Phoenix Inn

Pretty average Chinese food. Those four words sum up my experience at Phoenix Inn. Honestly, this quality of food is probably to be expected in a place such as Evanston. There is hardly anyone in the restaurant at all on most days! If you have a large group and are not particularly picky about food, Phoenix Inn would be an okay choice since it can accommodate larger parties of people.
Really though, there is nothing particularly outstanding about this restaurant. In my opinion, it is not even among the better Chinese restaurants that can be found in Evanston. I wish that there were better options but if you want cheap, fast food, bring yourself and your huge group to Phoenix Inn and you will get just that.

The best deal of Chinese Food in Evanston bar none. I might be biased though, since i visited this place when I was super hungry lol. It has a very cheap price –compared to other chinese restaurants nearby, lots of variety on the menu and very quick service –food was ready in about 4 mins! Taste is decent, just as good as standard Chinese food. I ordered the small size of Chicken Broccoli and it came in the right portion, i even saved some for later. Overall, i was satisfied and will stop by again for sure.

The atmosphere is nice, the food is good, the prices are reasonable.
The lunch specials are great.
They have a large selection of authentic food.
The only complaint I have is that the soup isn’t included in the lunch delivery.

I’ve never been super impressed by Phoenix Inn (and it’s definitely not my first stop if I’m craving Chinese in Evanston) but you do have to give them credit for good prices. You can get a TON of food for under $ 10 which is attractive to us poor college kids. Their beef chow fun, which I had last time I was here, wasn’t terrible but it was very forgettable. I think their authentic dishes are much better, so if you do have to come here, give those a try. The service is fine — it’s not crazy friendly or anything but they are fast!

I wish I could give this place no starts instead of one. The service was horrible, the waitress didn’t even say hello. The food was completely inedible, we ordered chicken and garlic sauce and orange chicken with chicken fried rice. The orange chicken was slimy and not cooked completely. The restroom was disgusting, it was used as storage and looks as if it’s never been cleaned. Will never be returning here.

If I could write a review and not use a star, I would. We tried to get the hostess to explain what was on the menu (not translated into English) that several folks raved about. She was not helpful at all. We ordered a selection of 5 entrees for take out from the regular menu as a result, and ended up throwing 3 of them in the trash as inedible. We frequent a variety of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Asian restaurants in Chicagoland and have never had this kind of experience. When we called them after trying to eat dinner, the hostess first said that «people in restaurant get different food than take-​out people.» Huh? She then said that «they were too busy». Too busy to cook something fresh, so send them home with something cold that had a bad smelling, congealed liquid on it? They had one occupied table while we waited for our order. Finally, she asked if this was our first time eating this kind of food. No, we responded. She hung up. Needless to say, we won’t be going back there ever again.

Phoenix Inn has quite a selection of foods. Highly suggest ordering from the lunch menu as prices are cheaper compared to dinner. Excellent Chinese takeout for college students on a budget. Great service but our server spoke in Chinglish so it was hard to understand. Otherwise, great food.

Was laid up in a medical rehab facility nearby. Hospital type food is pretty bland and needs spices. I had a craving for something that would make me burp and tickle my taste buds. After checking Unilocal I found this place was close enough and the photos looked good.
I ordered egg rolls (average but tasty), Kung Pao Beef (spicy and flavorful) and Pork Fried Rice (generous chunks of meat). Portions were generous and well worth the money.
Delivery was very fast and the driver courteous. I will be visiting the restaurant next time.

Absolutely my favorite Chinese restaurant in Chicago. They offer great selection of authentic Chinese dishes.
My favorites are: braised pork belly, beef brisket, hot and sour soup, roast eggplant, twice cooked pork, Szechuan boiled fish or beef, Lion head meatballs, lamb, etc.
I come here at least once a week. Although it doesn’t have fancy interior décor like most Chinese restaurants in Evanston do, the food is great and really satiating especially when I miss home.

One star down because the egg drop soup with the lunch special wasn’t included when you get delivery.
I do still enjoy their Chinese take-​out and will continue ordering from them again.

Favorite Chinese restaurant in Evanston!!! It should win Lao sze chuan by a landslide. That is, you have to know what to order. They have a separate short menu in Chinese, which contains a number of savory dishes. Order from that list would not disappoint you. My favorites are fried fish hot pot (kao yu huo guo), chicken soup with mushroom (xiao ji dun mo gu), beef with carrot (niu nan dun luo bo). Stir-​fry shredded potato (jian jiao tu dou si) was delicious. They also serve free hot tea as an alternative for water. The waitress was nice and friendly. I came with my boyfriend almost every other week and it saved us trips to Chinatown.

This is my favorite Chinese restaurant in Evanston! The food is authentic, the service is great, and it’s a place where you can relax and enjoy your meal.
Every time we eat here, we order the same dishes: garlic water spinach, green onion pancake, steamed fish, and the sliced beef with dipping sauce. All of these dishes are excellent and I highly recommend them, though I haven’t tried other dishes at Phoenix. The portions are the perfect size for two people to finish everything, and four dishes for under $ 30 is a great deal. The lady who brings the dishes is like a super sweet mom and always makes sure to ask if we have enough tea or rice. If you’re a regular customer, she’ll definitely remember you! We usually come here for dinner around 7−8pm and the service is pretty quick.
After trying other Chinese restaurants in Evanston, Phoenix is definitely my favorite in terms of food, service, and price. It has a family-​owned feel and is not as fancy as Lao Sze Chuan, which I like, because it feels more casual and I love coming here to relax and eat a delicious meal at the end of a long day.

