Walked in got a line number for two. While I understand they being larger group ahead for most of their bigger tables. But the older lady would also prioritized 4 people ahead of us. This is ridiculous way to treat customers. They kept doing this pattern and forgot us as our number left out on the top of the scratch book. Then worse happened when they brought in another 2-person who came later than us. Anyway, we ate after long wait and the dim sum were very moderate in quality. From a very disappointed customer! read more

Very standard dimsum in Chinatown with 20-30min waits on weekends. Has a fairly priced dimsum selection with photos. It's a big upstairs venue with no non-sense servers who sometimes disappear after food is ordered (though I've only been here during primetime).Ambience is what you'd imagine the inside of an authentic dimsum palace would resemble (dressed-up servers, wooden chairs, and gold embellishment. What brings down the rating of this place are the servers. I found it especially difficult to get ahold of our servers to request for chili sauce, inquire about dishes, or to add extra orders. I also noticed a big language barrier between the servers and my group with some servers only speaking Chinese. A few times our orders were forgotten and when we reminded our servers, they told us they were out of "x" dish. Highlights: the standard shrimp dumpling, shrimp crepe, shrimp rolls, and sui mai were authentic and good. Don't get too creative if this is your first time. Parking is validated $2 for 2 hours in the parking lot nearby. Be wary of the #VEGETARIANDUCK. I don't know which member of my group wanted this, but it was a strange indescribable taste with artificial dye. I don't think I will order it again. I think some meats are meant to remain as they are without being made into a substitute. And like someone else on here mentioned, everyone has his/her/their favorite dimsum palace in Chinatown. They're all the same with minute variations. read more

Imperial Restaurant - Shrimp Dumplings - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I came back primarily for the Peking duck. It comes in 2 courses: duck skin tacos and duck lettuce wraps. The duck was the star in both dishes and I found that I like them both best with just a small amount of the sauce added on (ask for it on the side!) Other highlights were the xiao long bao and egg tarts. The egg tarts were soooo flaky and sweet. I saved half of mine to eat as a dessert! The steamed egg yolk buns were not great. The inside seemed separated and just tasted like granulated sugar and oil. Would not recommend. Both the menu and the dim sum menu are huge, so you're bound to find something you'd enjoy! read more

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4-stars for the dim sum and pan fried noodles. Everything was delicious and well prepared. As for service, staff was polite and tried to be helpful. There were so many mishaps because the dining room was at capacity. Confusion all around. I heard they're newly opened. So, maybe give them a chance to settle into a rhythm. Be warned when it's a full dining room you cannot hear each other sitting across from each other on a large round table. They should put up something to absorb the noise. This was the loudest Chinese restaurant I've ever been to. A lovely dining room with unpleasant acoustics. read more

Had a party with 3 tables of 10. We brought in the shrimp sashimi and piglets while the rest was from this establishment. Timing was pretty precise and service was attentive. The fish was 7 ilbs each. read more

Imperial Restaurant - Heads of shrimp sashimi, nothing goes to waste - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Food is bussin. Waitstaff are pretty young so they speak mandarin as well as Cantonese which makes it easy to navigate. Get the chicken feet and the custard buns but not the egg tart. Only complaint is that they played the same song on repeat the whole time I was there but tbh it was a banger so I'm not mad. Make sure you learn yumcha or dianxin or dim sum Etiquette before you come (how to place the tea pot lid for a refill, how to fill in order boxes etc) and your dining experience will be smooth. read more

One of the best Dim Sum place in Chinatown! The food was fresh, but it took them a while to bring a lot of dishes over. I always come during brunch time. When it's during the holidays and weekends, there's a very long wait to be seated. read more

