Food was good, ambience is always nice. Their mango smoothie was the best. Their chow mein was great and the noodles were just perfectly pan fried and crispy. read more

I tried the mango slush with strawberry popping boba and it was really good and refreshing! I would definitely recommend trying it. It wasn't too sweet and it was a pretty large portion too. When I ordered the drink, the line wasn't too long but right after there was a huge line. It seemed to move pretty quickly tho! read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Mango slush - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Let's talk Joy Yee. Wildly successful with the youngins, an INSANE bubble tea menu. If bubble tea were a sport, Joy Yee would be in the olympics for sure. Portions are ginormous, seriously, not kidding. The atmosphere depends on the location you go to, but for the most part is open hall type of atmosphere. The food I have had to date has been mediocre at best, granted, they have a ginormous menu, so I have not tried everything on it. The Pho bowl alone is big enough to wear on your head (no lie). Somehow we always end up going home with a suitcase of food as leftovers. I have been to two locations to date, Evanston and China town. To be fair, Evanston was on a Friday night I think. The place is small & severely packed. Cafeteria style tables and chairs and you have to crawl over each other to get in and out. You like stress and anxiety with your meal? Look no further. China town on the other hand, I went to late afternoon on a Tuesday and it had plenty of room but was still doing a decent business. Much more relaxed dining experience compared to Evanston. At the Evanston location I ordered some type of seafood noodle thing; but the bummer was it was more noodle than seafood, so I really just ended up eating my seafood out of it because I'm not big on noodles. WTH was I thinking, lesson learned. At the China town location I got smart and was like "I'm not going to order anything with noodles." So I ordered the Thai basil jalepeno shrimp fried rice. I was with guest so the party ordered accordingly and I posted pictures of each dish diligently. As I mentioned earlier, we took a suitcase of food home. No issue with any of the leftovers I might add until I got to the red curry, which was not the dish I ordered, but looked good. Here is the issue. When I went to consume the red curry, it looked good, it smelled good, it tasted good, but when I tried to consume the meat in the dish, it was flat out inedible. Even worse, every single piece, I mean not one piece of 'meat' was edible. It was all gristle and cartilage, every bit of it. We make our own stocks and soups at home so I get parts for flavor, but no place for it in this dish. In fact, I am shocked they even serve it that way. I feel like I need to be prorated for whatever amount they charged me for the meat, because you cannot call that meat, sorry. This is the only dish I have had an issue with at Joy Yee, so perhaps a one off? Let's hope, but two stars until then. Also a general note regarding something I noticed at both locations, the dirty dish bins and wasted food lined up by the bathrooms is fairly disgusting. I fully realize America has a food waste issue, so perhaps take a page from Cheesecake Factory's experience (not a fave of mine either) and introduce a reduced portion/small plates menu to help reduce waste and eliminate the need for the line of nastiness by the bathrooms. In summary, is Joy Yee sustained on bubble tea alone? I don't think so. There is enough of both, non-ethnic and ethnic traffic combined, occurring in the establishment, that they must be doing something right. And back to that Pho bowl, it literally is big enough to wear as a hat! read more

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One of my favorite Asian fusion food places in Chicago! Watermelon freeze is a must! They use fresh watermelon and sweetness is just right. Best dish out of all these is the Eel and Shrimp Fried Rice, it had big shrimps and eel and egg, rice is seasoned well and it had fish eggs. Beef chow fun is excellent too. I usually order the Vietnamese calamari, just didn't get it this time. read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Eel & Shrimp Rice, Vietnamese Appetizer Sampler, Crab Rangoon, Chinese Broccoli, Beef Chow Fun - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Very disappointing. Joy Yee used to be the place in Chinatown to eat and I was surprised by the quality. We had soup that was ... $19 a bowl!!!!!!! It appears in a massive bowl but is a normal size ramen - very basic packaged noodles not hand pulled like many in Chinatown. You can get get much better food around Chinatown read more

