North Star 北极星川菜馆 — Restaurant in Lake Zurich

You know when you have truly delicious and authentic Chinese food, you do a happy dance? This is that place, in the NW suburbs and it is a jewel of a find!

With a chef from Sichuan holding down the flavors, this is not the more familiar Cantonese fare that used to be at this previous location.

Walking in at around 2:45pm for a hot meal I wasn't sure what to expect, but the burners were hot enough to create the elusive wok hay/flame touched flavors so many Asian restaurants cannot achieve these days. It was a joy when the dishes came and the aromas filled the table.

3 appetizers and 3 main dishes were ordered for Round 1.

Chili Oil wontons - meaty, fragrant, delicious, savory

Cold mung bean noodles - great for the summer or a light appetizer to open your appetite for what is to come. You can customize it to not be spicy but you really don't want to miss out on their chili sauce - delicious! Looks like jello but slightly chewy, fun to eat and was a nice opener.

Scallion pancakes - Legit. Layered, chewy, crispy and seasoned well. Fresh made and sizzling hot when it came to our table. I almost cried because someone finally took the time to make it right.

3 Mains:

Steamed fish - it was requested as a not spicy dish and still came out super tender, flavorful and tasty. Wish it was a whole fish, but the neighborhood demographics might demand the large fish pieces.

Twice Cooked Pork - Fresh and sweet leeks, black beans and thinly sliced pork stir fried together in a wok-hay flame kissed wok. You can taste it.

Garlic green beans - They did this dish so right. Searing hot wok flash cooks the green beans so they are still crisp and tender but cooked thoroughly. Looks simple, but it's not. Gotta know the technique for it to be this good and this is really good.

The prices are very reasonable and very fair - it delivers flavors and authentic flavors that other places cannot. Definitely worth spending your money to eat out here. They will customize the level of spiciness for you if you ask - this was fantastic!

I want to gatekeep, but it's literally too good to not share. I wish the restaurant well. I'll be back to try their mapo tofu, chili chicken and beef noodle soup for Round 2. And, of course the scallion pancakes and green beans on repeat.

If they can make dishes this good on off dining hours, you'll be lucky to eat there during prime dining hours.

Service was warm and friendly, dishes were well paced coming out to the table. The water glasses clean and warm water tasted good. The decor is modern, clean and not the Chinese restaurant of yesteryear.

Lake Zurich is so very lucky to have this restaurant. Can't wait to...

It's sad to see Green Garden leave from its service. The renovations had taken much longer than expected, and we had to choose between a place in Vernon Hills and a place north of Elk Grove Village, for some semblance of Chinese and not your sugary slop sauce-based protein Chinese. Between "It's so over" and "We're so back", North Star is tipping the scales on "We are so back!"

The quality of dishes have returned and portions are great for their price. There were some dishes that we ordered from Green Garden that were not in the menu but they had reported to have not finished making the menu.

The eggplant in garlic sauce has a crispy bread texture. Their Pork Intestines in a dry pot dish is fire, if you can handle it's inherently gamey taste. The pickled fish soup had a bit of a sour note, but was not overwhelming at all. Our appetizer, which was the beef and tripe in a spicy sauce, was actually pretty spicy! Beware I guess. 😏

The rice comes complimentary to the entrees. Tea this time around is extra, but isn't overly expensive. They haven't appeared to have gotten their serving mediums straightened out, but I'm sure that'll be a quick fix.

I can't wait to return. This restaurant is a strong competitor to a lot of the Chinese restaurants over in Chinatown, and has been a family staple in the past that will continue...

The bar was set high, considering the previous chinese spot here was so good my family and i would drive 30 min for the food. The north star dare i say just raised the bar! For our first visit we tried the sesame chicken, the Mongolia beef, chicken lo mein, egg roles and crab rangoon. The main dishes could have easily fed 2 if not 3 but we wanted to try a variety and it was all amazing. Even the sauces were just the cherry on top. They have the BEST hot chili oil!! Very smokey rich flavor. Each dish had emphasized flavors. The hospitality was impeccable and was reasonably priced. Without a doubt the best I've had and even changed my 9yr olds dislike for chinese food. He left saying can we eat the leftovers when we get home. Thank you to the new owners for keeping this location our favorite...