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  • Big Bowl-Ohio

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Big Bowl-Ohio
Big Bowl-Ohio

Big Bowl-Ohio Details

  • Dining Style: Casual Dining
  • Website: http://www.bigbowl.com
  • Email: bowl106@leye.com
  • Phone: (312) 951-1888
  • Hours of Operation: Lunch: Monday - Friday: 11:00am - 4:00pm, Saturday & Sunday: 11:30am - 4:00pm; Dinner: Sunday - Thursday: 4:00pm - 10:00pm, Friday & Saturday: 4:00pm - 11:00am
  • Payment Options: AMEX, Diners Club, Discover, MasterCard, Visa
  • Cuisine: Chinese, Thai
  • Dress Code: Casual Dress
  • Accepts Walk-Ins: Yes
  • Additional Details: Banquet/Private Rooms, Bar Dining, Delivery, Full Bar, Happy Hour, Non-Smoking Restaurant, Private Room, Takeout, Wine
  • Private Party Facilities: We have an elevated semi private area of the restaurant that can seat up to 45 guests.
  • Private Party Contact: Adam Bryant (312) 951-1888

Getting there

  • Cross Street: Ohio & Rush
  • Public Transit: The red line stops at Grand and State which is only a few minute walk to Big Bowl.
  • Parking: Public Lot
  • Parking Details: There is a public parking garage directly above Big Bowl on Ohio Street. There are two entrances, one off Ohio St just past the corner of Wabash and Rush on the North side of the street The other entrance is on Rush St just north of Ohio St on the west side. Both are denoted by a green sign with a white "P" on it.
A word from Big Bowl-Ohio
Big Bowl is a pioneering Asian restaurant, vibrant in design and cuisine that offers the latest authentic Chinese and Thai food. Using market-fresh ingredients, Big Bowl’s signatures include “dim sum-sized” appetizers that encourage sharing, Pad Thais, seafood, some truly hot & spicy food, and… fresh made ginger ale. Diners from singles to family-style parties, end the meal as they began, with a sampling of “dim sum” desserts.Located in the heart of River North. Continued
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Diner Reviews
  • "Had wanted to go there for a long time. The food was simply not good--any Asian restaurant can beat this place!"
    Dined on 3/7/2014
  • "I chose Big Bowl for a Valentines Dinner for my wife and another couple. The girls both enjoy Thai food. I'm not a big fan, but It was a night for them. We opted for the group share dinner. It's is well worth the price per person. Giving you salad and noodles, appetizers, three entree choices. The restaurant was packed out especially being Valentines night, but the wait staff handled everything perfectly. Each course came out looking good, served quickly, and we never felt rushed to get us fed and out the door. The girls loved the curry chicken dish and the potstickers. We also checked out a new place called Eataly right across the street and would definitely recommend checking that out after dinner for a great Italian coffee and dessert."
    Dined on 2/14/2014
  • "Good restaurant selection. Ambience was great, waiter was exceptional very tentative. The food was great."
    Dined on 2/12/2014
  • "You can always get a good meal at Big Bowl! We have been to a few of them and they are always spot on. They are reasonably priced, great selection of items on the menu, and good drinks! You can't go wrong with the Big Bowl!"
    Dined on 12/22/2013
  • "Big Bowl is consistently good, serving fresh, high-quality, thoughtful versions of Southeast Asia's greatest hits dishes. It is not the little-known dive in Chinatown that serves the best Peking duck this side of the Great Wall, but it's not trying to be. The menu is on the larger side (presumably, due to a lot of similar ingredients used in different preparations), but there are always new dishes to try alongside tried and true staples. This time, I started with the pho, which was fine, but the broth lacked vigor and the bean sprouts, Fresno chilis and Thai basil looked anemic. But then, it was on to the Kung Pao chicken (extra spicy, with noodles) which is fantastic. Suffice to say, I'll be back again and again."
    Dined on 1/29/2014
  • "We used to come to Big Bowl regularly but the past couple of occasions have been awful. The food tasted like bleach on this past visit (both entrees) and they now have terrible quality meat (although it doesn't matter much since they've replaced most of the meat portions with various filler items). It's the worst example of a restaurant continually driving costs down until the food just becomes disgusting. We won't be going back anytime soon."
    Dined on 1/25/2014
  • "We always enjoy dining out at Big Bowl. There are options for everyone, including plenty of vegetarian. The food is consistently yummy. You can eat heartily or healthy. I always enjoy the housemade ginger drinks. The service was really great and our waiter promptly corrected a problem with our gift card. Highly recommended restaurant for a special event or when guests come to town."
    Dined on 1/10/2014
  • "Have been here several times, never had a bad meal."
