Shui Wah

it was good while it lasted — too bad it’s closed now. Let’s see if Cai and Lao You Ju can make up for its absence.

We went on a Sunday morning at 10AM-​ish. When we arrived, there were at least 3 tables open. Great: no horrendous aggressive crowds and straining to hear our numbers being called over a static-​y PA system! P. S. They did not offer parking validation. Service was attentive and quick.
My review will focus on the dim sum, not the décor.
Steamed BBQ pork bun: reasonably good bits of cha-​sui meat, flavorful, but outside of the filling, we would say the bun lacked a good fluffy texture. It wasn’t soggy, but it was noticeably more dense than we were used to.
Steamed chicken bun: The chicken filling consisted of meaty bits, not the cartilage and bone bits that sometimes make their way into the steamed chicken buns of other dim sum establishments. Also the chicken filling seemed to have a little bit of chicken soup in it, so the filling was moist without making the outer bun soggy. I wish I knew their secret to making these chicken buns this way.
Potstickers: Thick skin, flavorful and juicy pork filling (but maybe slightly MSG-​ed?). We didn’t much care for the thick dumpling skin: too stodgy.
Pan-​friend chive dumplings: A bit too greasy, thick skin, but the chive filling was substantial and flavorful.
Sesame balls: I don’t normally like sesame balls because they usually taste a little too much like lard covered in stale sesame seeds. But Shui Wah does an excellent job with these: crispy, aromatic sesame seeds, yellow bean paste (sorry I don’t know the exact bean used), not greasy.
Water chestnut cake: Gelatin was not sickeningly sweet, water chestnut pieces were crunchy and evenly distributed throughout square, but maybe they pan-​fried this dish with too much oil. Greasy, but I know it can be better. Elsewhere I’ve had it, the squares are very lightly pan-​fried, so you don’t have a puddle of oil that these «cakes» are sitting in.
Siu mai: Flavorful pork filling, but tastes like they put a little too much MSG in it? I don’t actually know if they used MSG though, but perhaps someone with insider info can confirm/​dispute.
Ha gow: Flavorful shrimp filling, dumpling skin was not stodgy like the potstickers and chive dumplings.
Fried squid: Deep fried with very bland panko. The oil used tasted like it was about to go stale too.
BBQ pork noodle crêpe: The noodle was perfect: delicate, non-​soggy. Flavorful and plentiful pork filling.
Shrimp noodle crêpe: Again, perfect noodle. Shrimp filling was flavorful and plentiful.
Custard cake roll (sorry, I don’t know the exact name of this): Not sickeningly sweet custard, but the «cake» part of the rolls tasted a little stale.
Downside: The only vegetable dish they offered that day was steamed gai lan (Chinese broccoli). We wanted a bit more variety than that.

I finally decided to go have take out dim sum frm Shui Wah today with my kids. It has been a long time since I’ve eaten here probably 9 years or more, and Now I finally decided it’s time to give it a go.
I went on a week day so I can get the 20% discount on their dim sum, still wasn’t cheap after 20% off on each dish. I thought their Beef crêpe funn roll was okay, their soy sauce for it wasn’t sweet it was salty. I have to have the soy sauce for the beef crepes to be sweet like syrup on pancakes. I wasn’t impressed with their potstickers either, I liked their shrimpl dumpling, haw gow. I am not going back unless someone treats me, because it wasn’t worth the money. I would rather spend it at Furama or China Café.

HMMM my first dim sum attempt in Chicago.
We had 6 dishes and were freaking stuffed. FRIED TARO omg best rendition I’ve ever had. It’s kinda like a little pork meatball wrapped with taro with a light flaky cripsy outer shell. TURNIP CAKE, HAR GOW, SHRIMP NOODLE CREPE were all standard. SALT&PEPPER SQUID was great but severely under-​seasoned. STUFFED EGGPLANT, usually my favorite, was super disappointing. The shrimp mousse was just a bit on the top, not stuffed in, and the whole dish was bland.
Waited maybe 10 – 15 minutes for a table on a Sunday. No carts in this small restaurant but means food is made to order and comes out hot. Abrupt owner lady but very polite everyone-​else. Was quite surprised by the bill. nearly $ 30 for 2 people? FOR DIM SUM?! Highway robbery.

We went to Chinatown for dim sum for lunch yesterday and went here first. We ordered a half dozen plates and were not impressed.

