Minghin Cuisine - South Loop — Restaurant in Chicago

The experience overall at best was just visually appealing. My wife and I went there to get some sushi as Google images shows some delicous looking sushi. Upon entering the restaruant, it looked and had the feel of a high end restaurant. It looked like we were going to enjoy our lunch. The waiter took us to our seats. Tables and seating looked great. Very high end and contemporary. The waiter handed us each a tablet with the menu on it. Keeping up with the modern tech, nice touch. Upon first glance on the menu, there was no sushi menu so I asked about it. They said theres no sushi... thats when everything started going downhill. We were disappointed and it turned out it probably was a menu item back then but not now. Anyways, not the end of the world. We looked through the menu and there were quite a lot of options but I opted for fried rice and pork dumplings whereas my wife went with a stir fried noodle dish and a soup. Staff was very friendly and quick to refill while we waited for our dishes. They first delivered the dumplings. There was a funky smell to it. The taste was fine... nothing amazing. Next was the soup. Again, nothing amazing, bland. We finished and then they delivered our main dishes. Upon first impression of the fried rice, the rice was literally sitting in a pool of sauce. Texture was super soggy and rice was mushy. Taste wasn't bold or anything, not like how you picture the taste of fried rice... felt like they just poured too much sauce over some rice. If you close your eyes and look for the taste... you can sense it but it's not any special. We were pretty disappointed in the fried rice so we moved onto the fried noodles hoping to fill our appetite and have the restaurant redeem itself. Upon eating the first bite, we tasted absolutely nothing... it was spicy but thats about it... you'd probably find more joy eating a jalapeño. Took a chunck of the beef bits in the noodles... again, nothing... We barely touched the food and our appetite was pretty much gone at this point and asked for our checks. We departed with a gift of regular cookies and fortune cookies. My wife took one bite from the cookie hoping to clense her pallete with some sweets... CRUNCH... hard cookie.... no taste... dry... we left with an appetite unsatisfied and lots of money lost. The restaurant's staff were amazing, nice, and very friendly. The place is very well kepted and it really felt good to sit in there. Unfortunately the food did not deliver. Fried rice and fried noodles are a basic Chinese cuisine in which all Chinese restaurants should know how to cook up at minimum to be considered a chinese restaurant. They had a huge menu of deliciously looking dishes but unfortunately, fail to master any one of them. Unfortunately, it was the fortune cookie that we left with that tasted the best. If you're looking to hang out and and chill with some friends, this place is not bad. But if you're looking for good food, I recommend you...

I booked the new Ming Hin (South Loop), which just opened this week for our family's annual Chinese New Year's celebration. I happen to ask if they served alcohol and was told they just received their license on Friday so they were set up to serve beer and wine with cocktails to follow next week.

Service - We had a 6:30 pm Sat. reservation and were warmly greeted and immediately seated at a table. Our waiter, Gene was outstanding. He was extremely personable, attentive and conversant in English and Chinese. He even pointed out some entrees that he thought we might enjoy more based on some of the questions I asked. We also noticed that that other supporting servers were lightning fast discretely filling water, removing dishes and clearing tables like a swat team. They were obviously making a great first impression.

Food - I'm Chinese and am probably overly picky about the quality/type of ingredients used and presentation at Chinese restaurants. All of the appetizers/entrees selected were outstanding and the portions were very generous served piping hot. My family jokingly noted the food more than met the Chinese mother test.

Decor - The restaurant displays a modern Asian decor that is impressive, inviting and comfortable. The tables are generously spaced with leatherette large chairs and it was very conversation friendly. We noticed the banquettes looked very spacious too so we will definitely request one next time. Although the second floor was not open yet, our waiter invited us to take a quick tour and we found it to be very impressive. It appears they intend to serve Japanese food there with a sushi bar and dining table space built to replicate individual Japanese teahouses that seat up to about 6 people. We hope to give that a try as well.

Parking - Street parking and a public lot (small) next door. However, it sounds like they may be setting something up to validate parking somewhere nearby.

Overall, Ming Hin (South Loop) is an excellent addition to their portfolio of restaurants but by far the best one we have tried. I just wish they would open one in the Near North/Streeterville area...

tl;dr: Service was cold, tea was cold, price was high, we all got sick, and none of us ever intends to return.

Food: It was enjoyable and presented decently, but nothing special. But all of us got sick from it. What's worse, we didn't all eat the same things, so at least three separate things made us quite sick. Which means it wasn't a fluke: it was a pattern. And to be clear, this includes one person with an iron stomach, one very adventurous eater, and nobody new to eating dim sum.

Service: Once we were seated, nobody said a word to us, not even a "you order using this iPad". We figured it out quickly enough, but to actually place the order requires an employee ID. No employee ever actually came, and it took 5-10 minutes to flag one down, including one ignoring us... and then the waiter took the iPad so we had to flag him down again to get it back for the next round of dim sum. After which we had to flag him down again. Throughout this and at the end, barely a word was spoken. And the place wasn't even that busy, by appearances; I get if they're understaffed, but if that's the case, they also shouldn't have taken our reservation.

Price: Even before included gratuity, we'd reached an average of over $40 per person. That's with no beverages but one small sake for the group. I get that it's 2022 and inflation is crazy, but considering the quality of our food and experience, it's...