Mott St

Wonderful! We had the everything wings, brussel sprouts, imperial rolls, pot stickers, and another veggie dish with eggplant+. The veggie dishes were my favorite, but all delish. Good presentation, hip, nice atmosphere (on the patio, family style seating), attentive service, and tasty food. I would say this is more of a $$$ instead of $$. What’s not taken into account when rated is the serving sizes. They’re a little smaller, but two people could easily split 3 dishes for enough food. We will be back!

Came here last night with two friends and we were lucky to snag seats on the patio. The environment is exactly what you’d want on a warm Chicago summer night. Twinkly lights and all.
Service: amazing
Cocktails: super fresh and delicious. Pricy
Food
–boat noodles– literally salivating still thinking of this. The meat was perfectly tender, broth so
Flavorful and noodles complementing it all. One friend said it was too salty tho.
–mushroom– OMG. The star of the night for me. The literally spooned the rest of the sauce in my mouth. The miso butter is addicting!!! Dip the bread in the sauce!
–bread– not going to lie it reminded me of auntie Annie’s pretzels from the mall. Nothing wrong with that because I live for soft pretzels. The soft boiled egg was a delicious addition. The chipotle butter was eh… bread is sort of plain without any big pops of flavor on its own… so I wouldn’t order unless ordering the mushrooms so that you can dip the bread in the sauce.
–dumplings — pretty standard dumplings. Probably will skip next time.
–wings-​these were sooooo good. The sauce is addicting. Another item I loved. The yogurt sauce was an interesting side to this.
–kimchi empanadas– probably the worst dish of the night. Super oily and pretty flavorless. The white sauce it came with didn’t go well with it at all. A skip for me.
Will return to try the short ribs, mussels and those mushrooms again!

Really blown away by this place! We sat out on the patio and enjoyed a perfect first meal in Chicago under the string lights. Ordered the wings, cauliflower, dumplings, empanadas and short ribs and it was perhaps one dish too many but we finished it all anyway. Not a single bad bite in the bunch, though the wings and short ribs were my absolute favorite. The staff was friendly and I love that make sure your order is balanced just right. Perfect introduction to the Chicago dining scene.

Glanced at the Mott St menu excitedly, and immediately wanted to try everything. My friend and I were out to celebrate, and ordered like we f***ing meant it. Our server immediately stopped us, saying «you don’t need all that.» He had already taken us through the menu structure, sizes of plates, given us recommendations on how many plates per person was appropriate, and then we decided to order a tiny bit more than he felt apt. He’s telling us to cut down our order — SOMETHING THAT HAS NEVER HAPPENED AND WOULD NEVER HAPPEN in a restaurant. I thought for sure that we had grossly over-​ordered for him to say something like this. So we left off one large dish from our meal.
Onto the food. Veal sweetbreads, Gen Tso style were delectable. Perfectly fried, perfectly sauced, it’s exactly what you’d expect. A lovely level-​one (appetizer-​y) nosh.
Brussel Sprouts. Well done. Crispy leaves, buttery — not revolutionary, but yea they were great.
The Everything Wings were truly everything. Such a killer hit of spices, and the seeds, and the sauce! It was a total cream-​cheese bagel wing, in the best way.
The best dish of the night was undeniably the Whole Snapper. It comes to the table with such ceremony. A crispy, charred open-​mouthed fish accompanied by a hot lil’ can of fragrant tamarind broth. And to assemble your dish, a bowl of plantain «dirty rice,» sesame leaves, lime sauce, and sambal sauce. There was a lot of broth involved, as our server emptied the whole can onto the plate, and it was so flavorful. I preferred to eat pieces of fish wrapped in the sesame leaf, where the rice could absorb some broth and mingle with the condiments. It was really a great dish.
Now, I’m sure the server thought we would be full at this point, after he had properly audited our order, but no sir, we were not. We ordered the banana-​on-​a-​stick dessert and we were told we should wait a few minutes to eat it because it’s better that way. So bossy. We did wait, and it was just meh.
Overall a very fun, physical food experience. So much dipping, wrapping, pouring. Lots of unique dishes, and comfortable favorites. Go here.

