For now, I'm going to give it 3 stars, maybe 4 if they improve a few things. I've had it a few times already, and I've received pretty much the same experience. Haven't tried the sushi yet. The yogurt itself is good, nothing out of the ordinary. Less milky than Red Mango, but still has a nice creaminess to it. It's under 5 dollars for a small with 2 toppings. Portions are much larger than a normal "small" than other yogurt places for one reason only: Chinese people will not eat there if you skimp on the size. So it's not a bad deal. You won't find anyone weighing the yogurt to the exact ounce here. The fruit topping (strawberry and mango) was a generous portion and since mango is in season, its sweet and tender. The reason for knocking off a star is that they still haven't worked out all the decor kinks yet. Because there's a "river pathway" fish tank inlaid within the floor, it creates a fishy, Shedd aquarium smell effect that isn't pleasant. They need to clean it more often. The first time I saw it, it had clear water, but within a few days, it had already become murkier. Also, the bench style seating is cool looking, but the furniture is heavy and cumbersome so its tight to move in and out of the benches. It's also made of metal and the edges haven't been smoothed out, so watch out or you'll snag your shirt or cut yourself. Otherwise, for those who live in the area, this is a nice alternative to Red Mango and/or Berry Chill if you don't want to make it out to the burbs or downtown. read more

I would love to give this place 5 stars but there are a few things that keep me from doing so. My bf and I have been coming here almost weekly after discovering it about 3 months ago. We have tried their avocado mushroom tempura, it's pretty good. There are a lot of avocado in the mix. We also have tried their chicken wing, beef and squid leg skewers. They are all okay but our favorite is the beef one. Now onto the shabu shabu. They have two different broths. If you get any seafood, you will get the seafood broth. I personally really love their beef broth! The shabu shabu is enough for two people. Their beef quality is okay, a little fatty and comes with an array of fish balls and veggies (cabbage, spinach, Chinese lettuce, enoki mushroom, one carrot, one radish, one corn, glass noodles, and tofu) sometimes the veggies are just not fresh! The tray of sauces are amazing. Sometimes, they are out of some of their sauces and they replace it with other ones. I've also had their shaved ice. I don't recommend it. We always go to the regular joy yee to get boba. Come here on a cold day and you won't be disappointed! read more

Restaurant is a bit cramped but the table layout is efficient given the narrow space. My friend and I dined here for dinner on a Tuesday. We were seated promptly, and ordered one land and sea shabu shabu to split between the two of us. This ended up being the perfect amount of food to fill each of us up and it was absolutely delicious! The whitefish and shrimp were among my favorites. The restaurant also offers an extensive sauce bar for dipping your cooked meats and vegetables. Prices are very reasonable-$30 for both of us! I will definitely return. read more

The black and red bubble waffle ice cream was pretty good. The bubble waffle seemed to be more of a novelty than a delicious treat, but it tasted like any other average waffle (which is still very tasty, in my opinion.) The ice cream was quite excellent. They serve their milk tea in cute plastic Joy Yee containers. Overall, this place seems more focused on novelty and trendiness, and there's nothing wrong with that - good desserts with cute aesthetics. read more

Joy Yee Plus - Black and red bubble waffle - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Very good dessert and bubble tea place. The green tea ice cream & hint king bubble waffle dessert was delicious.

We went here to try the pop waffles ice cream. It was very good. Not a lot of seating so if you plan to eat there there will most likely be a wait. It was worth the wait though. read more

I am super excited that there is a place that serves frozen yogurt south of the loop. This is currently the only other place in Chicago to have froyo besides Red Mango and the BerryChill franchise. It is also cheaper than those 2 aforementioned locations. There's 3 flavors: original, green tea, and hmmm (something yellowish that wasn't mango). I wasn't a big fan of the green tea flavor - I don't think the tartness of the yogurt goes well with the bitterness of the flavor. (And I'm normally a huge fan of green tea ice cream.) The serving sizes were very generous. They more than just "top off" the containers with froyo and toppings. I would however advise against getting the lychee topping, since they come whole (in huge chunks), and overpower the taste of the frozen yogurt. Perhaps the most impressive thing was the decor. There's a glass pathway when you walk in, with a koi tank installed in the ground. That is insane! There's also a lot of wave-shaped boards hanging from the ceiling, for that "walking-into-a-fish-tank" feel. read more

