Asian Express

This place has always intrigued me as I drove past it on my way to work and I decided one day when I was off to stop in and get lunch. Well, it is really a glorified Panda Express, same setup with the stuff in pans for you to choose from and a two item with rice or noodles special at lunch. There are a few more options and some are very spicy, but it seems the same. The real shock was the price of egg rolls and drinks so that two lunch specials with the add-​ons came to $ 20. The food was on the sweet side and I did not like the egg rolls at all. There are better options closer to the house, so I don’t think I will be back.

They took over two hours to deliver the food. Even though our address was on our Grubhub order they delivered to the wrong house. Our food was ice cold. We got food we did not order. Never had such a horrible experience.

Did a delivery order and the lady kept messing up my oder over the phone. After five times and fifteen minutes later we got the order. So I’ve thought! I tried being nice because of her accent and all. .Delivery was super late, food was cold and on top of that food was super wrong. Not the food I ordered. I asked for fried rice not steamed rice. Ordered. Spring egg rolls and didn’t even get that. But was charged for it. Xalled and complaint and acted like she doesnt know. I just get a sorry. I’m. Not coming or ordering Here again. I would give a zero star.

Very hard working staff and very nice demeanor. Lots of traditional American chinese food here and though I don’t dip into this genre much I’ve never had a disappointing experience.

Good food and the food is prepared in a timely manner. I have eaten here before and never really had a bad experience. For a little place the food is really good, not what you would expect from the outside looking in.

This is a small Chinese fast food place. Service was not so good, as expected for a fast food joint. Came to order 2 California maki rolls for my sister. I waited over 20 minutes for my order! Seriously! Ridiculous. The sushi rice was so dry and the rolls weren’t tasty. No flavor to these.

Ordered delivery off grub hub a couple times. The first time I had a pretty good experience. The delivery arrived on time and was hot and delicious. Second time I ordered mango chicken and shrimp fried rice, they somehow confused that and gave me mango shrimp and chicken fried rice. Who orders mango shrimp?!

I don’t know why I would give this place a chance knowing its location but it was 3.5 stars and we were in the area and we thought what the hell.
Yes the location is clean. Great. We took it to go so it doesn’t matter
The food was prepared for us because it was around 11 and they were still preparing their panda express like set up.
The general tsao is not a general tsao at all. It’s orange chicken with spice and no broccoli.
The vegetable fried rice had a mix of fresh and not so fresh vegetables in it. The mushroom pieces looked old.
They ran out of steamed rice and gave us noodles which I swear to God seemed they combined left over salad with italian dressing in with noodles. It was so gross.
The crab rangoon were standard and brought them from one star to two stars.
I guess location does matter because we took a chance on a 3.5 star restaurant in Oak Park (also Chinese food) and it was so good n fresh.
Sorry Asian Express but no thanks.

Asian express is a good choice if you are really hungry and not feeling picky about freshness and quality. Otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend it. I find the meat consistently low quality and some entrees unnecessarily greasy.
Doesn’t compare to Panda Express when it comes to consistency and freshness. At all. But they do have something no panda does. The smoothies and bubble tea are great, along with the wide variety of smoothie options.

this place has been my savior when i am craving for some chinese food. they give you decent amount of food when you order for to go… i love their smoothies …

One of the skinny girls behind the counter was super rude, they need to throw her in the kitchen frying rice where she’s not allowed to speak with the customers. The food was a bit on the gummy side. The bubble teas though are pretty good, that’s where the 2 stars come into play in my book. It’s a pretty small joint.

I walked in and was immediately struck by 2 thoughts almost simutaneously. First that the place smelled like great food and also that the place was extremely clean. Normally I notice cleanliness or lack thereof after a few minutes, but in this case it was something that jumped out at me as soon as I entered the restaurant.
I got my food to go and in their defense it was an hour before I got home and tried the food I’d ordered. The food was real good, but as I mentioned it was an hour riding around with me and not even rewarmed prior to eating it so that would explain why it was only real good. I am confident that if I’d have eaten in the restaurant and had it while it was still nice and hot that I would have enjoyed it even more than i did and that is why I’m giving this place a 4 star rating instead of a 5 star review. Also, the serving sizes were quite large for a very reasonably priced meal.
I found the young lady working behind the counter to be very friendly which is always appreciate.
My only suggestion for the this place would be that the broccoli in the beef and broccoli was very large pieces so if they could cut it into bite size pieces that would be a big improvement. Even with the super sized broccoli there was plenty of beef so it’s not that they were shorting me or anybody on the meat portions.
I’m sure the next time I’m in the area I’ll stop in and eat there again, and next time I’ll dine in so I get to enjoy the meal while it’s hot and fresh.

The three stars are for the tapioca smoothie. They have many flavors and the tapioca is very good. I can’t speak for the food because I haven’t tried it. Although, after witnessing the person who serves the food not wear gloves, wipe the sweat off his forehead, then proceed to charge the customers handling cash, I think I’ll skip this one out.

it’s close, it’s fresh, and it’s cheap. you get that pan-​amerasian cuisine, so california rolls, pad thai, and broccoli beef with steamed rice. they’ve got a great drink menu with the usual ball-​ball, smoothie and milkshake suspects. it’s one of the few places outside argyle street or chinatown i’ve seen an avacado milkshake.
the pad ke mow tastes like pad thai.
so overall, delicious but inauthentic.

