Chef Shangri-La

I have been going to Chef Shangri-​La since the early 1990’s. Some of my most fondest memories have happened here. Not only do they have the BEST tropical drinks in the world, but the food and service is beyond compare. This was never more evident than the other day when my cousin and I went there to eat.
As a vegan, many restaurants have an okay offering of vegan dishes. But here is where they outshine everyone else. My favorite all time dish is the Spicy Mango Fried Tofu. Not being a fan of spicy food, I had asked them to remove the spicy part of which they were more than happy to do so. This particular dish is to die for. Never had I experienced such a perfect blend of taste and dare I say excitement! The mango, along with the fried tofu, onions, green and red peppers in a mango sauce was simply the best. I swear I could eat this every day and never get tired of it. I asked that cashews be thrown in and as always, they complied. There is plenty of dishes on their menu to make a vegan/​vegetarian very happy.
On this particular visit, after my cousin and I were through eating and had left the restaurant, we took a brief walk next door where my cousin used to live. He showed me the apartment where he lived and then we walked back to the car. I saw the hostess in the parking lot and when she saw us, she came right up to us with somewhat of a relieved look on her face. I had forgotten that I left my Bluetooth headset on the table and she was looking all over for us to return it to me. I was so grateful to her for doing that. I probably wouldn’t have remembered that I left it there. And, let’s be honest, a lot of places would not have done that. But not Chef Shangri-​La.
In conclusion, if you are looking for one of the best places to eat (they even have romantic booths for couples who wish to be alone), this is the place. The food is some of the finest that you will ever eat and the service is the best! (not to mention the drinks)

My wife and I went there because we saw this place on «Check Please!» I’m not sure where all these positive review came from but this place was one of the worst restaurant experiences I’ve had. We ordered two appetizers: the cucumber salad which was sickeningly sweet, and the teaser plate where the egg rolls and pot stickers were mushy. My wife had the sesame chicken and that wasn’t too bad. The rice provided with it, though, tasted like boil-​in-​bag or old rice. It wasn’t good. I ordered the Korean BBQ short ribs. My ordered didn’t come out until about 5 minutes after my wife was done eating. And it was overly sugary and greasy at the same time. The food was just all around terrible. This place is high in kitsch, but low in quality. Avoid it.

Reasonable prices, food as expected.

Called yesterday to ask if I could use my groupon today the girl said yes because there was not gonna be any live entertainment. I went today I heard someone singing and about 3 claps I thought it was a juke box. needless to say I wasn’t able to use my groupon for some entertainment i couldn’t see or enjoy

Very cute place. Definitely where you wanna go when you have Winter blues. Although it’s a child friendly place, that shouldn’t keep dates away as every table seating is almost hidden away in a «Hawaiian» forest.
Very fast service. These people make sure you’re taking care of.
The only reason I didn’t give it five stars is because at times I was grossed out by the lack of cleanliness. The fish tanks needs to be completely emptied and washed out At the bar and everything I touched on our table felt VERY sticky — from the seats, the menu, the condiment jars (salt, pepper, soy sauce on table) and the table itself. Plastic plants above me covered in dust.

This place was a very unique place to say the least. The décor was kind of like Hawaiian/​Tiki-​ish. The service was great, we were always checked on. As for the food, it was delish! I had egg rolls and calamari for the appetizers. For dinner I had shrimp fried rice and orange chicken. I have no complaints about the food or service at all! I will definitely come back to this restaurant and I would recommend it to anyone who’s in the area.

Tried this out one night. The drinks were good– I had some form of mai tai. Lots of fruit punch & rum. Lots of rum. They make a strong drink, I’ll give ‘em that. But the food was really salty. I’m usually a person that adds salt to my food but one dish was almost inedible due to the salt– a noodle dish. The rest of the food was just ok.

Came here on a whim with my boyfriend for lunch and we fell in love! The ambience makes you feel like you took a straight flight to Hawaii and the food is delicious without breaking the bank.
We both ordered lunch specials — General Tsao’s chicken and Mongolian beef which were both only $ 8 including soup and an appetizer. All were very delicious — the crab Rangoons were our personal fav!
Service was ¹⁰⁄₁₀. We’ll definitely be making multiple trips back!