Ordered the wings — good but nothing unique with the sauce or flavor. It was 3 pieces with tzatziki sauce.
Also had the burger which was not a let down. Make sure you sit by the bar as it will only be served from the bar area. It was sweet with the hoisin sauce spread and salty with the cheese. Great combination!
Lastly, the Brussel sprouts was amazing. No bitter taste at all. Texture was excellent with lamb pancetta.
I will definitely come back to try the other dishes.

This was my 2^nd visit to Mott, the last time I was there was September of 2013(thanks, foursquare!)
The patio at Mott is great and I hope to be there a few times this summer!
Gailan, oyster mushrooms, steamed dumplings, pork jowl and black cod were all FIRE! I can’t say enough about each of them and how tasty they were.
Szechuan shrimp, was good but really just fried shrimp and onion rings. It was good but wasn’t what I was expecting as the name read.
Bread, I’d order again but would love it if it was slightly less dense/​wet in the center, maybe more yeasty. The crust was great and I’m not sure if I totally loved the egg in center though.
Boat noodles had a lot going on and were just fine, but there was something missing.
Stuffed cabbage, I liked it but not as much as my friend spoke of it and how it is a house recommendation. Perhaps the kimchi flavor was a little less exciting since kimchi isn’t as foreign a flavor for me?
Service was excellent and friendly from the entire team, great job to the runners, bussers, and our server. We had a total of 4 – 5 folks replenishing water, even though it was on our table and someone was always around when we wanted a utensil or new plates.
I am looking forward to returning and won’t wait nearly 3 years to return!

Most Beautiful Patio. The communal tables, lightness in furniture, and openness of the décor is so welcoming
Pork Jowel Skillet is a must along with the Kimchi Fried Rice. The fried rice plantains were such a great base. Don’t forget the longanisa on the side. Sooo sweet and juicy. Reminded me of being in the Philippines. The coconut pancakes were a great ending. So light and not too sweet. So much texture in everything we had. Different flavors and an exciting way of brunching.
Sad to say the cocktails and beers didn’t really hit it in the park for me. Nothing called my name, and the beers I did have were more just standard (ie daisy cutter & hopewell lagers) since there wasn’t anything too interesting.
With that being said, Mott St. is a jewel in Whicker. Cannot wait to go back for dinner!

I’ve been here twice — once for brunch and once for dinner. Both times, the food was excellent. They also have a great cocktail program and very friendly service. I can’t stop thinking about their Brussels sprouts, which they must toss in liquid heroin because they are SO ADDICTIVE. For brunch, you can’t go wrong with the pork belly Benedict, Kalbi & Eggs and the burger. Oh, god, and the wok-​smoked gailan. SO GOOD.

This place is a definite must for foodies, especially those that love good cocktails. I loved the food and service, but the fifth star is for the bartender.
We went here for a friend’s birthday. They don’t let you sit until everyone arrives but that ended up being perfect because we got to talk to the bartender. He clearly loves his job and was amazing at recommending drinks. I loved the Huggy & Jalisco. The Virginia Darlin’ was another hit at the table.
The food was great. They do small plates and are great at making recommendations. They also have an allergies menu which was great as one of our group members has several food allergies.
We had the cauliflower, shrimp, and brussel sprouts. The pork jowl and wings were huge hits. Don’t eat the wings if you don’t want to get your fingers dirty. They provide wet wipes and the tast was well worth the mess. We finished with the short ribs and then went on to dessert. They brought out a candle for the birthday song which we loved. The doughnuts were the highlight of the dinner, the frozen chic banana was just fine.
Overall the ambiance is super cute and trendy. Not fancy but still intimate enough to be a touch romantic.

