Reviews for NoodleBird at Fat Rice in Chicago, IL
Absolutely wonderful food. Contrary to the name, they don?t actually have many noodle dishes and none of the ones they have... include chicken. To be honest their noodle dishes were my least favorite too. Their chicken though. It was phenomenal. So werethe tarts we had for dessert. The main reason I?m docking a star is because the portions were a bit too small. We ordered their?dinner for 2? but also 2 additional noodle dishes and an appetizer and that was enough for 2 people. Otherwise fantastic food. Read more
Great food! Asian dishes with some influences of Portuguese cuisine. Very tasty and rich in flavor. The egg tarts are really... good! Although they are not like the Portuguese egg tarts (wich are just amazingly delicious) in flavor, they have almost theperfect texture (creamy inside and very crispy dough). This restaurant also sells some Portuguese canned food that is simply thebest canned food ever. The canned sardines are awesome. So delicious! Read more
Noodlebird at FatRice with its casual ordering and atmosphere delivers a diner experience up a notch with some amazing Asian... food. We did the custom dinner for four special with the following choices: Proteins: Char Siu Pork, Spicy Jumbo Shrimp Sides:smoked tofu fried rice It then also comes with coconut rice, pork & ginger dumplings, ginger cabbage salad, spicy cucumbers andegg custard tarts. We also added some shrimp dumplings and guava donuts. Some highlights the char siu pork had amazing burntends that delighted, smoked tofu rice was spectacular highly recommend a generous dollop of the attack! Of the nightcrawlerscherry bomb ghost pepper hot sauce on this one. The crews highlights were the pork, shrimp dumplings, tofu rice and and guavadonuts and the ghost pepper hot sauce. We purchased a bottle then and there. One note: it is nice to see the restaurant pricesto pay fair wages, however this was missed on our first order and so 20%+ tip was automatically selected on our first orderwhich for four people can add up and when it's already priced in feels a bit mischievous to autoselect. Read more
I can only describe my experience here as wonderful. The food is so creative, yet it feels like a comforting meal to have with... family. Some of the dishes I loved the most included: the spicy cucumber salad, the corn fritters, the charcoal grilled chicken,the spicy chili noodles, the spicy shrimp, and of course the egg tart! I want to go back immediately. Read more
Takeaway: All-around great Chinese / Portuguese fusion with stand-out charcoal grilled proteins and an absolutely incredible egg... tart (probably best in the city). I also want to flag the negative notoriety that owner Abe Conlon had garnered due to hisworkplaces practices and insensitive handling of DEI issues (most notably the cultural appropriation baked into the walls ofthis place). I'm focusing mostly on my personal experience in this review, but want to echo and acknowledge the many employeesthat have had poor (at-best) experiences under his management. Context: Dined in for dinner with two friends and did the mealfor four. I haven't had a ton of Macau food before specifically (other than egg tarts), but have had plenty of Chinese food anda good amount of Portuguese. What I Got: Spicy Cucumbers (7.5/10) Cucumber salad (featuring wood ear mushrooms) tossed in aspicy sauce. I thought the sauce here was top-notch (and saved it the whole meal to mix with my rice later on), but thecucumbers themselves were perhaps a little bit disappointing. They were a bit too bitter for my taste and distracted from theoverall great flavors (mushrooms were awesome though!) Ginger Cabbage Salad (6.5/10) Name kind of describes it all. Thisprobably tastes exactly how you imagine it. Certainly not bad and a decent complement to the richer flavors that come later on,but nothing special by itself. Pork Dumplings (8/10) Thinly-wrapped ground pork dumplings served in a garlic & chili sauce -very reminiscent of a Sichuan-style chao shou with both the filling and the sauce. They did a great job at getting the perfectbalance of savory and spicy with the sauce and you can really taste the quality of the pork they use. I could eat dozens ofthese. Smoked Tofu Fried Rice (7/10) Coconut rice stir-fried with tofu, curry sauce, and an array of different vegetables.While not something that could carry a meal on its own (which is how I feel about the vast majority of fried rice), I Read more
Wow! Noodle bird at Fat Rice has some of the best and quality Asian food I have had. It was easy to find a spot and an employee... quickly came over to clean off our table. Since it was our first time here we went up to the counter and the employee explainedthat we have to order at the counter when we are ready and gave us some great recommendations. We ended up ordering shrimpdumplings, peanut noodles and spicy cucumbers. Everything was fantastic but my favorite was the homemade dumplings. Also theyoffer a variety of fun self serve hot sauces. The restaurant had street parking and isn?t very large, so plan accordingly.However, noodle bird at fat rice is well worth any wait and I would absolutely recommend it. Read more
Sweet Jesus I love this place. Abe and Adrienne and their staff are masters of their craft. With every new iteration and... experiment they provide new and exciting experiences I've never had anywhere else. Simply put: everything at NoodleBird isdelicious. They have extensive options for folks of all dietary walks, and it's all obscenely tasty. Definitely get the chicken,any of their dumplings, and their (homemade) beef noodles. The Chicago Spirit has amazing takes on classic cocktails and somenew and exciting things you won't find anywhere else. It sounds like they've got an exciting tasting menu experience brewing aswell. Also absurdly good: NoodleBird's homemade, house-fermented hot sauces, the egg tarts that you'd go to jail for, and anatmosphere perfect for any setting. Read more
What an amazing follow up to Fat Rice! The cocktails are incredible, had the Lady Death spicy mezcal margarita. The shrimp... dumplings were absolutely delicious, get them! Also the sweet and sour pork fried simply delicious. And get the egg custard tart(pastel de nata) for dessert! One of the best restaurants in Chicago at the moment!!!! Read more