    Dined on 12/20/2013
  • "Service was very fair and we waited a long time for food and in between courses and it wasn't busy.Some of our food was just warm and not hot. We ordered soup to share and that took awhile to get to the table, we waited long to get our main courses which came out one by one for us. green beans had a nice flavor but came out warm not hot. It was as if they were sitting on the line for awhile. There was a long wait to get the food between our courses.As soon as we got our entrees I asked for the check but got no pen to sign my credit card receipt. I couldn't sign my receipt and left a cash tip. No one was at the door to thank us as we departed & the bartender didn't say ank you or good bye. I would expect more out of a LEYE restaurant."
    Dined on 12/23/2013
  • "We last dunes here 3 years prior and are glad to see that things have not changed. The homemade ginger ale is great. Fun atmosphere and reasonable prices."
    Dined on 12/22/2013
  • "Great range of dishes that were well cooked. The added bonus was that wine was half price on a Monday, which made our visit even better value."
    Dined on 12/23/2013
  • "Had the special pacific shrimp soup and it was great to share and perfect for the weather! The yellow coconut curry stir fry bar is amazing!!! Great left overs too!"
    Dined on 12/22/2013
  • "Was disappointed , as we expected more from a Lettuce Entertain You Restaurant. Looks like a diner, but thought the food would outshine the lack of atmosphere. We were wrong. We have three international students from China, Korea and Thailand. We were hoping they would enjoy a taste of home, but they did not like it at all. PfChangs is 100 % better. The place was extremely crowded and there is no place for people waiting for a table to stand. Some people where spilling into the eating area and standing by our table near the door. Waiter wasn't very helpful but was friendly."
    Dined on 12/21/2013
  • "Totally enjoyed our dinner at the Big Bowl! Food was delicious. Great flavors, nicely seasoned. Service was well done. Will definitely be back."
    Dined on 11/29/2013
  • "Service was initially slow, but more than made up for it once we told someone we had not been visited by a waitress after sitting more than 15 minutes. From that point forward service was attentive with great service recovery of free appetizers. You are easily able to have a conversation in this restaurant. Dress is casual and overall atmosphere is conducive to groups just wanting to have a great time."
    Dined on 12/19/2013
  • "reservation was at 12-pm, it opens at 11:30 am and they were already out of sapporo beer and mai tais- how does that happen, especially at a lettuce rest., food was below average, that is very rare for lettuce entertain you rest., i would have been better off giving the $ 120 to charity !"
    Dined on 12/8/2013
  • "Great food and service! We were visiting Chicago for the weekend and were happy to have a great meal, no waiting, everything was well explained."
    Dined on 11/25/2013
  • "Our server was Sam, and he was a gem. So awesome and didn't interrupt dinner every 5-10 minutes like so many other servers. Gave us input about the dishes we were about to order. I ordered the seven flavor chicken with fried rice. It was sooo good! I don't like chicken very much, but this was an incredible dish. My boyfriend ordered the red hot pepper noodles. That was really tasty too! We ordered mochi for dessert, the passion fruit flavor is the best. They serve it with a side of chocolate dipping sauce and caramel. So delicious, I thought it would be weird, but no way. AND they make the sauces in house. We ordered the seasonal non-spirited hot buttery apple cider. It is perfect for a cold day. I want more."
    Dined on 11/18/2013
  • "The seven flavor chicken was delish, as was the potstickers. A great time was had by all. Though, the pomegranate cocktail was too sweet with the home made ginger ale. The vodka, Pom, with club soda was just right though."
    Dined on 11/16/2013
  • "I appreciate having a low cost list of wines, commensurate with food prices, but the reds are really bad."
    Dined on 11/16/2013
  • "One of our party has a gluten allergy. He has always had an enjoyable meal, no problems with the gluten allergy. there were lots of choices for him to choose from."
    Dined on 11/15/2013
  • "Very good food selection and great atmosphere in downtown Chicago. Great place for dinner before/after a movie downtown."
    Dined on 10/19/2013
  • "I love to eat at Big Bowl. The food is always outstanding. I typically eat at one in the suburbs and always have a great experience. This was a bit different. This was the first time I have eaten at the one on Ohio street. The restaurant layout is a bit crowded taking away from the ambiance a little. This time, the food was good but the service was terrible. I waited approximately 10 minutes before the server came by to start my order. I waited another five minutes a before water was brought to my table. The server appeared to be very hurried and not attentive. Although the restaurant was busy, the server and the overall service really adds to or takes away from the overall experience. I was disappointed."
