Katy’s Dumpling House

On a Saturday night, the food was 1.5 stars. Not good flavors and/​or salty.
Service was bad. I had to get my own chair to add on to a table. Also saw another table getting up to dispute their check.
Bathroom floor was flooded. Slip and fall risk. Gross.

I went in the restaurant to see how the service was, in the evening, since I usually order out.
Recommended: Order out.
The waitress did not ask what we wanted to drink (besides the free water they gave out).
We had to ask for straws for the water (??).
Ordered the Mongolian Beef (fantastic) but received no white rice (or any rice) must be only for take out.
The Satay Chicken skewers were good so was the Sauteed Green Beans.
Ordered the Mao’s Hong Sue Pork, it came when we were nearly down with the meal, and the cuts had tons of fat on it.
We had to flag someone else down to get the check.
Recommended: Order out.

Recommended: the Pot stickers for an appetizer Wonton Soup as a side. this restaurant has an online ordering option that is very helpful to choosing the right dish and easy for pickup purposes with construction in the area.

My brother treated us to dumplings, via takeout today.
Wow! They are absolutely amazing and not salty. Loads of flavor :-)

Came here w a fiend because it’s close to the L station. Nicely decorated and it looked pleasant. We order Ma Po tofu, pork and chive dumpling and stir fried pan cake. The Ma Po tofu is sub par, and it came out in a pool of oil and it didn’t have any tasted at all. Dumpling is ok. The filling tasted good. The shape of the dumpling is not very pleasing. My mom makes very good dumpling so my standard for dumplings is very high. Fried pan cake is surprisingly good. Even though it’s not a typical Sichuan dish.
Overall it’s ok, nothing spectacular, but reasonably priced and service is good.

Wow! Spectacular Chinese cuisine in a clean and decent, yet simply appointed atmosphere. This is not fast food; this is fine food and casual dining, for very reasonable prices, in the heart of Oak Park. It is so good that I would travel to eat here but fortunately it’s a short drive.
If in Oak Park, IL, for the Frank Lloyd Wright tours, the Hemingway home, Unity Church, or simply a visit; check this place out.
The menu is large and varied. The servers will all make recommendations or provide assistance choosing, if you are in doubt. Perhaps right behind quality of ingredients and preparation, what I like best is that most dishes come in two portion sizes: medium or large.
The dumplings and potstickers are already legendary. The Szechwan cuisine, I can not simply say enough about though. I had one of the hottest dishes in the Szechwan repertoire: Boiled Spicy Szechwan Sauce, with fish and Chinese greens served with a bowl of steam rice. The convergence of heat and flavor was par excellence, with very expensive Chinese cuisine that I’ve had. The heat matched the flavor and vice-​versa. The white fish fillets were fresh, firm and swimming in a bowl of Asian greens and red chili pepper broth.
From Cantonese to Mandarin to Szechuan to Thai; the eclectic menu has something for everyone. Be sure to have a fruit smoothie with tapioca beads for dessert.
Appetizers, two main dishes, and two fruit smoothies, with tapioca for two persons: less than $ 30. Prioritize this place. It is one of a kind.

So one of my coworkers hipped me to this place. She lives in the city and makes the trek to oak park to buy their dumplings in bulk. And what she can’t eat she freezes until she can. So I thought man, I gotta try this place.
I’ve ordered from there a few times and liked it but I didn’t realize they were known for their dumplings (I know, I can read the name of the restaurant, I just wasn’t paying attention. So one day I ordered the chicken and chives dumplings.
Man…look…
I’ve had dumplings that someone’s momma has made, I’ve made some damn good dumplings, but this ish right here is legendary! Yes, I said legendary. They were so good I wanted to climb into the kitchen and slap the cook! So juicy and flavorful and soft just how I like them. It was like biting into a small piece of heaven.
I also ordered the fried rice and crab meat Rangoon. The fried rice is amazing because you can tell they use talk food. The shrimp are normal sized, the chicken looks like it came off a real roasted chicken and the beef looks like chopped up skirt steak. So delicious!
It’s a bit pricey which is the only drawback but for the quality product you get, it’s worth it. Go there now!

Really really wanted to try the buns and the dumplings, that’s what I was in the mood for but they all had meat, none where made with just veggies :”(so I had the pad Thai with no egg and some springs rolls which where both delicious and full of flavor! great price! Friendly staff.

