Dragonfly Mandarin Restaurant

I’m not a huge stickler for going to clubs or lounges to stand around and stare at other people and dance in one spot. I prefer to reserve a table for bottle service. That’s exactly what I did and had a great time. The music was on point. Although, The clientele is a bit on the raunchy side due to some distasteful appearances of some individuals, not the classiest but still very doable. Nothing wrong with being the hottest person in the club. Note to self, DO NOT wait till the last min to arrive. Get there between 10 – 11. Guaranteed to not to get in, afterwards, good luck. This place fills up quick. We arrived at 12 and only got in bc we had a table.

They are closed. One star because no one knew they shut down. We saw a note in the door thanking everyone for 13 years of great memories. On to De Cero now. Really wanted Dragon fly tonight.
Edit: Here is an article confirming the closure.

Came in with a coupon (blind date from Groupon) and was curious what we would find. Parking could have been via valet, but we decided to walk around the corner for street parking. Not bad on the way in, but it got cold and snowy by the end of dinner. Still manageable, but if the weather’s bad, valet! ;)
We were greeted and seated promptly, and our server (Walker?) did a great job of making us feel valued. He told us what the coupon included, and made good suggestions of drinks and foods.
Décor is OK, a little worn but not unpleasant. Tables could use some touch-​up with paint warn off the corners and a few slivers. Decorations have been around a while, and are a little dusty /​dented from use, but not dilapidated or dangerous.
Men’s room is a ‘use only if needed’ facility. Urinals out of order, sink counter area rotting away, and generally unmaintained. Makes me wonder about the kitchen upkeep!!! Glad I used it AFTER eating.
Food was good. We started with Hamachi Taco’s, which were nicely done and very tasty. The White Phoenix Maki was excellent, and a good sized portion. Our main dish was the Happy Family (with ONE crab claw — menu says ‘claws’), and was good standard Chinese. Nothing special, but still decent.
The staff (server and bus) did a good job of staying vigilant of our needs while not hovering. Excellent timings, here. Overall, with the coupon, a good value. I can’t say it would be if paying full price, however, as there are many great Asian restaurants not far away. I seriously question the maintenance after seeing the restroom. As tight budgets are often cut behind the scenes first, what does it say when maintenance that bad in the public areas.

I went to Dragonfly Mandarin 4+ years ago and enjoyed my experience so when I saw that they were offering a coupon I jumped on it. Had I read their recent Unilocal reviews I probably would not have done it but here goes with the review:
Food is above average but not worth the price w/​o a coupon, service OK but atmosphere was just, weird.
The best way to describe my experience can be completely encapsulated by the men’s bathroom. The wood counter, especially around the faucets was completely decayed and terribly in need of renovation. The whole bathroom looked trashed and nobody really cared to maintain it for years. That sums up my thoughts on this place; tons of money went into the design and construction when it opened but that level of care is absent now and has been for some time.
If you want to charge premium pricing for Chinese food you have to pay attention to the details, which Dragonfly no longer is. Maybe they could move to a smaller location that they could actually maintain, and then lower their menu prices accordingly.
They just need to decide who they want to be, and I hope that they do.

The appetizers were great. The sushi– all three rolls– we’re delicious. The honey walnut prawns were out of this world.
We will be back– soon.

I don’t know what all the negative reviews are about. This place was amazing! The appetizers were delicious; the sushi was delightful; the entrees were great, too. Even the fried ice cream was good. And, on top of that, we didn’t have to wait!
We will certainly be back!

I don’t know what the people with negative reviews are talking about, I love Dragonfly! They make the absolute best lychee martinis I’ve ever tried! You’re safe with anything on the menu, everything’s good. I love the crab rangoon, beef chow fun, walnut prawns and king crab legs especially. Their new sushi and dessert menus are amazing! Lychee crème brûlée?! Absolute must.
The staff is pretty awesome too :) Always at great experience at Dragonfly, for dinner or lounge.

This place kind of grossed me out. I can’t really explain it. It just felt dirty to me. I did think the the room itself was pretty. I just felt like it wasn’t that clean. It probably didn’t help that I found a little bug in my edamame though.
My girlfriends chose this for our girls night out dinner. I would never go back after our experience. The food was pretty mediocre along with the service.
We did enjoy our cocktails though. It’s a pretty bar so I wouldn’t be opposed to stopping in for a drink. I just felt the price on the food was outrageous given the quality.