My wife is in love with this place. The food and ice cream is pretty good, and the tea is great. However they are always extremely busy with long lines. They really could benefit from a second register. I have seen, on multiple occasions, the already long line get held up due to phone orders being taken by the only cashier. I have also witnessed customers complaining about their orders and holding up the whole line while the situation is remedied by the cashier. Why can't a manager or someone else handle these issues? They really need a second register during the busy nights. Also, it gets very hot in there sometimes. We've eaten on the second floor and had to ask for the air to be turned on. This was during the summer and seems like it should be a given that the air conditioner would be running. I guess the management is trying to save some money, but it really brings down the atmosphere when it's hot to the point that people are starting to sweat. Just uncomfortable. Overall, I like the place, and I know we will be returning as my wife loves it. But I think these few issues bring down the score to three stars for me. Edit: Almost a half year, and least a dozen visits to Joy Yee Plus later, and I feel like I was far too hard on this place in my first review. The pro's far outweigh the cons. Yes, they are busy, but can they really be faulted for that? The food and tea is great. My wife is still obsessed with this place and I have to say, she has converted me. I love Joy Yee Plus. I don't feel I can complete the review without mentioning the employees. I always see them working super hard and try to throw a few dollars in the tip jar. I've talked to the manager a few times and he does a phenomenal job for being such a young guy running such a consistently busy restaurant. They deserve a lot of credit, and this place's reputation as a staple of Chinatown is well-deserved. read more

We went to have hot pot with friends on New Year's Day We had good shrimp and beef It is byob read more

I found this place from a fellow yelper visiting recently. And I have to say that my wife & I were pleased with this location. It was quite funny, hence the tip in which I had left stating "Worth the travel!". I remember sitting and relaxing @ home when I had a sudden thirst for a bubble tea. I remember seeing the pictures from my fellow yelper friends visit. And that already had my gulping ; ) So I then convinced my wife to come with me and take a little trip to get some bubble tea. It wasn't to hard to convince here once I showed her the ice cream photos left by other yelpers. ( Thanks guys & girls! A.K.A Yelpers ). When we got there and seen the variety of drink options to choose from, I got even more excited. Since I am a big fan of milk tea I chose to go with the Taro milk bubble tea. Once I took a sip, I then said to my wife "Worth the trip!" I did enjoy this drink and will definitely be returning to try others seeing that they have more to choose from. And I also want to try the food which also looked good. Oh yeah I forgot to say that I finished the taro milk tea so quick to where I found myself trying another concoction. Which I also enjoyed!. And my wife's ice cream too ; ) let's not forget to throw that one in there ; ) So stop by if you are another bubble tea lover such as myself. read more

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Soft opening so only review for the egg waffle and new fruit teas. The main thing that I'm giving 5 stars for is that the egg waffle is filled! and not hollow inside. The mango ice ice cream is also pretty good - although but pricey at $8, it's better than jsmile when they existed and same price. The new fruit tea was also good - Justin tea $5(guava and peach flavor with your choice of oolong, green tea, black tea-did oolong on recommendation of cashier). That was refreshing as well and the bottle they put it in is cool. However thr peach pieces were hard to get to so maybe if they would cut it smaller later on. Hopefully after the soft opening, it remains at the same quality level. read more

