Lucky Garden

*** Warning, this restaurant is allowing people to work with Pink Eye (conjunctivitis) ***
I was at Lucky Garden Monday night (¹²⁄₂₁) at about 8:30 and my waiter was wearing sunglasses. I didn’t ask at first, but of course found it odd. When he brought my water I asked why he was wearing them and he said it was because he had Pink Eye. I asked if he felt he should be serving food when he had such a highly contagious virus and he said that he was wearing the sunglasses to protect the customers. He also said that tomorrow was his day off anyway so he decided to come in (and obviously management let him as they too had to know why he was wearing sunglasses). There is so much wrong with that situation and his explanations that I won’t go into all of it.
I wanted to do two things before I posted on here, call the Health Department and call back to talk to a manager or owner of Lucky Garden. I have now done both and I hope writing this will help lower other people’s exposure to this virus– which is not just described as contagious, but highly contagious– the Illinois Health Department describes it as ‘easily spreadable’- see their page here:

I reported it to the McLean County Health Department, they are going to register the complaint and enact whatever process they have for that.
I also spoke with the manager of Lucky Garden, who also identified himself as the owner. He didn’t seem phased by the fact that a waiter had Pink Eye, which makes sense as either he or someone who works for him didn’t see fit to keep that waiter from working. He did seem unhappy when I told him that I was going to report it to the Health Department. So exposing the public to a highly contagious virus didn’t phase him, but the Health Department knowing about it did.
I am amazed that a restaurant would allow this to go on. If for no other reason why would a restaurant take the chance of the bad perception (especially a sushi place!) They weren’t even that busy that night, they could’ve gotten by without him from what I saw. If that is what we are seeing in the front– what must be going on in the back?
I am sad because I really liked Lucky Garden and now I will never eat there again– how could you trust a place with so little common sense and respect for the safety of the public? The restaurant business’ relationship to the public has a lot of trust built into it– that they are preparing and serving our food with certain standards. It is hard to walk that back when that trust gets broken.

I came here for dinner, and was very impressed with this restaurant. The front of the building did not look that appealing to me, but inside was very calm and dimly lit. It wasn’t busy at all and they also had their own sushi bar.
Our waiter was extremely nice and the food came out nice and hot and at a decent pace also. Portion sizes were big and will definitely fill you up.
I love that their food here was authentic. Will definitely come back here

Although a bit pricy, the sushi here really is pretty good. I haven’t gotten anything but sushi here, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the quality of the sushi and the friendly service here.

This place is great. The service is amazing with excellent recommendation. It’s a very clean and welcoming space with a relaxing environment. The food is outstanding and portions are for sharing and caring!
Recommend the Manhattan and Steven roll. All sushi was very well prepared and fresh.

I love the sushi at this place and consider it the best in town. However, the service is spotty. Weirdly, when we go on the weekend the service is much worse than during the week. Either way, I would still highly recommend Lucky Garden. My wife regularly orders the Chinese dishes and I order sushi and we share. Everything has been delicious. I’ve never had a bad dining experience. Great food.

Pretty good. We all liked the Mongolian beef. Pretty stingy with the rice portions served with entrée. Orange chicken was just ok. Hot and sour soup not to good

Since my first review, the size of the Sushi/​Sashimi pieces have shrunk considerably. Very much feeling like a typical Midwest sushi place now. Disappointing.

Pros: Generous portions, food tastes great (overall) and great variety of options. Also, the place looked nice and the staff was pleasant and courteous.
Con: The dish I essentially judge every Asian restaurant by is egg foo young. The egg foo young I got from Lucky Garden tasted alright, but was missing some key elements. In just about any EFY recipe, scallions and bean sprouts are always present. Sadly, they were missing here. I wasn’t the greatest fan of the sauce/​gravy either. Too thick and strong in taste.

