Chengdu Impression

Very bland flavor– spicy is the only thing they know how to do. Except the rice, which tasted like a burnt wok. Also very overpriced. Would not order from here again.

Friends recommend me this restaurant, but not as good as I expected, while still more authentic than Lao szi chuan. We ordered a bottle of wine, terrible!

Terrible… Dry chili chicken was chicken scraps, over cooked, w/​zero flavor or tenderness. Cashew Chicken was just plain bad although most edible of what was ordered. Zhongs dumplings, meh just dumplings in hot tasteless oil. Same thing for the bean burn which was certainly not quality, but firm, dry, almost burnt curd in hot tasteless oil. Spinach was eh as well. Took few bites of each dish, threw it all out and wound up eating white rice and soy for 55 bucks.

This is the best Sichuan place in Chicago. I love Szechuanese food, and this place is great! In a city with a limited amount of great Chinese food, I was surprised and happy to find a place like this.
I typically order the common dishes that all my caucasian friends love too. I love the spicy sole fish with tofu, dry chili chicken, mapo tofu with beef, yushiang eggplant, garlic peapod leaves, and sichuan wontons. All are great choices!

Amazing authentic Chinese food! I go here almost once a month because it’s very delicious and I have been getting a very good service every time I come here! It’s also very cheap! We had 8 people last time! And the whole bill was only $ 155+. We ordered about 14 dishes! We were so full.
I think many people might rate this place lower than it should deserve because they are not used to authentic Chendu food. If you are thinking about Chinese American food then this is not a good place for you. All of their famous dish are spicy cuz Chendu is known for spicy food so if u don’t eat spicy food then this is also not a spot for you.

If Unilocal allows, I would vote for 0 star. I had a horrible experience yesterday when I had dinner at this place. I liked the place a lot but till yesterday. We ordered a Pickled Cabbage fillet soup. It tasted horrible and I am 100% sure that dish wash in the soup. Not only me believe this and my friend also believe so after he tried!!!
This is the not the worst situation. When I talked with a mean-​looking face waitress, she refused to admit that there are something wrong with the soup and just contemptibly said:” oh, if you do not like the soup, we can cancel the order. there is nothing wrong with the soup.” Also, I suggest her try the soup. She refused and just went away directly and ignored my question. How terrible the feeling when you felt that other gusts looked at you in an awkward way but the truth is that you just want to let them know something wrong with their product.
Stop going to this place if YOU DO NOT DRINK DISH WASH!

Randomly stopped in after my weekly hair appointment at Stranded because I noticed all the Asian customers. SO glad I did! Was delicious — reminded me of the food I’d have in Chinatown in NYC. Definitely a go — now I need to see if they deliver to Bucktown…

Ouch.
First time I’ve ever ordered from a Chinese place and thrown out most of my food. Gross chicken, gross noodles — just an overall poor experience. Maybe I ordered the wrong things from the menu? But I will not be ordering from here again. Ended up hungry and depressed… and a little irked by the Unilocal reviews.

Parking can be hard sometimes but it is always worth it. My favorite Chinese restaurant not in Chinatown! Their Mapo Tofu is one of my favorites! The staff is friendly and attentive, if you’re in the area don’t hesitate to top by.

Since I moved from Chicago to LA, this is my favorite Chinese restaurant in the Lakeview/​LP area. I get it every Thursday and it never disappoints. I did take off one star for the price because I think it’s slightly over-​priced based for what’s suppose to be a hole in the wall place and for the portions.
Chengdu Impression serves Si Chuan cuisine which is salty, bold, and spicy. If you’ve only had mainstream American Chinese food, this will not be what you expected and you will either love it or hate it. The type of spice is also very different since Si Chuan spice numbs your mouth unlike American spices which usually gives you chest burn.
If this sounds great to you, Chengdu Impression is the place to be because this is incredibly authentic northern Chinese food without the ticket price of a flight to China. Btw, this place serves my favorite Asian vegetable which is Tong Choy! If you haven’t gotten it, you must try it out because no other vegetable has a crunchy texture like this. I’d also recommend the dry chili rabbit, cumin lamb, and double fried pork intestine.

This is a solid 4 star (~4.25). I’ve ordered from here 5 total times, no variation in quality from order to order which speaks highly of the operation.
Summary of items I can speak to directly:
— Bonbon Chicken — Awesome, always part of the order. It’s not very spicy, w/​a sesame-​chili flavor that I find to work perfectly.
— Diced Rabbit — Very good, unique option that is spicier than Bonbon. Because this has bones it is a little more difficult to eat, but worth a try.
— Fei Chang Fen — They may say it is vermicelli, but it is not. It’s a little thicker and translucent (cross between woon sen/​been thread & soba/​buckwheat noodles). The portion is very large (value off the charts), and the chili oil and texture of the soybean work perfectly.
— Dumpling Du Jour — I’ve tried (in order of my preference): 1) Szechuan Wontons, thinnest wrapper w/​good pork filling; 2) Pork Pot Stickers, very serviceable pot sticker, which at the end of the day is a good thing to eat; 3) Peking Dumpling, per my recollection virtually identical to the pot sticker w/​maybe a little thicker wrapper and/​or sweeter dipping sauce; 4) Zhong’s Dumplings, too sweet for my liking but still good texture and meat.
Dishes I’ve only had once — Dan Dan & Singapore Noodles, Scallion Pancake. The pancake is probably what I’ll return to first of the three, works to mop up all the chili sauce. I’m committed to getting some lamb & duck entrees, but I’ve been stuck in small plate mode so far.
Keep doing what you’re doing Chengdu Impression. Well run business in a competitive area. Décor is clean, staff is professional. No reason not to try, unless you don’t like spicy food. In which case don’t bother reading any of my reviews.

