Won Kow Restaurant

Very good food. Nice old time ambiance. Large, comfortable dining room. Friendly attentive service. Large portions. Good value for good food.

We have been coming here for years and we are always pleased with the food. We have tried other restaurants in Chinatown, but always come back. When coming as a group, we always get the large soup what a great value.

Large place on the 2^nd floor of a building in Old Chinatown. Environment was bit confused, decorations included images from cities in China (Shanghai, Beijing) but the music was 90s pop (?). Service was quick and on point, food looked and smelled appetizing. Cashew chicken nice nutty flavor, crunch from the cashews and from celery, beef of good quality, I just wish there was more variety in the stir-​fried vegetables included. The wait staff also chased us down the street to return a bag we left there, incredibly helpful.

I Love this place! Service very good! I would highly recommend the Chinese Broccoli and Orange Chicken, The salt and pepper shrimp are also great, fried to near perfection with just the right amount of seasoning!

I’ve been here a few times since my very first time in 2009. Sooooooo good. Everything I’ve had has been very tasty. My favorite is the kung pao chicken. They also have amazing dumplings. The sauce selection they provide is really good too. The décor is kind of weird, but it adds to the charm of the place. I’ve never had alcohol here, but it looks like an exciting selection of fruity/​tropical drinks. The food comes quickly and the service is friendly enough.

Just ordered a pork fried rice to go with my friends 2 kids for their sister who wasn’t able to join us on our trip to China town. I told them to keep the change and we waited patiently by the door for our order. On the way out I asked for a fortune cookie for the 2 kids and was told no they were not included with my to go order. Unreal, denying a 4 year old a fortune cookie? There was a couple leaving behind is with a butch of fortune cookies so I know they do have them. Will never go back out of principle. I only Unilocal 5 stars if I really like a restaurant and try to never Unilocal negative reviews about a restaurant. This experience is causing me to write this review. Will never go back. Horrible attitude…

I went here yesterday on Sunday with a bunch of friends from my LGBT group I run. My first impression of this place was blah as I walked in I had to go up a huge flight of stairs. That is not handicap accessible at all. The restaurant is a good size for being upstairs. I was surprised they had an American menu as well with a cheeseburger on it. Well I ordered the beef fried rice. I also had a margarita as well. The drink had way to much alcohol in it. But for $ 4.50 oh well. So my food was nice huge portion. It was ok nothing that exciting maybe because I am used to Panda Express lol. I was with a large group of people 8 total. I don’t think I will be coming back here anytime.

I’ve been here three times, both very late, but I’m always treated very well. The food is very good and very fresh. The drinks are great and i always crave eating here. Very good and highly recommended! Parking is very close by too!

This is my third time here. I come once a year and have dim sum and a Mai tai. Very quiet place. Great dim sum.

I dined at Won Kow (1÷24÷16) with one of my girlfriends on a Sunday afternoon. I am on a mission to try every restaurant in Chinatown. So this was the first time I tried Won Kow. We were shocked that in a restaurant in Chinatown on Sunday, we were the ONLY patrons! Wow. At first that concerned us, but (thankfully) we decided to try it out any way.
Location/​Décor — I have always enjoyed the décor of all the restaurants in Chinatown. They are all so unique to the other, yet each has their own special aesthetic and opulence. Won Kow seemed a little bit more grand than a few of its sister restaurants. The restaurant is on the second floor which makes for prime people watching down below on the busy Wentworth Avenue.
Service — our servers were very prompt. We had one lady handling all of our food items, and one gentleman handling our tea and drinks. Both were very courteous and sincere with their service. They did not hover, but unlike other restaurants in the area, I did not have to hawk them down for a straw or refill. This is probably because we were the only diners in the place. But still. It was awesome.
Drinks — the tea was hot and delicious! Very aromatic as well. My friend ordered this huge alcoholic beverage that costed $$ but, but it was huge. She couldn’t finish it herself but she really tried! It tasted just like the beach!
Food — was pretty impressive! We ordered egg rolls, pot stickers, walnut shrimp, and general tao’s chicken.
* Egg Rolls– I have definitely had better, but they were still great. It is kind of hard to screw up egg rolls, especially in Chinatown, but again, I have had better. I think the problem I had was that these did not seem as juicy as others I have had. Like, there wasn’t any juicy shrimp or chicken or pork inside. the meat was dry. But still good. 3 stars.
*Potstickers — hands down the BEST potstickers in Chinatown. period. 5 stars. Talk about juicy! These were not all the way fried. They were lightly fried, so mostly steamed. Absolutely perfect! When mixed with the various sauces on the table… oh my gosh. Heavenly.
* Walnut Shrimp — very tasty! The broccoli was on point! The shrimp were huge and plump! The sauce was very unique! Coconuty-​mayo flavored but hard to explain. Paired with the candied walnuts… it made a very great dish. 5 stars.
* General Tao’s Chicken — was supposed to be spicy but it wasnt. The chicken to veggie ratio was not okay. 3 stars.
I cannot wait to return next year after I have tried out all of the others!

Went on Xmas day, very busy but worth the wait. Food was good and the wait staff was a little overwhelmed due to the crowd but they did a great job! Great place for a nice family time.
Don’t let the busy experience not make you come back!

