Wow Bao

I think this will be the last time I come here. With the exception of the nice Asian manager, service is atrocious and almost always indifferent. Staff never smiles or greets you, and serving food within arm’s reach seems to be a major pain for them. Today for example, they had some squirrely, curly haired redhead manning the bun station while the other slow, indifferent employee handled the register. To get 3 baos took more than 8 mins, mind you the food is already made and sitting in a steamer. Finally my order arrives and not so much as a thank you or have a great day. If minimum wage employees get an increase in pay, unfortunately there’s no guarantee in an improvement in service. Advice for management, retrain the redhead and help her get some semblance of a personality because no one likes walking up to an unattractive robot so early in the morning.

I like Wow Bao’s bao… and not much else on the menu.
If this review was for the bao alone, it would be 5 stars. They’re great; fluffy, fresh, great fillings. I like the barbecue best, but I’ve tried the beef and the curry and liked those as well.
The rest of the menu is pretty meh. The bowls are hit or miss (do NOT order a veggie bowl; you’ll end up with rice and what looks like the leftover veg bits at the bottom of a freezer veggies bag) and generally underwhelming, and the dumplings are basically what you get when you buy freezer case chinese dumplings. The dumpling soup is pretty good — I like the herb broth, and you get a ton of noodles and dumplings for pretty cheap ($ 4.50?).
Service is quick and everyone is nice, so I have no complaints there. In general, I recommend stopping by and getting a few bao, but skip the rest of the menu.

For fast food, I really like this one. I get the Asian vegetable salad with two baos (Kung pao chicken & spicy pork). It seems healthier other fast food joints, and is yummy and filling. Good lunch for under $ 10 in the Loop? I’ll take it.

Very average. Buns are nice and fluffy in texture, but do not expect authenticity. Barring the BBQ pork, none of the fillings offered were fillings you would ever find in Chinese steamed buns.

Awesome, fast, and affordable! I love the bowl and bao combo, perfect amount of food.

For a fast food place it’s great. They have the best buns! Had an hour to kill so I sat there and worked. Ok, I ate some buns too. So good

I should’ve have the baos. Had the chicken teriyaki bowl with Multigrain rice. Pretty healthy but unspectacular.
Should’ve gone to Spicy Porta which is next up.

I really really really was excited about Wow Bao and really wanted to like it. I trekked out of my way to grab a bun here and was just… underwhelmed.
I love opened faced buns (the kind that looks like a taco) and I also love steamed bao. The fillings are pretty nontraditional (mongolian beef, or pumpkin) but I opted for the more traditional bbq pork, and also a pork belly open faced bun.
The ordering system is pretty nice, where can either you order first outside the store on iPad-​esque kiosks, or go up to the register. I opted for the robo-​version and it was easy and painless.
They were definitely well steamed, and came piping hot, soft and spongy. However, I felt like the interior stuffing was kind of mushy and flavorless, and my open faced bum was just a greasy mess. The steam buns I felt like I could have gotten the exact same thing from the frozen bun aisle of the Chinese supermarket. The plus side however was that everything was very cheap.
Overall, a pretty tasty, cheap, and filling snack, but I wouldn’t come here if you had high expectations for the quality of the bao.

One of my favorite fast food places in Chicago !

I’ve always wanted to open up my own bao shop. It’s the perfect snack: filling, cheap and easy to eat.
The set-​up is very casual and quick as most of the items are pre-​made (baos, buns, potstickers), allowing customers to place an order and then stuff their faces in a matter of seconds. The baos are like small round sandwiches with whatever filling you want in the middle, surrounded by pillowy steamed bread. Sure, there were dessert flavors like pumpkin but I knew I wanted to try my beloved bbq pork. The baos were pretty cheap, running about a buck and some change but because I’m such a pork belly whore, I knew I had to get the pork bun as well ($ 3 something). The bun is slightly different in that it resembles a mini taco but still made with the soft steamed bun. In it are some slices of pork, a sweet hoisin sauce and some other creamy sauce, cilantro and pickled vegetables. I would say it does cater to the younger generation more because both items were a tad on the sweet side, but not enough for me to not enjoy it. I personally would rather the items have a little spice to them over sweet, but that’s just me.
Another quick note, this place has other items too, like rice bowls and salad. In fact, to all my friends out there who also aren’t a big fan of traditional American breakfast items, they have a breakfast option which includes: a breakfast bao, rice bowl and fruit for 10 bucks. #Bao4Life

For Americanized Chinese food, Wow Bao is pretty decent and food was ready about 5 minutes from placing order. I had the Mongolian bowl (spicy!) with 2 bao combo (chicken teriyaki and kung pao chicken (spicy!) baos) combo for $ 10.70 after tax. This is pricey for fast Asian food, but I am paying for the convenience since it is in the building where I work. I appreciate how Wow Bao has kiosks to place orders that are easy to follow and online ordering option to reduce the wait time and human interaction. I can see myself returning here for lunch or a snack during the cold winter days when I forget to bring my own lunch and snacks to work.

