Joy & James Cafe

I ordered the advertised fried chicken and the egg rolls and to my surprise I didn’t like either. Best fried chicken in town? I don’t know. may be but is it so much better than Popeyes? I don’t think so. I asked for the garlic rice which they didn’t have.
Very slow, cash only.

If you want authentic fried chicken (it’s the owners grandma’s recipe and you have to get it). Try the egg roll through their very good I highly recommend the garlic rice too.
I think it’s only Filipino restaurant that has chicken rolls, try those too. This place is been here for 18 years and I think the family does a great job you won’t be disappointed.

I saw this place had high reviews. I popped in yesterday for lunch, walked out wondering how a place could have scored such high reviews. Honestly, not a fan of he service or the place let alone the food. My boyfriend enjoyed his garlic rice and fried chicken. I wasn’t a fan of the chicken skins and found them to be too fried for my taste, with the texture of potato chips. I ordered a Buko Drink and leche flan. Both, they seemed to be out of. Eggrolls however were delicious.

This is the best fried chicken ever!
If you can not eat in, take it to go: but take it, don’t miss out. Byob

I Unilocal searched «fried chicken» in our area, hoping to be inspired. Joy & James came up and I bookmarked it. A couple weeks later, my dude and I were driving home and starving, decided to give it a go.
I ran in and while I wanted to try other stuff, we felt like we HAD to get fried chicken. I suggested to my dude that we get one half chicken and one order of something else and he looked horrified and said, «what if the chicken is awesome and we only have ONE HALF?!». Fair enough.
8 minutes of walking in the door, I was walking out with two orders of half fried chicken and garlic rice.
We got home and dug in. It was good. Really good. I was a little disappointed in the size of the chicken. Definitely on the small side. But still really good.
I’m surprised there are complaints here about the service. The two people working there when I was in were both very friendly and professional.
I’m looking forward to going back in and trying other things!

Very Unapproachable people!!! unbelievable!!!I’ve been here couple times but it was better before. when aling joy was still there. after a couple years I stopped by to order something they dont even know how to entertain their customers right. Rude!!!tsk tsk same thing when you order on the phone!! and when i tried the tapa they didnt cook it right. GRoss!!!If you guys dont know how to manage a business please just close it!!!

I came in and felt as if I was walking inside my grandparents kitchen and was immediately greeted. Joy greeted me with her awesome Filipino accent just like my grandmother. Anyways, in my opinion its one of the best tasting fried chicken you can have in the city that comes with rice or fries and a soda can, all for about $ 5. haven’t tried any of their other selections so I cant say too much about that. I came here late in the afternoon on a weekday and it was pretty empty so I waited 5 minutes max for my food. The parking is a hit or miss because its right off Lawrence but I had no issues. I am definitely coming back for more of that damn chicken.

They have GREAT tasting food, you may have noticed I am white and wonder how I can be such a good judge of filipino food? Well I have been to the Philipinnes like 8 times and lived there for almost 10 months straight. I have been to all parts of the Philippines whereas some of my pinoy/​pinay (filipina/​filipino) friend have never been off their island until they came to America. I have been to the North and South and many places inbetween.
I liked the comment card bulletin board. I made a comment «When customers pay upfront with a credit card, and tip, you should bring the food too them. On Unilocal (I noticed your Unilocal! sticker on the door) there is additional questions drop-​down list which askes Waiter Service Yes or No? I will have to say now for you and so will your other reviewers. This hurts business and makes you seem like a fast food counter rather than a sit down and be served place. Bringing the food to the table side is just a short treck around your counter. You will make a lot more in tips come the end of the day too (I promise!) «I also mentioned the should use plates. Believe it or not, its cheaper to use plates, a dishwasher (machine or human) and dishsoap, even with the occasional breakage, compared to using styrofoam which has to be constantly bought and discarded.
Rice came with the meal but much of the bottom of the styrofoam could be seen making the portion size «appear» smaller than it was. While the rice presentation was nice (obviosuly in a cup shape and tipped upside down) it would be better to spread it out and make the portions «appear» more generous.
I loved the stand-​alone hand washing station near the door, I think all eateries should have these!
In closing, the fact that you DELIVER is AWESOME! However, when we stopped in one day we heard you dont deliver on Saturday because your driver is off. I would advise you to be consistant, the customers like dependability and they will always call you first as long as you continue to be so.
Best of luck on all your future endeavors.
Angelo, (I apologize in advance for typos, no time to spell check)

I don’t know why anyone has given this place four or more stars. It is a Filipino, family owned restaurant. I’m guessing most people order takeout because although it does have a few tables, it has all of the ambience of the local Jiffy Lube waiting room. I was not greeted when I walked in. When I asked for a recommendation, the man at the counter suggested the fried chicken. What I got was a smallish, rather dry, unbreaded half-​chicken served with a scoop of plain white rice, two sweet sauces, and a bottle of water for about $ 6. This place gets two stars because nothing was offensively bad, but it was completely unremarkable.

