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Go for the curries. Seriously. Big Bowl surprised the heck out of me by having one of the most robust curry dishes I've had in a while. The Panang Curry made Extra Extra Extra Spicy actually challenges even my inhuman tolerance for spice. Do not overstate your preference for spice here. They actually believe you. I love it.
I've gotten great recommendations from the staff on various dishes. I've never tried the DIY stir fry option, but the veggies always look fresh when I walk by. They have a well-stocked bar. I never have room for dessert (which being diabetic is a very very good thing :) ). Seriously, the portions are out of this world huge. Do not over-order.
They're a chain, but a small one. Don't let that deter you. I've yet to be disappointed in my experience. I doubt you will be either.
I lived in schaumburg for a while...now i'm back in CA near some of the best restaurants in the world...but it still can't beat chicago...OR my big bowl craving!!! They had this shrimp dish there that was just amazing! i miss big bowl. =(
I hope you miss me too, big bowl. Did you get my christmas card?
Dear Big Bowl,
I love you. I don't normally love chain "Asian" food (except Panda Express) but somehow you've captured my heart. Your kungpao chicken is inauthentically fabulous, and the stir fry bar is better than all 50 combos I've tried to put together myself at Flat Top. I love your kitschy oversized bowls (duh) and the gaudy decorations. Sometimes I have cravings for you in the middle of the night.
oh Big Bowl, I do love you so much!
great food.
almost like PF chang style, where the food are pretty decent.
very nice fusion, as long as you are not looking for authentic food.
Great food & service. The Pad Thai and fried calamari appetizers are great. How can you not love this place. An Asian restaurant that serves Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, and other Asian flares and has a full service bar with beer on tap..... I don't know why would anyone would go to that other chain PF Chang when the food here is so much better.
The more and more I think about my Chinese food "picky-ness" I think how great Big Bowl is. To me, this is good Asian cooking. Even though it is probably not really Asian! LOL I'm just so tired of the "American Chinese-food-stereotype" that all we want is fat, grease and oil. I like flavor -spices, something unique to rattle my taste buds. My favorite dish here is the Kung Pao Noodles with Tofu. It has a really nice flavor and they must use a very light oil in the cooking process because I feel it has a pretty fresh taste. I just hate going to places where your food is sitting in a big plop of fatty gravy. Big Bowl fuses all different kinds of cultures together to come up with some really tasty dishes. The curries are very good as well. I think people should give it a shot....I like it.
My favorite authentic asian cuisine. Real quick, my favs: love their chicken satays, the spicy chicken egg rolls, and the chicken pad thai. Love their peanut sauce and the sauces that come with the egg rolls.
Dont have time to frequent often but my co-workers enjoy having it delivered via Take Out Taxi!
Damn, I heart their food!
I still love their pad thai, although it's still inconsistent as all hell. The second-to-last time we were here, it came with thinly-sliced sweet red pepper.
My husband still loves their mongolian beef, although it's still inconsistent as all hell. The last time we were here, it was missing the mushrooms.
I would never eat here if not for the generous LEY giftcards we always seem to get for the holidays. I'm just sayin'. It's too noisy, and did I mention too inconsistent?
Me, I'm a big fan of Pad Thai. Not so much a big fan of Big Bowl switching to free-range chicken… Read more »
Horrible horrible place! I have been there about 10 times and everytime the food varies from overpowering taste to bland
The potstickers are thumb sized and a dollar each and it's way too nutty, the stir fry was so bland and we complained to the waiter and he changed of and it came back way too spicy with a totaly different taste, so we called the manager and he was a 20 year old! I have no idea why he as the manager and he didn't do anything to help but just shrugged us off. So we waited for the check and had to wait about an hour so we stood up to leave. The waiter ran as fast as he could and gave us our check. It was horrible
At the end: horrible service, no standardization, way too expensive. It amazes me how horrible people can be when they don't have heart in the bisness
Delicious Chinese and Thai food. They have a really wide selection on the menu, but if you can't find exactly what you want they also have a stir fry bar where you pick your meat, sauce and veggies and they will cook it to order. The calamari appetizer was delicious and the pomegranate ginger ale was very refreshing.
My grandparents are crazy for any place in the Lettuce Entertain You franchise, and being in the mood for some Asian food, it was a good place to start my trip.
The food is certainly Americanized, to warn the purists - but I think it's amazing in the fusion sense. They emphasize their effort to use locally grown food, which I can get behind. We started off with the cold spicy peanut noodles and the summer rolls, which came out quick and were delicious.