Wow Bao at 175 W. Jackson in Chicago… Good food. Friendly service. I really like their jasmine rice and potstickers — delicious!

As visitors from out of town, we were hungry after a visit to the Willis Tower, and were looking for a quick fix to hold us over until lunch. First off, we were in the mood for savory items, so my partner took 2 baos and coffee deal, and I got a rice bowl and iced Thai coffee. We were having it ‘for here’ and took a seat. As we were starving, our ears were acutely tuned to listening for our number to be called, as the girl was calling all the order numbers.
Then something strange, our number was skipped, and we thought maybe the to-​go people got their first since they need to get going. We waited another 5 minutes, until my bf went up to see what was the issue. I was at the table watching all our items, and then all I hear is the girl yelling at him about how they had to throw away the food because nobody picked it up.
Whaaaaat??? And then all I hear is her yelling the entire time about how we should have come up sooner, and totally blaming us. About 4 minutes later, my bf comes back with our order. I take a few bites and I had egg shells somehow mixed into the eggs, and they didn’t give him the coffee that came with his meal.
Highly disappointing, as I was looking forward to this meal, and having my bf yelled at certainly did not help. Also, if you’re in the food industry and see that the order is for here, then you can also check to see where the people are if they didn’t hear you whispering the one number for the people eating in.
Why couldn’t you have used your yelling voice? I heard that one well enough!

Wow bao was a good for a quick bite and some free AC.
The teriyaki bao and Mongolian beef bao were decent. It’s more of a fusion than an authentic Chinese bao zi place so don’t set your expectation too high.
But overall it’s good for something small and quick.

I am in love with this place; simple, cheap, yummy and easy. Our buns were fresh, came out quickly and totally yummy. They have a good selection for being fast food, even breakfast options.

The Last Supper.
No, not da Vinci’s world famous painting. For me, this last supper was special because it was the last dinner I had with my Dad. He passed away 6 months ago and this was actually one of the last things we did together.
One thing you need to understand is that my Da had really specific dietary restrictions towards the end of his life. He had radiation for throat cancer a couple times and it left him unable to eat anything that wasn’t basically soft and/​or mushy. That’s not exactly something appealing to me on a regular basis, and it’s surprisingly hard to find on most menus. So the stress of having to cater to that on top of him being a grouchy old guy made most meals with him on the verge of being completely unbearable. I was about ready to kill him toward the end of his short visit here.
Enter Wow Bao. Wow Bao was a godsend when we needed it the most. Wow Bao was located about half a mile from the Bank of America Theatre, where we headed to see a show afterward. Wow Bao was affordable, so he didn’t bitch about the price, even though I was paying. They also had enough options to please him without offering so many choices that it would be overwhelming or allow him to linger on making a decision, something that had often been an issue.
We ended up splitting a Six Pack of bao in Teriyaki Chicken, 2 BBQ Pork, Spicy Mongolian Beef, Coconut Custard, and one that seems to be a special — Banana Chocolate.
Above all else, the most important thing about our dinner together is that the Teriyaki Chicken and BBQ Pork bao, along with their Hibiscus Lemonade, was the perfect consistency and spice level for my Dad to manage. He was able to taste the fillings and loved them, especially the Banana Chocolate dessert bao. In fact, he was so excited to be able to eat somewhat normally for once in years that his skeletal frame skittered back to the counter to get seconds and he stuffed himself silly.
So what is Wow Bao like for someone without so many requirements? Fantastic! I loved everything we ordered and I loved sharing that meal and moment with my father. Even the spiciest of bao wasn’t offensive to my tame Minnesotan palate. I like that the paper wrappers tell you what each one is so there’s no surprises. I particularly like how nice the employees had been on that day, and the other times I’ve visited alone… *sniff sniff*
Honestly, the only thing I don’t like about this location is that their hours are limited, but that’s to be expected in this area.

