My family and I have been coming here since the 1980s;we have never had a bad meal nor bad service here. We love the dim sum brunches on Saturdays and Sundays but also love the dinners we've had for Chinese New Year. The clientele is still predominantly Chinese so that's a real good sign the food is more authentic than the majority of bland, D-grade, cookie-cutter Chinese take out joints you see all over the 'burbs. In addition, our closest family friends are Chinese themselves, so their loyal patronage of this place is a great endorsement for my family and me. If you're not in the mood to schlep all the way to Chinatown and if you live in the northwest 'burbs, this is the place to go. For the weekend dim sum brunches, you'll need to arrive between 11:30 am and noon or between 1 pm and 2 pm, to avoid waiting for a table.
Review Source:My wife and I have been dining here for years. Â Mainly Dim Sum on weekends which is very good and better than most. Â Our main complaint are the restrooms. Â We both agree they are disgusting. Â Three hand dryers in the men's room...all out of order today at lunchtime. Â The bathrooms smell bad and no seems to maintain them. Â Other than that you will likely enjoy the food...just stop somewhere else to use the facilities.
Review Source:Gets busy during lunch but we've never had a wait. The tables are cramped together. The service to receive drinks is s-l-o-w. They pretty much dump a pot of tea on the table without telling you it's an extra charge.
Food is great though. Not as many options as in the city, but enough to be satisfied. Their fried taro and rice soup are really good here. Boba drinks are delish, fresh and light!
They have steamed bbq buns but our fave is baked bbq buns, which they don't have. Decently priced. Lots of parking.
12:30pm on a Sunday for dim sum and Wok N Roll was very vacant. Not a good sign since this is prime time for dim sum.
Years ago, Wok N Roll was packed from 11am-2pm since it was the only dim sum restaurant in the area. I was shocked to see how many open tables were available during the most recent visit. What happened? Was there a cleanliness issue or lawsuit I wasn't aware of? Did the main chef leave or did the owners have a dispute with someone important in the Chinese community? The tables were mostly filled with gwai lo which isn't a good sign for dim sum. There was something really off and it showed in the food.
Dim sum is about variety and it has to be hot and fresh - the food was neither. Instead, it was the same food being carted around and sometimes lukewarm and even cold at times. My friend spoke Cantonese and asked for the bottom portions to avoid older dim sum but the food was still mediocre. A good dim sum restaurant has to have a good har gow - a simple shrimp dumpling. At Wok N Roll, the har gow was filled with a bunch of small shrimp that quickly fell apart after one bite. I'm used to the jumbo size of 21-25 count per pound but these were probably the 41-50 count.
I wouldn't recommend Wok N Roll for dim sum but go for their lunch specials or a la carte items.
I've been coming to Jockey for many years with my family, since further back in my life than I can remember. This is the restaurant that has received the greatest number of continuous years of my patronage. As such, I feel it should receive my first ever review on Yelp. In short, this restaurant is a workhorse in Schaumburg and the surrounding suburbs for authentic Chinese food, and it gets the job done quite well. It gets 3.5/5 stars from me, mostly on the basis that the food is quite good and the portions are above average. See below for a more detailed, yet succinct, breakdown of my opinion of Jockey's food, environment, service, and other factors. The rated categories are ordered by most important to least, by my view. How good the food tastes is the most important factor.
TASTINESS / QUALITY OF FOOD
3.75/5
The food is quite good. Fairly typical, but authentic. They are fairly consistent, although the quality of the food has slipped on a few occasions, which leads me to believe that there may be quite a few rotating chefs. I'd say their food is on par with the quality expected of restaurants in Chinatown (in Chicago), though not as good as the best places there. They have fresh seafood. The Peking Style Pork Chops are among my favorites. They do a really good job with this dish. The chow mein here is also very good. You'll be hard-pressed to order a "bad" dish. Â Expect all the conventional menu items for Cantonese cuisine, both authentic and Americanized, but don't expect anything spectacular. The food is best summarized as "solid."
PORTION SIZES
4/5
I like to eat a lot so portions sizes are important to me. The portion sizes here are pretty good, definitely above average. However, I've noticed some inconsistency. Â It seems if they're really busy, the portions will be smaller. Something to consider.