Remember Bubba from Forrest Gump?
«Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sauté it. Dey’s uh, shrimp-​kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-​fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That– that’s about it. «
I do dim sum Bubba style. I like my shrimp and Shui Wah knows what I like! Shrimp toast here is delicious! They chop up the shrimp into almost a paste and spread it on a piece of toast then deep fry it. Yumz. Shrimp crepes (not French like you’re thinking) are also a solid choice.
I am, as my husband says, a connoisseur of congee. I love pork congee with thousand year (century) egg. Here, the congee is flavorful and they are generous with the toppings. Don’t forget a little dash of white pepper to add a tasty kick!
Service here is pretty quick. Order on the sheet and your dim sum trays will come! No clumsy pushy dim sum cart ladies here. They don’t have the room for them anyways.
For six hungry adults who just ran a 5K, we spent $ 20 a piece with some leftovers. Not bad. Will definitely hit Shui Wah up during the weekdays for their 20% off special from 8am-​3pm!

Although still not my #1 fave dim sum spot, it comes in a close second. Especially since they do 20% off on weekdays!
Service is ok, but is pretty much what the standard is in chinatown. Medium plates are about $ 3 each. Their dim sum isn’t out of this world, but average, decent, and still filling. Definitely not bad! So i’d still recommend it. We ended up here since our #1 spot Happy Chef is under construction to expand.
My bf and I usually get shrimp crepes, pork shumai, the shrimp dumplings (har gow? i could be misspelling.) pot stickers, chinese broccoli, pork spare ribs in black bean sauce (always yum!).
I’m really a big fan of their sesame balls! check out the pic. There isn’t red bean, but an almost… peanutty, brown sugar like spread in the middle. Amazing!
Must ask for hoisin sauce or red hot chili oil, as they won’t just place it on your table.
Our most recent bill came out to about $ 30 for us… which is great considering we gout about 8 different plates and came out stuuuuffed

I’ll eat anything — like Fear Factor anything. My girlfriend on the other hand is as picky as a three year old. Being tourists checking out Chinatown we stopped in to Shui Wah for crab rangoons at the girl’s request. I agree with Beverly A. in that photos would be helpful to the unintiated. I ordered turnip cakes and pork dumplings.
The crab rangoons tasted «too fishy» to the girl’s liking. I’m guessing she’s just used to the fried cream cheese puffs that lesser eateries try to pass off. My turnip cakes and dumplings were very tasty albeit a bit greasy. The jasmine tea served was almost boiling hot. Spilling a pot of this on your lap would really fuk up your day.
Good service. Gnarly public restroom.

Deterred by the hefty wait time at our first dimsum pick, we walked about in search of the next best location. Thus, we stumbled into Shui Wah with no wait. We were initially seated in the corner, which obviously should not have been a table there, since there wasn’t enough room to pull the chairs out on one side. We were reseated almost immediately and began perusing their menu. There was confusion about the ordering system since we weren’t sure if someone was supposed to take our order or we were supposed to mark it down. Once we figured it out, we ended up getting an array of goodies from shark fin dumplings, toast, fish congee, steamed buns, and chicken feet– it’s dimsum, gotta have the chicken feet!
For our first dimsum at Shui Wah, we enjoyed sipping on our dandelion tea with our multitude of plates. Don’t expect to come here expecting the dimsum-​cart-​pushing experience. The place is too small for that. Everything is brought straight out from the kitchen. Occasionally, you’ll be approached with something in saran wrap. No thank you. We kind of missed the instant service with dimsum carts, which, is part of the charm. For a plan B, it was a decent choice but I’d be willing to try other places.

It has been awhile since I have eaten dim sum… meaning 3 months. Nashville, where I now live, one dim sum does not count. It was that bad. I have been looking forward to real dim sum.
First day in Chicago and I hit up this place. I have to admit, I’m more of a cart girl myself; they are so entertaining. Here you mark what you want and they bring it out. The food here was okay. I had the usual: har gow, siu mai, shrimp rice roll, stuffed eggplant, and chives dumpling. Everything came out piping hot, a huge plus but was expected since they were made to order. My problem was the dishes were a little bland. They didn’t have the flavors that I’m used to from Philly, NYC, and LA. Maybe the next place I hit will satisfy my taste buds, but for now the hunt is still on for more dim sum.