Came here on a quiet Thursday night at around 7:30 PM and the place was pretty empty. My party of two was placed at a table probably too big for the both of us, not that I minded at all. I wanted some dim sum so I asked if they were still serving at this time. Luckily, they were. Score. I was in. ATMOSPHERE/ARCHITECTURE: 8/10 Nice interior design that is upscale with a spacious dining area. There are a variety of table sizes ranging from large circular tables that can seat groups of 10-12 to smaller 4 person tables. The restaurant can likely seat 80+ people. SERVICE : 7/10 It was a slow day so we had basically 3 people helping our table of two in terms of service. They were attentive, however, I felt a bit awkward like they were watching us too closely. Sometimes in terms of service, I'd prefer them to take a step back too. Also they missed one of our dishes on our original order which was eventually fixed. FOOD: 8/10 Crystal Duck and Oyster Steam Roll - This was a new dish that was offered as a part of the dim sum menu. It was duck and vegetables with oyster in a steamed rice glutinous flour gel. The flavor was interesting. I like the duck inside but I don't think it went particularly well together. Tofu and Spinach Rice Roll - This was good with the sauce. The tofu had a good flavor and the rice roll was done well. BBQ Pork Steam Bun - Classic steam bun with BBQ pork in the middle. The bun was soft and not overly chewy as it sometimes can be. I found that this place's BBQ pork steam bun was one of the better ones that I've had. Shrimp Shumai - Shrimp filling in a wrap and steamed. I enjoyed it, but the shumai here was not particularly outstanding. It was about average. Pork Belly - Now this, dish, THIS is the one that carried the entire meal and it wasn't even a dim sum dish. The pork belly here was cooked and flavored perfectly. Not too salty and the meat was nice and soft. The pork skin was seasoned well. I though this was basically perfect. Red Bean Dessert - Gelatin with red bean inside it, I was kind of disappointed. It was not as good as I was hoping it would be. Definitely a hard pass on this if I came here again. PROBABILITY OF RETURN: 7/10 They have a TON of menu options so I'd be inclined to come back here to try some of their other offerings, but probably not before I tried other things in the area first. TO EAT OR NOT TO EAT: Worth eating here. I don't think the dim sum is particularly outstanding, but that pork belly. Worth everything. Please try that if you come here. OVERALL: 7/10 read more

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Despite the slow down in visitors and business in Chinatown (as mentioned in the media) in the recent weeks, the dinner dishes we ordered were very good. Peking duck prepared into two separate dishes, walnut shrimp with toasted walnuts, beef chow mein, pea pod tips with fried garlic & sprinkles of Goji berries in a soup base! Tonight the restaurant was not crowded but staff was attentive. There's a large parking lot across the street. If you ask your wait staff for a subsidized parking ticket, that will reduce your parking to $2.00 for 3hour park time. As a result, as you exit, insert the initial park ticket you received as you entered the lit, followed my the subsidized ticket and lastly, insert your credit card to pay the balance. BTW, the dim sum at CAI is excellent too! read more

Imperial Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Dang, Cai's Dim Sum is pretty good! As a American Born Asian, I'm quite critical of Dim Sum, especially since I live in California, where there are a lot of Asians. However, I quite enjoy Cai. This Dim Sum spot is pretty up there in my book. The price is reasonable, the servers are joking and friendly and welcome when I spoke Chinese, and I enjoy the quality of the dim sum. I quite like their Tripe, from what I can remember. Remember, the thing with dim sum is, you don't want to order too much!! read more

Food and service is pretty bad. They also charge higher than what you signed so be careful. I'm glad I took a photo of my receipt for dispute on credit card app. read more

Honestly, i feel like most dim sum places are the same, it's just a matter of finding which one you like the most. I only ordered pick up from here, but when I walked in it was pretty much dead. I ordered shrimp dumplings, siu mai, steamed creamy egg yolk bun, deep fried spring roll with taro and chicken and the baked green chive puffs. Everything tasted delicious, it didn't differ from any of the other dim sums places I've tried. I liked the chive puff a lot, even thought it's pretty much fried wonton with shrimp bits and chives. I ate those while waiting for the train, bc I knew they were going to get soggy by the time I arrived home lol. The only thing that was disappointing was the creamy egg yolk custard bun. It wasn't that creamy and the texture of the bread was like this hard soft texture. It's kind of like when you microwave it, but it's not fully heated if that makes sense. Overall, i enjoyed my experience, there was a couple of other things that im interested in ordering, so I'll definitely come again. read more

