One of the best just got better- a few months ago, Ping Pong expanded into the space next door, formerly a Mexican restaurant. In the past, when they put a few tables out on the sidewalk in front of the place during summer, they would literally double their capacity. Anyway, this has been some of my favorite Asian food in the city. Their egg rolls are my favorite of all time, and the sesame chicken (or beef!) is world class. The mango chicken, curry beef, spicy shrimp and ping pong chicken are other favorites. The Pad Thai is good, but pales in comparison to other restaurants specializing in Thai food. I've dined in and carried out from here numerous times, and have never been disappointed once. Carryout is really fast- I picked up a big order on New Year's Eve in just 15 minutes. UPDATE 5/11/08: Picked up carryout here earlier in the week. Prices have risen by about a dollar for nearly everything on the menu. Portions aren't all that big, even when you dine in, but the portions we got for carryout were horrible... way too small, especially at higher prices. Will not be back for carryout unless I hear this is corrected. I have cheaper options closer by that don't skimp just because I've ordered takeout. read more

I've seen plenty of mixed reviews on here, and while this is a review of Ping Pong, and not a review of Yelp reviewers, can I just remind everyone that mixed reviews deserve two to three stars, not five, and perhaps a four if you just had one minor complaint. But be more discriminate with those five stars y'all, you only live once! ;-) Anyway, about Ping Pong. I've lived in this neighborhood for six months now, but even before moving into East Lakeview, I had visited a friend here and walked by the place often, wondering how in God's name something trying to be so uber-hip could have landed flat down on North Broadway sandwiched between a candy store, a tanning salon, and other less raucous restaurants. And with no booze permit! Well, now they have the booze permit, and it is expanded, and I think we've all begun to get used to the fact that Ping Pong, for better or for worse, is here to stay. Let's look at some highlights of the decor. Can we say cute waiters? And the interior is a little too trendy if you ask me, but then again, this is what their shtick is, so who am I to judge? I suppose if it were less gaudy and more refined, business would probably tumble. I don't understand why the music must be so loud, or the movies projecting onto the walls, and hopefully come summer when they open the doors the noise level will diffuse to the outside. Right now the din of the room rises so much that you can't even hear yourself think, let alone talk to your table without screaming. Yes, it's true the staff is a little on the bitchtastic side, but I think the issue here is that they can't hear you just as much as you can't hear anything. Now imagine having to deal with every table in such a way, and now imagine that they are waiters and probably would rather not be doing what they're doing for a living either, or at least were doing too much drinking and coke snorting the night before. I've found that the best way to get your waiter to be polite here, and maybe even get a smile, is to be a little sassy back. This is Boystown after all. For example, when our waiter brought us our main courses, my friend reminded him that he had ordered brown, not white, rice, and so the waiter turned to me and asked if I too would prefer brown rice, even though he had on his tray two white rice bowls ready. I asked, "Would that be a pain in the ass?" His reply, somewhat snarky: "Yes." Rather than shying away, I remembered to be a little more rude than usual in return, and said, "In that case, bring me brown rice." Instead of getting pissed, the waiter got a big smile on his face as if I had said I was going to make out with him later, and proceeded to go get our brown rice. So don't go overboard, and certainly have a sense of timing and style, but by all means return some of the "poor attitude and service" to the floor staff, and like the Blob they will absorb your negativity and refuel their happy-charge in some sadistic, primordial way. The food is pretty decent. Don't listen to the guy who says that it tastes like cardboard. I think that guy probably lost his salivary glands and is pissed at the world. And what's really cool is that the dishes are very unique. You won't find regular Chinese dishes here, so be a little experimental. The Ping Pong chicken with walnuts is good, as is the seafood Noodle Soup, the calamari, and many of the appetizers. It is too loud, and the wait can be a little atrocious. But isn't that a sign of goodness? It's a fun place, that's for sure, and not a good place to take your grandparents. Also, I've seen some kids in here before, but found that very confusing. There is just something "adult" to me about Ping Pong. Great people watching, I suppose. And no, do not order delivery. It isn't as good, from my experience, and I live next door. read more

