Love this place! Food is amazing! It is very cozy and staff are friendly. Every dish is delicious and the portion size is huge! My friend who I dragged to this place was talking about inviting our other friends here after the meal because it is so good! We came a little later than usual dinner time. Parking was still a challenge, but i was able to find a free spot eventually. read more

This was our second time here. Still we loved every single dishes that we ordered (maybe except the bread).

First time trying jibek jolu and what a surprise! It's a little hidden gem located near Swedish Hospital. The ambiance of the place is very cozy and charming. You absolute need to make a reservation in advanced. We ordered the Vareniki, Boso lagman, and beshbarmak which were seasoned to perfection and full of flavor. Lots of seasonings we weren't used to but after getting used to new spices everything was delicious. Both main dishes complimented each other well as they were on two sides of the seasoning spectrum. For drinks we tried the cultured sour milk and kompot. I would buy the kompot by the gallon to take home if I could. While it all was wonderful the only downside was the service. Took a long while for any plates to be removed from the table and we didn't get a water refill. We finished our meal and were planning on ordering a slice of their honeycake. After waiting for a full ten minutes, we flagged down the server and asked for our check. All in all, we would still come back but the table service could do with some improvements. read more

Jibek Jolu - a menu for a restaurant - Russian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Amazing authenticity and fantastic execution! Central Asian cuisine absolutely shines in every dish. This place presents pride and quality! The dough is thin the meat is tender the vegetables are cooked to perfection! Best lagman I ever had, Monty were juicy and delicious, excellent carrot salad-- love love love! Fantastic service, pregnant lady from Kyrgyzstan treated us graciously even though they were closing she made us feel welcome! read more

I had some time to occupy before checking into a nearby Airbnb and this restaurant was highly recommended by Reddit contributors and Google reviewers, so I decided to try Uzbek cuisine for the first time. The Uber driver who dropped me off was a native of Uzbekistan and gave me a list of his favorite dishes. The kind server at the restaurant affirmed his recommendations and was very helpful and patient in suggesting additional items and explaining each one. She certainly steered me in the right direction! I was the only person in the restaurant, so I felt very comfortable taking my time for a leisurely lunch. I'll definitely return on my next visit, and am officially a fan of Uzbek cooking! read more

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Absolutely excellent! Cute, quiet ambiance. Beautifully herbed and spiced. Tender lamb. BYOB, and they give you proper wine glasses. I've been twice, and can't wait to go back. read more

I know "hidden gem" is overused these days, but I stand by it for Jibek Jolu. The restaurant deserves more hype than it's currently getting. When you walk inside, you're immediately taken back by the intimate, cozy atmosphere. The experience feels like you're having dinner at a Central Asian auntie's house. I haven't had a bad meal here yet, plus the servers are quick to answer questions or give suggestions for the table. Central Asian food isn't easy to find in the city, so I always appreciate Jibek Jolu for sharing the culture with us. Highly recommend doing family style here! read more

One of the gems of the northside of #Chicago in Lincoln Square. Jibek Jolu has Central #Asian , #Kyrgyz cuisine. You will be able to eat traditional food like the delicious National rice dish Plov and dumplings, Pelmeni and my favorite the perogies, Varenicki. This makes for a great lunch or dinner meal. The service is friendly and it's a homey ambiance. Would recommend that you order more than one appetizer as those portions are a little smaller ( but still delicious!) . You cannot go wrong with this restaurant! Pro-tip, check in on Yelp to recieve 10% off your check! read more

Jibek Jolu - Plov , national rice dish - Russian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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an amazing little spot to bring your slavic family for dinner. their food is to die for. authentic and yummy. love how there's dishes from all over the soviet union. service was superb. we had borscht, hinkali, shashlik, solyanka, chebureki, pelmeni, plov, tomato cucumber salad, kompot and tea + medovik as dessert there were 4 of us and we definitely left full hidden gem for sure! read more

Jibek Jolu - borscht - Russian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Very tasty beef lagman (stew with pulled noodles), lepeshka bread (dip pieces into the lagman!), carrot salad and fruit compote. This location is smaller than the one in Glenview, but much cozier and the food seems to be much better here. The young staff was very friendly, but if you're in a hurry, you might get frustrated... it was unnecessarily slow. Other than that, it was a great experience. read more

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What a euro Asian delight right outside the suburbs of Chicago. Been to some of their sister sites but this is the mother Warden and incredible place very authentic great noodles great desserts, and a nice liquor selection as well. The servers were very nice and the ambience was just takes you into another world just like being back in Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan so it has good symbiosis those places and delivers quality meal along with the quality experience. read more