Joy Yee Plus - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

This place by far is my favorite restaurant of all time. I took my husband out for dinner here (first time I ever bought a guy dinner!) for our first date ever and we got married... So I guess it worked!! Shabu shabu here is beyond amazing. I highly recommend the Kobe beef shabu shabu (it's not actually Kobe beef if you know much about Kobe beef and usda stuff but it's still very very marbled and tender beef!) For the set I believe it is about $22, and my husband always orders a la carte salmon and I order extra enoki and potato noodles. The plate you order comes out with raw ingredients, and a boiling hot pot of broth to cook it all in over a portable stove top. You also get a tray of sauces which my husband and I often add to the broth before we add the ingredients to taste. We also bogart 2 of the sauces for dipping everything we cook in (he likes the peanut sauce and I like the satay [aka BBQ] sauce.) Cooking food together is really fun and romantic but don't come here hoping for a private booth and quiet area to have a nice date. The restaurant is very "open" in design and has a very modern feel to it. There's even a koi pond under the floor so you can watch the fish swim around beneath you! Really charming! So this isn't a place for a quiet romantic date, but a fun and engaging one. If you go with friends in a large group it's always a blast. You always try to pair up with someone because the shabu shabu sets serve 2 normally. Almost everyone I have brought here has left singing praises about the food and the atmosphere and it's a great place for lively conversation and merriment-- even with just bubble tea and no alcohol. I'm not sure if they even serve alcohol (they probably do) but the awesome drink selections of bubble tea are way more enticing than alcohol. My personal favorite is the kiwi sprite, it's a very simple drink but I never thought kiwi and sprite would make such a perfect combo. I don't know if they use some sort of sweetening syrup for their kiwis (a lot of bubble tea places do) but I have tried to recreate the drink at home to no avail. It's worth the price and having it as a treat with dinner is great. There are hundreds of drinks and smoothies and I'm pretty sure if you can think of it, it's listed on the menu. As far as the dishes they serve outside of shabu shabu, I have had limited experience with their sushi and not much else. The sushi a couple years ago was to die for, but last year I tried some and it was made completely different from the one I ordered a year prior and I wasn't really impressed. I think they may have gotten yet another sushi chef though since then so maybe the quality has improved again? But if you are going to a shop labeled "shabu shabu" on the front why would you get anything but that? My friends have had some noodle dishes from here before and said they were good but always kinda wistfully watched everyone else cooking their own food. It's all personal taste but the shabu shabu and drinks really are the headlining stars of this place. Never had a bad experience food wise, and the service has never been an issue for me but I am also not afraid to flag down waitresses when I need something. Every now and then there will be a communication error but they always have resolved it and have never been rude to me. However if you don't tip (I've had friends who don't and it is a shame to me) the service will pick up on it and if you come back they seem to just "know". I always have tipped well because I never had anything but great service so your mileage may vary. In summary... This is my favorite place in the world. Fun, friendly (if you can be friendly back), and DELICIOUS. I will continue to be a patron until either I or Chinatown are gone from this earth. 10 out of 5 stars. read more

It's a officially, one of the best place that I been to for hot pot. The quality of the ingredients are fresh and good. The broth was really good and they do not refill your broth with msg water but more broth read more

I would describe Joy-Yee Plus as trendy and fashionable, but lacking soul. As a spin-off of the larger Joy-Yee Chicago chain, it has a reduced menu and dining room, with more focus on Japanese cuisine than the original Joy-Yee's attempt at a Pan-Asian orgy. Along with the abbreviated menu comes fewer options for vegetarians, which might be challenging if you or friends have dietary restrictions. The target demographic for this place is teenagers and young adults. The interior is all bright colors and sleek (but uncomfortable) modern furniture. Chairs don't have supportive backings, so avoid bringing your grandmother here unless she has powerful back muscles. Newcomers are almost always awed by the glass floor with a visible koi pond below; as a diner, you'll most likely be annoyed by raucous children who repeatedly jump on the glass floor with aspirations of breaking it. Flat-screen televisions are installed at regular intervals across the dining room, but I have never seen them on except during their first month of business. For appetizers, I've tried the sweet potato tempura sushi roll and vegetable tempura. Both are decent and fair for the prices. (I think we got more pieces in our roll than most places.) The sweet potato tempura roll is definitely an interesting option for vegetarian diners, and not a variant that I've seen commonly at other places. Unfortunately, I can't vouch for the quality of the fish in regular rolls. One of my friends is pretty enthusiastic about the ramen, which is served in a monstrously large bowl. The broth is colorful and A-OK. Unfortunately, the dish is MOSTLY broth and noodles with scant toppings. For its cheap price, I'd recommend the ramen for anyone who's got a big appetite and values quantity over quality. Of course, the central reason that most people come to Joy Yee Plus is to enjoy the shabu shabu, an Asian version of fondue. If you're not familiar with this style of food, here's the gist: you're given a steaming pot of broth, a portable flame, and an array of raw meats and vegetables. As the broth heats on your table, you can toss in whatever you'd like, wait a minute or two for it to cook, and then eat it straight out of the pot. The best part of this experience is getting to mix your own dipping sauce; the server will bring over a tray with about 8 different sauce "elements" (including chili, garlic, herbs, etc.) and you can mix and match until you get your perfect sauce. (This is actually fairly important considering your boiled meat and vegetables won't have much flavor on their own.) Truthfully, however, I rarely dine-in at Joy Yee Plus. I primarily stop by this location for bubble tea when the regular Joy Yee's Smoothie Station has a line out the door. (Fortunately, most people don't know that both stores have identical drink lists, though the wait at Joy Yee Plus is usually significantly less.) read more