Some people told me to go and it’s great. Some have told me to avoid it and it’s disappointing. I decided to go and make my own opinion of the place. I should’ve stayed away.
We had to wait, but a third of the place was empty. I realize they do this because of food and service backups. I guess I’m okay with that. We started out with the egg rolls. The cook forgot to fill em with ingredients. They were the flimsiest egg rolls I’ve ever eaten. The flavor was actually pretty good… too bad there wasn’t much in them. The person delivering the food brought us the wrong food 3 times. I thought that only happened during Chinese food delivery? I guess it happens IN the restaurants also now. We didn’t get plates. We didn’t get any hot sauce. I had to chase someone down for both. The taste of the fish filet with tofu was okay but the food was barely warm. The taste of the Szechwan chicken was okay but it was barely warm as well. The Singapore noodles were awful! They were easily the worst I ever had. There was no flavor at all. This is why I needed the hot sauce earlier. The entire meal just wasn’t any good. The server came back only once and never refilled our waters or anything. She asked how everything was. I answered by asking for the check.
I really wanted to like this place,.but I really wanted to like some ex-​girlfriends as well. Sometimes things just don’t work out.

Ok, I don’t complain much but I wanted to share how 5.99 can lose you a customer. A few months ago we bought a groupon that provided us $ 20 for the price of $ 12 which I planned on using on date night. Well it turns out we went out on a Monday with a Party of 6 adults and 1 kid. Kids eat free on Monday and their meal is 5.99.
Ordered 6 meals, 3 apps and 1 kids meal. The check comes and I said «oh it looks like you charged me for the kids meal» and the response was «No. You used a groupon. No free kids meal».
Now did I mention the added an 18 percent tip for service that was sub par?
Asked for an empty glass — told by waited to ask someone else and pointed
Water guy spilled water on table and iPhone but didn’t say a word. Saw my phone was all wet and quickly dried it off.
Now as a regular customer who normally leaves a 20percent tip min, I would think the 5.99 would not make a difference to them. Now 5.99 is really not important to me but it’s the principle. If you post kids eat free then honor it. And really my groupon was then worth 2.01 bucks
12 bucks for groupon plus 5.99 she didn’t take off and was not nice about it either is 17.99. The groupon was worth 20. 2.01
Sad. Probably never coming back.
Ps– the owner was so rude with her response. It was as nasty as her soup. She said she doesn’t tolerate racial or disrespect to her staff. Is she mad? Who called her staff names? No one even said anything bad about them personally. I now see why they are scared. They work for a lunatic.

Loved it!!! Came in for lunch, ordered shrimp & garlic, lunch portion island chicken bites w/​chicken soup & spring rolls. They were stingy with the shrimp I got like 4. Lolbvfs… We ordered drinks 1 mai tai & 1 fuzzy navel. That damn Mai Tai was so damn skrong!!! (strong lol) WELL WORTH TRYING… But the waitress was prompt, food came out in 10mins. I really enjoyed the place. Definitely going back! It was reasonably priced too.

Shangri-​La Dee Dah.
This marks the first of many reviews where I’ll be carrying on the tradition set forth by food critic James Ward (rest peacefully my man), in the form of ‘Bread & Circuses’. Bread, of course, referring to the quality of food and Circuses equating to service and ambiance, each on a 1 – 5 scale where 5 is the best. So how does Chef Shangri-​La measure up?
Bread = 5
Circuses = 3.5*
*atmo was a solid 5 but the service was a 2 :(
I came here on a Tuesday night to celebrate 2 years of work as an engineer. The ‘rents and I enjoyed several *strong* drinks in their bar area, most notably a Mai Tai and the infamous Dr Fong cocktail. The fishtanks were nice to see; thankfully there were TVs only in the bar, since the screens would clash with the low-​key Polynesian décor in the restaurant. The dining area is a pure tropical paradise. Large resin Aku-​Aku heads greet you by the entrance, and wooden tiki totems adorn the walls. There’s even a cute little koi pond in the corner that fits in well with the theme.
On select nights Chef Shangri-​La features dancers and fire twirlers, and on others… Elvis impersonators. YUP. In fact, I’m told that the Elvis nights are so insanely popular, one needs to make reservations ahead of time since it turns into a packed house. Super random, kinda cool. In the lobby, they had Hawaiian shirts on sale for $ 10. Ten bucks, people!
We got a Pu-​Pu platter to start (since my family relies heavily on bathroom humor for laughs, we absolutely had to order one for no other reason than to giggle about it like idiots). For around $ 18, it came with egg rolls [2], fried jumbo shrimp [4], crab rangoon [4], ‘lava’ wings [4], and teriyaki beef skewers [4]. All were delicious. It was good pupu.
My dad enjoyed his hung soo pork while my mom and I dove into our bowls – my ‘souper bowl’ included wontons/​pot stickers, egg noodles, bbq pork and jumbo shrimp in a light broth. For $ 9, it was a pretty decent deal, but the pork slices were sketch and mostly inedible. My mom’s bowl came with a fried egg on top and looked a tad like corned beef hash. Once again, few complaints here.
Waitstaff was a little bit too eager-​beaver in clearing empties. Mere seconds after I had lifted the last remaining crab rangoon, I find a small asian woman whisking away the remnants of our sampler platter. She asked me if I was finished, to which I replied «not yet», and then proceeded to wait for me, awkwardly standing by our table.
Also, there was confusion when our dinner came out; another server appeared with our entrees and asked «who had [the hung soo pork]?» I’m pretty sure it’s written down as to who gets what, so why are you asking us? When it came time to clear the main courses, they did so haphazardly which sent a few renegade utensils flying my way, which was exciting. Even my dad raised an eyebrow at that point.
The drinks are strong, the atmosphere delightfully kitschy. When you’re in the mood for eclectic, look no further.

