Ni Hao Asian Cafe — Restaurant in Illinois

This place has really good food, especially the poke bowls. Unfortunately, I've been to this place at least 3 different times and they ALWAYS forget an item or two off what my order. I ordered 4 Bao Buns and Lo Mein noodles. My entree came out way before my Bao Buns, which are listed as appetizers. Then after my buddy and I finished my meal, there still were no bao buns.

The gentleman making the poke bowls saw us finish our food and asked us what's wrong because I kept looking around. So I told him I haven't had my Bao buns. He went in the back kitchen made us wait another 10-15 mins only to get 3 of the 4 bao buns that I reqested..... at least he gave me a free poke bowl and blamed the kitchen for the misunderstanding when it clearly was the cashier lady's fault, but hey, free food........

Then there was last night. It had been at least a month before my previous visit. So I brought another friend with me and let me tell you, The experience was worse than before. The high schooler(HS should be the excuse for the poor service) took our order, then served us our food and said our drinks would be right up. Halfway through our meal, still no Miso soup or drinks (Bubble tea). Then some random uber eats driver came, picked up an order, then left. 5 mins later the driver came back and said they forgot a smoothie. LOL

After that, my friend had to go up and ask for his miso soup. We waited another 5 mins while the staff kept looking at us confused and kept asking what else, being very confrontational. After all that, my friend had to go up and ask for his tea, that should've been provided after he sat down. But Nope, had to wait another 5 mins for that too. Not sure how long this place has been open but they definitely dont know how to handle orders. Not sure where the owner is at, but damn you really need a new crew because the entire time this is happening, your crew literally is talking to smack about each other in front of the customers. While entertaining, not professional . Again I'll blame it on the High schooler who forgot more than several items on various people's orders.

Although this is a great place for food, please check your receipt and make sure they DO NOT forget anything. Not an ideal place for a birthday or date because of the high ratio of forgetfulness. Especially for the prices. Again this is a good place, just extremely...

The food is acceptable Americanized Chinese food. The staff was friendly and if I was looking for something spicy and cheap in the downtown area, I'd go back. I had ordered the coconut milk tea, and though I didn't get to see it being made because I was in the bathroom, I saw the worker adding half-and-half to it. I wouldn't have expected this, and I was expecting coconut milk (which, perhaps they used, but then why add half-and-half? I drank a quarter of mine and sadly threw it away because it tasted like nothing. I'm not sure if they use actual coconut milk or a powder, but I saw other fruit "powders", so I wouldn't recommend going here for the bubble tea or smoothies - if you're going to make a fruit drink, use real fruit and not some powdered flavor stuff.

Though I didn't try anything else except the Hunan beef lunch special, I can recommend this place as an option if you want cheap, acceptable Americanized Chinese food, however next time I'll be easily swayed by "Kanya" ramen two...

I have come numerous times and it has been great each time except for this time. I ordered the roast duck soup which was great in the past. This time when I got my soup, there was barely any meat on the duck I received. It was mainly bone, skin, and fat. Yes I get that duck fat also tastes good and I did not order it to get just that, I wanted more duck meat. I also referenced an old photo of me when I first ever ordered the duck in 2022. I saw that the portion size this time was smaller than last time. So the lack of duck meat and charging the same for less has fouled me currently. When I come back eventually, I definitely will not order the duck again. Also I asked for the checks to be separate and the waiter did not do that for us.just saw the processing fee for the credit card machine. That is new and was not there the last time we came. I do not think I’ll be back for awhile. Going down a little bit...