauce, base, protein and four vegetables. There are $1.50 extras such as egg and mushrooms. Both are delicious, however I prefer the mushrooms. The bases are white rice, rice noodles, brown rice, or mixed greens. They cook the rice noodles well in the wok but the rice tends gets a little mushy. It’s a fully customizable bowl, so if you want it spicy, cooked longer, or half rice and noodles, they’ll let you do that. The price of the bowls is based off the protein you get so expect to pay around $10-$14 for your meal. I have gotten faster service here than the McDonalds across the street. Brightwok Kitchen makes your food in under 10 minutes. I wish they had more options without tree nuts, hopefully when I go...

Their Motto is “Eat Right, Live Bright,” and That’s What You Do Here.

We dropped in here for a quick, cheap bite during lunch and had a great experience. Brightwok is a veggie-focused, Asian-inspired restaurant serving fresh and colorful bowls of delicious-goodness. Their sauces are all homemade and flavorful, and their menu is dairy- and peanut-free.

I ordered their Kick’n Panang bowl ($9), that came with white rice, local tofu, zucchini, squash, carrots, broccoli, and onions—I added a crispy egg on top ($1.50). It was great—lots of fresh veggies and a tangy sauce I made sure to sop up with every grain of rice. My date ordered the Earth, Curry, and Fire ($10), a bowl with chili coconut curry spiced hot, white rice, local tofu, kale onions, carrots, bell peppers, and crispy egg. She loved it too.

We’re not from Chicago and were so glad to come here for lunch. This is a great place to have a quick, healthy meal that’s easy on your wallet and easy to fit during...