If you want to feel swept away to the South Pacific, this is your place. Inside is one of a kind décor, large islandesque murals, we sat in a booth under a bamboo and straw roof, live island musical performers… it was a great vibe we stepped into. Feel like having a cocktail? They have a ton of flavorful and colorful drinks to choose from. They have nicely proportioned dishes and one of the menu standouts is the coconut shrimp po boy. Perfectly sized coconut breaded shrimp served on the softest Kings Hawaiian rolls and basted in one of the most succulent mayo based sauce I have ever tasted then topped with shredded lettuce to add a little extra texture to the perfect bite which is delivered in EVERY BITE!!. ITS AMAZING!
First visit I believe I had the pork tacos which contained sliced teriyaki pork with diced mango salsa, it really was a delicious pairing. It may have been just a touch sweet for my palate but I bet it could be balanced with a little added spice maybe ask for some sriracha to top it with and let me know how it is!
Several other dishes are worth a try and I need to go back to run down the menu.
Ambiance: Unique Islander Experience
Food: Really Good Eats
Value: It’s worth it!

Mai Tai!
I don’t want to start this review off sounding like a Alcoholic going through relapse, but these bad boys are so GOOD! well maybe not GOOD as in best flavorful I had good, but good in two sips and I’m already buzzed. I’ve had the Dr. Fong and didn’t think it was as strong but nice flavor, but that Mai Tai! Although I did try a Dr. Fong and Mai Tai the same day. I’m not sure I would be able to handle two Mai Tai’s the same day. Side note if you decide to eat out in the patio you can only order the smaller and not larger glasses… not sure why this is.
I guess I should talk about food right… grabs white chip off bar stool. (1 day Sobriety coin)
Spicy Fish Tacos– I’ll start off with my fav dish. I’m 89% sure that it isn’t the buzz from the mai tai that makes me like these. I waited once before trying the mai tai to make sure it wasn’t the liquor talking (which was hard by the way) the fish is crisp and crunchy. The vegetables are cooked right as the jalapeño pepper adds a nice kick to it. Comes with a large bed of fried rice.
Voodoo Chicken Wings — I original had this with the PuPu platter, but I’ve ordered them by themselves several time. For them to be wings they are nice a crunchy. Wish I could order like 10 – 20 range for a better price as I would order these for game day sometimes.
PuPu Platter Tray– Only gotten it once but it’s MASSIVE. Egg Rolls are longer then usually making them a bigger in portion size to others. The Teriyaki Beef Skewers I can take or leave. mine came out both hot and cold as ice on the same stick (???) but they fixed the problem when I mention it. Crab Rangoon I didn’t like but I don’t like Crab Rangoon in general. I gave those to my cousin and he seemed to eat them up with no problem.
Overall I do like this place. I have YET to be here during any of the shows but hope to catch it one day. Despite my preference for sitting at bar’s most of the time. It’s usually to dark for me to read the menu. However I always sit at the front entrance as it gives a batter tiki like settings. The very first time I walked in I thought it was a little tacky that they had all the clothes and souvenirs in the front entrance, but I literally bought a shirt when I left the first time… I blame it on the mai tai