Thought I would give it a try despite the negative comments talking about the size of the place. Well, they were right! The place is soooo cramped!!! They seated me and my SO right by the freaking door and it was freezing outside. Then they proceeded to sit two guys right next to us. It was so uncomfortable, like we were literally 5 inches away from each others elbows. The food was okay, I haven't really had a lot of hot pot so I can't really judge. But the whole seating thing threw me off. Dont think ill be coming back read more

Joy Yee Plus - Shaved ice - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Was craving the Hamachi Kama and was in China Town Square. Haven't been here since they reopened. It was a mistake to walk in. The menu has completely changed and no hamachi kama. I just wanted to leave after that but we had already gotten situated and water was brought to the table. Since there was no hamachi kama, we ordered the salsa roll and the ramen. The roll was had 8 pieces, nothing special and it was $10.95. Pretty steep if you ask me. The ramen was very salty, 2 pieces of pork, tons of noodles and was about $9. I couldn't tell if they were understaffed or just had a lazy wait staff. They stand around and when you ask to order they run away. When they get to take your order, they rush to get it and don't pay attention to what you're trying to order. The staff, menu, and quality has definitely changed and not for the better. Sorry Joy Yee Plus, won't be returning for your food but getting the fro-yo to go. read more

I'm a sucker for matcha desserts so it was only natural for me to try theirs. I got the house matcha ice cream bubble waffle that comes with red bean, pocky, mochi, and whip cream. The matcha soft serve is amazing and I loved that by itself. The red bean and whip cream complemented the matcha soft serve very well. The bubble waffle was underwhelming and a bit too doughy for me and the strawberry pocky and banana pocky stick did not go well with the dessert at all. In addition, the total for this dessert was over $9. Overall, if I could, I would rate this a 3.5. It's nice to try it but I wouldn't get it over and over again. Next time I come, I would love to try their taro ice cream though! :) read more

Joy Yee Plus - House Matcha Ice Cream Bubble Waffle - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

The food is ehh, at least within the first week of opening. Had some soba noodles and yakitori, and it just seemed overpriced and unimpressive. However, it looks like they might have made some menu changes since then. Also, I can't articulate why exactly, but I just don't know if I trust getting sushi here. What saves this place is the fro-yo. The fro-yo itself gets 4-5 stars. The original and green tea flavors are both really good. What makes their fro-yo unique is that they have a lot of Chinese toppings, like taro, lychee, longan, grass jelly, papaya, etc. You can't find this at any other fro-yo place in Chicago. I personally love the taro....comes in nice big chunks. Pricing for 3 toppings seems about equal to Berry Chill for the original flavor. Green tea flavor is more expensive, just like the Berry Chill non-original flavors. As with Joy Yee's other stores, the drinks are excellent. I still want to try the shaved ice sometime. In summary, the food didn't excite me but might deserve a second chance. Do try the fro-yo, especially if you wanna get unique Chinese toppings. read more

What do Asian people eat on Christmas and Thanksgiving? Hot pot! I love this stuff. So simple, and relatively healthy. The serving size at Joy Yee Plus, like it's sister restaurant, is pretty large and they give you a good variety of vegetables, noodles, and other assortments of yummy in my tummy goodies! The beef was surprisingly quite tender! We also got the Japanese tonkatsu ramen and it was delicious! Wish they had more noodles inside though. And to finish off the meal we had the red bean shaved ice. The ice came as one massive chunk of an iceberg. The mango and lychee weren't the freshest but hey, what do you expect living in the midwest. Overall a bang for your buck kinda place! Plus the decor reminds of the cute modern restaurants in Taiwan. read more