Shui Wah had one of the best reviews on Unilocal for dim sum, and since we had a craving we figured «Sure! Lets try it!» Well, here’s a quick run down.
This place is — small they don’t have room to push carts around like, so you order off the menu. Unfortunately for those who aren’t sure about what to order, they don’t have pictures either. The menu is off a 5×7 sheet of paper, but its good its written in English — otherwise we might have had to go elsewhere, haha.
The food was FRESH, so it was great. They don’t put the chili sauce on the table, so if its something you want you gotta ask for it.
How do I feel overall? Ehhh, next time we visit the windy city we’ll probably try different dim sum place…

When we go to the Museum of Science and Industry, we go to Chinatown for lunch. This time we decided to try Dim Sum. It was a great idea.
I love sharing food and trying bits of many different things. Dim Sum is perfect for that. We had four people and 10 different orders of food. It was a bit too much but sometimes we get nervous and over order. We really liked everything. Actually, we didn’t like the chicken rice.
The pot of jasmine tea was also superb. I can’t wait to go back and try some other dishes.

Loved it. Happy Chef has been our go-​to dim sum joint but I noticed on
Unilocal the ratings were a bit higher here. As usual, Unilocalers are correct.
It’s cleaner, friendlier service and the food is overall a bit tastier. prices are comparable. 20% off 8am to 3:00 pm. The three of us were stuffed for $ 21!
The sticky rice in lotus leaf (one of hubby’s favorites) was exceptional. Far more flavorful than most places. Must have used fresher lotus leafs as they imparted a much stronger (and lovely) taste than most places.
Another standout was the beef rice crepes… Far tastier filling than most.
The bao were surprisingly dry (the dough part). the chicken bao had an excellent filling (with cilantro in it), but overall the bao was the main disappointment.
Excellent water chestnut cake and well done pot stickers. Sesame balls were large and delightful – not too greasy as at some places.
Thank you Unilocal – we have a new «go to» dim sum place.

Pretty excellent place for delicious food. A good standard place for dim sum lovers everywhere. Ambiance is standard dim sum place for Chinatown — same black chairs, same lazy Susan, same weird green-​granite tables. We ordered the Chicken Congee, spare ribs, pork dumplings, shrimp dumplings, and Zong zi… there was more, but the names of them escape me. Reasonable pricing, food came out piping hot and quick. Delicious!
Always room, at least on a Tuesday lunch break. Servers were also super nice, but it helps if you know the owner or can speak Canto/​Mandarin (as we were able to.)
Bön Apetit!

This is basically a tale of 2 restaurants.
Very busy for dim sum, sometimes you’ll have to share a table if you don’t want to wait very long on the weekends. Relatively reliable food that comes out nice and hot unlike some of the other dim sum restaurants in the area.
Dinner is not as busy with a wide array of food choices. Most of them are cooked well although a bit salty and dry sometimes depending on what you order. Very flavorful and large portions.

I haven’t been to other dim sum places yet in Chicago, but this dim sum was very average. The prices were pretty decent, but there was nothing that stood out about this place. The staples, like shiu mai and ha gow were pretty decent, but the shrimp in long rice noodles were disappointing. The pai gou was pretty good, and the one thing that stood out to me about this place was their Chinese sausage and Chinese bacon over rice — you can’t get that at many places.
I wish they had a dinner menu available during dim sum too — really wanted to get some walnut shirmp and some pan fried noodles. In terms of cost and decent dim sum, I suppose you can come here, but I am hoping to find a different place. The place is small, but they get you in and out of there quickly.

I don’t think I know anyone who doesn’t like dim sum from Shui Wah. I live in the area and have been to a bunch of dim sum places and this small little restaurant is where I like to go the most.
On this particular day, the service was «meh…» but it’s usually pretty good. Normally the wait on the weekends is FOREVER since the food is so good but the place is so small. There was no wait today since it was a weekday.
But as usual the food was really tasty, all steamed fresh. All the orders pretty much come with 3 – 4 pieces. We ordered 6 plates that served 3 people, all for under $ 20. You just can’t beat that price for such delicious food. (see my pics)

