Korean Express

I had a hard time finding this place as it is now called Silk Road express.
Great bi bim bab!

Cures the Korean kick at least for a couple of days, it’s quick for lunch n VERY affordable!
The portion sizes are huge as well for the big eaters like myself. Please note that this isn’t the most ethnic place put there they are quick n basically like Chinese mall food but Korean. The bibimbap (veg) was really good, mounds of fresh veggies with brown rice n glass noodles. They top it with sesame oil n their signature hot sauce.
The portion size was sooo big I couldn’t even eat it all! Of course i ate all my veggies though! ;) I was surprised and it’s all for 5.50! I’ll become a weekly regular fo sho!

It’s a decent place to grab Korean lunch if you work near the area. If you have time to explore the city for good to exceptional Korean food, this place is not for you.
–Food–
The bibimbap is pretty good but not the best I’ve had. All the components were delicious, but the chicken was sort of suspect. I do recommend getting the egg on top (Premium Bibimbap). The serving of bibimbap is huge! Enough to feed 2 – 3 people. I’ve had the Bibimbap three times and it stayed pretty consistent.
A co-​worker of mine had the Beef Bulgogi and said it was delicious. I’ll have to try it next time I go in.
–Service–
The people were pretty helpful to the co-​workers I came in with. Explaining each one of the food items to them without trying to rush them.

Yukgaejang (spicy beef and veggie soup): 3.5÷5 for a good spiciness but a slight lack of flavor. The veggies were a tad overcooked but it was a great soup nonetheless. Good as maybe an accompaniment but not as a main dish.
Pork bulgogi: very tasty, but a lot of rice and slightly less meat that I would have liked. 4.5÷5
Beef bulgogi: Amazing! ⁵⁄₅
Overall, very good in terms of fast Korean food. I plan on trying the ramyun and bibimbap in the future. Pretty decent prices!

Feeling a little sick today, so stepped in with some kind of hot soup dish in mind. Settled on their jampong, a Korean spicy seafood soup. After I paid I asked the Korean lady at the counter (who must have been an owner of sorts) if they had any Chinese tea or similar hot drinks. She then replied saying they didn’t have any but she was kind enough to go into the kitchen to get me a glass of some of her own green tea leaves free of charge!
The dish was pretty good but of course not very authentic, being a «Korean fast food» place. But my experience today will definitely keep me coming back. Now if they would only start actually serving hot green tea!

Thank God for this place!
Ok, the food may not be the BEST traditional Korean food, that’s for sure… BUT for a lunch spot, to get a quick and cheap and delicious meal, this is the place. In fact, I don’t know of any other Korean lunch places in the area. Think «Panda Express» Korean style.
They have a lunch combo that is LOADED with food. Too much food actually. However, it’s always hard for me to decide whether I want noodles or bulgoki or kaibi… With this dish, you get it all… and then have more for later!
The ladies that work behind the counter are friendly as can be and are always enthused to serve.
If you’ve never tried Korean, don’t do it here. lol Go out somewhere nice but when you get those cravings while sitting in a cube, you’ll definitely want to check this place out.

I was introduced to kalbi earlier this year while camping with some of my closest Korean friends, and I have been HOOKED since then.
And when I found Korean Express just a block away from my office Downtown… I was thrilled and exhilarated at the same time. It’s been a few months now… and I am still excited about going to lunch there these days.
Yes, this place servers other Korean delicacies like bulgoki and kimchee, but I strictly go there to get my kalbi fix. They don’t skimp either, so for that I love them.
I did however try their Chinese counterpart (Lai Lai) last week and I was actually satisfied as well. The portions were good and the sesame chicken I ordered was passable.
I think I will stick to my kalbi from now on though!

