Y2K Cafe

this place is like that trick card you’ve had tucked into your shirt-​sleeve all along.
Y2K serves simple chinese and japanese dishes. this review focuses on their sushi servings.
i don’t know why i had never dropped in, especially given its stellar location. however, one fateful, slow, beautiful sunday night. i stepped in with a ravenous friend expecting something short of mediocre take on pan-​asian food. This is generally my philosophy on places that don’t specialize in any one cuisine. My friend ordered the spicy salmon and some sort of crunch maki while i ordered the spicy hamachi roll. They took a while to come out, but my guess now is because they were being perfected! =) all of these rolls are very simple, however, most places don’t really wow me with their versions. Y2K’s was flavorful, the perfect size, and the sushi rice was tightly packed. all in all, this is my new go-​to for quick take-​out sushi.
btw, this is my first post everr! also, i pretty much always only rate the quality of the food, service is mostly an afterthought. so if you don’t have the perfect experience there, focus on the food!

I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed these guys already. I thought Y2K was one of the first I did!
I –love– this place, I was lucky to discover them back in January of 2001, and they had me at hello! MY absolute favorites are Empress Chicken, Garlic Chicken, they have the BEST hot and sour soup in all of Chicago, and their crab rangoons are tied for my all time favorites. Pot stickers, egg rolls, szcheuan wontons, the teriyaki chicken and beef kabobs are fantastic. I hate seafood so I can’t tell you about that part of their menu, but I have eaten literally everything they make over the years, and it is all incredible!
I have ordered thousands and thousands of dollars from Y2K over the years, and never had a bad experience. I’ve also ordered them for work, and even had them cater a party, all to rave reviews from my guests!

Ordered from Y2K last night after a few letdowns with Nan’s. Not too shabby, I must say. Went off the reviews and ordered the potstickers, a large miso, philly roll and the inari.
Potstickers were pretty yummy and were even decent heated up the next day. The best part though was that they came with a few dipping sauces (soy, a sweeter teriyaki-​ish sauce, and what appeared to be a chili sauce). I combined all three and whisked together — excellent!
The miso soup was probably the best miso I have ever had in my entire life. Now you might be snickering thinking, «what? it’s just miso, how hard can it be?» but let me tell you… I love miso soup. I could drink/​eat it for the rest of my life and die happy. Small simple pleasure. Anyway. miso at a lot of places can be a bit watery, but the soup at Y2K was pretty thick… had a cloudy appearance and a thicker consistency which I’m pretty sure comes from the soybean paste but I’m really not an expert on how Y2K makes theirs. There was also a TON of tofu in it which was a major bonus and the seaweed was cooked well and there weren’t too many scallions but the ones that were in there melded with the soup (as opposed to tasting like someone just chucked them in and were still completely raw).
The inari was very very tasty as well but the philly maki was… eh. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but the pieces were cut so large I could barely fit it in my mouth. The rolling was ok. a bit messy. The fish itself was tasty although I have to say — and this is just a matter of opinion here — but doing a Philly with avocado and cream cheese just makes for a mushy roll. I know, I know… it can be avocado or it can be cucumber but they chose avocado here and they should really go for the cukes.
Anyway… delivery was super speedy and the place is cheap (25 including the delivery fee and the tip). Also, I left a little note on my order (via
) to include a to go menu and they included one. Small detail but I like getting what I ask for — some places forget these things even though you specifically request.
All in all, I’m very satisfied. Goodbye Nan’s, hello Y2K.

What a beautiful atmosphere with huge open windows and on a nice day, there’s a breeze, Such a friendly staff, Frances always greets us with a big smile. I will definitely be a regular here, the sushi is awesome, the sushi bar is so cute! Prices are very reasonable, in a nice quiet neighborhood where we always find parking within a block or so. If it’s within a few miles of you, and you’re craving some classic chinese favorites, then definitely make the trip, or order out, it’s very well worth it.
Also, we had an excellent dessert, banana tempura with green tea ice cream, would have been better with chocolate, but pretty awesome anyhow. I could have just eaten the ice cream alone and been happy.
I’m always happy when I leave here.

