Tamarind

Worst red curry I’ve had and I’ve tried a lot. It was very soupy/​watery/​more white than red and didn’t have any real taste. Needed more curry flavor and less coconut milk. Either I got a fill in chef or something because I can’t imagine people would reorder what I had — ever. On the plus side, the customer service was good and the white rice had a nice flavor and stickiness to it. Perhaps other dishes are better. I hope. The photos of other things look good.

Ordered takeout to my hotel and it arrived super fast! Everything was delicious from the orange glazed chicken to the LO mein. The only thing we didn’t care for was the ahi tuna poke. Overall delicious food and fast delivery. Very happy

Average food — neither too good, nor bad.
We ordered — Garlic Chicken and Red Curry via Foodler on ⁶⁄₄. Prior was slightly disappointing, latter was okay. I have had far better versions of the two. Food was very heavy, they can definitely do a little bit less of oil.
All-​in-​all — A-​OK!

I recently moved back to the sloop, and was so glad to see this place was still open. It’s the same ol’ Asian restaurant I remember, with the same great service, food, and prices. I love how big their menu is and that it spans across many different types of Asian cuisine, there’s always something new to try! The sushi is BOMB – always super fresh, and they have interesting signature rolls that never disappoint. They also have a basil fried rice that’s to die for. Tamarind definitely feels more elevated than your typical Asian take-​out restaurant and that shows in both the ambiance and the quality of their food.
Service here has always been great whether dining in, or ordering take-​out. We ordered delivery last week and our food was at our apartment within 25 minutes… WAY before the estimate we were given which was a nice surprise.

We came here today for a birthday lunch, and it was fantastic. We were seated right away, and the waitress was able to get our orders in really quick and we got our food in 15 – 20 minutes. They have a large menu that covers a lot of different Asian foods so there is bound to be something that someone likes or accommodates the differences in what people are in the mood for. The hot and sour soup and salad are pretty good with the lunch special. I got the chicken lettuce wraps and that was pretty delicious as well. The prices were very reasonable, and our waitress was decent. I could have used a refill on my water, but luckily we had an extra glass at the table.

Fast delivery. Nice preparation. NO TASTE.
Our first order: We chose General Tso’s chicken and orange chicken, and neither of us could tell which dish was which (!). No real taste.
Mongolian beef was good.

Wide assortment of Asian entrees (Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese) but mainly Southeast Asian. I ordered the big bowl of Tamarind Duck soup. Served up steaming hot with great Vermicelli noodles, strong ginger taste but very little duck. Close but when part of the name includes duck, you expect more than a tiny strip of duck.

Don’t order delivery from here. The food is good– I’ll certainly say that. However, when I didn’t tip a driver enough after the food took more than an hour and a half to get, he called me a bitch. When I called the restaurant, they said it’s because he doesn’t know English well (well, he knows that word) and that they will ask him about it. And then they hung up. Well, twice and never again. Thanks for the memories!

The guy with glasses at the front desk help me order the carry-​out. He didn’t pay attention at all. First, I want pineapple fried rice with shrimp, he ordered combination instead. When I found out I told him, he said sorry he ordered combination pineapple fried rice for me. I can accept combination as well so I didn’t change the order for his convenience. When I get home, I open my box and there is regular fried rice in my bag⋯⋯ so speechless

Tamarind really needs to improve its customer service when it comes to carry-​out orders. I placed two of the lunch entrees recently for carry-​out. The menu indicates that Lunch Specials come with soup. Don’t bother counting on the soup, they wont give it to you. Its a real bummer when you order a lunch entrée for $ 10 and you don’t receive half of the order. The lunch special entrée itself is a smaller size than if you order a regular menu size, but it you don’t receive the soup, you are paying the same amount for less food. Also, don’t bother to indicate the spice level or ask for a side of chili sauce because they wont give that to you either.
The food here is pretty good, but if they only give you half of what you paid for, its a really bad deal. BOOO!

I drove here after work to meet up an old coworker. Parking was super easy on a Tuesday. The place was nicely decorated, pretty simple in nature. Those are usually the most beautiful places. I ordered some b fresh spring rolls and the tamarind duck soup. The spring rolls were a little dense for my taste. The soup was very warm and delicious though. My friend, who has a lot of allergies, had a lot of options to choose from. Service was great.

My sisters originally wanted to go to Chinatown for their birthday. However, one of them is vegetarian and I am vegan. Chinatown wasn’t the best choice for all of us given the abundance of meat, meat flavoring and meat broth in Chinese cuisine.
Instead, we went to Tamarind. I had forgotten that I went there before on a staycation with my best friend. I sent Tamarind a message asking if they use chicken broth or fish sauce, and if they could make dishes without them. They said they could! But they label what’s vegetarian on the menu anyway.
Prices are very reasonable, especially for South Loop. Most entrees are about $ 10 depending on what you add. Desserts are under $ 10, and they even have a dairy-​free dessert: rice with coconut soup and mango. That’s probably my favorite, because I have a sweet tooth. Coconut milk with sweet stuff in it. Can’t go wrong!
They serve standard Asian fare from various Asian cuisines. A bit of Thai, a bit of Japanese, a bit of Asian. Huge selection. I’m a fan of their ginger and garlic eggplant, which is a little more garlicky than ginger-​y.
Tamarind is definitely among my favorite South Loop spots, and so far is my favorite south side Asian restaurant.
(Yes I know not everyone considers South Loop really «south side» because of its affluence, but I am being flexible with my definition of south side)

The service was fast and the waiters were very polite and attentive. The seats were comfortable and very warm to combat the cold weather outside.
The menu was vast but I really felt like this restaurant could benefit with more a focus and less items. They had thai, chinese, japanese, and even a few korean items — like a Kimchi appetizer! But like that saying — Jack of all trades is the master of none. That is the feeling I got from their food. Yes the food was decent but it wasn’t amazing. Decent portion sizes but to somewhat underwhelming. I had the chirashi mixed bowl and the servers didn’t seem to know what that was… I think it speaks more to the overwhelming menu than the waitress lack of ability/​knowledge.

