Joy Yee Noodle

Crazy huge menu of food and drinks. Everything tasted great. Fast service. Bring sunglasses. This place is bright.

I work about a mile from here and frequent here for lunch. Right after opening things were a bit shaky while they got their people back and their groove on.
Now that its been a few months post reopening, its as good as it’s ever been. Arriving @ ~12:10, no waiting to get seated for 2 – 4 people. Food served is average 10 minutes from time of ordering. And the quality, amount, and presentation have been as good as they’ve ever been. And believe it or not, I’m a new fan of the tapioca fruit drinks.

Favorite place to get a quick fix on Chinese/​Korean/​Vietnamese that is delish!

Visited Joy Yee for the first time in a while last night.
Service was very good and the food was delicious!
Looking forward to going back soon.

Love love love this place. I’m glad they expanded and remodeled. The food is always fresh and awesome! The variety is amazing. They have so much to choose from. I love the Korean dishes, and my wife loves the Beef Broccoli. Something for everyone. And their Bubble fruit drinks are amazing.

I’ve popped in here since they’ve renovated this location for smoothies (let’s not revisit the pain and suffering it took for us to get here), and I think the place turned out quite nice. The design of this location is very contemporary and minimalistic. Most patrons seem to enjoy sitting towards the back on the elevated bench. Maybe it’s because you can swing your legs and can keep an eye on the entire restaurant while you eat.
We sat at a regular table. Tables are still close to one another, but it’s much better than before the renovation. The smoothie bar is much larger and towards the front of the restaurant. The entrance has also expanded, which allows you to not hover over someone else and drool into their food while you wait for a table.
I ordered my typical jackfruit avocado smoothie (with tapioca), the shrimp spring rolls, and I tried something new: the Korean spicy pork on a hot plate. The food came out quick enough and was very tasty, as always. The pork had just enough spice to it and was sizzling pretty much the entire time I ate. If you don’t like hot peppers in your food, don’t order this or ask them to make it mild.
The only thing that’s changed about this place is the interior-​same decent service, same delicious food, same Joy Yees vibe. It’s just nicer because there’s more space. I’m sure I’ll be back.

The food is incredible. I haven’t had a dish I didn’t like. The beef cube tomato rice is a crowd favorite. Make sure to get a Boba tea. The Mango is my favorite but some their coffee smoothies are excellent as well. However, the service can only be described as mediocre at best.

I’m so disappointed in this «newly remodeled» joy yees location.
They closed because of «remodeling» that they never applied a permit for, and ever since reopening things have been downhill. From food quality, to the inconsistent orders I have received.
My personal beef was with Jennifer today. The «delivery manager» which some days they decide that they will deliver to oakbrook where I work, and sometimes not. I also work customer service, and they obviously don’t have any here.
It took 30 minutes longer then they told me over the phone because they got our address wrong. I originally called to order 3 orders of Korean bbq short ribs, and when the gentleman took my order, he stated that but he only delivered one and charged me for one. I called back and said I wanted to order and pay for the second 2 but I didn’t think they should charge me for the second delivery, being that it wasn’t my fault and they charge 8.50 $ from naperville to oakbrook. She said «you have to pay if we send someone else out» I told her I didn’t want it and that it was fucking ridiculous.
Fast forward 5 hours. My coworker called to ask if they do delivery for 3 smoothies without knowing my experience earlier, and she said «nope, we don’t deliver to that address». her attitude is just so unprofessional but then again, it is a fast food pan Asian restaurant, where the customer is never right.
Calling in and talking to her or the real Manger isn’t worth the frustration, but I felt like the Unilocal world would be able to get a laugh out of my frustration. Lmfao

I loved Joy Yee in its old, dingy location. I loved the Korean spicy seafood soup. I loved the bubble tea drinks. I loved the cheesy horrific plastic food in the window. I loved everything about it.
And then it closed. And though I had heard it was remodeling, I wasn’t holding my breath.
But alas! Joy Yee has shown back up on grub hub and is back in my regular rotation of delivery spots. I haven’t been back in to check it out, but I HEAR it looks awesome and clean and delightful. As for the delivery — the food comes hot and fresh and well packaged, the bubble drinks come cold and blended and full of those delightful tapioca balls that make them so weird and lovely. The pork fried rice is tasty, and the orange chicken is sweet, crispy, chewy, Americanized perfection.
I’m happy Joy Yee is back in the area and even happier they’ll deliver to my doorstep!