Cai is one of my favorite, most frequented dim sum spots in Chicago. They have a great selection and the food comes out fairly fast - even on busy Sundays. Warning: If you go for lunch on the weekends and have a big party, make reservations! My favorites: Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings) - the soup broth is great and the noodle is thicker, so it stays together better than Hing Kee's Xiao Long Bao. Definitely poke a hole in the top and let some of the steam out before eating! I've seen too many people burn the inside of their mouth pretty bad by trying to pop the whole thing in their mouth. Once it's adequately cooled, these soup dumplings are amazing and melt in your mouth. The meatball in the middle is tender and flavorful, especially with the broth and the thicker noodle gives it a nice contrast of texture. Try them and you won't be disappointed! Super Har-gow Jumbo Shrimp Dumpling - large shrimp meatball on the inside encased with a thin noodle on the outside. It can be a little hard to eat as it can fall apart, but totally worth it for any shrimp lover. Beef w/ Enoki Mushroom (the rolled noodle, #31) - if you're adventurous and are down to try something with a different texture, you'll like this. I love these noodles! They're thicker and a little gummy (think a thicker version of what Vietnamese spring rolls are wrapped in), but delicious. Make sure you dip it in lots of the sauce! Egg Tarts - thick flaky crust encasing the sweetened custard on the inside. They come out hot and fresh so eat them right away! I'd recommend getting an order of these at the end, as they're more of a dessert. Service can be a little hit or miss. Make sure you know what you ordered and be vocal if they give you something you didn't order. You also might have to ask for refills on your drinks. This is something I've come to expect with a lot of Asian restaurants in Chinatown. Overall Cai doesn't have the prettiest food, but the taste is definitely there and is consistent every time I've been. It's great for larger groups, just make sure you make a reservation on the weekends. read more

Imperial Restaurant - 2 orders of Xiao Long Bao (Soup Dumplings) (w/ crabmeat), 1 order Shumai, and 1 order of BBQ Pork Buns - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

So much better than the dim sum outings I remember from my college days -- maybe it's because you order it from the table rather than snagging it from a wandering push cart, maybe it's just that I hang out with a more discerning crowd, but things here were generally very good, and the best items were fresh and flavorful. A particular surprise was the crunchy shrimp roll, which looks from the outside like a standard-issue mediocre egg roll, but turns out to be both freshly fried and filled with a shockingly pink, fresh, tasty pile of delicious shrimp. We ordered them for the children, but I ate more than my share. read more

I don't like seafood, but wanted to try and It wasn't all that. Though it's a personal opinion I asked those who went with me and they weren't amazed at all(they love seafood). The chow mein was more stale rather than cooked (don't know if that's how it's supposed to be). Waited a good 20 minutes as the food was steamed, so weren't bothered. The ambiance was okay you can say, besides the dirty looks of the staff and the emptiness of not having them attend you (there were no people besides a family of 4). read more

Imperial Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

This is our family's go-to restaurant for dim sum in Chinatown! Food is consistently good and prices are cheaper than Minghin. Service is extremely fast, although if you go at peak hours on the weekend (11AM-1PM) there will be a wait for a table. We have been to Cai 15+ times and still love it! Our favorites include the shrimp dumplings, snow mountain char siu bao, and ham sui gok. read more

I'd say come here for the Peking Duck alone! It is served on homemade tortilla-like rounds with veggies and generous portions of freshly sliced duck. The duck is so tender and juicy with the fat perfectly rendered and crispy skin. The sauce is pretty sweet so I recommend asking for it on the side so you can control how much goes on. Another round of duck is served in crisp lettuce cups. The dim sum and noodle dishes were good, but nothing special compared to the duck. I really enjoyed the egg tart dim sum and didn't love the other ones. A worker was vacuuming while we ate which I found off putting. Other than that, I'd come back and just get the duck!! read more

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Dare I say Cai is better then MingHin? It probably is a line call but Cai has a slight edge as their dim sum is bigger, pastry crumbly, skins soft, full of taste and cheaper! Cai's venue is not as upclass and ambience is dated. But the food is quality. Service here is above average and efficient. read more

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They have a lot dim sum dishes to choose from but service can be improved. Each dim sum dish was cheap and bigger than what we expected. I think I can eat about 2-3 dished for lunch. read more

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Went here for dim sum on Sunday around 11am. There was like a 20 minute wait. They sat us at a table which was very uncomfortable. The chair is like back to back with another chair. We ordered some dim sum. There were some foods that didn't taste good and they forgot one of our orders. So they deducted from the bill. The food is not the same as before. I will definitely not come back here again read more

This is my go to dim sum place. Always fresh and delicious. And my personal favorite is the Xiao long bao AKA soup dumplings. read more

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Updating my review: This restaurant recently rebranded from Cai to Imperial Restaurant. The staff, owner and chefs are still the same, the menu and selections are the same, and it appears they forgot to change the business name on the receipt as it was still saying Cai. They offer parking validation at the 2 lots across the street -- you get 3 hours for $2, without validation it's $12. During our visit today, they didn't check our vax cards, we were perfectly fine with just our masks on entering in. I came here today with a friend, and we ordered a bunch of dim sum items -- my favorites: spicy chicken feet and pan fried turnip cakes. My friend ordered the shrimp dumplings, pan fried pork and chives potstickers, sesame balls, and custard buns. We also asked for a dinner menu as we wanted food to take home for dinner -- I ordered some salt and pepper fried shrimp and stir fried baby bok choy in garlic sauce. My friend did a similar order of baby bok choy, did a General Tso's chicken, a bowl of hot and sour soup and crab rangoons. The service was okay, and the food isn't bad at all. I'd recommend Imperial Restaurant to anyone in the area looking for dim sum. read more