After seeing all the reviews about this place, we decided to come here for lunch. The place was packed and busy that we had to wait 20 min for a table. Half of the restaurant is a dine in food service and the other half is a boba shop with to-go windows. We finally got seated and were handed the menu. I was overwhelmed with the many selections on the menu for both food and drinks. I wasn't quite sure what to order so I just got a durian smoothie ($5) and the beef brisket chow udon noodles ($12). My bf got the avocado shake with boba and the cubed beef tomato rice. The durian smoothie was good! But the avocado shake was tasteless and watered down. The boba were hard and not chewy. We were quite disappointed in the avocado shake. The beef cubes and tomato rice had too much pepper and the taste was very repetitive after a couple bites since all we tasted was pepper. The dish was not memorable. The udon noodles were alright! The beef brisket was a bit fatty but it was cooked until tender. But the taste was also a bit repetitive. We were tired of our dishes after a couple bites. I am starting to think the many reviews here is for the boba shop only. I wouldn't recommend coming here for the food since we thought it was Chinese food based. The menu had a mix of shabu shabu, Korean food, Chinese food, and thai food! I am completely amazed of their menu options but was fairly disappointed in the quality and taste of the food. read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Avocado shake (yuck) and durian shake (yumm) - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Contrary to the mixed reviews, I give Joy Yee a solid 5/5. The food is delicious, enough where I go here every time I crave Asian food whether it's for take out or dine in. I like that it's affordable, fixes my cravings and that the portions are quite large! In terms of recommendations, in regards to drinks, the boba here is THE best- imo the best in Chicago. I always order a Mango smoothie with tapioca or the mango green tea, and both drinks are very refreshing. Sugar and ice levels conveniently can be adjusted too. The food is good as well. I've tried quite a few different dishes, and my favorite is the tomato beef cube rice as shown in the picture (in the bottom). It's sweet yet savory - the beef was tender, and the rice was not too dry or sticky. It can easily be split into two meals. Overall highly recommend :) read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I used to like this place a lot, until I realized how expensive it is for a subpar bubble tea. I ordered oolong milk tea with Nata jelly, they don't carry that so they substituted it for something else like peach jelly or litchi jelly, which was awful. It was super sweet and it completely masked the subtle taste of oolong. Interiors looked great but I walked in the floor had water on it at some places and the restrooms were terrible. On the whole, I didn't like the experience because it was expensive, they do only one size and the interior of this place is not clean. read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Joy Yee Noodle is everywhere on social media and a must go kind of bubble place. This rave made it to the top of the list when I was in Chinatown. My expectations were met when I saw how big ​the space was. The service was good and the food came out pretty fast. It gets really busy so I would stop by early lunch or dinner. It closes at 2:00 AM so it is great for the late night cravings. I ordered the udon noodle and fried rice (I forgot the specific names) but they had the perfect hit of spice to it! A lot of families and dates come here which is really cute. Friends with huge groups also come by for that bubble run. If you never went to Joy Yee and like boba... this place is the next boba run to go to. read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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We Tried wonton and beef brisket noodle soup. The portion was big. Broth and noodle tasted great and authentic. Shrimp spring roll was also good. The restaurant has simple settings and service is fast. read more

Joy Yee Noodle should be called Joy Yee Boba because a lot of their customers order drinks over food. In my first trip to Chicago's Chinatown, I wanted to buy a good cup of boba. There's a bunch of restaurants along the alley but Joy Yee stood out to me because they have an outside drink order station & a bunch of people were waiting for their drinks. 3 stars because of various reasons. The drinks are SO expensive. I'm probably accustomed to the cheap & good drinks in LA. But Joy Yee drinks range from $5-7. I can buy a meal with that money.. The boba was not very good. The boba was stuck together in clumps. I ordered a lychee black tea with boba. The tea tasted very herbal. (I cant say that's a bad thing) read more

Ordered off Grubhub! My food came fast and the delivery driver was very nice. I ordered Kimchi beef fried rice, Mongolian Beef, Fried Shrimp Shumai, Orange Chicken, Crab Rangoons and Steamed Chicken dumplings and smoothies. The Mongolian Beef was very tender I just didn't get enough of the steak. It was more of a Mongolian peppers and onions. The Orange Chicken was good. I just wish it wasn't room temperature. The Crab Rangoons, Fried Shrimp Shumai and Chicken dumplings were delicious. The Kimchi Beef Fried Rice was just ok. It was a little dry and had teeny weeny pieces of beef in it. We had Raspberry and Peach Berry smoothies. The Peach Berry smoothie tasted like Zeus made it!! It was very good!! read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Seems like 1/2 the folks walking through the Square in Chinatown have a Joy Yee Boba drink in hand so after an amazing dim šum lunch at MingHin's (I'd highly recommend it) we treated ourselves and I was really impressed at the extensive freshly made on the spot drink menu options - see picture below. I ordered a 25oz traditional milk tea with boba and it was very good. Really liked the ćup with spillproof seal. With so many unique options, its easy to see why they are so popular!! If Boba just isn't your pijam, they also have fresh fruit or coffee bean smooties that looked really delicious. Plus I also loved that you can order with red or black Boba or various fruits like pineapple, mango, pomegranite or lychee which would definitely be refreshing on a warm summer day and for approx $5 USD (could go up depending in what you decide as add-ins) its not a splurge to treat yourself:)) Now I just wish they had a Riverwalk location so I'd get them more often after work! read more

