When I lived in Portage Park this was absolutely my favorite place to be. I probably ate here once a week and have had everything worth having on the menu. The food is great and Jess can cook just as good or better than Joy Yee's (which it has been affiliated with). My favorite food item would have to be the Korean Kimchi Beef Bowl with rice. As far as drinks go, I regularly got the red bean and coconut but I have concocted my own combination of jackfruit and lychee which was amazing.
Review Source:We went to Jess's for the first time last Saturday - it is the best Asian food in the area - I see why it is always crowded - the food was grea tthe tea was awesome and the FLAVOR was unmatched - service was with a smileandhelpful as well - we will definetly be back to try even more items off this extensive menu - also will try another tea and appitizer - for $30 it was well worth it - It was all so fresh amazing
Review Source:I was seriously impressed by this place. Â I was a bit hesitant to try this place since the menu was 5 miles long and I figured there was no way it could be good. Â They proved me wrong. Â First the Kimchi Beef got my wife's full seal of approval which is no easy task considering she's Korean. Â Second, the bun was surprisingly good. Â Not quite argyle quality, but not too far from it either. Â I was overall very impressed and seems to be my new go to spot for asian in the area.
Review Source:I have had a lot of Asian food in my lifetime. I've tried a ridiculous amount of Pad Thai from a ridiculous amount of places and this is the BEST! The Korean hot plates, Korean fried dumpling are tasty..its never ending there!! All I have to say is I live 25 miles from this place and I'm royally pissed about that :/
Review Source:I love love love love love this place. I have tried a ridiculous number of things off their lengthy menu and EVERYTHING Â has satisfied my taste buds. Â I order from there so often the guy practically chit chats with me like an old friend. My favorite dishes are the egg foo young, Korean Style BBQ short ribs, curry chicken, Vietnamese spring rolls and salted pork. Drinks are great too
Review Source:I've tried this place twice now. After my not good experience last time I thought I'd give it one more try for a quick lunch. It was even worse than last time. I got Vegetable Fried Egg Rolls. They were large and crispy but had no flavor. I had to drown them in hot sauce and sweet and sour sauce to have any flavor at all. I had the lettuce wraps. They were terrible. They tasted like a bad stir fry from some bad Chinese hole in the wall place. All the hot sauce and sweet and sour sauce in the world won't save them.
Finally the place isn't huge, but there are two televisions mounted on the wall playing loudly. It was very annoying. If I want to eat bad food in front of the television I'd make crappy stir fry with seasoning from a bottle at home and sit on the sofa to eat.
4-1/2 stars??? Are you all crazy, or do the owners have a VERY large family on Yelp?
OK, the best thing I can say about Jess' cafe is that I didn't get poisoned; however, for 31 bucks I expect a little more than that... Like what?? Like "Tempura Shrimp" that aren't  BREADED, flavorless and dry. Like Pot Stickers that weren't either freezer-burned or stale. Like Orange chicken that didn't taste re-heated and dried up. Like Basil Chicken that actually tastes like Basil Chicken!
First of all, it aroused my suspicion that they have about 500 menu items; Korean, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Ukranian (ok, not Ukranian, but it might as well have been). You just can't do that many dishes unless 1.) you have a HUGE freezer full of frozen items, or 2.) you have about five, premade ingredients and you give em a quick run through the wok with the sauce du jour.
And to all of you who gave four stars on the basis of smoothies and shakes - shame on you!! Rating an Asian restaurant on the quality of its smoothies is like rating an airline on the quality of its peanuts.
Want better, cheaper, fresher food than Jess? Get a wok and a cookbook. I'll be over at 6.
Great food, friendly service and awesome smoothies. If your a fan of Asian Joy Yee's then you'll definitely be a fan of Jess Cafe. We have gone there so many times now the owner knows our orders. Nice to be remembered at a restaurant. Also, they are very kid-friendly, when we go with our families we usually have 4-5 kids with us and they are all treated well. I highly recommend checking them out.
Review Source:Interesting story, I knew the owner from my last job, she was my client. And thanks to her, I found this amazing Asian food paradise. If you know about Joy Yee, I'd say this is a more economical version. The food is even slightly more authentic!
Food, check. Price? Double check. I guess that explains why I'd drive 30+ mins from the city to there for my belly. Friendliness? Triple check. I love the owner!
Promise I'll be back soon.
The orange chicken with rice is delicious, but I didn't order the orange chicken. My mom did. The beef & pork chow fun (requested combination) wasn't as delicious or filling as the beef chow fun at my favorite chinese restaurant. I don't think it's suppose to be soupy. I like my Hong Kong Milk Tea though. It was like a dessert drink, but the Thai Milk Tea was better. My mom makes better meal choices I guess.
