Thai Urban Kitchen

This place has closed.

This food point of view seemed right up our alley! We arrived between 11 and 11:30. A very quiet time on a weekday. We recieved our food 30 minutes later. We recieved our food cold. Food had an odd after taste. Never recieved any drink refills. Had to flag someone down for the bill after 20 minutes of sitting there at a cleared table. MAY give it one more try and amend my review but I doubt it. Looks like this is a reoccuring theme.

The volcano chicken was awesome. The house salad is a generous portion. Pretty and clean atmosphere and very clean modern restrooms. Not sure why the rating is only a 3 star, they consistently serve me 4 star food.

2 words.
Crab Appetizer.
«Crab Rangoon
With crispy wonton skin, crab meat, cream cheese, onion and scallions»
vs TUK CRAB RANGOON $ 5.00
crispy wonton chips with a kanikama, cream cheese and scallion dip.

I stumbled upon this place because it was close to Willis Tower. In general I thought the place was pretty good, while a little bit over priced. The quality of the ingredients seems to be lacking, but the taste really was not the bad.
I ordered the chicken satay appetizer and the pad thai (shrimp). The chicken that was used was probably previously frozen and heated up for this dish. It did not taste fresh. The presentation was a little weird because they give you pieces of white bread with it… I did not get that part.
The pad thai I thought was really good. I would go back just for this. The noodles were just right and there was a good helping of sauce. Again I dont think the ingredients were super fresh, because the shrimp tasted like it was taken out of a frozen costco bag.

Kind of disappointing after looking through the website. The photos were tempting and the décor was sleek. I was looking forward to eating here.
As promised, the décor is modern and minimalist. The space is pretty big. The service was very friendly but sadly the food didn’t live up to everything else.
Chicken Satay: pretty standard
Heaven beef: seems like they use scraps and just fry ‘em up. It would be so bad but they were so fatty and chewy and burned on the outside.
Tamarind duck: usually a favorite of mine but it was served luke warm and it wasn’t cut up so it was hard to share. I tend to associate Thai food with sharing.
Spicy Tuna roll: pretty good but nothing spectacular.
The End.

Received a coupon in the mail so we ordered for delivery. Pad thai was delicious and the highlight of the meal. I would consider ordering or going in person just for the pad thai. The green curry was also a solid choice. Avoid the Heaven beef (way overcooked) and the papaya salad (just not that flavorful).

I just ate the Thai oyster and it was absolutely amazing. I could eat ten of them. Wonderful. And the staff is amazing.
Once again I had the oyster that is the best I’ve ever had. Plus you can’t beat the staff. Absolutely amazing.

Pretty pricey dishes, but you’re getting the quantity you’re paying for. Servings here are HUGE. Had a bite of sushi from my manager and it was decent. There was a bit of a wait but we came as a group of 8 so that’s expected. Server was very nice but didn’t fully understand english. When my manager requested tea with no caffeine, she didn’t quite understand.

My wife and I ended up stopping here before we caught our train on a Saturday. Found it weird that most places in the city were closed on a Saturday, but I digress…
We walked in at about 4:30pm and were literally the only ones in there. I looked at the Unilocal before we walked in, so we weren’t expecting much. It turned out to be great.
I had the garlic dish w/​chicken which was really good. My wife had curry w/​chicken and that was great too. We ordered a couple maki rolls as appetizers. They did not disappoint. Overall we were really pleased with the meal.
I’m only going 4 stars due to portion size vs. cost. There should’ve been a bit more on the plate.

TUK is a flop, a bust, and a rip off. In fact, giving them 1 star is a compliment because they would slip into negatives if given the option.
First and foremost the table service was good. Ample seating in the restaurant and the décor is nice. The game was on in the bar and we asked to be seated in a quieter section away from the bar so we didn’t have to talk over people screaming. We were the only ones in the dining area but as folks shuffled in they sat everyone right on top of us. Not an issue if they weren’t still screaming at the game as they had a direct line of view to the tv.
Vegan? Don’t bother. They will only make a few select dishes without fish sauce. Because I was pigeon-​holed with limited options I decided to get the sweet potato tempura sushi then get dinner some where else. I wish I would have passed on the sushi all together. First, there was maybe a crumb of tempura and perhaps they kept it off because they wouldn’t make it vegan. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. But the part that is absolute unforgivable is that the sweet potatoes were not cooked all the way. In fact, some centers of the sweet potato were crunchy. Then the worst of it… they charge $ 6 for this pathetic display of 6 pieces of undercooked maki.
I obviously will not return, will not recommend TUK to friends and family.

I haven’t been to Thai Urban Kitchen (TUK) for awhile, even though its located at the lobby of the building I work at. I remember going there a few years ago and it was «meh»… there are other better Thai restaurants in the West Loop like the one in Presidential Towers. Aaand, I do remember a few days where TUK was shutdown a year or so ago, with a nice mandated sign on the door saying the health inspectors shut it down. Anyways, this time around, since it was so damn hot outside, I figure I wanted the sanctity of AC, but didn’t want food-​court food, I decided to give it another whirl.
The restaurant itself has a nice setup. They have ample seating, a nice host, and a friendly waitstaff. Their lunch special is decent for downtown prices. I ordered some dumplings as an app. and the shrimp garlic rice dish, light on the gravy, and brown rice. The dumplings were somewhat ok, but the meat filling in it felt rather dry, even though the dumplings came with sauce on top. The shrump garlic rice dish was not seasoned as much as I like. I had to ask the waiter, whom never really came back after giving us our food, for hot sauce. After dousing it with hot sauce, it tasted a lot better. Although I understand its not «easy» to cook brown rice, cmon peeps! The brown rice was severely undercooked and was rather crunchy, not in a burnt kind of way, but a didn’t add enough water, kind of way.
Overall, this place has prime real estate in a busy building, but their food is sub prime. I’ll stick to myThai in nearby Presidential Towers for any of my myThai cravings.