i'll be honest, it took me a year living in this neighborhood before i tried it out. i am typically not into super chi-chi asian places. i at first felt it was pretentious and that i woudl be paying 15 dollars for something that i could get for $5 in chinatown. but i ended up trying it out with some friends who forced me to go, i thought the food was delish! I had teh sesame beef which is incredible! It's slightly crunchy and sweet which gives it a new feel. also, the fish that we had (i'm sorry i can't remember what kind) was steamed in teh most delicious soup. what was incredible was the appetizer of the tuna sashimi dip. it is a little more expensive than the typical asian restaurant across the street, but very worth trying read more

Amazing food and service. We went for dinner with my two close friends, and it was delicious. I was completely in awe at how careful they were for my seafood allergy, and I was able to order exactly what I want. Ping Pong has become a regular place for me, and I wish I hadn't waited this long to try their amazing Pad Thai. We also got the vegetable spring rolls, which were excellent. read more

I don't really have anything much different to say than the others on here that generally like this place. Food is good, some nights seem better than others. It is cheap and has a good vibe. It is a very good neighborhood staple for us and one that we will frequent. The heads on the wall are a little weird and probably why they did it. (taxidermy no longer there) read more

Love this restaurant! excellent food, modern and nice ambiance, great music, the location is nice as well and the patio in the summer is just ideal. I highly recommend this place specially the Japanese potato curry chicken and the cashew chicken. I also love that this is the only place that I know of where the fortune cookies are chocolate flavor and honoring the name of the restaurant they bring you the check and the cookies on a ping pong paddle. read more

Outstanding service - especially right when you walk in. The food tastes extremely clean and fresh. A great spot that I'll definitely visit more. I initially noticed this place while walking down Broadway during the summer. Just went there last night and after an impressive first visit, I look forward venturing back there once the weather gets nicer and I can dine outside. read more

I have walked past Ping Pong several times and I finally sat down to eat an early dinner. The waitstaff was courteous. However, after being seated we waited 15 minutes to see our waiter to order, so I do not suggest eating here if you are in a rush to be somewhere after dinner. I was impressed with the fresh ingredients and variety of dishes to choose from the menu. Its a very chill environment. I would not recommend bringing kids here unless they are familiar with Asian cuisine. While we were there a kid threw up onto the table while his mother looked in the other direction, poor kid. Fortune cookie was amazing! read more

Average at best. Went here for a date which was a good choice as it offered a casual and fun atmosphere yet was still nice and "trendy"...not -too- casual but not too pretentious. There was no wait either, so that was a plus! Started out with steamed potstickers which were just fine. Was in the mood for something a bit spicy so I ordered the Kung Pao Chicken which, in hind sight, was a mistake. The chicken was nowhere to be seen, the presentation was from that of a six year old, I was less than impressed with the food, especially after reading so many good reviews. Sure, I'll come back here if it's easy and I'm hungry, maybe try to give the food another shot (perhaps I just ordered wrong...), but I doubt I'll be going out of my way to bring anyone else there. read more

Love this place. Huge menu, most of it's really top-notch. BYOB. Nice service. The atmosphere is good, though I admit the music is a bit loud for my taste (maybe I'm getting old?) Highly recommended. read more

The decor at Ping-Pong is nothing less than ultra -chic. The white walls is offset by an ever-chaning set of really fascinating touches like a faux moose head, a picture of two Asian men on the beach, or at night, changing lanscapes flashed from a ceiling projector. At night, the chatter of people can be deafening combined with the music. the place may look romantic but one needs earplugs. As for the food, I have always made a meal out of the appetizers from the fish tacos to the various sushi rolls. The other dishes from the soup to the stir fries are not really all that interesting or tasty. Overall - fine to mediocre place for dining. read more

