Mon Lung Restaurant

We ordered the crab rangoon, hot and sour soup, bbq pork fried rice and mongolian beef. With the exception of the mongolian beef, which was average, the rest was pretty disgusting. After reading some of the reviews on this website, I wonder how many people actually have a grasp of how Chinese food is supposed to taste. The crab rangoon was soggy and had maybe a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture inside of a large oily wrapper. The hot and sour soup lacked seasoning and was neither hot or sour. It looked good, but was pretty bland. The bbq pork fried rice had a strange taste to it and also lacked seasoning. The mongolian beef was average — they used low grade beef and added too much cornstarch. It was a very disappointing experience. If you like mediocre bland Chinese food, then your dream has come true. I will not make the same mistake again.

Best Chinese food in the area. I love the Mon Lung Chicken and Orange Chicken. I’ve tried the beef and broccoli and a few other items– haven’t come across anything that I would not order again. Also, the veggie egg rolls are perfectly crispy! I am not a huge fan of their fried rice but my boyfriend orders it with chicken and shrimp and loves it.

I have to laugh, because I am of Taiwanese descent and grew up in the Los Angeles area eating lots of Chinese food… yet, when I came to this restaurant, there were items on the menu that I’ve never heard of before… such as «kow». What the heck is that? None of my Asian friends in California have ever heard of that either.
When I asked the waitress what kow was, she looked at me and asked, «Have you never had Chinese food before?» OMG. :o I GREW UP EATING CHINESE FOOD. But Chinese food that my mom cooked and Chinese food from Chinese restaurants frequented by Chinese people. I didn’t see any other Asians dining here at the time, which is what I look for as a measure of how authentic a place might be.
When there’s stuff like chop suey on the menu, I consider that the Americanized stuff and not really authentic Chinese cuisine. And isn’t chop suey a dish made up in America that’s just leftovers thrown together?
Then a male server came by to explain that kow was mixed vegetables. But not before he made a lame joke that kow was not cow. :P
I asked what was the difference between shrimp chop suey and shrimp kow and was told that they were both with mixed vegetables, but one had «harder» vegetables than the other. Uh… that didn’t really tell me anything.
Well then, if both dishes were essentially the same thing, I went for the chop suey because it was slightly cheaper. But then the waitress told me the shrimp is deep fried, so I switched to the kow instead. I guess she could figure that I wanted something healthier.
So I ended up ordering the Shrimp Kow lunch special, which came with chicken fried rice and a deep-​fried egg roll. It was aiight, standard American Chinese cuisine. The stir fry had that standard restaurant-​quality glossy sheen that comes with cornstarch-​thickened sauce.
I don’t eat Americanized Chinese food very often, so it was interesting to try this neighborhood joint while I was visiting Chicago. They give you plenty of food, so you definitely won’t leave hungry.

Initially my thoughts on this place were that the food was decent. Nothing spectacular but if you’re hungry it did the trick. The smoothies here are Terrible. They all taste like a mix of frozen ice with a bare hint of flavored water. Skip the smoothies at all cost. All that said, I am not sure if I am going to ever come back to this place after what I witnessed today. I walked in to pick up some food and in the empty restaurant, sitting at the back corner table were three employees. On top of the table were thousands of snow peas. I was MORTIFIED to see that this food that was being prepared on top of a regular dining table but with no mat or anything between the food and the table. As if that wasn’t bad enough, to add to even more unsanitary conditions, none of the workers were wearing gloves and it gets worse. One of the workers in the midst of opening and separating the snow peas decided to take a break at the table and run her hands through her hair – keep in mind while she was grooming herself with her hands, hair could have very well been floating into the food – and I did not see her get up to go wash her hands when she was done. Frankly, I am disgusted at the thought that any of that food is going to be served later. Unsanitary doesn’t even cut it.

I have been eating at Mon Lung for over 25 years. The food has been consistently good over this entire time period. I’ve lived in various neighborhoods throughout the north side and I still drive to Mon Lung to eat in or pick up. I am giving it 5 stars because it is excellent for a local chinese spot. The egg foo young it the best I’ve ever had.

