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SY Chef

4.6 (87 reviews)
Open • 11:00 am - 8:30 pm

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Happy hour specials
Dogs allowed

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Recommended Reviews - SY Chef

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Michael T.

Researched what was good for Chinese in the area and I am glad I found this place. Got seated quickly. Neighboring table a group of elderly Chinese women celebrating birthdays. They were loud and in Chinese, so atmosphere was a little disruptive. Service was also not very good as the person serving me had an attitude and rushed me. Did not give recommendations. For food I got dumplings and lamb and onion. They were both 10/10. I asked no MSG. They honored that. Dumplings were boiled. Very warm and satisfying. Lamb was tender. Onion paired well. Sauce was light. I asked for extra onion, they honored that. Beside the service and atmosphere, this would be 5/5.

D7. Pork, Shrimp Chive Potstickers

Food is quite good. Attentive service. Food came quickly. Small unpretentious place. You come for the food.

A10. Scallion Pancake
Linda P.

Stopped in for lunch and was glad I got there early. It was very busy by the time I left. Even with being early, finding parking was a challenge. The strip mall parking lot is small. The hot and sour soup came with the Mongolian beef lunch. I did wish I'd picked the egg roll instead. The soup was fine, but it wasn't anything special. The beef and fried rice though we're excellent and not too spicy. I was really looking forward to the scallion pancake and it had great flavor but it was thicker and chewier than ones I've had before. I'm not sure if order it again because of that but I think it's a preference thing. I saw lots of other items I'd try though. Definitely worth a repeat.

Nick P.

It's been like a year since I was last here but we decided to give it a try again. We came here for a late lunch. It's located in a small outlet, so parking can be limited since it's shared. They do have some places to sit and eat but it's limited especially during peak hours. When we came in, we practically had the whole place to ourselves. I believe it's family owned and the owners are very nice and attentive. They have one gender neutral bathroom. We ordered stir fried lamb with onions, sweet and sour pork with pineapple, and shrimp, chive, and egg dumplings. Portion sizes are very generous and prices are reasonable. -stir fried lamb with onions 5 - lamb meat is very tender, requires very little chewing. -sweet and sour pork with pineapple 5 - most Americanized Chinese places, the pork would be soggy, but here the skin is very crispy. Pork inside is succulent. -shrimp, chive, and egg dumplings 5 - I really liked how they listened to my feedback from last time and added more moisture inside. They were definitely juicier and tastier than before. Skin is thin, good sized dumplings, and flavorful.

a group of people eating at a restaurant
Maria T.

We visited for the first time this past Sat. We had a great experience so we visited again the next day. This is a little Hole in the Wall with great food and great service. There are several 4-top and 2-top tables. I think the restaurant could seat a maximum of 22 people comfortably. The food was really good both days. On the first day, we ordered Mongolian Beef, spicy eggplant and combination fried rice. All was delicious! We liked the thickly sliced mushrooms included in the beef dish. The eggplant had a kick to it but was not overly spicy. The rice was flavorful with an abundance of protein. On the second day we ordered sweet and sour pork with pineapple and shrimp chowein. The soft noodles were handmade and the dish had lots of shrimp. Other: - In a rather run down strip mall with limited parking. - One unisex bathroom. - Soda served in cans (no refills) No complaints. Would definitely recommend. Great food and great value (big portions). May now be our "go to" for Chinese restaurant... At least for takeout or a quick bite.

A9. Homemade Hand Pancake
Adel W.

Newer restaurant in the Lisle area, and easy to miss as it's a tiny spot in a small strip mall! We came as a group of 8, and they graciously moved some tables to accommodate us. The interior is pretty small, and seats around 30-35 people! We ordered a bunch of dishes, and in the end it only came out to $110 total. My favorites were the Colorful wide cold noodle, pork head with cucumber, eggplant with potato and pepper, homemade H& pancake, and the boiled sour cabbage pork dumplings. I'd probably skip on the special dry chili chicken and stewed pork with fried tofu. Service was wonderful, only 1 woman was serving the whole place.

Menu
Francis R.

