J K Sweets

I really like this place. I went here after a wedding reception last summer and had a bunch of dishes with friends, and the Korean lady (harimonee — grandma) behind the counter was very sweet and listened to me butcher the Korean language in front of my friends. Then just went back on and it was just her husband. Let me tell you, JK isn’t so sweet. He was very dry, unhelpful, and frankly crabby. The food was decent. The bibimbap was okay, and the bulgogi was ok. Would definitely order something different next time. Regardless, everyone should eat more Korean food. And one old haribogee (grandpa) can’t hold me down.

I’ve been here multiple times both before the ownership change and after. There really hasn’t been much of a difference. The bibimbap there is good, but in general the food is pretty average — it is a diner, albeit an Asian diner. They’re pretty fast and well-​priced, too. It’s also a really quiet place if you just want a peaceful meal or place to study.

Love u mister Sweets! Thank u for feeding me all of these years.
Got the spicy chicken wings which were always my favorite.
This place literally introduced me to Korean food.
Apparently they had sold shop in ’08 to someone, who ran it into the ground, so they bought it back last year. Very savvy JK! Good to have you back. Thx for recognizing me and saying hello after all these years. Flattered. (blushing emoticon)
Thank u guys for all the great service over all these years!
(obviously a biased review)

Almost everything edible in Evanston shuts down at 10pm. This is problematic when your lifestyle involves events that mostly happen at night (no, nothing like that, you dirty birdie!). And also if you don’t want any of the late night options of: Burger King, Taco Bell, pizza, wings, or a mammoth sandwich.
JK Sweets turned my skulking frown upside-​down tonight by making me an enormous beef bibimbop tonight. It comes with a side of miso soup and I added a side of kimchi. All neatly wrapped up for me to take home and eat within minutes. This isn’t the best Korean food in the world, but for a late-​night option within walking distance from my house? Totally acceptable and very much appreciated.

Good place to stop in if you’re looking for cheap, casual, and semi-​fast food Korean and you’re in Evanston area. Don’t expect fancy. We had Bulgogi (Korean beef) and pork katsu, each for $ 8.99. Both came with miso soup also. They also have various Edy’s ice creams for dessert, amongst other items.

Café JK sweet. This is like, what, the third management since I got here? And there were apparently more before that. I believe this last iteration was early 2011.
The food is Korean food, and it’s just ok. Everything is there on the bibimbap, but nothing on it is especially amazing. The omelette rice, aka omrice or omurice is fine, but the sauce on top is generic and doesn’t set it apart from something I could whip up myself. Tonkatsu is solid, but the pork isn’t especially tender or meaty or juicy, the breading isn’t especially crispy, and the sauce could be out of the bottle for how impressive it is. I do enjoy that, like the previous owners, they randomly serve steamed vegetables with all their dishes, with teriyaki sauce drizzled on top. It would be nice if they switched to the appropriate accompaniment, eg. raw jullienned cabbage for tonkatsu.
I was excited because they briefly had Korean pastries like red bean filled buns, but they’ve stopped carrying them. Would’ve saved me a trip out of Evanston. The ice cream is still fine though, and shockingly not-​freezer burned for how old is must be.
I suspect their seollangtang and yukaejang (both soups) are quite good, but I’ll have to make another trip there, and I don’t know if it’s really all that worth it

I used to frequent this place a lot with my brother when he was at NU. Always at some weird hour of the day, and always ordering the same thing– the bibimbop, which comes with miso soup on the side.
Big portions, pretty cheap, hard-​working mom and pop shop with hard working staff… you really gotta love a joint like this. It’s got a good story for what it lacks in looks, and a solid filling meal for what it lacks in ambiance. I went back here with my parents for lunch after years of being away, and it’s still a keeper.

I was looking for a fast and cheap place to grab lunch with my SO. J.K. Sweets was convenient for both of us so we decided to take a risk. The atmosphere was definitely fast food-​like but the lady who took our order was sweet and helpful. I wanted something simple so I just ordered chicken fried rice and my SO got a bibimbap burger.
My fried rice was more like oil-​drenched rice. It was too oily and bland to really enjoy. The miso soup that came with it was not terribly appetizing, so I ended up not eating much. The bibimbap burger was meh as well. We saw some other people ordering very different dishes and they seemed to be enjoying it, but what we got wasn’t fantastic.

