Bonsai Cafe

My wife and I had lunch here on a Friday. We shared soups (phở and tom yan) and the orange chicken. Everything tasted fresh and was quite good. We particularly appreciated that the orange chicken didn’t have that syrupy texture you too often get at Chinese restaurants. We live in the neighborhood so we’ll definitely be ordering from here again.

We have been coming here for years to enjoy the Kung Pao chicken (either with rice or with noodle), pot stickers, panang curry, and sushi. Prices are reasonable and service is usually good. BYOB is nice. While in my experience the quality of some menu items can vary depending on the night you go, I have to say I have not found any place that makes kung pao as good as they do. It is consistently great! Beef noodle curry is another consistent favorite!

I live close to this restaurant, so I really wanted to like it, but after eating here several times I think I have to concede that it’s just OK in most respects. There’s nothing bad about it, that I’ve experienced. The food is competently made for the most part, reasonable priced, and the service is prompt, but it just lacks something that would make it better, somehow…
I may be spoiled from eating sushi in the northwest suburbs where there are many options, some of which ARE spectacular for these same price points, but I’ll try to stick to what I know of Bansai Café, to be fair.
The food:
It really depends on what you order, I find. Their maki rolls are generally good, with a few things (spicy tuna and their shogun roll in particular) that are surprisingly excellent. Other things, even simpler dishes like California rolls or Pad Thai that you’d think would be hard to do wrong, are too small, blandly cooked and seasoned, or otherwise disappointing. Portion sizes are mostly fine (their simpler maki rolls could be bigger), but flavoring and ingredients sometimes feel perfunctory or uninspired. I leave feeling totally satisfied by the spicy tuna, but wondering how it’s even possible to mess up Pad Thai? And many things are just… exactly… what you’d expect. The crab rangoon is so predictably competent that it’s almost, I don’t know, boring? I don’t feel like the owners are trying to skimp on ingredients to save money, but it feels very calculated and conservative to eat here, somehow, and that always translates to disappointment for me. There’s nothing bad about the food, but neither is there anything on the menu that’s especially great or that I can’t get elsewhere, which seems like the whole point of eating at a restaurant.
The restaurant:
It’s in a very nice location with plentiful free parking immediately adjacent to the doors, so there’s no problems with slippery date-​night sidewalks in the winter or finding some not-​very-​close parking structure to park in, so that’s a plus. The interior is cosy with very basic furniture, but this usually doesn’t bother me: plenty of sushi places keep their furniture simple and you come to expect that after a while. Others have said it’s family-​friendly, and I suspect that’s probably true, but there are other, better (even legendary) local options for this.
The service:
I hate to keep harping on this, but again: it’s just OK. The food seems to be prepared quickly as long as it’s not crowded, and everything comes out hot and correctly. Just the same, there are many places nearby where the servers are noticeably friendlier, more enthusiastic or good-​humored, or in some way just more congenial. Down the street at Royin, even when you roll in with an 18-​month old in a stroller, the servers always seem pleased to see you, and there’s a sense of generally good energy that suffuses the place. Here, it’s sort of like a decent diner. Not bad, but otherwise unremarkable. I’ve seen places in the northwest burbs where the chefs come around and ask how the food is, maybe give you a bite-​sized sample of something unusual to try while you wait, etc. There are places that have simple neighborhood-​like gimmicks where if you’re a return customer you get your own set of lacquered chopsticks with your name on them for lunch, and things like that. Even just a friendly hello would be something. Just simple things that would somehow communicate that they valued your patronage would help immensely, but again, I’ve never had an outright negative experience here, either.
The prices:
Reasonable. Not cheap, and can be expensive at dinner time, but reasonable for the most part. I ordered a combination lunch today that would approximate a bento box at other places and it came out to around $ 15 before tip, which is what I would expect. I don’t know that I’d demand a cheaper meal just because I’d rather have a local place that offers good sushi, but I’d just prefer tastier food at this same price point if it was up to me.
The verdict:
Overall, it feels to me like Bonsai Café is a potentially-​terrific restaurant that’s in search of something that communicates «terrific» to its customers. It’s in a nice location, they get most things right in terms of food and service, and the prices are reasonable, but it still noticeably lacks an ineffable ‘something’ to make it shine. It could come in many forms: a more consistently tasty or generous menu (no breaded sesame chicken?), one or two particularly well-​priced entrees or lunch meals, a more stylish interior that says «date night» to couples like my wife and I, or a handful of enthusiastic chefs and servers to communicate a friendlier, livelier environment. Any of these things could potentially make Bonsai Café more of a destination, but for now, it’s just OK.

I used to love the food and often called for delivery. Then one day… I see cockroaches wondering around the bathroom and when I told the staff, they didn’t seem to be bothered… makes me wonder about cleanliness in this place and management concern about hygiene.

Delicious food, reasonable prices and friendly staff. Kid friendly and wonderful meal sets for kids too — teriyaki chicken, gyoza, rice, veg. We come here for sushi and love it. Great neighborhood place.

I’ve been patronizing Bonsai for more than a year (originally b/​c of participation in
which establishment discontinued months ago). The Pan-​Asian & sushi entrees were generally good but today was a shocker: I ordered «Chicken Dumpling Noodle Soup.» REAL title of this is Noodle-​Noodle-​Noodle Soup With 1 Dumpling & 1 Piece of Chicken. Description also included «Bok Choy» but there were no full bulbs — just a few leaves & 1 stem. What a disappointment! Don’t EVER order «Chicken Dumpling Noodle Soup.»
Owner’s response to my posting was extremely professional, well-​considered and reasonable so perhaps this was just a slip. Will definitely try again and encourage others to give them a chance.