Well this used to be a favorite place to dine after an afternoon of music in the Fine Arts building but unfortunately Tamarind has lost it’s flavor and luster.
So I pulled out my iPhone to check a Unilocal review and saw that all the recent reviews for the last three years before were similar to to our experience. Too late for us so that was a lesson learned. Use Unilocal BEFORE going into a restaurant!

In town for a conference and came here for lunch with two other folks, and it was ok (just ok). One person in our party said, «there’s so much on the menu that, if they focused on one thing, it would be much better.» There are lots of different cuisines represented (Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai).
I had a Plum Saketini and it was heavy on the lime, which I wasn’t expecting (it didn’t have a plum wine taste to me).
One member of the party ordered Gyoza and shared them with us, and this was a very good dumpling.
My entrée was Chicken Pad Thai and it didn’t have a lot of flavor. It didn’t have a «spicy» indicator on the menu, so I asked for it to be spicy … didn’t happen. Another member of our party ordered the Pad See Ew, which was indicated to be «spicy» and it was not, so we asked for some hot sauce, which helped a bit.
Overall, it was ok, but I wouldn’t come back.

Meh, I won’t try this place again. It wasn’t bad per-​say, but it wasn’t good either.
1) It looks nice from the window and the doorway, which kind of raises your expectations very high.
2) The waitstaff was polite and appropriately friendly. They didn’t try to give me the check as some Asian restaurants seem to do to African American women who are on a date. She placed it in the middle of the table — fair enough I guess.
3) The calamari was served at room temperature in a to go box, why? It was oily and gummy like it was two days old. Also why not serve it in a bowl, if the patrons are dining in?
4) The food arrived — large American sized portions! Sadly, it just wasn’t good enough to take in a to go container so we just left it on the table and money wasted.
5) The food was meh well just okay, but considering the wide variety of options in this neighborhood for Asian food being just okay is a waste of time.

Your average Thai restaurant. The server was efficient and kind. We were served cucumber + lemon water when we first entered which was a step up from your normal tap water. I chose the Thai red curry and my coworker got the chicken lettuce wraps. The food was average, nothing extraordinary but filled the Asian food craving we were having. The portions were huge as you can tell so I wasn’t even close to finishing my meal at the end. Would recommend for anyone looking for some Thai cuisine in the loop.

I was advised to eat at Tamarind from the concierge service at the hotel. She was right-​this place was great.
It starts with something as simple as the water which is flavored with cucumber and lemon. The server, Wow (from Thailand), arrived at my table within two minutes and was very polite, friendly, and knowledgeable about the menu.
My appetizer was a piece of salmon sashimi along with ikura (salmon eggs) and wasabi tobiko (fish eggs). All three were fresh and flavorful.
My main entrée was the three kind mushrooms. I thought it was only going to arrive that way and was pleasantly surprised when other vegetables were in the dish as well (red pepper, carrots, broccoli, snow pea pods, fresh ginger). The mushrooms were white, shiitake, and wood ear. This entrée had best flavor and was cooked to perfection.
I finished my meal with some lychee ice cream. It was refreshing and settling to my pallet.
Tamarind is definitely a place that I’ll come back to in the future.

This place is pretty interesting — the décor is great, the service is prompt, there’s tons of choices on the menu, and the presentation and color of the food is excellent.
The bad part is that it’s a bit pricey (although not terrible for the loop) and not extremely authentic — however with that said, if you’re looking for a milder introduction to more unique Asian cuisine — this place is perfect. It would be similar to taking something like PF Changs but introducing a couple more traditional ingredients and dishes to the mix — being careful not to be too spicy or put in an excessive amount of oils and herbs.
The flavors are really the only thing that I can really criticize as the portion size was pretty good, the textures were all on point, food temperature was good (although if you’re sitting outside, remember Chicago is windy so your food will cool down quickly), and they use fresh ingredients instead of sauces to add flavor when possible. So the food is still enjoyable even if you were looking for more authentic flavors (which, in this case — you should probably hop over to Chinatown quickly as most Asian food in the loop is a bit more mild).
In summary, I’ll be back — I know tons of friends who would love a restaurant like this, which is a in a convenient spot near many Chicago landmarks and offers a wide variety of options for everyone.

Good service? Check.
Fast? Check.
Affordable? Check.
Good food? Miss.
To start, the menu itself at Tamarind is confusing. Any restaurant classified as «Asian» that also has sweet potato fries on the menu should be a red flag. It’s definitely an eatery with an identity crisis, trying to cover too many types of food options. Classic quantity vs. quality situation. But we settled on crab rangoon as an appetizer, and 3 sushi rolls to split: the spicy tuna, tropical seafood maki, and california roll. Even though all of the food was served ridiculously fast, none of it was very good. If I were in the area again, I’d go to a different restaurant.