Bistro Chen

This place is fabulous. I really am glad that we decided to forgo Chinatown to come here. The Sichuan string beans are a definite must and the Sui Mia. Service was really friendly and prompt. They also have a patio out back for the Summer. Great place for dim sum!

It’s good but the noodles are too thick and the broccoli needs to be brought out much hotter /​steamy. I hate when broccoli is not super hot because the sauce cools it down. The turnip cake needs a crispier outside so they need to fry it much longer. The egg tart’s crust were hot but the egg filling was cold (gross). That doesn’t go well… the center needs to be hot.
Otherwise all the other things we had were good. The snow peas that they have on weekends only are awesome. I actually like it better than broccoli I found out after trying the snow peas for the first time. The snow peas look more like collard greens sorta. I posted pics, you can see the peas next to the broccoli.

This is an authentic Chinese dim sum place, the staff are very nice. Everything we ordered was really good, salt n pepper calamari and fish, pork shu mai, chicken feet is so tender and falling off the bone, pan fried seafood noodles, shrimp crêpe and shrimp egg roll. Will definitely return here

Great spot for Dim Sum when you don’t feel like driving to Chinatown. Great prices and I’m always happy I can get two of my favorite things, dim sum and sushi! This is our default spot in the burbs.

First time experience here was great. Friendly and quick service and great food! Ordered dim sum and everything was very tasty, no complaints! Went around 7 and place was not busy, halfway into our meal more people started showing up. We’ll definitely be returning.

What a fantastic place! First off this place gets super extra credit for not being in downtown Chicago or Chinatown. The fact that people don’t have to endure horrific traffic and nasty parking situations and lose an entire day just in logistics to eat dim sum is a Chicagoan dream come true in itself!
This place is AUTHENTIC. And by authentic, keep in mind that I also mean it is like it is in China itself as well as Chinatown — which means sometimes they’re out of what you want to order and some things won’t look like the picture. But that is the only downside, which is to be expected, to be honest if you’re going for Dim Sum.
In fact, the people I was with actually did not like one of their choices and the wait staff actually graciously took it back and took it off the bill! They were actually nice about it! Not only that, the three of us ate to our fill including drinks for less than $ 35! And it was Really tasty dim sum with both traditional and creative items.

Great food! Great service! The price is also good! The chicken recommended was wonderful!

One of our favorite places for the best dim sum and sushi in the Northwest Suburbs! The won ton soup is delicious and love the items on the dim sum menu, Ie. Shrimp rolls, Chinese Broccoli and the clams in broth are so tasty. A great location close to free parking, train station and shopping. The servers are friendly and fast. Kevin and Vicky are the best. They always make us feel so welcome and ensure everything is to our liking. Nice clean restaurant and restrooms. Love the unique décor inside too.

Excellent quality of food and service. The wait staff were all very kind and accommodating to my family. This was hard work for them as we have two very young, noisy and messy toddlers. We went for Christmas Day dim sum and will hope to come back for many other occasions. Should also mention he entire restaurant was very clean.

Called tonight and was told to call back later because they were too busy. Decided to go checkout a different Chinese place close by and made the best decision of my life. I will no longer dine here.

Best dim sum I’ve had since moving to Chicago. I came in right when the kitchen closed and they kept cooking for me 20 minutes later. Pork and scallop dumpling was great, duck was great, chicken feet were a bit soggy but the taste was right
Canadian and lived in San Francisco for a year before coming here. Legit Asian food out there and In Canada. A little disappointed with chicago’s Chinese food, until now.

I hate driving to Chinatown and am just now discovering this little section near Arlington Heights that I can get my Asian fix. I was a bit hesitant because after a quick look at Bistro Chen’s menu, I noticed it has a bit of everything from pad thai to sushi to dim sum and I think I saw phở in there as well. But I read the review and took my fellow Unilocaler’s advice and paid them a visit.
I ordered beef shumai, pork ribs, shrimp and chives dumplings, egg tarts and a big bowl of Taiwanese beef noodle soup. A bit of an expensive lunch ($ 28) but the dim sum that I ordered were pretty awesome! The noodles for my beef soup were too soft for my liking, almost like spaghetti and the broth was thicker than what I’m used to and a tad sweet. It tasted like there were a lot of tomatoes in it. What I did like were the carrots (that’s how my dad use to make it!) and the preserved vegetables that were added on top.
The service started out great but then the man who served my dim sum one by one as it became ready kept confusing me with the next table. I ordered a total of four dim sum items and he seriously messed up on all four, giving my stuff to the next table and giving their stuff to me each time. I thought he was doing it on purpose for a second. But the main issue I had was I felt like I was being ignored after I received my food from the confused server. I had to flag down the staff 3 times for different things, including asking for the check after waiting 10 mins. I’m still impressed with this little gem and will definitely return!