I came here for a "Pre-Vday" dinner, since my friend had plans with his gf on actual V-Day -.-. Anyway, we both ordered some ramen, and a cooked maki. The Ramen was heavily dosed with MSG (not surprised), I felt super dehydrated for that evening and even the next day! The Maki was very oily and nothing special, I would definitely NOT order that again. I would give this place another shot only because my friend likes the ramen here... but who knows, maybe we just have different palates, it was way too salty for me! read more

I only had the drinks here! I heard this was one of the only places in Chicago to get boba (or, as I guess they say in Chicago, 'tapioca'). I'm from California, so I've had quite a bit of boba in my life, and though I'm not boba-obsessed, I wanted to see how Chicago's measured up. My thoughts: WAY too sweet. This was my fault, since usually at home I order it with less sugar. I'll try ordering it like that next time. The tapioca itself was of a gummier consistency than I was used to, but I like my tapioca softer/chewier, not hard. It wasn't hard to chew by any means. If anything it was much easier and softer to chew through. Other than that, it seemed pretty standard. Next time I'll definitely get less sugar + ice (if they offer those options) and maybe I'll try a fruit slush flavor instead! read more

It's an absolute OBSESSION! We are officially obsessed with the beef broth hotpot here. We moved from Boston a few months ago, and was introduced to Shabu at Joy Yee Plus by our friends who have lived in Chicago for a while. We've tried several hot pot places around Chicago and weren't really impressed with any other hot pot places besides Joy Yee Plus. We've taken all of our family and friends who have visited for Shabu here and everyone seemed as pleased as we were. The service is also great and prices are very reasonable. read more

Joy Yee Plus - Appetizer: Fried Kaki Entrée: Beef and Chicken Shabu Combo with Beef Broth Sides: fried taro, udon, and fried bean thread roll - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Solid place to go for hot pot. It is not all you can eat but the prices are fair and it comes out to the same or cheaper as all you can eat places anyway. Usually 2 people can share one pot. I usually go with my family (4-5) and we're always pretty darn full and we eat quite a lot. They get super busy and the downstairs seating area is hectic. The times we've been there has been once or twice where we couldn't really get our servers attention because of how busy it is. So get there early or avoid the weekends. read more

So the food is delicious but the wait staff is rude and disrespectful not all but some of the female staff so after eating I paid for my food I have no problem tipping but that is only when staff is attentive to there customer which they are not. So a female staff who was not my server or even the person who gave me my check came to collect my signed bill and opened it and told me I did not tip and I asked when was that mandatory she then said yes it was I then asked since when and after staring this woman down waiting on a valid answer she said never mind and walked away to complain with her coworkers I have never been told it was mandatory to tip and had someone try and force my hand never again oh she only did that to me know one else read more

I like the hot pot here. The price is affordable. There are lots of food on the menu that one could take couple visit to try them all. I never had their ice cream or bubble tea because I always felt so full after eating hot pot. I would love to try their deserts and ice creams, they look delicious and tempted. Over all, this is one of my favorite hot pot in china town. read more

Note : I can say I'm an expert in Asian (Cantonese) and even Japanese dishes. I've had several trips to HK and Japan. My fam frequents Brooklyn Chinatown. About Joy Yee: We had dinner here tonight. I have approvals and reservations about the place. Pro: 1. Bubble Teas are the best ! the tapioca has the right texture. The watermelon bubble tea shake and the red bean bubble tea were our choice. It was great. Not too sweet..just right. They have the real ingredients and NOT artificial. Even the ones in Manhattan Chinatown uses the powdered kind. The Taiwanese bubble tea is a must! 2. Yakitori platter : Not bad. Just the right taste. Although please make sure the gizzard is absolutely cookes. The rest of the meat were great. Cons: 1. Sushi+Sashimi : Mediocre. Mediocre. I never learn not to expect too much when buying sushi and sashimi from a Chinese owner. I always get burned one way or another. My fave tuna was so-so... meaning it wasnt fresh. The white tuna, yellowtail and salmon were ok, still the while tuna was a bit watery. Oh well... Believe me, I know my tuna or raw fish. Ive eaten straight from freshly cut huge tuna in front of me at Mitsuwa in NJ. Of course, my frequent jaunts in Tokyo and NYC. Would you believe I buy fresh cut slab of tuna in a Japanese supermarket just to have my tuna fix?!!!! talk about desperation. While touring Chinatown, I had cravings for raw fish. I thought Joy Yee is the answer. Oh well. I'll try Mirai tomorrow to see. I'll give them 4 stars because their bubble tea and the others are great. The deserve to be in business. read more

