Crying Tiger Chicago: How to Book the River North Southeast Asian Room

Crying Tiger Chicago is Lettuce Entertain You’s Southeast Asian dining room at 51 W. Hubbard Street in River North — the former Hub 51 footprint — led by chef partner and James Beard Finalist Thai Dang (HaiSous) with managing partner Amarit Dulyapaibul. The access story is what ChiVibe readers need first: reservations open 30 days out at midnight on OpenTable, shoulder times around 4 p.m. or 10 p.m. sometimes appear about a week out, parties of 9+ go through events, and the room also sits on the Dorsia Chicago roster. Journal has it at Heat 4, $$$, Open, Want to Go. Named for the Thai grilled-beef dish suea rong hai, it opened October 14, 2025 — so this is an access desk piece with opening context, not a rewrite of last fall’s open news as if it just landed.

What is Crying Tiger Chicago?

Crying Tiger Chicago is a Southeast Asian shareable-plate room — not a Vietnamese-only restaurant — built around the sweet / sour / salty / spicy balance Dang and Dulyapaibul chased through Bangkok, London, Sydney, Vietnam, and Hong Kong before open. Lettuce’s pre-open press framed the menu as chilled and warm salads, housemade curries, whole fish, and desserts from pastry chef Juan Gutierrez, with beverage partner Kevin Beary (Three Dots and a Dash / Bamboo Room / Gus’ Sip & Dip) on cocktails and wine director Richard Hanauer on a 75+ bottle list tilted New Zealand / Australia / South Africa. David Collins Studio designed the room: ~140 seats, open kitchen, front bar, winter garden, sidewalk patio, and a 10-seat private dining room, with Kitty’s Cosmopolitan Club — the Kevin Beary cocktail lounge — now open on the lower level as its own destination.

Official site: cryingtiger.com. Menu: /menu. Reserve path: /reserve. Instagram: @cryingtigerchicago. Phone: 312-736-0183. Valet: 59 W Hubbard.

How do Crying Tiger Chicago reservations work?

Book OpenTable as the primary public surface: opentable.com/r/crying-tiger-chicago. Per the house and Journal: inventory opens 30 days in advance at midnight. That is the main lottery. After the drop clears, watch shoulder seatings — roughly 4 p.m. or 10 p.m. — which Journal notes can reappear about a week out when prime times are gone. Parties of 9 or more do not fight the two-to-eight OpenTable grid; they go through the restaurant’s events team (stated on the site). Do not treat Instagram DMs as the booker for a normal party.

Hours on the current site (prefer this over older press that said 4 p.m. starts): Sunday–Thursday 3:00–10:00 p.m.; Friday–Saturday 3:00–11:00 p.m. Lettuce’s October 2025 open note still carried a later start and a midnight Fri–Sat close — ChiVibe follows the live site clock until a newer FAQ lands.

Is Crying Tiger Chicago on Dorsia?

Yes — Journal flags Crying Tiger on the Dorsia Chicago restaurant roster. Dorsia is a members prepaid-minimum path, not a free OpenTable mirror. Use it when you already hold Dorsia access and the public OpenTable grid is empty for your date; treat OpenTable midnight drops as the civilian default. ChiVibe’s separate Dorsia explainer covers how the app works; this card only notes that Crying Tiger is on the Chicago list.

When should you walk Crying Tiger Chicago as a scene night vs a chef hunt?

The Infatuation’s April 3, 2026 review (8.0) is the clearest public read: the room outruns the food, it is one of the harder reservations in town, and it lands better as a group / scene night than as a tasting-menu chef hunt. Order color from that review and press: khao soi, prawn toast, and the tiger dessert; do not invent prices. Yelp sits around 4.3 / 272 with design, Thai flavors, and social hype on the praise side and portion-for-price on the critique side — cite as social signal, not a Michelin ledger.

That framing matches Journal’s Want to Go / Best For Group and Date Night tags. Bring a table that wants shareables, cocktails, and the maximalist David Collins room — emerald tile, tiger motifs, packed twin dining rooms — not a silent tasting pilgrimage. If you are hunting a pure chef statement night, HaiSous remains Dang’s other Chicago address; Crying Tiger is the LEYE scene machine.

What should you order at Crying Tiger Chicago?

ChiVibe is not freezing a menu or inventing prices. Use press and the live /menu as color. Signature plates that keep showing up in open coverage and Infatuation: Hong Kong pork / stir fry lineage, clay pot noodles / lobster pad Thai, prawn toast, khao soi, green papaya, hamachi crudo, and the tiger dessert. Cocktail color from press: coconut fat-washed sbagliato; Thai tea milk punch clarified with cognac; salted plum tequila soda (blanco, pickled plum, calamansi, Singha soda); house beer Singha; wine 75+ bottles NZ / Aus / SA. Confirm what is pouring when you sit — LEYE rooms rotate.

