Da Rae Jung

Um, sorry but this is the most overrated spot in the city. I’ve been here twice now & both times I walked away super disappointed. How did it get 4.5 stars?!
The first time I went, I was hosting some newcomers to Korean food & they thought everything was delicious. Maybe everything trends towards the bland & overcooked to appeal to more American taste buds. Maybe my friends were being nice & they hated it as much as I did, who knows
The second time I came here was because the BBQ place we actually wanted to eat at was too busy. Quickly navigated here without looking too closely at the photos or reviews. As soon as we arrived, friend & I were both like, «fuuuuuuckkkkk, not THIS place.» So we were disappointed to say the least.
The owners seem to be the ones running the place. An extra star for being nice, if sometimes a little overly so, but honestly the food here is not 4.5 star deserving of what Korean food should be for 4.5 stars. Like, it should be way, way, WAYYYYYYYY better.

Delicious! I have been to couple Korean restaurants around the area, and this is my favorite one. The owner do not speak a lot of English. Please be patient and use your body gesture if you don’t speak Korean. Recommend number 9!

«Don’t judge the book by its cover» that’s so true when u visit this restAurant. It’s a modest looking front. My first time here. Found it on Unilocal for good Korean and your good reviews didn’t disappoint. Thank you guys. One of the best Korean I have had in the mid west. It felt like we were at a Korean family’s home eating lunch. The service was excellent. Will recommend to anyone who is looking for authentic Korean food. Double thumbs up!!!

Delicious hole in the wall Korean place. Naemyung (cold noodles), galbitang (rib soup), and gaejang (marinated raw crab) are the holy trinity at this place. Hands down best Korean food you can get in Chicago. The owners are extremely friendly.

If I had a Korean grandmother – I’m imagining this: mine were from Sweden and Oklahoma – I think this is how her food might taste. We started with fried dumplings and ended with the bulgogi. It was delicious and served with gracious hospitality. Well done!

I was looking for a Korean restaurant to have dinner. I was close to here and liked the reviews. Almost missed the place cuz it wasn’t noticeable in the strip of stores. The food was authentic Korean. I ordered spicy octopus and the spicy skate fish noodles in Korean terms nakji bokkeum and hwae naengmyeon. Both were delicious but both could have used more of the main ingredients octopus and skate fish. I haven’t had hwae naengmyeon for a long time so it was especially delicious. All in all it was very good food for the money.

My girlfriends and I stumbled upon this place when we saw the line at Cho Sun Ok. We weren’t feeling the wait, so we Unilocaled korean bbq around the area and that’s when we discovered the little gem that is: Da Rae Jung. I love the prices here and the food is just as awesome. It’s definitely a mom & pop restaurant, and that’s more reason to love it. Together we got Galbi, Jjapchae, and Bulgogi to share, and along with the banchan, it was very fulfilling. Everything is so flavorful! And all of our banchan were #twothumbsup. I’m really glad we found this place and I couldn’t believe our bill! Best kept Korean secret, if I may say so myself.

This place is tiny but incredible. Very authentic.
The people that run it are very sweet, too.

I had really high hopes for this place. Giving a four star is a bit of a disappointment.
It is a very small place with only about 10 tables. There seemed to be only three people working, older couple and in the kitchen, even older lady, perhaps mother. The menu had all the usual suspects. We ordered dol sot bibimbap and bulgogi as main and seafood pancake as appetizer. Pacing was a bit off as the main dishes came out first.
You get eight banchan, all delicious if not tad salty for my tasted. They included marinated pepper, acorn jelly square, tofu, tasty egg omlet and fish cakes. All were very good. The bulgogi was soft and tasty. The seafood pancake was a revelation. It was full of tasty seafood with nice crispy batter. It was easily one of the best I’ve ever tasted. On the other hand, dolsot bibimbap was a disappointment. The rice didn’t have the right texture. One of the joys of eating this dish is the delicious crusty rice that develops from the hot bowl. Their rice was way too soft. It never developed the proper crust, it was too mushy. You may think this is a small point, but rice in Korean food is a very important staple. Most of the time you take it for granted because it’s almost impossible to make bad rice as there are electric cookers that make perfect rice every time.
So, overall, pretty good Korean food with a too soggy rice. I am hoping that it is an aberration and next time, it will be better.