My cravings for sizzling rice soup go way, way back. I blame my parents, who would order this clear-​broth concoction of goodness every time we ate at our favorite local Chinese restaurant. The waitress would bring the big bowl of soup to the table and toss in the square rice patties just before serving, giving it the sizzle factor while automatically invoking my salivary glands.
After moving from home, I’ve spent many a Chinese meal searching for a restaurant that would measure up to the memories and taste of the sizzling rice soup I knew and loved as a child. Over multiple state lines, my search continued. Through my searching, I discovered:
A – Sizzling rice soup wasn’t a common offering
B – When offered, it fo’ shizzle didn’t sizzle!
That is, until I discovered Y2K. I had walked by the restaurant a number of times before going in, and even sampled a few other area Chinese restaurants first due to their curb appeal. Plus the name (which I associated with a scary bug) confused me a bit.
How young and naïve I was. Six years later, whenever I need a cold weather warm-​up and a warm dose of chicken soup, Y2K is where I head. Sometimes it’s a meal in itself (the dish is made for 2, so I always have leftovers for the next day) and more often, it’s one piece of a bigger Y2K puzzle.
The potstickers are big, crispy and delicious. I order mine pan-​fried (hence the crisp), but they are also available steamed. Another favorite of mine is the Singapore noodles, which combine all of my favorites: rice noodles, curry, shimp, veggies and pork. My family has given their stamp of approval on the Y2K fried rice, sweet and sour shrimp, cashew chicken and mongolian beef. The sushi I’ve sampled was delicious, and my vegetarian friend that I introduced to the restaurant has been back multiple times. The only so-​so food I’ve had has been the egg rolls, which weren’t bad by any means. Service has always been good, prompt and courteous.
It’s been a while since I’ve eaten at the restaurant – the delivery and take out have been the best options as of late – but as the weather warms up and the Y2K café front windows are thrown open to the outside world, I am reminded that I must go back with a friend to introduce them to Y2K, fo’ shizzle.

Love eating there. I ask my wife if I can go almost every night. Black Pepper Beef is really good. Also they are friendly and treat you well when you are alone or in a group.

Well, it seems like almost all of chicago’s sushi joints are closed on mondays, so we stomped through the rain and made it to Y2K for some sushi/​chinese fixins.
Carrie’s been here before, said it was great, and that the hospitality is amazing. I haven’t been.
we were the only ones in there besides the couple in the back, which is fine, it was an awful cold raining cubs opening day.
i had the govenors chicken, it was unbelievable good. The sushi was delicious as well. AND THE PRICE, can’t beat it.
our waiter was totally sweet, nice young man, who made sure we were taken care of.
two thumbs up

Y2K has the fastest sushi delivery on the planet. They have a pretty decent selection and it’s all pretty good. We like about half of what we order from the regular menu — some of the items we just plain don’t like because the flavor isn’t what we expected or it is fatty. So if you’re not sure, stick to the sushi, rice dishes, and mmm smmmoothies.
We have eaten in as well, and the service was great. I especially liked the green plants throughout the place. However, we have been ordering delivery consistently from here for a year and we will continue to use it as our favorite local Chinese delivery place.

I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed this place yet! I have been a fan for years and returned yesterday because I was dying for their awesome crab rangoon. We had that as an appetizer and then ordered two of the $ 6.95÷7.95 lunch specials-​mixed vegetables with chicken and the garlic lovers shrimp. Both came with your choice of soup and a fresh egg roll. I love that their egg rolls are made fresh, not fried in bulk and left under a heat lamp for hours! I have placed huge delivery orders from them (30people) and have never been disappointed in the quality or freshness.

Very veggie friendly place. The rice paper spring rolls are offered veggie, shrimp, or chicken. I just wish they were lighter on the vermicelli and heavier on the greens.
They even have several veggie sushi options. I didn’t try any, but they are there. I wish I could tell you more about their sushi but I didn’t order any.
What I can tell you, is that delivery of 2 orders spring rolls, one order vegetables, one order chicken lo mein, and one order seaweed rolls was pretty good, we agreed. Executed flawlessly despite many cell phone break-​ups, and inclement weather conditions. I would do it again.

Terribly named but magically delicious. I’ve eaten a lot of goddamn sushi in this city and Y2K still remains as one of my favorite places to do so. Both delivery and waiter service is quick and everyone is super friendly.
Now the décor isn’t much, but that’s being picky. Not to say the place is a hole in the wall, but I wouldn’t bring someone here to impress them. I don’t want to sell it short, Y2K Café would be a fine place to bring a date but maybe not the best place to bring, say, an out of town client.
Granted, they have the obligatory fish tank and random oriental crap tacked to the walls, I only mention this to contrast just how good the food is. I get the sense that’s really where they put their focus and it shows. Quite frankly I prefer it this way as they could easily rehab the dining area and charge 20% more than what they do now.
This is a good place to go if… you want the majority of your bill to go toward great food, not great décor.

Seriously? Did you have to go there? In my 9 years of eating my Chinese food staple of shrimp fried rice at this place, the recipe has changed, but peas and carrots never graced the dish. That is until last night. What were they thinking?!
Oh, but the taste of the dish has significantly improved. Despite the peas. EW.

This place is pretty decent. I love the open windows that you can sit next to, and I love that it’s a good place to go solo, if you want.
The wait staff was a little inattentive on the day I went, but I got the impression that it was a fluke occurence.
The only item I did not like was the edamame. I know it’s hard to screw up, but it tasted like lake water — don’t get it.

