Pl8

This continues to be one of my favorite Chinese restaurants. The variety is amazing. Sushi, Chinese and Japanese entrees. The quality of food is amazing. We had a early Father’s Day dinner and loved it very much. My server Anna was amazing.

I’ve eaten at PL8 several times. I like the atmosphere, the servers are always good, and the food is a step up from the Asian food available in the area. I enjoy the General Tso’s Chicken, but sometimes I’m tempted by the sushi.

Love this place! My husband and I come several times a month. Have not had a dish yet that we haven’t enjoyed. 7 flavor chicken, sashimi, edamame and the stuffed mushrooms are my favorite. Excellent desserts as well.

On Friday night I ordered carry out from Pl8 for convenience. The staff checked the order before giving it to me. When I arrived home and opened the bag I realized that they did not give me gluten free chicken but instead breaded shrimp which is not gluten free and which I cannot eat due to dietary restrictions. I called Pl8 and spoke with the manager who said she had packed the order (but apparently didn’t pay attention to the fact that the receipt said GF chicken, not breaded shrimp). The manager’s solution was for me to drive all the way back to the restaurant for the food I ordered or get a credit for next time. A credit for next time did not solve the problem that I still had nothing that I could eat for dinner. I drove back to the restaurant to retrieve my food. I asked the manager if I could receive a credit for the inconvenience of returning to the restaurant to pick up the proper order as it was 100% their error. The manager stated they didn’t do that and turned her back on me and walked away. Pl8 has a gluten free menu but management is clearly ambivalent toward patrons with dietary restrictions or food intolerance. Management is also not interested in satisfactorily correcting their errors and clueless about customer service. We will not be returning and I would not recommend this restaurant to family or friends. Skip it if you want to avoid poor customer service.

I came here with my family for my fav Aunt’s b-​day. She and my cuz have been before and they did not steer us wrong. The service was really great. I unfortunately don’t remember our servers name but she was super nice and totally accommodating because we were the annoying table of females who were talking too much to look at the menu… several times.
We had the spring rolls and edamame which were very good. I am normally a strictly Sashimi gal in a Sushi restaurant, but I tried the wide noodles with beef on their recommendation and they were great. Too bad I left my doggie bag in my cuz’s car when I jumped out to catch the train… yum, lunch for her… no lunch for me. :(

Delicious and great service too!
My husband is GF and our server was very knowledgable and helpful in that regard. I had some sangria drink that was amazing! Ching Chang soup is sooo good!

This was my second time eating here, the first time was very good! I’m always a sucker for a sushi place that offers brown rice in their rolls which is what sold me. We got the spicy scallop roll, autumn roll, sunrise roll, and caterpillar roll. Even though we came in a bit before close on a slow Sunday night the fish tasted very fresh and the presentation was beautiful. We left sufficiently full and even took leftovers. We sat and the bar and Patrick served us. He was absolutely wonderful. Extremely personable and gave amazing service. I would go back solely for him and his company. Super nice and didnt make us feel rushed or anything. I can’t rave about him enough, truly a great employee. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would recommend and will hopefully be going back again!

The mix of food is excellent. There is a separate gluten free menu. A well priced and wife selection on the kids menu goes beyond the typical hotdog and fries.

I have eaten here many times. Food is consistently good. Service is decent. Atmosphere is very Barrington. One of the better Asian restaurants in the area.

This is a hidden gem in the corner of The Foundry.
The appetizers are outstanding and the Mai Tais were perfect. Not too sweet just right. There were 8 of us and we each ordered different items on the menu and all of us enjoyed our entrees. We will definitely go back.

It took the server 15 minutes to come to our table. She waited first on people that came in after us, they received their drinks before she even came to our table. The service was not good the plates were not cleared before the entrees came out, the menus were left on he table. I did notice she took better care of people that were drinking alcohol. The food was very good we had the hot and sour soup, pot stickers and Thai basil shrimp.

Went here on a wed evening and was seated immediately. Atmosphere was very comfortable and friendly. Server was excellent and made sure our food was perfect. The green curry chix was delicious. I will definitely return again.

I’ve been here a few times. Each time it was great. Nice food and strong drinks. The only fall back was the service. Perhaps they were short that night or something was going on. If you are in the area and crave some good Asian food I would give it a shot. I’ll be back.

I’ve been to this place a couple of times when they first opened and was quite impressed. However, went back again recently and found it to be just OK. The bartender was a screwball who didn’t radiate much hospitality and the wine offerings seemed very retail name oriented. We settled for some Sake which was tasty.
The Sushi was good, but certainly not great. It appears to be a tough area for restaurants as I saw Barrington Bistro across the parking lot has closed its doors.
I don’t believe I will be returning to pl8.

