Penny’s Noodle Shop

We’ve been going to Penny’s way back to the days when they only had a narrow little triangle in Lakeview — maybe 20 years (or more?) ago. There are a variety of great dishes on the menu, and everyone always finds something to enjoy on the menu. Wicker Park is increasingly congested, and it’s tough to park. However, we were very sad to hear that this location is closing in January 2016. Sure hope the Diversey location is going to remain open for a good long while.

I have been here twice and it’s always so good. I’ve had Japanese gyoza as an appetizer. Red curry. Chicken soup. My friend ordered the 5 pepper shrimp. Everything is fresh and delicious. Seriously. Customer service is wonderful. Prices are reasonable. Drinks are tasty. Today I had the raspberry martini. I think the red curry is a little too sweet but I balance it out w
ith the chili sauce they have. Perfect. No complaints from me.

Easy to stop in, courteous staff, affordable, and delicious. I almost always get a barbecue pork dish, whether as a soup or over noodles.

I met a friend here for lunch one day and she recommended the Lad Nar, and I’m glad she did. It was delicious. Definitely would eat here again.

My boyfriend and I ordered takeout from Penny’s and we both immensely impressed. I ordered the noodle bowl with sesame beef, while my boyfriend ordered the beef broth with beef. My noodle bowl was absolutely delicious; extremely flavorful and surprisingly light– the noodles were over a light salad. The soup was incredible; the broth had amazing flavor and we couldn’t get enough. I highly recommend this restaurant; excellent dishes for a very reasonable price.

Great noodles! I was looking for a quick and healthy dinner while on a business trip, and found Penny’s. I had the vegetarian noodle bowl, and it was healthy, tasty, and delicious. Highly recommended!

Wow. Insanely bad. I actually called because I was unclear if the little brown things were chicken. I manned up and ate one after being informed it was so. I still disagree.
I guess the worst part is their choice of noodles. Who decides not to use the proper noodle in this standard dish? No egg. No lime. Cabbage might have been the only thing chopped fresh… hey so while you’re chopping how about making it able to work into the pad Thai? I’m so sad. I chose pick up so nothing I can do about this travesty. Hot sauce can’t even fix this mess.

Food is cheap, fast and delicious! They always have a drink special which is appealing to those of us that need Thai and drink at the end of the day.

I’ll start by saying I’ve only been there once, but I would never go back because our food was borderline inedible.
I ordered Lard Nar and I was served deep fried rice noodles instead of the normal soft creamy rice noodles you are normally served. Im all for innovation but these noodles were greasy and really off-​putting; it felt like I was eating a bowl of oil-​ladden fried wonton skins. The sauce which is normally a thick and subtly flavored brown gravy was a soupy sticky, cloyingly sweet sauce with dry rubbery chunks of chicken and shredded carrot.
My wife ordered a vermicelli rice noodle dish and it was even sweeter than mine and honestly gross. Neither one of us finished more than a ¼ of our plates and the waiter didn’t even think to inquire why. All around it was a disappointing experience. Perhaps we ordered the wrong things, but it would take a lot of convincing for me to try this place a second time which is rare for me to say.

Delicious pad see ew, the noodles were nice and thick, and the broccoli was crunchy and fresh. The beef was tender and delicious, and overall the dish was very flavorful and yummy. I would not say that this is authentic Thai, but it was really spectacular.
However, my water had a small bug in it, and because of that, I have to remove a star. All they did was replace it with a new glass, and awkwardly take my old glass so that no other customers would notice.

Just tried the beef pad Thai.
First time at this place.
Loving it! Finally a Thai place that listens when saying SPICY! They even gave me extra hot sauce.
I usually don’t get beef, but it tastes amazing in this dish so I’ll definitely be getting it again.
Portion is huge! Probably for 2. Price of $ 9 and some change is definitely worth it. Can’t wait to eat the leftovers.

This was my first time at Penny’s and it won’t be my last! The food was delicious and my waiter was very nice. I had the pad Thai and it was really good. The location is very convenient, just right off the Damien stop on the Blue Line.

One of my favorite places in the city to get Thai! Their dishes are always full of flavor and each portion can feed up to two people! Their Pad See Eww is to die for! With just right amount of everything, this wonderful dish is brought to life at Penny’s!
This was my first time at their Wicker Park location and my experience was great! The location is convenient and the service was awesome! Also this location is much bigger than their other ones, making it easier to have dinner with friends!