PRICES FOR WHAT YOU'RE GETTING
3.5/5
I like to get my money's worth. Prices of the menu items are about average for an authentic Chinese restaurant in the Schaumburg area. A party of 4 should expect to pay ~$60 for 4 dishes, one of which is seafood.
SERVICE
2.5/5
Fairly paltry most visits, which is to be expected of a Chinese restaurant.
CLEANLINESS / ENVIRONMENT / DECOR
3.5/5
Pretty clean, open environment, albeit somewhat dimly lit. Nothing much to say here, except that it has a decent-sized dining area with space for large parties of 10+ people. The big round tables that seat around 10 people are available.
OVERALL SCORE / SUMMARY
3.5/5 QUITE GOOD
I recommend Jockey. If you're just looking for good food without any frills and don't care about service that much, it's a solid choice and you probably won't be disappointed.
Pretty much the only pretty good dim sum around for a wide area out here in the burbs. Now normally I never mention service at a chinese restaurant, but they were particularly bad/stressed this Christmas. When you need to move two tables together yourself, get your own extra plate setting, and flag down rushing waiters for everything, even a chinese restaurant can exceed below my already low expectations, ha! They seem understaffed, not too surprisingly.
That said, when you look beyond that, the dim sum is fine and a good place to get your fix without driving into the city. They do not do the old school push carts; instead you order from a menu. And when your party orders a ton of a fried/pan-fried dish, they may just serve it to you on a platter rather than a slew of little plates. Steamed stuff is still done in little steamers. They do the fried stuffed taro root dish particularly well. One or more of their pork-based items though tasted like they had unusually large chunks of chewy fat though, which can get in the way.
Got the orange chicken for take-out. Was disappointed that it had a layer of fried fattiness thicker than the chicken itself.
Sauce and portion was good. Coupon made it cheap overall.
I don't know if it was the grease or fat, but I felt like I wanted to throw up all day after. Didn't have much of an appetite the next day either.
Note: CC users, there's a $12 minimum charge.
(Review is about dim sum)
We generally enjoy the food here, but the service from the servers is consistently poor. They seem like they're either really frazzled by the busyness of the restaurant or they simply do not care to get you what you need. It often takes more than one request to get anything out to your table, whether it's another set of utensils or something from the menu.
The cart pushers, however, typically do a good job of consistently coming around to the table. They're also pretty accommodating when it comes to getting something for you that's not on the cart.
The food is good -- my favorites are the pot stickers, shumai (pork dumplings) and har gow (pleated shrimp dumplings). My girlfriend likes the steamed bean curd rolls and egg tarts. They do charge for tea (they won't tell you this ahead of time) so let them know before they pour, if you don't want any.
Jockey is a good place to chow down, especially if you're really hungry, but be ready for the service (or lack thereof).
Can we say... Dim Sum!!! Â sooo yum!!!
If you are like me... and live in the burbs... You are wanting some dim sum from China town, but don't really want to drive all that way into the city.
Jockey Wok N Roll is your answer!! Â
Ok, so the place is not your fancy restaurant... but most definitely reminds me of any Chinese restaurant you would find in China town. Â And I'm not talking Chop Suey joints either. Â
We've always been seated pretty fast, depending on your party. Â There's always plenty of tables for everyone. Â Once seated, a piece of paper is placed at your table. Then you wait for a dim sum trolley to come by. Â They actually have a very nice variety of dim sum.
My favorite here is the black bean spare ribs, congee with peanuts, tofu fa, fried taro stuffed with pork, to crab claws, and even some sesame balls.  Each dim sum is not overly priced, but  is a little bit more then what you would normally pay in Chinatown.  Maybe about $4 to $6 a dish.  But if you crave Dim Sum like me, it does save you the trip or drive, and worth this price. Â
I believe Dim Sum used to be served just over the weekend from a certain time only, however I think they have made some changes. Â You will need to call in, or just go there and find out for yourself.
As for taste... everything appears to taste well and are seasoned well...
I also want to stress the service is fast and pretty good. Â Â I have gone here several times and have not been disappointed yet. Â So go here.. and get your Dim Sum!!
Pretty good dim sum, good value. Generous coupons on their site: <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jockey2go.com%2Fdocs%2F15-25-OFF.pdf&s=cad3facc55faaddb0de3f75d96a5391a472867beeb254cd927064305697638f2" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.jockey2go.com…</a>
But REALLY STRESSFUL EXPERIENCE both times we've been here due to the chaotic service. The combination of no dedicated servers and confused and/or reluctant staff members results in way too much time spent waving for someone's attention or trying to communicate with someone who just doesn't know what to do. The place actually seems overstaffed, but without a unified system. I wish they'd downsize and use the resources on better training and organization.
