Chaihanna

I was really looking forward to trying some Uzbek food but now the restaurant is closed. There is no indication if they will reopen again. Make sure to give them a call and confirm if they are still remodeling.

I live next door to this place, so I wanted to delve into nostalgia and have some Russian food that didnt involve pelmeni, which is the only homeland food that I can muster up. The Cheburek was great, so was the borscht. My only gripe is the prices-​a lil too high. But otherwise, reminded me of local eateries in the 90’s Moscow, with cheap Uzbek décor, awful artwork on the walls, and 90’s Russian music playing from the speakers.

Went on a Sunday afternoon party of 4. Found the place busy but not packed. Server came from the back and seated us. Server was friendly and help full in making recommendations. Stared out with the Cheburek and a bowl of Okroshka. Our entrees where Beef, Lamb and Pork kabobs and Lamb Pilaf. Found everything to be done very well and tasty. The sauce was very good. We bought a container of it to bring home. This place was worth the try and came recommended by a friend who works in the area. We plan on going back again when in the area.

Samsa! Samsa! Samsa! I love this little neighborhood place. Almost every dish I’ve tried is deeelish. The Samsa is a flavorful meaty bun of goodness. The meat blintzes and the beef pilaf are generous portions of yummy goodness. I especially loved the lamb noodle soup.
There does seeom to be a funky disconnect between the quaint décor, with the lovely traditional murals and accessories, and the weird Russian techno music but it works somehow.
What tops off the whole experience is Kevin, the sweet, stoic, self-​conscious server who gets hugely embarassed when my sister and I fawn all over him. This place has become a weekly haunt for us.

Great food and a very beautiful ethnic surrounding. Went here for a wedding reception, it was BYOB and there were at least 5 courses. Everything was so flavorful and the servers were very attentive.

Well, it had to happen sometime. The dinner was amazing, the soups, the chicken, all of it. BUT the Napoleon we had for dessert was old and the filo was not crisp. Still and all, we’ll keep on coming back.

This is a cozy place with great service. The food was presented wonderfully and is very delicious. I have been here twice and would gladly return and bring friends. I can’t say I am a specialist on the cuisine of Uzbekistan but the food is great!

No.
This is not good food even for suburban standards. I am famliar with Uzbek eateries which makes this place twice as disappointing.
Uzbek Bread — stale, bought at Jewel.
Marinated Eggplant.– oily and absurdly salty.
Bahor Salad– wilted iceberg lettuce, tiny pieces of beef tongue.
Samsa– tolerable, not fresh.
Pumpkin Manti– Delish
Sour Spinach Soup– A salty mess, worst than campbells canned soup.
Lamb Pilaf– Oily rice, dried out lamb pieces. No flavor, wrong type of rice by the way.
In all, this place is a joke. Cook evidently had no respect or enthusiasm for food prepared.

I wanted to try this place out so much that I gave it a second try even though it was closed the first time around.
Oh I was thrilled to find that they were open!
I was craving Manti so we ordered some to split. They give you 3 so it worked out perfectly since there were 3 of us there. For the main dish 2 of us got the Lamb Pilaf and my other friend got the first soup on the menu… Honestly, I know that it’s a family owed business but I felt like the menu did not provide much variety. It did not represent much of the culture besides the pilaf in a million different versions, manti and some soup.
The manti were warm and yummy-​ish. I do prefer the dough to be a little bit thicker, so that the manti dont fall apart so easily. The pilaf was good, flavorful, but the rice could have been softer and could have had more meat.
The ambience is casual, with a little bit of um… russian/​uzbek flare. Nothing special.
Was the food edible, yes. Am I going to come running back, eh, not so much.

Chaihanna’s a pretty awesome restaurant. the food is traditionally uzbekistani, which i wasn’t sure what that was, but it turned out to be similar to eastern european food which is heavy with assorted meats, potato dishes, salads. i tried many dishes here today: lamb/​chicken/​pork kebabs were awesome! very tasty pilaf and pickled vegetables, interesting variety of salads. very tolerant staff. overall, i recommend!