Food is not authentic nor good at all. When I asked to remove an item from the shrimp spring rolls, I was told they can’t since they’re «already premade». Huge red flag for me. Do yourself a favor and head over to Sticky Rice on Western Ave instead for some really fresh amazing Thai food.
Great drinks though I must say. I’d probably only be back for those.

Everyone salivated over the ramen but I was in the mood for a vegetable noodle soup.
After a night of drinking, the nourishing soup hit the spot. Tofu was of the yellow fried variety. The vegetables consisted of sprouts, cabbage, and carrots. My cousin ordered the vegetable noodle bowl (sans soup) and received the same dish that I ordered except there was no soup.
Clean, friendly service.

it was good pad. thai was good.
nice open space. nice waitress. the drink was okay as well. it was cheap.$ 5

Came on a cold Sunday night with my family. It wasn’t busy so that was good for us since my kids are loud. Service was quick, which we loved and appreciated! My husband and I ordered soups, my tween ordered a pork and rice dish and my two younger kids had chicken satay. My soup tasted just like how Mama would make it! It was so warm and filling! Everyone cleaned off their plates without me having to yell at them to… so you know the food was good!

I’ve been here a couple of times with inconsistent results. The Pad Thai is normally pretty good. However, the bean sprouts they use seem somewhat less-​than-​fresh. They also are the only Thai restaurant in the area that puts cilantro in their Pad Thai, which I don’t particularly like (and always forget to ask them to omit because I don’t think of cilantro as something that goes in Pad Thai).
In my last visit, I tried the beef Pad See Eiw. It looked really appetizing, was the right color, etc. However, it tasted like nothing. All I could taste was gummy wide rice noodles with zero hint of broccoli, beef, or sweet soy flavor. Zero seasoning, and it just wasn’t good.
For a restaurant that’s got «Noodle» in the name, I expect more out of their noodle dishes.

Came here after a yoga class at Nature Sanctuary — temperatures were starting to plummet and we spotted Penny’s Noodle and my friend and I thought «ahhh steamy hot soup noodles would hit the spot!». We sat near the window, got an order of the vietnamese spring rolls to start with. I ordered the shrimp noodle soup with roasted tomatoes and my friend ordered the ramen. The spring rolls were pretty bland and the sauce to dunk them in was weird… I’m use to viet spring rolls coming with a plum sauce of sorts, this one was sort of sour and sort of sweet. but not terribly flavorful all round.
Our noodles came out, mine was vermicelli in a clear broth with some very red tomatoes and a few pieces of shrimp. The broth seemed like a light chicken stock (not very shrimpy) and there weren’t many pieces of shrimp, but it got the job done, warming up my belly. The tomato pieces were a good acidic pop to the not-​so-​flavorful broth, and so a redeeming quality of the dish. My friend’s ramen looked pretty basic — thin noodles with some bamboo shoots and randomly, some bean sprouts.
Overall the meal was pretty lack luster. I would rate it a 2.5 based on the food (not offensive by any means, just not very tasty), but the service was friendly and efficient, and the meal was pretty cheap. With all the amazing noodle joints (ramen, phở, wonton soup, etc) in the city, I probably won’t be back.

Imagine a Thai version of Pick Up Stix… POOF you have Penny’s Noodles.
The food here is a few notches above mediocre at best. It is a very watered down version of real Thai food. Trust that I know what real Thai food is. I was born and raised in SoCal where there is a plethora of Thai restaurants. More importantly, I have roots that trace back to Thailand and grew up eating this cuisine. I have also visited the country six times and have had the opportunity to eat from bug carts, street side, country side and at fine establishments.
I dined in for my first experience and ordered take-​out for the second. I have to say, the restaurant is pretty immaculate and the service was great.
The satay chicken was on the dry side and the peanut sauce was nothing worth mentioning.
The sauce for the lad nar was tasty but the consistency was very watery, which is not typical. Another thing that is not typical is the cruchy large noodles. I was surprised when I received the lad nar and even argued that it was the wrong dish, until I read the description.
The curry was delicious.
I enjoyed the spicy basil fried rice, tasted pretty baseline.
The pad sa eew was the worst I had ever had anywhere! Holy moly the noodles were so big. It had a cardbox taste to it and I’m certain the shelf life of these packaged noodles had to be a minimum of 20 years. This dish tasted kind of like pre-​packaged asian food that you throw in the microwave. Side note, I ate the leftovers for breakfast and consequently had food poisoning.
Of course I will go back. The food is not bad. If you expect fast food quality and price, you will not be dissappointed.

Un excellent restaurant Thaï. Carte variée et plats frais et goûteux. Des saveurs très raffinées pour un prix très doux.