Was in the mood for sushi one day and decided to go on Unilocal and see all the reviews for sushi places in BloNo; and ended up going to lucky garden. Not gonna lie — when I first pulled up into the parking lot I considered turning around…(looked a tad bit sketchy from the outside!) but went ahead inside anyways. I tell you what the inside verses outside HUGE difference! The sushi bar which I sit at every time I go is clean and pretty. The sushi chef Will is awesome! He is the sweetest guy you will ever meet and he really enjoys making sushi and is extremely good at it! Every time I go the sushi is perfect and super tasty.
I recommend the red tiger!!!

Quality has gone down hill here. Had the Ton Katsu Pork box lunch and it was definitely lower quality product than before. Double asked the waitress about the crab in the California Roll since I have an allergy. She said it was real. I was skeptical. And it was Krab. Will consider the many other places instead.

Extremely nice atmosphere. Sit at the bar sushi bar. indoor water pond. large round table with rotating glass center available.
LARGE variety menu for all types of asian cuisuine.
Priced up there with the most expensive in Bloomington-​Normal, but in my opinion worth it. Food can be brought out per person order OR family style (which is my preference). Presentation of food is just as beautiful as the atmosphere. And portions are more than anyone should eat (probably in a day), so you get your money’s worth.
My daughter’s new favorite place in Bloomington-​Normal for LoMein noodles.
Servers and chef are willing to answer questions, so don’t be shy. And food is made fresh to order, so you can have it made to your liking.

Great Pork egg rolls, General Tso’s Chicken, & Sweet & Sour Chicken! Pricey but will be on my go to list for Chinese food.

Unfortunately this place get a very low rating from our whole family. Per my 9 yr old the tea tastes like dirty toilet water. Over all the food and was bland. The serve was slow and we weren’t satisfied. It’s tough finding quality Chinese food in Bloomington

I went here the other day and ordered the tempura udon. I love tempura udon, but I was not a fan of this one. The tempura was tasty. However, the udon noodles were a little tough and the soup itself tasted off. My boyfriend ordered Hunan Beef that was on the same caliber of «ugh». I was disappointed.
I’ve had the sushi before and enjoyed it. So I’m not saying not to go here. Just make sure you order the right thing. Stick to the sushi. It seems to be what they are best at.

S’alright, and you do get a lot of food for the money but… no almond cookies? C’mon now.

We came for dinner. We started with Steamed Pot Stickers (which I did NOT like. too doughy) and the Green Bamboo Roll (which was EXQUISITE!!!) for dinner we got House Mei Fun and Curry Chicken. The Mei Fun was amazzzzizng and the Curry Chicken was super spicy but good! The portions are huge and our waiter warned is before we ordered that the dinner portions were huge! In our opinion that was so nice!!! Our service was amazing, the ambience is lovely!!! As the other reviews say, don’t let the outside deter you from coming in! Oh! Then they gave us a calendar with our bill, CUTEEEEEE!

Dont get judgmental by how it looks from outside. It has a very nice ambiance.
The food is quite good. I have tried the lunch menu. The Chicken curry was very nice. The amount was also good… I also liked the Kung Pao chicken.
Certainly recommend this place.

Pros:
— My friend stated that the Sashimi was great, but I enjoyed the vegetable sushi rolls.
— Prompt service
— clean and modern décor
Cons:
— Extreme disorganization, I paid with a credit card and left a generous cash tip. As I was walking out of the door they approached me and loudly declared that I had left only the cash tip and taken the credit card receipt! I said,“No, I filled out the receipt and left it with the tip. Completely embarrassed that I was accused of walking out on a bill, I waited while they discovered one employee took the credit card receipt and the left the tip.
They gave a simple,“Sorry”, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that they basically accused me of stealing in front of everyone. How do you approach a customer and insist that they took their credit card receipt without checking with your co-​workers or just politely asking first? After all they had already ran my credit card and the transaction was approved, I wasn’t sure why they were in such a huff. They were clearly in the wrong and their simple apology doesn’t excuse the embarrassment that I had to withstand, because of their disorganization.
— The green tea tastes like General Mill Cereal, because it has wheat in it. How do you destroy a completely healthy drink like green tea by adding wheat to it? *shakes head* Just no… just plain no!
— The drinks are watered down, but the prices are too so I guess it doesn’t matter.

