We first knew about this place because a friend brought us here. He is a restaurateur who has pretty high standards on what qualifies as good food so if he brought us to Woo Chon, it has to be good. I don't go for Korean BBQ very often because they are quite a distance from the downtown area where we live. However I do eat alot of beef to know what good beef is like and should be like. The short ribs (kalbi) here were fantastic. They were so tasty and very tender to bite. Be sure to get the marinated option. The beef tongue was also amazing. They were so thinly sliced, when you eat them, it feels like you're eating fresh and thinly sliced beef. Note: if you order the BBQ items, it will come with pajeon (vegetable pancake) so don't bother ordering it ala carte unless you love it so much you want double pajeon. Nothing wrong with this though, since pajeon is pretty awesome. The two times we've been here our server stood by our table and helped us with the grilling of all our meats while we enjoyed the pampering of not having to grill our own meat. We ate away as she placed the just-cooked meat on the side of the grill for us eat. I think they only do the grilling for you if the restaurant is not too busy. Later on we saw many other tables that did their own grilling. Or maybe it's because our server knew we weren't Koreans so she helped us out there. Anyhow, I'm glad I didn't have to do any work :) The service was friendly and the place was clean. The banchan (side dishes) were of a good variety and also tasty. We will definitely be back for a 3rd time. read more

Love this place, just dragged over another foodie friend the other night, it was my sixth or seventh visit, her first. It's hard to find! It's on California just a little north of Lincoln, behind a shuttered dry cleaners. Look for the red neon lettering in their sign. There's a small alley/parking lot between the restaurant and the dry cleaners, or just park on California next to the place. It's residential around here and plenty of parking. Inside it's a bit rough-and-tumble: Clean and smells good, but decor is formica, cracked leather banquettes, fluorescent lights, large overhead fans for smoke, a TV that's constantly on a Korean channel but no sound. Their are some semi-private booths in the other half of the restaurant that look to have somewhat better and quieter ambience, but I'm not sure if they have the grills in the tables there or not. I've always gone for the TV room ...plenty of room to stretch out. Don't let the decor phase you! Service is wonderful, food is excellent, real charcoal grills and tons -- TONS -- of side dishes, free refills. Have some Korean raspberry wine (first little glass tastes awful, but by the third or fourth it's mighty tasty) and take your time. When you're stuffed, they come by and ask what kind of homemade soup you'd like with your rice. And then fresh fruit for dessert. Love this place. read more

A nice, reasonably-priced Korean BBQ joint. The menu is not huge but the food is good. Service was a bit slow, but friendly. I had the prawns. For my $20 I got 6 large ones. The ban chan was good, but not quite the variety I am used to. However, I particularly liked the thinly sliced daikon radish slices for wrapping the BBQ in. Soup and salad came with my meal. The soup was a tasty clear beef and daikon radish soup, with a bit of tofu in it. (I didn't care for the salad's sweet dressing.) Next time I will have to try some of the other dishes. read more

Ok been there twice since and service was way better. I've also ordered to go and the order was packaged nicely. So... They get bumper up to a 4 :) read more

Went here with my hubby on Saturday night at 8pm and the restaurant was already starting to fill up. There was only 7 tables inside, therefore, we waited a little for an available table. Once seated, we ordered kalbi, mackerel, noodle with steak and vegetables plus all the side dishes and free veggie pancake. There was complementary oranges for desert, which we thought was a nice touch. The service is nice and genuine. The kalbi was a little tough to chew but other than that, everything was enjoyable. We'll be back again to try many different dishes on the menu. Perks: free parking behind the restaurant read more

Category: Won't Break the Bank - 4 Stars Out of the 15+ places I've been to Korean BBQ in Chicagoland, this one is THE BEST (Been here at least 20+) . 2nd best San Soo Gab San. Yeah. I said it. Also, one of the few that kick it old school (the right way) w/ wood charcoal grills. Yummm Food: A 1) Ban Chan: B Consistently good. Gets a "B" b/c the selection is not super huge (If you're going for the side dishes, San Soo is the place to go, if you're there for the meat well.... ) 2) Kalbee (beef): A Of the 20+ times I've been there over the past few years, the flavor of the meat has always been dead on. For those who said it's too tough.... eh... don't over cook it (it's really easy to do). Unless you like well done steak, you're not gonna like well done KBBQ.... Atmosphere/Service: B Service: A Super friendly, And pretty fast. Not as fast when busy, but that kind of has to be expected - it's a family owned/ran place Atmosphere: C Reminds me of a Dive-y cabin diner. haha. I.e. Shouldn't be going for the decor Drinky-poos: C * Picky drinker alert* They only have Asian beer, Soju & pop I'm a hard liquor girl. BUT they DO let you bring your own. We've brought wine etc P.S. Leave your coat in your car & bring something that washes well. You'll stink afterwards. read more

