2201 S Wentworth Ave
Chicago, IL
(312) 326-6888
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| Description: Penang is a Sushi, Chinese, and Malaysian restaurant where most Menuism users came for fun with friends, paid between $10 and $25, and tipped between 15% to 18%. | Tags: | |
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January 16, 2007
Located in Chinatown, it’s the best place to go for Malaysian food in Chicagoland. In fact, I’d say it’s as good if not better than the best Malaysian food that California or New York have to offer. It has a couple of sister restaurants in NYC which are almost, but not quite, as good as this locale.
Decor/Ambiance: A mix of wood, bamboo, and metal, kind of a mash of industrial and classic styles with Asian influence. Great for casual dates or large group dinners. Crowd is a good mix of locals and tourists.
Service: In general good to very good service.
Overall, this place offers great food at good prices, and is great whether you want to have a quick bite, celebrate an event, or just get take-out or delivery. The menu is huge so there are always tons of options. Mostly Malaysian dishes with some Thai and Indonesian dishes. Sushi is also served but I’ve never tried any.
Succulent steamed chicken in soy sauce. Make sure to dip in both the chili and ginger sauces, and order it with Hainanese rice.
Fried taro stuffed with shrimp, chicken, and veggies. Can’t go wrong with taro!
Skewered grilled chicken or beef with peanut sauce. Good but not amazing.
A classic Indonesian dish, chicken, potatoes, and veggies in a coconut-curry sauce.
Sauteed convolus/ong choy in a shrimp paste sauce. It’s better here than a lot of places.
Deep fried tofu with mix of pork, shrimp, and squid. Full of flavor without being too salty.
The classic Indonesian dish of beef cooked in spices and coconut milk, it’s done well here.
Indian pancake with curry chicken dipping sauce, a great appetizer.
I like stuff like tripe, but these intestines were cut in pieces too large for my taste. Intestinal overload, literally.
Stir-fried flat rice noodles with shrimp, squid, sprouts, egg. Super tasty.
A little pricey but the shrimp are really huge! Tasty and not overdone with mayo.
April 21, 2007
At home, I have Malaysian-style food on a semi-regular basis, so I was eager to try out this popular Malaysian restaurant in Chicago. I came away a bit disappointed and underwhelmed.
Penang has one large dining room, with one corner converted to a small bar area. The decor was neatly ethnic, with dark wood everywhere.
The service was pretty friendly, but unfortunately the food didn’t live up to my expectations. Most everything was flavorful, almost too much so, and the quality of the dishes were pretty mixed. I’d come back here again sometime if I need a Malaysian food fix, but otherwise I’d rather go elsewhere.
The bread was not crispy and too chewy, and the sauce was too watery.
I’m used to having wider noodles with this dish. Flavor was just ok.
Strong oyster flavor. Too strong for my tastes – you definitely get a lot of oysters with this dish.
My favorite dish of the meal. Good, light flavor and a tasty mix of ingredients.
I thought these curried lamb pieces sounded good from the menu, but I was sadly disappointed. The meat was really dry, and the curry was way too oily.
For a small additional cost, you can get this chicken-flavored rice. It’s a lot oilier but is much more flavorful. In this case there wasn’t as much flavor as I had hoped for.
April 22, 2007
i was really excited to be trying malaysian food for the first time, but may have put my expectations a bit too high. the food variety is wide, but from the dishes i tried i felt some were too heavy on the spices or too just too heavy for me.
the service on the other hand was very friendly and attentive, and the decor is fun w/glossy wood beaming and tables – you’ll feel like you’re in a big hut.
the ambience is very loud, making for a great place to dine w/a large group of friends.
i loved the egg portion, but the oysters’ flavor was so overpowering & strong that it turned me away from the dish. i was disappointed by this dish.
if you’re looking for something other than nl white rice, order this oily take. the rice comes in a small bowl, glistening and shiny – letting you know it’s nothing but deliciously fatty!
this appetizer was just alright. the roti is a thin, doughy sheet and the sauce it comes with is curry based, heavy on the oil.
this noodle dish was just alright. it reminded me of a soy sauce based pad thai. i wouldn’t order it again b/c the flavor was lacking umph, and there was even a mild burned taste to it.
this was my favorite dish. light, yet flavorful and full of delicious vegetables and yummy tofu. i’d have no problems ordering this dish again.
i didn’t like this dish very much. i felt the lamb pieces were dry & possibly overcooked, and the sauce it came in was SUPER DUPER heavy on the chili oil.
January 4, 2008
Great food, huge portions, and not too expensive. I had some kind of curry beef dish that was fantastic. The mango chicken, however, was basically just sweet-and-sour chicken with mangoes in it, it was too sweet. Service was friendly and reasonably fast.
These are dishes contributed by Menuism users, either entered directly, as part of a restaurant review, or as part of an image upload.
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justin
01/16/2007I’ve always wondered if this place was good. I’ll definitely check it out now!