Thai Urban Kitchen: User Reviews
I had the shrimp tempura bento box at lunch. The tuna rolls were edible, but not incredible. The shrimp termpura was fine, but not divine. The room lacks warmth, but is perfectly serviceable for what it is. Price was right at $15 bucks. So what can you expect?
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Location is Train Station - Expect Commuters
By michi from Ravenswood, April 6, 2009
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While they are a nice sit down restaurant, they need to expect that due to their location, commuters will choose them. Commuters, who are not happy to miss the 8:30 train because the wait staff wouldn't bring the check on time.
I like the food and it is better than the food court, but having to tackle wait staff for the check is really annoying. For downtown, the prices are fine, the ambiance is better than some, the food is quite good, and sometimes innovative.
But if I come at 7pm, I should make the 8:30 train; especially if I'm a party of one! Only way I've found to do that is to sit in the bar.
When last in there, someone was speaking about their surprise as to why they weren't getting the crowds they expected. I hope they read this board; people are telling them why. If they want to be a 2+ hour ambience place they need to move their location.
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Food was great. We had some of their sushi as an appetizer and Thai dishes for dinner. I had the ginger dish and my husband had the panang curry and both were excellent. For the price (around $15 per entree) we got quite a lot of food and the ingredients seemed to be high quality. I think they put some serious effort into improving their service, because our waiter was very attentive and polite.
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How can you have a downtown restaurant with no waiters? I believe you call that "self service", not a restaurant. Well this place needs to change because there is no service here, whatsoever! I have tried to eat here 3 times, but always sat the sushi bar, and the sushi chef would take my order. Today I wanted to try the Thai food. I was seated, and waited more than 30 minutes for a glass of water or even a waiter, and it just never happened. If they want you to self serve yourself, then change into a buffet, I don't have the time, nor patience, to wait over 30 minutes on my lunch hour for nothing!
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If I could give negative stars for service, I would.
By JoanP from Hyde Park, October 25, 2008
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It's a shame. The food here is outstanding. But the service is the worst I have ever experienced. So bad that I actually had to cancel my order because it took so long to arrive that I'd have missed the opera curtain if we'd waited for it. The staff ignored our efforts to get their attention (except when we asked for the bill!). Despite the fact that they were told multiple times that we were going to the opera, we waited nearly half an hour for appetizers. We had told them to bring ALL the food at once, due to our schedule; they ignored that request as well. When food did come, it did not come for all of our party, but first for this one, then for that. Upon our complaining, we were told "an hour isn't enough!", but, in fact, we'd ordered at around 6 and that should have been plenty of time. Fortunately, people shared so we didn't starve, but that's no thanks to the staff here. Needless to say, they did NOT get the 18% gratuity they automatically add for parties of 6 or more.
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Dude ... this place has very cool drinks ... cocktails & etc. Their drinks are like depending on your mood of the day. I went for dinner; I had Pad Thai and Tuna Poke ... they are awesome. I haven't try their Sushi ... but saw a lot of people ordered it. I will definitely go back and try next time .. LOVE THIS PLACE!!!
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Thai Urban Kitchen (TUK) is an orgiastic feast for the senses. While the location is less than desirable, it is proximate The Rail Club, which is hands down the best bar in Chicago, in my humble opinion. For a truly eventful and exciting evening, I suggest having a few cocktails at the Rail Club and then adjourning downstairs to this upscale, yet affordable eatery. Of course, to complete the evening, wash down your tastebuds with a few tall boys at The Rail Club.... The TUK sandwich, as I like to refer to it (Rail-TUK-Rail). The ladies will swoon.
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Pre-Opera non-junk food dinner in the Loop for less than $50 for 2? Yes! We didn't get a lot -- who wants to listen to opera having just eaten a big meal -- but the curries were fresh and tasty, the grilled veggie salad terrific, and service on an early Saturday evening attentive and timely. We were in and out in 45 minutes, and plan to return to try the sushi, more elaborate entrees, the poke, and the sakes.
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My office is a block away from TUK. I always bring my business clients there. I love their spicy dishes and my regular waitress always takes good care of us. Simply and hospitality minded, she remembers what we like and my clients' name. I don't care what would the other say but she always makes my business!
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The place fills fast during lunch. I have been there a couple of times, and the service during lunch is consistently slow. Last time we went, the waitress in our section was running around like crazy from table to table, kept disappearing half through the sentence, brought us wrong food, didn't notice that the cup she gave me has somebody's lipstick on it, and overall looked extremely stressed out. This definitely ruined our lunch experience... Food was good, the atmosphere was good (except for the crazed waitress who kept mumbling apologies and and immediately screwing up again), and overall it's a welcome departure from the food court food. If you go there for lunch, don't expect to be done quickly... it might take a while.
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Review Summary
The following scores represent the average rating submitted by 81 users:
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