My friend and I made a reservation on a Tuesday night and glad we did. By the time we were leaving, around 8 p.m. the place was packed, so call ahead.
We got a couple of cocktails: Three hour tour and Nolo Bebi and both were quite good. As far as food goes:
Chicken wings — delicious, fully enjoyed it.
Oyster mushrooms — also delicious, interesting sauce.
Empanadas — very good, nice and cheesy with an awesom sauce.
Shirt belly rib — was too fatty to my taste, but my friend who is more into that kind of food, loved it.
Overall, very good experience and our server was knowledgeable and on top of everything. Cool ambiance, and patio looked very attractive, too bad it was a bit too cool to enjoy it.
My only complaint, music was blasting too loud, as speaker was too close.

Awesome food and great service as well! The only downside is the volume in the restaurant but if you don’t mind a little yelling to your dining companions then check this spot out. I came with my family for a Mother’s Day brunch and everything impressed me. We ordered a smörgåsbord as usual since we love to try everything. Our server suggested ordering a couple shareable plates and an entrée per person. We ordered the avocado brick toast, congee, and boat noodles for the table. For myself I had the pork jowl skillet and a coconut passion fruit refresher beverage (non alcoholic). Everything was flavored well and the congee had some interesting flavors since it was Thai inspired I believe. My skillet was tasty but I would have liked a little more pork jowl since they were a little stingy with that. The portions aren’t necessarily large but they are sufficient. I highly recommend Mott St and will definitely be back when they open up their patio for some al fresco dining!

Fantastic food! It’s not a place for kids, a bit tight, on the louder side and I would recommend making reservations. I definitely will be back to try more things on the menu!
Ambiance: Very chill laid back feel. Set up is similar to that of many ramen [even though this isn’t a ramen place] restaurants I’ve been too, but more «upscale.» Much of the seating is «shared» either through a long high top table or through benches along the windows (with individual tables). The seating with benches have small tables and given that alot of their plates are meant to be shared, it makes it difficult. It’s probably my only complaint about the ambiance. It is an open kitchen so you might smell like food, I did, but it wasn’t potent enough to stick for a long time. And as I said it’s loud, not to the point that you need to scream at one another, but where you may have to repeat what you said a couple times.
Food:
HIGHLIGHTS:
Small dishes: Crispy tofu, brussel sprouts, kimchi & oaxaca empanadas
Main dish: Mott burger
Dessert: Ricotta doughnuts
DETAIL:
We started with the brussel sprouts and crispy tofu. The brussel sprouts were on the heavier side in the sense that it was cooked in butter and that there is lamb pancetta (lamb bacon) in it. It was very flavorful between the maple brown butter and lamb pancetta. Texture was crispy, assuming that it was pan fried. There are peanuts in it so beware if someone in your party has an allergy! I didn’t taste any peanut flavor at all, but they had bits of it sprinkled on the dish. The crispy tofu isn’t something you’d typically get at an Asian restaurant, this was more of a salad, meant to share or good for one person. The crispy layer of it was a lighter one than other restaurants I’ve been to that serve crispy tofu. The whole salad was light and refreshing. It had cauliflower, radishes, peels of carrots and some garnishes accompanied by a vinegary dressing/​sauce. The empanadas were really good as well, I love trying them from places that serve them to see the different variations. It wasn’t spicy at all and the outer crust was very crispy. It can be shared between 2 – 4 people. Now, the main course, the burger. We weren’t sitting at the bar and were able to order it at the table. I didn’t hear the server ask how we wanted it cooked, but it was about medium and we added a fried egg. Incredible! I’ve never had an asian fused burger before. My friend said it was a bit salty, but for me it was fine. The combination of the cheese, hoisin sauce, crispy onions, pickle and jalenpenos, yum! It was a bit on the messy side, eating with your hands, but nonetheless good. Lastly, dessert, the ricotta doughnuts. Comes with three doughnut holes, so good for sharing or for an individual. I honestly wasn’t blown away. I probably wouldn’t get it again unless I was craving a doughnut at the time of dining there again. To me it was just custard filled doughnut holes with raspberry and mint flavors. I was hoping to try the bread pudding, but it’s seasonal. All the more reason to come back!
Service: Good, no complaints.