I was fairly surprised this place got 4.5 starts and it is 5 minutes from where I work. And I have not tried it? Needed to fix that.
I think I should really give a 3.5 star but I really could not really give it a 4 saying I’m a fan. It is fairly clean and friendly Chinese take-​out place but I didn’t really care about the food.
I got my lunch special with soup for less than $ 6 by picking out from 15+ pre-​cooked dishes. The to-​go box came with lots of lo mein, beef with broccoli, and hot and spicy chicken. The owner stuffed the box to the maximum so it could hardly be closed properly. The noodle taste fairly fresh and not mushy being pre-​cooked. The broccoli was fresh and a bit crunchy as I like. The beef was tender however loaded with soy sauce and sugar. The hot & spicy chicken was not spicy and taste too «chicken» meaty. But my coworker tried a few bites and said it was fine.
Maybe I’m just too picky. I have to point out this place is fairly clean and the services was great.

Ok, let me first state that I am writing this review as I eat, because I cannot put my fork down. I ordered here for lunch after checking Unilocal,and decided to see if it was still good. It IS!!!
The place is cute (but watch your step going in). It is set up cafeteria style, so you can pick out your food, but not have to worry about thousands of strange hands touching it.
The staff was friendly and they work together to get the customers pushed though quickly.
The food, Delish! Like I said, I am still eating it. It was quick service and a great price. Like $ 5 for two entrees and lo mein. They have a pretty good selection of food, and the smoothies look amazing. I didnt have one, but the people in front of me bought two and they are made with fresh fruit in front of you. I will definitely go back.

I’m not huge on Asian food, but this is by far one of the best Asian food places i’ve ate at. Once I ate at Panda Express and I felt like barfing. This tiny restaurant is kept very clean and the staff is friendly. The food is freshly made and served hot! Note: this is not an actual buffet place, but like a previous Unilocaler wrote: buffet-​quality at a low lunch price. The best part of this place is their smoothies! Whenever I do happen to come here, I always order the most amazing smoothie ever, pineapple kiwi. Everyone should try it sometime. It’s not on their menu but I made my own invention and anyone can just make their own inventions as well.

Given the stellar reviews, I thought I was really missing something here. It’s basically Chinese buffet-​quality food at a low lunch price. The place is clean and the vegetables are fresh, but the dishes loaded with salt/​msg/​sugar. I did have a smoothie and it was probably the best thing I got. I’m giving it a generous three stars on the basis of the convenience and price. The food won’t kill you, it’s just not great by any stretch. Sadly, there isn’t a better alternative in this area…

I used to to enjoy the luxuries of walking down Wacker Avenue in downtown Chicago during my lunch break… I would see massive skyscrapers, lots of people in suits, and business men/​women trying to get to their next meetings. Additionally, I would always find new local food and quick places to eat at. … oh were those the good old days when I was working at a large professional services firm.
REALITY CHECK:… So I found a better paying job, took it, and now have to worry about not getting shot or mugged while driving around this area. On North Avenue, in Melrose Park, IL (13 miles West of City), «Asian Express» sits in a lil strip mall of 3 to 4 stores (Pizza Hut, Pearle Vision, and Dunkin Donuts). This specific area is OK, but don’t wander to the side streets…
This location boasts a big sign… «4.99 Lunch Special (2 entrees and 1 rice/​noodle), soup for extra $.25. I was craving Asian so I decided to go for it. Fearing the worst as I opened the door… I was relatively relieved as I walked in and discovered a very clean place. [Literally, imagine a Panda Express]. The place has seating for about 20 and pre-​cooked dishes (very much like Panda). Good selection of veggies (fresh broccoli, carrots, zuchhini, etc) /​chicken/​beef (Kung Pao Chicken, Mongolian Beef, Lemongrass beef, etc).
They also have:
— A «More authentic» lunch menu which is $ 5.95 and is cooked to order.
— Bubble Tea (but I personally wouldn’t get any bubble teas from locations like these)
— Assortment of gatorades/​sodas in a fridge
— Soups
Been here twice (including today), and haven’t been let down. Yes, the lo mein is sweet for some reason, but I like it that way. –1 star for location.
Ok bye.

Tasty, fast, and customer friendly price Chinese FAST FOOD restaurant~!
Food: Tasty but a bit sweet taste Chinese foods. Some of them reminded me of college cafeteria foods in Beijing. Much better than NEW STAR Chinese Restaurant in Elmwood or other Chinese restuarants in China town. Smoothies are available too.
Service: good. A nice Guang-​dong lady or cooks will prepare dishes in the display.
Interior and location: Interior is CLEAN and white. It is in a shopping plaza lot, but not very convenient location and size for a drive-​though.
Price: Good. Lunch menu-​two dishes and a choice of rice or noodle– is less than $ 5.
You will find your money’s worth here.