Welcome to the 1960’s as Chef Shangri La recreates the tiki hut as Tiki Hut Grande replete with such island favorite entertainers as Elvis impersonators and the usual slew of aloha entertainment. Hula anyone .
The drink menu is huge with dozens death by alcohol concoctions. I’m having a Volcano.
Last time here I had Korean Kalbi. Having lived a number of years in Korea I found the Kalbi to be a thumbs up. Tonight beef chop suey. I know, but I feel this staple is a great test. I’m a big believer in restaurants that get the basics right get the rest right too.
Chef Shangri La: Come for the food. Stay for booze. Because you’ll be too high in alcohol content to move. Not really, but these are drinks that are not for the young

I have a bad habit. Sometimes I get so excited about going to a place that when I get there it could never possibly live up to my expectations. I had been wanting to come to Chef Shangri-​La for awhile. Not too long ago I saw that there was a Unilocal elite event being hosted here. I pounced on the invite right away only to be stuck on the waitlist. But I’m not bitter. (yes I am.) Anyways, I decided to come here with a group of friends after spending the evening at Summer Nights at Brookfield Zoo. I think their reaction was similar to mine especially after I built it up so much for them. Our table wasn’t ready when we got there but we were able to secure some seats at the bar to enjoy some drinks while we waited. I ordered a Chocolate strawberry cake while my friends had a mai tais. My drink was excellent. Just the perfect amount of sweetness. The mai tai was another story. When I tried a sip it tasted like college. I had flashbacks to wayyyy to strong of drinks along with the bad decisions and the awful hangovers that followed. But that’s just me. Apparently my friends thought the same way because it was so strong they couldn’t even finish it. When we got to our table I ordered sweet and sour chicken. The three of us also shared some Hawaiian fried rice and crab Rangoon. I had no complaints about the sweet and sour chicken. It was good but not the amazing chicken of the gods that I expected. Same for the crab Rangoon. I am a crab Rangoon groupie and this did not live up to my expectations. All and all, the food was good but I learned never to get excited about anything again.

If there were a «Chicago Burbs Hall of Fame», this place would be the top of the list. There’s so much to love about this place.
The drinks here are the bomb, and I mean that in the most nuclear of senses. The mai tai must be made of 90% alcohol and 10% fruit juice. I spent about 30 minutes sipping mine, and I literally had a major buzz. In spite of the alcohol, these drinks go down easy.
Food is awesome, as well. The Singapore Noodles are a spicy delight, and the pork taco is a must try. The servers are awesome, too.
This place is totally legit! Don’t let the outside fool you– this is a great little place, and you will have fun (and eat a great meal in the process, too).

4 stars for great and attentive service/​servers, great value, good selection of menu items, great drinks and that Hawaiian feel.
This place is a bit old and dingy from the outside but has that warm and home-​y feeling in the inside. Their drink menu is phenom and they sure don’t spare their liquor– they were made pretty strong. I tried their Dr Fung, mango bango and dreamsicle and they’re all duhhhlish! .
Let’s talk food… I tried their pork taco which had bbq pork in it for meat. I wasn’t crazy about the pork itself but the veggies were fresh and had lots of flavor. Their Singapore noodles was delicious, I highly recommend this dish. I wasn’t crazy about their egg roll and crab Rangoon. They were average.
They had a Tahitian/​Hawaiian show while we were there for the Unilocal event and that was very entertaining.
Overall I will most definitely come back for their drinks.
Aloha!

I love coming here! Their tropical drinks are fabulous! The Dr Fong drink is really good and strong. 1 is good enough for me! :-)
What I come here is for their egg rolls, Singapore noodles, Hong Kong steak and fried rice. I’ve had so many dishes on their menu and there isn’t one I don’t like. I did try their new dish shown on Chicago’s Best, kahlua pork tacos. Wow they are not shy with these. They are filled with BBQ pork, greens and mango salsa. These tacos are an explosion of flavors.

We came here after going to the Brookfield zoo. It is nothing like any other restaurants in chicago. It has two major parts separated by the entrance hallway– the sinning area and the full bar (which provide live performance sometimes). We ordered the a pink drink and a cherry piñacollada, they were both pretty good.
For appetizers we got satay chicken skews and it was pretty good. For entries I really hesitated to order the duck, because I haven’t had luck with 3 restaurant I tried in the past few weeks. But I got it and it was amazing! It’s crispy and a little bit burned. You have to get it if you like duck :) it also came with noodles. The Tahitian mango beef was ok– the beef is sweet and the mango was sour.
I wish this place has a spot closer to chicago I’ll definitely come again if I’m near it.