Original Triple Crown Restaurant

I used to go here a lot during my undergrad days so I decided to go here today to order off their late night menu. My girlfriend is vegetarian so she ordered the black mushrooms with bok choy dish. When she tried it at first, she thought it was delicious until she lifted a mushroom and found a nice big cockroach laying on its back. After hunting down the waiter, who was camped out behind the register, they simply took it off our bill after aggressively trying to sell us a replacement. Needless to say, we won’t be coming back here.

Wack. I ordered through grubhub and it came an hour and twenty minutes later. Food tasted like it was the leftovers. Smelled old too. I don’t know how it got such high ratings on grubhub. Only reason I’m giving two stars is bc I liked the potstickers – which btw taste exactly the same as Ming Hin’s and Chi Café’s. Authentic my ass.
Do not order:
Late night 100-​flavored chicken (too much flavor)
Crispy skin chicken (more like aged skin)
Chicken war mein (drench in soy sauce if you’re desperate to eat)

I had high hopes for this original triple crown as it was a family favorite growing up. But sadly, this Chinese restaurant suffered the same fate as many others: inconsistency.
We came here for mother’s day and ordered a FEAST. We had wok fried lobsters, huge oysters, half a chicken, pea shoots, seafood in a taro birds nest, walnut shrimp, and fish fillets.
If I could sum it all up in a few words, I would say everything was not fresh, overcooked, or very greasy. The walnuts in the walnut shrimp was overcooked and burnt, The vegetables came out like they were sitting on the counter for half an hour, and the lobster, while fresh by themselves were cooked in very old oil and overcooked. The chicken, my childhood favorite, also tasted like it was made the day before and was very chewy.
I felt bad for my mom and learned my lesson from this experience. Like I said before, Chinese restaurants struggle with consistency and on this day, it was on the very worse end of the spectrum. I hope if you dine here you have a better experience.

This is my go-​to place for dinner in Chinatown. It’s nothing fancy just good food. My favorites are the Walnut shrimp and fish eggplant casserole.
There are several large tables that would be good for groups.
Note: the restaurant is upstairs (downstairs is a grocery store).

Went there today to celebrate mom’s bday and Xmas. Got the 10 course dinner for $ 179 (twin lobster dish included). Plenty of food. Very decent service. Nice owner too! Good food even though it was packed today. This is our usual spot for gatherings!

It’s everything I ever dreamed.
I almost (almost) organized our whole short trip to Chicago around eating dim sum. After reading the other reviews, I settled on Triple Crown (largely based on the fact that it was a few hundred yards closer to the CTA station than the other place).
Lots of people were huddled outside the front door and I was afraid we would be in for a long wait.
However we walked up the stairs and were seated IMMEDIATELY. Next thing we knew we had tea (which to my unrefined tastebuds just tastes like warm water. but still!) on our table and the dim sum menu. Oh, sweet heavens.
Ordered: pan fried dumplings. taro cake. bbq pork buns. custard roll. custard buns. lotus buns. rice in lotus leaf.
The BEST: Pan fried pork dumplings. OH. MY. GOSH. is all I can say. we ordered an extra order and stuffed ourselves and then saved the remaining for breakfast.
bbq pork buns. What is IN this deliciousness? Sticky rice: good portion and yummy.
The least: Custard roll. Simple and sweet but tastes like a fancy twinky. Of course, it wasn’t bad. just takes up room in your tummy that should be saved for the stuff listed above.
They did forget a couple things we ordered (which was fine… there was no room left in our bellies) but did not charge it. That plus the fact that I’ve only got minimal dim-​sum experience means I’m giving it 4 stars. but I really, REALLY want to give it five. This place is AMAZING!

I haven’t been here in YEARS. We used to come every year around Christmas for a family dinner/​birthday celebration. Due to health issues and other things, that tradition stopped.
We came here for dinner on Wednesday night and ordered the family style dinner for two tables. Some highlights? Salt and pepper beef short ribs, salt and pepper shrimp, green beans and orange chicken. Some not so good dishes? Clams in black bean sauce, Chinese style lobster and the steamed fish.
Although the interior could be vastly improved, my traditional parents and aunt approved of the meal.

Been coming here and still the best family style dinner in chinatown. Love the tofu, smelts, steamed fish.

Serendipitous find, just me and the Chief of Staff, looking for Dim Sum and we found it. The staple when you’re doing Dim Sum isn’t rice, it’s congee, and it’s good here. Add a variety of fried, steamed, buns, seafood, greens, variety is key and like many better Dim Sum places you get pictures here to help you out. It was all good but we especially liked this lotus root bun, fried turnip cake, pork and shrimp dumpling, there were a couple of selections we couldn’t get a translation for. Their website has some tantalizing PICs but isn’t fully functional. Open late but they don’t always have the full Dim Sum menu, and that’s their forte so call ahead.