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A Chinatown staple that typically has a line out the door for its fresh fruit smoothies and expansive menu. I'm a regular in Chinatown and enjoy going to Joyee for their fruit smoothies and one dish in particular. Their Cubed Beef and Tomato rice is a fantastic dish that does not receive as much praise as it deserves. It has amazingly tender beef so deliciously flavored its leaving my mouth drooling just as I'm thinking about it. The tomato rice is fluffy, flavorful, and has an egg cooked throughout it. What a nice touch! The only reason I'm giving them 4 stars is their titanic menu with all kinds of dishes that it's kind of overwhelming for me who has been here plenty of times and I can only imagine the anxiety it gives new customers. It is nice of them to try to create the many dishes from many cultures and present them, I truly believe in the adage, a jack of all trades is a master of none, but better than a master of one. I do believe that they do the different types of cuisine better than some places, but typically when I go to a place, I would rather them serve a few dishes that are their signatures more than anything. I also come here when I have a craving for crab Rangoon which I tend to order at every place that has them. They're not the best by any stretch of the imagination but still a little tasty treat. Overall Joyee is a rather solid pick where you can take anyone to have some decent meals from different Asian cultures but not something that completely stands out. read more

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Joy Yee to the world All the boys and girls Joy Yee to the bishes getting Bubble Tea Joy Yee to you and me There are two of these places, it's confusing. One serves waffles and drinks. The other serves lots and lotsssss of drinks. This is the original, with the massive drink menu. It's about a 1 minute 12 second walk from the other location. More like 37 seconds. I guess it depends who's walking. The brown sugar milk tea is a decent effort and comes in a huge weird sealable plastic container that makes putting the straw in and taking it out again a little problematic. I don't usually have a problem putting it in, what can I say. The egg waffle is a little dry but I'm sure it's better if you get it with the ice cream and other toppings. I much prefer it by itself, but only when it's moist and tasty, not dry like this. Honestly - It's just great that they have brown sugar. Although it's not really great tasting. The service is nice except that if you don't keep your receipt then it will cause a real problem because they might not want to give you your stuff. They said that someone else had taken my stuff, but after much deliberation and discussion they were willing to give it to me anyway. They were perfectly nice about it which is something. Four stars overall is about right. Lines can be long, unlike your boyfriend. read more

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GREAT BUBBLE TEA, NOT SO GREAT FOOD. This place was packed on a Friday night, just like pretty much every other place in Chinatown. I have always loved the bubble tea from here and wanted to try the food as well. I got the milk tea with custard and my friend got the honeydew with tapioca. Both were quite delicious! For food, they have a wide selection of cuisines, ranging from Korean to Chinese to Vietnamese dishes. I first I was quite impressed by their vast menu but I now realize this is a "jack of all trades, master of none" type of situation. We both ordered the spicy beef brisket noodles. It looked delicious when it arrived but I was quickly disappointed with my meal. There were a lot of pieces of beef that were hard to chew, and the seasoning of the noodles/broth were not at all what I expected or authentic. Sad to say but I will probably not be back for the food (unless tells me there's something that I have to try here) but I will 100% come back for the bubble tea because while it seems like they haven't gotten the food quite right yet, they've definitely gone right with their boba. read more

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The garlic fried rice is NUTS. I mean literally it's so good I can't say enough. Loved the passion fruit/dragon fruit smoothie as well and the orange chicken. I'll be back for sure read more

I have always loved their avocado durian smoothie, but was really disappointed this time that there were tiny PLASTIC pieces in the smoothie!!!! This drink cost over $9. They have raised their price tremendously but seem like the quality has gone down. The drink was also bitter. All the plastic pieces were at the bottom of the drink. I was really grossed out to find out after I have finished most of the drink. read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Plastic pieces in smoothie - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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My son and I loved it. There are so many options we need to come back 100 times to drink and eat. Service was good. read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Teas - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Love joy yee All the drinks I've ever gotten have been great! My favorite are the fruit freezes! read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Mango strawberry freeze with lychee popping boba - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Nice location in Chinatown, place was crowded but service was fast.Delicious food, great variety of asian (Chinese, Vietnamese,Japanese Korean dishes huge menu, the best Boba teas in town. Huge portions. read more

