I always challenge my stepson to give us a great experience when we visit Chicago. He met the challenge! His friend joined us who selected our food choices and we loved everything offered! Authentic experience!

I am an adventurous Chinese diner and like to find places that offer exotic ingredients and yet prepare the basics very well. In Chicago recently for a conference, I had two windows of time, one dinner and one lunch. As McCormick place is a culinary...desert and Chinatown is nearby, I looked up what were the top 10 places in Chinatown and Golden Bull came up. That rating is correct: a nice but unassuming place that serves outstanding food and exotic ingredients if that's for you. They probably aren't exotic to Chinese people but readers will know what I mean. For example, for dinner I had a whole frog in yellow chives (they warned me about the bones) and fried pigeon and for lunch, something more conventional, a steamed farmer's chicken in a lotus leaf and fabulous baby clams in black bean sauce. Both served with perfect steamed rice. The staff recognized I was by myself and were very sweet; when I came back the next day, they greeted me like an old friend; pretty good for Chinatown where warm greetings and friendliness aren't always the norms. It's good value for the money and the menu is extensive with anything from Cantonese noodles to egg foo yung in the old style and Singapore noodles in the new -- and everything in between. Golden Bull is both a destination and the type of place you'd love to find if at some big conference at McCormick Place. I was so glad I went.More

We visited for the first time based on a relative’s recommendation and we were not disappointed. This restaurant was busy that weekend night but service kept up with the crowds and orders. We ordered a number of dishes and all were deliciously good. A complimentary...cup of a rich broth with beef and radish kicked off our dinner. The pork chops were lightly coated and fried with a sweet red sauce. The chow fun was smoky, tender beef and right amount of sauce on the noodles. The surf clams were amazing especially the broth that was infused with ginger, clam and vermicelli rice noodles. The fish and tofu was also very tasty. A complimentary bowl of red bean dessert was served at the end. Overall price was very reasonable for the size of the dishes and quality of our dinner. Will definitely come back.More

Horrible experience we ever had in our lives! We have been regular there. Yesterday we went there for my sister’s birthday. We ordered the family dinner along with a few dishes. We ordered the hot pot before everything else because it would the a long...time. It came out last! We also ordered Boof Noodle which they never put in the order. We had a twin lobsters but it came out with shells only. Cannot find any meat at all. We suspected that they saved the shells from other customers left on the dish to re-cook it to make it another “new” dish! Cannot believe that! The Salt and Pepper Ribs had nothing but bones! There was not any meat attached to the bones itself! When we brought it to the owner’s attention, she said there was nothing she can do about it and asked us to pay cash for it. Really? She has the nerve to even say that! My sister was so pissed that she confronted her! She finally gave a 10% discount which it did not justify her attitude and bad service! After last night’s dinner, we swear that we will never go back again! Never!More

Met a college buddy from Purdue for the fist time I had seen him since his wedding in Chicago 20 years ago. The food was perfect for some great conversation. His in-laws own a Chinese food restaurant in the burbs and he has been coming...to the Golden Bull for years. It was a great choice.More

We were in Chicago’ s Chinatown for the first time, and found this listed in a city guide. We were early for dinner, and were the only customers when we arrived. We were seated at a large table (4 adults + 1 child) with a...large lazy Susan in the middle. What a good idea, especially if sharing dishes! Menu items came in small or large portion options. All of the food we ordered was excellent. Sauces were light but flavorful, veggies were fresh, menu selection seemed more varied than usual. Servers were cheerful & helpful, prices very reasonable. A great find, just a short half block walk from the Main Street in Chinatown.More

We arrived for an early dinner at about 5:30. We were the only table but as time passed place became busy. (Many Chinese families, too.)Resttaurant is small but comfortable. Servers were friendly and able to address all questions regarding items on menu. You can order...small or large portion for each item. As family, we chose to order several of the small orders to share. There was plenty for all and the food was delicious. Delicately flavored. Not the run of the mill Chinese food we find in most other places. Fairly priced, too. I would certainly return.More

We found some new intriguing options on this menu, and everything we ordered was very tasty, and the veggies were nice and fresh. We stuck to the “small” plates and it was plenty to share, since we ordered several - and kept the bill small!

This is a small restaurant between the older and newer sections of Chicago Chinatown. I looked in on the way to lao sze chuan and decided I would try it the next evening. When I stopped in I was told to bring my own alcoholic...beverage, so I stopped in Chinatown and bought beer prior to bring along. I ordered stir fried frongs with leeks and home style tofu and it was excellent This is a pleasant small restaurant with up-do-date Cantonese food. The diner can choose a small or large portion so eating alone works well -- no need to package half of a dish sized to share and bring it back to the hotel -- and wonder when to finish it.More

I’ve been dining here for the last few years & the food is fantastic!! Authentic Chinese food including lobster, crab legs and soft shell crab.

This is not the place if you are limited to "tourist" Chinese like sweet and sour this or that, chop suey, and moo shu pork. Come here if you want real Cantonese dishes prepared properly the way the Toishan speaking people from Guangdong are accustomed...to. The menu is quite varied with an emphasis on seafood like clams, scallop, baby octopus, smelt, frog legs, conch, prawns, oysters, lobster, crab, jelly fish, fish fillet, and steamed whole fish. But they offer poultry like quail, duck, chicken, and pigeon too. For meat eaters there is a variety of pork, lamb, and beef dishes. Vegetarians will like the snow peas, baby bok choy, on choy, string beans, Chinese spinach, Chinese broccoli, bitter melon, tofu and taro. My favorites are the beef and bitter melon, on choy in fermented tofu sauce, West Lake or minced beef and egg drop soup, braised beef stew in a clay pot, beef short ribs, steamed ginger scallops, steamed rock fish, and lamb stew in a clay pot. If you prefer noodles there is a big variety of chow mein or chow fun with beef, chicken or pork. I like the spicy Singapore style rice noodles or the dry version of the beef and bean sprouts flat rice noodle chow fun. The facility is clean, inviting with seating favoring large groups. They do have some seating for parties of 2 or 4 but you can tell they cater to large family gatherings. The staff is polite, efficient and speak English, Cantonese and Mandarin. The service is quick. Limited parking on the streets. Public parking lot is about two blocks away at South Wentworth and West Cermak Road. Easily accessible by the CTA, Cermak-Chinatown Station on the Red Line. The establishment is located on the north side of West Cermak Road between South Archer and South Wentworth. Like most Chinese restaurants they do a good business with take out. Prices are modest and they offer small and large plate sizes of nearly all dishes.More

In town to meet some old friends, they asked locals where we could get good Chinese food. The consensus was we had to check out the Golden Bull. The place appeared to be full of locals as they seemed to know the wait staff when...they arrived, yet we didn't feel like we weren't welcome at all. A couple staff helped us picking some menu items based on what were popular at other tables. We don't speak any Chinese but it wasn't a problem at all. The food was delish and authentic. We had the double lobster, Mongolian beef, clams, green beans and bean sprouts. I've never seen bean spouts before but they looked like spinach but tasted like beans. Cool experience overall, will for sure go back when we are back in town.More