Friends’ BBQ 友缘串吧 — Restaurant in Chicago

I hate to be the first non five stars reviewer. I went there with my family today at around 3:30 pm. We were the only group since they just opened at 3. The atmosphere was good. The servers were very warm and nice. The order process was smooth on a tablet. We could add anything anytime we wanted as the tablet stayed on our table all the time.

We ordered two types of lamb skewer, the beef skewer, 牛筋, 黄喉, 望京小腰, 韭菜, 四季豆, 茄子, 猪蹄, 鸡架, 烤鸡皮. Lamb and beef were ok, I would rate 8/10, as they were not bad nor exceptional. The flavor for these lamb and beef skewers were quite authentic. I feel the meat itself could be more juicer to make it 10/10. 牛筋 (10/10) was my favorite here as it tasted great for me, a bit Korean style. 黄喉 (6/10) flavor was fine. The cut could be improved. They cut them looked like fish tofu. I think it better to make every cut of them smaller, maybe around a third of the current size. 望京小腰 (4/10) was bad. They failed to remove the 内脏味 for the meat and the strong spices were not enough to cover them. Not sure if they need to 泡血水 for longer or marinated them longer with more spices to remove the unpleasant taste. 韭菜 (7/10), ok but a bit salty. 四季豆 (8/10), ok but a bit salty. 茄子(7/10), ok but too much garlic. 猪蹄 (3/10), same issue as 望京小腰, the inner meat tasted very unpleasant. 非常腥! Addition processings are needed. 鸡架 (8/10), too little meat. I know it is 鸡架 but it should have a bit more meat. 烤鸡皮 (6/10), 有腥味, again, additional process are needed to remove the unpleasant smell.

I want to say it again that the servers and atmosphere were good.

I would say this is an ok 烧烤店 if you really crave for it. Not something worth try if you expect it for high standard.

Btw, I got a bit diarrhea after eating here. I think the problem is caused by the pork...

First day in Chinatown, Chicago, and were looking for something more authentic that we could enjoy. We were ready to explore some Chinese BBQ, and thought this place smelled nice.

The smell walking in was enticing, and then it went down from there.

To be fair, and to preface this, we misordered - which could have been avoided, hence the 3 stars.

We were seated by someone who didn't seemed thrilled to be there. And promptly asked for a recommendation. The response we received was "it's barbeque". Then we were directed to the menu with a suggestion of beef.

We had 4 different dishes, and didn't really enjoy any of them. It did seem like the recipes could have been good though. All dishes had spice and flavour but fell short on expectations. It also appeared there was a good amount of fat vs. meat.

No issue with checkout. It was fairly standard intake and outflow.

I strongly recommend that they be more prepared to provide recommendations. A great aspect would be to have a taster plate for a few people that provided a variety of options the proprietor...

I had high hopes for this place, but it turned out to be one of the most underwhelming dining experiences I’ve had. The food was below average in both taste and quality. We tried several different BBQ meats on skewers, but unfortunately, they all tasted the same—overpowered by a heavy dose of cumin, which made them quite unpleasant, especially if you’re not a fan of that flavor.

What made things worse was the service, which was among the worst I’ve experienced. Apart from being handed water at the beginning, we received no additional attention. No salt or pepper, no soy or teriyaki sauce (which you’d typically expect at an Asian restaurant), and shockingly, no proper plates—just flimsy paper bowls. It felt more like a rushed takeout setup than a sit-down meal.

Overall, it was a disappointing visit and I wouldn’t...