Wow, I was disappointed with this place. Perhaps I should have ordered some of their other, more authentic dishes but my roommate and I decided to give them a try getting sesame chicken and orange chicken, which were highlighted on their grubhub page. My roommate disliked it so much, she decided to write/​joke about «nasty chinese food» on social media.
The meat had way too much breading and not enough actual meat, both of us noted that in both orders and my roommate said she noticed a slight burned taste. Yikes.
Each order was ordered with rice and yet our bag only came with one box of rice, so we ended up splitting the rice and I didn’t call the driver back because I decided to just cook white rice if needed.
The sauce was like goop, thickened. The flavor wasn’t bad, but it didn’t strike me as well made sauce.
I’ve had way better Chinese food for less or the same price, so I was not impressed and would be unlikely to order again without a recommendation for a specific food item from someone I trust.
Positive points– The broccoli in my sesame chicken was well cooked, not too soft or hard. The portion sizes are huge, so if the food was tasting really good, it would have been awesome. The driver was nice and came within the estimated time. For delivery, the prices are reasonable though the quality doesn’t quite match.
All in all, we were pretty disappointed and after some bites, I started feeling a bit nauseated. I tried to add some ingredients and spice it up to make it taste better, which helped, but not enough. Perhaps these type of Americanized dishes are not their strong suit.

this plave was vibrant and fun – a Great addition to my Chinatown BYOB rotation. I was there with my partner – but looked like a great place for a larger group – many people seemed to be enjoying themselves in the round «lazy susan» tables. Large portions of hot food served fast — it s a fun place to share family style and just have a food (and no corkage fee wine) frenzy! It was fun, and I will be back with my work group and dinner for two. Nice combination of eclectic crowd and locals.

I had the Lemon Chicken delivered. It tasted like someone took lemon meringue pie filling and poured it all over some chicken. Everything else on the menu might be delicious. No fortune cookies.

We came here late at night after our plans fell though. The order– hot and sour soup, general tso chicken, Orange beef and orange chicken and salt and pepper squid.
I made my friends crawl under their chairs because I ordered the chicken fried rice… Ok I know this is Americanized Chinese food but I like it so?
The waiter was polite and was even quick to put forks on the table (lol after I order fried rice) little did he know we can all eat with chopsticks!
The food came out hot and fast and was all very good!
It was really late so we ate a bit and packed up the rest. It was good!

Always favorite spot to go grab Chinese food for birthdays and midnight snacking. It’s super delicious.

One of my favorite Chinese restaurants in Chinatown.
Standard order is
* salt & pepper squid
* salt & pepper pork chop
* salt & pepper smelt
You can’t go wrong with any of those. Also I thought the good tasted better with no msg, maybe its just me.

Went with my girlfriend Toey and her cousin Sitthichai, his wife recommended this place, what a huge mistake.
No Dim Sum, the whole reason we came to Chinatown is to get some Dim Sum, very disappointed too start out with. Our orders took for ever. One dish at a time. We ordered 3 main entrees and appetizer. By the time we got our 3^rd dish we were stuffed. Continuing on the quality of the food, it was greasy and did not taste fresh. First I order the dumplings for appetizer, was ok. The the shrimp almonds… too much mayo. The next entrée beef short ribs, beef tasted rubbery next fish tasted so greasy and finally got the last took forever the leafy green, that was only best part of the meal. Next time I come to Chinatown. I will never come here, also the price was a rip off, paid almost $ 70.00 for lunch, remember it was lunch not dinner… argggg. I’m Still searching for my Dim Sum.

I was very disappointed in my first order from Triple Crown. I only ordered from here because my usual Chinese take-​out wasn’t taking GrubHub orders.
I ordered two things: the walnut shrimp — there’s basically three ingredients: shrimp, walnut, and mayo (sometimes honey)… but I have NO idea why this thing was flavored with Orange/​Lemon. It just was not palatable with the shrimp and mayo. It’s like they were too lazy to clean out the orange chicken pan when they cooked this shrimp dish. Blechhh.
The next item I typically like to order was the salt and pepper pork chop. Usually these are actual pork chops. But I feel like the pieces I got where the «leftovers» if you know what I mean. No generous portions. All breading. AND to top off my disinterest in finishing my meal, it was sprinkled all over with MSG. Thanks for trying to ruin my organs.
Oh, and those 2 items… $ 30. Too expensive for less than great quality food.

My friends come here all the time. It’s like their favorite spot in the city! So they are a huge group of college boys. If you come here during a school break or weekend, and see a huge group of Asian boys being all loud and silly, it’s probably them.
Now, I will tag along every once in a while. They are very group friendly, like 10+ people friendly. And they close at 2am, so if you are looking for a big dinner with a big group of friends this will be your kind of place.
Now as for the food, it’s quite decent for its price and portion.
Personal favorite:
Salt and pepper silk tofu
Peatips
Salt and Pepper short ribs
Walnut shrimp
I am going to be honest. This is not my to-​go place. The interior design haven’t changed for a decade+ and it looks worn down. This is like one of theose old school Chinese restaurants on tv. However, the food is pretty good and they welcome huge groups!