As a korean myself who grew up eating korean food… JK Sweets is passable… Its not the best korean food Ive ever eaten… nor is it the worst. On the days that I crave for some kimchi or anything with gochujang… or at least something with a nostalgic taste of home JK Sweets is where I go…
The bulgogi and the bibimbap are actually pretty good…
The atmosphere is interesting to say the least with occasional old K-​Pop and random elevator music playing from an old boom box… The décor looks cheap and abominable… Although, some people might like this?

FOOD:
For not being a Korean, this is pretty good Korean fast-​food. Even my Korean friends think so. Bibimbap is most popular among my friends and I, although they could be a little more generous with the meat. Omelette rice is pretty good — rice is somewhat chewy but that’s how I like it. Their desserts (surprisingly) never really tried, except the ice cream. Cookies look delicious, not sure how long they’ve been there though.
ATMOSPHERE:
It’s fast, friendly service, and family-​owned. Clean, but somewhat cafeteria-​like.

This is my favorite Korean place in Evanston — of course I don’t know of any other :-) .
I only order one dish, the Bibimbap (with tofu) which I find to be delicious.
The owners are extremely friendly and the service is always fast.

This place has sentimental value to me, because I’ve been here so often, the owner asks us if we want the usual (galbi and spicy ramyun with extra beef). Both are excellent. I would recommend all of their Korean food.
The other stuff, I’ve really never tried, but they do have lots of ice cream choices and a dessert selection, if you dare. But I wouldn’t; just go for the Korean food.

4 things you should know about JK Sweets:
1. It’s a pretty basic place for Korean cuisine.
2. They have brown rice! (+50 cents)
3. The interior didn’t always look like this. The last time I came in here must have been about 3 years ago, when the walls weren’t so gray, the shared wall between JK and Clark’s was floor to ceiling windows, and there weren’t tons of fake flowers adorning the perimeter of the café.
4. I can’t remember the last time I dined in here and did not order the bibimbop. Give it a try!

This is decent place for a quick lunch in the area, if you have a craving for more authentic Asian food. I agree that the bim bim bap is just okay; I’ve had better luck with some of their other entrees in the past.

There is something terribly charming about this unassuming place, despite the inconsistent décor and unappealing fluorescent lights. They sell cookies, pie and cake, ice cream*, milkshakes and smoothies, American sandwiches and soups, and Korean and Japanese entrees.
The owner lady (Hannah?) is the sweetest woman ever. Some friends and I were changing the back wheel of a bike for a long time right outside JK Sweets, and she came out to see how we were doing (not to shoo us away).
Their hours aren’t listed on the door and they will stay open if there are customers, but in general JK Sweets closes around 2am every night. During the pre-​Christmas season, they played nothing but Christmas songs over the radio. My friends were waxing nostalgic. (I, alas, did not have a childhood characterized by Christmas carols.)
The bibimbap is big and yummy, the miso soup is decent, the wings are meh, and the grilled cheese is pretty bad (but if you crave bland traditional American food not made by you, there’s nowhere else better/​cheaper). I also enjoy the free self-​serve water cooler at the counter.
Especially for the entrees, JK Sweets is not cheap, considering the café environment. But it’s open late and where the hell else are you going to find Korean food within walking distance? It’s Evanston; even with all the sushi places around, you’d be lucky even to find 3 people walking around who can correctly pronounce «miso.»
* Including, as someone else mentioned, Green Tea Edy’s ice cream, ALL THE TIME!

