Big Bowl - Schaumburg

SP and I went to one of our favorites, Big Bowl, on Sunday. We wanted to shop some, and it's at the mall. Big Bowl is a chain, and it's Asian food. They have a stir-fry bar, rice and noodle dishes and spring rolls and mai tais, if you're into that sort of thing. Most of their items are somewhat spicy.

I had the Thai Basil Hot Pepper Shrimp without the chilis served with jasmine rice. This dish is fresh, light and delicious. With the chilis it's HOT. I like hot food, but this is very spicy, and sometimes I just don't feel like having the roof of my mouth and lips sting for hours after we're finished eating. The waitress was very nice and suggested no chilis, because she couldn't convince me to order another shrimp dish...I don't like them as much, I've tried them. Though the Shrimp Pad Thai is good, and the others are tasty, but not as good as this dish. SP loves it too, after eating off my plate the first few times he took me there, but he ordered his old standby favorite, Kung Pao Chicken.

The Kung Pao was served with jasmine rice as well. It's very good. I never order it despite it being so good. I guess I'm a sucker for shrimp and I can steal some of SP's Kung Pao anyway.

On this visit, the waitress was not very good. I think she was new. She didn't refill our drinks or check whether our food was right for quite a while, even though our drinks were bone dry and we had a ton of food left. Then when she did come by, she asked whether we wanted refills, when we were clearly eating spicy meals and had nothing to drink. It sounds like I'm complaining more than I should, but that's elementary to a server's job. I was a server for ten years.

Most of our visits we have very good service, so this time I think it was just a fluke. It's a very nice atmosphere if a little loud, and they have cozy booths and clean restrooms. They even suggest that you use extra paper towels to exit the bathroom and they provide a garbage can outside the door to dispose of them, so you can avoid germs. Hey, don't you hate places that have hand dryers and a pull on the exit side of the door? Just sayin.

I love going to Big Bowl when we can sit outside in the sunshine.