Khmai — Restaurant in Rogers Park Township

NEW LOCATION UPDATE;

Chef Mona has done it again, Even bigger and better! Khmai was originally on Howard Street, but has moved to fancier digs on Sheridan. There are two sides, a walk-in side as well as a more formal side that takes reservations, and we went to the more formal side the day after their grand opening. The ambience is absolutely BEAUTIFUL, with black and gold decor and a gorgeous mural on the back of the wall. The staff was very educated and knowledgeable regarding their menu, and were super attentive even though they were very busy at the time.

I don't remember the exact names of the dishes we had, and I'm not going to butcher them now, so here are the descriptions: Crispy pork belly was AMAZING! I'm not big into pork belly because I don't like large pieces of fat. These pieces were super crisp and when you bit into them everything just melted in your mouth. We also had the pin noodles with steak, and that is one of my favorites from the old location and nothing has changed there. Delicious as ever! Same for the egg rolls. Another carryover from the old location, and a staple that deserves to be on the menu at all times! We also got ribs, and MAN were they fire!!! Fall off the bone! The pork shoulder dish was also a winner. The puff pastry for dessert was a perfect end to our meal. Khmai is one of the only Cambodian restaurants in Chicago, and I am personally so happy that they reopened.

If you have never had the opportunity to experience authentic Cambodian, then you need to treat yourself to Khmai (trust me, you deserve it). This restaurant is one of Chicago's very few Cambodian restaurants, and they are fine dining, so reservations only. I've gone during the weekdays, and they are packed, so walk-ins are probably hard to come by. The staff is super nice, attentive, and knowledgeable, and they never make you feel bad for mispronouncing something, which I inevitably do. The ambience is gorgeous, and even though they are busy, they do a great job with the layout, easily accommodating families and couples. Now... on to the food!

We had the Beef Skewers (Sach Koh Ang) and Pork Belly (Chein Sach Chrouk) - Crisp on the outside, but nice & tender when you bite in. The pork belly legit melts in your mouth. The sauces on both are delicious, and nothing like I've quite had before. A perfect mix of savory and salty with a touch of sweetness with the tang of lemongrass. Mai's Eggrolls were super crunchy with a delicious mix of chicken, taro, & garlic. My hands down favorite small bite on their menu is the chicken wings (Slab Morn Ang)! They come out in 4 whole wings. They are fried to a crisp and slathered an insanely tasty sauce that has tamarind and lemongrass in it.... that sauce, I tell you I could eat that every day and never get tired. It's tangy and savory, and the aromatics alone!!! cue drooling . After all the apps we split an order of the Lod Cha (pan fried pin noodles) with steak and a fried egg, which was super tasty! The drink menu seems to rotate, and the guava margarita that I had was a fantastic addition to the delicious food. We were so full, we didn't even look at the dessert menu, but if you get to check out the desserts let me know what you think! 100% when I come back I have my eye on their chicken curry dish (Somlor Kari), which I haven't tried yet, but I saw other people order. It looked really good, and smelled great!

We found metered street parking right outside with no issues. We paid with card, but I think they take cash as well. It's fine dining, so it's a little pricey, but worth every penny. I'm not sure about carry out options. Don't let me find out the wings are available for carry out, or you may be seeing me on the daily! According to their IG they will be closing for a short time in order to move to a larger location, so I made sure to get my reservation in before they did, and I can promise you I will be at their door with a quickness when they do open up the new location! Thank you for a great...

Top notch service from starting to finish!

I arrived on a weekday at 7:45pm and the restaurant was packed! (didn’t feel overwhelming as the tables and people were nicely spaced out with plenty of room to freely move around). Therefore, I expected slow service and was fine with it as everything else was great.

Note: forgot to take pictures of the food menu as otherwise I would be referencing food name items in Khmer.

I ordered: 🍹1 Spiced Mango Daiquiri (alcoholic drink) - fantastic! Came with a decently sized freshly sliced mango. 🍢1 appetizer - beef skewers came with a small bowl of rice (amazing and totally filled me up!) 🥘1 entree - chicken curry (this tasted great. similar to a mild version of Thai red curry but that’s on me for not ordering something different. The potatoes and carrots were soft and edible! not simply raw like they serve in so many places)

🍽️Food - huge portions for the price. Didn’t feel ripped off in any way. Menu was easy and simple to read (no dizzying array of options which I count as a plus).