Joy Yee might as well be called «Joy to Me.» It is the absolute best place in the Chicagoland area to get authentic Chinese food (outside of Chinatown, where they also have a location). My favorite part of coming to Joy Yee is getting the fruit freezes. They are all made with fresh fruit (which you can see lined up behind the bar counter). You can also add in goodies like tapioca bubbles, popping boba, fruit pieces, and pudding chunks. A couple of my favorite combinations include: taro with tapioca, coconut with taro pudding, watermelon, lychee with tapioca.
Their menu is filled with plenty of «safe options» (orange chicken, potstickers) and equally many adventurous ones. I highly recommend the special beef soup… there are some interesting goodies in there but the tenderloin is so so good. The basil garlic shrimp and calamari was also great. We asked for medium spice and they definitely did not disappoint. Not too spicy but not too bland.
Word of caution, if you experience decision anxiety then take a few Xanax before coming here. There are hundreds of options for bubble tea and freezes and hundreds more for food.

So worth it. Best smoothies with black tapioca too
So worth it. Best smoothies with black tapioca too
So worth it. Best smoothies with black tapioca too
So worth it. Best smoothies with black tapioca too

The food is not great, but the service is fine. Unfortunately, they don’t have the right type of chili or chili sauce for the phở. When I asked for some, they brought gochujang. The broth in the phở is not very flavorful, and they don’t include any of the necessary bean sprouts, thai basil, thai chilis, or lime wedges for you to add at your leisure. The dish we got, a poor szechuan impersonation, was underseasoned, but had too much sugar, too much starch in the sauce, and had almost no heat. In addition, some of the seats are incredibly uncomfortable, especially the bench style seating next to the walls.
In conclusion, if you want lackluster Asian food in a desert of Asian food, come here. The drinks seem popular, if not also diabetus-​causing. But remember that the Chicago branch of this restaurant was featured on the 1990s WTTW show, Check Please! (
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Meh… I hadn’t been to JY in a while, even before they moved. But I was kind of disappointed when the young man and I ordered some carryout this week.
First of all, I ordered taro bubble tea. It’s on their menu, and I see other people’s pics of it here on Unilocal so I know they make it! What they gave me neither looked nor tasted like taro: it tasted like chocolate milk with a dash of coffee. (May I add that taro milk tea is lavender-​colored and this was light brown.) I didn’t go to pick it up and my bf didn’t know the difference, but someone clearly fucked up, either knowingly or not.
My pineapple chicken-​shrimp fried rice was pretty pallid. Aside from the meats and pineapple… that was it. No veg or anything else. What? The meats were well cooked, not tough or anything, but something is missing here…
The dude got short ribs and thus won the jackpot. These were sliced thin and coated with a sweet-​rich glaze of some sort. YUMMM.
We also got crab rangoon which was pretty good; at least something other than cream cheese was discernible inside.
Overall, though, I know Joy Yee can do better than this. I’m willing to try again but this wasn’t an exemplary «fresh start.»

I was one of those people waiting with baited breath for the Naperville location to reopen. I checked it out and I really enjoyed my lunch. The interior reminds me of the other Joy Yee’s I’ve visited. It’s tight quarters and you might end up overhearing your neighbor’s conversation on the Bluetooth headset, but the food is worth the somewhat awkward situation.
I went with the lunch combo of the basil chicken (includes white rice and an egg roll) and also a Vietnamese iced coffee with coffee jelly. The portions are so generous, but I still ended up eating everything because it’s sooo good. It wasn’t my favorite rendition of basil chicken, but it was still mighty tasty. I love Vietnamese iced coffee and the jelly gives it a nice flair.
Their menu is so overwhelming. It’s pages and pages of drinks and food. Going at lunch helps narrow it down if you decide to just stick to the lunch combos. Otherwise, I recommend coming with a plan or else you might struggle at choosing.
Our service was also good and we were able to get in and out pretty quickly.