This place is great for cheap Chinese food (lunch special). For $ 5 or $ 6, you can get a very filling amount of food that comes with either hot and sour soup or egg drop soup, an egg roll or crab rangoon, and white or fried rice. Service is good, and there are now punch cards so that your 10^th lunch special is free! Did you read that? FREE!
The quality of the food is average, but I can’t complain because there really isn’t any fantastic Chinese food in Evanston. I like to get the crispy chicken, sesame chicken, or egg foo young for lunch special. The cha shao and hong shao beef are also pretty tasty.
EDIT: The owners are such nice people! My friend joined us for lunch, but wasn’t planning on ordering anything. The owner kept asking him if he was sure that he didn’t want to eat, and he said yes. Later, the owner brought in a plate of almond cookies and peanuts for my friend to eat. SO KIND! I love it.

The service was ok but need more pace to do much professionally as they ordering our food but other than that food is awesome but not the best Chinese restaurant… n they need to do more friendly manner greetings while they guessing us as a customer… restaurant was clean n organized. But, they gotta do more better effort to let their restaurant business stay active!!! But, I’ll definitely will come again! Thanks for having me as ur customer!

This restaurant is TERRIBLE. With its blatant racism, unnecessary attitudes, and uncalled for disrespect, my dissatisfaction with Phoenix Inn is apparent. After trying to convince the manager to let us come pick up the food – because, as a college student, I sometimes cannot tip – he said that it’s easier to drop off, and refused to allow us to pick it up. The delivery guy said, «No tip? Next time, pick up your food and don’t ask for me.»
Even though the delivery charge was $ 2.50.
Kicker is, we didn’t ask for him to begin with. And he kept getting frustrated with me for NO REASON. Being the last person served when we went to the restaurant, and after being disrespected like this, I want the next customer to be aware.
Although the food is fine, the environment and customer service makes me not recommend it.

As a Chinese, I loved this place because of the great cook! Authentic chinese food with a very reasonable price!
Recommended dishes are the goat meat, the pork cooked with green peppers. and a lot others.
Service is not enough as a drawback.

I want to like Phoenix Inn. I really do. As one of the more authentic Chinese restaurants in Evanston, Phoenix Inn is often my choice when I crave Chinese food, but can’t make it to Chinatown.
However, the food is often too salty or too flavored for my taste. The serving sizes of each dish is minuscule compare to what I’m used to at larger Chinese restaurants. The severs and the kitchen are often overworked, that often times the food takes a long time to come out.
You can’t beat the price of the lunch special though.

The fancier chinese place down the street was packed so I decided to stop here. The interior could be better. Everything seems old and worn out, even the menu they gave me seemed caked with what seemed like 30 years of dirt and ripped apart (buy some new menus jeez!).
I ordered the orange chicken lunch special which came with fried rice, an egg roll, soup, and another side. I also had a smoothie. They treated me well dining in, asking if I was ok and bringing the food in courses. Up first was the egg drop soup, which was good. After awhile they brought out my lunch special. Everything looked great and the waitress said she had them throw in a little extra veggies for me. The orange chicken was cooked to perfection and the sauce was good too. It was nice and crisp, but not too crisp and all the vegetables were steamed which is a plus. Everything came out on some pretty nice plates as well.
My smoothie took way longer than expected and when I got it I was pretty disappointed. Its not really a «smoothie» (they put in way too much ice) more of an «icee» or «slushy» that had hints of watermelon. I ended up drinking half and throwing the rest away since it wasn’t that great.
In the end, this is one of the better Chinese places I’ve been to. They treated me well and even gave me some extra fortune cookies as I left. It would’ve been nice if they used yogurt for the smoothies instead of ice.

So I must have downed too many Xanax or something as I have no idea how I ended up here?! I was dying for some good Cantonese food so not sure why I didn’t listen to all the Unilocalers.
Anyway, there were a lot of young Asians here so I thought hey why not but they must be ordering from the Secret menu because I got the stupid white persons menu even tho I’m not white. So we ordered spring rolls which were greasy and tasteless. Also had the pot stickers which in all fairness was pretty good. Another friend ordered crab Rangoon and it had no crab taste whatsoever just all cream cheese.
We ordered the chicken with pan fried noodle and it was probably the most disgusting thing I’ve ever tasted. I bit into the chicken and I swear I heard a meow in the background. It was grisly! I mean what kinda chicken has gristle!!! It totally ruined my appetite — check!

Been here 2 times before, and today was the third day. The first two times, I went with relatively large parties and ordered from the «family deal» list. Food was very mediocre (but it was so cheap, I guess I can’t really expect anything else).
Today, I decided to give this place another shot but ordered from the real menu. I started with a hot and sour soup for $ 2. The portion was huge! I was expecting a cup of soup, but instead got a bowl big enough to serve two people (they actually gave us two spoons and two mini bowls, expecting my friend and me to share).
As an entrée, I ordered the hot szechuan boiled fish. Ever since I tried this dish in China, I’ve been dreaming of finding it in the states, but have not been able to find a worthy equivalent. The one they serve at Phoenix Inn isn’t exactly the same (missing the ma-​la peppers that leave your mouth with a tingling sensation), but the flavor was there! And overall I thought it was worth the purchase.
Pretty much ate till I was stuffed, and the food is reasonably priced and portions are big. Will be back!