One of the recent restaurant additions to join Michigan Avenue in the East loop of Chicago is Wao Bao located at 225 N. Michigan just off the Chicago pedway system. This is the fourth Wao Bao from the Lettuce Entertain U group to be opened in Chicago. The restaurant is on the first floor of 225 N. Michigan just past the revolving doors and behind the escalator. Once cannot miss walking past this asian themed restaurant as it is adorned with bright orange and white décor behind the glass doors and windows. I have paid a visit to this restaurant since it opened in the summer of 2011 and decided a review was well overdue.
Food
The common theme with this restaurant is the “bao” which is simply an ornate small asian dumpling that is heated by steam. The dumpling is filled with the customer’s preference of filling whether it is the likes of Kung Pao Chicken, Mongolian Beef, Thai Curry Chicken, Edamame, Barbecue Pork, and a few others. Other Wow Bao dishes include serving Kung Pao and other dishes over choice of rice or noodles. The dessert baos include choices of chocolate, coconut custard and occasionally a seasonal dessert option such as apple cinnamon. Other tasty offerings at this restaurant include very delicious chicken pot stickers as well as a breakfast menu.
An asian dish contained within a dumpling is tad different when accustomed to being served the meal over rice or noodles. The steamed dough comes across as moist and velvety, but has a definite sweetness that works well with the dessert options but only so-so for a lunch item such as kung pao or barbecue pork. I would like to sample the stir fry options over the noodles upon a future visit to complete a more thorough analysis of this food. The other option might be to add some spicy sauce to the sweet dough to give the finishing bite a yin and yang taste that might move this experience much more positive. I noticed other Bao patrons exercised their right to add some hot sauce to their baos which created interesting combination of flavor.
Service
The Wao Bao at 225 North Michigan avenue is open five days a week and has two speedy automated order kiosks that allow the customer to order order kiosks that will take your order with the aid of a credit card. The customer simply places their order via touch screen and proceeds immediately to the food reception area. There is also a personally attended counter that will accept orders if the customer prefers to deal with a human being or prefers to pay in cash. Overall, the time to it takes to receive the order from point of purchase is super quick.
Ambience
The restaurant is relatively small with only a few available seating areas located within the restaurant. Just outside the restaurant, behind the escalator is additional seating for Bao customers. These extra seats are very difficult to come by during the lunch rush; so taking food back to the office is a definite possibility.
Price
A pair of lunch baos only set you back about five bucks. If you want to cap off your lunch with a delicious chocolate bao, that will only run you about $1.50. If five dollars is your cap for lunch, you will most likely suffer a hunger attack later in the afternoon. As tasty as the baos are, the dumplings are relatively modest with only a small amount of filling. Those customers with large appetites, will most likely spend between seven to eight dollars for a satisfying meal.
Overall
As the Bao concept is relatively new to me, I will continue my quest for other menu items that I have not sampled to date. The food comes across as trendy and fun and appears to be a once a month visit.