Shabu-shabu was fun for my first time. Can't compare to anywhere else. The soup and the spices it came with was delicious. This is a good place for the beginner. The yakitori sampler was HUMONGOUS. It was below average. The different kinds of meat tasted the same. The tables felt flimsy, like those found in kindergarten class. The customer service was surprisingly attentive considering it's Chinatown. read more

Not bad for a simulated type of japanese shabu-shabu. I always order the combination of beef and lamb, with an extra order of premium wagyu beef. I make my own sauce as well-- always ponzu loaded with negi and garlic. :) It's not authentic, but it's not bad either (it still makes me go back). Also, they give a generous amount of vegetables which never fails to make my tummy happy.. I just love how all the flavor comes out when I let it boil for minutes. I ordered the yakitori set too. It came with about 20 pieces of yakitori, I think, and most of it did not put up to my standards. Some of the meat was dry and dry, others were soft and tasty. The maki wasn't good either.. It left me with a stench of fish, it certainly did not taste fresh, plus, it was falling apart. Having said that, if you are to dine here, it's best you order shabu-shabu (only).. It's what they're known for anyway. :) Oh! And royal milk tea, almond milk tea, or red bean milk tea! :) read more

My husband and I biked to Chinatown for dinner the other night...and when you're wandering around looking for dinner, there isn't much to distinguish one place from the next...so we usually judge by the crowd. This place was pretty busy but the most interesting thing was people had steaming bowls of broth and were cooking food at their tables! Yes, please! Come to find out this is called shabu shabu...and to make it absolutely clear, it's like Asian fondue...but BETTER! You can drink the broth (and it's very much like miso soup). Aside from the waitress being a little slow and forgetting our drinks, this was a great unexpectedly fun date night for me and the hubs. We were served a bowl full of raw veggies, fish balls, tofu and mushrooms to cook in our broth...and that was in addition to the meats. And, with the 10 different dipping sauces/additional ingredients, we were able to flavor our broth to become this spontaneous combustion of yummy that I just couldn't get enough of. And, whenever that broth got low, they were quick to fill you up...so delicious! And the price was right. Skip the apps, if you order the shabu shabu for two people, you'll have plenty of food. And it's just over $20 for two (minus drinks). I'd say it'd be a great first date place...but you leave stinky. Maybe a great third date place...I'm sure we'll be going again! read more

Expensive bubba tea but it is tasty. Not sure how it compares to other bubba tea in the area. Seemed very popular while I was there

I was so excited to try the egg bubble ice cream so I decided to stopped in and ordered the house matcha bubble waffle ice cream. The matcha ice cream tasted very good but the waffle was average. I'm not too big a fan of red bean so I was hoping I could exchange it for a different topping but they don't allow changes. We got the dessert and the whip cream was warm. The cost of the dessert was about $9 and there is a designated spot by the door for people who only order dessert. read more

Joy Yee Plus - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

My gf loves their hot pot. So yummy. We always get the seafood shabu shabu. We do not order the sushi or other meals (tried it before, nothing spectacular) now. Nice decor. Good Hot pot. Price is pretty cheap for two people. You only need to order one dish and you will be full read more

First floor was full so we sat upstairs and eventually all the seats were taken by 7:30pm-ish on a Friday. I ordered the Beef Oyster and Salmon and my friend ordered the Seafood and Beef. We also got a side of the fishcake tofu and the homemade cuttlefish paste. I did not like the broth, tasted very artificial...like way too much msg or sugar or something...had to keep asking the waiter to add hot water instead of more broth. My friend liked it though. Very large portion of food, lots of veggie, plenty of meat too. HOWEVER, i did not like any of the meat except the homemade cuttlefish paste, which was very delicious and had chunky cuttlefish in there. The beef and salmon were very dark in color and not much taste...as if they had been in the freezer for way too long. Also, the salmon was very "colored"..very reddish orange looking, kinda scary. Oyster was completely frozen, so I got a plate full of oyster ice blocks. Service was pretty good and the place is bright and clean. So overall I just didnt think the meat was very fresh at all, quite disappointing as I rarely not enjoy hotpot since it is so hard to mess up. Price is cheap for the amount of food for sure, but I'd much rather pay a lil more for something fresh and tasty unless you are just going to eat veggie. read more