How scarce is Crying Tiger Chicago right now?

Scarce enough to plan on a calendar, not mythical. Heat 4 and Want to Go mean Dining thinks demand outruns easy prime inventory. Infatuation called it one of the hardest reservations in town as of April 2026; Journal’s access note — 30-day midnight OpenTable plus late shoulder scraps — is the practical playbook nearly a year after the Oct 14, 2025 open. Compared with Heat-5 Tock-only tasting rooms, Crying Tiger Chicago is more public (OpenTable + Dorsia path). Compared with a casual River North dinner, it is still a midnight-drop problem on Fri–Sat. That middle band is why it belongs on an access desk, not only on an openings list from last October.

Who is behind Crying Tiger Chicago?

Thai Dang — chef partner, James Beard Finalist, HaiSous; Lettuce alum via L2O earlier in his Chicago run. Amarit Dulyapaibul — managing partner, restaurant-ops background through his family’s Thai restaurants. Kevin Beary — beverage partner (Three Dots and a Dash, Bamboo Room, Gus’ Sip & Dip). Richard Hanauer — wine. Juan Gutierrez — pastry. Group: Lettuce Entertain You. Design: David Collins Studio (also Tre Dita). The lower level is now Kitty’s Cosmopolitan Club, Beary’s standalone cocktail lounge under Crying Tiger — a separate room and booker from the dining-room OpenTable.

Where is Crying Tiger Chicago?

51 W. Hubbard St., Chicago, IL 60654. Neighborhood: River North. Former Hub 51. Corner energy at Hubbard and Dearborn. Valet at 59 W Hubbard; SpotHero is also listed on the site. Hours again: Sun–Thu 3–10 p.m.; Fri–Sat 3–11 p.m. Prefer cryingtiger.com over older Lettuce press if start times conflict.

FAQ

What is Crying Tiger Chicago? A Lettuce Entertain You Southeast Asian room from Thai Dang and Amarit Dulyapaibul at 51 W. Hubbard St. in River North (former Hub 51). Opened October 14, 2025. Named for the Thai grilled-beef dish suea rong hai.

How do I book Crying Tiger Chicago? OpenTable 30 days out at midnight: opentable.com/r/crying-tiger-chicago. Shoulder ~4 p.m. / 10 p.m. sometimes ~1 week out. Parties of 9+ through events. Also on Dorsia Chicago for members.

What are Crying Tiger Chicago hours? Sun–Thu 3–10 p.m.; Fri–Sat 3–11 p.m. (current site). Older press said 4 p.m. starts — follow the live site.

Is Crying Tiger Chicago hard to get into? Yes on prime Fri–Sat — Infatuation called it one of the hardest reservations in town. Plan the 30-day midnight drop; use shoulders and Dorsia when the grid is empty.

Is Crying Tiger Chicago Vietnamese? Southeast Asian broadly (Thai / Vietnamese / regional shareables), not a Vietnamese-only room. Sweet, sour, salty, spicy is the house line.

Does Crying Tiger Chicago take walk-ins? Treat it as reservation-first. Journal and Infatuation frame scarcity around OpenTable inventory, not a reliable walk-in bar program for dinner. Confirm at the door if you gamble a shoulder.

What should first-timers order? Infatuation shortlist: khao soi, prawn toast, tiger dessert. Press also flags lobster pad Thai / clay pot noodles, green papaya, hamachi crudo. No invented prices.

Is there a cocktail bar downstairs? Yes — Kitty’s Cosmopolitan Club, the Kevin Beary / Lettuce Entertain You cocktail lounge on the lower level of 51 W. Hubbard (under Crying Tiger). It is its own room and booker, not the dining-room OpenTable hold. Velvet lounge, chilled-martini trolley, raw bar and dim sum from Thai Dang and Bob Broskey; Wed–Sun evenings per Time Out / house hours. ChiVibe is filing a separate Kitty’s access piece.

Crying Tiger Chicago is the scarce-access desk version of a River North Southeast Asian open that is already ~11 months in: OpenTable midnight drops, shoulder scraps, a Dorsia members lane, Infatuation’s room-over-food verdict, and a Want to Go Heat-4 flag that still justifies a calendar hold. Use OpenTable as the live civilian surface, prefer the site’s 3 p.m. hours over older press, and walk the room as a scene night with a real party — not as a silent tasting hunt.