Fortune Kookie

CLOSED for redecorating and you know what that means.
In a perpetual fight for the most average Americanized Asian food in the NW Suburbs with Heng Wing also in Palatine.
Fortune Cookie does win the odder more out of the way location, parking lot and cut up entry.
You can do better. ANYwhere in Schaumburg for starters.

Worst hot and sour soup I ever had. It didn’t even resemble anything I have ever tasted before. Lunches aren’t bad, but dinners are overpriced. The menu never changes, and everything stays constant. No originallity.

Happy to find a restaurant open for dinner on new years day! Everything we ordered was delicious. The servers were friendly and attentive and didn’t let our tea pot go empty. Thumbs up.

We typically order from Fortune Cookie, rather than Heng Weng. Everything we’ve had from here has been super delicious. The food is always prepared well. If you’re looking for a solid Chinese restaurant in the area, you can’t go wrong.

I enjoyed this place. First time ordering take out from a Chinese places, so can’t judge based off of other places but off the food I ordered. I got alot and portioned at home. My order consisted of: the appetizers: egg rolls, fried squid, and crab rangoon. The main dish, orange chicken and an order of chicken fried rice. Plenty of sauces were provided including sweet and sour (my fav), soy sauce, and mustard. And a side of free white rice and plenty of fortune cookies. The orange chicken wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, in a good way because it was amazing! I also enjoyed the crab rangoon and have ate all 6 if I felt like it. Egg rolls not my favorite but I don’t know what they’re supposed to taste like. Squid was good. And the rice wad yummy too. I definitely recommend the orange chicken and crab rangoon. I got the food to go, it was still hot when I got it, the staff was very friendly which I appreciated! I would definitely order out from them again. Very happy with the overall service and food!

I’m confused at some people’s reviews and why they are so low. The food here is pretty good in my opinion. In the past I have ordered orange chicken, orange beef, sesame chicken, crab rangoon, mongolian beef, mongolian chicken, chicken and broccoli in brown sauce, pot stickers, and egg rolls. I order these dishes all the time, and order from this place at least once a month. The staff is always friendly. Prices are high but pretty average for chinese, but the portions are quite large. I always have enough for dinner and lunch the next day. There was even a time when they screwed up my order. At first they offered to give me a free dish the next time I come in because it was close to closing time but it was the completely wrong meat option so they made it quickly for me that night. I am happy with this place and will always return. Thank you Fortune Kookie.

This Restaurant use to be one of my Favorites but after yesterday visit that quickly changed. My Husband and I ordered take out and was told it would be ready in 15 mins. When we arrived I came in and told the greeter at the front that I had a pick up and was told to wait. A man at the counter in front of me appeared to be totaling up a bill. A few mins passed and I was still waiting when another man entered the restaurant walked around me and went straight up to the counter and said he had a pick up. The man behind the counter told him to wait but then after a few more mins he took care of him first. On top of that after he was finished he went back to totaling up a bill again and completely ignored me. After a few more mins I became frustrated and asked «is my food ready»? I was told by this man to wait again. Another waiter could tell I was getting mad so he tried to push the guy at the counter to no avail. Finally he looks up and goes you have a pick up and I replied yes and gave my name again to find my food just sitting on the side and he finally completed my order with no aplogy for making me wait it felt more like I was inconveniencing him. What is worse was the quality of the food, we ordered shrimp with lobster sauce, sweet and sour chicken, pot stickers, and egg rolls. The portions were very small the food was mediocre at best with funny tastes and the breading on the sweet and sour chicken was falling off, the egg rolls were hard and dry. Needless to say between the quality of their service and food this will be our last visit to the Fortune Kookie.

Price is decent but in my opinion not worth the money. I am a huge fan of the cheap, not super authentic, Chinese food but this didn’t suffice.
The carry-​out order:
(side note: this wasn’t just me eating…)
–Egg Flower Soup: Smelled weird and tasted bad… almost gelatin like texture
–Crab Rangoon: If you like super creamy versions then these are for you, otherwise try something else
–Mongolian Beef: Eh, not great
–Sesame Chicken: Okay — if I HAD to order from here again, this is probably what I would get
–Massamum Chicken Curry: The boyfriend got this (extra spicy of course) and liked it. Said he would order it again
–Orange Chicken: The biggest disappointment. The chicken was cooked but the breading was not, it was falling off. It looked unappealing and I could only eat one piece before throwing it out. All I wanted tonight was orange chicken… Not cool Fortune Kookie, not cool.
–Fortune cookies: cheap, un-​flavorful, AND I GOT THE SAME FORTUNE ON TWO COOKIES!
Bottom line: Not worth it.

Have been coming here for years — both dine in and carry out. Awesome food at a bargain price!
Lunch specials are a lot of food for the price with an entire, rice, egg roll, soup all included. My favorite dish is off the menu — Hong Sue Chicken! Staff is all fantastic. You won’t find a friendlier group of folks in all of Palatine.
My only wish is that they would deliver. My office is close by but I find it hard to break away for pickup at times even though food is always ready when you get there.

Sign out front says «Great Chinese»
And we know that advertising doesn’t lie (ok. i am a marketer).
Seriously, this is great food for a great budget. Total causal dining and super quick food when you just want good food out in the suburbs.