One of the only options available for delivery through GrubHub at the time I ordered, so I decided to give their lunch special a try. Lunch special was very small, Siam Pasta gave more in comparison. Overall, food was satisfying, but it was not filling.

First time ordering from this restaurant while in Chicago on business. Ordered about $ 40 bucks worth of food. Things tasted great, until I noticed half way through my calamari appetizer that a dead roach was at the bottom of the container. Called the restaurant immediately but was only offered a replacement dish. Definitely the last time that I’ll order from them while in the city.

This is one of my favorite restaurants in Evanston. I love their Szechwan green beans, California rolls, Vietnamese spring rolls, bbq pork chow fun, spicy basil noodles/​chicken and steamed dumplings. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad meal here. It’s great!

I live a half of a mile from the restaurant and I have had a few dinners and lunches ever since it opened. The waitress’s are very nice and I have always had my food served in a timely fashion. I was so surprised to have dinner for two recently and have such a terrible meal. It was the most lack luster meal I have had anywhere. The meat was too chewy and cooked poorly. Boring, bland and minimal portions. They are obviously resting on the regulars that haven’t eaten anywhere else and need a quick answer for a bad dinner to forget about. This could be a really great place with interesting over the top flavors, instead of par with old school carry out Chinese. Come on pick it up. Northwest Evanston deserves better.

We’ve eaten-​in and had food delivered from Bonsai Café several times in the last two years and were always completely satisfied. Our last meal (A Saturday evening in late February) was a disappointment. New kitchen staff? As usual, I ordered the Thai Hot Pepper Basil Chicken. This time around it was missing peanuts, chilis, basil (only one small piece) and most of the chicken. They did, however substitute what appeared to be half a can of water chestnuts! An odd choice for a Thai dish. My niece ordered some rolls and Pad Thai with shrimp and enjoyed her meal. So maybe the Basil Chicken fiasco was just a fluke. My advice to Bonsai Café: If you don’t have the ingredients on hand for a particular dish, let the customer know in advance, so they can order something else. If this is the new version of Thai Hot Pepper Basil, an update of the menu description is in order!
This dinner was on Saturday, February 21, 2015 around 7 pm.

This is soley based ob the chicken Phở’. We love Phở’ from Argyle St. so we knew we were taking a chance especially since it was only $ 5. It smelled a little too fishy and there was no fresh basil or jalapeño and the limes were dry. We wouldn’t order the Phở’ again, but may try other dishes. The delivery was fast and friendly.

This is such a great little local spot. We enjoy ordering out from here, but don’t come enough! The food is fresh and fabulous Asian fusion. And the Thai staff is super friendly (remember that Thailand is the land of smiling people!). Don’t forget to BYO!

Ordered from GrubHub to be delivered to the hospital.
Food arrived on time. Our group had pork with sticky rice, chicken satay, orange chicken and crab rangoon. We all thought it was ok, but not the best we’ve ever had.
As a side note, I didn’t ask for cutlery– by my mistake, but I guess if I was a business owner with a delivery to a hospital… I would just send (and ask the receiver) if they needed cutlery. Just my two cents as a thoughtful way to make people continue to choose this restaurant over the variety in the neighborhood.

Horrible! Do not have your food delivered from them. It took me 2 hours to get my food and I lived only 10 min. Away. I could have walked there and back in less time. The food was cold and the person in the phone was horrible. First and last time I’m ordering from them. They suck!

This is our new take out of choice for Chinese. We’ve ordered from there now several times and like it a lot overall. The portions are smaller than other asian restaurants (e.g., the rice and entrée are in one container that normally is the size of just the entrée).
Loved the potstickers, chicken satay, crab rangoon and most of the entrees and curry dishes. Didn’t love the spicy peanut noodles appetizer or the potato croquettes — I guess you aren’t going to love everything.

Live only 5 min away from the place walking distance, I find the place to be clean with well maintenance. The chairs and tables were shiny clean. The service has been professional and waitresses to be attentive. Food had been fresh and well-​prepared. Ordered a combo salmon/​chicken bento along with another order of orange chicken. Both dishes had been great and the sushi was a treat along with the miso soup. Restaurant has a location within a multi mixed building. You can only find street parking.

This is byob place !!!
The best spicy tuna!!!
The best california!!!
I will be back.

The Kung Pao chicken here is definitely the best I’ve ever had. I’ve sorely missed it since moving away from Evanston.

Chicken phở was delicious– service was okay, around a lot but not when she was needed, had to get up to ask her for hoisin and siracha which she didn’t understand and got Chinese chili sauce instead.
Sushi was okay-​some of it was fresh but some cuts were pretty dry. The sushi was cut kind of sloppily-​I think the sushi chef was inexperienced. The shrimp in particular was really dry and when it comes to sushi that’s pretty bad.
I don’t want to talk badly about the service but I think that being the only table in the place you would think the service would be more attentive but it was wanting. She came around but very briefly and again we had to get up and find her a few times. Aside from the Chicken phở nothing else really stood out and was kind of sub par.