Location in the center of the Chinatown square this restaurant has a window specifically for smoothies and teas. Cleanliness I only ordered take out of the smoothie so I only went through their window pick up. So far from the looks of it from the outside they have a pretty well maintained and sanitized area for their smoothie that is separate from their food orders. Pricing it is fairly priced considering the amount of customization I asked for my order. Taste and Verdict I ordered a mango-pineapple smoothie with extra tapioca and coffee jelly and I can vouch that they use real fresh fruit on their smoothies. Perfect drink during hot summer days. Definitely worth to try! Tips the smoothie and tea menu is ENORMOUS and it get's pretty overwhelming. They serve every variant of fruit smoothie you can think of that can be mixed and matched with tea flavors. Jelly variation is off the chart and you can ask them to put whatever you want on it. I highly recommend to look at their menu before placing an order because I spent a long time looking and thinking of what combination I should order. read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I try to hit up Chinatown once a year and ALWAYS make sure to go to Joy Yee. Wait time wasn't very long and the food is amazing! I got the Thai chicken wraps and they were delicious. Highly recommend this spot! read more

My favorite thing about Joy Yee's is the massive variety of dishes they offer. Their menu is HUGE (quite literally...it's physically very large) and has food from all over Asia: Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Korean, you name it. The variety makes it great for groups that have different preferences, especially if they're not feeling particularly adventurous. I've been here numerous times (but I've only skimmed the surface of their menu) and these are my favorites: 1. Salted fish fried rice 2. Beef cubes in tomato sauce 3. Salted fish, ground pork, and egg rice 4. Singapore rice noodle Yes, I'm really into salted fish and yes, #1 and #3 are on the salty side but they're delicious. #3 gets me because I'm a sucker for the half-cooked egg on top. #2 is a crowd pleaser; I know several people who love this one. For drinks, you'll always see a ton of people getting fruit smoothies and bubble tea. If you were to choose between them, choose the smoothie. I've had the bubble tea a couple times and it was just so-so. What disappoints me is the tapioca itself - not sweet and not the right chewy consistency. read more

Joy Yee Noodle - salted fish, ground pork, and egg rice - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Food was ok, definitely better options in the Chinatown area but overall reasonably priced. I got a Vietnamese coffee and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't overly sweet. The service was super fast, so that was also appreciated! read more

Joy Yee Noodle - 4 Vietnamese Fried Egg Rolls - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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My boyfriend and I come to Joy Yee often when we visit China Town. It's a solid and safe choice. The menu is enormous, so if you can't find what you're craving here then you won't find it anywhere! My boyfriend is a big fan of their pad Thai and says it's the best he's tried from a restaurant. I usually switch between udon noodles or fried rice. Today, I got the beef brisket udon noodles and it was delicious. The portion sizes are massive so I always leave satisfied and full. Definitely recommend! read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Crab ragoons - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Food taste is good, but extremely overpriced. I feel like the $16 rice dishes should be no more than $8-9. Like many others, we also feel like they scammed us upon paying. They include an 18% "service charge" for our party of 2... and took away the itemized receipt after swiping my credit card. The merchant copy was the only receipt given back, which then prompted for an ADDITIONAL tip amount (on top of the tax and 18% from the first charge). Beware, double check your bill and don't let them gaslight you into double tipping. Will not be returning due to shady billing practices read more

expensive but it's my favorite place to go in chinatown. the bubble tea is immaculate and large the garlic noodles, crab rangoons, and beef cubes on tomato rice are the die for read more

The garlic shrimp fried rice was really flavorful yet the shrimp were not. The service was good and it was nice and bright. They make sure to keep tables cleaned off so there was no delay in seating. read more

Joy Yee was amazing !Definitly recommend this place for the food and of course the boba. Its a spacious place looks like they stay busy but there wasn't a wait for us to get a table. They have a ton of boba drinks and flavors and its not just boba they have lychee jellies and tapioca. The food was all made fresh and didn't take long ,very flavorful. The portions are all big tho so make sure to come extra hungry or keep in mind to share to try different stuff. Staff was nice but they keep off to the side I think more trying to give you space so you don't feel rushed. Thanks again , see you on my next trip to Chicago!! read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Pineapple Coconut Green Tapioca Freeze - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Nice selection of Asian Fusion dishes from Chinese to Thai and everything in between. Good place to try out and 90 percent of the food is great. You can't ask for anything more. Give it a try. read more