We took a little drive the other day, when the weather was nice and chose Chaihanna as our destination. It was located in a typical, nondescript strip mall, but there was nothing typical about Chaihanna.
When we walked in we realized that a good deal of effort had been invested in the restaurant as well as money. The cuisine was Uzbekistani and the murals on the walls reflected the culture. Christopher took some photos so you can see what I mean.
The food was very tasty and well prepared. Christopher had the pork kabob. The pork was not only seasoned well, but tender and moist. I had the lamb pilaf. The portion was very generous and it had an excellent flavor. I took much of it home, and it reheated very well the next day.
We split a samsa appetizer. (a meat filled pastry). It was good, but there was a spice in it that I did not care for. Christopher enjoyed it more than I did, but this is a case of personal taste and no reflection on the samsa.
I ordered two soups to bring home for mom and tried them both. The borscht was delicious as was the mushroom soup, which was surprisingly a broth based soup as opposed to a cream soup. They had quite an extensive soup menu. I want to come back and try them all. In fact, I think I would like to try just about everything on the menu.
My only gripe was when we came in the place was empty. We were seated and within a few minutes, a group of seven came in. They were seated right next to us in a tight corner, while the rest of the place was wide open. I should probably have asked to be moved, but after a while we tuned out the other group. It was also fun to see the large platters of deliciousness delivered to their table.
If we lived closer, we would be here quite often. Regardless, we will be back, and if you are ever around Buffalo Grove, you should really try Chaihanna.
P. S. to Geocachers … there is a cute micro-​cache in the park right next door. It’s a nice way to stretch the legs a bit after a good meal.

Definitely happy I finally pushed the door and tried this place. The staff was really nice and took the time to explain dishes and make suggestions for the non initiated folks to this type of food. The food was really awesome with great tasting dishes with really non ordinary flavor profiles. We had the spicy eggplant and meat dumplings as appetizers, both really good. The main dishes were also really good: lamb kebab and lamb rice pilaf. Both good tasting with distinct balanced flavor profiles. All of this nice experience at a really decent price. Most dishes are in the $ 8 – 12 range with only a couple in the more expensive $ 16 – 17. Appetizers and desserts are in the $ 3 – 6 range. All worth a try.

I’ve wanted to try this place for a long time, but it’s on the side of a small strip mall and not very visible. So I am seldom reminded of it when driving in the area. But recently I was foraging for something different to eat and recalled my desire to check it out, so I did. There are only about a dozen tables — and all but one were seated, so I was lucky to get the last spot.
The menu has a good selection of appetizers and soup, along with about a dozen entrees mostly at or below $ 10. Started out with some Cheburek, which was ground meat inside a deep fried pastry shell. This dish was fair — it really needed some kind of sauce with it — kind of bland. But, I figured that Uzbek food might be like this (I’ve never been much of a fan of Middle Eastern or Russian cuisine, and I get the sense that this is a blend of both). Next was Samsa, a baked meat filled pastry served with an Uzbek «ketchup-​like» sauce. Excellent — tons of flavor and only $ 3.
Then tried the Mastava soup along with some Lepeshka (Uzbek bread). The soup was a blend of meat, rice and vegetables. One of the waiters (who I knew from his having worked at another place I frequent) suggested adding kefir to the soup; apparently this is often done to cut back on the oiliness of the soup. So I tried a few spoonfuls then added the kefir, which altered the taste. Either way it was good — I’d give the nod to the «kefir-​added» style. The Lepeshka was a small loaf of bread — kind of sunken in the center. At first glance, I was worried that it might be a little dry, but after breaking into it and spreading on some butter, it was quite moist and tasty.
Finally, for dinner I ordered the chicken kabobs. Served with rice, some sliced onions and sliced pickled pepper, it too was very tasty and flavorful. Came with the ketchup sauce. Not a large portion, but given all the appetizers and soup I consumed, I didn’t need a lot more. Ended up taking ½ of that and ½ the bread home, which I just finished tonight.
Overall, this restaurant proved to be a pleasant surprise and one that I will return to again. The food I ordered was unusual, but ANYONE could order and enjoy it and try a foreign dish seldom seen in our many multicultural offerings that is so special and unique about the Chicagoland area.

Great interior, excellent and authentic food, friendly service. Nice place to go to with friends. They have dishes you wouldn’t find anywhere else, for example pickled watermelon, mmmmm… my favorite, also manti, lagmon, kebabs and other central asian specialties. One suggestion to the owner — please get other beers besides Stella (per my husband wish), it’s good, however there are other beers out there.

We loved this place. Granted that our experience with Uzbek cuisine is limited (no experience at all actually), but the food was very enjoyable and flavourful. The server was very attentive and courteous (it helped that it was a rainy, slow night and we were the only patrons at that hour), and the interior of the restaurant was beautiful and inviting. We had cheburek (fried calzone shaped pastry stuffed with beef), lagman (fennel flavored soup with meat and homemade noodles), manti (dumplings with neef/​lamb), and beef kabobs (with an amazing tomato sauce and potatoes). All in all, it was a very enjoyable experience, and we will be back for more very soon. A+

The exterior may make you think this place isn’t special but it is. It is nicely decorated and the china is a beautiful cobalt blue and gold.
Loved the sour spinach soup. I had the pressed chicken which was beautifully seasoned and moist. My friend had their special beef and rice dish which I would recommend as well. The music initially was international dance music which was fun especially in contrast to the more formal surroundings. This is definitely a place you should try with both Russian and Asian influence.