Love this restaurant!!! Love the atmosphere of the place, candle light, good mix of lounge music, though able to have a convo with the person next to you. BYOB, but they have a full bar. The service was great when I went and loved the menu!! Lettuce cups and green tea ice cream are amazing!! I would highly recommend and the boiled peanuts are a nice touch! read more

After calling the restaurant to set up a reservation and being told that it's first come first serve ... Which was a bit frustrating considering how busy the restaurant is :-/ after being put on the waiting list ... The people in front of us left and told the waiter they're going to go for a drink .... A table was available for at least 15 and they wouldn't seat us .... Made me really upset because it was my friend's birthday! Host had a negative, condescending attitude. At least our waiter was pleasant. Food was good (6 of 10 rating). read more

A friend and I arrived at 9:30 and were told it would be about a 25 minute wait. While waiting we noticed several empty tables and only one other couple waiting and we assumed we would be seated more quickly that the projected time. After standing around for ten minutes, and having the couple in front of us seated at a table for two, we noticed the empty tables were still empty. I asked the host if we could be seated at one of those tables (they don't take reservations so they couldn't be holding them for that purpose) and he replied that they had to save those tables for larger parties (they were tables for four - and there were only two of us). I told him that were were here, had money to spend and wished to be seated at one of the empty tables. It seemed pretty unlikely that several parties of four would all arrive at the same time and demand immediate seating. He stated that it was their policy and helpfully suggested that I should call some friends to join us and that he would be happy to seat us then. We left to somewhere where they cared more about providing their guests with an enjoyable time than their self defeating revenue maximization policy. Super stupid! BTW: Firefly at buckingham and halsted was great! read more

The food is consistently OK, but the staff sucks. We have had issues with the host almost every time we come in. Also, they used to let you BYO beer, but now they don't because they "don't want people to get too drunk", but we have come in with two bottles of wine and not been turned away which I think is ridiculous. But we keep coming back for the decent food at slightly inflated prices because it's in the neighborhood. read more

Waiting an hour for good, not great, food sort of hurt my SF sensibilities. The calamari was pretty tasty, but everything else seemed lackluster. I appreciated the effort though and I commend the restaurant for making pretty drinks with floating orchids. read more

This place has pretty darn good food, but they have the most uncomfortable seats and environment. Music blaring, and again, back to the seats, I had to take an aspirin when I got home. I say get your food to go. read more

Update for more current dining experience: Service on this particular night was very good, a cute young Cuban boy who especially became attentive after inquiring about my dining-mate's Cuban-American heritage. Suddenly, best friends. Anyway, ordered a sushi roll which seemed way too small, and friend dumplings (veggie) which were dense and dry. My review remains at 2 stars. Actually veering more toward 1.5 stars since the place is SO FREAKING LOUD!!! Turn the music down 30% and those who want to enjoy it still could, and maybe those who'd like to hear anything their dining partners say could do the same. EARLIER REVIEW: This place has gone down hill since it was a tiny little joint. Maybe that's the down side of success and expansion. Specifics: the service is now totally indifferent. Items like the summer rolls which used to be moist and fresh and seemed prepared moments before they arrived, now seem dry like they were prepared en masse early in the morning. Spicy garlic scallops were tough ... maybe the menu has grown too much to give individual dishes and ingredients the attention they used to get? Not sure. And the place seems overly loud these days, which makes people talk louder to be heard above the din, which only adds to the noise level .... read more

Ping Pong is just around the corner from me. I absolutely love their food. Every dish is delicious including their sesame scallops, scallion pancake, fried rice (yum), seaweed salad, and many many more. This place is delicious for a night in or for a night out when you crave more upscale Chinese. Love this place! read more

