Hal Mae Bo Ssam

great place for korean… great banchan

the quality of this restaurant has… just nosedived.
for a korean restaurant to not even include banchan (side-​dishes) despite ordering 5 dishes is beyond excusable. and, their bread-​and-​butter pork and napa cabbages… the ratio of meat to cabbage was 3 to 1, where it should be more like 2 to 3. the oyster-​infused sauce for the pork? nonexistant.
avoid at all costs until they get their act together.

Worst.dining.experience.ever!
First off, as several people said. the service was AWFUL! Preferential service given to those of Korean descent, which we are not.
When we arrived, the waitress didn’t bother to give us all menus, so we had to ask. The food was literally dumped on our table, no explanation of foods whatsoever. We asked for a few moments to review the menu, only to be met with «you done yet?»
The food — sucked! I’ve eaten better. Overpriced bland crap and we will never, ever EVER be back again. Train your staff to be better at waiting tables, explain menus and not just walk away when we have questions about the menu. Don’t even get me started on how sick I felt after eating there.
I for sure will never, ever go here again.

I came here to eat Potato Stew with spicy pork. The overall taste was good but I have to say, there is a lot of MSG or Mono sodium glutamate. Tasted great. Was very dizzy and sleepy afterwards.
It does not come without some downs. The service was not the best. We ordered the food. Then not a word from the server until we asked for water, in which we had to walk up to the server. Overall a good tasting restaurant with some not-​so-​good service. It is a nice lunch if you want good tasting Korean food.

Went on a Sunday afternoon around 4 with my family of 12. We took up the entire middle section of the place. It’s not that big, but they do have a «next door» where people were also being seated.
Craving some Bo ssam so came here cuz the name n read some good reviews. Food was just ok.
Soon dae gook (blood sausage soup) soooo bland!!! And I normally eat my food bland but this was like water.
My mother had the sul long tang (ox tail soup) and again no flavor what so ever!!! Normally you should be able to taste the bone in the broth but again it was like water. My mother asked for some salt 3 times n never got it.
Bo ssam was ok. Nothing to write home about but the kimchi radish that comes with it was pretty tasty. I put a bunch of it in my soup for some flavor (since intend so bland)
Service was awful! Just like most other Korean places. But if the food is great bad service doesn’t bother me. But food was not good… at least what we ordered today.
I will go back to try a few more things off the menu. Like the stews you cook at your table cuz that’s what all the other tables had going on.

Im a korean korean (as opposed to korean american) and i love their food. Very traditional and authentic. Maybe the atmosphere isnt that great but i dont care. My favorite is oyster bossam (pork belly).

Let me quickly sum up my dinner here since it seems like a lot of other Unilocalers had the same experience. Decent food, mediocre to poor service.
Pros
*Our entrees and ban chan (side dishes) were quite tasty. I ordered the beef bulgogi since they were out of the pork and the meat was tender and sweet. My friend had the galbi and the flavor was great but was too chewy.
Cons
*We were seated in a sketchy side room (where it’s a karaōke bar) since all of the regular tables were taken and it was so dark I could barely read my menu. The ambiance of the room was mob-​esque like in the movies where the bosses are doing «business», putting hits on people, all the while money laundering is going on in the back back room or basement.
*Two guys were seated at the table next to us but then a few minutes later were asked if they wanted to be seated in the main dining area since a table opened up. Um why were we were never asked that?
*Our waitress checked on us once or twice throughout dinner but had we needed to get her attention for whatever reason we probably wouldn’t have been able to find her
I wouldn’t recommend coming here unless all other Korean options were exhausted… which was our case since the place we originally wanted to try was closed and Hal Mae was the next closest.

Food was just ok. Waitress didn’t say one word to us nor even smile. I guess we should have been Korean.

Me and my girlfriends went there for dinner but we were treated terrible. The waitresses have terrible attitude. We have to beg to just get some water refills and side dishes! The food is great but terrible service! If they have better service i wanna give this place 5stars

BEST Gamja Tang in Chicagoland! The restaurant should change their name to Hal Mae Gamja Tang!
Gamja Tang Pros:
1) Meat falls off the bones!
2) Generous portion of meat! (see picture)
3) AND priced well
I have not been to a restaurant that gives that much meat in a Gamja Tang before AND priced that well.
Here are some comments that I received when I was served my Gamja Tang:
«Woah, they give you a lot of meat!»
«They filled the meat to the brim!»
«Man, I should’ve got the Gamja Tang…»
«Why didn’t you tell me to get the Gamja Tang?»

I’ve grown up around the area. My family and I go here as a go-​to place. It’s pretty mediocre, in regards of the banchan sizes and services. Luckily, if you speak Korean you usually are able to get the servers’ attention rather quickly. The foods pretty good in comparison to a lot of a lot of Korean restaurants in the area. If you don’t speak Korean, it not at problem at all, just be patient and the servers may come to you after a couple of minutes! The server understands and will get on it. Not a whole lot of seating. I would go back here whenever I’m in town!