This is definitely a 5 star restaurant. I spent almost a year in China teaching English and really got to love northern Chinese food, or as I like to call it REAL Chinese food. The Chinese food at most Chinese restaurants are completely Americanized. But, Katy’s Dumpling House does a fantastic job of keeping some of the traditional flavors and customs I grew to love in China.
Everytime I go, which isn’t terribly often but often enough, I try to get different menu items and each time they are absolutely ahmazing! So thank you Katy’s for really holding on to some of those traditional Chinese meal items and really doing an outstanding job.

I was just in the neighborhood for a day and this seemed to be a decent spot for locals. The steamed bun dumplings were good, but could have been juicier. They didn’t seem the freshest as they were only slightly warm and the bottom skin was stuck to the tray. The asparagus was a good choice, and the salt and pepper squid was good too. All around a good but not great place.
One thing that upset me was that they served us forks. Being quite obviously asian, I was pretty offended. I have never been served only a fork at a Chinese restaurant before. I think that is a good indication of how Katy’s is meant to be more for popular American-​Chinese food than authentic food.

Really about 3.5 stars, but a couple of things bugged me.
The food overall was pretty good. I ordered pork and chive pot stickers for an appetizer and they were properly done — the wonton was cooked /​fried exactly as it should have been. For my entrée, I went with sesame chicken — fried just right and the sauce on it had a good balance of sweet and sour as it should have had.
But here’s what kinda stuck in my craw so to speak… first, they were pretty stingy with the sauce for the pot stickers. I kinda of had to ration it for each of the 8 pot stickers, otherwise I would have run out. For the most part after the food was dropped, the waiter was in absentia. The other issue — and I saw this coming — it took a little longer than usual for the pot stickers to come out. When that happens, it seems like the entrée follows shortly, and, better than the Amazing Kreskin could have projected, sure enough it did. Now the juncture at this point involves either keeping the entrée at the table (which I opted for) or sending it back to the kitchen because it came out too early (which means it’ll sit under a heat lamp and dry out until re-​delivered). There was no excuse for this poor timing — two other tables in the place and one to-​go order taken while I was there (around 2:30PM) in the afternoon.
I might go back, though frankly I can find better deals at lunch for Chinese food. We’ll see.

Beef noodle soup was very good — spicy but not too bad.
The pot stickers were moist and tasty! We also tried the curry and it was flavorful and good.
Overall, on a busy street but food was good on a cold spring day.

Ordered the shrimp with chives and chicken with boy choy dumplings. Shrimp were $ 9 and Chicken were $ 7. If you get them boiled rather than steamed, you can get 10, whereas fried, you get 8.
Come here if you like your dumplings skin thick. They are definitely homemade. Both types were tasty. The skin has a good chew to it. Comes with sauce (a mixture of vinegar and soy sauce).
They also have all types of interesting noodle on the menu. Items look authentic enough, i did not see xiao long bao here, but see it in their westmont location. So that was a disappointment. I did a take out and it was hassle free, you can sit at the booth while you wait, takes about 10 min for my two dumplings order. Décor is modern and we came here on a saturday lunch time, about half the restaurant was full. They have an interesting aquarium, nice too see some other fish other than goldfish for once and is well maintained, though still too small for the number of fish they have in the tank.

For a fine Chinese cuisine please katy dumpling house didn’t really impress me. I can order some of all of the dishes from a take out place that would give me more than katy’s does. It was just mid core Chinese food.

It took me a few tries to find the perfect dish here but I finally found it! The steak and noodle stir fry. It’s soo good. Whenever I feel a Chinese or Asian craving I always come here. I’m a fan of noodle dishes and their noodles are delish! The meat is good as well. The chicken potstickers are good but the egg rolls are nothing to write home about. Great… Now I’m craving the stir fry again!

This place is kind of a hit or miss, depending on your appetite and what you decide to order.
I’ve been here a few times for both take out and dine in. Pick up I actually odered though the Unilocal app. Super fast and efficient ordering process for take out. Must try if you’re ever looking for a bite to eat and don’t want to call your order in.
I’ve had some really good soup (hot and sour is spot on). I had the lamb curry and it was very tasty. I hate that they don’t give you enough rice to eat with the rest of the dish so I had to pay to get an extra cup of rice to go. Oh well, whateves. The chicken pad Thai is decent (my honey enjoyed it). Crab Rangoon is good. Also the tapioca bubbles are pretty soft in your smoothie. They don’t make red bean (my favorite) but they do use fresh fruit so, you need to get one for dessert.
I also went here for my birthday and they gave me a small scoop of red bean ice cream, that was definitely a good thing. My friend ordered a serving of red bean ice cream for himself too and it was two scoops. Not sure if that’s how they typically serve it, but I wasn’t going to question why we had more ice cream that I had hoped. Red bean ice cream is the best!