Picked up from here (after both there phone lines were busy for 15 minutes) and the food was some of the worst Chinese I have ever had. Wonton soup and eggrolls was edible, but the Hunan Chicken and Chicken Chow Fun were oily, flavorless, and not fresh.

So let’s start of by saying that the food there is excellent just like always. The problem this time was that I had turned in the receipt and the waiter brought it back to me and demanded me to add tip on to the bill and that got me really mad and by the way I always leave a cash tip… So I guess that at the end of it the service was one star for me hopefully that doesn’t happen to anybody.

Omg!!! This was the WORST tasting Chinese crusine I’ve tasted in awhile.
Everything I read about this place is not what I experienced! The shrimp fried rice was favor less & the shrimp was few and were as small as the rice!
The food was just disappointing & nothing at all, what I read about in these reviews.
I can’t chance another disappointing encounter and won’t be returning.
Searching for the next best Chinese restaurant in the area…

We ordered food this past Friday for delivery, based on a friend’s strong recommendation, and were disappointed in every way possible. We ordered three different dishes (a mix of beef and chicken), fried rice, and eggrolls. The dishes were incredibly bland and had a strange taste to them. No one finished their meal and we were all sharing. Two of the main dishes were still warm, but one was very cold when they arrived which was weird. The fried rice was mediocre and the one eggroll we received was ice cold. We ordered multiple egg rolls and only one arrived so thanks for messing up the order.
The delivery service (PostMates) leaves a LOT to be desired as it took them almost an hour when we live a few blocks away. When they showed up they said there was a computer system problem and couldn’t find our house because our address wasn’t accessible. When I checked the receipts there indeed was no address printed out so the driver is partially right. However, you should be smart enough to call the restaurant back to get our address and not spend 45 minutes waiting for your system to get back up.
All in all a very disappointing meal and, while many people seem to love this place, there are tons of other great options close by that don’t require the hassle this place does. Never again Mon Lung.

Ordered pickup last night from the place and I would definitely go back! I live in the West town area and this is the best place in the area.
The chicken chow fun and broccoli tofu were up to standards for a fellow Chinese man. Food was flavorful and not too oily. The potstickers were awesome! Homemade chili oil is good as well, personally wish it had a little more kick but I like it spiccyyyy.
The establishment inside is nice and clean and the service is friendly. This will be my go to for Chinese if I am too lazy to go to Chinatown.

The hot and sour soup is NOT that good. People are raving about it. But what is good are: pot stickers (amazing! Everytime!), shrimp fried rice (huge portion, spicy), and Mongolian beef.
This place is really cheap and I love to order it. The people there are super nice and they are open till 10. Closed Mondays tho.
I look forward to trying wonton soup. Or egg drop soup

The people at Mon Lung are something of magicians. I’m not saying the food is PF Chang’s or anything, but damn. I ordered my meal for pick-​up and was told it would be ready in 10 minutes. I was a bit concerned by this at first, I would rather they take their time and have it ready in 20 – 30 to be sure they mixed in the proper amount of TLC. Regardless, I went forward with a positive mindset. The lady behind the counter was one of the most sincere people I’ve ever come across. Although the only communication between us was when she asked for my signature, there was something about the way she said it that really struck a cord with me. (I can’t put a finger on where this relationship is going, but I’ll update my post if we decide take it to the next level.) I arrived home and dug in. The food was fresh and delicious, and I did not feel weighed down like I typically feel after eating Chinese meals. The teriyaki beef sticks were on point, the cashew chicken was tastefully smooth, and the Mongolian beef was expertly seasoned. According to their website, this restaurant does not use any MSG in their food. I was on the fence between 4 or 5 stars until I came across this information, and I am now standing strong behind a 5 star rating. MSG is known to be highly addictive, so I genuinely appreciate them respecting my addictive personality and not adding more into the mix. Good lookin on that one Mon Lung. I only eat Chinese food about once every couple weeks, but when that time comes around again… I know who I’m calling.