The hidden gem of Lisle. My wife had stumbled on this one via Chowbus. Very much a hole in the wall kind of place. Pretty limited seating and most orders seemed to be take out, but the food is legit. For veggies, we tried the eggplant w/ garlic sauce and sauteed green beans. Eggplant was piping hot, but both were delicious over some fresh white rice. For noodles, both the chow mein w/ chicken and colorful wide cold noodles were both great. They use fresh noodles in the chow mein and the cold noodles were perfect for a hot summer day. For main entrees, we tried the fish filet in spicy sauce and the stir fried lamb w/ onion. Fish filet was very nice and used some of the numbing peppers. Very tasty. The stir fried lamb was okay. I've had better, but it's decent. Anyways, we've been looking for somewhere closer to home instead of having to make the trek to our usual spots in Chinatown/Bridgeport. For sure will be back to try the dumplings here. 'Til next time, cheers!

Pork egg rolls, excellent!
Pearl M.

We decided to try a new to us Chinese restaurant. I've see SY Chef before, it's right next door to my husband's favorite burrito place. There must be something in the water there, because the food here is excellent as well. There are are about 8 tables, and the murals on the wall are very cool. It's very clean and well kept. There was only one server, but she was efficient and friendly. The menu has a ton of options. The crab Rangoon and egg rolls are priced per piece, which makes them a little pricy, but we'll worth it. I could have used more filling in the crab Rangoon, but they were still fresh and well done. We had spicy fish, which had the Szechuan pepper type of spice, a little mouth numbing, but not overwhelmingly so. The fish was tender and delicious. The Mongolian beef was a smaller portion than I expected for the price, but it was also very well done. Sometimes Mongolian beef is over sauced and cloyingly sweet. This was delicious, fresh tasting, and well prepared. The eggplant in garlic sauce was my favorite of the night. The vibrant purple was beautiful, and the garlic sauce was spicy, slightly sweet, and balanced with the right amount of salt. It was just perfect! My daughter order the cold sesame noodles and I ordered the colorful wise noodle salad. They tasted pretty similar to me. Both are dressed in sesame based sauces with cucumbers, carrots, and cilantro. I prefer the wider noodles, they're chewy with a bit more bounce. The other noodles seems starchier to me. Overall, I loved all the dishes we ordered. We will definitely be back! It was so nice to find a hidden gem that hit all the right notes!

Colorful Wide Cold Noodle Toppings

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3 years ago

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1 year ago

Best eggs rolls great beef and broccoli good service clean rest room great fried rice

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2 years ago

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3 years ago

Best Chinese restaurant in the area, better than Xi'an cuisine which makes everything unnecessarily spicy. Very authentic. Good service too.

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4 years ago

Tasty Chinese place with generous pricing and large portions. Servers were friendly as well!

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3 years ago

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4 years ago

Lunch specials are generous, waitstaff very nice.

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3 years ago

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2 years ago

Had high hopes based on all the positive reviews. But we didn't like it and the portions were kinda small.

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3 years ago

The bomb. Authentic, delicious, amazing, huge portions. Noodles were so good and thick

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3 years ago

It's kind of a new Chinese restaurant. I like the food and the price is reasonable. Will be back.

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3 years ago

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2 years ago

Had a great fried rice here! Incredibly tasty and savory. I also had Ma Po Tofu, this I was less happy with, but overall quite content.

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3 years ago

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4 years ago

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4 years ago

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2 years ago

Food was really delicious and very well priced for the huge portions. Staff was very kind and the place was very clean.

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2 years ago

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4 years ago

Good quality Chinese food. A little pricey but worth it if you're looking for better tasting and better ingredients.

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4 years ago

Wide Cold noodles so good, fish and eggplant very tasty as well. Our go to Chinese spot!

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3 years ago

Food is always very fresh and flavorful. Different than typical Chinese food we've had in the area. Think we've found our new go to spot!

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3 years ago

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Page 2 of 3

Ask the Community - SY Chef

Do you sell frozen dumplings?

yes we sell,$80for100

Can you dine in?

