iChef Asian Cuisine

I’m surprised the trend reviews don’t reflect the drop in service and traffic we have recently experienced, and it had been falling off before.
We’ve been here many times and find lunch below average so we only do dinners off the Chinese menu. If you come here at 8pm (open till 9) the place is completely empty on a weeknight. Somehow we managed to also get the worst service we’ve ever had. The server kept trying to rush our order so she could go eat her meal with the staff and stare at videos largely ignoring us.
So we started out with a pot of lukewarm tea, and when we later asked if they had any hot tea she essentially said she would have to make some. I’m not going to beg, I’m just not coming back, and I guarantee that she could care less and probably wasn’t surprised at a less than stellar tip. I can’t justify rewarding or encouraging that terrible service.
Song Fish Soup appetizer always good, this time we got it with about a bonus 1.5×1.5 inch clump of undissolved rice starch. Still tasty. Stir fried green beans good and the spicy cumin lamb not spicy at all, chilis not blackened or even toasted looked like, pretty sure they just threw them in at the end but at least it wasn’t over salted. I got some chili oil and boosted it.
I shouldn’t have to.
I’ll be amazed if this place is open in 6 months. Beware.
And if all that wasn’t bad enough they’ve dropped their very reasonable wine and beer service.
This was where I would send people instead of the very below average Jaded Thai.
Can’t recommend it anymore.
The chinese dinner menu IS good if you want to be ignored in an empty restaurant, and rice starch clumps aren’t going to kill you. Kind of play doh in a sinking chinese restaurant on the far NW edge of a shrinking Schaumburg.
We’re not coming back. Yu’s in Schaumburg does a better cumin lamb now.
We will miss the SongFishSoup, but easy enuf to find in the city.
We’ve met the owners kids and like them, too bad. RIP

The General Tso’s was kind of hard and the Mongolian Beef tasted odd. Tolerable overall but wouldn’t go here again by choice.

I went to iChef, because iHungry. And I wanted Chinese food, and had this place bookmarked on my iPhone Unilocal app, for Iforever. OK, enough of that eh?
So this place is located in a strip mall, near the center corner. The waitress gave us two menus. The «normal» menu with your Americanized dishes, and another menu, that literally has the title «Authentic Chinese» food menu.
I went with my white-​boy side, and ordered the Mongolian chicken, light sauce, and it was pretty good. It came on them fancy deep-​fried Singapore noodles. I remember when my Dad had his Chinese restaurant, I would love watching him make those noodles. Anyways, chicken was delicious, I’d estimate about 6-​oz worth of protein on that plate. Note, unlike Mongolian chicken/​beef that I’ve had in the past, this dish was not overly consumed with green onions, but there were plenty of white onions on it. Very tasty for me.
Service and staff were OK. I’ll need to come back here to try out there Authentic Chinese food menu

Mostly enjoy the authentic chinese dishes over the american. They are more flavorful. Shrimp with lobster sause and chow fun are always good. The American chinese dishes are decent but sometimes bland.

Foods are so good .
I loved the services.
People are so kind.
This is the best Chinese restaurant .
I love all the foods in this restaurant.
When I First went to this restaurant I Fall in love.
I like shanghai crispy fish its the best food.

Went last night for the first time. Might be the last time. Service was good, and the food was plentiful. However, I ordered General Tso’s Chicken. It was dry, and the oil used to fry the chicken was old, as it left an aftertaste. While there was enough sauce, it was sweet, and definitely not spicy. I did not finish it, and was happy to see the server asked why. My dining partner had the iChef Lo Mein. It was a tad oily (as are many), and while the shrimp and beef were good, the chicken was dry and had an odd taste.
FYI, they do not accept credit cards for less than $ 10 (Used groupon, so was under $ 10)

Great food at a reasonable price. If you’re looking for real authentic Chinese food, be adventurous and ask for the traditional Chinese menu.
We only have one suggestion for the chef/​owner. Easy on the black pepper for the hot and sour soup. Second time we’ve tried it. Can’t enjoy it if all you can taste is black pepper.

I am torn between a 3.5 and 4. But would I come back?
Ordered the beef chow fun, it was pretty good, nice flavors on the rice noodle and the beef was succulent and tender enough. A bit greasy though but so are most beef chow funs at other places.
The other party in my group ordered walnut shrimp. The shrimp were big, but the coating on the walnut shrimp was kind of a turn off for me. Looked like a thick layer of glue. It also came with white rice, and a good amount of it too. The honey walnut shrimp came with steamed broccoli. Presentation was good.
I would come back to see what their dim sum menu has to offer. Service was not bad but the interior of the restaurant was super cold. Please turn on some heat, this is Chicago! Pretty clean and spacious, however when we were there during late lunch on a Saturday, it was just us and another table.

Second time ordering carry out, Egg rolls were good. The General Toa’s chicken was dried out no sauce nor was it spicy. Chef fried rice was dried out as well.

This my first time in this restaurant and I was surprised to find a good quality and delicious Chinese restaurant.
Our appetizer was wonton with red oil. It was spicy and tasty.
We ordered Mongolian beef (meat was tender and great flavor. It has a touch of sweetness), King Mushroom with egg tofu. The way that the tofu was fried was great.
The service was great!
I will definitely come back.

Really good food, but a LOT OF IT! Best crab Rangoon we have had in years. Excellent pot stickers.
Had the beef Lo mein and it was fantastic.
Bathrooms were clean, staff was very nice. Michelle was a great waitress. Next time I want to try the soup.