The homemade ginger ale is great - I went for a big glass of the pomegranate ginger ale, which was delicious, and a nice complement to spicy dishes.
The entrees - the pad thai, the kung pao chicken, and fried rice - were more than enough for all of us, and lacking the disgusting grease that you encounter at other Asian restaurants. Service was friendly, helpful, and fast. Luckily the wait wasn't too bad on a Tuesday night, but I've been to this chain in previous years on a weekend and it's mobbed.
I really don't know why I keep coming back to this place....The food is just ok and on the pricey side. I could definitely get much better food someplace else. Did they get their shrimp off Bubba Gump's first shrimp outing? I had like 4 pieces of shrimp on my pad thai. I enjoyed it was a bit on the spicey side but give me more shrimp and noodles. It was packed more with cilantro and bean sprouts. Definitely not worth $14.
I am attracted to the decor and its location at Streets of Woodfield....I guess a good date place. Decent service.
If you want some real food, go find a real thai restaurant. If you're on a date and not too hungry and are in the mood for asian food...its ok.
What HAPPENED?!?!?
This used to be a good place, with good service, to get a drink and some decent pad thai on the fly.
Last night, 06/23/08 the restaurant had a foul odor (we thought it was someone near the door, but it got stronger as we got closer to the kitchen), and every surface was STICKY. The wine glasses on the table were dirty, and the service was very bad. We had to leave. "Management" had no idea what the hell was going on.
Apparently, I was told by my friend who absolutely loves this place that I ordered the wrong thing. We ordered take out from here of his "usual": Chicken Pad Thai with tofu and red chilis. I must say that it was quite good, but I still have no desire to go there.
BREAK OUT THE TUMS!!! My stomach still hurts from last night's dinner here. I honestly don't know… Read more »
Being Chinese, I'm highly offended by Big Bowl (P.F. Chang's is a close second).
I went because I was accumulating points for my leye card and also because a pal of mine hardly eat at other authentic places (hence, chains or its evil cousin like PF Chang's)
Nothing favorably memorable about it.
The dishes are unimaginative, flavors are bland. I wasn't too fond of their ginger ade either. I'm a huge fresh ginger fan, but too much of anything is simply, too much. And the drink was so effervescent . Between the fresh ginger overload, and the fizz, my nose could not handle it.
If you like a nice atmosphere, then Big Bowl is neat. Otherwise, you can find underrated bland food cheaper elsewhere, or just go to a good and real Chinese restaurant.
MMM Big Bowl.....Gotta love it! I don't get to visit as often as I would like to but that's because it's way on the opposite side of Schaumburg. Yes, it's a chain but it's sooooo goooood! If you haven't noticed I stick with what I like so I am keen to the teriyaki shrimp fried rice with glazed pineapple, asian vegetables. yummy!
Solid. I had never been to this location before, but my gf and I were on our way back to the city from my Sunday morning soccer game in Elgin and we didn't feel like fighting the Cubs traffic so we stopped for lunch. We ended up hitting the traffic anyways, stupid tollway, but that's beside the point.
I've been to the Big Bowl in the Viagra Triangle on multiple occassions when I used to work at the top of Michigan Avenue and I was always just satisfied, but never really extremely impressed. Maybe it was what I ordered, I don't know for sure.
Either way, this time I was more than satisfied. It was incredible. First of all, we had our bikes on the car rack from a weekend trip to the lake house, and we asked them if we could sit up front by the window and they accomodated. It wouldn't normally be that out of the question, but it was Mother's Day, which is the biggest restaurant day of the year.
I had the shrimp fried rice and the gf had some crazy curry dish. Both were tasty. I'm not in the suburbs often, but if you are...go there.
3.5
Honestly, I would never be caught dead in one of these in the city, but when in the suburbs, do as the suburbanites do. It was the right place for the occasion--dinner with the in-laws--and it was decent food, decent service, clean, pleasant atmosphere (if a little staged. But They Must Entertain Us).
I thought the homemade ginger ale was refreshing and clearly it was made with real ginger, but I found it a tad on the sweet side. I got the yellow coconut curry and they allowed me to substitute the rice noodles used in pad thai rather than rice. It was reasonably good, though not as coconutty as I would like. And yellow curry means it tastes like curry of yellow curry powder, which I don't like as much as say, a red curry (which was sadly, not an option on their menu. I think my evaluation might be a little biased because I had the red curry noodles from Noodles, Etc. in mind (so addictive), and what I got wasn't that, but it was decent enough.