If it's your first time here on a weekend, I'd recommend asking for the dim sum menu to make it easier to figure out what you want. I'm a fan of the "bean curd roll with veggie." Â The salt and pepper tofu is quite good too, very vinegary.
During our last visit I ordered the veggie funn roll but was told "Sorry, we don't have the vegetables." Wha...? There was clearly a variety of veggies in other dishes being carted around, so not sure what that was about. I ordered a plain funn roll from another waitperson, who acted bewildered, questioned some other attendants, and then apparently forgot about my order so I had to request it again from someone else.
When I asked about the chive dumplings a waitperson pointed at the shrimp dumplings and didn't have further comment when we were like, "Those are shrimp." Â When I ordered the bean curd roll with veggie he gave me a meat version instead. To his credit, he was apologetic and swift to correct the order.
At a certain point during our lunch, almost all of the staff went to sit in the other room for their own lunch and it took a quite while to get our check.
I'm also not a fan of how they ask you if you want tea in the beginning, but later you're charged $0.80/person for the standard blah tea that's offered free at every other Chinese restaurant.
It's great to have a dim sum option in the suburbs, but I'm not sure if it's worth the frustration.
Manager failed to correct a terrible oversight. A large white caterpillar on a chinese broccoli leaf. He took dish away without asking if we wanted it replaced with a fresh one. gave us 15% off bill which roughly approximated the cost of the offending dish.
So that was that. We got an apology, big deal.
I've been around the block and I know alot of people in the service industry, and I can state for a fact that most "managers" would have done waaaaaaaaay better than this!
For living so close to a place that serves dim sum, this place was undoubtedly a boon for my fiance and I. Being roughly a mile or so away allowed us to have a small taste of Chinatown without making the trek down to Chicago every other week or so and for a while it was definitely in our regular dining out rotation. Then, things seemed to have gone awry.
Namely the last several visits have been exceptionally poor. At first, we were relatively forgiving because even the best restaurant can have an off-day, regardless of a great first impression. But the issues have become increasingly numerous and are no longer able to be ignored. I fear familiarity may have bred contempt in this particular case.
The last time we visited, and most likely the last time ever, the table we were seated at had a broken chair. The metal backings were loose and sticking out, jagging me in the back like some form of torture. I swapped the chair with the one next to it, as it was a four-person table, and discovered the cusion on the seat might as well have been marble flooring -- all the hardness, none of the ambient beauty.
After ordering two cokes, one for each of us, I ventured into the bathroom, which almost served to kill my appetite. Previously, I'd never had to go to the washroom at Wok N' Roll before - I'm glad I hadn't. The kitsch, out of place golfing photos on the wall were almost asdisgusting as the piss mist that hit me in the face upon entering. Holding my breath like I was escaping an underwater corridor on the Titanic, I did what I had to do, washed my hands and got out, the repressed urge to be sick following me back to my table.
My fiance ordered her usual dim sum servings and I perused the menu for something different before finally choosing shrimp with garlic sauce and egg rolls. Unsure of what time paradox I must have entered, my dinner actually beat me to my egg rolls -- something I can only attribute to suspecting the shrimp had already been made and been nestled lovingly under a heating lamp. It certainly tasted that way.
My egg rolls were the same competently made side dish they'd always been. I'd long since opted to use the teriyaki-flavored sauce instead of the sweet and sour solely out of the sheer fact that one comes in the consistency one would traditionally expect it to while the other was runny and off-putting.
When my fiance's dim sum finally arrived, she went to put salt on one of the pork dumplings and discovered that not only was the salt shaker cracked, but sticky as if handled by a child who'd recently had ice cream on a hot summer day. It was a bit disgusting to be overlooked to say the least.
After finishing our meal and receiving the bill, we noticed we'd been charged multiple times for our soda refills. Oddly enough, we asked the female manager to explain this, as we'd never had this done before - thinking that perhaps it might have been either an error or a new policy. Apparently, they always "charge for individual cokes during dinner," which was strange since we'd been there multiple times, always during dinner, and had never seen that before. She finally attested quite rudely we were wrong when we kindly remarked that it'd never happened previously.