It was cold and I needed some hot drink, so we stopped by this place hoping to get a hot milk tea. The place was packed. I emphasized 'hot' and 'no pearl' twice when placing order. We waited only 5 min because most people were dining in so the drink line went relatively fast. I thought it was weird to see my hot milk tea came in regular plastic cup for cold drink, with pearls. The place was getting crowded so hubby and I quickly left the place. I was wearing gloves so I couldn't tell the drink was lukewarm until I got into the car. I had great experience with this place. But how could they mess up such easy order? My husband said he saw them putting ice in my drink then removed and added water (he should have told me right away so I could complaint). That is very disappointing. Aren't they suppose to make a new one? I love milk tea but this lukewarm (and quickly turned cold) milk tea was a huge disappointment. read more

I love hot pot and the drinks here. The service is not nice. Otherwise everything else is fine.

I have been here twice total. The first time was great. I had some dishes I couldnt remember, and the bubble tea-oh how delicisou. The second time back at Joy Yee, I was there for their bubble tea. Very disappointed. The tea was okay, but the bubbles were df overcooked. They tasted like they had been left out overnight. But I think I will go back just to give them a second chance. read more

The only reason I'm writing this review is because their sign said closing time at midnight, but I arrived at 11:27pm and they told us they were closed but the doors were still open. Disappointed read more

Sadly, I don't think I've found the same "joy" in joy yee's as I did for the joy yee's in naperville which is fantastic btw. Worlds of difference if you ask me. The current Joy Yee in Chinatown was under construction so I walked a ways away and came here to get my 芋頭珍珠奶茶 "wu tao zhen zhu lai cha" aka. Taro Boba Milk Tea. Eh. It was not good. It tasted super artificial and overwhelmingly powdery. Just sad. I was expecting more from a large chain like Joy Yee. I guess the Joy Yee in the Chicagoland area just isn't as good. I'm stll a huge fan of the Naperville one though. Just a shame they aren't consistent. read more

Tried this place once before their closing down and was hooked! Great shabu and not bad frozen yogurt. When they closed down for renovations, I didnt expect them to comeback for even more awesomeness additions. Upgraded their drinks and dessert selection. They have their own plastic containers and a wider selection of dessert including their hong kong egg waffles which is such a hit now. Come get their drinks here if the first joy yee line is too long! read more

Joy Yee Plus - Japanese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I always say that I'm on the lookout for a new style of Asian cuisine. Today's lunch provided that. I had never engaged in, nor really heard of, Shabu Shabu. For those in the dark, like me, it's basically Japanese hot pot. So, I sat down alone, scared, but filled with wonderment. A boiling pot of broth, a bowl of udon noodles and a raw egg, then a platter filled with mysterious vegetables and raw fish. I honestly didn't know what to do. Obviously, I was to cook everything in the boiling broth, but what was the right way to eat? I asked for some help and got some pointers. Despite the pointers, the helpful staff encouraged me to do whatever I wanted and have fun. Have fun, I did. Not only was it a ton of fun to create my lunch, but it was damn tasty as well. It was also a ton of food for a lunch special that cost $10.95. On my way out, I grabbed a coconut tapioca fruit thing and smiled as I strolled through Chinatown. I don't know how often I'll eat here, but I'd certainly love to bring a few folks for a fun lunch or dinner and try it out. I couldn't have been more pleased with the staff, the experience, and the awesome glass floor koi pond. NOTE: Any reviews which mention a HUGE menu and various styles are reviewing the wrong place. This Joy Yee is sushi, fruit drinks, Shabu Shabu and a few other soups/ramen. The regular Joy Yee is down the mall a bit and has about a million entrees. read more