This was a very solid showing. I’d even say it was more enjoyable than the typical restaurant in many Asian neighborhoods in the Chicago area. There are a lot of positive factors here.
The restaurant is easy to access just off of Business 55 making it simple to do even if you’re a tourist on I55 and had been planning on driving right past Bloomington /​Normal. And many tourists I’ve meet really enjoy getting to see the world headquarters of State Farm Insurance just NW of the restaurant. In Chicago we have plenty of businesses with world headquarters but it’s more of a rare thing out this way and the building stands out more here than it would in Chicago.
When we arrived the first time the parking lot was empty and I got a bit worried. The lack of customers was because we were early for dinner and the lot and restaurant filled up quickly after we had been there for a while. Once inside I was pleased to be greeted by multiple friendly employees and when we were taken to a table the hostess asked if this was acceptable or it we’d like a different spot. I rarely get asked that question and quite enjoy the attention to the customers likes and dislikes. The restaurant is clean and nicely furnished with quality tables and plenty of Asian decorations.
We have ordered sushi a few times with our favorites being the Cucumber Roll, Winter Roll, and a special Shrimp Tempura roll that was only listed on the single sheet of specials not on the regular menu.
Our favorite sushi was the Winter Roll that comes wrapped in avocado (see photo). The Shrimp Tempura roll was full of flavor. While some of the sushi prices can be a little expensive you get nice sized portions and the quality is worth it.
The soups have all been pretty good. The Egg Drop soup was perfect with lots of egg and a nice thickness. Wonton soup was rich and wontons weren’t too soft as can be found at some restaurants. The Hot and Sour soup could have had a bit more spice for our liking but still a solid choice.
We’ve ordered Crab Rangoon every time. It’s not always exactly the same and the cream cheese can be sweeter some times but they have a great flavor and are not over fried. Other things we have tried that were always good were the Fried Pot Stickers, House Special Egg Foo Young, Beef Fried Rice, and a spicy vegetable dish I can’t remember the name off. Everything was pretty much perfect.
We were initially a little baffled about the music selection during our first visit but after multiple visits it’s becoming a highlight for me. The first visit I heard a song that sounded Chinese but reminded me of Disney music that I was able to identify as being from a parade at Walt Disney World about ten yeas ago, which was followed by a couple of popular classical music selections from Simon and Garfunkel and Eric Clapton, and then somewhere in there we heard a Christmas carol or two. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik was one of my favorites and all these songs with Chinese instruments (mostly string) make for an outstanding eclectic selection. This is likely the thing for me that stacks my enjoyment of this restaurant over the dozens of Asian restaurants closer to home.
The service is always great. Lots of smiles, always willing to answer food questions in great detail, and it’s never a problem to make a special request. This restaurant is run the way all restaurants should be run. Service, food, atmosphere, and cleanliness all as good as they can make it.
Don’t miss a chance to eat here. You’ll enjoy it for sure.

Lucky Garden continues to impress with impeccable service and exceptional sushi menu. This is our favorite sushi bar in Bloomington/​Normal. The sushi chef is on par with every other chef I’ve experienced. For the record my wife and I only had two bottles of sake tonight so my review is mostly accurate ;-). Tonight there were three stand outs: The Grey Goose, King crab & avocado roll, and Naruto roll.
The Naruto roll has no rice or seaweed. The chef thinly sliced, no he basically made a paper thin cucumber wrap the roll was comprised of. I can’t explain it. Must be the sake. It was very good and I appreciated the labor involved. Think seaweed wrap paper but made from a fresh cucumber.
Tonight we enjoyed five rolls and I highly recommend every one of them:
Grey Goose — spicy yellow tail, asparagus, inside. Top with yellow tail, avocado, and jalapeño black tobiko.
Summer roll — tuna, yellow tail, cilantro, jalapeño, avocado, spicy chili sauce and lime juice.
King crab avocado roll
Naruto roll — tuna, salmon, white tuna, crabstick, inside a cucumber roll with Ponzu.
Chicago Crazy roll — tuna, salmon, yellow tail, crabmeat, masago, cucumber, lettuce seaweed outside.