The answering machine for this restaurant is confusing — this place closes at 8pm on Sundays. Beware!
I showed up here with a huge group of people two hours before closing, and the host greatly showed his displeasure about that (even though we had a reservation).
The restaurant is BYOB for a fee, but when we asked the host about the cost, he told us it would be $_​per bottle. (I forgot! Sorry!) When we inquired about bringing beer, he became very hostile, and gave us an extremely roundabout answer, and finally told us some outrageous price per bottle.
The food here was overall pretty tasty. This was my first time trying Uzbeki food, so I apologize for not remembering the names of the dishes. We ordered dishes of beef, rabbit, and lamb kebobs with potatoes and rice. We also enjoyed the Blintzes (a thick pancake/​bread dish), and ordered both kinds, one with a mascarpone-​like cheese, and another with some kind of meat. I thought the Blintzes with the cheese would have been better saved as a dessert than eating it as an appetizer.
The only complaint I have regarding the food were the appetizers that we ordered, but this might stem from me never having tried Uzbeki food before. We ordered the Pickled Herring, and it was interesting, but not bad. We also tried the Pickled Watermelon, and that might have been a bad idea. The watermelon came out kind of mushy and didn’t taste that great. On top of that, other people were saying that perhaps the watermelon had been sitting around too long, since it tasted kind of carbonated.
Despite the negative things I wrote about the restaurant, I thought it was worth trying out the restaurant.
The menu shown on this website isn’t as comprehensive as the menu that the restaurant had. This might just be the take-​out menu.

Chaihanna came to my attention because I went out for phở at the restaurant next door (Phở U). It looked interesting, and I wanted to come back.
I finally made it back, and gave it a try today. I was the first patron of the day, I was by myself, and I had no experience with Uzbeki food. I glanced over the menu, and then asked for suggestions. I ended up with the beef shurpa, bread, and lamb kabob with the fried potatoes. Everything was excellent. I wish I had gone with someone, so we could have ordered different dishes and shared.
I look forward to going back.

I stumbled on to this place one day while at the eye doctor next door. It didn’t look too busy but all the round breads in the window (lepeshkis I think they are called?) caught my eye. Of course I had to go home and get reinforcements and come back to try the food.
A couple neighbors and my wife and kids and I went for lunch on a Sunday (open 1pm to 8pm). For appetizers we had the spicy eggplant (super salty with tons of garlic… my favorite), the samsa and manti (like meat filled dumplings), the bahor (like a potato salad, but with beef toungue instead of potato), and some lepeshki. For entrees we got chicken kabob, lamb kabob, (they were out of minced kabob, bummer), beef pilaf, and dolma. The dolma was interesting, like a bowl of beef stew with carrots and potato, plus a giant meatball with a hardboiled egg in the middle. Tasty.
I have to say also, the décor was nice inside which surprised me, and the music was even decent (some light techno stuff and then the new Jamiroquai while we were there). The food that they noted as «spicy» on the menu really wasn’t bad at all… we were imagining something like the hottest Thai food and it turned out to be more like «medium» sauce at taco bell or something… very good, but not really very spicy.
Note this is probably not the best place for kids. We wound up driving through the McD’s around the corner on Dundee to get some food for them and carried it in with us… nobody at Chaihanna batted an eye.

The Russian tag above doesn’t exactly cover it, but there wasn’t an Uzbekistan option. Surprising!
Chaihanna was a place that I would never have found save for my family and their undying love for the Russian radio, which has been advertising this food far and wide.
If you aren’t very familiar with Uzbeki food you should know that this is hearty food. Think kabobs, plof (which is like pilaf but with LOTS of butter and meat added), home baked bread, lamb, etc. The prices here are mostly under $ 10, and you can try lots of dishes and share. I recommend ordering: The spicy beets, the spicy carrots, the spicy cabbage (are you noticing a trend?). The chicken kabob was quite tasty (the ran out of lamb), the beef pilaf was good, and the lipeshka (bread) was also good.
This place gets two stars off for two reasons. One, they ran out of marinated lamb when we were there. For an Uzbek place, this is pretty much like a McDee’s running out of fries. Two, the food wasn’t necessarily all that genuine… but if you are just trying it for the first time, it’s a good start!
Note… the address says Dundee, but it is actually on the SE corner of the intersection of Buffalo Grove and Dundee, the entrance is off of Buffalo Grove Rd.