I have been here several times for drinks at the bar. They have some great cocktails that I recommend (Ryes Guise, Alejandro’s Dream.)
Service: always amazing
Food: small in size, large in flavor
–shrimp and pork skewers — so yummy!!! But you only get 2 skewers.
–steamed dumplings — yummy. Very hot. Good size (we ordered 4 but they usually come in 3s)
–haianese chicken — decent but so small!!! Watch out for the bones too.
–boat noodles — very dark beef broth. Very fine rice noodles. Nice tender beef, kinda dry chicken and the smallest shrimps in the world. Definitely squeeze the lime on there and no need for the additional spice that it comes with on the side.
There is a burger only at the bar and I will probably try that at some point and I can’t wait to try all of their spring cocktails.

If you have a chance to go to Mott St. I would recommend sitting at the bar so you can get the burger (it is only offered at the bar). It is an amazing high quality burger. I would also recommend the brussel sprouts. If you like whiskey, they serve quite a few different kinds and the bartender is very knowledgeable. This is a great place to go with friends.
Note: They have an awesome patio in the summer. Be sure to check that out as well. Currently, as of yesterday, it was not opened. I am sure they are waiting for warmer days.

FOOD: Let’s get a few things straight here. As far as the food goes, Mott St is absolutely amazing. I have been here a handful of times the past year, and the food does not disapppoint. My S.O. and I were here recently on a date night with reservations. Showed up about 5 min early, and were let in with kind greetings. Once seated, we began our gluttonous/​ravenous feast. Between the two of us, we ordered the potato-​onion bread, the brussels sprouts with lamb pancetta, General Tsao’s sweetbreads, and the catfish claypot.
And, ummm, let me say, yum! They ask that you order all at once, so that the food comes out in the most harmonious and delicious symphony of ways. Like a salty, sweet, umami concerto, the food comes out in waves of pitch-​perfect notes of om nom nom. We had the pan-​seared brussels sprouts with lamb pancetta first. Normally, I’m not big on musky taste (brussels sprouts) on musky taste (lamb), but the combo here with the maple butter married perfectly. I loved the smokiness of everything– not overwhelming, but lightly fragranced. Then we had the potato-​onion bread with an egg cracked in the center. It reminded me of a Georgian khachapuri. Eggy, bread-​y goodness.
But the main dishes were even better. The General Tsao’s sweetbreads were next, and, let me just say, as a half-​Chinese person, I was pleasantly surprised that the sauce wasn’t overly sweet or tangy– it was well-​balanced. And the sweetbreads themselves were so tender. Next came the «Stuffed Cabbage» — Which, can I say, is my absolute favorite dish? It has kimchi, sticky rice, and pull-​apart, slow-​cooked pork. Basically like a deconstructed cabbage roll, but infinitely better. Always, always order the stuffed cabbage if you are there. When the catfish claypot finally came out, I was pretty much ready to call «Uncle,» but Im glad I made room because the catfish claypot was a sweet and savory surprise. The caramel sauce was pretty darn good, and the catfish, small, but oh-​so-​tender.
SERVICE: Overall, not bad. But it needs work in some areas. Hence, the 4-​star rating. One star less for service. The hosts/​hostesses are generally nice, if not a little indifferent or aloof, as one reviewer has mentioned. But the servers are where they could use a little boost. Felt a bit rushed, despite a relatively empty dining room. Having 2 yrs of server/​hostess experience and 6+ yrs of retail mgmt/​customer service, I am a bit disppointed that service was a little hurried. I understand the turnaround time for reservations, which can be as little as 45 min, but the check should not be dropped at the same time as the server asks if you want dessert. Wait until your customers finish their drinks and their last entrée… Then drop it. Just an FYI to your customer service staff. Don’t rush your reservations. It’s not good form.

