Dancen

This place is awesome. Fire chicken is fire and the pork skin is da bomb. I suggest ordering two for the table. Expect flames, good times and $ 3 bottles of brew.

Best experience I’ve had at a Korean place ever! I went on a Tuesday night around 7 and there were only a couple of customers, so my bf and I had no problem getting a table. I read bad reviews about the service, which I suspect all come from people that expect American style wait service. I had no problems with it, it seemed perfectly normal to me. The grapefruit soju was amazing, felt like I was drinking juice! We ordered the crispy pork skins which were good but nothing special but the fire chicken was the bomb! It had just the perfect level of heat to it and was perfectly balanced! I thought the atmosphere was pretty chill, don’t know why it has bad reviews for the décor and overall look of the place. I will be returning to Dancen often despite the 1hr train commute from Pilsen!

Dancen: A k pop blaring enclave of pure good. fire chicken with cheese=bae. Please go here now… all ye wanderlust riddled Unilocalers in search of your next K food fix. This is the place. Now if only my girlfriend would take me every week…):

This is a rating I do not want to give. The food here is phenomenal. My favorite Korean bar food all over America. The fire chicken with cheese is amazing. The pork skin is fantastic. And everything else is as good as advertised. Definitely my go to spot. But our food experience can’t always be dependent on the food right?
Unfortunately this is where the review goes south. Service is awful. And the best part of the terrible service is that they charge you an automatic 20% tip on your bill. So be careful and make sure to check your tab at the end. You ask for beer, 10 minutes later still no beer. Ask for soju, 10 minutes later still no soju. They might be under staffed but if you are going to give us crappy service at least let the people decide how much we should put down as gratuity instead of being forced by our necks by your ridiculous 20% mandatory tips on the check.

Once you realize that this is a go up to the bar and order kind of place, you’ll get some amazing food. Portions are large and for sharing, so take it slow. Fire chicken was great.

Go for the fire chicken & frozen soju.
The place is nothing to look at.
Service feels like you’re at your cousins house & you ask him for a beer. Without a word, he gets it and hands it to you. Efficient. No fuss.
Your kick ass aunt is in the kitchen & she’s all business. She gets the job done 365 days and won’t talk about it.

Heard Dancen is a must-​visit for hungry 3^rd-​shifters late at night looking to unwind
Order:
A pitcher of Hite to go with the spicy crispy pork skin, which will arrive quickly. It’s got a unique texture and surprisingly addicting sauce, worth a try, but it’s not lifechanging like I heard it to be
A pitcher of yogurt soju later, to go with the fire chicken which takes a bit longer to cook.
Rest of the menu sounds like all great drinking snacks. Might try a soup next time. Would be pretty cheap in big groups, just snack and have a few pitchers after work. The space is much smaller than I expected though, and 100% a chill dive with like zero ambiance. Just casual drinks and good drinking food

Pretty good korean style food for a bar. I’ve had the Al tang, fire chicken, and the kabobs. All pretty good. Don’t expect top notch Korean food, but accept it for what it is. I do like it. I come here to have some drinks accompanied by a little food.

Decent food, but most of the dishes were pretty underwhelming.
I do want to point out that their dukbokki tasted amazing. The rice cakes were very soft, and the sauce was delicious. The fire chicken, although a bit cold, was also great. The spicy flavor was excellent. Although the chicken would have been even better if it had been served hot. These two were definitely the best dishes of the night.
I found the rest of the dishes to be average or below average. The pork skin was alright. I was not a fan of the chicken gizzards, squid, or seafood pancakes. I also thought the large ramen noodles with spam, hot dogs, etc. was pretty underwhelming.
If you come here, you definitely have to order the dukbokki and the fire chicken. I think you could have a great meal here if you order the right things.

This place is really great if you are down for some Korean drinking food and drinking.

Overall, this place was alright.
1. Food: I got the spicy pork skins and fire chicken with cheese, which were DELICIOUS. The pork skin comes with this interesting powder «sauce» that you dip it in, but it totally works. The fire chicken with cheese is also very delicious but VERY SPICY… They both come in these little cast iron plates. I would say it’s a decent size to fill you up, but definitely not worth the price you pay for it.
2. Service: There was only one guy taking all the orders, grilling the food, etc., so it took FOREVER for the food to come out. It was about 30 – 40 minutes after we received the first dish that we got the second, which is unacceptable. They definitely need to get a better system.
3. Environment: The place is small — not many tables and probably good for 4 – 5 people max. I went during a weekday so it wasn’t too bad, but I heard it gets super packed during the weekends. It’s darker inside and Korean music playing in the background, which I can’t complain too much about.
It’s unfortunate that I can only give this place with such amazing food only 3 stars, but honestly, the service is what brings it down. But overall, I would say it’s a very casual environment for drinks or to grab something to eat with a couple friends at night.

I ordered pork skin and spicy chicken. Both very good. I’ll definitely come back with my friends.

My issues with this place:
1) Menu: The octopus sashimi was actually boiled octopus with a nasty sweet and sour sauce. Sent the Korean to a friend who confirmed that the translation was bad.
2) Value: They don’t give you the little side dishes that many Korean restaurants do, so even though the place is a little cheaper it’s not really such a value.
3) Service: I don’t expect much, but they had one guy manning the grill, waiting tables, and doing the drinks. Food took a long time and I had to walk to the waiter/​grill guy to order beer. Get a waiter!
The good: the spicy pork skin was tasty and the fire chicken was really good. All and all there are just so many better Korean places. The music was fun.

