Bowl Square

Now operating under new name, claiming new management, and refusing to honor a buy10 get 1 free punch card.

A korean restaurant in the back of the french market. The food is just ok and the prices are a bit steep but so are most restaurants in the french market. The Bulgogi will get you full and tastes decent. It is a good lunch option. Just a warning on their dumplings though, they are the frozen Ling-​ling type that one can buy at any supermarket.

i would say 3.5 stars forthe price, and quality of food.
had spicy tofu soup, spicy pork, and bulgogi platter;
both bulgogi and pork were little too sweet for my taste — which i didnt like but they were decent.
soup is pretty good for a tiny place like this.
overall, price isnt the cheapest and the quality of food isnt the best, compare to other decent korean in chicago, but if u are a commuter or work in otc area, not a bad place to lunch in as it may be a little healthier choice than your average burger and fries.

Not bad, but they use microwaves here to heat up the food, I think they nuked my chicken a bit long because it had that funky rubber chicken thing going on.

My dining companion really liked the bulgogi and my tofu pad Thai was decent. Didn’t seem as oily/​heavy as other pad Thai but needed the hot sauce to kick the flavor up a notch. Lime was dry. Pad thai had green cabbage as well as bean sprouts, which was a new addition for me. I would dine here again.

I love this place. They have a number of tasty dishes but my favorite is … the beef bulgoli (i am pretty sure i spelled that wrong). It was perfectly cooked and came with generous portion of rice and some veggies. It was just the right amount for lunch. I will return here and suggest you check it out!

I stopped by the French Market today and, after a bit of walking around, decided to give Bowl Square a try. I generally enjoy Korean food and was excited when I ordered it to go and it was ready pretty quickly.
My orange chicken was still hot by the time I reached my office ¹⁄₅ blocks away, which is a plus. Other than that, though, I was quite underwhelmed. Here’s why:
* I am not sure why, but the orange sauce for my chicken tasted more like a creamsicle than regular orange sauce. I was very put off by that and ended up only having a very small amount, which left my chicken quite dry (thankfully, the sauce came on the side). This was the biggest issue for me.
* The portions were fair for what really should be consumed in one sitting by one person (½ cup of rice, about half a cup of iceberg lettuce salad, and maybe a cup’s worth of chicken) but was nowhere near what I was expecting for the post-​tax $ 9 I paid. Granted, I also got a diet coke, but that was only a dollar. For the same amount of money, I could have gotten two meals’ worth of similar food from several other loop eateries.
* I could not see the food being prepared or see where it came from in the preparation area. This always troubles me.
* This is a minor pet peeve, but the chopsticks were very flimsy. They did not break evenly at all and hindered my ability to use them. By the end, I was tempted to use my fingers. I don’t hold this against them TOO much though, as there were plastic forks and knives also set out for customers.

My second meal at French market. I was a little overjoyed when my friend told me there is a Korean food vendor in the build. Their spicy tofu soup totally met my expectation.
I wanted to eat Bulgogi but the dish didn’t look that nice on the picture. So I settled with Tofu soup. Totally right decision. The red broth was spicy and delicious. Tofu was silky and fresh. The running egg was so tasty with the broth. I mixed the separately packed rice to the broth. Absolutely my dish.
Now, I’m kind of struggling on what to get next time. Stick with the soup or try the Bulgogi? Cannot wait to go back next time.
Just side note on the sitting area in French Market which is kind of limited. You will have to wait for the empty seats during the lunch hour. Today, we had a band playing for us during the lunch. Very nice.

Tofu pad thai very tasteless. No flavor. Tofu was the size of sugar cubes. Lime was dry. Squeezed it and nothing happened.

Bowl Square is delicious… how are there not more reviews?
I popped into The French Market for lunch one afternoon and headed over to Bowl Square. I’m weird… I base all Asian food on beef. If I like the beef, I’ll like the place. Bowl Square delievered on the Bulgogi (Korean Teriyaki Beef). It’s thinly sliced, seasoned perfectly, and topped on a bed of rice. My lunch was delicious and very filling. I can’t wait to come back here. I kinda wanna try everything on the menu.

Stopped by, but it didn’t really feel korean.
The food was alright, but the authenticity was missing. Then again the price is definitely cheap. Kimchi is always a good start, but I feel like they’re missing a lot of other delicacies from the menu.
Going to give it another shot and see how it goes.

Good Korean for the West Loop. But, when I order kimchi fried rice I want a super colon blow’s worth of kimchi in it!

Food here is great and when you see little old Korean ladies in the back preparing your food, you know you’ve picked the right place. Surprisingly their food was delicious! I also love the fact that they have lunch specials, Chicken Fried Rice and Spicy Chicken, for only $ 4.50. During the gloomy days out, having a serving of their Tofu soup sure will warm you right up! I haven’t tried everything on their menu yet, but whatever I’ve tried so far always makes me want to come back for more.