No, that's not a broom closet in the middle of Broadway - it's actually a restaurant. This tiny Asian fusion location seats only 20 (plus 15 during warm weather with outdoor seating). But the diminutive size is not the only reason you frequently see a crowd of people outside its doors, patiently waiting for a table. The food is consistently solid, the prices are fair, and it's BYOB (corkage fee of $3.95, which is waived if your purchase was made Valhalla, the wine store across the street). I hear the crab rangoon is fantastic, although I've never tried it (not a big fan of cream cheese with my seafood - ick). read more

Ping Pong - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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This is a great place to go if you enjoy extremely LOUD music more than good food and the ability to enjoy a meal. Their food may be good, but I wouldn't know because the environment made it almost impossible to notice. When I asked if they could turn the music down, I got a one word, curt answer: "No." ...so apparently that is what they are striving for. read more

Great ambiance, it feels like 19th century Saigon with cool furniture, decorations and always fun music. We enjoy drinking the Lychee Martini because it is simply delicious and the best drink on the menu. You must try this. Every dish on the menu we got was scrumptious; pan fried dumplings, ping pong roll, green shrimp curry. The Chinese broccoli was just ok, nothing earth shattering. Every time we go here, the crowd is bubbly and friendly. The servers are always nice and attentive to your needs. So, that's all for, until next time. read more

PingPong has been around forever and is easily one my favorite restaurants. Stallion Pancake appetizer is on point!! I also love all of their noodles and it's a great menu. Also, the restaurant is really pretty and has a nice atmosphere to it. read more

The food is great, the location is great, and the staff and patrons are a bit pretentious. We particularly enjoy the sesame chicken/ scallops, spicy chili chicken and spicy calamari. Cocktails are great as well. The prices are a bit high, but you get lots of food. One of our favorite restaurants in the 'hood. read more

Good food but this restaurant appears to have closed. Walked by today, all boarded up.

Great for dining-in, but awful tasting delivery.

Great food ready quickly and precisely what we wanted after a long day sailing. Veggies fresh and crispy, perfectly done. Calamari was so good it became my meal and I saved my second dish for lunch the next day:) yum read more

The whole front was open to the outside which was very pleasant with the breeze. Had a party of 11. Crab Rangoon appetizer was very good. Spicy soup was good and very spicy. Three shrimp in it. Service was excellent. Sushi was excellent. I see that many people gave this 5 star. To me a 5 star restaurant would be one of the best in the world. This was good but not that good. read more

I absolutely love Ping Pong! It's a great neighborhood spot with unique decor and delicious food. I highly recommend their lettuce cups and Singapore curry noodles, but everything I've had has been great. The portions are generous and the cocktails are nice. It's especially great in the summertime when the patio is open. read more

Very intimate & different from the norm of restaurants these days. Service was friendly and the food was quickly done. We enjoyed these menu items: -Buddhist Enlightenment Packed with Asian flavor. Too strong for my taste but my husband was all about it! -Scallion Pancakes Amazing. Seriously in love! -Chilled Tofu Excited to try after reading about a similar cold tofu on an SF blog. Wow!! Delicious. Definitely just became a regular. The vegan menu options are insanely large for a non-vegan restaurant. Dare to say its the largest in the area. You go Ping Pong! read more

Awesome place, the atmosphere was great, employees - very friendly (even sang happy birthday song to one of the customers), and of course food was terrific! Always hunting for good crab rangoons and trust me this place definitely has them!! Cocktails were very interesting too! read more

Honestly I used to eat here every week. Took a lot of friends, especially out of towners. But more than once we would see customers fighting with the staff and I'd think, 'what on earth could they be so upset about?' And then came my turn...I got my regular favorite and it was a significantly smaller portion size than I was used to. So I asked why that was. Big mistake. Got a super snippy response that they had instituted "'portion control' and if I didn't like it I could go somewhere else to eat.: So instead of raising prices (and they were already expensive) they just cut the amount of food by about a third. I could have lived with that maybe, cut back to once every other week perhaps, but the guy was so incredibly dismissive when he delivered the news. I get it. You're such a popular place that you don't need to be the least bit customer friendly. I have had no desire to step foot in that place (or their sister place across the street)again. On another interesting (to me anyway) note: I had the thought, gee, I wonder if the owner is some kind of asshole, I mean look at how poorly I've seen (and experienced) the servers/counter guy treat the customers and usually the service (or lack thereof) is dictated from the top. and then I read the reviewer who described actually meeting the owner. Yup. The fish stinks from the head and Nope, that guy will never get another dime of my money. I swear I have seen the staff there pick fights with customers. Makes sense now that I've read the other review. there's lots of cool places with good food in Chicago so I'm saving my hard earned dollars for places that don't treat me like crap and totally replaceable. read more