First time at Mon Lung and it won’t be my last. I stopped in to place to-​go order and within 15 minutes I was on my way. Feeling under the weather, I ordered a large hot and sour soup, which I LOVED! I usually order this at Chinese restaurants, and Mon Long did not disappoint. I would come back to order this alone. Also tried the egg rolls, very good and the vegetable kow, which while not very exciting was quite tasty especially when I added the homemade chili oil which I purchased for a $ 1. I would also go back for this alone. Chili oil and hot and sour soup made me happy! This will be my new go to spot in the area for Chinay. Yay!

So the Chinese spot we usually order from work was horrible so we thought we would try something a little different. First off, lunch specials at most Chinese spots seem to be pretty bad anywhere you go. You usually get a stale tasting egg roll, generic form of some type of goey rubbery meat in pretty much a sugary or salty sauce. Tons of oil, tons of msg. And let me tell you this place is not any different. Like many spots in this area, the fried rice is bland. Not much else to say. Better then New China, but that’s not saying much

First time ordering from this place, also used delivery through POSTMATES because they don’t deliver.
They ordered the wrong items, I asked for dinners and they ordered dishes then I still was missing an order of rice and when I called the place the guy told me they aren’t responsible that I should contact POSTMATES. Even if they ordered dishes instead of lunch specials I was still missing an order of rice and he said she couldn’t help me.

Disappointing. Really just not good food at all. And I’m not hard to please when it comes to Chinese food. This place didn’t even come close to being decent. I should’ve known when they didn’t have General Tso’s on the menu.
We got three different dishes — 2 chicken and 1 beef, and none of them were good. Like I said, disappointing. Won’t ever go back here.

I fucking love Mon Lung. We are lucky to have a Chinatown quality restaurant in our neighborhood. And just this week they started delivering too through PostMates. Lots of other Chinese joints in the neighborhood, but this one does what it’s supposed to do. The fried rice has lots of color and the texture is right, and the green onion and egg and spicing are properly portioned. Mon Lung gives a shit. The egg rolls are crisp and hot and hot and sour soup is full of goodness, again at the right texture with flavor.
Mr. Mon Lung has had this place in this spot for 31 years now, and the food still comes out of the kitchen fresh and delicious like it’s opening night. Right on, Mon Lung! Thank you for doing what you do for us, giving us a good quality, respectable Chinese place we can all go into Chinatown every now and then and still get a little cocky about and even trash talk on behalf of if the spirit moves us to do that!

I really want to find a Chinese-​American place in Wicker park that serves good old fried rice and noodles. Nothing fancy, just got old friend food with rice.
The food here, let’s be frank, isn’t Chinese. It barely qualifies as Chinese American. Overly sweet and goopy, with no contrasting flavors, and starched out. The soup had waaaayyyy too much cornstarch. Sweet and sour was all sugar and no sour. Yes, I know I am not in Asia, but I also love Chinese American when it’s done well, and this is sub par also by that standard. Also, pet peeve of mine, but they were not friendly to me but super friendly to everyone else (is it because when they see an Asian person they think we are picky… Well I guess this review is not reversing any stereotypes)
Even in Wicker Park, there are better places.
Dining room surprisingly clean and nice.

After two visits, I feel confident giving this place a four.
The dumplings? Fried, and delicious. Different than you’d necessarily expect, with an excellent sauce.
The smoothie? I had pineapple, and it was clearly made with fresh fruit and a LOT of sugar. Again, delicious. Boba.
Wonton soup? Huge portions, many wontons. Very good.
The first time I walked by this place, a guy walked out, told me, «this is the best Chinese in [Ukrainian Village]. Come inside.» I didn’t then, but I did later, and I did not regret it one bit.
Seriously though. This is the best Chinese in Ukrainian Village. Come on in.

Just wanted to stop in and give my praise to Mon Lung once again. It is starting to become one of my favorite go to spots in the neighborhood.
My bf and I ordered «our usual» takeout, which entails the Kung Pao Beef, Mon Lung Lo Mein, and the Hot and Sour Soup. All of these are yummy, but if you had to try one definitely try the soup. It is amazing. I grew up eating hot and sour soup, but this is the perfect consistency and balance of spicy and sour. Perfect for winter right now!
Once again it was delicious. I really appreciate how consistent the food is. :)