Chef Shangri-La — Restaurant in Riverside Township

Tonight we went to Chef Shangri La after calling a day ahead to make a reservation for a party of 10. We arrived on time and was one of a few tables. We placed our orders, we were very polite and understanding although we waited almost 25 minutes for beverages. Yes, almost 25 minutes in a half empty restaurant. WE got tons of apologies and finger pointing of the staff. We finally placed our orders after almost an hour. When the food came out after 30 minutes of waiting we received 1 appetizer, 10 mins later we received another appetizer, while all the others sat waiting for theirs. After another 15 minutes the other appetizers came out. Then 5 minutes later, 2 bowls of rice came out, when everyone at the table ordered rice. We didn't understand why this was happening especially when people that came in after us was eating and almost finished. We received half of the orders at the table, the rest of the food never came out. We asked multiple times and all we got was apologies and excuses. The server kept saying that the kitchen was backed up and that they were doing half of the orders. I stated to the server that I was embarrassed because we traveled so far to celebrate a birthday and the experience was not good. She apologized and brought out more food to another table. After my sister finally had enough, she asked for her bill because her 6yr old and 5yr old girls were starving and had not received their food, which were only chicken nuggets and fries. She waited almost an hour to get her bill and still no food for her or her girls. We asked for a manager, we were told he was cooking and could not come out. Later we were told that the manager stepped out. We asked them to remove the dinners that never came out, a gentlemen came out and tried to assist us. It literally took them almost 40 minutes to figure out how to take the items off the bill. They wanted to charge us gratuity on horrible service and we declined and challenged it. The server was more concerned about her tip rather than making sure we had our food. We never got the desserts we paid for and had to ask several times for boxes and the rest of the food that was paid for. I was livid but still tried to remain calm. The food was so good but the service and experience was EXTREMELY TERRIBLE. I will never go back to this establishment. We came all the way from Evergreen Park to go to a place that can't treat it's customers right. The guy trying to be a supervisor had a hard time understanding our frustrations and kept saying, we are backed up and the server was suppose to relay to him what was missing, the server stated she did. It was awful, at this point I just wanted to leave. Every other table in the restaurant received their orders and the table behind us had close to 20 people but had no issues. All these people came in after us and everything was brought out timely for them. I felt like we were being discriminated against and we literally did nothing wrong but try to patronize a restaurant we heard about and celebrate a birthday. We had no problem paying for our food or service but we refuse to pay fpr things we did not receive, including service! No one in our group got loud or irrate at any time because we are a family of class and I'm sure they were looking for us to cause a scene but they didn't get it. They removed a dinner off each bill and removed the gratuity. After waiting another 25 mins we got the revised bilI, still hadn't received the fried rice we paid for and still no dessert that we paid for. It was a wrap, we all agreed to just go and peace and never return. I will never patronize a restaurant that treats it's customers like this and I pray you don't either. I know restaurants have off days but this by far was the worst experience...

It was our first time at Chef Sangrila to celebrate the hubs birthday on a busy Saturday night. We decided to bring in a cake and the hostess was so nice about it. No questions asked and served it to us after our meal at the end of the night.

Food was awesome and delicious but the ENTERTAINMENT WAS PHENOMENAL! It was Michael Jackson impersonator night and he did such a great job! The show started at 7:30pm and lasted a good hour. He changed several times and not only he sang but he danced too. He was pretty good! I was very impressed and maybe because I grew up with all of MJ's songs, I sang along every song. MJ engaged with the crowd and during the song "Thriller" he pulled a few guest to dance the infamous zombie dance. It was soooo funny! Hahaha

Everything was delicious. We ordered pot stickers, crab rangoons and beef teriyaki sticks. Crab rangoons was very meaty and not skimpy on the filling. The beef sticks was tender and flavorful. We also ordered mooshu pork, steamed white fish, Mongolian beef and chicken chow fun thick noodles. My favorite was the chicken chow fun. But everything was just wonderful and portions was huge.

I had a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and my hubby had the Dr. Fong. The entire restaurant has a tiki themed and it was such a wonderful time we can't wait to go back for the other entertainment such as Elton John, Lady Gaga, Tina...

Chef Shangri-la is a desperate cliché -- and a delicious surprise. Walking in, we were assaulted with the cheesiest of both Chinese and Hawaiian culture. The place is plastered with wicker and grass, cheap plasticky decorations, and charm. I was somewhat worried about the menu, because a significant amount of items were markered out due to... I'm assuming a lack of volume, and the Hawaiian portion (what my wife dragged me here for) is severely limited.

We ended up ordering all Chinese/Thai items. And it was all amazing. The pot stickers, which is my son's favorite food, were plump and delicious, even better than our former favorites at Katy's Dumpling House. The beef skewers are delicious. The Spicy Thai Seafood Noodle Soup was terrific, though I thought the shrimp were a bit chewy and maybe a little too fishy, the fish in that dish is close to perfect. The Spicy Singapore Noodles were very good, though they don't measure up to the best I've had. Both the soup and the noodles were fairly immense portions.

The Mai Tai here is a knockout punch of liquor and so very, very tasty. It made us wish we had a few days to lounge around this place and try all of their extensive tiki cocktail offerings.

Come out to try it. It's not anything you'd expect, even at its most...