Review Source:This place is next door to my work. Â Its fantastic! From their fresh fruit smoothies to their Pad Tai to the Egg Fo Young. Â Everything at Jess's is delicious and fresh! Â I highly recommend anything you fancy as it WILL be good! Service is fast and friendly too! They are closed on mondays!
Review Source:Love LOVE this place. Its once of my favorite Chinese restaurant I have found I love the egg drop soup and the bbq pork bowl .
Like one person said the soups are medicinal, I once ordered a soup for my son when he had a cold and its helped a lot with his fever and runny nose . The best part was that I ordered the soup to go and they pack everything on a separate container I'm talking about
The Broth (1 container)
The noodles (2nd container)
and the vegetables (3rd container) !!!
WOW is right I will be back to try everything else
LOVE that this place is in my current nabe! Â HATE that I will be moving soon. Â Had Jess' Cafe deliver some goodies for the second time last night and now I can say without a doubt that I am a fan. Â The green curry chicken is on point. Â You can order it spicy or mild. Â We had the mild. Â The chicken and wonton noodle is wonderful and medicinal: it cured my hangover! Â The cubed beef w/ tomato sauce was nice. Â Don't really like the sweet rice it is served over but you can always substitute. Â I wish I had discovered this place earlier.
Review Source:Best Asian style food available by delivery.
I live 4 miles away and my order arrived after 35 minutes.
Jack fruit smoothie was delivered on Ice and tasted divine
All food was piping hot like it just came from the kitchen. Â
I only wish I knew earlier a place like this delivered to my area.
I found Jess Cafe on my Yelp App when I was looking for a nearby place to grab lunch. Â I saw the overwhelmingly positive reviews for Jess Cafe and I was intrigued by the idea of a pan Asian restaurant, so I decided to go a little bit out of the way to try it.
The reviews were spot on. Â The lunch special was cheap and super filling. Â It came with an egg roll, soup of the day, and an entree. Â Since I do not eat egg rolls, I gave it to my friend and ordered some crab rangoon. Â The crab rangoon was super full of crab and cream cheese, just the way I like it! Â I also liked that all of the sauces were already on the table.
The menu was a bit overwhelming. Â It had everything you could think of plus more! The lunch menu also had a vast selection. Â I settled on the Lemongrass Chicken which was yummy. Â I also had some of my friends red curry chicken which was even better!
I also ordered a fruit smoothie because all of the fresh fruit behind the counter made it impossible for me to pass it up!
So why only four stars instead of five? Â I was not so sure about the cleanliness of the place. Â It was nothing atrocious, but the bathrooms were a bit dingy and when I walked in the toilet was clogged... eww.
First time I came here was for lunch during work. Fast, cheap and sooooo satisfying. Â The second time I same straight from the bar and was, I'm sure, a bit obnoxious. (I apologize to the staff if you're reading this.) Â But oh, did it hit the spot! Â The egg rolls are freaking amazing. Yeah, egg rolls. Â They're about 4 times the size of the ones you get anywhere else, too!
The staff is super nice and amazing, never forgetting any details in your order. And the food is so fresh tasting and lip-smacking good. Â I only wish I didn't live so far away!
I've ordered from most of the asian restaurants able to deliver to my home. Since I first ordered from Jess Cafe, however, every other place I've tried for delivery hasn't met my expectations. There is a nice selection on a very diverse Pan-Asian menu, reasonable prices, the ability to order through GrubHub, and FAST delivery.
I especially like the Shrimp Shu Mai, and nearly every entree I've had from there is fantastic, with the exception of a single Seafood Satay. (Noodles and sauce were good, but seafood was a little rubbery.) I like and will continue to order from this place whenever I feel like a little chinese, thai, korean, vietnamese or a blend of several in one meal.
I love thee, Jess Cafe. You have nearly everything I could want* in a pan-asian cafe and you're not that far away. The extra travel time it takes to get to you compared to the close proximity of the [Asian-style] fare in Oak Park and the surrounding area is well worth it when I get to bite into one of your delicious szechwan wontons or your vietnamese spring rolls or your korean beef and kimchi rice bowl. Your online ordering system makes you not only delicious but very convenient, and the small parking areas to the south of you and the  giant US Bank parking lot to the north making doing carry-out a breeze. I cannot wait to come back and visit and am already planning my next order. That may sound crazy, but that's because I am crazy...crazy for you, Jess Cafe.
