This spot is so freakin amazing for some authentic home cooked Korean food. The owner is super nice…read moreand friendly! I got yukgaejang which had shredded beef and noodles. It was so good when I had it in the winter because the soup literally warmed my whole entire body including my soul. I love supporting these small mom-pop stores because you know you'll always be treated well! It is very spacious inside and ton of free parking in the plaza. You definitely cannot judge this place just from its looks. I love coming here and tell my friends all the time about this place. I cannot wait to visit again when winter hits because you would need some home cooked soup to survive winter in Chicago. Overall, very solid place just slightly outside the chaotic city traffic for a nice meal that makes you feel like you're eating at home.

Ban Po Jung feels like a true authentic mom and pop shop. While I was a bit underwhelmed with some…read moreof the dishes this time around, I would return and try other menu items Its a smaller restaurant up by ravenswood situated in a plaza with a small parking lot. There is also nearby street parking for free The owners didnt really speak english and service could use improvement especially since it was a slow night (1 other table to serve besides us), but wasnt really expecting much tbh (stigma of authentic mom and pop shops amirite??). The ahjoomah owner was so cute and lovely tho when she checked in on us - theyre nice people!! With that said, our meal started off with a complimentary veggie pancake, which was pretty big for being a free offering. It was perfectly crispy and went well with the sauce. The banchans were pretty mediocre i thought - the veggies tasted a bit bland, kimchi was fermented but lacked sauce, and fish cakes were very salty, which im personally ok with We wanted to try the raw marinated crab for our first times so we got two flavors. The spicy one was not bad, good mix of sweet and not too much of a kick. The sauce was a bit too pasty and thick for my liking. The soy based one was extremely salty. Like to the point where I couldnt do another piece. I wouldve liked for the crab itself to have a bit more meat as I felt like I was just eating sauce (could just be a me problem tho to be fair). The texture and dish overall is not my preference haha. First time for everything tho! Finally we had the dubu kimchi, which i enjoyed - the kimchi goes well with the tofu together. This seemed to be their own style of the dish since it was a lot more liquidy than traditionally served (as pictured), so it felt more "stewed" than stir fried, which i was fine with. Great portions on this but less meat than I wouldve liked

Let me tell you about the food at Woo Chon... it's so tasty and authentic! I love going to KBBQ…read morespots, but I've never been to one where there's an actual open flame charcoal grill. You get a ton of bonchon when you order, and they were decent; the kimchi was a little too sour and fermented for my liking. However, we ordered the brisket and pork belly, and they were extremely yummy. You could really taste the charcoal and authenticity behind it. Just be careful to not let it get too burnt since it cooks fast! We also got the kimchi jigae and the cold noodles as sides; the cold noodles were so refreshing and delicious, but I wasn't a huge fan of the kimchi jigae because of how fermented the kimchi felt. But I wouldn't let that stop you from ordering it since that's my personal preference! The service was a 5/5 since we were greeted immediately and helped throughout the meal. The waitress there would help you grill the meat and even check in on you to make sure you were good or needed anything else. The ambiance gives such a homey vibe that you feel like you're at someone's house. I also enjoyed that we got seated in our own secluded booth. My only flaw would be that it is a little pricey, and you are required to order at least two meats. I would definitely come back again though!

Best Korean bbq in the city in my opinion. Price isn't too bad and the flavors are so good. The…read moreshort rib is the best meat as well. The other ones don't have much flavor because they aren't marinated.

The food at Han Bat just screams comforting and homemade. It's definitely a hole in the wall spot,…read moreand you definitely need to give it a visit! We both got the soup, but you need to add salt and pepper to the soup to make it to your liking. This gives it that authentic feel to a Korean dish, and I love how they give housemade kimchi and radish on the side as well. The soups were warm, delicious, and soothing with the tender meat and delicate clear noodles. The service was great; it's run by an older Korean lady that seems so sweet when she comes to take your order and makes sure you enjoyed everything. She asked how everything was and even offered more side dishes since we finished it all. The ambiance is very simple there; you're seated and read off a menu on the wall. It's also cash only, so I'd make sure to bring cash! (There is an atm there just in case though). Additionally, there's a small parking lot if you're lucky to get a spot. I'd definitely give this place a try if you're trying to get something comforting and not too heavy!

My boyfriend brought me to this Korean restaurant, and we both enjoyed our meals here! He ordered…read morethe combination soup, and I ordered the ox tail soup. Both were very good. There was a decent amount of meat in both soups. I especially loved the larger ox tail pieces because they had even more flavor. Our soups also came with two kinds of kimchi--radish and napa cabbage. The kimchi had a strong, bold flavor, while the soups themselves were much milder and comforting. After we finished eating, we paid in cash since the restaurant is cash only. Also, according to my boyfriend, they don't offer to-go boxes, so we tried to finish as much of our food as we could.