On our weekly lunch date with Grandpa, and my lovely wife decided she was craving some Cantonese rice porridge… well considering we’re in the burbs and it’s a weekday, dimsum is hard to come by… but of course, we use Unilocal,make some phone calls, and find out that Bistro Chen does serve it up!
Décor: The place is modern/​trendy Asian. Only a few years old (according to the super nice waitress), it’s a great place for business, dinner dates, etc. Booths, tables, and a sushi bar… take your pick of what you’re most in comfortable in!
Service: Friendly from the start to finish. The Chinese waitress also spent some extra time talking with my grandfather (in Cantonese, as well as Mandarin) and took great care of us. Overall great service, but she was really exceptional.
Food: You know, I came in planning just to get dimsum dishes. And then I wanted to get a noodle dish for my grandfather (he’s a sucker for noodles), and of course the porridge for my wife. And then she recommended a few house specialties… so yes, I totally overordered… But here’s what I learned:
Rice porridge with pork and egg (congee) — Not very flavorful unfortunately… I’m guessing that they have a big pot of porridge warm, and then throw in whatever ingredients you ask for with the congee (chicken vs pork and egg vs. etc.) which is why overall, it’s not very flavorful. I’d suggesting avoiding.
Egg drop soup — Simple, warm, perfect for a 50 degree or below day. And very tasty. And it came with our lunch meal!
Turnip cake — Crispy edges, soft mushy interior. Just right. Exterior could use some more crisping probably, but the edges were just right.
Chinese Meatballs — These guys were so tender and light… and the flavor was just right, and steamed right in the bamboo container. Delicious and worth getting.
String beans with pork — This was the hidden gem/​sleeper of the place. I have no idea how they made it, but this was really amazing. I get this as a side dish everywhere we go just to have some veggies in our meal, but honestly, I’d go out of my way just to get it here. We even brought it home to my parents (too much leftovers), and they even mentioned how good it was. When a Chinese mom that cooks all the time says it good, it’s damn good.
Seafood Noodle Soup — The noodles were good, the seafood was plentiful. It just didn’t quite come together perfectly. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good bowl of noodles, it’s just not quite perfect.
Crispy skin chicken — The waitress introduced this as one of their specialties. It was quite tasty and definitely worth checking out! Skin was crispy (per the name sake) the chicken was cooked just to the right texture to have some chew.
Eggplant and fish pot — Another one the waitress introduced as a specialty, this was out of this world good. Lightly coated fish, eggplant, and all put into a pot simmering with a sauce… I could eat this all day. Seriously, get this dish. It’s so good…
Pork belly — Skin was crispy, meat was tender and chewy… but I’ve eaten and made a lot of pork belly in my amateur chef career, and I think I’ve made better…
Verdict: Amazing spot, wonderful customer service, more hits than misses with the food… get the string beans with pork, and eggplant/​fish pot, and I’ll nearly guarantee you’ll leave with a happy stomach. I definitely plan to return to try some of their other dishes!
Note: They serve sushi here as well… which I“m always hesitant to try when sushi isn’t the sole focus of a place… but perhaps we’ll give it a whirl?

We went because we had a $ 10 off coupon, which was a good thing because the place is way overpriced. Food quality was decent to good, but service was AWFUL. Our food took forever to arrive, and the waiter had to be reminded three times to bring my son a Coke. The waiter also forgot to turn one of our dim sum orders in to the cook, so we finally canceled it. Even with the $ 10 off coupon, the bill was still way too high for what we received. We will not return. (We’re better off driving the hour each way to Chinatown and back, where the food is better and cheaper). Several of the menu items were either marked off as unavailable or we were told by our waiter they were unavailable AFTER we ordered them.
Not impressed.

Pros: We visited on Sunday for dim sum and this was my first experience where the dishes were cooked to order and not wheeled around and snatched up quickly from those carts, like in the bay area of CA. But the place wasn’t crowded so that makes sense… Everything we ordered arrived fresh/​hot and was served at kind of a steady pace, the place felt clean and modern, it was not busy/​loud, and our service was attentive. OH, and my sister-​in-​law ordered a bloody mary, which she loved! We will be back.
Cons:?