We paid our bill and, for the last time, left.
For us, it was a treat knowing there was a place we could nab dim sum during the work week without having to head down to the city. However, over a course of time, our loyalty to Wok N' Roll has only been rewarded with disappointment as the establishment has clearly gotten worse. The uncleanliness, lack of upkeep and seemingly improvised alterations to their pricing policy has sabotaged this restaurant so much so, that driving down to Chinatown no longer seems like so much a chore as it is a pleasure.
I'd have to rate this 3.5 stars.
If you're looking for a dim sum fix in the northwest suburbs and don't want to travel all the way to Chinatown, this is the place. Nestled in the corner of a stripmall, you're greeted by a packed house with carts of dim sum rolling around. the decor is okay. some of it is quite amazing, like the giant wood ship.
as we were seated, the servers/carts were bearing down at us. we selected our normal choices for dim sum (chicken feet, pork dumplings- sui mai, shrimp dumplings, pork ribs, taro, turnip cake, and egg custard). all were delicious and reasonably priced. if we had come with a bigger group, we would have ordered chinese broccoli and a noodle platter.
the dim sum was hot and fresh. the carts received fresh plates from the kitchen after every go around the restaurant. and if you didnt see something you wanted, you could order it from one of the many wait staff.
can't wait to go here with some friends.
I can only comment on the dim sum portion of this restaurant. There is a lack of dim sum here in the 'Burbs so when I need my fix and there's no way I'm able to get to Chinatown, well, here I am at Jockey.
You can get dim sum every day here.  On weekdays, you'll be ordering the dim sum  off the menu and on weekends, they have the Dim Sum push carts.  Weekdays dim sum menu is smaller than what's available on weekends, but my favorites were still listed so didn't mind the shortened menu. (There were still at least 20 different things to choose from).  My favorites are the chive dumplings, shrimp dumplings, stuffed crab claw, stuffed green pepper, pork dumplings and the steamed BBQ pork bun.  All are well-made, served hot, not soggy or mushy.
Weekends are usually bustling and the longest wait we've had was about 10 minutes. Â Yesterday for lunch, the place was nearly dead with only about 10 people dining there. Â Lunch time is nice in that they have the buffet, or you can order off their regular menu or the dim sum menu.
They have bubble smoothies here too--fruit or tea. The Tapioca pearls are OK, sometimes they can be over soft but most of the time they are good. Â Sometimes the flavors seem watered down, but most of the time it isn't a problem. Â I think it all depends on who makes them.
Very family friendly and it can get loud on weekends (conversations, kids, everything bustling) The place is dark and worn--I wonder how long it's been around. But service is nice, of course the busier they are, the more harried they seem.
The Dim Sum here is awesome!!!! Â Defiantly 5 stars. Â I have been to China Town many many times and it is just as good. Â I am so happy that it is in the burbs.
My family and friends all have been here and we all think it's fantastic!
Go Go Go....Dim Sum is certainly authentic. Â I've also spoken with the owner
and he originally owned one of the most popular restaurants in China Town.
There other dishes were also eaten by family and friends and they said they
are wonderful as well. Â I'm partial to Dim Sum...my favorite being Shumai--can
eat them all day long! Â My sis loves the shrimp noodle. Â Sis and Fam come from
Indy to enjoy the food. Â I'm going there tomorrow with more family as I love to
introduce them to great places. Â Thanks Jockey Wok n' Rolls
Great for a Quick Suburban Dim Sum, the food of the menu is pretty good also. Love the Seafood Noodle, one of my favorites. Been going here for so may years...Vince V. Â lets do Dim Sum Soon! Most of their Dim Sum cheifs are from China Town sand some do both. The Cha siu ba's and Yeung Hai Kim are great!
Review Source:Ate here today for lunch. The place was ok. Your usual chinese with an added touch. Lots of seating. But since it was a Sunday, we arrived at a peak hour. Getting a seat didn't take too long though. I suppose we were hyped at the idea that the food would be really good based on what one of aunts told us. Unfortunately, I have eaten better. The food was very bland. And quite oily. I had to use my tissue to absorb some oil. And we did not have a tissue dispenser on our table. Not good. But I did enjoy the chili oil which i put on almost everything we had. I like spicy. Beef siomai was bland, flat noodles were bland, the meat bun was so and so. And they did not have fried garlic for their congee. awww. Sticky rice was also bland and probably the only thing we really enjoyed was the breaded crab claw. We practically used up half the bottle of soy sauce to get flavor from all we ate.