Although I did miss ordering straight from dim sum carts, I kind of liked the order-​card system. There was a large variety to choose from and it prevents that «craning-​neck-​to-​see-​what-​is-​on-​the-​cart-​oh-​no-​nothing-​new-​that-​lady-​has-​already-​been-​by-​the-​table-​three-​times» routine.
The food is served very fresh and hot. I was worried that everything would come out to the table at once but nope, no worries there. Everything came out as it was prepared. Another pleasant surprise was that the servers also brought out items that the kitchen just made – perhaps making too much/​extra servings? – and would offer it to the tables to see who wanted a serving. (yummy Chinese broccoli today!)
My favorite was the beef shu mai. Really good flavor and the pieces seemed really big. Came out piping hot. Ditto for the pot-​stickers – they were huge! The chicken congee was a little bland – but I’d prefer that than over-​salty anyway.
It is very busy but we were lucky to be seated within 5 minutes after we arrived. Service was very friendly and ditto a previous comment – just flag anyone that comes by if you need anything. Anything we asked for was promptly given – ice water, another pair of chopsticks, the check, etc. Great food for very reasonable prices. Glad I checked it out! A very nice alternative to the bigger dim sum places in Chinatown.

When you first walk into Shui Wah you are almost always met with a wall of Chinese families waiting in line for a table at this tiny square restaurant. If you run at peak hours — especially on the weekends, then a 15 – 30 minute wait is the norm, and it’s well worth it. The décor is typical of a hole in the wall, and the bathroom is a little sketch, but don’t let that deter you. Seriously. If you are not familiar with Dim Sum, think of it almost as a family style– brunch-​like Chinese version of Tapas.
A lot of previous posters have commented on the lack of a Dim Sum Cart (and some have even deducted stars because of it), but honestly there really is no room for a little cart to be pushed through — they save the room in the aisles for more tables and chairs, and you should probably be thankful for that. Not only does that ensure that everything you order is piping hot (instead of being wheeled around in a cart all day being continuously re-​steamed and reheated for hours) but it also guarantees at least a few more seats and tables in the place.
I have had Dim Sum all over the world, from Des Moines, to the Chicago suburbs to Hong Kong and Beijing, and Shui Wah is definitely one of the top two. (The other being in an incredibly pretentious and yuppy restaurant in Beijing.)
And while the ordering system makes it unbearably difficult and flustering for people that can’t read characters, you can practice up on names and dishes by visiting this site (
) — The actual flashcards/​postcards are super fun. If you’re in the area, you can buy them from the Field Museum gift shop.
A definite miss though is that of their BBQ pork bun. Over the years the ratio has altered, where it is increasing in bun and decreasing in the filling. Other than that though, the Gi Chong Fun (Beef Fun Roll), Foong Jow (Chicken Feet), Siu My (Ground Pork Dumpling), Ha Gow (Shrimp Dumpling), Jean Gow Choy Bang (Chive Dumpling), and Law Bahk Go (White Turnip Cake) are honestly by far the best that I have ever tried. Other notables are the Deep Fried Fun Roll — which is a Chinese sugar free churro-​esque entity that is wrapped in the Fun Roll, and the beef meatballs. Be careful with the Ha Gow though, they steam it hard which is indicative of a thin white wrapper that might fall apart on you. If you want to eat it in one fell swoop you must first commit, pick it up with your fingers and devour — of course, dipping it into the Hoisin sauce on the upswing.
Their Hoisin sauce is some of the best too. Particularly enjoyable with the Siu My, Beef Meatballs and the Ha Gow.
Do not dismiss this place. The food is fantastic, the service is militantly efficient (and trilingual to boot), and have I said how phenomenal the food is? (Sans BBQ Pork Buns, that is…)

My first awesome Dim Sum experience.
Great Dim Sum restaurant in Chinatown. I didn’t see any dim sum carts pushed around. Everything is ordered off the menu and the wait staff will walk around offering choice dishes. The food here is outstanding and very clean.
They pick up the plates quickly and do not rush you out of the restaurant. We ordered several dishes and they were all incredible. Dim sum for two was less than $ 15.
I would only trust a couple places in Chinatown for dim sum and this one is one of the best. The selection is unique and service is excellent. The prices are very fair you can eat really well here and feel good all day.
The tea is tasty and the tables are clean no funny smells or sticky tables. Some of the tables have a rotating center good for a larger groups or intimate gatherings. The presentation of the dim sum is very appealing traditional style with great flavor and attention to detail. I will come here again several times.
My top choice for Dim Sum in Chinatown.