I hadn't tried this place in years but I was willing to check it out again with family. Sure, the…read moreportions are large and can be split but the food is really mediocre. We ordered the popcorn chicken (half original, half spicy, $27) and the dolsot bibimbop ($25). My BIL had said that the popcorn chicken was really good at least a year ago, but things must've changed! The popcorn chicken was dry and stodgy, low quality with flavorless breading. Then I found a big piece of bone in the chicken and when I brought it up politely to the waitress, she just said that the chicken came like that, and essentially said that it wasn't really cut in-house and was packaged when they got it. Huh? No wonder it's not good--they don't even care about the quality and just buy some bland prepackaged fried chicken. No offer to replace the dish or even a small discount or anything, despite the fact that I've never known any place to have "popcorn chicken" that included bones. Anyway, the folks I was with also said it was not as good as it used to be and the portion sizes were smaller. Bibimbop was fine--a lot of rice and had to ask for more gochujang sauce to have more flavor. Not much bulgogi in it. As another reviewer mentioned, there's a 20% auto gratuity, which I don't think is deserved. I wanted to enjoy it but it's overpriced for low-quality food and there's definitely WAY better Korean food out there.

This was my last dinner while visiting Chicago and I loved it!! If you're looking for good korean…read morefood in a bar atmosphere this is the place to go. We ordered a steak salad, pork belly, and tteokbokki! My favorite was definitely the tteokbokki which had the perfect texture and flavor -- highly recommend! All of the staff here are super friendly and welcoming! They are personable with customers and checked on us frequently. I would definitely come back!

Genuinely love this place. Once you find the right order it is 100% a gem. First time or two I came…read morehere I was turned away till I found the right dish for me. I hope this place stays open for more years to come 10000/10

This place wasnt even on my radar! But thanks to a friend, i was able try it. Their Army Soup was…read morereally good perfect for 5 or 6 people just add some ramen. Their fried chicken was amazing. A kick of spicy but it was really good. Place is small, simple and service is on point. Definitely coming back to try more stuff on the menu Happy eating!

This meal was so comforting to eat. I haven't had authentic Korean food in a loooong time. This…read morecute mom and pop shop deserves all the love. Spicy rice cakes: Some of the best I've had. The consistency of the rice cakes were perfect. Not too spicy. Adding cheese elevated the taste! Seafood pancake: I almost always order this whenever its on the menu cause its my favorite. Its huge by the way so great for sharing! Ginseng milkshake: So refreshing and light! Def get this for the summer! Cha-Oreum Samgye Tang: I believe this is the Korean version of chicken soup. A simple soup loved by many. This would be great to eat when sick. However, the broth was lacking alot of flavor despite me adding alot of salt and pepper. Chicken was very tender. Han-Ah-Reum Bulgogi dolsot: Get this!!! Super delicious and flavorful. And if you love glass noodles, this soup is for you!

The best Korean food in Chicago. The dishes like galbi, bibimbap, pajeon all have the special home…read morecooked meal" comfiness. The samgyetang will revitalize your soul. Get a shot of ginseng wine and feel your inner self become at peace. Lovely, kind folks behind the counter, call ahead and make a res because this place gets very busy at meal time. Smaller venue so you'll hear the neighbors talk about how good the dishes are. Very homey.

Super friendly staff Delicious cuts of meat. Not overly…read moremarinated so you could really taste the meat itself. The charcoal added a very nice flavor to the meats as well Highly recommend. Even if just to see all the signed baseballs

This was me and my boyfriend's first time experience having Japanese barbeque on a charcoal grill…read more we had to call ahead to make a reservation but upon arrival, I realize we might not have needed it because it wasn't too busy, even on a Saturday night we ordered: -- steak tartar: 10/10 this was a simple appetizer but executed perfectly. the meat was tender and the dish was so flavorful (hope to try their handmade dumplings next time) -- we also ordered the beef tongue, japanese kalbi and japanese bulgogi (we enjoyed all of these) if you end up ordering bulgogi, keep in mind that due to the marinade, it ends up falling apart easily and getting stuck on the grill. we found the best strategy is to roll the meat up, and then unroll it onto the grill to avoid it falling apart as easily besides the meat, I was impressed by how well executed the banchan was too. I typically don't like kimchi but their kimchi tasted so fresh and didn't have an overly fermented taste the way kimchi typically does even their rice was perfectly cooked (you can taste every grain of rice because of how al dente it was) in regards to service, the owner was really sweet and came in to check in with us and presented us with dessert -- I can tell there is a lot of intention and care behind the quality of food at his restaurant I think if I were to give some feedback though, it would've been nice if the wait staff had asked if we had experience with a charcoal grill when we first sat down. it was our first time using a charcoal grill and there is a small learning curve using it -- the center heats up quickly and because of that, we ended up overcooking our first plate of meat. we learned to cook the thinner cuts of meat closer to the outer edge of the grill and to flip the meat more frequently to control cook time better. I imagine we can't be the only couple who struggled using the charcoal grill at first so having some tips from wait staff beforehand or even a short demo would've been appreciated :-) but of course now my boyfriend and I know now for next time

Elegant spin on modified Chinese traditional dishes with creative new spins on taste buds…read moreentertainment. Drinks are delicious. Service is great. Make a new friend there

Food was a disappointment - the orange chicken was incredibly dry and hard to chew, the honey…read morewalnut shrimp was crispy but not very flavorful. Crab Rangoons were good but wished they were bigger (5 small Rangoons per order). On a positive note, the inside is very fancy, host/waitress was very nice, and gave a complimentary matcha ice cream at the end. Overall, mainly considering the price and taste, I would not recommend as the food wasn't the best and pricey (our 2 dishes & app $65+ w/o tip)