i've been meaning to go to this place for the longest time and just went a week ago with my fiance. I WAS AMAZED. i cannot rave enough, but i'll try to specifically give some props and 1 critiques: the only critique: went on a saturday night and had a 10-15 minute wait (totally reasonable) but there's not much waiting area (though they do recommend going across the street to wang's bar...but it was really snowy and cold!) my fiance went to pingpong's little bar to get us a couple cocktails while we waited...but that took so long we literally got our drinks as the host seated us anyway. it's a small bar & i think the 1 bartender was service bar as well. but once we got seated - the good times rolled. our server was PHENOMENAL. though i can only speak to that one employee, he was incredible. i wish i remembered his name...i want to say chris? he had an accent and was just lovely. we told him we were hoping to have our cocktails, get some appetizers, then have another drink or 2 and order entrees in a little bit. I know, server's nightmare - the 2 hour table. what he didn't know is that we've both been in the industry for years and would of course treat him well for occupying his table. well, we didn't have to tell him that, he was accommodating, and really knowledgable of the wine, cocktail and food menu - after hearing him describe several items and asking his opinion on wines and food and being so pleased with his recommendations, i ended up just asking him to select a wine for my final glass of the evening! the food was DELICIOUS - i got the "beijing vegetarian" - good lord, that was a mouthgasm. smoked tofu that was so truly smokey and had great texture - perfectly cooked veggies and a rich but not heavy sauce. my fiance got the "steamed red snapper" and said it was fantastic! I also loved noting that our server knew the snapper they use was sustainable and the menu noted the tofu is produced locally! another kicker - my fiance has an EXTREME dairy allergy - we're talking anaphylaxis. so we told our server and he promptly listed the only menu item that contains butter, said the others only used oil, so baring any creamy dishes we were fine, but he'd of course check on everything we ordered. awesome. what a gesture - turns out they give you chocolate covered fortune cookies with your check (we saw the table next to us get them) and we were thinking we should mention to just not bother bringing them (dairy) but without mention, the check comes and our server had asked a manager to allow him to put some gummy fruit candies on there - knowing the cookies had dairy & my fiance couldn't eat it! that's just above and beyond - that's genuine thoughtfulness. i could keep going, but you've probably stopped reading by now - so i'll just reiterate: 5 STARS, GO GO GO! read more

Ever since the sad demise of Jia's on Halsted, we've been looking for great Chinese food on the north side of Chicago. Ping Pong is it. Great atmosphere, appropriately gay and excellent food. Real meat with light batter, not deep fried into hard chunks of tasteless fat. I recommend the orange and general's chicken. A little pricey, but well worth it. read more

There's a lot of Asian restaurants along Broadway but Ping Pong is by far my favorite. They have a menu full of different takes on your standard Asian fare, amazing outdoor space and service. read more

This place used to be good, not anymore, the portions are small and the staff is rude. It is way over rated and I will not go back. I am not sure what happened but this place seriously has seen better days. The music is crazy loud on top of rude service and average food. Their only saving grace is the calamari. read more