Service was good even though they didn't smile a lot. And it was fun to see these carts moving about with the food. But I guess that was the good part.
I don't think I wouldn't recommend this place to a friend. Sorry but I have really had better.
It's hard to find some traditional Chinese food outside of Chinatown. But if you're lucky enough to live around the northwest suburbs, Jockey is as good as it can get.
They served traditional Chinese family style dinners, along with dim sum for lunch. But they also have a nice lunch buffet (on weekdays only) with a variety of selections. On the weekends, they serve dim sum on the traditional Chinese pushcarts, which is rare even in Chinatown. Usually they are pretty fast with the food, but expect a little longer wait on the weekends. Â
The food needless is say, is always superb. I never had a bad meal here. Very good size portions with a decent price tag. They also have fresh fruit smoothies and bubble tea, I recommend the avocado or mango.
I've only eaten dim sum on Sundays here. Â My family and I go here often, on average probably once a month for the past few years. And it's always good. Â Sometimes, you have a to wait a bit, usually around 10-15 minutes during prime brunch hours.
I think it's the closest thing you can get to China Town's dim-sum around the 'burbs (granted there's not many to begin with). Â I also think it's a good indication when some of the wait staff work both in the suburbs and in downtown China Town. Â But anyway, I'm always satisfied (sticky rice, shark fin, fried taro root, Chinese broccoli etc). Some of it can be greasy but if you flag down the carts quickly, there are some really good finds.
I recommend getting Boba (fruit smoothies with tapioca balls) Sometimes they make it too sweet but you can ask them to put less sugar. The drink is good while eating your meal or take it to-go as a nice dessert.
I've been here at least three times in the past year and they have decent foods. Â One was for an Asian wedding banquet, the others were for lunch and dim sum. Â Overall, they have very savory and tasty dishes. Â The only slight downside is that some of the foods, depending on the dish, are a bit more on the oily side (mainly fried or pan noodle dishes) so drink up on some of that complimentary tea! Â For desert, they also have bubble tea with fresh fruits here which is quite decent. Â The last couple of times, I was far too busy enjoying the foods to write complete reviews of each dish (the dim sum meal was too many to keep up) but I'll be sure to update again on my next visit (and pictures to come). Â Overall, it's a good place. Â They bring out the foods fast and has good service. Â
Oh and if you want the cart service Dim Sum, that only happens on the weekends. Weekdays, you'll be ordering from their menus.
Been here twice now because us suburbans find it hard to travel to Chinatown or Argyle for dim-sum since it's a cruise.
Food: A-OK. Definitely not as good as the places in Chicago, but I'll take it. Some of it is fresh, some is meh. But I'm super happy they have all my favorites; shu mai, shrimp dumplings, ribs, chicken feet, fried taro, shrimp rolls, and more. The variety is pretty good. Not as huge as others, but it'll satisfied you!
Service: Eh. I get three different waiters asking me if I've been help or if I would like tea and I had to explain to all three that i was waiting for someone and I will have some later. One server was about to take the tea cups away, but luckily one of the food servers explain to her that I was waiting and will eventually have tea.
The bill was about $30 for 2. I was satisfied.
Those ladies at Jockey really come by quick with their rolling carts! Love itttt!
The dim sum was pretty good. Nothing was particularly bad but nothing was particularly good. I just wish they had a bit more variety. It seemed like the same 4-5 dishes kept circulating.
I probably wouldn't make my friends come out of their way to eat there but instead call in ahead of time to order take out on the days I feel like bumming around my house all day in my pajamas.
I've been craving dim sum for a long time except the problem that I come across is that my husband doesn't dig Chinese food and my family live really far away and my friends aren't the least bit interested in dim sum. OH WAIT, and I live in the suburbs now. So today I decided to try it out with my 7 yr old daughter and my little infant (who was just trouble the whole time I was there).
I arrived there at 11am hoping that they were open and ready to go. WRONG. They weren't even open yet. The owner didn't get there until 11:20am, but it was okay for today because I was really craving dim sum. It took them awhile to set up and I think I started eating at around 11:45am. Again, it was okay, because I haven't eaten dim sum in over 2 years. The place has a lot of seating and it wasn't really busy and I went on a Saturday morning.