J.K. Sweets is the perfect place to go for a group of friends, who, at 1 am, can’t decide on what they want to eat because half of them want dinner and the other half want dessert. Actually, I take that back. J.K. Sweets is a great place to go at any time of day!
I’ve been eating at J.K. for years because of its versatile menu, ambiance and great hours. Their menu includes ice cream scoops and sundaes, cookies, pie, milkshakes, smoothies and for real food, Korean and Japanese options.
Of the entrée menu items, I’ve tried the bibimbop, beef bulgogi (during the «beef-​eating» phase of my life), beef bulgogi sandwich (again, during the «beef» days, and surprisingly yummy as a sandwich), and chicken torikatsu. Each of these dishes comes with miso soup as a starter.
My favorite out of those dishes is the bibimbop, which I ask to be made with brown rice for an extra 50 cents (the dish itself being about $ 7). It’s such a healthy dish that covers all of your basic food groups with its ingredients: meat, bean sprouts, green veggies, rice, over easy egg, and red Asian hot sauce. The portions are huge and I can never finish it all in one go.
For desserts, J.K. is the only ice creamery in the Chicago area (that I know of) that regularly carries Edy’s green tea ice cream. Yum!
And to top off why I love this place: I also celebrated my birthday here for the reason I stated in my intro. My friends and I had a great time here, talking and eating whatever we ordered. To my surprise, one of my friends must have told the manager it was my birthday because she gave me a three scoop sundae! Awesome!
I LOVE THIS PLACE! And it’s getting more crowded every time I visit, unsurprisingly, because others love it too.

Srsly. The owner’s name is clearly J.K. Sweet. Of course he makes delicious food.
This is one of those creepy places that cannot possibly have all of the foodstuffs to make any item on the menu at anytime. Don’t be dissuaded by their bizarre, ramshackle, possibly play-​food dessert case. They always have bibimbop and miso soup, and believe it or not, that is all you ever need in life.
Nothing is more relaxing than sitting all by yourself in J.K. Sweet at dusk, listening to an jazzy reimagining of «Livin’ La Vida Loca» and being served a gigantic bowl of goodness. Oh, no, I lied. Covering said dish of in korean hot sauce is like the proverbial reach-​around, but for your mouth. Delicious.
So now you can go, and you and I can sit alone, together, mouthing the words to an elevator-​version of «Maneater». Where do they even find… never mind.

This is a place where it looks pretty weird, and gives off a strange-​vibe from the outside… but get over it and step into this Evanston gem.
A Japanese /​Korean restaurant that offers FRESH food at a good price. Their BBQ selection is phenomenal — BBQ chicken galbi is out of this world. Quite frankly, why bother ordering anything else? (the bbq bulgogi is good too).
Each order comes with a serving of miso soup, bowl of rice, and a side of veggies on top of your good-​sized meat portion. They offer smoothies, icecream, cookies, and basically all these other random-​a$$ things that one wouldn’t expect. But it adds a certain charm and uniqueness to this place.
I’ve been coming here for many years and it has been consistent for a long time.

This is an ice cream store where I’ve never had ice cream. It’s really a Korean restaurant that has a good ice cream selection.
Yes you can get all the Korean stuff you’ve ever wanted like bibimbap to noodles. But you really should get the beef bulgogi sandwich. Now wait… get the bulgogi on pita bread. with swiss cheese. It’s kinda a ‘one sandwich to unite the world’ thing. It is absolutely incredible. Beyond words.

You go there fully equipped for an ice cream/​candy spree, yet from the outside you see a bunch of fake, plastic noodles and rice dishes on display — similar to the ones you find at Joy Yee’s. Half of the store is a candy shop with coffee, sandwiches, ice cream, cakes and other sinful treats, while the other half is a Korean/​Japanese restaurant serving home-​style meals. You order everything at the cashier before taking a seat. Interesting, eh?
Their ice cream and desserts are what makes this place attractive for most customers. (+4 stars) The food, on the other hand, is mediocre… nothing special, nothing fancy… and I don’t drink their miso soup. (–2 stars) Chicken galbi is passable, while Chicken teriyaki is not. Oddly enough, I’ve seen some people self-​serve white rice by walking into the kitchen themselves. I guess the owner/​chef is cool with it?
We go there only when it’s really late and no other place is open. (It’s open til 1am…+1 star) In terms of cleanliness and comfort level, you need to somehow justify… I’m definitely not a fan of their chairs and the overall décor.
Great staff, though. The old man behind the counter is always quite friendly.