More of a 3.5. Was going to be in the area so looked to Unilocal for some good eats. Sure enough, Korean or Viet seemed like the top choices and ultimately I settled on Da Rae Jung. As a group of 5, we arrived around 7:30pm Saturday. Place was small but we were seated promptly, with only a few other tables occupied. Always a good sign when other customers are natives or regulars, which was the case here. Even though the place was very authentic, my non-​Korean group did not feel out of place, as the family and staff were very welcoming and friendly and communication was fine.
We started with a seafood pancake and steamed dumplings. Both were pretty good. I had the kimchi stew for my main and this was pretty good as well. Everyone seemed to enjoy their meals, which mainly consisted of various stews.
I expected to be amazed by their food, but I definitely have had better, especially in the northern burbs. Things just weren’t as tasty as I had hoped. We also had maybe a total of 12 banchans (side dishes) for the group and I enjoyed these.
While I had very high expectations for the food here, Da Rae Jung is still nonetheless a solid option with authentic food, good prices, and awesome service. It was nice that they gave us a large jug of water for our table and they were able to easily split up our bill. They are byob and there’s a liquor store literally right next to the restaurant. They are situated in a small strip of shops, so there is a parking lot.
I probably will however check out some other Korean places next time considering there are a ton in this part of town.

Small but authentic Korean restaurant. We enjoyed the food a lot.
Easy to find parking and good amount of food and side dishes. We ordered beef short ribs and it was tasty but not enough. Haha.
We will certainly go back to try more.

This place is legit! I’m Korean from Los Angels so I miss good Korean food living in Chicago. I have been to many of them in The city and they are «ok» including very bad service. I don’t know what it is about some of them thinking bad service is acceptable. I have been looking for a place with good food and service and this is it! Their cold noodles are so good! They remind me of noodles from LA. We also had gal bi tang and seafood pancake and they were delicious.
The service is really great and they are thankful you came to their restaurant. We will be back soon and try other items!

This is the best korean restaurant I have ever been to that has absolutely great side dishes. But they only refill 3 sides out of 8 or 9. The main food is okay though. I ordered the stir fry pork bulgogi (dwaegi bulgogi) but it wasn’t as good as the ones Ajoomah’s Apron’s. But I always love tons of great side dishes though. Would definitely go again. I guess it deserves to be called, «a hidden gem». Their location is pretty cramped up and hard to find if you don’t Unilocal.Would definitely recommend everyone to go to this spot! You will love it!
Edit: went to this place just a week ago, this time their pork bulgogi tasted different — in a good way. Totally craving it now. Will go again in few days because my body can’t resist the cravings. And again, the best banchan in Chicago!

BEST KOREAN RESTAURANT IN THE CITY!
We found this restaurant through Unilocal reviews, loved it, and have been going here for years. Their food is amazing and the service they provide is excellent. I will never forget the first time my husband and I ate here… this cute little old man, came out with this sizzling bowl which was probably like a third of his weight, and when he realized that my husband’s food was burning (we weren’t the best at using chopsticks then), he ran to our table and starting mixing his food for him. Haha. And every time after that night, we’ve had just such a pleasant experience coming here. He now recognizes us and enjoys the fact that we’re always bringing different people to try their cuisine and you can tell, despite the language barrier, that they thoroughly care about their customers.
I recommend: ANYTHING in the SIZZLING BOWLS

I came here because of the Unilocal reviews, and I’m so glad those good reviews led me here.
First of all, you need to know this is a family-​owned restaurant, and it’s SUPER EASY to pass by without noticing it. Despite its hole-​in-​the-​wall ambiance, the food is so good!!! I ordered their kimchi-​gigae, and I gotta say, I haven’t had a kimchi-​gigae this legit in a long time even though I live in Chicago. Their kimchi-​gigae tastes like homemade, and it’s not that easy to find in Chicago unless, of course, you have a Korean mom.
The owner is a super friendly grandpa who’s super attentive. He came over a coupe of times to see if we got everything we needed.
The only reason why I didn’t give this place a five-​star review is because of the goat soup my husband got. He said it was meh. He loves lamb and goat meat, and I’ve never heard him say any goat dish is not amazing. I’m never a fan for goat meat so I can’t tell the difference anyways.
If you’re looking for a family-​owned Korean restaurant with homemade soup, I say give this place a try!