We really enjoyed our first trip to Pl8 this weekend!
PROS: Food = full of flavor, fresh, absolutely delicious. We ordered the potstickers for an app and they were tender and full of flavor. The ginger soy sauce … Oh my … I could drink it with a straw. At our servers recommendation, I ordered the Seven Flavor Chicken and it did not disappoint. Our server (who was excellent, friendly, knowledgeable) tailored the dish to fit my palate for not overly spicy food (took the dried chiles out). Huge portion, had it for leftovers. My hubby ordered off their specials menu — the Asian fish and chips with sweet potato fries, Asian slaw, and wasabi tartar sauce. He enjoyed every bite. The fish was fresh and flaky, a nice light crisp tempura batter. Oh, and the sake sangria is delicious, but sweet! Definitely give it a try. They make a powerful mai tai also.
CONS: Loud! They also don’t have a section for those who are waiting for a seat, so it makes it extra noisy and crowded in there. Our view was mainly of waiting patrons, which was distracting and annoying. Those two cons are the only reason Pl8 gets 4 stars instead of 5.
We will absolutely be back again! Can’t believe it took us so long to go there. Can’t wait to try more delicious items off their menu.

Certainly one of the nicest restaurants we’ve been to out here in Barrington. The food is prepared beautifully. The service is exemplary and the waiters are knowledgeable and helpful. We never have a problem getting seated if we have reservations on weekends. The food is so good that there is often a line to get in so I would advise reservations on Friday and Saturday. This place is well worth the visit.

Pl8 is basically an Asian fusion restaurant that has a very modern feel to it. They have a cool looking bar and the overall décor of the place feels like a trendy restaurant you would find in the city.
I actually really enjoyed the food. The portions aren’t that big, but I would say its balanced by the great flavor. My go to dish is hands down the black peppered garlic beef. I’m a garlic lover and this beef definitely passes my standards. If you go with a group, they’ll usually bring white or brown rice for the table instead of individual portions.
The downfall of Pl8 in my opinion is the terrible service. I’ve been here several times and even hosted a lunch event for work here. Every time I’ve been here, the service has been extremely slow. I especially recall one time, all we wanted was a refill of rice because they just gave us one small bowl for the 4 people at our table. Our waiter didn’t check up on us frequently even though the place wasn’t busy, and even after we were finally able to ask him for more, he just flat out never brought it.
While I think the food has good flavor and it’s a cool looking restaurant, I’ll probably choose to go somewhere else for my lunch hour because of the slow service.

So happy that something this wonderful moved in! Barrington isn’t known for having a foodie scene and this strip mall definitely needed something special after G Whiz moved to another location, taking most of the traffic in the neighborhood with it.
I’ve been here probably 10 times now and I have not had a bad meal. We have a few fan favorites like the Black Mamba and the Crabby I Yam but there is not a bad roll on the menu. They normally have specials which CANNOT be overlooked, one of my favorite rolls is the Cinco de Mayo roll (sadly no longer on the menu, maybe next year!) The tempura appetizer also is a good mix of veggies/​shrimp and even our vegetarian friends rave about the veggie only rolls. The service is always impeccable, drinks are kept full (and strong). The mai tai is a must for your first visit or if you are going alcohol free their iced green tea is the best.
You can easily make a reservation open table and during the summer they have patio seating. We hosted a birthday party here and they were very accommodating and the prices are on par with the area. We don’t come here for anything but sushi so I can’t speak to the other dishes but this has quickly become our go to sushi place in the suburbs! Make sure to take a fortune cookie (or two) on the way out!

Nice urban-​Asian styled décor in the restaurant, quiet atmosphere, great service.
Food was served pretty quickly after ordering and was delicious!
I had the Thai Basil Shrimp — it wasn’t very spicy to my standards, and the sauce was extremely acidic. Not my favorite dish, but I would definitely go back and try something else!
My husband had the Fireworks Salmon Roll and gobbled it up so fast.
My mom had a dish that I can’t remember the name of, but consisted of a combination of tofu and eggplant in a delicious sauce.
All in all a great experience for our first time visit, and I certainly hope to go back!

Order the 7 Flavor Chicken if you like well seasoned, crunchy, sweet/​sour and spicy. It was the best thing we tried. A close runner up was the scallops followed by a special — black peppered shrimp. The MaPo Tofu used very soft tofu but had a thick (almost too thick) spicy sauce.
Chili fish was OK, flavor was mildly spicy but too soft in texture and needed more umami. The dry shredded beef had strips that were not shredded at all and it was not as flavorful as we expected given the description. Not bad, just not what we expected.
The calamari were crispy with a panko coating that was a bit too dark from over frying.
Spring rolls were delicate and crisp. Best app was the tuna tatami (?) chopped up spicy tuna on wonton crisps. Tuna poke roll was great.
Mixed drinks were tasty — the Mai Tai was very authentic and the Gin2 had a nice hot of ginger and gin.