Ahjoomah's Apron: Discover Authentic Korean Flavors in Chicago

We stumbled upon this Korean spot in Chinatown and I’m so glad we did! We visited on a Tuesday night and were seated right away. The staff was friendly, and they had a great Tuesday special which was half-off noodles. I got the chicken bulgogi, and my friends ordered two noodle dishes. The portions were generous, the flavors were excellent, and our total bill came out to only $45, such a great value for the amount of food we got. The cozy atmosphere reminded me of restaurants I visited while studying abroad in South Korea. Definitely planning to come back!

One of my favorite restaurants in the area! Everything was really good, starting from the banchans where there’s a marinated tofu and fish cakes that were delicious. We got the zhajiangmian (black bean sauce noodles), seafood soondoobu, and gingseng chicken soup where the chicken was stuffed with sticky rice—yummy! (But note that the soup flavor is very pure of chicken and ginseng flavors, not much salt, sauce, or spices) The staff was really nice and attentive. Would come back again!

Perfect cool night for a seolleongtang and probably the one of the only places to get it south of downtown. If you can avoided the predatory ticketing people from the Dept. of Finance, check it out! Got there around 530 on a Friday night and there were plenty of tables. Come by 6 and you could potentially expect a wait. The tang was good and the seafood pancake was crispy! My only complaint was the thin flat metal chopsticks…Like whiskey tango foxtrot.

Decent Korean spot in the heart of Chinatown! Out of the banchan, kimchi jigae, and kimchi pancake, I feel like I was certainly the most impressed by the kimchi pancake. The banchan was okay and the kimchi jigae had decent flavor but was a bit lacking in the meat (which isn’t a huge deal). They have some daily promotions that I might have to check out at some point. I will say the one major plus is you definitely get a ton of food for the amount you pay.

My favorite dish here was the potsticker dumplings! I enjoyed the variety of the appetizers as well, which were included. The staff was very friendly and attentive and offered additional appetizers if we wanted. Not too crowded, I think I will need to come back to try some of the other dishes.

The food was excellent and the staff were so nice! The banchan served with our meal was all very good. I highly recommend the beef gimbap (kimbap) if you are looking for a light lunch option. It was a great, affordable option for Korean food in Chinatown near the plaza!

We went there on Saturday around 1 PM with a reservation for 1:30. We ordered tofu bibimbap, kimchi kimbap, and cod soup. Their banchan selections were all delicious. The tofu bibimbap was tasty, and the cod soup was nice and lightly spicy, perfect for a cold day. The kimchi kimbap was alright, but nothing special, and we didn’t really finish it. They had a half-off deal on kimbap for Saturday. The service was a bit underwhelming, the only time we saw the servers was when they took our order and when we paid. Aside from that, we never received refills on our water, which wasn’t the end of the world since we ordered two more drinks on the side. However, we decided to wrap it up when we finished our drinks. Overall, the food was delicious, but the service was lacking, which I always hate to admit since they were really nice when we did get to talk to them.

Ahjoomah's Apron Korean Restaurant delivers fantastic, homestyle Korean food. Every dish we ordered, from the crispy Haemul Pajeon (Seafood Pancake) and the perfectly glazed Korean Fried Chicken Wings to the tender grilled Mackerel and the variety of fresh Banchan, tasted authentic and delicious. The food quality is genuinely outstanding and earns top marks. The only area for improvement during our visit was the service. While polite, the staff seemed a bit slow or distracted, resulting in some delays and a lack of attentiveness. Verdict: Go for the incredible Korean comfort food—it's worth it! Just be prepared to be patient with the dining room flow. This spot is a winner once they smooth out the front-of-house operations.