Awesome authentic Chinese food. It might be hidden on a smaller street with a shadier location because it doesn’t have a flashy sign or amazing interior modern décor. I don’t really need any of that as long as you have good food.
I was with a group of 4 and ordered 5 dishes.
1) Tong choy with bean paste
2) Steamed oysters with black bean sauce
3) Clams with XO sauce
4) Intestines with preserved vegetables
5) Salt and pepper short ribs
It was a lot of food for all of us, and we ended up having a lot of leftovers. The only dish I wasn’t the hugest fan of was the intestines with preserved vegetables because the intestines weren’t the texture I like the way intestines should be I guess. The preserved vegetables were good though. I think this place is quite authentic, and I would come back.
There may be other Triple Crowns in Chinatown now, but this was the very first one. Must say something if it’s still doing so well in an area with so many other Chinese restaurants. I’d definitely go back to try other dishes, especially authentic Cantonese ones.

Good spot for cheap food in huge quantities but it’s in Chinatown so that’s every restaurant. Nothing stands out about this place at all. A bit dirty. mediocre service. Ok food.
The other triple crown is by far better but is a bit more expensive

FYI this is the original triple crown only by location, it’s different owners.
Quality wise, it’s not bad. I would say the service could use some help, they have a decent amount of staff for the place but it was so dead no one wanted to do anything. We were there on a Sunday night and we were 1 of 5 tables, and 1 of the other tables were actually family of the owners or something from the way they talked to them.
These are authentic cantonese style dishes
Salt and Pepper Squid and baby squid — not bad. nice texture and flavor, the baby squid was nasty though, rehydrated dehydrated stuff.
Fish Fillet w/​Broccoli — Real smooth solid fish with the right amount of give and perfectly cooked broccoli with a nice snap to it.
Salt and Pepper Beef Short Ribs — this was ok, not a huge amount of flavor but the beef was tender
Beef Stew Casserole w/​Eggplant — wasn’t bad but hte eggplant was mushy
walnut shrimp — made with salad dressing not mayo, it wasn’t great, but hte walnuts were really crispy which was great
salt and pepper shrimp w/​shell — remember eat the shell! ignore the tail. it was very good, nice and crispy and good enough salt and pepper flava (jalapeño peppers)

THE Original Triple Crown Restaurant, not to be confused with the Triple Crown Restaurant. Personally, I would have gone with Quadruple Crown, step it up a notch, but that’s neither here nor there. This place is SERIOUS about family style in terms of the portion. The BEEF CHOW FUN I ordered could have probably fed a small country. It was a mountain of tender beef, Chinese broccoli, carrots and sauce over nicely cooked wide flat rice noodles. All for $ 10!
Salt & Pepper Pork $ 9 — Very large portion of pork served with a side of rice. Always a favorite.
Salt & Pepper Squid $ 10 — Again, big portion and very tasty.
Who knew salt and pepper can be so delicious? These guys! They pretty much offer S&P everything — pork chop, squid, crab, soft shell crab, blue crab, shrimp, fish fillet, smelt fish, duck’s low jaw (whaaat?), and duck tongue (double whaaat?).
The waitress was fast and friendly. She brought us hot tea right away and glasses of cold water. We were a medium size group but she didn’t mind giving each of us separate checks. I was surprised that this place was hopping at 11:30P on a weeknight!
This place is open late (until 2AM everyday) and offers a special late night menu between 10:00P and 2:00A with about half the portion and half the price (w/​o rice).

I can’t stop coming here for a midnight snack these couple of days. Their platters are usually good (a bit oily but will change if you ask them when ordering for less oil/​salt).
The dishes really hit the spot for me. The salt and pepper squid is crispy and adequately salty with the garlic and jalepeno peppers. I loved it!
The veggie dish (tong vegetable with garlic) was overcharged (we were charged the regular menu price for a midnight snack dish size)…
Rice is charged $ 0.50 per bowl.
It was still great.
The second time we came we ordered the black mushroom with soft tofu («japanese tofu»). It was a delicious experience as well. The mushrooms were sweet and soft. The tofu was pretty crispy with a soft texture after biting through the shell. I loved the taste that was preserved. All due to the good wok heat. :)
I totally recommend this place. The service was a bit horrible (due to a huge party at the ungodly hour that we went… midnight). We were there for more than an hour because of waiting for the dishes. It was fine. I still enjoyed my food.
They’re good for pick up as well. Ordered here several times. We just need to call in to order about half an hour prior to pick up.

Came again with family and pretty good. I’ll say more like 3.5 stars. Great prices and they give a lot. Service was pretty attentive.
Clams in Black Bean Sauce — These were meaty and not mostly just shells.
Black Pepper Beef — Pretty good flavor.
Walnut Shrimp — Pretty good, just wished it had a little less mayo.
Vegetables (Dow Mui) — Fresh and crunchy… I like it a little softer though.
Chicken Dish — This was fresh and I like the sauce that came with it.
Eggplant, Tofu and Green Pepper Stuffed with Shrimp — This was ok, I thought it had a bit of a burnt taste too it from that sizzling platter. I only ate the eggplant one, but my mom and sister didn’t seem to care for the tofu.
If you have a big group, this is a good choice as most tables sit 6 – 7 people.

Favorite authentic Chinese restaurant! Our usual dishes are salt and pepper silky tofu, eggplant casserole, lemon chicken and satay beef.