The Phoenix Rises in Chicago

Phoenix
2131 Archer Ave #2
Chicago IL
312-328-0848

The Phoenix is the best of a limited number of Dim Sum restaurants in Chicago. 5 of us went on a Sunday morning, got there about 11:30 am and found an hour wait. This is rather normal, so if you go, you better be willing to wait. There were many elder Chicago Chinese people in line, which I take as a good sign that we are eating at the right place. We got our number in line and took a walk through the new Chicago Chinatown to pass the time, and we found the lushious Chinese ingredients for dinner and the next day. We finally got into the Phoenix. The tables were covered with giant white pieces of paper instead of table cloths, and the dim sum was brought around in carts. The carts were not coming very fast, so we had a long wait between each dish, and on occassion, the cart was empty by the time it got to our table. My uncle decided to take matters in his own hands, and got up with our ticket, and walked into the first dining room and started taking plates of the carts as they were coming out of the kitchen. I am sure, to his dismay, he saw that the carts were not coming out of the kitchen very fast, so he only got to get 2 dishes (one from each cart) until he got tired of waiting at the kitchen door.