Well here’s a place I never need to go to again. My friends and I ate here before a show at City Winery last night. In retrospect, I wish we had eaten anywhere else along Randolph; there are a lot of interesting places that are more worthy of your time.
The food was edible, though far from spectacular. We had our waiter’s attention, and the food didn’t take too long to arrive. That concludes the good news.
The entrée I ordered (the duck) showed up on the bill as $ 3 more than the menu. If I had to guess, probably because the gross, laminated menus were years old. Or they’re over-​billing and hoping people don’t notice.
On Tuesdays, there are specials on maki and sangria. However, the waiter had us confirm that we weren’t going to be using a coupon before going into the details. We weren’t, but apparently they don’t honor the specials if you’re using a coupon.
The bathrooms are dingy and smell weird.
There were only four tables worth of patrons in the restaurant, yet they seated us all at adjacent tables. Part of the appeal of an empty restaurant is that I don’t have a member of another dinner party touching my back. We were all placed in the front by the windows so the place looked busier.
The waiter hovered over us as we sorted out the bill. It was strange how pushy he was being, since there were plenty of empty tables. He came over before we were done, at first I ignored it (the check book was in my hands) and continued sorting out the details of the bill with my dinnermates, then he extended his arm over the table to grab the check from me. I actually had to ask him to give us a minute, because every non-​verbal indicator didn’t register with him.

I came here years ago for take out and all I remember is thinking that it must be better on I ate there.
Another thing… For regular old Chinese food, they do charge a lot. Maybe they should take a look at Don Riccos Asian/​Mexican fusion place in the south side. Maybe they should be the ones on Randolph!

Met a friend here recently for lunch. I had never visited outside of the lounge/​club hours, so this was already a failure in my mind. A dance club with raw fish — lol.
Well to my surprise the sushi was great and they had outdoors seating, albeit not much atmosphere since the location is in the indutrial/​meat packing area. Our server was attentive and patient as we scanned the menu. Have I had better — sure, but I can say this was palatable and great enough for me and my friend.

I can see from the various reviews that this place fluctuates a bit in quality. Normally I wouldn’t choose to eat at a place I’m unsure of, but I had a gift certificate. Luckily, it seems we came here on a good day. It was surprisingly not busy for a Friday night, with half the tables empty. The server was attentive and our food came out very promptly.
We started off with the Honey BBQ Pork Bangers. Even though I’ve had pork buns at other restaurants that tasted fresher, these were still scrumptious and soft.
Second, we had the Karai maki, which I enjoyed more than I expected considering this is a Chinese/​pan-​Asian restaurant. It was at least better than the maki I’ve had at some of the all-​you-​can eat sushi Chicago restaurants.
For the entrees, we had the Crispy Sesame Chicken (which was just as advertised: crispy on the outside and tender on the inside) and Pan-​Fried Noodles with Shrimp. The noodles were good, but could have been better. I like getting pan-​fried noodles when they’re crispy, but the amount of noodles was low compared to the vegetables and meat, so they got soggy quickly.)
For dessert we had the D-​Fly donuts. These were delectably warm and moist. The raspberry milk and sweet mango dipping sauces made them delicious.
I don’t know if I’d come back since it’s very easy to get Asian food in Chicago at a much cheaper price. However, I’m glad I came in with low expectations, because the overall experience (food, service, and atmosphere) turned out very well.

One pleasantly nice afternoon (for February), my boyfriend and I ventured out to West Loop in hopes to eat at the Little Goat. I was super excited, but that was quickly brought down when we were quoted a 1.5 hour wait. We put our names down just in case and walked around to find something else. We walked into Au Cheval but they were so rude and said they weren’t taking anymore names because they were too busy. Anyway, we strolled down Randolph and decide to pop into Dragonfly.
My first impression was to run away as fast as possible. After going to two completely packed restaurants, Dragonfly was dark and VERY empty. I mean, we were the first customers to walk in there. I was convinced to stay, despite the low ratings on Unilocal.It was the def the right decision.
Dragonfly has a damn cool ambiance and I love the Chinese theme throughout. There are Chinese lanterns, which is fun to see and one wall is decked out in Chinese type umbrellas. From other reviews, I take it this place is a lounge at night, which makes sense because it’s huge and has an upstairs too. As we were leaving, there were people setting up for a private party.
Our server was very attentive to us, but I guess that’s not too surprising. For lunch, we split one appetizer and entrée.
Chinese Sweet Fries — sweet potatoes sprinkled with cinnamon & sugar and served with a spicy mayo dipping sauce. At first it sounded kinda gross, but let me just say that it’s such an AWESOME combination of flavors. .who would have thought?!
Honeymoon Chicken — lightly fried chicken in a tantalizing sweet sauce with red chili peppers, baby corn, and a medley of red and green bell peppers. It was tasty but it doesn’t leave the same impression as the fries. The best part was the Dragonfly made out of carrots — very creative and cute :)
This is def on my list to go back to and they have a huge menu to pick from. A lot of very unique names and mixed flavors (not your typical Mongolian beef). On Sundays, they have a Sushi deal — Buy 2 Signature Maki’s, get one free. Maybe next time…

Chinese food? Sushi? Fusion menu items? Can i have all the above?
My boyfriend and i ate a few from each… we started with the beer battered soft shell crab. i loved the crunchy texture and loved that it had a spicy mayo to dip! next we tried the mongolian steak and the meat is so tender, cooked right and so much flavor. my boyfriend got the BBQ pork fried rice and it was awesome! he requested spicy and it was delicious. i wanted to try some sushi so we ordered the Iwo Jima. its their version of a «volcano roll» and it has become my #1 on my sushi list. definitely worth trying! im looking forward to eating our leftovers.
We were too full for dessert… but the Nutella banana wontons and the fried ice cream sundae sounds so good… im coming back to try these!