I’ve passed by this place many times, and always kind of ignored it due to its plain exterior. Luckily, Unilocal directed me to check out one of the few (if not the only?) Korean places in the southern Loop area. All the signs plastered about promoting their healthy bibimbap had me choose that over the chop chae. It was a decent price for all the food you get, though having to pay extra for beef and brown rice was a bit of surprise (some older reviews list the brown rice as a free sub).
Like I said, there was a lot of food, and I was happy to get a giant helping of veggies. The hot sauce gave it a good kick, though the beef itself wasn’t anything special… it kind of requires the sauce. I’m happy to add it to my list of loop lunch destinations, though.

Yukejang. Period.
This is the only reason I go to Korean Express and the only reason I chose to write a review. Others are correct, the bulgoki and dol sot bibimbap are indeed delicious; for what they are: Korean fast food. They definitely do not compare to the Korean restaurant experience of slow cooked-​to-​order dol sot or bulgoki but they are definitely a good lunch substitute.
The BEST time to go here is on a cold Winter’s day. Cold day + HOT yukejang (spicy beef soup served with rice) = warm fuzzies. Hands down the absolute best thing I have eaten here.
Yukejang all Winter long, baby! Giggidy!

Though the bulgogi and bibimbap with kimchi lunch special portions is not bad for less than $ 8, it’s missing something. First, there probably wasn’t enough meat in the bulgogi. But the meat wasn’t as tender nor flavorful as I expected. I can at least attribute it to not having been sauteed with enough onions, and tastes somewhat boiled. Maybe it’s also because I’ve been spoiled by the Korean restaurants of LA.
On the plus side, they give you a lot of veggies for the bibimbap, and overall, it’s not as greasy as some other places.

Great service, good food and the price can’t be beat for lunch in the loop. I generally stick with the jabche or the chicken bulgoki. The only downside is both dishes have a pretty strong smell which may get you dirty looks from your coworkers.
Most dishes run about $ 6 – 7 but you could easily save some for the next day with the amount of food you’re given. Now if we could just get rid of the styrofoam containers…

For under $ 6, I got an almost comically large bowl of bibimbap with a wide array of components of varying degrees of consumability in it:
–white rice: unremarkable but tasty nonetheless
–zucchini and carrots: delicious; the best component of the meal
–onions and mushrooms: slimy with a strange taste and texture
–bean sprouts: somewhat thin and not at all crunchy
–lettuce: unremarkable
–chicken in sauce: subpar; low quality meat
I have had bibimbap before. I did not like the gochujang (hot sauce) on this bowl as much as I have in the past. I enjoyed about the first 50% of this meal before the novelty of infrequently eaten korean food wore off. As I have been known to do, I kept eating. Now, half an hour after finishing, I somewhat regret this meal. I will probably not be back to Korean express… I think Crisp up in Lincoln Park is far superior in terms of quality of ingredients and I am willing to pay the extra dollar or two for that.
This would be a good place to go if you wanted to buy a meal for that homeless guy on the corner but don’t want to just give him $ 6 because he’ll spend it on booze instead.

I literally screamed when I saw the words «Korean Express» while hunting for a lunch spot in the area. It was like a sign from the Korean food gods. (Hah! A sign. get it?)
With my eyes sparkling and my stomach gurgling, I wanted to order everything. The «Ask for Vegetarian Specials» poster certainly didn’t help the hunger. The food didn’t look too bad on the heaters. The Bibimbap is obviously their most popular dish. I would’ve ordered it, but they offer tofu soup. An awesome spicy vegetarian soup that could only be found in Albany Park. For a small, light lunch I had a small cup of the soup, kimchi, white rice, and a drink. It costed less than $ 5 including tax.
As for the quality of food, it was average (to below-​average for the kimchi). I was more than aware that the food is the equivalent of Panda Express for Chinese, so I wasn’t disappointed. The food can be filling, and it doesn’t cause post-​meal guilt (think McDonald’s). The rice was cooked perfectly (light, but dense?). The tofu soup consisted mostly of broth, but it’s more substantial when eaten with rice. The kimchi vegetables were chewy and hard. Maybe I got a bad scoop. Seriously though, if I wanted top-​notch Korean food, then I’ll go to Albany Park. That’s not quite practical for anyone working or going to school in the Loop.
If you’re tired of Jimmy John’s, Au Bön Pain, and Chipotle, try Korean Express. It may not be the best place to introduce anyone to Korean food, but it will satisfy your temporary craving for it. How can you go wrong? It’s cheap (maybe even cheaper than Subway), fresh, and the menu is written in English. I’m hoping that they’ll expand their menu, open more locations and become a franchise. Is that wrong of me?