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I had an extra hour before a flight and used it to detour here for lunch. Man, I'm so glad I did! I hadn't eaten Central Asian food in a few years and needed my fix. I was eating an early lunch, so the place was nearly empty and the service was incredibly fast. I ordered one of their lunch sets. I started with samsy (as they call them here -- I would say somsa) and then ordered manty as my main. The samsy had delightful pastry crisp and was a great way to start. The manty stole the show, though -- delightfully soft and tender pumpkin inside, skin on the dumplings so thin you'd barely know it was there. As I ate the manty, I was struck by the freshness of the dish. Like kissing a harvest! I only had a few minutes to spare, so my lunch was extremely rushed and the waitress was wonderfully accommodating. I'd gladly come back here again and again. read more

My first time trying this cuisine but it will not be my last! The boso lagman is an absolute necessity in my life now. We went with some friends who had been many times and they ordered for us, but my partner and I were so taken with the food that we ordered delivery less than a week later to try our faves again. We dined in on a quiet Tuesday night, so I would love to see a livelier dining room on a prime evening. If you're unsure of what Central Asian food is all about, this is your sign to take the leap and try something new! read more

Jibek Jolu - Takeout of the faves: Boso Lagman, Plov Chicken, and Vareniki - Russian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

In my Google, I usually save spots based on their cuisine. Given the sheer lack of Kyrgyzstani food in Chicago, this spot is stored under "Unique - unable to categorize" and I mention all this to describe what kind of spot this is. The decor is homey, cozy + service is impeccable. Maybe I showed up too late but I was one of the only people there. The chef actually stayed up past their time just to accommodate us. When I asked for a dish extra spicy, he delivered - he also proceeded to sign check if it hit the spot - it did. Overall great service, friendly attitude. Now for the food Delicious. Homemade bread was outstanding. Garlic shrimp reminded me of a Spanish tapas style shrimp and it was delicious. Borscht which was a first time for me was OUTSTANDING. The flavors and the seasoning on this was impeccable. I forget what the noodle (Boso Lagman) I had was called but was a great taste- kinda reminded me of indo Chinese noodles with beef and schezwhan. Got a side of Plov rice which was incredibly flavorful- so herby. We tried the honey cake at the end which was a great close to dinner. Highly recommend this spot if you are looking for something unique or even just a solid home-y meal read more

One million stars! Beautiful, beautiful, delicious food, clearly made with love. Came here for a lunch date with my dad. We got: Borscht: Light, fragrant, balanced. Arrived at the table with the waft of fresh dill...we're a dill-loving family, so I'm hooked from the jump. I've never been a big beet fan, but this soup converted me. Addictive. Lentil soup: OH. MY. GOSH. Best lentil soup I've ever had, no joke. You MUST squeeze the lemon into it. I will happily drown myself in this bowl. Manty: How do they manage to get the dough so thin on such a large and juicy dumpling?? Who knows, but they did. The red sauce is a must. Lamb ribs with potatoes and onions: If I wasn't a classy broad, I would've licked the plate. It's exactly as described, and perfect and addictive. Service is warm and friendly, ambiance is warm and welcoming and quiet and intimate. Do yourself a favor and come here. I will be back again and again and again. read more

Food was delicious! Borscht was tasty and thick ish (IYKYK) shashlik - soft and very juicy meat with a very nice sauce supporting the dish, as a side you can choose from many, but we selected grilled veggies - and it was amazing! All the flavor was there. And you should definitely try Medovik for desert - soft and sweet cake to finish off the night! read more

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The food here is Russian/Uzbek/Central Asia and the ambiance matches the culture! The dishes are tasty, but the serving size is a bit small which makes the pricing also seem expensive for what you get. some ofWent on a cold day so even though the restaurant is on the smaller side, there was plenty of seating for us and we had quick service. I found it helpful to look up pics of the menu items on Yelp because I wasn't too familiar with the food! I really enjoyed the lamb kuurdak! Juicy meat! The chebureki app (deep fried beef turnover) also had juicy meat but I felt like the meat filling inside was a bit sparse. read more

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The food IS appetizing but my issue with this place was the service, prices and how STINGY they are. Like another reviewe mentioned the coffee mug is TINY (see picture). It's $3 and get this, they dont even fill it up all the way. They literally only fill it to the middle and no refills. The flavoring of the food is good but not a fan of the prices for the portion size. The service could be a tad more efficient.. read more

Jibek Jolu - Tiny cup filled halfway with no refills - Russian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

We live nearby an I am not sure why we have not been eating here more often. Recently went with a couple of suburban friends who were looking for something more exotic than the usual fare and this place certainly filled the bill. I describe it as Eastern Europe meets Asian cuisine. Oddly familiar with a twist. Nothing is too extreme so don't be nervous. I feel anyone can find something they like here. We ordered several dishes and shared family style. Storefront family friendly location north of Lincoln Square, tastefully decorated with some intriguing artifacts and tapestries that set the mood. Plenty of street parking. If you're coming by bus watch the Lincoln #11 schedule as it stops running in the evening, but it is just a one block walk from Western, so very accessible from the Brownline. read more