Everything that we ordered here was PHENOMENAL. I don’t know if it’s my Korean taste buds paired with all of the Korean influences in the dishes on the menu… but everything was seriously so delicious and perfectly balanced (taste AND texture). There was not one dish that I did not like! I was saying «Mmmm» and «OMG this is so good» the entire night hahaha. It was a group of 7 foodie girls, and we ordered and ate to our heart’s content! It’s hard to give you suggestions on MUST HAVE items, because everything was so good. I guess you can make your decisions based on my review below. Here’s what we got, in no particular order:
BREAD: potato & onion bread, leek-​curry butter, topped with a soft baked egg. This is not your ordinary bread, it’s like bread taken to a whole other level of flavor and chewiness. I was actually able to cut this up into 8 pieces and each piece had some portion of the egg and egg yolk! *Patting myself on the back.
OYSTER MUSHROOMS: pan seared with thyme and miso butter. This has such an amazing umami flavor and goes really well the bread. Drip that bread in the sauce of this dish and let the flavors overwhelm your senses.
KIMCHI & OAXACA EMPANADAS: masa shell served with chimichurri crème-​fraiche. There’s some spice with the kimchi, and some ooey cheesy melted goodness with the oaxaca in there. The crème-​fraiche paired well with this spicy, cheesy dish.
STEAMED DUMPLINGS: stuffed with pork, ginger and green onion. This seemed like your typical steamed dumpling — pretty juicy and flavorful in the middle. Just not your soup dumpling, though. Don’t get it twisted.
EVERYTHING WINGS: crispy wings covered in a gooey soy glaze, jaggery and dried chilis, tossed with sesame, poppy seed, fried shallots and served with tzatziki. I didn’t think to pair Korean type chicken wings with tzatziki, but it was a refreshing pairing that I will definitely be trying at home.
KIMCHI UDON: Udon noodles made with spicy marinated cod roe (mentaiko), kimchi and seaweed, topped with bonito flakes that wiggle and waggle with delight as it comes to your table. I really loved how the mentaiko brought a different type of texture — they were like little balls of popping joy with the chewiness of the udon noodles, and of course, the spicy kimchi. Tons of umami flavor and different types of texture.
SHORT RIB: marinated and grilled, tamale pave, jalapeño yogurt, radish. This was actually just like the Korean kalbi, which is soy marinated short ribs, usually grilled in a similar fashion. I guess I could have done without this dish since I can make this at home, but it’s still nice to try with the jalapeño yogurt and radish. These are all some unique pairings with tons of complementary flavors.
PORK JOWL: chili marinated and grilled, sesame leaf, and tofu. For some reason I can’t remember how this tasted, but I’m pretty sure it tasted delicious.
STUFFED CABBAGE: napa kimchi stuffed with pork butt and sticky rice, pan seared. OK this dish was freaking amazeballs. Who would have thought stuffed cabbage would be this delicious? It’s layers of cabbage, kimchi, pork butt goodness! It’s a Korean lasagna, so to speak.
WHOLE FISH: the fish that evening was a branzino (European seabass) fried in coconut fat, dirty rice of plantains & nam prik pao, sesame leaf, tamarind broth, and house sambal. This was actually one of the items we were on the fence about, because it was the last thing that we ordered. We knew we had a lot of good stuff already, and we weren’t sure if this would be too much food. But boy, were we are all so delighted that we ended up ordering this dish. One of the highlights of the evening! The branzino meat was so moist and tender, and the tamarind broth was so fragrant as our server poured it over the fish. Writing about it now is making me drool a little bit. I’m definitely going back for this.
There’s always room for dessert! We got:
BREAD PUDDING: gingerbread ice cream, chocolate, cinnamon, eggnog crème anglaise. The gingerbread ice cream was unique and this entire dish tasted like Christmas morning.
RICOTTA DOUGHNUTS: custard, raspberry, and mint — such a simple little donut hole, but filled with wonderful flavors. The custard, raspberry and ricotta complemented one another on top of this beautiful little deep fried donut bite. What a perfect end to an otherwise perfect meal.
Stay hungry, my friends!