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Now called Imperial. Standard dim sum but included a couple dishes I've never seen in other dim sum places like the intestine in black bean sauce and the beef tendon. Their traditional dim sum dishes like chicken feet and hargow are good. Only minus was that the spare ribs and black bean sauce had spoiled meat. The pork tasted slightly sour and off and spoiled some of our appetite. read more

Imperial Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I like to go to Cai for dim sum. It is authentic and food is very tasty. There is a variety in the menu but I have a few favorite must-get items. Servers are attentive and it gets really busy over the weekend especially during 10am-2pm. read more

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Ordered and stir fried E-fu noodle 干烧伊面。 picture looks like having a lot of ingredients. The reality is very upsetting . Only found it when reached home. only just the noodle , tasteless . read more

Imperial Restaurant - E-fu noodles. 干烧伊面 - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

It was fun to bring guests here on Thanksgiving. Chinatown was bustling and put us in a good mood. It was entertaining to choose from a Dim sum menu. read more

So-so dimsum place. Nothing spectacular but if you're around the area and want some dimsum then could check it out. Honestly, I would not purposely seek out this place to enjoy dimsum but probably will comes back if it is convenience. read more

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I guess this place goes by "Imperial" now. The teapot we received looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a while. Besides No music and having to listen to a man vacuuming for the first 20 minutes i would say the food is pretty good, definitely worth the money. My gf and i agreed Ming Hin is just better dim sum and better atmosphere. read more

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There's many dimsum places in China town and I would not be able to differentiate the food here from the other places. Don't get me wrong nothing is wrong with the food, all of it is good, selection is great. However, nothing jumps out to me a unique or especially delicious. The dish in the picture I attached was okay, flavor was good but I wish the you tiao filling was crispy, instead it was hard and almost soggy. Not sure if this dish is supposed to be like that, but I'd feel that if it was crispy, it'd be much better. read more

Imperial Restaurant - Chow fun wrapped youtiao - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Minghin is my go-to for dim sum in Chicago's Chinatown, but when they aren't serving dim sum at Minghin, Cai is an obvious choice. Their service is wonderful, there is plenty of seating, the dimsum is authentic and delicious, and food comes to the table fairly quickly. I do think that the dishes are a tad bit more expensive in comparison to Minghin, but Cai itself is great overall. Very clean and a great experience. I've been here twice and I'll definitely be back! read more

Imperial Restaurant - dim sum - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

What was good: quick service, good options outside of dimsum. Highlight for me was the salt and pepper Japanese tofu- tofu was light and the pepper added that extra kick. Soup dumplings also good and the dimsum were pretty big. Could be improved: service wasn't very proactive about asking us if we needed anything like water, sauce, napkins... seemed like they were rushed but at the time we went, the restaurant wasn't too busy... half the dimsum menu (on a Saturday night) also wasn't available and a couple things ended up not even being available and we found out after ordering... they didn't ask if we wanted anything else instead... My personal opinion is that there are better options in Chinatown read more

They don't have the best ambience or service, but it doesn't matter, because the food is AWESOME and the price is right! We came on a Monday afternoon and it was not crowded and service was fast. We ordered and had Dim Sum only. Food: 5/5 - All of the Dim Sum we ate were really great! The porridge, SiuMai, and BBQ pork pastry were the standouts! Each of these three dishes were well made, huge and delicious! The Pork pastry was much larger than I anticipated and the filling are generous too, though the edges had a bit too much flour. Another standout here is the BEEF TENDONS! This is not found elsewhere and it is one of our family's favorite dishes! Presentation: 3/5. Food is not as polished but as long as they taste good I don't mind. Ambience: 3/5. This is a typical Asian restaurant experience, dark and a little aged, but clean nonetheless. Price: 5/5! Very competitively priced but does not sacrifice quality Conclusion, this will be our go to place to have Dim Sum in the future! Sure, MingHin is still the king of DimSum and has a better restaurant ambience and service. But Cai is not far off and lighter on the wallet! read more