As a Korean, I’m jaded. Sometimes I have the Craving… and no, not for White Castle, but for Korean food. So I got to this place when nothing else will spiritually fill my gullet aside from food from the country of my mother’s native tongue.
With that out of the way, the food is good enough that I keep coming back. Compared to my mother’s cooking, atrocious… but for some reason I keep coming back.
Korean Express is like the low self-​esteem girl that has a crush on me that I’m always trying to get away from. But as the days between my last Korean meal get bigger and bigger… the craving sets in. I eat it, and it fills a void and at first I’m happy. But then I feel real dirty afterwards and have to take a shower with my clothes on while holding my knees and rocking gently back an forth.
So in summary. Order the bim-​bim bap.
And are those ladies Chinese or Korean? Cuz I could swear I’m hearing both coming from them.

I am a huge fan of the bibimbahb here. Of course this little place isnt the same as eating at a real korean restaurant, but this is as close as it gets for downtown chicago without having to go way north. I love the spicy pork! The veggies and the meat have lots of flavors. I am not a fan of rice, but their white rice is delicious! Make sure to get the spicy sauce and the sesame oil. This is a sit down place and if you dont want to buy a soda or a drink, they have complimentary cups where you can get free hot or cold water.

Korean Express just because you have a sign that say healthy food on the wall does not make your food healthy.
Anyway, Korean food is not on my list of food I have a taste for or even think about. With that said my exceptions where low. I ordered the sweet potatoes fried noodles, which where decent. I was going to get the lunch special since that seems like a good deal but I couldn’t find the menu that featured the lunch special items.
If your looking to try something different for lunch give Korean Express a try but its nothing special.

I may be slightly more critical on Korean Express as I frequent so many Korean restaurants. This place is good to placate a craving for Korean food but that’s pretty much it. I would never seek it out on my own and the convenience of its close proximity to my work is why I go here. However, I do enjoy their kimchi bibimbap and the people who work there seem pretty nice. Good place to go with co-​workers who want Chinese too since Lai Lai shares the same space.

This place is fantastic. I got the lunch special which is basically an enormous portion of nearly everything they sell all piled into one container for $ 7.99 (rice, 4 – 5 types of korean veggies, kalbi, choice of bulgogi, chap chae, and mandu). It is enough food for 4 meals, but it tastes so good that it only ended up being 2! The food was deliciously flavored and still tasted great cold the next day.
You know on Korean television when people mix up all their leftovers and zealously shovel it in their mouths with cries of delight? I never really understood how that food could taste good… until now.

Ahh the Jabche and Bibimbop without meat is excellent. With the Bibimbop you get a huge tin of all sorts of fresh veggies with rice (brown!) and noodles and optional hot sauce squirted on top. Total YUM! The Jabche is a densely packed bowl of noodley goodness. The menu is small but that’s ok cause it does me just fine.
Yay for Korean express! It’s a bit of a walk for me from work but it’s totally worth it!

Awesome for the price. I go to the new one on 15 W Jackson. I’m a big fan of their bibimbob and silken tofu soup. The veggie serving in the bibimbob is FANTASTIC — it’s like two days worth of vegetables in one meal, and it’s all raw. And they have brown rice. I don’t like the flavoring in the chicken much, but the spicy sweet sauce they serve with bibimbob covers it up. It’s cheap, for sure, and could be better. But it’s definitely the best thing you can get for $ 5 in the Loop — it’s rich in veggies and fiber and flavor and is low in fat. Very satisfying — it’s pretty rare to find «comfort food» type dishes in a fast food joint.
Enjoy a nice BM after!