*Reasons for not giving Jess Cafe 5 stars (reasons that, of course, could be trumped by experiencing additional delicious items on my next visit):
- the Vietnamese eggrolls, although good, were a little mushy inside. That would not have bothered me at all had it not been for the case that I was disappointed in the dipping sauce. Instead of serving them with a thai chili sauce, I would have preferred a fish sauce dipping sauce.
- I wish they had a pork option for their Vietnamese Spring Rolls. Someone at Jess Cafe called me after placing an order and sounded a bit annoyed that I did not specify the kind of spring roll I wanted. Their online menu, however, does not note that there are different options. I just assumed that pork + shrimp spring rolls would be the default, but to my surprise pork was not an option.
Other than these slight instances of disappointment, this place is now at the top of my "I want to order from here every chance I get" list.
What a find!!! Â The menu is like the size of War & Peace. Â Really they have every type of Asian food known and them some.
I had the red curry chicken lunch special. Â Seriously $6. Â Came with the best egg drop soup and egg roll I have ever had. Â The service was fast and friendly. Â The food was hot and plentiful! Â
Tried a kiwi smoothie too. Â They make them with or without bubbles and all fresh fruit. Â They have an avocado smoothie and I'm going back for one!.
While searching for a different kind of restaurant for the palate, I found an entry on Yelp for a Singaporean restaurant. Jess Cafe. So I was off to the Portage Park/Dunning area of Chicago to sample a dish or two.
Big, spacious, and airy with a constant flow of patrons coming and going, I found a seat. Service was sketchy on initial entry, but warmed up shortly after the camera came out for photos.
Started with tempura shrimp. I was more reminded of coconut crusted shrimp than I was tempura battered. The plump shrimp was delicious in whatever batter they had, though. Had salt and pepper soft shell crab. Hmm. I think I may have hit gold. Served with steamed rice and a vinegar-based dipping sauce, I was quite pleased with my decision to got to Jess Cafe.
I have read several comments about their bubble teas and smoothies. Perhaps the next time I return, I shall partake of one of those beverages. And I shall have the salt and pepper soft shell crab again, too.
What's for dinner?
Do you have a hankerin' for Vietnamese? Or maybe Thai? Korean? Or Chinese?
If you have a hard time making your mind up like I do...you will LOVE Jess!
They offer a "Fusion" of Asian dishes ... and they've been doing it long before "Fusion" was cool and trendy.
You must order...Mango Chicken Fried Rice, Chicken & Shrimp Pad Thai and the Salt & Pepper Tofu. Soooo yummm.
Extremely delicious Bubble Teas and Smoothies.
Bonus points...they deliver to my workplace.
Darrnit...I have a hankerin'...they're closed on Mondays (And yes, I'm writing this review on a Monday)
Wow, I'm so glad i found Jess Cafe! I once again followed the sage Yelp advice one night when I wanted Asian food but didn't want to go too far from home.
We decided to order for pick up. The woman on the phone spoke clearly and was familiar with the menu. She was able to answer the few questions I had and got our order right the first time.
We ordered the crab rangoon, the orange chicken and the vegetable lo mein (with extra broccoli). It was only $22 and enough for leftovers by far. The order was ready in 15min and so hot when I got it home I had to let it sit a minute before I could eat it lest my face melt.
I've been back twice in the month since I found Jess cafe- I will have to eat in sometime or try something off the Korean, Vietnamese or Thai portions of the menu. I noticed today when I picked up my order that they have an ice cream cooler from the Village Creamery- and I know what else I'll be getting next time.
We usually get take-out here and we absolutely love it. The menu is never-ending! My fav is the kung pao shrimp, but I like to try different things because there is so much variety. The food is great and so are the portions.
We ate inside the restaurant just once and it was fine, but it was nothing special. I would definitely recommend this place.
I ate here at least once a week.
The smoothies are incredible. So fresh.
The pad thai has so much flavor, and HUGE portion. They are pretty quick. I usually got take out. Not that many people in the restaurant eating it usually seems. Much better Thai than chinese, but I'm a thai person, not so much a chinese food fan.
Jess Cafe is hands down THE best Asian takeout in Portage Park.
I'll list what I've had before ( I eat here A LOT) :
Onion Pancake- I ALWAYS add this to my order. its cheap and delicious (guilty too but its way too good to pass up for a 1.50) GET THIS
fried egg rolls- They are fine, I don't like eggrolls
Spring Rolls- Delicious and healthy and good even veggie. I had veggie and shrimp before.
Shrimp Shu-Mai- I'm not a fan of fried appetizers but this was pretty good too.