Ordering at a computer is my favorite!
Oh, and the food is good too!
Plus they were rocking Jurassic 5 tunes and I couldn’t help but grooving.

Wow Bao is a solid, quick, and delicious lunch spot if you work in the loop. I actually came here on a weekend on the way to Millennium park ice skating, so the place was pretty empty. The bao were all very good — could’ve gone a little heavier on the filling but good — and the noodle bowl was tasty. Cost is very reasonable considering what you get — I think we paid $ 17 for two of us to eat our fill of bao and noodles.
Bottom line: if you’re looking for authenticity, maybe this isn’t your spot. But if you want to switch it up and find a good, inexpensive, and (relatively) healthy lunch spot, Wow Bao is great.

My office had a catered lunch with Wow Bao and their food, more or less, met my expectations. Maybe I’m biased though because I’m more used to authentic tastes. I do appreciate the variety that was offered. Here’s what I had:
Teriyaki bao: Too much sauce and sweet flavor. I want to know who thought teriyaki flavor in a bao was a good idea.
Vegetarian bao: This tasted ok after the last abomination of a bao I put in my mouth.
Dumplings: I had a one veggie dumpling and one meat dumpling. The meat one tasted so much better. I thought I had tasted walnuts in the veggie dumpling. That was just weird.
The cold noodles were ok. I don’t know what exactly it was, but it was a cold flat white noodle salad with some veggies. You could control the kind of spicy soy/​peanut dressing to add to it. I like how they weren’t too well-​cooked, but there was a moment where they didn’t seem cooked enough, so they were slightly chewy.
Overall, just meh. It’s a good change from pizza and sandwiches, but not something I’d go out of my way to eat. If I ever had to go again, I think I’d just stick to an actual salad and/​or meat-​filled dumplings.

HOT ASIAN BUNS
I asked the cashier what was better the buns or pot stickers and he said, «This place is called Boa and not Pot Sticker for a reason!» So I ordered the pot stickers. No I’m just kidding I ordered the Bao, which are the hot Asian Buns.
Now this cashier guy was putting a lot of pressure on these hot Asian buns to be delicious. In fact, I’ve been to Asia and I’ve had the real deal. So lets see how these buns stand up at an American Fast Food joint.
I ordered two Bao: a spicy Mongolian beef & a BBQ pork! According to the worker behind the counter I picked his first & third favorite. So that made me excited. One thing I didn’t like was that my hot Asian buns were in the same basket & I didn’t know which one was which flavor. So I bit in and had no idea what I was eating. The flavor did not pop at me. I had no idea what it was. So I decided to take a bite out of the second one. Again it wasn’t a flavor explosion but I could sense a little BBQ taste, so this had to be the BBQ pork. It was not good that I couldn’t tell what the two different meats were. I will say that the Bao were a 1 Star experience. I would never order these again.
What I was really excited about was the bowl of spicy kung pao chicken over lo mein noodles. The flavor of the chicken was really good. I also liked that the chicken seemed to be ground instead of the traditional chunks. This had the right amount of spicy. One thing I didn’t like was when I mixed up my bowl there wasn’t enough of the Kung Pao Chicken to cover my noodles. I kind of like my noodles coated in sauce. I got the feeling that this place measures out portions & servings. I would give the flavor 5 stars and 2 stars on the amount of sauce. Also the bowl was very tiny for the amount paid. It was not a good value.
This place had add-​ons too. With a bowl you are able to add on 2 Bao or 3 Pot Stickers for $ 2.75 I do know that if I ever come back here then I’m going pot stickers instead of buns. And if the pot stickers are good, then I will call this place WOW POT.
The more I think about this place it makes me want to never come back. For example, I paid $ 10 for food here and I left hungry but for $ 7.75 I can get a giant bowl at Chipolte and make two meals out of it. So when at look at value & portions this place is not a good deal.
Also the address on Unilocal says 175 W Jackson but its actually located on the other side of the building by Jefferson. If you walk in off of Jackson then be prepared to walk across the building to find this place.
I did not have much staff interaction. The cashier who took my order was nice and helpful. I would give him 5 stars for customer service. The guy I picked my food up from seemed grumpy and he didn’t really talk except for calling out my pickup number.
So would I come back? Probably not. There signature hot buns were not that great. Unfortunately for this place I’ve had the real deal, so I had something to compare them too. The bowls were small with limited sauce topping. The flavors were good but it wasn’t filling. I really didn’t feel like I got my money’s worth. It seems like a great business but it is not for me.