We came here on a lunch break and were pleasantly surprised with everything. I always judge a place based on the siu mai and it did not disappoint. A little bit of a hike to get up to the restaurant but all in all a really great place. Also be aware that grabbing a taxi in Chinatown is a little more on the difficult side. Great thing this guy was willing to flip a u-​ey lol.

This place was a great surprise. It is in Chicago’s Chinatown. This is the oldest Chinese restaurant in Chicago. You walk up a flight of stairs to get to the restaurant. The food is American-​Chinese food, but oh so tasty. The menu is enormous. We had the shrimp almond ding, the vegetable hong sue tofu, and eight treasures duck. All of it was great. Giant size portions and we had plenty of left overs. The staff was very nice and the owner/​manager told us how Al Capone use to frequent the place. Capone would sit at the table in the corner by the window with his back at the wall so he could so who was coming into the restaurant from the street. His bodyguards would stand near the top of the stairs. The manager was very happy to take multiple pictures of us at Al Capone’s table. No trip to Won Kow is complete without having a Volcano drink. We chose the Long Island Ice Tea. It was great, but that was not what made it so special. The Volcano’s are served in a very huge ceramic glass with fire in the middle of it. Make sure you have a designated driver.

OH YEAH… DUMPLINGS…MAI TAI VOLCANO BOWL… MONGOLIAN BEEF… AND REPEAT!!!
My Lord we love this place. This is a guilty pleasure place. Its Western Style Chinese, no doubt. It is also kind of a throw back with the dishware, the ambiance, and the food. Boy do we love those Mai Tai Bowls!!! The steamed dumplings are so great, especially with the red vinegar and hot mustard sauce.
The ladies running the show are also great, they laugh at us once we start over ordering the drinks, but its the way to go.
Big round tables, bring your pals, have volcano bowl races (do you see where I’m going with this)??? We have a tradition a couple of times a year where we do a Chinatown crawl, and this is always ALWAYS our first spot!

Last time I went to china town, I went to a restaurant that had really good ratings but unfortunately I wasn’t that satisfied because I didn’t really know what to order. Thankfully this time I went with someone who knew what to get. We obviously had to get their egg rolls-​because come on now who doesn’t love egg rolls? And I’m glad we did because they were yummy! I was craving beef so I ordered the Kung pao beef. It was good but I’ve definitely had better. We also got orange chicken. I liked how crispy and fresh it tasted. Not enough rice was given to us though. Overall, yeah it was good food so I’d go again. The service was good as well. We went on a Wednesday so wasn’t busy at all.

I started coming here in the early to mid 90’s and quickly became a favorite until I was here on March 21, 2015 with my wife for Dim Sum… the place hasn’t changed since the 90’s! except the service was almost nonexistent there was no Dim Sum cart service in the area of the restaurant they seated us, so everything had to be ordered from the picture menu and none of the Dishes had any of the flavors I grew up teasing from any of the 100’s of Dim sum shops in NYC or this restaurant once had back in the 90’s
The place had Americanized the flavors from that of true authentic Chinese Dim Sum!
If I wanted slow over priced Americanized Chinese food I’d go to any of The Pizza Hut chain Restaurants (aka Panda Express)!!!
I will never be coming back to restaurant again and never recommending this place ever either!

This is heaven I might wanna just skrrrrrrt up here at 9am tomorrow and leave at midnight tomorrow night and just drink zombies all day and eat egg rolls and almond cookies
The mai tai was strong and amazing but the zombie was like ridiculously delicious

Food is ok but don’t come here for the service. We went for Dim sum.
They were fairly busy but not overwhelmingly so. After we got a table no one came to take our order. So we had to chase down someone to put in our order.
They brought over Tea, water and the food and took away the empty dishes but other than that we were mainly just ignored. Then we had to flag down someone to pay the bill and made sure we had exact cash so we don’t have to wait.
If you want Dim Sum I’d go with Ming Hin where the food and service are A+.

So, when I want to introduce my friends & family to the lovely world of Dim Sum, here’s where I bring them. I’ve been a fan for over 20 years now.
Why?
Well, it is good, tasty food and a friendly place for a beginner to get acquainted with this different style of Chinese cuisine. The restaurant is not one of those huge, crowded open rooms with the metal carts crashing around. (I like that experience too, but it can be overwhelming at first.) It is a more intimate experience.
The service is efficient and friendly with a cozy family restaurant vibe.
The Dim Sum selection is not huge and exotic, but it is authentic and tends to focus on shrimp, seafood, chicken and pork. (They have the fun stuff like curried squid and chicken feet, too.)
Also, you just order your choices from the Dim Sum menu (with pictures!) and they bring you what you want, hot and fresh from the kitchen. The fried items are just right, not greasy or lukewarm, like at some other places I’ve been.
The Lotus Rice is excellent with large portions! In my constant search for the perfect egg roll, they are in my all time top 5 list.

The oldest Chinese restaurant in goes Chinatown, it opened in 1928. Al Capone frequented Won Kow restaurant, he sat at the table in the front corner near the window. There are many interesting stories here, along with good food and great service! Be sure to have a good appetite when you come here portions are large and most customers take-​home plenty of leftovers. Good egg rolls that are crisp without being greasy. The food is served hot and is displayed well on the platters.
They are open at nine in the morning for dim sum and stay open until 10:00 PM Sunday through Thursday, on weekends they are open until 12.