Korean fried dumplings- Delicious and my favorite fried appetizer
Fried Fish Tofu- Weird but I enjoyed it. Not sure if I'd try again. Fishy rough tofu.
-
Beef Brisket Noodle soup- Soup has never made me happier.. this is incredible.
Salt n Pepper tofu- This is just a plate of salted deep fried breaded tofu with some tasty vinegar sauce. It was good but it wasn't what I was going for when  I ordered it. I had never had a "salt and pepper" dish so now I know.
Ma Po Tofu- This can be improved upon. It was a bit watery and I was highly disappointed. Next time i'll ask for extra spicy. I think it was only watery because of all the condensation on the take out lid. prolly better dine'd in.
Thai spicy Chicken Hot Plate- This was delicious!!! Loved the ginger!
Mongolian beef- Now I'm a HUGE fan of the now closed Chinalite on southport.. this is the closest I've come to that rich and delicious MB. This is very tasty!
Beef cubes with tomato sauce rice- WOW this is SOGOOD tho I don't know whats so french about this. The rice is so delicious too its almost like sweet fried rice
Malay Style Fish fillet- This was the best fish i'd ever eaten at a chinese restaurant... yummm!! Slightly breaded with a delicious tender-ness and a delicious coating of sauce and very tasty veggies.
Steam Fish Fillet- trying to be more healthy. this is also the bomb. Loved it.
Chicken Lo-Mein- This Lo-Men is crazy and much tastier than the average lo-mein
Chap Chae noodles Chicken/Beef- YUMMY but yo need to cut this stuff because its long and more chewy than normal noodles. ITS SO GOOD THOUGH
Fried Rice (veggie and chicken) This is a hearty eggy fried rice. delicious.
-
IcedMilk Tea and/or Thai Ice Coffee bubble tea: This keeps me up for days when its pure coffee. This keeps me up for a day and a half when its mixed with the Milk tea. The Milk tea alone is delicious.
All the bubble tea is delicious..
Tho... I had a run in with Durian for my first time. Boy that was weird. :)
Well anyway I hope this makes everyone see the extensiveness of the menu! its amazing food and you have to order a variety in order to fully appreciate Jess's amazing restaurant
It's the month of April in Chicago...still snowing. Â Still 30 degrees....but yet I still had a craving for a summer treat. Â
So off to Jess Café I went to get a mango bubble tea treat.  I actually watched them make it this time, as she mixed simple syrup and real fresh pieces of fruit to blend smoothly.  But what amazed me is the care she put into it after mixing the concoction, as I was taking this drink to-go.  She placed both drinks in brown paper bag, and then double bagged that into a plastic bag.  AND THEN she put a scoop of ice into the brown paper bag to keep the drinks cold.  Nice touch.  I was impressed with the amount of effort she put in, despite the fact of the wintery feel right outside her door.
Wow! Â What a treat! Â With the northwest side, and Portage Park such a wasteland for interesting food, i thought I'd never find a good Thai place nearby.
Like others have said, it's easy to miss, and not obvious what type of restaurant it is without "insider knowledge". Â Call me a snob, but I'm happy if if stays somewhat a secret. Â Okay, no one's probably going to drive over from Lakeview or Pilsen anyway...
Food - fantastic. Â I had the Korean kimchee beef hot pot, which was a great way to get my occasional kimchee fix (I buy a jar from the korean market and family hates me for taking up half the fridge with it). Â Wife had similar dish, but pork versus beef, minus the kimchee. Â No surprises, but strangely, hers was noticably more spicy. Â So we switched...
Oddly, we all left raving about the $3.00 appetizer, a plate of (10?) fried vegetable dumplings that my finicky 13 year old vegetarian ordered along with her "vegetable fried rice" (boring, in my humble opinion, without having even tasted it). I'm critiquing my daughter's eating habits, not the restaurant's food  - as a father, I'm rather glad they had it on the menu"
After the vegetable dumplings, I'll never eat another "crabmeat rangoon" (blechh...) again.
Service - very good. Â Several other tables, not packed for a Friday evening dinner, but relatively busy. Â Attentive, friendly waitress, food arrived quickly.
Ambience - I'm going to give it a bit of a better review than others. Â From sidewalk (at dusk), it looks disappointing. Don't do the drive-by judgement, because once you get in the front door, it's clean, well lit, and semi-tastefully decorated. Â
Forgot to check the restrooms...
A new, soon to be frequent customer. Â Forgot to pick up the delivery menu (crap)..
Read all the reviews on Yelp! FANTASTIC!