Taro boba tea was too sweet. It was $8 with tapioca. The desk girl was cute though. See ya. read more

Recommended Beginning from the service: the waiting time was less than 5 minutes to sit on a table, the waitress could have take a little more time to explain the dishes, especially because it was a big menú and for tourist it's difficult to understand. The food was AMAZING, I would totally recommended the sweet and sour chicken, the dishes bring a very good amount of food, we were 4 and order 3 dishes and we even take some food home. Good restaurant if you want somewhere nice and pretty to be, not so expensive, and very good food! read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Pad Tai Noodles, Lo Mein, Sweet and sour chicken - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

This was an interesting one. Whenever a restaurant has a menu this large, it always makes me nervous. And on a surface level, this proves to be right. Most dishes just have the same soup/base with different toppings and on an authenticity scale, I wouldn't give this restaurant anything above a 3 stars. However, I left this place incredibly satisfied. I ordered garlic noodle with grilled pork while the rest of my party ordered hot and sour noodle soup with different toppings. Each dish was around $15. Now, I know this may be too high a price for a middle dish, but my plate was hugeee with an absurd amount of proteins. The garlic flavor of the noodle was also super prominent, and the entire dish is just super flavorful. The hot and sour noodle soup with seafood was also filled to the brim with broth and ingredients. The bowl itself is humongous. We also ordered a side of grilled squid and we were given a whole squid with very tasty dressings and amazing texture. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised and the restaurant was surprisingly good value for the price we paid. The boba menu was also endless, but we were too full to get any drink! read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Grill squid - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

TL:DR - The menu is huge! The portions are also large. The food is adequate. The interior is dirty. The service is impersonal. You'll easily find better options in the area in terms of price and quality. I feel like Joy Yee has been given a terrible rap by locals. Just moving here, I keep hearing about how it's overrated, overpriced, and some even going as far as saying it's not good. Well, I came and ate, and it's honestly just wholly adequate. It gets 4 stars instead of just 3, because it's adequate Asian food, which is usually going to hit the spot and still be enjoyable, even if it's not amazing. Look, we all go to Panera or Dunkin with regularity, knowing it's not the absolute best at what it does, but we go because it's familiar and convenient. Coming to Joy Yee's, I got the stir fry beef udon and split the Thai Tea and basil chicken wings. First off, the menu here is HUGE. If you haven't been here, it will probably take you at least 10 min to get acquainted with the menu, and probably another 10 to finally narrow down what you actually want to order. The next thing is that the portion sizes are huge! The stir fry beef udon was exactly what I thought it'd be, thick chewy noodles stir fried in a soy sauce based sauce with good cuts of beef. It was delicious, but also nothing I couldn't make at home if I wanted to. The thai tea was similar, in that it hit the spot, but didn't stand out compared to any of the other thai teas I've had before. The best thing was the basil chicken wings, which had a surprising light savory basil taste to it, and came grilled/baked rather than fried. The place looked relatively clean on the surface, but the tables, floors, and bathrooms were all slippery and somewhat greasy. The servers were a bit stand-offish, more interested in getting your food out and turning over the tables as soon as possible. Overall, I wouldn't mind coming back if someone wanted to, but I feel like I'd EASILY, have better luck at the surrounding restaurants. read more

Menu was intimating -- there was so much. It had anime pictures which was a plus. Passion green tea and mango lychee drinks were tasty. Vibe was nice, the place is big and the chairs feel like garden chairs. Service good too. Overall recommend if in the area and want Chinese food read more

The food was okay, service was horrible. I didn't like how they treated my students and acted like we walk on the bill no one came to check on us or anything and our bill was $500. I feel the service should've been better for the amount of money we spent read more

Delicious and the food prep was fast. Definitely plan to return and enjoy another meal. They have a plethora of options.

Great place for a quick milk tea pick-me-up in Chicago's Chinatown. The menu is very extensive. There's a place to sit down if you want to enjoy a meal. From order to finish was extremely efficient. I got my drink in less than two minutes. Each cup was chubby (so short and wide) Order: -Matcha milk tea with red bean: Pretty solid drink. The matcha was a little off like a bit bitter/artificial, but I loved the red bean inside. read more

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There's always a long line outside every time I pass by so you know I had to check this boba spot out. Now I can understand why!! The milk teas were outstanding and the tapioca balls were literally cooked to perfection - just the right amount of chewiness I'm looking for. Definitely coming back for more and trying out their other flavors! read more

Joy Yee Noodle - Menu - Chinese Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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