I have been coming to Fortune Kookie for a couple years now, and I have not regretted a single meal here. The quality of food here is excellent, and it is a very nice family run restaurant. The owners really take the time to get to know their customers and their preferences.
My favorite dishes are the hot and sour soup, potstickers, meat skewers, and sesame chicken. All of their food is very flavorful, and they have great homemade sweet and sour sauce and hot chili oil to go with your meal. What I think is really great about this place is that your food is highly customizable for a great dining experience; you can make your dish extra spicy, no MSG, ask for extra sauce, etc. This is not something that I see in very many other Chinese restaurants I’ve been to.
All of their ingredients are fresh and the huge portions for their entrees makes a meal here very affordable. Best Chinese food I’ve had in the burbs, I’ll definitely be back for more!

The best Chinese food on the planet hands down! I always get sweet and sour and sesame chicken, the Pam fried noodles and shrimp fried rice is to die for and egg rolls are Cooked perfectly, I have never been disappointed and highly recommend to anyone I meet

We are locals and we were fans of this place for years. Not so much about the environment, but they had a few dishes (like there General Tao’s Chicken) which were just amazing. So we kept coming back.
A few months ago was the first time we were actually totally disappointed with that dish. They changed a few things about it and it just wasn’t good anymore. Also the rest we had, like the eggroll and so on wasn’t good.
Last night my husband and i wanted to give them another chance and ordered take out. One Tofu dish and one General Tao’s Chicken. We were shocked about everything. The size of the portions (way too small for that money), the smell, the taste… everything. The Tofu was actually gross, which never happend to me, since it’s just a veggie dish (how can you make a veggie dish being yuck!!!) And the Chicken was horrible. Not even close to what it used to be…
So sad, but we are officially done with this place and we are not coming back…

I wish I could give no stars! The food was dry and tasted like they put cinnamon in the Singapore noodles with Spicy Curry! Hate to think it’s because we got it to go… Either way r should be the same. I would recommend any other Chinese restaurant in Palatine. This one was the worse!!!

The best. Old school Chinese food, friendly staff, nice traditional dining room.
I wish they would serve the tea in old-​school Chinese restaurant teapots. Aside from that, this is top notch. GREAT lunch specials with soup and egg rolls for several of the dishes.

We’ve only lived here for 14 months and, like every other place we’ve lived, finding a really good Chinese restaurant has been just as important as finding a good dry cleaner and grocery story.
Well, after trying Fortune Kookie, we’re still looking. Called to place my order at 6:55pm on a Monday night so my husband could stop and pick it up after getting off the train. The man who took my order was not terribly friendly, did not offer any encouragement. When I ordered #120, the Crispy Shrimp with Walnuts based on number, he acted as if he had no idea what it was and asked for the description. I ordered my second and third items the same way. When he told me it would be 25 minutes, I was surprised, but figured, if it’s good, it’s worth it.
Um, yeah. I wouldn’t have waited 5 minutes for this food. As it was, my husband, after working a 12 hour day, had to wait an extra 15 minutes for a total of 40 MINUTES for two entrees and one appetizer.
CRISPY SHRIMP WITH WALNUTS: The shrimp was not crispy. They were steamed. The cabbage was completely overcooked and the walnuts didnt seem like they had even been added to the wok. VERY DISAPPOINTING. 1 star
GENERAL TAO’s CHICKEN: Mediocre at best. Again, cabbage was stringy and overcooked. 2 stars
CRAB RANGOON: I had asked for a container of sweet and sour sauce to be included with them. Well, I wasn’t talking about the little packets that come with the hot mustard. Duck sauce comes in a plastic packet. Sweet and sour sauce does not. He didn’t even listen to me when I placed my order.
At $ 38, I would expect fast, accurate and delicious. Instead, I got slow, no wow factor and kinda gross.
We won’t be back and, at this rate, we’ll probably have to look outside of Palatine for good take-​home Chinese food.

Always a quality dining experience. Good food. Reasonable prices. Experienced wait staff… all professionals.
My husband and I usually share an order of pork potstickers. Their hot chili oil is homemade and tasty. Then we order General Tao’s Chicken… typically as bad for you as Fettucini alfredo at an Italian restaurant… known as heart attack on a plate. For us, they cook it stirfry style, eliminating the breading and add extra vegetables. My husband serves his on rice. To reduce carbs, I serve mine over shredded lettuce. This gives the sauce something to cling to and it doesn’t wreak havoc with my blood sugar level. We share an order so no leftovers to waste and we drink their hot tea.
Of course they give us fortune cookies with the bill. Typically about $ 20 before tip for a nice sit down dinner. A little hungrier than that? Add another appetizer or bowl of hot sour soup. Heart healthy and diabetic friendly meal. Very affordable.
Another great hint… other places are closed on xmas eve. Not the case here. Its our «go to» place.

Moving this review up a star– we ordered again after a hiatus. Food was good, bill was high but we got a lot of food.
We are eating three nights of dinner for family if 3 for $ 48. I will order only one entrée next time
They get another star if they are consistent for next time.

I and my family has a wonderful dinner at this place. Food is good and cooked as per requested level of spiciness. This is something at most places do not follow. There is a wide range of dishes that will appeal to a wide range of customers. The cooking medium is good and we had no health issues. Food does not have to be exceedingly expensive to be good and this place proves that.

Wow, what a throw back to the 60’s style Cantonese sit down chop suey joint.
Solid fried rice, best egg foo young patties in the burbs, homemade egg rolls, and kid friendly egg flower soup.
And get the stir fry flat noodle w/​beef green onion and bean sprouts called «gone chow ngow haw» in Cantonese. Ask for hot chili oil on the side. They do it better than the joints on Argyle in Uptown!
Decent lunch specials and very friendly service by David the owner. Place is a little dated but very clean and no parking hassles.