Magic Kitchen — Restaurant in Lisle

Kept driving by and it always looked empty; but I was curious. My son was with me and we were both hungry and did another drive by and said let's just go in and find out how it is. Good decision. Both had the Hot and Sour soup, very good. Had that subtle spice that creeps up at the end. Pot stickers were tasty. The menu is interesting in that it is split in 2. The left side is the traditional items you see on most Chinese menus but the right side was what I call "the secret menu you never see". Had the same categories but different items and it was all preceded by Chinese words. Well I'm not one to avoid something different so I went for the boiled pork in sichuan oil (was told I was picking an excellent item). My son went more traditional and ordered Mongolian beef. Well his food came fairly quickly; but mine was a significantly longer wait. The nbeef was loaded with onions, yum. It was very good with a different flavor from whay I have experienced. A bit of sweetnes but not over powering. The beef was incredibly tender. Very good. The pork arrived in a huge bowl filled with a steaming broth and covered with an enormous amount of peppers. Looked a bit itimidating at first; bit being the trooper that I am, I attacked. Not sure which part of the pig this was (I am guessing jowl and similar) but it was interesting as you forked out the meat with your fork and placed it on your steamed rice. Not sure what the proper way to eatthis dish is; but I guess it really doesn't matter. All I can say it was delicious and just a bit spicy. More than one can eat in a sitting so the leftovers went home. As I suspected, the flavors intensified overnight and I had an excellent lunch. Looking forward to...

I'm trying to find Twice Cooked Pork like I used to have it, but it looks like I'll have to cook it myself. The dish here in the Chicago land area is not what I'm used to and have gotten it now from 2 places and same ingredients. It is marked as spicy from Magic Kitchen but it was without flavor or spiciness. Awfully bland. I'm used to pork belly with the fat trimmed off, super tender because it's cooked twice, Chinese cabbage, spicy as heck, not very greasy. What I've gotten (here and at another Chinese place) is pork belly with the fat, greasy, scallions?, onions and steamed rice. Not very good. Try something else. This location is marked as handicapped accessible but there is no way a wheelchair is getting in, and someone on crutches likely couldn't get in without 2 people helping. There is no place to dine in, and it's very dark and a little dingy. The girl taking orders was very nice and super fast. I have no doubt I'd find something on the menu that they do awesomely, but I'm on a quest. As an appetizer I got the crab Rangoon which were mostly wonton skin and 1 bite of filling. She provided sweet and sour in cups and I added hot mustard (don't ask... just try it) and I used this to dip the Rangoon in. I love this so it was of course very good. For the price I'd say the Rangoon...

Ordered today. Quite possibly the WORST Chinese I've eaten from this area. Ordered using door dash and based on the reviews I was super excited to try a new place. Complete disappointment. Pepper steak, they ask how you want the meat prepared, was the equivalent of boiled meat in garlic sauce. I understand this type of texture is normal for this dish but was definitely expecting something different from the reviews and the fact they ask how you want the steak cooked. No matter what you requested it would have been boiled meat. Chicken and garlic sauce... WHERE'S THE CHICKEN!? It was a plastic container full of again boiled vegetables in a sauce that was oddly similar to the beef dish I just mentioned. Then there's the creme de la creme... Chicken fried rice. I can't even make that bad but they definitely figured out how to. Completely tasteless. Again, boiled chicken mixed with rice that, if actually fried, was in a pan for 10 seconds at most. I'm no chef but could have done better blindfolded.

I ended up throwing the whole meal away. I'm not that kinda person. It pained me to throw it away. My girlfriend agreed, it was the worst delivery ever. It didn't taste bad, but was definitely NOT good. Boiled meats were just not edible.

If you like bland food, this place might be for you....