This place is definitely a staple in the neighborhood and I love the fact that everyone is warm and friendly. I normally order take out because the service when dining in needs some tweaking but I love the food and dumplings are amazing.
They also have such an eclectic menu for dining so I would recommend trying new items each time which makes things fun and intriguing. The cool thing about this concept is that the employees will take time to describe the items and even let you taste some items before hand! Great restaurant especially if you are cultured and have an eclectic palette.
Your welcome

I’ve only been here once but I was somewhat blown away. Everything I ordered was amazing. I had a spicy chicken dish, with the house dumplings. Super good! My son had the pad Thai, which was good as well, although not as good.
The service was decent, and overall the atmosphere was calm and relaxing. Very much recommended!!!

I adore Katy’s, mostly because the noodles have this «QQ» chewy consistency I love and is pretty authentic. Noodles aside, I think some of the other dishes can be a bit overpriced, especially the dumplings. It seems a bit over the top, especially when I can make my own dumplings for mere dollars and achieve the same level of deliciousness for a more reasonable quantity. I recommend going with either the shredded pancake or a soup noodle dish as these offer more bang for your buck. Or more oodles of noodles? Whichever you prefer, you get more deliciousness!
My favorite thing to get here has to be the beef noodle soup. While it is nothing like what you get in Taiwan (sorry Taiwanese friends and enthusiasts), this noodle soup is rich with beef stock, cilantro goodness and a generous douse of noodles in a huge bowl. While the stew is a bit on the salty side, the beef is always soft, melt-​off-​your-​spoon amazing. Not to mention, the noodles are none too shabby, with just the right amount of chew and quite a resistance to sogginess. I also recommend the traditional Dan-​Dan noodles or pork and pickled radish noodles. Both delicious as well, though a bit less spicy.
Did you know that they’re currently having a free smoothie with your main course during lunch? Love it, albeit the smoothies are less boba and more fruit freeze with sugar. Still, a great lunch combo to have with a hot bowl of noodles during the warmer months.
I recommend a pass on the appetizers for the larger entrees and a complimentary smoothie. You won’t regret a slurpy-​noodle second of it.

I’m saddened to not be able to give a better review to Katy’s Dumpling House. This restaurant brings a highly specialized ethnic authenticity that Oak Park almost never sees. The Szechwan dishes, when prepared correctly, are some of the most accurate and palate pleasing you’ll find outside of Chinatown.
And «when prepared correctly» is the key here. After several visits, I still cannot believe how hit and miss the menu is. Some appetizers are good enough and some are amazing. Entrees range from terrible to kind of good. And the Szechwan specialities are either amazing, or… not quite right. Everything is so random.
Examples:
* The General Tao’s chicken is very good. You wouldn’t normally want to order such a common dish in a specialized Chinese restaurant such as this one, but it’s what they are good at.
* Yu Xiang Eggplant: This basic staple of Szechwan and Hunan is completely phoned in. The eggplant is too coarsely cut, and there’s a complete lack of garlic sauce. China should sue this place for even using the term «yu xiang» so inaccurately.
* The worst offender: the duck. Instead of being roasted in the Chinese tradition, it’s *deep fried*. The result is so disgusting, my friends and I couldn’t finish it. I don’t think I’ve ever left duck on the plate before.
* Hui Guo Rou (twice cooked pork) was the least authentic dish I’ve seen in ANY Chinese restaurant in a long time. Popular in mandarin restaurants around the world, this dish is so easy to make any beginner Chinese chef could pull it off. But what we got at our table recently was ¼ cup of kind of rough shredded beef, topped with mounds and mounds of sliced leeks. And lots of salt.
* The tripe and tendon appetizers were nearly perfect. Excellent examples of Szechwan dishes done right. Why can’t the rest of the menu be prepared this well?
Also, the service for dine-​in is particularly unreliable. I’ve had the wrong order brought to me in the past, and on my last visit the wait staff just completely forgot to put in our second round of food orders — without any apology or even a resigned shrug.
If only there were a definitive guide as to what menu items are good and what are failures, I would go here more often, and perhaps award a higher review. One of my friends suggested that dishes with pre-​made sauces tended to be better. I may go back at some point to test this theory.