If you haven't been to Korean grill restaurant before this is the place visit. They serve sliced meat (many different choices, marinated or not), cooked over grill that is placed in the center of the table. You get at least 8 different little side dishes to go with the meat. Their food is delicious, everything is home made - meat marinades and side dishes - they have their own secret recipes. Their kimchi is excellent. When I go there with my husband we usually pick two different types of meat, fried potstickers (appetizer) and Korean miso soup (which they serve at the end of meal) and it's a lot to eat. Service is excellent, they will help you with the grilling. I highly recommend this restaurant. read more

Update: I now know why they have such good reviews. Because they'll report your review if it is negative. So reposting again. Minus one small sentence and hopefully doesn't get removed again. How the hell did this place get such a good rating. My first time trying Korean bbq and probably my last. Spent more than $90 for 2 people and probably ate $3 worth of food. Everything was nasty. First they were out of chicken. Then the beef/steak was so chewy and rubbery. Soup was slimy. Little side dishes all tasted funny. Maybe this is the way Korean BBQ is supposed to be and maybe I don't no better but This is honestly the nastiest tasting food I've ever had in my life. It wasn't even edible. I should of known something was wrong when the place is barley noticeable and empty. There for 2 hours and no one came in. I wouldn't feed this crap to an animal. I'm still in shock a place like this is actually open for business and has such great reviews. They have to be fake. read more

We came in the other night after calling in since Cho Sun Ok's kitchen was closed. Even though the kitchen at Woo Chon was also technically closed, they let us come in and have our first experience with coal cooked KBBQ! We were the only ones in the restaurant, and the service was amazing and so friendly. And the food was delicious! Great hidden gem on the Northside. read more

Nice place for lunch. The extra items that accompany your main course are a surprise and very tasty. Good wait staff. I would like to try the BBQ next time for the full experience. read more

I drive by this place all the time but finally tried this place because my friend wanted to try it out. Upon walking in to this place I was surprised to see the sliding door, and inside it was pretty spacious, because from outside it's not very big nor appealing. It's like those sub-compact cars. It tiny from every angle on the outside but you get in and you say, "hm.. pretty spacious than I thought... I thought I'd be sitting with my knees to my chest..." while nodding your head. It was lunch so we ordered Yook-Gae-Jang, a spicy beef broth soup with vegetables and clear noodles and Bi-Bim Neng-Myun. The food was ok, not spectacular. They gave us complimentary Boo-chim, vegetable pancake once we ordered, and plenty of ban chan. Service was decent. I'll give them a try for dinner. Please don't compare this place to San Soo Gap San (or San Poo Gap San as a fellow Yelper refers it to, haha). I'd come here over SSGP 10 times out of 10. read more

A bit hidden, if you don't know the exact location you're looking for. Hidden behind an obtrusively large, un-marked Korean grocery store, you'll find WooChon. First of all, I must say.. it was great service! The waitresses we're both patient and helpful in both timeliness and service. The food was pretty good, of the many side dishes, I think their slightly spicy (pa jeon, pancake) was one of their best. The food was pretty decent, and fulfilled my Korean food craving ( - sam gyup sal + soju = best combo) but prices were a bit high? I think I'll take my chances going to Cho Sun Ok instead (http://www.yelp.com/biz/cho-sun-ok-restaurant-chicago). read more

Good service! Friendly waitress! Often go there for my korean BBQ. This restaurant is a comfortable place for family dinner.

I love this place! They have these stalls so there are more privacy. Most of the time, there will be younger servers working there and they know how to speak English. I am not Korean, so it is always helpful to have someone who knows English there. We come here for Korean BBQ. It's good. It's not all you can eat. There are a pretty big variety of meat. They will give you some small guidance to cook the meat. When you are out of a certain banchan, you can request for refills. I would come back again. read more

Woo Chon is tucked away in Uptown, and it's very unassuming. We go here for their soul warming Korean soups, a particular favorite is the kimchi jigae. The banchans are really top notch here as well. The kbbq is good though somewhat expensive. They have charcoal grills for the kbbq, which adds good flavor to the meats. There's never really anyone else here so there's not really ambiance, but the two women who run the restaurant are so nice and makes the feeling like you're eating at your aunt's house. read more

Really good! The waitress was the best. It was a slow night so she helped us a lot. Even cooked for us to show how its cooked right. How to cook the meat and in which order to cook them so the flavors don't mix on the grill. She was very hygienic especially with the use of tongs on the meat. The food was really good but I will come back for her great service read more