A friend of mine recommend Jibek Jolu to me. My friend and went! I forgot to make reservations, luckily we got a table! The food was amazing! Everything we had tasted soo fresh! The service/ waiting were great very friendly and helped guide us. The ambiance was great really seemed authentic! I highly recommend this if you want to try great food and have a great experience! read more

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My wife and I took friends to dinner here a week ago. We have dined at Jibek Jolu several times in the past, enjoying each visit, and had really talked it up to our friends. While the quality of the food was still very good, we were shocked at how limited the menu has become. At best, only half the original menu has survived, with many of our favorite items no longer available. The menu now feels more middle-of-the-road Middle Eastern and far less unique and interesting. For us, Jibek Jolu, once a "go-to" restaurant choice, is now a "well...maybe" choice. read more

The food here is great! We started with Samsy, and they were so juicy and flavorful with flaky wrapping! The Lamb Plov has great flavor. I think it has raisins and probably some kind of nut in there, which added in perfect sweetness and crunchy texture to it. You also need to try the honey cake! It's got this almost caramel taste of honey flavor with layers and well-balanced sweetness. Not overly sweet and just a great dessert. read more

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I've been wanting to try this place out for a while because of good reviews I read and the fact that I have never had this type of food before. I really liked everything we ordered. We had the lentil soup, vareneki, alat samsy, boso lagman, and the honey cake. All very good. These are the reasons I'm giving this place 3 stars and not 5: they barely gave me any coffee. I'm talking half a cup with no refills. I didn't get any sugar either. I'm brewing coffee as I write this because I need my fix. And it took way too long for our food to come out. Way too long between dishes and just way too long, in general. The server wasn't taking any of our plates away so our table was really cluttered by the end of our meal. But like I said before, the food was great. I'm more than willing to try out other items on their menu, but I think I'll opt for delivery rather than dine in. read more

I would give this restaurant 20 stars if I could. Starting with the wonderful waitress she greeted us as soon as we walked in. Atmosphere was classy clean, white cloth tables with candles. The food was delicious. Everything tasted homemade. Fresh herbs and spices, the simplest bread was soft, warm. I had to force myself to stop eating it. Main course was devoured in a matter of 20 minutes between two tiny people. There was NO leftovers! Would highly recommend this place. read more

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What a great place to enjoy a meal. Walking in the restaurant is not that big at all. We made reservations for a big group on a Saturday evening. The space inside is comfortable and cozy but enough space for the tables that are there. We ordered a wide variety of items. Because we had a big group we were able to order whole orders of some of the traditional items rather than just the sample platter. With a smaller group I would definitely recommend ordering a sample platter as it will allow you to try some of the traditional dishes. Garlic roasted shrimps Jibek Jolu Special- this was delicious, reminded me of Chinese home cooking. Manty Lagman- hand pulled Chinese noodles like with a beef stew, had a bit of a kick to it. Lamb skewers- not much of a gamey flavor but still definitely tastes like lamb Beef skewers- each skewer is quite large, there are 5 pieces of meat/skewers- but that is a pretty significant portion size. Jarovnya Vareniki There's a hot chili paste on the table that is full of flavor, it seems the cabbage salad that they serve on the side for the skewers had this hot chili paste in it. Looking forward to coming back to try some more items on this list. read more

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I was actually pretty impressed with the food here. Service was good but our server was a little slow and he was so damn quiet you were never sure what was going on. The place asks you to pre-order for a larger group but when we arrived there was no one there, so it was a little wierd. Overall the food was great but my favorite was the lamb plov. The honey cake was incredible and well worth the calories. Carrot salad was very good and so was the kuurdak. The ok dish was manty. It was meh, just a bigger pelmeni. read more

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Wow, this Central Asian food was really delicious! We ordered a bunch of food to try! Lagman-stewed beef and vegetables dish with hand pulled noodles (the noodles was really good, it was chewy and soft at the same time, the sauce was tasty) Shashlik - Lula Kebab (we ordered both Beef and Lamb)-the lamb was kinda dry but the beef was very tendered) Vareniki - crescent shaped dumplings stuffed with mashed potatoes (this was really good, the skin was very thin) Golubci Sour - sour cabbage rolls with rice and ground beef inside (I didn't really care for this, I taste the sour cabbage more than the rice and ground beef) Manty - dumplings stuffed with chopped onions and beef, you can order steam or fried, we order steam, that's what the waiter recommended! This was very tasty! Jarovnya - pan sautéed beef(choice is beef, chicken or shrimp) with fresh vegetables (mostly red and green peppers and onions) served on a roasting fajita pan with a side order of rice! This came out hot and very tasty except a few pieces of the beef was kinda dry! Jibek Jolu Special - pan fried sliced beef, cucumbers with garlic and soy sauce! This was my favorite dish, the cucumbers we're crunchy and it had a lot of flavors for this simple dish! Garlic roasted shrimps - stir-fried shrimps with tomatoes! The shrimps were cooked just right and the sauce was very tasty, you can use some rice to soak up the sauce! Lentil soup - hearty and filling yet light and vegetarian thick soup! Good taste, not too salty! After we finished, only one of us wanted dessert, so we order one honey cake - it was many layers but thick and heavy, drizzled with chocolate! Didn't really taste any honey, taste more almond! We had a lot of different entrees and appetizers! To sum up, my favorite was the Jibek Jolu special and the garlic roasted shrimps! I would definitely go back and try more! read more