Let me start this review with … this is not a place to get American Chinese food, this is the real deal … you won’t find 95% of these offerings at most US Chinese restaurants.
Given the above, I am a vegan and my bf really wanted to try this place (he is not vegan at all). He mentioned that all of his Asian coworkers freak out about this place AND it’s always packed with Asian people — I am not kidding when I say this place is LEGIT, we walk past it often and it’s all true. But to continue on the vegan thing, this place wasn’t super vegan friendly and the dishes that were vegan had an odd taste to me. Perhaps this is the tainted American Chinese food diner in me, but I just couldn’t eat much of my food because of the taste and texture. My bf did like his dish and felt his food was a 3 – 4. Therefore, my rating is simply a combination of both our views (me a 2, him a 3.5).

Very good Chinese food. Not overly crappy Americanized Chinese either. We ordered take out from here the other night after a long workday and no time for the grocery store. The chicken and vegetables and kung pao chicken was good. I would skip the apps– we had the xiou something or other bao, not very good. Other than that we will definitely be back, the service was great (for takeout) and the place seemed clean and bright inside.

Best Hot and Spicy pot in town. Great service. I like the hot and spicy pot, a very traditional and authentic Sichuan style street food, also a similar but different cooking style Mao Cai, loved it!

This is the one of the few Szechuan restaurant in the city area of Chicago asides from the few in Chinatown.
They have a small parking lot across the street ! This was a huge deal to me because it is really hard to find parking in this area usually.
I met my friend here at about 7pm due to all the insane traffic. We ordered right away since we were both pretty hungry. We had the depp fried spicy chicken, twice fried pork with leeks, spicy boiled fish, and a vegetable dish. The dishes here were all very tasty and had the requisite szechuan flavor, but they were all super salty even the vegetable dish. I wish the food was a bit less salty, I couldn’t finish much food because it was just so salty.
This is not a restaurant you could eat at on a weekly basis unless you want high blood pressure. I probably would order the spicy boiled fish again, but everything else was just toooo salty.

This is hands-​down my favorite Chinese restaurant in Chicago. I went to Asia recently for work and fell in love with Szechuan style Chinese food and was in search of a place nearby me! Definitely found it here and have visited 2x in 3 weeks. After my trip I’ve had an insane hankering for soup dumplings and Chengdu Impression’s are pretty fantastic. The spicy wontons are top notch as well! The entrees are gigantic and easy to split if you get a couple of appetizers. Be prepared for some spice, but also lots of deliciousness!

I came here on the recommendation of a friend who enjoys participating in spicy challenges after lamenting the inadequate hotness of Lao Sze Chuan. Kudos to Chengdu Impression for better use of aromatics and spice in their food although I still want it to be even more spicy! The staff spoke Chinese to me right off the bat, which was both nice but also awkward because my friend didn’t speak Chinese at all and my reading isn’t as good as my speaking (#ChineseAmericanProblems). The staff was friendly and efficient when we could get a hold of someone but that was not always easy to do. Nonetheless, I’d pick this place over Lao Sze Chuan if time is not of the essence and people actually want to eat hot food.

When I lived in Evanston I always wanted to come here. It’s marginally closer than Chinatown and had tiger skin peppers so it seemed truly legit! Then I got to know the Lincoln Park population that would frequent this place and became slightly skeptical of its authenticity… then they closed for «kitchen renovations,» which often means they’re fixing a health code violation apparently. But since they reopened, I’ve really enjoyed the food I’ve gotten here.
The first time, we got delivery and tried some test staples. mouthwatering chicken, garlic pork, pea tips, and Zhong’s Dumplings. LP prices, but… I guess it was convenient and yummy. A good amount of ma-​la and sweetness where appropriate. A little salty but ¹⁰⁄₁₀ with rice.
Then my friend and I went in for dinner, and the interior was brightly lit and clean, and the service was friendly and quick. Boiled fish was delicious and spicy and a lot like how my mom makes it haha. Reminded me of home. Xiao long bao was pretty good. Thin skin, filling… not too much soup :/​Pea tips are quickly becoming my favorite thing there though… Simple and light a much needed balance to all the spicy you’d order.
I’d totally eat here instead of any Lao Sze Chuan.

This place is LEGIT. I want my food to burn going on the way in and on the way out! This place accomplishes that.
What is real Sichuanese food? It’s mouth numbingly hot and never loses its taste even though your mouth is completely numb. The potato and vinegar is a tame dish (I love), but my favorite is the fish in hot oil and the ma po tofu.
Be prepared. This isn’t for lao wais. You better be ready to sweat.

Forget Lao Szechuan. This is the only place in town that does ma-​la (numbing spice) right next to ma gong la po. My friends come here every week and have tried everything on the menu. Recommended dishes: boiled beef/​fish, beef tripe and stomach, diced spicy rabbit, heartbreaking rice jelly, garlic pork, Dan Dan noodles. For vegetarians like me, mapo tofu and yushiang eggplant – the best in town as it’s Perfectly deep fried to crunchy external full bodied texture and well spiced, unlike Cantonese places that make it quite mushy and covered in cornstarch sauce.
I have to say my friends lives were significantly affected by the former closure and they manically checked the website everyday.
Basically there’s no other place in town that does the spice as well and im going to cry and give up on chinese food in chitown if that changes.
#tbt my ex and I used to come here. So many memories.