Taste: 4.5
Location: 3.5
Cleanliness: 4
Ambience: 3.5
Value: 4
Service: 4.5
OVERALL = 4
* Out of a 5-​point scale
Came with a party of 6 around 1pm on Sunday. It was still empty and we got a table (2 tables, joined) right away. 30 mins later, it was packed, full house. It’s quite a small place so we were quite lucky to arrive a bit early than everybody else and got 2 tables.
We ordered the Seafood Pancake, Boodae Jiggae, Goat Soup, and the Bulgogi. They were all awesome although if you’re looking to just purely eat meat (korean BBQ), Cho Sun Ok or San Soo Gab San definitely has more meat selections.
The Side Dishes were amazing! And we were served a lot of them. My favorites, from what we ordered were the Seafood Pancake, Boodae Jiggae, and the Goat Soup. As I said, for a pure Korean BBQ experience, there are other places that serve more selections. But their food definitely exceeded my expectations.
The owner served us personally and he was very friendly. Our Korean friend arrived late so he had to communicate with us in English. I knew he was really trying.
When our bill came, we were all surprised that it only cost us less than $ 20 per person. Normally it would cost us more than $ 20/​pax at a Korean BBQ restaurant. So price-​wise, I think their dishes are reasonably-​priced.
It was a great experience overall. Now when I crave good, authentic Korean food, Da Rae Jung is definitely in my list.

Honestly, great service, and the food is out of this world. Probably the best Korean food I’ve had outside of korea. It tastes like a home cooked meal and the owner and his wife are extremely attentive and so nice. We had the Goat Stew. The goat Sstew was so delicious I almost broke out in song. I was about to sing «A Whole New World» from Aladdin, but i was overwhelmed by the earth-​shattering mouthgasm I was experiencing in that brightly lit yet scantily decorated dining room. We also had the Japchae and bulgogi; everything was incredible. I cannot recommend this place enough. Eat here! I definitely will when I’m back in Chicago.
After paying the check, the owner comes up to my brother and I and said «You are both very very handsome».my brother was shocked, but I quickly responded with «You’re not too bad yourself, I bet you were a real lady killer back in your day.» As formalities got lost in translation, we walked out with a rare satisfaction. That man is a stone-​cold business man who knows exactly how to build a clientele. Good form, Da Rae, very well played.

cold noodle is pretty good and I will probably go back for that dish.
I tried beef soup dish. it was OK.

Korean phase of my life, i reckon.
I have been trying as many Korean restaurants as possible; as much variety of Korean food as possible.
This little place with its sweet owner and delicious food is a gem and not Americanized.
The owner is a sweet champ… the server seemed to prevent herself from laughing each time she would look my way. I guess I do that to people.

Thanks for Unilocal,which brought us to Da Rae Jung, located on Lincoln Ave., less than one (1) block north to Foster Ave. (directly across from Tony’s Finer Foods).
Speaking of service, that Korean owner’s smile was precious and really, really priceless! I could tell that he spoke limited English, but his sincerity and care for customers surpassed the language barrier.
Nothing was extraordinarily fancy inside the establishment. However, it resembled a «trattoria» in Italy (not the American-​adopted definition). We were literally invited to someone’s house, and they cooked whatever they had that day.
The only thing that was different from a true «trattoria» was that a menu was available. We chose the mandoo dumpling soup (#28; $ 9.99) and roasted squids (#18; $ 13.99). All entrees came with a large assortment of banchan (Korean side dishes).
The owner was so attentive. He provided a little plate for cooling the dumplings. I could tell that he loved seeing patrons’ happy faces, and he took great delight in presenting each and every dish he brought to our table!
That mandoo dumpling soup was one of the best $ 10 you can spend on. The entire soup was full of fun ingredients: dumplings, beef tendons, eggs, seaweeds and green onions. The broth was soothing and would be a great mitigator for someone who might be feeling under the weather.
Hubby’s roasted squids were spicy and had bold flavors, but he enjoyed them a lot. The portion was very generous for the price we paid.
All the banchan dishes were presented in home-​cooked styles. My favorite was the marinated mushrooms and spicy tofu skins.
Everything we had this evening was delicious. This is a typical Korean mom-​and-​pop restaurant; nothing felt commercial. I’m proud to be a Unilocal Elite because I get to introduce a place like Da Rae Jung, serving comforting Korean food straight from their heart.