Yao Yao

Overall Thoughts: There are tons of excellent options in Chinatown for every budget point, but if you're willing to spend a bit more, Yao Yao is the place to go (it's also Chinatown's first Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant). For my group of 9, it ended up being ~$31 per person after tax/tip, which felt fair for the quality ingredients, vibrant Szechuan flavors, efficient service, and fresh ambience. The pickled fish and spicy chicken were my favorite dishes from what I ordered, but everything was tasty and flavorful. Food I tried:- Pickled Fish XL (4.7/5): Pricey but massive, filled with spice and tender fish-- the sour taste was robust and the pickled veggies were delicious. You get 3 free sides with the XL; we got enoki, dry bean curd skin, and qianye tofu.- Spicy Chicken (4.7/5): This was my favorite appetizer; the chicken was incredibly tender and flavorful. - Golden Fried Crispy Pork (4.4/5): True to the name, it was super crispy.- Spiced Beef & Maw Szechuan Style (4.5/5): This classic Szechuan appetizer doesn't disappoint-- packed with spice and flavor.- Eggplant in Garlic Sauce (4.6/5): Biased because this is my favorite Chinese veggie dish, but it was delicious-- the eggplant is soft, creamy, and flavorful.- Spicy Gluttonous Bullfrog (4.3/5): I liked this one less than other dishes, but it was still good. The bullfrog meat was kind of sparse. --Price (relative to peers): 4.1/5Food: 4.5/5Ambience: 4.8/5Service: 4.8/5Overall Value: 4.6/5

I wish I didn't have to write this review because I actually really like their food, but I had such a bad experience today. They close at 9:30 on Sundays, and we arrived right before 9, but they refused to seat us. They didn't even give us the option to eat quickly. I have been here before so I know their food comes out quickly so we could've finished eating around 9:30. Instead, we had to order takeout.When we placed our order, we specifically asked for the spicy chicken. The girl who took our order even confirmed it with us. However, when we got home, we realized we didn't get the spicy chicken. We called the restaurant, and she just said it wasn't in our order, no apology or anything.We ordered the pickled fish, tomato fish, and dry pot cauliflower, which came to $154--definitely on the pricier side. While the food tastes good, the service is terrible. It felt like the girl that took our order was just rushing to get off work.

We came here for a weeknight dinner and there weren't that many customers in the restaurant since we were quite early. Paid street parking was easy to find right outside the restaurant. By the end of our meal, the restaurant was getting close to being fully packed. I love that they have an open kitchen and you can watch the chefs prepare your dishes. Service was fast and the food was unique. For an appetizer we ordered the spicy chicken- so good with the most fragrant chili sauce. It wasn't overwhelmingly spicy to me. We of course had to try their classic fish dish with the pickled vegetables (a tad bit spicy) and also tried the tomato soup based fish. The tomato based one wasn't spicy at all. Both were delicious and generously portioned. Their fish slices do come with the skin on. The meat was super tender and soaked up all the flavor from the broth. You have the option of adding in extra veggies, tofu, mushrooms etc into the broth, which we did and I recommend it. The fish dishes are on the oilier side. We also tried their pea tip dish which you can order stir fried or in broth- we chose the latter and it was a hit. This is definitely more of a dine in place for me- the food is just better fresh out of their kitchen.

This place is my go-to spot in the country for 酸菜鱼. Fish is thinly sliced and pickled veggies is A+. The broth is strong and each bite is flavorful. There's not even a place in nyc that can make this amazing bowl of pickled fish. Highly recommend to try this place out if you're in Chicago if you love chinese style of cooking fish.

Impeccable service, atmosphere, and (most importantly) food! I know I sound basic, but I've never had a better fried rice in my life. And the crushed cucumbers were the perfect cold dish on a hot summer day.

The service here was excellent. The staff were attentive and quick. As for the food, I ordered the pickled fish and spicy boiled beef. The pickled fish was fantastic, the soup packs a lot of flavorful and sourness without being overbearing. They were generous with the fish, which was soft and silky. While the beef was tender, the fish was far superior. Next time, I'd skip the beef and try either the tomato fish or fatty beef.

We came here for lunch after their Bib Gourmand announcement. It was a Sunday morning, and I was really surprised that it wasn't busy at all. We were able to get a seat right away and the service was quick and friendly. The wife and I shared a medium Pickled Fish. We weren't exactly sure what to expect out of this, because the pictures looked like regular sized bowls, so we also ordered their Pork Pot Stickers. The Pork Stickers were good but they came after our Pickled Fish. Would have preferred to eat this before our main dish. They were served with a dipping sauce and overall a really tasty appetizer. The Pickled Fish was definitely something new and out of my comfort zone. It's their most popular dish so I just had at least try it once. I do have to say there's no picture that does this thing justice. The medium is huge and definitely more than enough for two people. The fish was perfectly cooked. It was very tender and flavorful and plenty of it as well. They don't skimp here. The soup had good flavor as well. It was sour with a little bit of spiciness too or. Overall a very flavorful dish and I'm glad I tried it out. I'm not exactly sure when I'll be returning, but I can definitely see my self coming back in the near future.

I'd previously read the Michelin article however after a Quick Look at the menu I chose not to indulge. A picture of the donut sticks & chicken wings is what drove me to take a chance & I was left disappointed. The chicken wings were ok, rather prosaic in there really wasn't a lot going on. The doubt sticks were the most misleading part about the dish & they more so resembled pretzel sticks versus actual donut sticks. They seriously resemble led something you'd buy at Trader Joe's as in hard texture & virtually flavorless. I'm under the impression I didn't order the correct or recommended menu items but doubt I'd return for said items

I was so surprised this restaurant wasn't super busy on a Friday night. We saw this recently was added to the bib gourmand list in Chicago and was really curious. We didn't have reservations and were able to get seated right away for a group of 3. Service was very quick and friendly. We ordered the pickled sea bass fish for 2, spicy cold chicken and pea pods in broth. Everything was very good, the best dish was most definitely the pickled sea bass. Not typically something you can order at every Chinese restaurant and their fish tasted very fresh and the pickled flavor was tasty. The spicy cold chicken was cooked very well and had the perfect amount of spice. The pea pods in broth had the preserved chicken eggs which made me feel at home. The ambiance of the whole place is giving an elegant yet modern vibe with the Tiffany blue color

So good! We tried 7 different dishes and all of them were delicious. We will definitely eat here again!