Bravo for getting us in and out in 30 minutes! Was in the building for a meeting, had a half hour break between meetings.
Despite the name, they also offer sushi/​bento lunch specials. I had the throw the towel or something like that which is a noodle dish very similar to pad see eew. The noodle is pretty decent. Portion is generous for lunch.
Their Tom yum soup is awesome. Quite different from the standard version, has the fried noodle strips which add a nice texture to it.
I think their sushi menu is a bit of a rip off but sometimes you have to pay premium for being healthy.
By the time we finished at noon, the line was out the door.

Mediocre but conveniently located.
It’s kind of overpriced for what you get, and some of the food is slightly upscale in a way that doesn’t particularly improve its taste. They also have sushi. Would it be better if it were better? Well, of course.
At the same time, it has tons of seating, is open fairly reasonable hours, and is in the Ogilve Transit center. When I’m having dinner with somebody who commutes out of here, it’s the perfect place to meet.

Oh my gosh — I have only ordered delivery from TUK.
I love them — great website — efficient — and friendly delivery guys.
The food portions are large, flavorful and different from all the other places —
Duck Soup– YUM
Tom Yum Soup — YUM
Imperial Pad Thai — YUM
Easy BREEZY — I enjoy this place! TUK helped me survive The Polar Vortex!

New owners around 6 months ago. Having never been before, I can only critique now, on a Friday night, which was absolutely fabulous from the attentive, friendly staff to the beautifully presented, delicious dinner, and relaxing ambiance.
Lovely meal all around and so happy to have finally dined here! Shared everything and we were stuffed with enough Pad Thai leftover. Everything is presented beautifully, yet temptingly to the eye. Started with the steamed dumpling appetizer which was fresh, tasty and lots of side veggies. Followed by amazing Emperor Pad Thai — with the usual ingredients and interestingly included duck, calamari and apple. 2^nd entrée — Sex on the Moon Maki — shrimp, eel, tuna, avocado, cream cheese — amazing! Split passion fruit torte for dessert. Good wine list and authentic jasmine tea.

Very good starter calamari salad. Lettuce, cucumbers, and carrots were exceptionally fresh while the calamari was perfectly fried.
For a main I chose basil pork and tofu combo over rice, which came out quickly and expertly cooked. My waitress was very attentive, which may have also been helped by the fact that I came long after lunch rush and was one of only two tables seated.
$ 3 draft beers for lunch round out a great experience. The food is good, service is fast, and they’re on OpenTable, so booking bonus points can be yours.
Don’t be put off by the fact that they are in a train station, or that it’s not «authentic» Thai (khao soi noodles would be great). It’s fast, good food, and worth stopping by.

Thai and Japanese — two of my favorite cuisines in one place.
5 Stars for the Mushroom Gyoza appetizer & Face Towel Noodle dish.
Friendly service.
Huge selection for both cuisines.
Nice ambiance. Lots of seating choices (sushi bar, window, tables, booths, and looked like they had a private area). Definitely a great place to dine in. I ordered take-​out and ate on the train.

Update:
I have to take them down 2 stars because service means a lot to me. I just had lunch here on a Friday at noon and had to wait over an hour for my entrée. We ended up just getting our meals to go. I know it’s probably the busiest time of the day for this place but you should prepare accordingly. I’ve been here many times and never had to wait this long, usually I’m out in 30 minutes! This kind of experience forces me to go try other places!
My favorites are the Teriyaki Beef and the Shrimp Pad Thai. Make sure to get a Thai Iced Coffee!
Appetizers are decent but kind of small. They have a pretty good lunch special! This place gets packed right at noon, so you want to arrive a bit earlier.
Good service here, plates vanish as soon as you finish your meal!

I have high expectations on downtown restaurants. Thought they should be at least as good as burbs or better. I was not too impressed with my Green Curry with tofu today.
I really liked the lobby. It was open and all windows. Bright and modern. And we didn’t wait too long to get the appetizers and then the main dish during the lunch hour so it was a big plus.
My mushroom pot stickers were fried and way too sweet. Definitely was not my favorite kind. My co-worker’s Tom Yum soup was too sweet too. I guess that set a theme.
My green curry with Tofu was a bit yellow for the name. And tofu looked like just cut up to a triangle and put in the broth without cooking. No grilled or seared or fried, nothing which was fine until I tasted the tofu taste. Let me put this way, tofu is very bland kind of ingredient which is supposed to soak up other flavors. In this case, it was supposed to taste like green curry which it was not. Usually grilling the Tofu slightly on the sides helps it absorb the sauce. Other veggies in the curry broth was pretty tasty although the broth was too sweet and not spicy enough for me.
My co-worker’s sea bass dish was too sweet too. He was complaining about the fish fillet was all breaded and fried.
Well, we ended up $ 22 per person including the tip which was automatically added to the bill. Really a bit pricey for a Thai lunch and why why the tip was added in the bill automatically?