Ordered marinated Kalbi and pork belly. The server suggested we cook the pork belly first. As soon as the meat hit the fire the smoke went everywhere. Poor ventilation. For the price you pay the portions were small but the meats had good flavor. I can't say much about the side dishes. Kimchi tasted like foreign to me. It was definitely not the kimchi what Koreans normally eat. Other side dishes looked sloppy and did not look appetizing. One dish had two little stripes of yellow radish. I asked for radish kimchi and they brought a very small amount. It tasted more like kimchi than the actual kimchi they gave us. This was our first visit here and will be the last one. read more

Went for the first time around noon on a Saturday. I love KBBQ and am trying all the options in Chicago. Woo Chon reigned as one of my favorites in the categories of service and meat quality. The restaurant was empty when we went and the friendly waitress was quick to greet us. We ordered sam gyup sal (pork belly), bulgogi (marinated beef) for the grill and mool naeng myun (buckwheat noodles in chilled broth). Our waitress assisted us with the grilling process and was quick to refill our ban chan sides. We left full and content and are looking forward to the next time! read more

We tried Woo Chon for the first time last weekend and the entire experience was great. All the staff were very friendly and helpful and made us feel welcomed immediately. We ordered dumplings to start, then did a BBQ with beef brisket. Everything was fresh and delicious. The soup that they brought us was soooooo good! Can't wait to go back! read more

I've been rl to a Korean barbeque before, but I never actually cooked my own meat before. They bring out this cauldron with hot coals inside. Turn I the vent, bring it the meat. I had the marinated beef and pork belly. Stayed with the fried dumplings. They were large, fresh and tasty. With your meal get 9 side dishes. I couldn't begin to tell you what they were called. But I did like the mushroom, broccoli, fermented, large super thinly sliced radish. I wrapped my grilled pork belly in them. It was mighty tasty. The beef was very flavorful, I grilled it to perfection. Wrapped the service that in lettuce leaves and added the sauce they gave me with it. The service was excellent, or server instinctively knew I hadn't done this before, so she stayed close by just in case. The prices are a little high I think. But overall I was very satisfied. read more

I know Korean food and in a nutshell: this is really good, above average Korean food. Atmosphere isn't anything to travel for, but it is cozy, clearly a family run operation, and so far in my experience, the best Korean bbq in town. Service is fine - perfunctory and prompt. In a dozen visits, I've always had the same server - I assume she's the daughter of the owners. Don't know what happened with someone else's BYOB snafu (they do serve beer and soju). As I say, its family run - this is not the Ritz. Roll with it. Their sides are a notch above other Korean restaurants in the area - fresher and with more variety. Prices for non-bbq dishes can be beat at some other places, but its certainly not expensive, and the food is totally reliable, consistent, and above average. But I mainly go for the bbq. It's always a hit with guests. Just plan to leave smelling like grilled meat. read more

Hmmm, we tried this the other night and I was pretty dissapointed. We ordered bul go gi and jaeb chae and both dishes, the meat tasted funny. The one positive thing was that the kim-chi was yummy. And the waitress was friendly. They had cute little private cubbies too, but we were in the more open area. read more

I have been going to this restaurant on weekly bases and the quality has been Consistent! To be specific, I never Get tired of their dwaen jang jigae and hot stone bowl bibimbap! read more

Good food. Generous portions. Friendly service. My go-to place for Korean food. Open until 10:30 p.m.

This place is great for Korean barbecue. The banchan are delicious and the meat was all well seasoned and tasted fresh.

It is not beyond unreasonable to simply ask for and receive a serving of rice and soup along with order. It is offensive to gauge this practice of "oh the soup was not ready" excuse and "rice is coming up". There weren't even a capacity crowd. And it was like eating inside the refrigerator at the table (before eating the request was declined to more inside seating). We are not uninformed consumer and you are not unkind business, but worse as a tactical and deceptive business with regard to serving size of meats. We came in 7 people and we received 4 dipping serving and when asked for correct amount were responded to "how many more?" And mind you my wife is same nationality speaking and asking for the proper requests. Now we know why for all the complaints splatter across the board for this business. And they just lost future business from me. read more

I got the beef leek soup. It's kinda on the bland side otherwise decent . Did not care for the flavored of the side dishes. Grape soda had real grape chunks in it. read more

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Great food and service!! I went here for dinner yesterday evening, they were VERY busy and definitely for a reason!! Wonderful menu that is extensive and diverse with something for everyone. Great service, very clean, beautiful banchan, high quality food. I went here on the recommendation of a Korean friend who is a very experienced cook herself. This is a wonderful place to go with a group of people or alone too. Great atmosphere and wonderful smells from all the food cooking at people's tables. I can't wait to bring friends here and suggest it to others as well. I had dol sot bimbimbop, the rice was crispy and perfect, lots of fresh vegetables too. My waitress was so sweet and friendly, she was genuine and really cared. I left a card key on the table when leaving and the waitress was nice enough to come running out to the parking lot to find me and give it back. Really, this place was wonderful. They do have a small parking lot and it's great if you want to dine quickly and have your car in a safe place. 5 stars and thank you for a wonderful dinner!!! read more