It’s extremely small and limited space. I could see it getting packed real quick but apparently even on a late Sunday evening. When you come into the restaurant they were playing these Korean rappers video’s and of course I didn’t know what they were actually saying, so I just moved to the beat lol. The staff to start off with was some kind of nothing (not one person was helpful). We had to keep asking the guy on the grill for water while we were waiting for him to finish our food. Which I could understand he has to concentrate on cooking the meet but in reality we asked another girl for water and she brushed it off like whatever. The food, we started off with the (rice balls): I’ve actually had them before but the cook suggested them.
They bring it out in a wooden container with food handler gloves for you to roll up for my first experience this was weird for me I felt like I was inspecting my food. I ordered the
Doobu kimchi I think that is what its called. basically its chicken that is spicy but sweet. In my opinion the chicken is way spicier than sweet. The chicken was cooked really well, however I don’t know what this white sauce/​fat substance was on the bottom of the plate it looked like lard or something. My mom had the fire chicken when I say that chicken was so damn hot it caused my sinuses to flare up get extremely irritated that went on for three days. It was so hot it distracted me from how the chicken actually tasted. I don’t think I will be back to this restaurant ever again.

I thought this place was pretty decent. This is a very typical Korean style bar (In Korea I meant) where you will see this everywhere in Korea. They usually sell drink (beer and soju) and food that you can have with your alcohol.
We ordered rice drink, then also ordered, grilled pork skin, soup with cod eggs (altang), spicy rice cake (dukpokki), and marinated rice. We also ordered marinated chicken, but it was just ok. Others were pretty good.
Well, this place can be very busy, and your service may not be optimal. Also if you are there with party of 5 or more and if you only get one table, you may have problem with space. We had to put a lot of stuff on the ground to accomodate our food and drink.
Well it is good experience especially if you haven’t experienced a real Korean bar culture.

This is legit Korean Barbecue. Small area, big taste.
The FIRE Chicken is the most popular menu item, and for good reason. I am a Texan living in Chicago so I am skeptical whenever anyone claims something is spicy. THIS CHICKEN IS FIRE.
Great rice wines and soju on the list to compliment liquor and beer.
Gets crowded quick but worth the fight to get in.

A great little Korean bar. From outside, it looks pretty divey, but it’s worth going in to check it out. They are very welcoming and service is polite and quick! It’s a good place to eat some great food, drink with friends, and watch the game. They have a lot of big screen TVs throughout the bar and you can view one from any seat.
You should definitely try the fried pork skins, which are so fatty but so good too. For 11 dollars, they are a great deal. They come with a dipping sauce. I would also recommend the strawberry soju cocktail, which is like drinking a slushee. It comes in a little pitcher and is plenty to share among 3 or 4. $ 20. Hides the taste of soju! You drink it in little shot glasses. Food overall is priced fairly and drinks are not too bad either. Lots of street parking! The interior is very clean too, including the bathroom, which is always a plus.

Visiting Chicago and I found this little hole in the wall Korean restaurant. We came at the right time and got seats at the bar because 30 minutes later, this 32 capacity restaurant was packed. The décor was outdated but the food is great.
People kept ordering the Fire Chicken but I wanted Donkatsu. The food takes a while to come out of the kitchen and the same goes to the grill but the quality is damn good. The Katsu was breaded perfectly and cook well. The intestines and Chicken gizzards from the grill was grilled correctly and not burned. We just ate a lot and drank Soju. It was a chill dinner and drinks. The service was good and they were really nice.

Came here on a Sunday evening with my sisters when we visited Chicago. The décor isn’t anything special, but what they lack in décor they makeup with delicious Korean food that is super inexpensive! We ordered spicy rice cakes, fire chicken, chicken gizzards, and pineapple or mango soju (I forgot… had too much soju). It was delicious! So good that the next day after the Sam Smith concert we went back to the hotel and changed and came back for dinner on Monday evening. The guy that works there is practically a one man show, but he’s pretty quick and super friendly. They play really catchy Korean music and the soju is so good. Definitely check this place out. I know I will stop at this place every time I’m in Chicago.
Oh, one more thing, the kimchi soup is the bomb diggity here.

It’s small. I could see it getting packed real quick but apparently no one ventures out to Lincoln Square so you’re good.
The cold weather was making us all crave something hot and spicy. We initially planned on going to Da Rae Jung but they were unexpectedly closed. Luckily, Dancen was within walking distance and OPEN.
What we eat, though?
— (Budae Jjigae): Dude, they don’t fuck around with the spam. Full, thick slices like a boss. This hit the spot.
— (Doobu kimchi): Waaaay too spicy but if that’s what you like then get this ish.
— (rice balls): WHOA, I’ve actually never had it like this in a restaurant. They bring it out in a wooden container with food handler gloves for you to roll up. LEGIT.
— (fire chicken): We decided to get this after seeing their framed review near the bathroom. It takes a long time to make but luckily another group got tired of waiting and cancelled their order… so we got theirs (puahahah). It’s hellza spicy but really good with the rice balls.
— (Makgeolli): Served the right way… in a wooden bowl with a ladle.
Thanks for being open and for dealing with 6 rowdy ladies.
CHEERS.