Bowl Square is one of my favorite places to eat at the French Market. Honestly, I haven’t had any bad. Kimchi is only $ 1 (small portion), and each vegetable dumpling is $ 1.50. The dumplings aren’t like the frozen kind you get at an Asian market. They remind me of mini baos! I had their udon noodle soup with tofu, and the broth was delicious! I’m not sure if it contained MSG, but after eating up the noodles, we both drank the broth from the container. Yum!
Bowl Square has plenty for vegetarians to eat. Tofu can be substitute for meat for most dishes. The prices are on par or even less than other Asian eateries downtown, but Bowl Square’s food tastes fresher. Win!

Walking into French Market to browse for some cheese and macaroons, I found a sign for Korean food. Starving as I was, I followed my nose to Bowl Square.
I didn’t really expect much, because looking at the pictures and the menu, it just seemed like any ordinary asian food express restaurant. Just a quick fix to satisfy your hunger. Nothing you would go out of your way to dine at.
However, upon the first bite of the Spicy Garlic Pork (Dwaeji Bulgogi), it was the taste that I have been craving for. Upon seeing that the old Korean lady had cooked it, I immediately knew why it tasted so authentic. I waited 10 min. for the food, and that’s because they cooked it fresh. It was well worth the wait, and I will definitely be back to fulfill my deprived Korean food needs.
The only thing I wish was that they would put more Korean items on the menu. Their selection is quite limited, but the prices are reasonable.

I tried this place for the first time yesterday. I love Korean food, so I was happy to see that we have a Korean place in French Market. I was really cold yesterday, so I ordered the spicy tofu soup. For 50 cents extra, I got an egg in my soup and it also came with rice. I had to wait about 8 minutes for my food because they made my individual order fresh, I really like that they don’t have giant tubs of pre made food and that they make everything to order. Very tasty spicy tofu soup. Perfect meal for a cold day. I will be back to try the bibimbop and the bulgogi!

Yes, I know Saigon Sisters is really good, but please give this place a try so I can keep eating the yummy green rice bowl with tofu. Vegetables here are very fresh. Sauce for the rice bowl is just the right heat and not sweet at all.
Update: The place seems much busier at lunch since my last review – looks like they might make it!

My boyfriend and I were carousing the french market on Friday around 11 and were getting hungry. We didn’t really want any of the sandwiches or pasta or sushi that were at some of the counters– we wanted something hot and prepared. Bowl Square is situated at the very back of the market, a tiny little counter and stove.
He ordered the bulgogi and rice, and I ordered the #5 (Korean Teriyaki beef). He also ordered a single vegetable pancake. We waited about 10 minutes for the food to come up, and about 20 for the vegetable pancake. ??? I dunno why. They had a few cans of cola and water for beverages. Pretty minimal selections.
Both dishes were generous portions. The bulgogi was more delicious than the #5, but both were good. The vegetable Pancake was pretty much tasteless, and a waste of waiting time and $.
There are a few tables and standing tables around, and they filled fast with the lunch crowd. If you’re looking for some quick Korean, big portions for a reasonable amount– I recommend this place.

This little stand specializes in Korean food. But I didnt order a korean dish, which was my mistake. Instead I ordered a tofu pad thai. Not bad. The owner made the pad thai from scratch. I thought it was already pre-​made and just sitting under a heat lamp but I was wrong. It was nice to have it steaming hot. The wait wasnt too bad, maybe about 5 – 7 minutes. Prices are reasonable here. I think next time I’m going to get the bulgogi dish. I was bummed they didnt have chap chae.

I was so disappointed. I’ve never had Korean food before, and the office «food gopher» (actually, his official title is Director of Consumables Procurement :)) was stopping here on the way in today. The prices are right, especially for downtown. He and I ordered Hot Chili Chicken and another office mate ordered the Green Rice Bowl (bibimbap). The portions were decent and it smelled good when he brought it into the office, but the food itself was not particularly good.
The rice was very mushy (perhaps the Korean way — I don’t know, but I hate mushy rice). The chicken itself was actually OK — nicely spiced and tasty, but the vegetables (the picture made it look like you’d get a nice mix of veggies) seemed to be all carrots and a couple of very small pieces of broccoli and they were cooked way too well and mushy themselves. When you mixed it all up, there were so many carrots that the dish took on the taste of spicy carrots. Ralph, the food gopher gave the same summary for his as well. Admittedly, I’m not a fan of well-​cooked carrots, but it was still very flawed and didn’t seem very fresh as we were expecting. We both disliked that dish a LOT. Ralph says it looks like they didn’t actually prepare the chicken and veggies mix and sauce onsite, as the server ladled it out of a big vat and put it over the rice. Perhaps it’s made at their location on Des Plaines and brought downtown?
Dave, who had the Green Rice Bowl said it was OK, nothing special and «I’ve had way better».
We also tried the dumplings. They were actually decent, and I’m a huge dumpling fan.
Oh well, I had high hopes, but we certainly won’t be going back.