My dining partners had kung pao chicken and kung pao tofu with spinach on wide noodles, which I thought was tasty enough. I mean, the place is not Lao Sze Chuan, and it doesn't make any pretenses about the fact that they are an Americanized, themed restaurant. Authenticity does not even apply in these cases. It is what it is (and it is perfectly appropriate that they are located in "The Streets of Woodfield," which has a pretty serious theme park vibe already). So if the in-laws say on another occasion, "Let's go to Big Bowl," I wouldn't necessarily object.
The food is okay; nothing spectacular. The service is okay. The drinks are delicious. The main dining room appears small, but there's another room in the back. Parking can become a headache during the dinner rush. Go in for the drinks, go somewhere else for the food.
Atmosphere: Great, Cool
Food: Excellent
Service: Lunch, Fast
Bathrooms: Clean
Price: Friend Paid
Lunch business meeting 4ppl. In, Out, Good, Fast. closed the deal!
What's not to like!
Good place for a date, I guess.
Little cozy place, quick service.
I don't think it is a real Asian restaurant. It should be called fusion food
The bowl is big, but very boring and bland cooking.
The price kind of high, not worth the money. But it makes a good stop if you are tired and hungry after shopping at Woodfield Mall or watching a movie.
One word...POTSTICKERS! I think Big Bowl serves the best around. I have a hard time getting past the appetizers here, but when I do I usually order the Shrimp Pad Thai. I always leave with leftovers here, and it's just as good the next day. The Hibiscus Iced Tea, is my absolute favorite drink and compliments any of the dishes on the menu.
The wait staff is friendly and helpful, I have been coming to this restaurant many times over, and have not had a bad experience. My drinks never go empty, and I have never had to wait for a table.
Check this place out on Chinese New Year, a festive fun time to bring the kids and experience some culture.
Trick to a good asian restaurant? Look around. If there aren't many asians, leave.
Big Bowl's an exception...well, because they have good Chinese-American food, but I expected that going in, so I won't compare apples to oranges. I had the BBQ pork chow fun at this location and it came out better than I expected. Most BBQ pork sucks at chains or cheap Chinese restaurants (I'm spoiled, my Chinese grandfather used to make his home-made for my dad's restaurant), but they pulled off large slices without slathering it with too much sauce. They have a great group-meal offering for people that want to pay a bit more, eat all they want, and try a bunch of different things.
If you're looking for something a non-chain that makes their own ingredients (noodles, etc.), try Yu's Mandarin on Golf.
oh my god I can't believe I'm admitting this but for american-style Chinese/Thai what have you, Big Bowl is good! It isn't trying to be authentic -- props for that. What they do they do well -- like the hot n sour soup (which I would NEVER order anywhere else -- I'd die of embarrassment, what, with my obsession with the authentic and all), the bao (steamed buns) and the pho-esque soups.
Too bad my office moved. Used to be a great stop before the long commute home.
Lettuceentertainyou seems to be my management chain of choice this week or...they are just inescapable in the Chicago suburbs.
Atmosphere - The place is funky, casual and definitely cooler than a TGIF.
Food - I had the Thai hot pepper chicken with basil & peanuts (I opted for the brown rice instead of the noodles, as it is a more healthy option). It was spicy. On verge of too spicy, but I survived. The chicken was ok, tasted slightly over processed, but was still edible.
Service - The service was great! As an example, when I ordered my drink I forgot to ask for the freshly made ginger ale. When I inquired later to the server, he was kind enough, without me asking, to bring over a free glass with three straws for my whole group to try. This was nice and showed excellent customer service for noticing my disappointment. The soda was good and had actual pieces of ginger in it. Therefore, you better like ginger if you order it.
Overall - I had a pleasant experience as it came with a Big Bowl of customer service. The food was not the best Thai I ever had but the excellent service won me try again.
This was the second time I ate at this particular Big Bowl and the food was simply outstanding. In my opinion, Big Bowl sets the bar for this kind of theme - Chinese/Thai/stir fry bar and is waaay better than Stir Crazy/Flattop Grill/etc.
There were three vegetarians in our party of four and we were all satisfied. We had an amazinglyly healthy meal that tasted great - I had the fiery vegetable steamed dumplings for an appetizer and then made a stir fry bowl with Chinese Egg Noodles, Kung Pao sauce, tofu and veggies. My dad had an excellent hot and sour soup and a salad with the perfect low-calorie sesame-based dressing. He also really liked his ginger pomegranate juice. My mom had the eggplant with kung pao and my sister destroyed the fudge brownie and ice cream.
All in all, excellent meal and extremely fast service.
Maybe this is not authentic thai, but I have not found a place with better Pad Thai. And their Coconut curry chicken with Green Beans is another favorite. And of course the Hibiscus Lemonaid, yum!