Yes

View All 4 Questions

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Lucky Star - Sesame chicken

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FINALLY! I found THE Chinese food place. I've been searching for years to find EXACTLY this type of…read morefood. It reminds me of college and my twenties when I'd eat this after a drunken night out or the next day hungover. The family meal for 2 (beef broccoli, sweet and sour chicken, shrimp fried rice) was LITERALLY PERFECT. Delicious, fresh, flavorful, great portions. I also ordered the tofu with mushroom, and it was so amazing. Great sauces for all the dishes! Chinese restaurant fried rice is a hit or miss a lot, but this was a HIT. My new go-to Chinese food spot!! I'm so happy I took a chance on Lucky Star! It's now in my favorite foods/restaurant rotation when picking dinner.

It's hard to find a Chinese place with decent reviews, so I wanted to help uptick this spot. It's…read morepretty inexpensive for the large portion sizes (we ordered smalls and we have two meals of leftovers meals between 3 people). Before, I've had the orange chicken-- it was good, but ORDER CRISPY and NOTE it has. the orange peel bits. Last night, we got bbq pork fried rice, which was massive, delicious portion.. BEEF CHOW MEIN which was our FAVORITE of the dishes. Deep brown in color with mushrooms and tender beef. Then we not recommend the chicken and cashew chicken.. it looked like gelatin and has translucent onions too... once we got over that, the chicken was lean and tasted good mixed in with other items. They give generous amount of sauces, fortune cookie and chow mein noodles. QUICK too!

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Cebu Lechon House - Sisig combo

Cebu Lechon House

4.0(27 reviews)
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We've lived here for years and have only now recently tried this restaurant. The staff members were…read morenot only incredibly friendly, but also helpful in explaining the menu items and cooking process. They gave us sample of the different menu items to try before ordering; the aristocrat chicken was cooked so fresh that the meat falls off the bones. The glazed bbq flavor was delicious and paired well with the garlic fried rice and lumpia. We received extra samples of the lechon that they roast for four hours on Saturdays to take home, better believe we'll be ordering this next time as well. Thanks again and see you soon! Best, Charlie

We came here specifically to try the Filipino food because the Chinese food you can get anywhere…read more When looking for this place, look for New Chinese Kitchen otherwise you'll miss it. It's across the street from Arby's in a small strip mall. You'll definitely have to make a U-Turn because getting into the lot is weird. Plenty of parking since it is a shared lot. We decided to do two combo meals plus the aristocrat chicken. When dining in, there are about 4 tables so it can be limited if there is a rush hour. The owner was very pleasant and he explained about the items before we looked at the menu. Lumpia was crispy and tasty. Garlic rice was a little oily but still good. Overall, it's about a 4. I would have given them a 5 but that rock hard crispy kare kare is hard to forget. However, I'll return to try other items. -crispy kare kare with garlic rice and lumpia 3 - I wanted to like this but the crispy kare kare was a huge let down. It was very tough to eat. I've had Filipino food many times and it was never this hard. It's a shame because the peanut sauce with the veggies and eggplant were delicious. -bbq pork belly (liempo) with garlic rice and lumpia 5 - I really liked the BBQ pork belly. Very easy to cut with a spoon. Meat was well seasoned. It is fatty, so it's best to eat it with rice. -aristocrat chicken 5 - highly recommended. Chicken is extremely flavorful even for leftovers. Meat is very moist and juicy. Nice balance of sweet and salty. I should have gotten the 10 pieces.

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Cebu Lechon House - Inside

Inside

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I have never been this disappointed with a meal in my life. The hibachi did not offer many choices…read morebut since I usually Love freshly prepared hibachi I decided to go for it. It was just meh. Ok. I just paid nearly $50 for two dinners so I tried several items from the buffet. Nearly everything I personally tried was either grease soaked or barely warm. The fresh fruit was good but it is impossible to mess that up.

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Royal Buffet - Wide selection.

Wide selection.

Royal Buffet - Sushi had great variety

Sushi had great variety

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SY Chef - chinese - Updated October 2026

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