I came here with my girl on a Sunday afternoon to try out their bo ssam. I’ve had bo ssam at other places, but never at this place. Since bo ssam is in their name, I assumed it would be super delicious.
The server lady brought out some menu’s and barley tea. After a short while, she took our order and then brought out some banchan (Korean side dishes). We didn’t have any silverware so I had to grab some off another table. The banchan was great! They were all well-​seasoned and delicious!
After about 30 minutes, the bo ssam came out. The dish looked great and I couldn’t wait to try it out! After inspecting the dish a bit, I noticed that it didn’t include oysters as it traditionally does, and as the menu also stated. I called the server lady over and asked her if there were oysters in the dish, and she bluntly said «No» and left it at that. Hmmmm… Anyways, I wasn’t in the mood to argue since I was hungry and just wanted to get to eating. The bo ssam was pretty good, but it would have been much better with the oysters included.
Anyways, I would probably not come back here unless I wanted to try out some of their soups. The bo ssam wasn’t really worth it without the raw oysters.

Literally translated to «Grandmas cooking.» That homey feel is definitely translated into their food. Generous portions, bright veggies with well marinated meat, and the sides were so delicious. We ordered this conch shell dish– wow, I was pleasantly surprised! I loved how the flavors from the sauce and each vegetable all just sink into each other, and the chewy conch shell meat balanced out the crunchy veggies. I just ate but I get hungry thinking about this place.
It’s homey, and it has an all Korean staff. It was a bit awkward to not be able to speak Korean, so it was a good idea to go with a Korean speaking friend.

I came here with the girlfriend at 2:30 PM on a weekday. We were the only ones in the building and shared the bo ssam. There was a variety of banchan and the bo ssam itself was very tender and excellent. Price was about $ 26, so it is very reasonable for two people to be incredibly stuffed.
My huge complaint was the service! I swear the waitress never said a word to us and looked like we were wasting her time. There is this sentiment about hardcore korean restaurants giving preferential treatment to koreans, but the girlfriend was speaking korean so this is NOT an excuse. Great food, miserable service!

The excellent gamjatang (pork neck stew) more than makes up for the tired, unfriendly service others have complained about. Our server even lied to us when we asked for more perilla leaves, saying they’d run out, but we enjoyed the food so much (even more so reheated the next day), that we think it deserves four stars.

We ate there a few days ago. It was not a good experience. The waitress wasn’t nice and it seems she only gives smile to Korean people.
Once she brought the food to you our table, she never came back.
When we finished, we’ve waited for note than 15 minutes for the check, but she never looked at us. No way to make an eye contact. We called and asked for our check, then … The whole period made us very uncomfortable.
I don’t care whether the food is good or not, I won’t come back if the service is poor.

It’s my second time here. The second time was very disappointing. Tofu soup lacked flavor! Barely any seafood. It’s a bowl of water and zucchini with tofu. Service is bad if you don’t speak Korean. I didn’t get any refills of tea.

I haven’t tried their bossam yet, but their gamja tang (pork bone and potato soup) is the best I’ve had in Chicago.
Kenny O. had bought us take-​out from Hal Mae Bo Ssam; that was the first time we tasted their gamja tang. The meat fell off the bones. The potatoes were not so soft that they disintegrate into the soup; it was softly held together. The soup was tender, savory, and spicy all in the right places. I loved it. It was so good that we subsequently went back to try other items on their menu.
We ordered their soondubu and dolsot bibimbap. The soondubu was flavorful as it came with pieces of seafood in it. Unfortunately, I’ve had better at other places. Still, their version is lots better than So Gong Dong Tofu House in North Park, Chicago. The dolsot bibimbap is one of the best I’ve had in Chicago. They add seaweed to theirs, which is something I’ve never had before, but it tastes great and adds a certain umami flavor to the dish. I loved it.
Now, who wants to go with me to try their bossam? It’s one of my favorite Korean dishes, but I don’t want it to be my whole meal. I need people to go with so that we can order lots more stuff. :)

The bossam here was really good. The pork wasn’t overly fatty and the radish wasn’t overly sweet and had just the right amount of twang to it.
We got the last few orders of bossam as they told the people who came after us they ran out! It was 730 pm on a Friday night!
So make sure you call ahead to make sure they have it in stock!

Really? No one has reviewed this place yet. I guess it’s a hidden gem then!
Hal Mae is the bees knees! This place offers delivious authentic Korean food at a great price and quick service. I ordered the dolsat bibimbop and it came out sizzling and with fresh ingredients as well as a nice thick bowl of stew, along with the varied assortment of Korean sidedishes. Great place!