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This is a lovely meal experience, starting with the decor! The unique arched ceiling is designed to look like a 3D Kyrgyzstan flag. The restaurant is small, but spotless, relaxing, and beautifully designed. Be aware that when the place is busy, it can be noisy due to the small space. Wasn't a deal breaker for us but I dined with a sound-sensitive person and he used noise canceling earbuds to help. The food and service are fantastic. We had never had Kyrgyz cuisine before and were delighted with what we ordered. We had the pelmini (meat dumplings in sour cream gravy), borscht (beet-based vegetable soup with dill), and boso lagman (hand pulled noodles stir fried with beef and peppers). I would describe this as a mashup of hearty Russian fare with some clear Asian influence. Flavors are hearty but not spicy. Stick-to-your-ribs good stuff! Well worth a try and we'll be back! Of note: at 8 pm on a Saturday, they were out of the pumpkin Mandy and the honey cake. So in future we will go earlier to not miss out! read more

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I can't believe it's taken me this long to try this place (it's been on my "want to go" list for years). 10/10 phenomenal flavor. Had the Manty (dumplings) and the Lula Plate (kebab and grilled veggies). Highly recommend both. The Lula plate was my favorite - it had a delicious charred flavor to it. Already excited to come back and try some other things! read more

This is my family's favorite restaurant and is the platonic ideal of a hidden gem. My favorite items are the tashkent tea, pelmeni soup, the side of bread, and the lagman (best noodles I'm aware of). The service is kind and helpful. Also, they have an excellent lunch special if you're looking to dine on the cheap. read more

High quality, quality, quality food. Great food and experience at Jibek Jolu! The tables and silverware were absolutely clean, no smudges on the glasses, plates or silverware. You can hear your food being made to order, and everything we ordered was delicious and made as if it were right from home. I don't have many positive experiences at restaurants, and I was stunned at the quality of the food. We had 2 kinds of soups, appetizers, entrees, dessert, and the price we paid was a great value. We definitely are coming back again! read more

Jibek Jolu - Russian Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

We've been to Jibek Jolu several times already and we will definitely come back. The food is very tasty, everything is delicious!!! The space is not huge though, so please make sure to make a reservation if you go there for dinner. read more

Jibek Jolu is the oldest Kyrgyz cuisine restaurant in United States. They have been in business through thick and thin since 2009. This restaurant genuinely represents the Kyrgyz culture in terms of delicious food, authentic atmosphere and heartfelt hospitality. I highly recommend Jibek Jolu! read more

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I've been to Central Asia before! And I was craving some central Asian cuisine ! Since moving to Chicago I've met many Kazakh people who recommended me here! It's a must go! read more

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Everything I've ever had here is amazing. Avocado salad is so refreshing and the servers are really helpful at giving their opinions if you're not familiar with the cuisine. The ambiance is so cute and I love the decor. My favorites are pierogi, plov, and Manty. read more

We were happy to find this place while on a trip to Chicago as we so missed Kyrgyz and Uzbek flavors! We had plov, manty, two types of samsa, lamb and beef skewers as well as lula. All was freshly made and quite flavorful. Service was friendly and the whole place felt warm and homey. read more

Wow, so glad I finally tried this amazing BYOB in my neighborhood! It's so great. The ambiance is warm and casual, service is outstanding, and the food is SPECTACULAR. Highlights of the meal included the samsy, morkovcha, plov, kuurdak, and the honey cake dessert. Truly everything we had was wonderful. The bill for four people who ate a ton was about $100, which is an incredible value. I will definitely become a regular here. read more

That restaurant is my life saver! When I was in China i always have Xinjiang food. That region is very close to former Soviet central Asian republics. After I came to US I missed their good so much! Finally I find a restaurant serves similar food! I love the Honey cake! A hint of sweet, soft and creamy with so many layers! I love the Plov, the meat and carrot mixed into the rice make it super tasty! Try their kebab! read more

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Very good food we are from Arizona and craved shaslik and borsch and this place was perfect

Friendly staff very helpful in choosing dishes. Delicious food. We will be back for sure. read more

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