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Have been coming here for dim sum for years with my family. To me they have slightly better dim sum than Minghin. I grew up in Hong Kong and I can tell you this place offers some of the best dim sum in Chicago. If you come during lunch hours, you will get a very authentic dim sum experience but don't expect excellent service. The place will be noisy, crowded, waiters and waitresses will not pay much attention to you. You will have to really wave at them to get their attention to place the dim sum orders or refill your teapot. My review is only for the dim sum. I have not tried their dinner. I have other go to places for Chinese dinner. read more

My family and I had a great experience!!! We ordered the 2 course Peking Duck and it was amazing, highly recommend. Also, the service was exceptionally attentive compared to the countless times I've had dim sum before in Chinatown. This isn't my first time at Cai but it is the first time since they reopened (and perhaps renamed?). I wanted to share my experience because I think they deserve a lot more attention and support since reopening. I will definitely be returning with my friends. read more

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One of our super favorite dim sum joints in the city! We visit this place very often on Saturdays for their dim sums exclusively. In the heart of Chinatown, you cannot miss it! Street parking is available but is almost impossible to find during the peak hours on weekends. Also the restaurant is located on Level 2 and I am not sure if they have an elevator (haven't seen one yet), we just carry the baby stroller ourselves but might be worth checking out if you may need accessible routes to make it to the restaurant. Note - They do dim sums everyday 1 - 4 PM only Huge beautifully decorated banquet space with lots of space in between tables. Perfect for large groups/families to share plates. We usually visit on Saturdays around 12 PM and wait for around ~20mins for a table of 3. Staff is well mannered and quick with orders. We love the below on their menu and usually stick to these and play around with the rest of the menu - Xiao Long Bao - very very good!! Sticky Rice w/ Chicken Wrapped in Lotus Leaf Salty Chicken and Vegetable Congee Steamed Wonton w/ Spicy Spare Ribs w/ Olive Other dim sum items are also equally good - steaming hot and so yummy! Must try dim sum joint Chicago has got to offer. read more

Took a couple friends to their first dim sum experience and Cai definitely set the bar high! They have all the typical dim sum options like shao mai, char siu pork bun, chang fen, shrimp dumplings etc. They also have some dim sum that I haven't seen before like the char siu chang fen which was actually insanely good! The workers were also extremely nice and so happy when my friends mentioned they were trying it for the first time! Super fast and good service and will definitely be coming regularly! read more

Imperial Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Food was delicious and had a great time. The service was wonderful, got food quickly and everyone was very polite. Great first time trying dim sum. read more

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Something I miss a lot about home is good Chinese food, which is surprisingly difficult to find in Chicago. Cai is a step above its more popular counterpart, Ming Hin. We came on a Thursday morning and the restaurant had a lot of open seating. There is a wide selection of dim sum on the menu (no cart ladies here). For the most part, everything came out quickly and was piping hot. Their dumplings were stuffed with filling and every dish was solid we all left full and happy! read more

Imperial Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

This is one of favorite restaurants in Chinatown. It has a good selection and quality for dim sum and dishes. It can get quite packed during the weekend brunch times so be patient with the wait. If it happens to be during a holiday, I'd recommend calling ahead for a reservation. The dim sum here is one of my favorites in Chicago. Their shumai (燒賣, open face shrimp and pork dumplings topped with a bit of fish roe) are always fresh and fragrant. The rice noodle rolls (腸粉) are perfectly steamed, with your choice of beef, shrimp, or char siu. The crepe itself is not too thick to which some places are prone. I also really like the steamed chicken feet in black bean sauce. I know. I know. It may sound a bit adventurous, but give it a try if you haven't before! As for the dishes, they are very traditional and are great for family get-togethers. Some of my go-to dishes for dinner include the beef chow fun (牛河) and the salt and pepper shrimp which is super crispy with a kick of flavor. Cai also has one of the best quality Chinese tea selection in my opinion. The atmosphere and the taste of the dishes remind me of the OG 'yum cha' restaurants in Guangzhou. Well worth a visit! read more

Imperial Restaurant - Left: Steamed Chicken and Sticky Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaves (糯米雞), Right: Egg Tarts - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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This place was really all that and dim sum. Came on a Sunday around 11 AM and it was popping. Luckily it was only about a 10 minute wait for a party of 2. It's spacious and clean inside. You mark what you want on a paper menu with pictures and they bring you the food. I think I actually prefer the dim sum here than minghin. Service wasn't all that great but that's pretty much expected from Asian establishments. I'd definitely come back here to get my dim sum fix. read more

Imperial Restaurant - Dim Sum Near Me - Chicago, Illinois