💛Ambience🖤 - adored the black and gold decor - classy and business casual without being uppity! Found the live bamboo on each table to be cute. I was seated along the wall and there was an outlet to charge my phone which was very helpful!

🥢What stood out was that chopsticks and utensils were both provided on each table so nobody felt shamed for using one or the other or both.

Often times, many people feel hesitant and uncomfortable going to East & SouthEast Asian restaurants and asking servers for spoons, forks, & knives if they aren’t comfortable using chopsticks or their skills aren’t up to eating a full meal with them.

🧻Women’s Restroom - clean with soft toilet paper that doesn’t rip upon touch.

🧴Appreciated the aromatherapy lotions which helped with my dry chapped hands and the flickering candle.

Bill / Check - the first restaurant I dined at in Chicago that started suggested tip amount at 15% instead of 18% - 20%.

Happy to have spent my hard earned money to support a women owned business that doesn’t treat their customers like a cash cow on my once in a lifetime trip to Chicago!

My bilingual server Nicole was the definition of outstanding customer service: she was attentive and provided personalized recommendations from the menu. When I asked her if she had tried all the menu items, she said she had except certain special dishes since the menu changed each month. She remembered to refill my water glass without ice while I was waiting on my ride and consistently checked up on me throughout the night. Nicole packed up my leftovers instead of simply handing me a to-go box and leaving. Also, she informed me about an upcoming special event in August - September time frame consisting of a reservations only prix fixe menu with live entertainment and photography exhibition / storytelling regarding the chef and her family’s experiences surviving Khmer Rouge regime’s genocide and coming to the USA as refugees. Google the Eatery Chicago article on the restaurant to learn more.

Bravo to whomever is managing Marketing, Customer Service Experience, & Website Design.

Website: integrating Open Table on the home page makes it one step easier for customers to make reservations. I made mine late night and received a text message and voicemail (because I wasn’t able to pick up and not because it was a recording system) to confirm it the next day from a real person. When I called back to confirm, I changed the time in case I ran late and received an updated text confirmation afterwards. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I called back several hours later to push back the time once more and was treated in a polite and professional manner on the phone again.

Recommendation: perhaps pin the weekly/monthly menu on Instagram so it’s easy to find.

Thank you very much to chef Mona and her fabulous team for such a wonderful experience. I hope to be back if I’m...

Went there to celebrate my partner’s bday. Even though I grew up in a community with lots of folks from Cambodia, I’ve actually never had Cambodian food! So, I was really excited to try it.

I loved the decor and the outfits that gave a more authentic vibe. I also appreciated the history that was in the lobby.

We were sat pretty quickly after arriving and I liked that they were flexible with our party adjustment and time change (we went from 8 to 5 people and came like 30 minutes early).

They brought bread with a unique curried butter sauce. That was a nice unique touch!

The drinks were good. Our son got the Rambutan Spritzer and liked it. I got the Spicy Mango, which was tasty and my partner got a Toasted Coconut drink—she liked the drink, but not the toasted coconut rim… it wasn’t very good to her.

For apps we got: Egg rolls: these were all right, Skewers: pretty tasty, Salad: without the fish sauce it was very acidic with just the lime, would recommend curating an alternative vegan/vegetarian dressing—ended up adding the curries butter sauce to it, which made it better.

Originally, we were going to get 4 entrees, but we asked our waiter if they would be enough and she wasn’t quite sure, but encouraged us to get one more. 5 was too much with the appetizers and we ended up taking home a dish. Of the entrees we got: The two tofu dishes. We liked the red sauce to the green curry. The veggies in the green cut would’ve benefited from be cut to size and removing the ginger chunks. But the red sauce was flavorful. We got the two chicken dishes, but as previously mentioned only ate the red sauced one at the restaurant. Some of the chicken seemed fatty, but one of our kids liked it. We got the brisket with mashed potatoes, which was a hit!

We didn’t get dessert and although, it’s not expected, we did go for a birthday which we told them about in the reservation and upon arrival… would add a nice touch to comp a birthday cake and maybe a traditional birthday song.

Lastly, one of the wait staff tripped and dropped dishes and stuff got on one of our son’s shirt. We were chill about it and they asked if all was well, but again, this was an opportunity to provide some favor for the minor hardship. A drink to him or a dish comped. I don’t know, but it would’ve been a nice touch.

Also, some of the speakers in the main room are broken… they sound crackly for some songs.

Overall, I think it this restaurant is a great addition to the community to increase food experience diversity and I hope that...