Chengdu Bistro Loop 蓉小馆 — Restaurant in Chicago

My wife and I have had Chengdu Bistro delivered on multiple occasions before they opened this location in Printer's Row. Each time it was awesome. We especially love their Zhong's dumplings, soup dumplings, and cabbage. So we were ecstatic when this location opened up in Printer's Row because it's close enough for us to walk there.

Sadly, our experience there this past weekend was different from what we are accustomed to from them. We ordered our three favorites along with a couple of other new items to try, and we immediately noticed that the food not only was under-seasoned, but it tasted totally different... We started gaslighting ourselves wondering if we in fact had ever ordered from Chengdu Bistro before. I don't know who they have making the recipes at this location, but they weren't following it when we were there.

I felt compelled to tell somebody because we WANT this place to succeed. Sometimes restaurants don't know that they're not reaching the standard that they set out to reach unless somebody tells them. After paying, I found one of the owners who was working there that night (love that, by the way - way to be in the trenches on the weekend with your squad), and gave him the feedback from our experience. He was humble and kind and thanked us for the feedback and shook my hand.

The atmosphere is solid enough. Not the kind of place you go to for the atmosphere, but it didn't take away from the marketability of the restaurant. Some mismatching water glasses and what not, but not a big deal.

The service was friendly but not very attentive. Again, you don't go here for the service either.

You come here for the food, and if they can figure out what went wrong that night, and make sure that the recipes are as dialed in as they are at the original location, then we will definitely come back again. We're going to give them a few months to figure it out, but we'll be back to try it again, and hope that we can turn this into a 5-star...

OMG I think those are genuinely the best noodles I have had in Chicago. You can taste that they're fresh and homemade. Not a single dish was a disappointment. I've been here multiple times since the opening already and have managed to try a big chunk of the menu and here are my favorites: Steamed dumplings, any kind. The pan fried were good but standard. The steamed dumplings are to die for. The dough is delicious and the dumplings are JUICY Spicy Wonton Noodle Soup has crazy umami and is the perfect amount of spice -Suan La Fen with it's sour soup and sweet potato noodles is to die for Cold Noodle Salad is something even a picky eater would enjoy. Simple but super flavorful Sichuan Zajiang noodles look a bit basic but you have to stir it to reveal all the sauce and meat at the bottom. Again, a perfect amount of spice and the noodles taste amazingly fresh

Also, the price to quality and quantity ratio is INSANE. The portions are enough to feed 2, so be prepared to take some to go if you're ordering multiple items.

Overall, this place is really worth trying out. I'm super happy to have them in the...

Surprised to see a new Chinese restaurant open in Printers Row. They just soft opened yesterday so it looks like they're still working out the kinks--operational with about 2/3 of their full menu and most of the seating area ready. Service was prompt and friendly, and at least some staff speak Mandarin, which is a plus.

We ordered their Pork & Chive dumplings ($10 for 8) which were excellent, perfectly seasoned with a barely sweet, savory vinegar sauce with thinly sliced ginger. They didn't have their full dumpling options available today but I look forward to trying their other kinds--they can make steamed, boiled, or pan-fried. I really loved these.

Their dry chili chicken was delicious with the right of sichuan peppercorn kick, reminds me of Lao Sze Chuan ($19).

The braised beef noodles were so-so ($14.50), when I asked the server about it, he recommended the spicy since it's a lot more flavorful.

All in all, I have a lot of hope for this restaurant. I'm guessing they'll need more time for their staffing, kitchen and rest of the restaurant to be fully...