Although the name looks like something Apple rolled out just in time for the holiday season, iChef is pretty awesome.
Previously, we grabbed a groupon to give it a try and went early in the evening to beat the rush… which we definitely did. It was fairly empty.
They’re slightly tucked away, but I learned that they do a lot of carry out (no delivery) and they get busier later in the evenings. Fair enough.
What initially caught our eye was the fact they have two menus: American-​Chinese/​Asian food & Chinese-​Chinese food (the authentic stuff).
It seems like a great idea for those craving more traditional Chinese dishes versus what we ‘gringos’ typically go for.
We opted to get several dishes to share and wash it down with cocktails and beer. (Note: If there was ever a sentence to sum up what I’d like to do at every restaurant ever for life, that would be it.)
During our second experience, we did carry out, and had an equally pleasant experience with everything we ate.
The beef was once again tender; the fried rice was spot on; the egg rolls were egg-​y and rolled.
This is currently our go-​to Chinese/​Asian restaurant in the area.
I do wish they had delivery but it’s really not a deal breaker in my book. There are closer restaurants to us in the area who do offer delivery, but so far, none have matched the quality of iChef.
As Unilocal would say, Yay I’m a fan.

A solid and authentic Chinese restaurant in the suburb. I will give 3 and half star if I could, which means I rate it a cut above other Chinese restaurants in the suburb.
This is a hidden gem in the suburb if you are looking for authentic Southern area Chinese food. They have dishes that is hard to find in other suburb Chinese restaurants.
Will recommend for a visit.

Worst service. Waitress completely ignores you and helps party behind us because she knows them. I don’t care if you know them or not, you need to help who arrives first. Plenty of other Chinese restaurants in the area. Not coming back if you only treat Chinese customers that you know with special service

I thought the reviews would mean that the food was good… Worst food ever. Had the «sesame chicken» and it was like jerky, inside a batter that was chewy, and dipped in a chunky sauce that looked stringy and old, like it was scrapped out of the bowl and heated up. My wife tried it too and said it was terrible.
I quit eating and set the plate aside but the smell was making me nauseous, and I was already sick to my stomach from the little bit I ate. I had to throw the whole order away, so my advice is, if you want value for your money, do not go here.
You’ve been warned… it seems like it’s the luck of the draw with this place. I will NEVER BE BACK! Now excuse me while I go throw up (literally)

Hard to find location in the corner of a strip mall. Hot & Sour soup was very starchy with a overpowering dash of sesame oil. Tofu bits looked very tired which means that this soup was from last night.
The Yu Shan Pork was laced with red and green peppers. The sauce was too sweet with hoisin sauce… secret sauce for non-​Asian customers. I could not find any water chestnuts. Was not authentic, but Panda Express quality.
Shanghai Fish was 2 long boneless fish strips that was battered and deep fried. The fish quality was very good. The fish was smothered with a dark sauce with peas and carrots. The sauce had a hint of chinkiang vinegar but not sour enough and should be red in color just like the picture in the menu. Again not authentic.
Rice was a cheaper short grain broken rice.
Pot of tea had no leaves.

Great food, and average food. Good, not great service, but only one waitress working dining room.
I ordered from the traditional Chinese menu, and was not disappointed. The beef tripe was tender, spicy & delicious. The pork belly in tofu skin was braised, flavorful, but could have done without so much gravy. My wife ordered vegetable rolls & Mongolian chicken from the «American «menu. The rolls were good, but unremarkable. The chicken was not bad, but not particularly flavorful, either. Sophie was friendly, knowledgeable, made sure we knew what we were ordering, and that it came out right.
A pleasant experience, we’ll be back.

Who knew a Chinese restaurant serving authentic Shanghai/​Hangzhou-​style food can be found tucked away in a cornfield-​facing strip mall?
IChef fits the cliché-​ish profile of authentic Chinese restaurants in the states: most patrons are expats, two menu system, efficient service, etc.
The weekend brunch menu offers some quintessential Shanghai-​style dim sum items such as pan-​fried buns, fried dough sticks, sweet rice ball soup, which I have yet to try. The fish congee was average to me.
Tofu salad made with smoked tofu — very refreshing and tasty. It should convert most non-​believers of tofu.
Braised duck with tofu skin: tofu skin is one of my favorite ingredients in Chinese food for its show stealing ability. If you are leery about the texture of tofu, give tofu skin a try: in my experience, it tends to be the most fought-​over part of any dish it’s in and always disappear before everything else on the plate. The duck pieces in this dish could be cut bigger, and not so bony though.
Song’s Fish Soup: I only know it’s a classic Hangzhou dish but never had it before, so I can’t attest to its authenticity. It contains lots of fish bits, clean tasting with a little vinegar flavor. Overall it was just ok to me – perhaps it’s the kind of fish used? I might order it again, but not in a hurry.
When I have a hankering for authentic Chinese food and don’t feel like driving all the way to Chinatown, IChef is the place to go.

We often use this restaurant .
We like garlic shrimp over noodle, I chef special fried rice, Beef with broccoli.

IChef has been around for a while now, but for some reason we’d never tried it. We ordered take-​out and it was really fantastic.
Their menu has some pretty diverse items for the suburbs. They don’t simply have the typical Lo Mein, Chow Mein, Mu Shu, Sweet and Sour and General Tso’s. There are two menus — one the more traditional Americanized Chinese fare, and another with more traditional Chinese.
While there were a few items on the traditional menu that looked interesting, we tried something I’ve never had before called Yu Shang Pork — spicy with julienne vegetables. It looked a little like Mu Shu Pork, but tasted very different. It was really good. We also ordered Szechwan Beef and had an order of dumplings.
Before I finished ordering, I asked the person on the phone if they had any specials or coupons and was told for this sized order I could get either egg drop or hot and sour soup for free. I chose the hot and sour.
The soup was not as good as the rest of the meal — it could have been spicier. But overall I was very happy with the freshness and quality of the meal. We will be going back.