Slowly the dishes started building up. They weren't ready right away and there were already people waiting for food. Then all this food comes out. I tried a lot of things and everything I have tried were pretty good. It wasn't Chinatown quality but it was good enough for me when I needed my dim sum fix!
I'm upset they charged me for the tea. Really upset. Their bubble shakes were decent. Their food was a plus. I had 8 "small" dishes, 2 "medium" dishes, and 2 "large" dishes and the bubble shakes and all added up to $50. I ate a lot. I have food coma. I don't really remember how much I pay in Chinatown because it's been so long, but I honestly thought that was decent and I would definitely come back again.
This is THE best dim sum place in the suburbs. The variety is great and the food is always delicious. The only complaint I have is that on occasion they run out of bao. I mean really, you are a dim sum restaurant. How the hell do you run OUT of bao? But in the grand scheme of things I feel as though it is a minor complaint due to the overall awesome of Jockey.
Cart-served dim sum is a Saturday and Sunday event, and we try to make it a weekly ritual.
This is probably one of the best places for dim sum in the suburbs. I have family from all over Illinois suburbs and instead of driving into the city they congregate at Jockey's on the weekends for dim sum.
It's a tight fit though, they really pack those tables in their but because of their abundance of seating they have a fast turnover. The busy times that I've been there I've never waited more than 10 minutes.
I've definitely had better dim sum, but, this is a really decent option if you don't want to deal with the city (meaning there's lots of free parking and minimal traffic ^_^).
I've been at odds lately. Â Should you be easier on a restaurant just because it is in the burbs and offers a convenience factor? Â In the past, I've given kudos to restaurants in the burbs that offer comparable food, while charging a little to a lot more than is available in the city. Â I guess, if I were to compare side by side, one restaurant is definitely better but at the same time, I'll be consistent with my other reviews and give kudos for those restaurants that are located in convenient areas in which choices are often limited.
While the lunch is nothing to write home about, the dim sum would definitely have me coming back. Â It just so happened that I stumbled upon this place for lunch with some co workers. Â Like I said, lunch wasn't good enough to bring me back, but a coworker encouraged me not to give up and return for dim sum. I'm really glad I took that advice. Â
So after randomly driving around, looking for some pancakes and hash browns, I decided to give it one last try. Â It's been a while since I've had dim sum because I've been too lazy to drive to Chinatown. Â The first thing I noticed was this place was packed. Â It was full of Asians, so they must be doing something right. Â Second, after we were seated, the food that was rolled around on carts were actually dim sum! Â One thing to note that the prices were definitely more than what I usually pay in the city. Â I suppose the convenience factor made it easier for me to accept.
As far as the food, it was delish. Â Not everything was perfect but many items were pretty close. Â I was even shocked to see a place a place in the burbs offer congee, stuffed crab claw, fried taro puff and even coconut jelly. Â You can obviously check out the rest of my pictures to see what else I ordered.
Overall, I was satisfied. Â It is definitely not the best dim sum available but for a place in the burbs, this place will more than hit the spot if you're craving dim sum.
This place was full of firsts for me and not in a good way. First, I'm going to recount each dish we had...chrysanthemum tea with rock sugar to drink.
1. pork
2. egg rolls
3. giant noodles with shrimp (tsan fen)
4. rice balls
5. steamed spare ribs
6. squid
7. bean curd vegetable rolls
8. duck
9. pork dumplings (shu mai)
10. shrimp dumplings (ha gao)
11. fried radish cake (lo bo gao)
12. "greens"
Split between 3 people, this somehow came out to $50+. Ridiculous. It was the first time I've ever paid over $15/person for a dim sum meal in Chicago.
Also, this was the first time I've ever felt like a Chinese meal could have been more unhealthy than my standard order at Taco Bell (Nachos Bellgrande / Mexican Pizza, Nacho Cheese Gordita, Baja Gordita). This place explains why Asians are getting so fat. If the dish wasn't fried, it came with some crazy sweet sauce / mayo mixture...or it was porridge or one of the dishes listed above. It was appalling, really.