Crab Rangoon, Chicken Satay, Shrimp & Broccoli, Shrimp Lo mein, Green Curry with Chicken, Beef Lemon Grass and Chicken Fried Rice! You get a lot of food for a little price $46.00 total.
Surprisingly everything was good for Americanized version of Asian cuisine.
The place in named after the owner, Jessica, she was very friendly. We mentioned that we were Yelper's she did not understand, and was not familia with yelp and all the reviews!
ANOTHER phenomenal place introduced to me by Amaliya (she knows ALL the fantastic, cheap joints!).
Yes, it's a kind of a hole-in-the-wall...another Asian place that doesn't give a crap about ambiance but more than makes up for it with the quality and value of the food. Â The menu is a little daunting - SO MUCH to choose from! Â And EVERYTHING looks SO good. Â This is one of those places that's great to come to with a large group, order a bunch of stuff and do it Family-style.
Since our first visit to Jess we have ordered pick-up from there numerous times (sadly we are out of their delivery area). Â Since we, like the rest of the world, are watching our expenses, Jess has pretty much replaced ordering-in from Papajin or Friendship. Â Granted we have to drive there to pick-up the food, but it is always ready in 20 minutes and we can order the same amount of dishes as we have from our usual delivery places and spend HALF the money! Â Plus, their dishes are HUGE. Â There are always enough leftovers for another meal. Â Now THAT'S value!
In this sleepy stretch of the northwest side, Jess Cafe is a welcome addition and a bright spot in an otherwise culinarily limited neighborhood. With bare-bones decor and a menu that encompasses many East Asian (and one or two Southeast Asian) countries, Jess Cafe aims to be all things to all Chinese/Thai/Korean/Japanese-cuisine loving people.
If the menu seems reminiscent of Joy Yee's, you wouldn't be wrong - the owners of Jess Cafe worked there before striking out on their own. Some of the dishes are practically verbatim copies of Joy Yee's - others have their own identities. The big difference though, is the price. Jess Cafe, dollar for dollar, is a better value than Joy Yee's - servings are huge, prices are low, and service is friendly.
Ten of us ate there - and ordered more food than we could possibly eat in one meal - for $116 before tip. All of us took home leftovers.
I drive by Jess Cafe every day on my way home from work. I'll definitely stop in again.
This place is way out there, but if you're in the neighborhood, it's delicious and really reasonable. Â It's Pan-Asian, so you can find a variety of different Asian rice and noodle dishes. Â Not exactly a date place, but amazing for getting your grub on and having leftovers that taste just as good.
The lunch special includes egg drop soup and an egg roll and most of them are between $5 or $6. Â The Thai curries and the Kung Pao dishes are some of my favorites. Â Also, the bubble smoothies are made from fresh fruit and are not watered down like most bubble teas. Â The mango and strawberry are especially good! Â
Jessica, whom the cafe is named after, Â is so friendly and always remembers you. Â I always hear other customers raving to each other and complimenting her directly on the food. Â I have to say, I'm a fan, too.
My fiance and I were trying to find a good chinese place around Portage Park that we hadn't been to, and we decided to go here the other night. Walking in the place is filled with lots of room, but feels very compact- so if you're wanting an quiet lunch/dinner then don't plan on it here. The place is very laid back feeling, but thats probably also because they were severely under-staffed. There was over 30 people in the place and there was seriously only 2 people running the front end of the place. That meant waiting a while for them to actually have a moment to get to you. I don't blame them, I blame whoever decided that 2 people were able to run the place efficiently. Even just having 1 more person would have made things much smoother for them.
Anyways- beyond that the food there is excellent with amazing selection. They even have a large selection of teas and smoothies with the option to have large pieces of tapioca in them (which was very new to me.) I ordered the Chicken Fried Rice to stay on the safe side of things- and this always gives me a good idea of the quality of their food. Â I asked for some peanut sauce on the side, and the lady responded "peanut butter?", so I had to describe what I wanted.. but then she responded with "peanut butter?" again... so I figured I guess thats what they call their peanut sauce. ;)
My fiance is a very picky eater, and ordered the Pad Thai Beef and immediately when it was brought to here was very turned off by the smell. But she dug right into my dish and loved it.
The other weird thing about the place was how when we went to pay he told me the credit card machine was down... so they had to take down my credit card info... heres to hoping I don't see thousands of dollars spent online by some mysterious person. ;)
In the end, I loved this place even with all of its quirks. The prices are at the right place- especially with how much food you get. And I can see myself coming back many times just to try all of the different dishes they have available.
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