I came here again for the CNY feast, but I enjoyed my experience last year much more.
With 10 or so different dishes, they came out to the table in groups, and we really felt rushed (and weren’t exactly huge fans of the required tetris game to ensure all the plates could fit on our table).
We did the Supreme feast, and maybe I’m just getting cheap in my old age, but for a $ 40 upcharge from the Fortunes feast, I failed to see value for money. Both share many of the same dishes, with the obvious addition of a bone-​in ribeye on the Supreme feast. I get beef is expensive, but really when you take one ribeye and slice it up for 5 people, you’re not getting $ 200 worth of meat.
When the hamachi collar came out, it was only one for 5 people.
I get Mott Street isn’t Hometown Buffet, but everybody at my table thought the dishes were too small, and I agreed.
The food was still very good, so that was a plus, but after dinner a burrito stop was necessary. :(
The cocktail program continues to be solid.

Fan-​freaking-​tastic! I liked it that much. Service was super attentive and knowledgeable. Before suggesting drinks, she quizzed me on what sort of flavors I liked. The boy and I tried 5 of their cocktails concoctions. the one with side of bacon was quite the highlight. the whiskey based drinks were crafted well even I, a non-​whiskey/​boubon/​scotch drinker, found it palatable.
Foodwise, it was all mostly great. The standout dishes were the Brussel sprouts and the Everything wings. I went in with much skepticism thinking these wings can’t be that awesome… but I failed… thankfully. These wings were pretty great… sweet, spicy, sticky perfection. The shorts ribs were a bit chewy but still tasty.
We honestly didn’t like the oyster mushrooms since it didn’t taste like anything. We even tried dipping the savory bread into the buttery sauce from the mushroom dish as suggested by the waitress and fellow Unilocalers but we weren’t impressed.
I am a bread pudding fanatic and their bread pudding was not a let down.

Finally tried Mott St for a birthday dinner with some friends and loved everything from our amazing server to tasty dranks and the Korean inspired dishes.
Fave dishes of the night:
— Everything wings: perfectly sweet/​spicy sauce
— The infamous stuffed cabbage: a genius combination in the form lasagna of crispy rice, shredded pork, and kimchi/​light cheese sauce
— Calamari: grilled with an amazing chili sauce
— Oyster mushrooms paired with the potato bread (as recommended by our server): another amazing miso butter sauce for the mushrooms, dipped in potato bread… wowow
— Short ribs: perfectly seasoned and melt in yo mouth
I would recommend making reservations before you go and going with a larger group to share a bajillion plates. Bravo to the Ruxbin/​Mott St. team!

Thoroughly enjoyed my meal. My one comment: some of the food (noted below) was loaded with sodium unnecessarily. In some of the dishes it felt like a mistake, so that should be something for the restaurant to consider. Overall, super creative concept, delicious food, awesome ambiance. Loved it!
–Brussels Sprouts: SO good! I was worried that they would be too sweet with the brown sugar, but these were absolutely delectable.
–Oyster Mushrooms: I could have eaten this sauce all day. Buttery, lemony, amazing! This sauce did have a lot of sodium in it. They could cut the salt easily by 75% and it would still be amazing.
–Cod: I’m not a huge fish eater, but wow was this good! A perfect little portion for two with the most delicious chili sambal on the side. It was served with a side of rice that had coarse ground salt ALL OVER the top. Again, not sure if that was a mistake, but it totally didn’t need that salt. The flavor would have been great without it.
–Fried Rice: This was my least favorite dish. My husband really liked it though. I found it to be pretty standard and lacking any flavor other than garlic.
I really enjoyed Mott St. Great service, excellent concept, and I LOVE shared plates!