My friend and I made a promise to each other: when Joy Yee re-​opened, we’d go together.
I don’t know what took so long for them to re-​open, but I’m glad they’re here as it’s a good spot in the area for lunch.
The décor is super trendy and fresh, kind of like being inside IKEA and not at all the like often dark, tacky Chinese take-​out places nearby.
The food is really good. I had the Pad Thai with chicken and shrimp and ordered it spicy. It wasn’t spicy enough for my liking, so I guess I’ll ask for «extra spicy» next time. It was really good though, and the portions are generous but not outrageous. I like that this is offered as a lunch special and served with an eggroll too.
I also had a watermelon lychee smoothie with tapioca. It was so good, with FRESH fruit and FRESH tapioca that wasn’t overly chewy. My friend had some kind of iced coffee drink that also looked really good.
The menu is ENORMOUS. The size of the menu is like unfolding a Rand McNally atlas, and the variety of food is quite endless as well. Descriptions are in Chinese and English, flip around and you’ll find what you’re looking for.
Service was a little hectic during lunch time. We received our food and were well into chowing down when we realized we still hadn’t gotten our drinks. Joy Yee is the new hotspot in central Naperville now that it has re-​opened, and they’re doing a ton of business for take-​out orders too, so it appears they might be short staffed.
Definitely stop in here when you’ve got the time.

Fancy new updated dining room with the same great food and service as always. I’m not sure why a temporary closing/​remodel warranted a new business listing, but whatever. You absolutely cannot go wrong when you eat at Joy Yee.
We were the second customers to arrive after opening one weekend, and by the time we finished our meal the restaurant was packed. That goes to show just how popular this place is.
We ordered spring rolls, sesame chicken and fun (the noodles, but eating here is pretty fun too). Everything came out quickly and the flavors were awesome. The host and servers are super friendly and appreciate their customers.
You can’t go wrong here, which is why we always eat here on Christmas day.

This place still sucks.
Last year I was here, I ordered a durian smoothie and it came out with ants floating on top. They claimed it was seeds. Nice try. Durian seeds are similar to avocado pits so how is that even blendable. They tried their hardest not to give me a refund. Don’t get me started on the sheer amount of msg they put in their food.
This visit I ordered an almond milk tea less sweet with no boba, I get an almond milk tea with boba. I told them, so they decide to just scoop out the boba and add a lot more ice. Thanks for ripping me off while I stand 1 foot away. I love that they’re so cheap that they can’t remake it but would rather cheat the customer to save money.
FYI, the milk teas are made with half and half.
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
Won’t come back if I can help it.

The entire store was renovated and it is much bigger and cleaner now. The tables are not too close with each other anymore and there are more chairs added especially for people whose orders are for pick-​up or carry-​out. The bubble tea has not change!
I cannot rate their service because we didn’t eat there. Maybe one of these days, we will come over and have lunch or dinner. I didn’t give them 5 stars because I ordered Spicy orange chicken and Spicy basil beef, both are delicious but not spicy! The beef teriyaki baked rice was so savory, this is our favorite and I highly recommend it. When the restaurant closed and we saw it in Facebook that it was permanent we were crushed. It was the saddest day of our lives! But now that they are open, I will not complain anymore! We will still comeback and order more bubble tea and other delicious stuff in their menu.

Sometimes, I can’t help but get a burning, insatiable desire for hot Asian liquid down my throat and Joy Yee always, always fulfills that need.
My very first experience, their mapo tofu clenched it. Hubs: «Oh, they have mapo tofu.» The 90s came screaming back to me. Hanging out in his apt with me in ugly Umbro shorts, eating/​gagging on the Mapo Tofu he made me. Oh, please NO!
I ordered my food and he ordered mapo tofu with his polite «Please feel free to eat as much mapo tofu as you want.» Yeah right.
I kept eyeing his while I slurped my soup. The mapo tofu didn’t smell like his. –It smelled better. I caved and inched my spoon forward. Suffice it to say, I loved it so much, Joy Yee became a bi-​monthly rotation ever since. Lots of flavor depth and huge pieces of tofu and ground pork. It sounds vegetarian but this is definitely not.
I’m not entirely sure if this is your place for Crab Rangoon or Sweet & Sour Chicken. But this is your place if you’re ordering dishes such as Baked Rice with Chicken & Salted Fish (not on the menu but Unilocaler Karen D suggested it. Delicious), my family’s favorite Mapo Tofu, Korean Beef Kimchi over Stone bowl rice, or their Korean Kimchi Beef Fried Rice… because trust me, Kimchi should be eaten on everything!
Their new restaurant is a vast improvement even if their closing was nearly the death of me. Much more space and much easier to come in and order take-​out. It used to feel like quite the crush with even 3 people waiting. –No space to even stand. There’s no explaining why it took so freaking long to reopen, but all is forgiven now that I can eat my kimchi again.
My tongue watered just typing this.