HITACHINO BEER? HELL YEAH.
DUCK FRIED RICE with a FRIED EGG ON TOP — OMG SO GOOD.
HONEY WALNUT PRAWNS — OMG THIS WAS REALLY GOOD.
These were the dishes that were recommended to me, and damn they were so good. like seriously, they were that good. Whoever reads this review and plans to eat here should order those things if they sound appealing to you because they are so good. Service was fast and friendly, food was great, atmosphere was very modern, and cozy at the same time.

Several friends and I treated ourselves one rainy evening here. It turned out to be more of a curse than a treat.
Service: waitress spilled ¼th of my $ 9 Japanese beer on the floor, pretended not to notice, left me with a glass full of foam.
Food: miserable. The «spicy scallops» were mushy, under-​done and just dumped in some soy sauce that had some chilli powder in it. Nearly inedible broccoli.
One person ordered «orange chicken.» Looked like dog food, tasted like microwaved leftovers. Very resilient breading.
The place looks like a worn-​out dance club inside.
Oh wait, it is a club.

Dragonfly exudes a swanky vibe when you walk in. The dark colors and décor are certainly sexy and can be very beautiful in the evening. The vibe is still quite cozy during the day and great for lunch. Keeping in tune with the ambiance of the restaurant, the presentation of the food is also quite beautiful. They’re also finally serving sushi, and though it looks pretty pricey per roll, I am sure it will be as delicious as everything I have had there in the past.
My friend and I went on Saturday for lunch, and opted to dine here and skip the madness, scorching heat and $ 10 admission fee for the Taste of Randolph. My friend and I ordered the cheesy crab puffs (fancy name for crab Rangoon) and we shared the shrimp fried rice, which was served in a perfectly molded mound with a pretty zucchini garnishing along the outside borders. My friend ordered one of the fancy «Republic of Tea» bottles, which we later saw cost $ 6! For tea? Really? Our total came to $ 37 with tax and tip, which is pretty steep for a lunch that was shared. I guess we were paying for the ambiance?
So, what I have learned is to only go to Dragonfly for their specials. The Monday — Friday, 11 – 4 lunch special, which costs $ 9 (0r $ 12 for seafood entrees) gets you a soup, appetizer and entrée. Not bad, right?
Monday nights from 5 – 9 features all you can eat crab legs, which is also a great price if you ask me.
If you’re feeling like you’re on a budget, the specials are not to be missed. However, if you’re wallet needs to be set free, then visit anytime!

I went to Dragonfly once for a retro 80’s party years ago and it was meh ok. But I did go downstairs and order some of their food and that was outstanding!
I recently went back there for a birthday party and once again the party part was meh ok, but the food and drinks were amazing. The service was wonderful (except it was a Saturday night and they made me stand in line when nobody was in the restaurant which irritated the crap outta me).
The place itself I think is beautiful. Clean, small but cozy, nice colors. But you can tell it’s been worn a bit from all the cluby parties that have happened there.
The moral of the story is visit this place for the food and drink, but avoid the club crowd and atmosphere if you can because they seriously don’t do that very well at all.

IDK why they have such low rating… this place is bomb especially on Mondays…
I don’t know why I even want to mention this because this place is a hidden treasure on Mondays… They have all-​you-​can-​eat KING Crab Legs on Mondays 5pm-​9pm for $ 39!!!
The Crab Legs were so good and it even comes pre-​cut so eating them was a breeze. The Crab Legs comes with veggie fried rice and awesomely spiced potatoes.
Our server, Zhiyang, was phenomenal! She never missed a beat. Our water was always filled. Crabs kept coming… we never had to asked… well except for the one time when we were so full, we asked her to stop sending more crabs lol.
Oh don’t forget to get their fruit freezes with the jelly… I got the mango and my husband got the pineapple and they were soooo good :)
Ok so the word is out… Crab Legs Monday nights…
P. S. This place has better crab legs than Glenn’s Diner. there I said it!

I came here for lunch with family because they wanted to try it. We drove out together and found street parking pretty easily. We entered the restaurant where the top floor was undergoing construction. This meant, buzzing and banging for the entirety of our meal. The service was also very slow — our whole lunch from ordering to check took about 3 hours, and Dragonfly was hosting about 2 other visible parties.
The food itself was alright. The lunch special is definitely the way to go — you get a lot of food at a reasonable price. If you like sesame chicken (for some hardcore Asians, sesame chicken is the most white-​washed Asian food, if not second to General Tso’s), their rendition was very good. The included salad was forgettable, but I really liked their brown rice. The included soup was also fine, and the crab rangoons were average. Again, the food was fine — it was mostly the huge delays between course that lowered my rating. 3 hours for lunch; it’s a good thing we [kinda, haha] like each other.
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