Went here today and tried the Filipino fried chicken and braised beef special. Both came with a side of white rice, a piece of cheesecake, and a can of soda. I have only tried the chicken so far. The chicken was very good. Crispy and the batter had a nice seasoning. Highly recommended!

OMG, the Christmas ham was delicious! My friend ordered it and I went with her to pick it up so that we could bring it to our Christmas Eve dinner. The meat was so juicy! The skin was crispy. It was the best ham I’ve ever had.

«Want fried chicken?!»
That’ll be the first words your hear from a lovely owners of this store /​restaurant. This is a Filipino store /​fast-​food carryout that does fried chicken and a couple other things… quite good I might add. Of course, I came here for the Half-​Fried Chicken which came with rice and a side of some sweet chili sauce for $ 4.50! Not only was the price very reasonable, the chicken was crispy and tasty as well. I’ve also tried their Crispy Pata, which she fried back up to make it warm and crispy again… hmmmm, that was good!
Overall, good food, good prices, okay service. Will definitely go back again for more!

I’ve had this spot bookmarked for a while now and decided to finally check it out. Am so glad I did.
Anyone who reads my reviews knows I am a big fan of the delightful little ethnic gems that pepper the city. Well Joy’s Café is one of those spots.
When I first walked in the door, I thought it was more of an old junk shop, but a sharp turn to the left revealed the counter and a few tables. Fascination drew me in like a moth to a flame. A little old Filipino lady popped up from behind the counter and asked if I wanted chicken. I said yes and she disappeared without further comment. She returned a few minutes later with ½ a fried chicken and rice to go. Then she proceeded to give me tastes of a variety of items she had prepared. Now, I have to admit I am a sucker for personal attention like that. She probably could have sold me half the store as she tempted my taste buds.
I ended up getting some pork filled buns, a Filipino dessert and a jar of marinated mango or papaya or something like that. The chicken was good, not the best I have had but a solid good. The stuffed buns were really great and the rest of the treats remain to be eaten.
I am developing at taste for Filipino food!!! I love Joy’s place!!!

So, a bunch of chicken-​seeking Unilocalers walk into this cramped little grocery store that is jam packed with a bunch of eccentrically organized stuff — canned quail eggs, sauces, toiletries, boxes of model cars — just.stuff.
A cute little old lady, «Joy», is sitting down at one of the two tables eating, looks us up and down real quick and between bites of the noodles she herself cooked and said: «You want fried chicken» in a way that is half a question and half statement, like «Of course you want some fried chicken, because my fried chicken is the shit. Here, let me get it for you.»
Then, with straight up house slippers on her feet, like this is her house (Is it her house???) she just begins to deluge us with samples of food (mung bean pastries, the pancit she was eating earlier, etc), stories about how she’s been making the same fried chicken recipes for the past 30 years, first in the Phillapines and for the last 10 years here, and the secret story about how she’s really not Joy, but she doesn’t feel like having the same conversation over and over again, so instead she’s just like «Yeah, I’m Joy. Whatever… You want some chicken?»
So the chicken? Juicy and marinated tasting, with a very light, not battered fry — like maybe dredged in a bit of flour, but no egg wash, etc. The crust ends up light in color, very thin and crispy. It seems like maybe the whole chicken is fried and then cut up, because it is cut up, more like a rotissere chicken would be. The pancit was good — super thin noodles with chicken and vegetables — I put peanut sauce on it when I got home, but if you want that, I bet they have a bottle of it in there — they have EVERYTHING in there…
You’d have to pretty uptight to not find this place joyful, even if that’s not her name.
(Stop #4 on the Great Fried Chicken Crawl of Chicago.)
PS — that barefooted baby running around in there was mine. My bad.

Joy is a kind little lady, she gives you free food, hefty samples, and even shows you pictures of cute filipinas! I have never gotten the fired chicken but have tried almost everything else, and for about 4 bucks with a nice side of rice and 2 small entrees it is a steal. I’d go for the tocino, mini rolls, and baklaklak? Not sure how to spell it. The locale itself is EXTREMELY small and crowded with goods, ranging from mexican canned peppers to asian treats. I’d recommend it for a quick, cheap bite of phillippine food.

This isn’t your typical café… its more of a filipino grocery store/​filipino restaurant. There are only like 3 tables in the middle of the store/​restaurant. Very unorganized and kinda messy. You say… well why even 3 stars? Well it has the Best fried chicken in the city. I prefer it over Popeyes, KFC, Brown’s, etc. You get half a chicken fried to perfection, nice and juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside and tasty throughout every bite. You get 2 scoops of white fluffy rice, or if you prefer, french fries. All this for under $ 5. Then they’ll have a few filipino dishes to choose from, but I only go in here for the chicken or some filipino spices or sauces. They have weird hours and I know for sure they are closed on sundays and mondays. So if you ever get the chance, stop in here and see the friendly Joy and ask her to hook you up with the famous chicken.