Today we ordered dim sum and before we got anything from the kitchen a man with a SCREAMING child entered and asked for the booth next to us.
The waitress tried to get him to take the child outside but he refused saying she missed her mother
TIP: Get a wife, you idiot! After a few minutes of this absolutely wild screaming child and very little understanding by the English challenged waitress/​hostess we got up and left.
Update: We decided to give it another try and found the service has improved. And they have some of the better dim sum we have tasted. We really wanted to like this place and we’re glad we gave it another chance.

Been wanting to try since read review in chicago tribune as one of top Chinese places! It was quite good. Have tried many in area and found greasy with bad fillers. I loved the staff so friendly, prompt and really seemed to care. My husband and i both had the bento dinner box — lots of food with variety. It comes with soup choices — had egg drop and hot and sour — both were decent. I had Mongolian beef — pretty bland, fried rice — literally just rice and oil the highlight was the tasty egg roll and veggie shrimp tempura! Yum
My husband had orange chicken that he really enjoyed, spicy tuna roll, crab ragoon, and fried rice — he was very satisfied.
Saw lots of general tso entrees being delivered — large family style portions
I thought bento boxes were great value at$ 15.95
Looking forward to going back to try more authentic dishes will ask for more spice
Give it a try!!!

I used to love this place. The food is still good, but I won’t be eating here again. About a month ago I went to lunch with a girlfriend and the service was horrible. I asked for no wasabi on the nigiri and they put it on any way. When I told them, they came back and said «we are not taking this off the bill». After a long argument they took it off finally.
Then last night I called to order two orders of California rolls for carry out. I got it home and it has brown/​black stripes running through it. I picked it up at 9:20 and they close at 9:30 so I had to wait until today to call. When I called, the manager fought me saying she needs picture proof and time stamps. WHY WOULD I MAKE THIS UP? Horrible service. Like I said, the foods good but it’s not worth it. I will be taking my business elsewhere.

I love dim sum, have had it in many places across the globe, and was really excited when I learned that Bistro Chen was serving it nearby. Had a chance to go today and it was okay, not outstanding.
Service was very good, they kept my soda full, food came quickly and was hot, and they were very pleasant.
The food was just nothing to write home about. Pork buns started great, the bun itself was not too heavy but very little filling. The fried pork dumplings also at first seemed great, hot but not greasy, but the more I ate, the more I had breading and the sweet gooey interior until I got to the pork, which was not nearly enough.
The shrimp rice crepes were very good as were the spring rolls, nothing at all to complain about but not better than you would get at any restaurant in SF or London (but they would not be embarrassed there, either).
The tofu stuffed with pork and shrimp was okay but nothing special, the sauce lacked flavor.
I also had one other type of dumpling and forgot the name but again it was okay but not special.
Overall, it was not a bad meal, but my expectations were much higher.

My family has a yearly tradition of getting Chinese food after church on Christmas Eve. We used to eat at Chin’s every year for Christmas Eve so when Chin’s closed and Bistro Chen opened in it’s place, we figured we’d try it out, for tradition’s sake.
The new owners of this restaurant completed changed the interior. Gone are the long booths and the dark, almost intimate dining area. Now it’s an open area with brighter lights and lighter wood tables. It almost seems much smaller.
The menu has changed in that there is dim sum and sushi on it. The entrée menu is much smaller and streamlined. Which makes sense for the kitchen but it made it difficult to find something I wanted to eat. I’m used to the long sprawling menus of Chinatown restaurants so this almost felt like a joke. I almost ventured onto the sushi menu but then I saw they had sushi with mozarella cheese — uhm what?
After much deciding, my family of four decided on two orders of egg rolls, an order of crab rangoons, Kung Poa Chicken, and the Volcano Chicken. The egg rolls were quite nice and the crab rangoons had more crab than cream cheese. That’s where my enjoyment ended. The two entrees were more than enough for four to share but the Kung Pao chicken lacked the punch you usually expect. The volcano chicken, labeled spicy, was just lacking. There wasn’t enough chicken in either entrée which was pretty disappointing.
Overall, I wouldn’t make the trek to go back. But since it’s one of the only Chinese restaurants in the area, my family will probably go back… just becuase it’s there.