Where is the Best Korean Food in Chicago, Illinois?
Amitabul was a pleasant surprise, I’m a vegetarian and try to support any local veg restaurants when I can. The food here contains nothing artificial, they stir fry with water not oil, use organic produce, don’t use sugar, and they have some amazing tasting curries. They have a variety of teas and juices. I had the ginger tea which will wake up your senses right away. My fiance had the date tea and couldn’t get enough. For our entree I had the Tibetan High Noon which was a noodle stir fry with special tibetan curry with an assortment of stir fried veggies, you can pick whether you want it mild, medium, or spicy, I went with the spicy and it wasn’t too harsh to eat. It clears your sinuses though. The taste of the curry is nothing like I’ve ever had. One thing I will say: I’m Chicago’s pickiest eater in the world. I’m a vegetarian that HATES vegetables, never ate a whole salad in my life. But I tried eating the veggies with the curry and they were amazing. I was stunned. I ev
My fiance and I go to Chicago Kalbi at least twice a month. It’s a reasonably good overall Korean restaurant. I’ve never had a problem with their service. The staff are actually pretty nice. They are pretty skimpy on their banchan (side dishes) in comparison to other places. But their pajun (Korean pancake) is the best I’ve ever had. It’s really crispy and has a great flavor. The bi bim bob is just ok. The soups/stews that I’ve had are reasonably good, but they seem to have a slightly Japanese interpretation rather than a strictly traditional Korean view point. What I mean is that the soups tend to have a lighter/cleaner flavor. I really like it, but if you’re expecting really traditional Korean food, it might not completely work for you. I don’t like cooking bbq, so we’ve never ordered it but it smells pretty good. The main con about this place is just that if alot of people are ordering bbq, you leave smelling like a chimney. Pros + good food, reasonably priced, good
I have been there couple of times for BBQ. Food is good, meat is average. Atmosphere is good for groups. Service is unbelieverablely bad…. avoid peek time on Sat nights. Once I was with couple of friends having BBQ. 4 guys and 1 girls, obviously will eat alot of food and finish fast. They rushed us to put the meat on the grill and we needed to asked them to refill the charcoals and a new grill so many times and they were trying to avoid us. Then, we saw the meat bones still have chuck of meat on it. So my friend just put the meat bones on the grill. Couple mins later, one waitress/ manager came to us and give us a look and said “haha, why are you eating that, are you a dog?! only dogs would eat that…” Then she laughed as she walked away……..What a insult? Well, all of us just looked at each other but didn’t response to her “funny insult” …. What kinda restaurant is that?!… so rude! I have gotten some bad service from other restaurants, but not like this time… and we
Red Top Grill (in the process of changing its name to BBop Lounge) has finally filled what I have always thought is a major gap: good, authentic Korean restaurants in a nice environment and central location. BBop is a place where both Korean food first-timers and Korean nationals can feel comfortable. I lived in Korea for the last 2 years, and my wife is Korean, and we both give high ratings to the chef. We tried the beef kalbi, kimchee jigae (soup), and kimchee pajeon: all were made with good ingredients and were not too salty, as some Korean food can be. The side dishes were plentiful and unlimited (as they should be at a true Korean restaurant), but interestingly the rice was also unlimited. Needless to say, we left the restaurant feeling quite satisfied.Three things set this restaurant apart from the older-style traditional restaurants in the city:- The service was impecable.- The decor has a modern lounge-like atmospher.- The location is in Old Town, just south of the Brown