    Dined on 11/2/2013
  • "Server was knowledgeable. Food came in a timely fashion. We really enjoyed our visit."
    Dined on 10/29/2013
  • "Had friends visiting and we went to several Lettuce restaurants this weekend. All were wonderful but the welcome and extras for being new to Big Bowl were exceptional. The service was great and the server was very patient with one of my friends who asked a lot of questions. I know I'll be back and will bring all out of town guests to Big Bowl in the future."
    Dined on 10/27/2013
  • "The large variety of food options can be daunting at first but in the end, everything is composed of the same general basic ingredients. Speaking of the ingredients, they are all are very fresh, high quality ingredients which makes the food smell and taste great."
    Dined on 10/20/2013
  • "Fun, energetic restaurant. They serve your standard US interpretation of Asian fare, prepared with a very fresh taste and ingredients. They also appear to do a big takeout/home delivery business."
    Dined on 10/13/2013
  • "It's an energetic place with great food...not your typical Chinese / Thai restaurant. The food was great and our server explained things really well. So many choices in Chicago but this one was memorable and we will visit again."
    Dined on 10/6/2013
  • "The chicken yellow curry was really good and the waiter we had was awesome! I would pass on the Mongolian beef dish, but the rest of our meals were tasty. I would also recommend the pan-fried pot stickers and the sweet potato wrapped in a wonton wrapper - yum. Since it was our first trip to the restaurant, the manager brought us out an appetizer sample of the sweet potato in wonton wrappers - pretty thoughtful. Will go again."
    Dined on 10/2/2013
  • "we have never had a bad meal here and recommend it to everyone we know going into the city to eat."
    Dined on 9/22/2013
  • "Wonderful food, service and experience. Keep up the good work! It's always fun and delicious eating here! This is quickly becoming one of my favorites!"
    Dined on 9/22/2013
  • "Just wasnt very good. Would absolutely prefer to go to PF Changs down the street. A shame because I love LEY restaurants, but this one needs some help in my opinion."
    Dined on 9/21/2013
  • "I always gravitate towards this restaurant when I'm in this area of town. The food is consistently good and one can find healthy, vegetarian choices or indulgent, meat dishes. The decor is fun and the service is friendly. The homemade ginger ales and ginger cocktails are wonderful. Definitely recommended."
    Dined on 9/21/2013
  • "Big Bowl Ohio is big on service and big on flavorful well executed asian dishes. And our waiter and servers and chef on duty were superb. We could not have had better service. The chef and manager both visited our table to check in with my friend who cannot eat peanuts. They wanted to be absolutely certain that they prepared dishes that would agree with her and that she would like. Perfect.."
    Dined on 9/20/2013
  • "Dark, noisy even with few diners in late afternoon. Prompt service but relatively empty ginger-gin cocktail worth trying Entrée arrived too soon after appetizer Plenty food for price Thai hot spicey choice just right No Thai beer Unlikely anything is truly authentic Good for easy lunch or incidental dinner"
    Dined on 9/17/2013
  • "Food was good. Service was lacking from our server. The manager's who run the food from the kitchen were great. We were there early and the place was far from full so not sure why our server wasn't more attentive to the table."
    Dined on 9/17/2013
  • "The appetizers were great. My husband who's a meat eater loved his entree and rated it highly. There were few vegetarian options for entrees because they fry their tofu in the same fryer as their beef. I chose the one entree with steamed tofu but it was really hot even though it wasn't labeled with their icon for hot dishes. I could barely eat any of the entree. It was too hot to be able to taste any real flavor. Dessert was excellent and the fresh ginger drinks were unique. If they could work on more vegetarian options it would be a great restaurant."
    Dined on 9/15/2013
  • "Yet again, another great night at big bowl Ohio st. Great staff,great food. I know I can always rely on a great time at this restaurant."
    Dined on 9/14/2013
  • "The food tasted so good mostly due to what I felt were very fresh ingredients especially the vegetables. From appetizers to entrees, e.g., the fresh spring roll, pot stickers and pad thai. Even the ginger ale - house made."
    Dined on 8/22/2013
  • "Always have the best server when I come here. The service is excellent. The food is also consistent and delicious."
    Dined on 9/11/2013
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