The only downside is the wait, at least on a Friday night. We waited 75 mins for a table and it was -5 outside!!
Setting: Very pretty inside. The light fixture design in the main dining room is very exotic. The window area have nice asian style lamps, and a big cloth wall with asian writing. Very elegant. Then there's the bar, very nicely lit and designed as well. All in all a gorgeous place to eat in.
Food: Magnificent. Some of the best Asian-American food I've had. Not too pricey neither. And some of the food can get a bit spicy. I had a dish with pepper and mushroom in it, and they look alike! So beware for those of you who are sensitive to spice.
Service: Awesome. We even got the out-of-towners special. When our waiter found out this was our first time there and we were from out of town, he gave us a complimentary dessert. Yum!
Was pretty good but I was not blown away. I have been here a couple of times and maybe I am just not ordering the right things, but I prefer PF Changs. I like that they both Thai and Chinese options, however. I just haven't loved anything on the menu. I would definitely give it another shot though. The appetizer platter was great, and so was my drink!
A lot of people criticize restaurants, like Big Bowl, for their lack of authenticity. I used to be one of those people. I've changed my tune because it's not always fair. I don't think they ever claimed to be the real deal. They want to offer a great dining experience and they succeed. What I especially like about Big Bowl is that they take elements from many Asian cuisines and fuse them together.
The ambiance and service are consistently good, which coincidentally is hard to get in an authentic place. If you don't care about ambiance, and are looking for authentic Chinese, go to Yu's Mandarin or Asian Bistro for Chinese and Happy Elephant or Thai Garden for Thai.
My favorites are the Pad Thai and Hot and Sour soup. Also try the fresh ginger ale and the sweet ginger mint hot tea.
Why did we even bother with this chain??? Oh yeah, Lettuce Entertain You gift certificates. That's the only reason why we'll eat at a place like this because it's such a waste of money. We were in the burbs and I'm pretty tired of Maggiano's, so that's why we came here. The food was just .....eh. But I don't think I'll ever come here again, not when there are millions of other places that are cheaper and more authentic.
I like this place more than I thought I would to be honest. They have a nice wine selection and the food is very tasty. The service is ok, but what I really go for is the choose-your-own stir fry. I can pack my bowl completely full of veggies and still get some spicy kung-pao beef. I will agree with the other reviews that it is somewhat inconsistant but it's not enough to prevent me from going back.
Decent Stir Fry place. Made my own bowl with the Ginger Sauce which was pretty standard. They do have a great selection of veggies to add to your bowl and the service and the food comes out very quickly. Great for a quick meal on the go.
The dessert menu is much improved! Still the best!
I LOVE Big Bowl Schaumburg. It is one of my favorite places to go for Asian influenced food. Here… Read more »
A neat little place for date night. The pad thai was pretty decent but nothing spectacular. However, the portion size was much too large. The orange ginger ale was yummy and unlike anything I had ever drank before.
This restaurant is a parents dream. They automatically bring rice, chopsticks, etc. to any child at the table! That way as you order-they are occupied and QUIET!! The food is good and I float away I drink so much of their Hibiscus iced tea. It tastes sweetened and its Au natural!
This is one of our favorite restaurants. I always want to try everything on their menu. But, I can't resist myself from ordering my favorite dish "Scallop and Shrimp Citrus Curry". I favor the dipping sauce for Chicken Satay. Though not authentic but I love their creativity to make such a unique sauce, delish! I love all the foods I had tried here. It might not be an authentic in particular Thai or Chinese. But, it 's a great taste of Asian.
This is a great place to go for some really tasty thai food. They have an awesome menu and their shrimp dumplings and pad thai are a must-try. The food is very reasonably priced and the portions are big. The restraunt is very well-kept and has lots of space. Its usually never so crowded that you have to wait a long time, so its a great place to go for a fun and delicious meal without a long wait!
Get ready to wait for a table, even when they are not busy! After dining at this place many times, it seems to me like a strategy to steer the waiting hungry crowd to the tempting bar. On the flip side, they offer fresh pan Asian fare in a beautiful ambian, great music and it's near the mall and movie theatre. Valet parking available.
Excellent Asian food. Quality and ambiance are the the extras. good wait staff. Prices good. When you go here you want to try everything. You should!
Hoffman Estates, IL
Category: Thai
Schaumburg, IL
Category: Asian Fusion
Hoffman Est, IL
Category: Chinese
Schaumburg, IL
Category: Thai
Schaumburg, IL
Category: Restaurants
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