Woo Chon Restaurant - Korean Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

The food is delicious and the barbecue at your table is cooked over wood coals. The wait staff are always incredibly friendly and helpful. The galbi is excellent. read more

I told my friends that we go to San Soo Gab San in Morton Grove but they insist to try Woo Chon. For a party of 4 , this restaurant forces you to order four meat entrees even though 2 orders (which was the minimum to use grill) would suffice since the other guys just wanted to have some soup. Why would you force your customers to order more than they can eat?! Is that how you do it in Korea? read more

I don't even know how to start this review. I'm still contemplating how best to say this. Normally I am not one to make a bad review or complain. I don't even really yelp much but I thought in this case it was needed. First off this experience is like nothing I've ever dealt with before. As soon as my friend and I sat down we were treated nicely and given menus. All was okay. We looked them over (it being our first time there) and the prices were a little high but we were excited to give it a try. From the very first second the ladies were staring at us from afar. Finally our other companions showed up and they came and told us that the two plates we ordered would not be able to feed all 4 of us. EACH PLATE is like 30 dollars. With the insistence of our server we ordered another plate. I was under the impression that we would be more like a traditional Korean bbq where you cook your own food!!!! The server came with the plates we ordered and cooked the food for us. Now this is not a complaint about the food because everything was well seasoned and tasted great. But this is a complaint about the serving size and the pricing. We left there feeling hungry still and we spent more than 100 dollars. All the food we bought felt more like a appetizer than actual dinner. And to top it off as we were getting ready to pay the server and host kept staring at us. I'm one that does not like being stared at so it just made the overall experience that much worse. I will not be returning. read more

Amazing BBQ. Definitely pricy for a small portion of BBQ meat but the meal can with 9 sides with refills. Got the rice cakes which were sweeter than spicy. The tofu soup was good but not as spicy as I had at different restaurants. Great service and food. Would highly recommend. They also have a small parking lot on the side so you don't have to worry about street parking. read more

As a Korean, I'm pretty picky when it comes to kbbq and Korean restaurants. After hearing mixed reviews, and trying it out for myself, I can say Woo Chon has delicious Korean food. Quality and flavor of the meats are great, you get a good array of banchans. Ladies working there are super friendly and helpful, grilling the meats for you the whole time. She recommended eating the BBQ with the mulnaengmyun and it was a great idea-- the hot and cold combo was so refreshing, like a palate cleanser. We were a little disappointed by how small the portions were, but we were super full by the end, so I guess that didn't really matter. read more

This place is amazing! I was very impressed! Great staff great food and my tummy was happy!

My New Go-To Spot for Galbee (Korean BBQ). Being of Korean decent and born and raised in Chicago, I'd say i'm pretty familiar with my options for Korean food. This is IMHO the best all-around Korean BBQ experience. Friendly staff, clean yet casual interior, and the food... the meat and marinade are a step above and the side dishes were all excellent. i'd admit some Korean dishes are good only with an acquired taste, but the Galbee here is something i would recommend to all. enjoy this hidden gem read more

Showed up out of the blue based on coworker recommendation. Great service good food. Cool the meat on table in front of you.

First time here and we will come back. Best vegetable pancakes, everything was so fresh. The spicy pork belly was delicious.

we thought (by reading the yelp reviews) that this place was byob, so we brought beers and were seated right away. we popped the beer caps open and were waiting for the waitress. she came by and saw the open beer bottles and said "this is not a byob restaurant" i said "sorry but we thought the yelpers mentioned that this was" "even so you should ask your waitress before you open the beer bottles" "sorry" "i'll ask the manager" she came back "she said to recap the bottles and you can't drink it" "no that's ridiculous they'll be flat before we finish the meal" she came back again "so instead of recapping we are charging you $10 per each open bottle of beer" "no that's really ridiculous" "well next time you should ask me BEFORE you open the bottles" we got up and left, the waitress said "you can't leave it's really bad for business" REALLY???? you should not have spoke to your customers like children and going to charge $10 for each bottle of beer that they brought themselves!! read more

If you want real Korean BBQ, this us one on the best kept secrets in Chicago... the meat is tender and first-rate! But best of all, you cook the meat at your table and it is on Real BBQ wood chips, not the gas grills many other restaurants have! read more

Overall the food was just okay. Portions are small and extremely pricey. I would add another $ sign to the review. The service was good and the waitress showed how to cook the meat and returned and cut it up in to smaller pieces for us. For me your money is better spent going elsewhere. read more