02/09/07

Allways a good meal

by timmymc3

Ben Pao may be often overlooked for smaller, more traditional Chinese restaurants but it certainly shouldn't be. The food is always well prepared, tasty and presented nicely. I have never had a bad meal there and would recommend it to anyone looking to enjoy a good Chinese dinner. P.S. Try the Spring Rolls

• Pros: Always solid, great service
• Cons: Sometimes the wait is too long

10/11/09

Great for Gluten Free Night out

by TDuncan

We contacted the restaurant before our recent trip to Chicago to find out a bit more about their Gluten Free dishes. We have not been able to find a good sweet and sour chicken for OVER a year since going gluten free due to our son's Celiac Disease. So, we thought we would ask to see if they could accomodate and accomodate they did.

The VP came out and introduced himself and was very interested in making our son's dining experience with them special AND SAFE!

The sweet and sour chicken was flavorful and plentiful. The sauce was not heavy and the breading on the chicken was not so heavy you couldn't find the chicken. The taste was excellent and our service was excellent. It was NOT loud during our dinner. It was busy and we had no problems with getting drinks refilled or things delivered quickly.

We WILL definitely be back. We had gluten free and gluten filled items at our table and enjoyed them all.

The wheat free beer on the menu is an ale that had lots of taste and I would have never known it was wheat free. My husband ordered the wheat free beer although he didn't need to and really liked it.

He also ordered a chicken that was lightly breaded in an orange flavored sauce that was awesome. Very light again on the breading and lots of great flavor.

Our compliments to Ed Culleeney for making our dinner out both safe and enjoyable!

Kudos to you and your staff,

• Pros: Good service, atmosphere and prices
• Cons: parking like everything else in Chicago!

09/21/09

Bad service outweighs good food

by chicagolawlady

I went here recently for a friend's birthday. Our party was large enough (10 people) that the server received the automatic 18% tip. Throughout the night, she barely paid any attention to our table, and was borderline rude when she was taking our orders. Everything we ordered took an extremely long time to arrive. Also, the restaurant's policy is to only take three types of payment for each table. This makes paying in a group very difficult. I bet this restaurant would be great if you went with small group, but do not go here in a larger group.

• Pros: yummy food
• Cons: terrible service

01/23/09

bad headache

by capitalgroup

have been a fan in the past and have recommended to others, not likely to go back. although totally get chinese new year, this evening it was too loud and had drums that would cause a headache to anyone. after a long week had a table of adults, the drum was stopped at the table, all had their heads down with fingers in ears to stop the level and asked that the drums move slightly forward, the staff, with arms crossed over chessed, dismissed the request, asked for manager who also didnt seem to get it. too bad. after that, the food that had been good in the past didn't seem to compensate for what was an unnecessarily bad evening.

12/06/08

Ben Pao

by rashad83

The food is great and tasty, the vibe is cool. good place to try some great Chinese dishes, service was good but could be better, oh and btw Obama was dining at a restaurant next door, security was all over the place.

• Pros: Food
• Cons: none

01/02/08

Great customer service and superb food

by fl_doc

We just happened upon this place one Friday and decided to try it out. It looks like PF Chang's meets The Big Bowl, but the food and service surpassed them both. Our waitress was knowledge about the menu and made great recommendations throughout our meal - she even suggested a wine that turned out to be perfect. Since it was our first time in the restaurant the manager brought over an appetizer - what a pleasant surprise. This place is perfect for a date or to hang out with a group of friends. Great food, atmosphere, and prices!

05/24/07

Great Service

by skimmetry

My husband and I were in Chicago this past weekend visiting and we were roaming around downtown hungry and looking for a good restaurant. We stumbled about Ben Pao and decided to check it out. I have to admit, upon first glance, it seems like a typical PF Chang's type restaurant: very Americanized Chinese fare with caucasian waiters wearing chi paos (a la the first few scenes of Zach Braff in Garden State). All this did make me initally wary, however, the experience turned out to be great. Our waitress immediately introduced herself and was attentive throughout the night without being overbearing. We ordered a large bowl of hot and sour soup to start (which was good but not amazing) but a few minutes later a gentleman showed up at our table delivering chicken and shrimp fried spring rolls. I started to correct him on our order, but it turned out he was the manager and that the waitress had told him that we were out of towners from Houston. The manager simply wanted to welcome us to the restaurant personally and give us a complimentary appetizer.

My husband and I went to a lot of good restaurants during our stay in Chicago, but this was the only restaurant that made such an effort to make us feel welcome and to extend such hospitality. It wasn't so much the spring rolls (although they were very very good, and we usually don't eat fried food) but the subtle graciousness of the waitress and the manager that we were so impressed with. I highly recommend that people try to this place. It's amazing what an impact great service can have on your dining out experience. I've noticed recently that even at the nice restaurants, the waitstaff often seem nonchalant and flippant, distracted, and not too interested. This was a nice breath of fresh air.

By the way, we had the special beef with shitake mushrooms and the spicy eggplant and tofu-both were which were great.

• Pros: Very reasonably priced, Impeccable service
• Cons: Great Chinese food, but not truly authentic

01/15/07

Great Chinese in River North

by ndgravy

My wife and I went to Ben Pao and found the food to be very good. We had egg rolls and chicken satay's as starters, and then I had the 7 Flavor Chicken while my wife had the Kung Pao Chicken. Both of us were impressed with both the quality of the food and the attentiveness of the service. We definitely would refer any one we know to try out the great food at Ben Pao's.

• Pros: Food, Price

09/21/06

My girl loves their fish

by rickyta

My boo and I have gone to this place MANY times. It always puts her in a good mood and she's hard to please. I rec this place ALWAYS to my buds that want to impress.

• Pros: cool atmosphere

06/16/06

Great atmosphere.

by jkdaves

Love the large menu selection. Great for large groups and sharing. good food and service. very reasonably priced.