YES I’M A FAN. I’ve always been a fan! There’s a reason why there are 5 different Joy Yee’s locations all across the Chicago land area. It’s because they’re doing something – EVERYTHING RIGHT.
JY is known for its pan asian food, good prices, fast service, yada-​yada-​yada. Everyone knows this. If you don’t and you’re reading this, I would first like to congratulate you for finally stepping out of your comfort zone from under your rock haha!
So why am I writing this review if everything about JY is fairly obvious and well known? I’m glad you asked. All the other reviews will give you paragraphs upon paragraphs of their food and service so I’ll focus on something else here.
I’ll focus on the ONLY THING THAT’LL EVER BE WORTH MENTIONING.
Their. Bubble. Tea. (Or «Boba», depending on where you’re from in the USA).
For those that have never heard of Boba/​Bubble tea. Allow me to give you a brief crash course. Boba/​Bubble Tea refers to chewy, tasteless, deep purple tapioca balls the diameter of a chickpea, nestled at the bottom of a fruit smoothie, or tea based drink. The flavors ARE ENDLESS. For example you could do something familiar and tame, such as a Strawberry Boba which would be nothing more than a freshly blended strawberry smoothie with a generous layer of tapioca balls at the bottom. Or maybe you don’t like strawberries. Maybe you like mango, kiwi, blueberry, peach, pomegranate, avocado, raspberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew, bananas. Maybe you can’t decide and you want kiwi AND mango together. They’ll do it! One of my all time favorites is kiwi-​strawberry-​raspberry blended together. You can’t go wrong!
But what if you want to try new things? Maybe you have epicurean taste buds. JY’s got you there too! Papaya, passion fruit, coconut, almond tea, jackfruit, durian, lychee, green bean, red bean, taro, durian and more! Today I personally got Taro Boba, and I cried tears of happiness, and heard angel sing. In the past I also got a blend of almond milk tea AND coconut tapioca, and was never disappointed with any of my choices. My suggestion? Be creative! You can’t go wrong!
UNLIKE other places that do Boba I ALWAYS come back to JY because they are the ONLY place in all of Illinois that I have ever encountered that make boba with FRESH FRUITS, and not from a powder or some weird reconstituted fake fruit paste. If you come here for boba during mango season, you will walk in the restaurant and IT’LL SMELL LIKE MANGOES. This is a blessing an a curse. Blessing because everything is always delicious. But a curse because you will never be able to have boba from anywhere else EVER AGAIN.
For those who aren’t a fan of tapioca balls, I should mention they have other options to «spice up» your drink. They do fruit jellys (kind of like chopped up jello pieces– BUT WAY BETTER) that are different fruit flavors, and different sizes of tapioca as well.
Service: Again, this a full running restaurant, but at any given time there’s a consistent, steady flow of customers JUST getting Boba to go. Service is always quick and even when there are 7 people in front of you (like when I was there today, a Thursday at like 5 PM), you’re still out of there within 6 minutes.
TL;DR: If you’re a fan of asian food go Joy Yee’s. Good prices, great service, really quick moving. Lots of other reviews will talk about food. I always go for boba only! Best Boba in all of Chicago land is at any JY location. They’re the only ones to use FRESH ingredients and not canned/​pureed/​fake/​powdered ingredients. Wide spectrum of common ingredients (berries, bananas, pineapples, etc) and exotic ingredients (red bean, taro, durian, jackfruit, etc).