This is a solid Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood. I’ve never ordered delivery, only dined in, but my favorite thing about it is their willingness to customize dishes for you. Example, you want the delicious General Tso’s sauce but don’t want the chicken fried? They will happily do that for you. Also the chicken with honey garlic sauce was quite tasty and the broccoli and other vegetables seemed very fresh.
We were in late-​ish on a Friday and the service was pretty good, although the restaurant was pretty empty. Can’t comment on the reliability of service when its crowded, although everyone in the restaurant was very friendly.

Sheesh can’t believe I waited this long to try Y2K out. I think the reviews threw me off a bit so that’s why I put it off for so long. Now I’m kicking myself that I just didn’t try it out for myself months ago!
Cute restaurant that looks deceptively small on the outside but when you walk in seating goes all the way back and around with the kitchen being in the middle and the sushi bar off to one side.
To start off with the most important part… they have a full bar. Oh yeah! Score! Mai Tai’s baby… here I come! Actually it was the middle of the afternoon so I stuck to the Thai Iced Coffee. I usually like to save my drinking for after 4pm… unless it’s Friday and then I start at Noon.
Alright, got off track for a minute… the menu is a mix of Chinese and Sushi so we decided to get a a bit from both sides. We got Lunch Special A and Lunch Special B from the Sushi part of the menu. You get miso soup with your lunch specials… mmm the miso soup was nice and salty and had a generous amount of tofu. It started off good. I’m liking this. The Sushi was a California Roll, Spicy Tuna, a Crab Roll and pardon me but I forget what the fourth roll was but it was all really good and fresh.
From the Chinese part of the menu we decided to get the Pepper Steak. It looked like it was going to bring us to tears by the description as far as the heat. Mm, not so much. It had one jalapeño slice and the rest was bell peppers. I probably wouldn’t order that again. I mean it was good but nothing to write home about. Oh, with the Pepper Steak I also got the Hot and Sour soup. Oohooohooo was that ever good. We also split an eggroll and I have to say… it was pretty dern tasty. Crispy, greasy, yummy ingredients on the inside… everything you are looking for in an eggroll.
The server was a bit moody. You got the feeling that she was a family member that was forced to work that afternoon and the last thing she wanted to do was be there. But eh. whatever…I guess if I was 19 or so and my family made me come into work at the restaurant on a nice Saturday afternoon I’d be a bit pissy myself.
I plan on definitely going back to Y2k for dinner and some tasty drinks! Y2K is definitely worth checking out if you are in the area.

I’m giving an extra star for the fact that I am still ordering from here, seven years later. Really, this is probably a 3.
When I moved to Chicago I lived right around the corner from them and that’s how it all started. As many have pointed out already, there are definitely finer purveyors of Chinese food on the scene, no doubt. But I have always had good food from them, solidly tasty, and very reasonably priced. I love their hot and sour soup in particular. Generally I get something spicy with chicken … hunan, sometimes empress (note: just tried emperor’s, can’t recommend at all). Plenty of vegetables, tasty sauces and sticky rice, generous portions. Not really a fan of their egg rolls, but I am notoriously picky and possibly unpleasable there. Haven’t had the sushi but I should really try it.
The dine in experience is better in the summer, when the large windows are open onto Diversey and they have all the nice planters along the front. I will say the sushi bar has smartened it up a bit. Service can be a bit distracted and is sometimes downright slow. Delivery on the other hand has generally been swift and accurate.
I really must ask about the name.

Meh.

Chinese food = ew.
Sushi = yummy.
Milkshakes = yummy.
Service = great.
Almond cookies = yummy.
⁴⁄₅.

Many negative reviews here are about their Chinese food, and I partially agree about how they lack flavor. However, their sushi is excellent. If you want to come here, do it when you crave Japanese food.
The servers are really nice, too. Their almond cookies (which can be found at the front counter for 3/​$ 1) are really, really delicious!

My boyfriend and I frequently go to this restaurant because it is right by his house. We love the friendly staff (we’ve had the same server several times, and she is a DOLL!) and the window seating. We mainly go there for sushi and tempura. I love it, I think it’s delicious! We’ve had a couple Chinese dishes from there, too, and we have enjoyed those as well.
However, we got food delivered last week with a bunch of things in the order. I ordered miso soup, hot and sour soup, and the seaweed salad (so random, I know, but I was sick). The miso soup was awful! It was watery and bland, which was really disappointing. The hot and sour soup was decent. and they forgot to include my seaweed salad! They immediately sent out their delivery guy to bring it, which I appreciated, but by the time I got it, I didn’t even want it anymore.
Other than that last food delivery experience (which is why it’s not 4 or 5 stars), this place is great! It’s quiet and easy to have a conversation, which my boyfriend and I really look for in restaurants.