After a several month hiatus and a six-week build out following a kitchen fire, I was invited to come to Ping Pong's grand re-opening. The place looked fantastic. Regretfully, as the old saying goes, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. The same old problems that had existed prior to my last visit several months ago persisted, even through a moderate revision to the menu and brand new staff. I ordered vegetable dumplings and this braised pork dish - I LOVE pork. It took 20 minutes to get the dumplings to the table. Apparently, their new 'authentic' steaming process takes longer. OK, but 15 minutes longer??? Methinks not. The dumplings arrived at the table just after I had told my waiter that I did not want them. Oh well. . . On to the main course. I was raised on braised pork. It's fork tender. So I was anticipating a succulent, unctuous slab of pork shoulder, spiced with hoisin and siracha. What I got was a slab alright - more like a slab of shoe leather covered - no DROWNING - in hoisin sauce. They say that, during the Renaissance and Age of Discovery, chefs used to slather the meat they served to the royals to cover the stale, slightly off flavor of the meat. I could not help but draw a like comparison. The meat was tough, slathered in sauce, and the brussel sprouts, which were supposed to have been roasted and thus somewhat soft, were hard as pebbles. Literally, you could have thrown one across the room and put out another diner's eye with it. Couple all of this with the over-amplified noise from four speakers hanging overhead, thereby preventing ANY form of conversation other than a shouting match from occuring, and you have a recipe for a miserable meal. Then, to make matters worse, I discovered they overcharged me for the vegetable pot stickers. COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. When I brought it to my server's attention, his response was: "Do you want me to correct the bill?" Save your money. Order carry out. It will be cheaper, maybe more authentic (depending on where you order from), less noisy, and your bill will be correct. read more

What a darm shame ... just confirming what alot of the others are saying about this place after the fire .... My partner and I love the staff and decor before and after the fire BUT since reopening the food has taken a serious decline in it's quality ... this is not from a one time experience, but three times since the reopening. It's even more disappoinging since this was one of our favorite places to go in the neighborhood. On our last visit we sent the salt and pepper calamari back twice. It was dry and overcooked both times. The string bean appetizer which used to have a lively zip is now bland. The sesame chicken is truly uninspiring. A final minor carp - before the meal wet hand towels used to be given to you warmed ... now you get a cold clammy rag. PLEASE, OWNER, CHANGE YOUR WAYS - We'll give you one more shot in a couple of months as we would hate to have to say goodby to an old friend for good. read more

The ambience was really great. I loved the decor and vibe of the place. Great place for grabbing drinks or doing BYOB. I love that they have dishes from several Asian countries, so you can do an around the world thing and sample many different cuisines at the same time. I came with a large group and we ordered the following dishes: Potstickers Lettuce Wraps Mexican Sushi Bulgogi - This was everyone's favorite dish. It tasted more like a Mongolian Beef to be honest, but it was still really good. Spicy Garlic Shrimp - Also another favorite. It had the right level of spice and had a good mixture of different vegetables too. Green Curry Chicken - It didn't exactly taste like traditional green curry, but it was a thai curry nonetheless and had pretty good flavor. Masala Chicken - We had high hopes for this one but were let down. Having traveled to India and eaten at several Indian restaurants, we were expecting a certain flavor. The sauce had a very distinct cinnamon flavor, which wasn't masala at all. It wasn't terrible, but if you order this expect it to taste like cinnamon, not an Indian masala. I'm going to have to get my real Indian fix in after eating this. Overall, it was a really fun atmosphere and experience, even though certain dishes weren't as authentic. read more

I've been meaning to go here for some time. I finally did and I probably won't go back. I've had much better take out food for a hell of a lot less money. The servers are too cool for school and their calamari needs some serious sauce. Don't fuck up calamari. Ever. The portions are big, but who cares when all the food your eating doesn't taste that great. Thank God I was really hungry and had 3 glasses of Pinot Noir. It's the only thing that saved my meal. Oh, and the music is too loud. And there's obnoxious projections on the wall. If I wanted to eat Thai food at Hydrate, I could probably get away with it, thanks though Ping Pong. Don't put chocolate on your fortune cookies. You suck. read more