Final sad little first: This was the first time I've ever been thankful for Chicago Chinatown. The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't memorable and it was definitely way overpriced. As for decor, think old school Chinese gaudy (in an endearingly tacky way, but again, par for the course)...and it's way out in the suburbs. I guess beggars can't be choosers. Though not many seem to be begging, since this place was seriously lacking in customers on a Saturday morning at noon. No wondering why necessary.
Great for dates or families. Sometimes I just don't feel like making the drive downtown and Jockey Wok n' Rolls is your only option for getting excellent dim sum outside of Chinatown. If you've never had dim sum before you're in for a treat. It's traditional Chinese breakfast -- little appetizers you share with a friend or two. Just sit down relax, carts are wheeled around to your table. You will be asked if you like what is on the cart - if you do, just say "yes." Otherwise wait for another cart to come along. Get the crab claw balls if you see them. If you're not stuffed by the time you leave, order some bubble tea to go.
As a little aside -- when I was growing up other and other kids would be watching baseball, I'd be watching cooking shows on WTTW -- like the late Jeff Smith, aka "The Frugal Gourmet" and Martin Yan on his old show "Yan Can Cook". I love that Jockey Wok n' Rolls has a recommendation from Martin Yan in the foyer of this place. Pretty cool.
Maybe it's because I'm always completely stuffed after a day of dim sum here, but I always seem to forget how horrible the service is during it. Â I made a mental note to not forget this time...and deduct a star accordingly.
We were accustomed to how bad they are, so today, as soon as we sat down, we asked for an order of white rice and one of fried rice. Â We then started pulling food off carts before we realized our situation.
All we had in front of us were plates. Â So first we asked for chopsticks and forks. Â They brought our party of five five pairs of chopsticks, but no forks...my sis and I are the only ones who can use chopsticks. Â We were then told that the forks were still in the dishwasher, and had to wait 5 minutes before my parents and grandma could get them.
Next, we needed napkins still. Â Asked for them, and someone brought us three...which, we had to point out, wasn't adequate enough for the five of us. Â Then we had to ask for water, and they brought out four glasses. Â Had to ask for the fifth. Â Apparently they've never dealt with a group of five before.
Around this time, we were still looking for our rice. Â Got a hold of the initial lady who was there when we sat, and she said she didn't put in our order because we didn't say what kind of fried rice we wanted.
Now remember, this isn't just a bad experience with one waitress...this place is staffed with people lacking common sense and the ability to count. Â I'll give props to the cooks making pretty good food (which salvages its rating), and the cart pushers who are pretty good at making the rounds and helping us out when the servers fail.
My advice: bring your own napkins, utensils, and water. Â It'll save you a lot of frustration.
Had dim sum there for Mother's Day.  We'd been there before for a party and the buffet was pretty good.  The dim sum was pretty tasty, though we'd come at the tail end of the dim sum service.  We also ordered  the lobster (which was meaty and a hefty size) and the salt and pepper pork chops, which were delicious.  The food, overall, was really good.  Also a plus were the delicious fruit smoothies and bubble teas.
However, there were several things that knocked some points off. Â First of all, we never got any water, and noticed that it happened to several of the other tables. Â This wouldn't have been an issue someone had asked us if we wanted drinks, but that didn't happen until we waved someone down mid-meal for some drinks. Â Another thing is the bathroom didn't have a changing area - and no flat area that was clean enough to change my kid on - the sinks were a little scary! Â The last thing is, although the servers were polite and friendly, they didn't always know the English translation for what they were serving. Â I wouldn't have minded that if I was in Chinatown, but our server would have to ask several people what the translation was before they had an answer.
Overall, good food, nice prices, but there are some things to work on.
After yet another mediocre dim sum meal here today, I hopped online to see what other Yelpers had to say -- I'm surprised that there are so many positive reviews here.
I really like dim sum, and my perspective is from frequently dining in Chicago chinatown staples like Phoenix and from seeking out dim sum meals in chinatowns of Manhattan, San Francisco and Washington DC. Â Having dined at Jockey about 4-5 times the past year (as it's the only dim sum choice available whenever I find myself in Schaumburg), I can say with confidence: the dim sum here is simply sub par. Â
Here's my beef about some of the common dim sum items that I have always ordered in my visits:
The steamed dumpling, the main staple of dim sum meals, are wrapped in doughy rice wrappers that are about three times as thick as they should be (they should really be paper-thin), and becomes a wad of chewey rice cake as they cool while the cart makes its way to your table -- the result is the shrimp slips out from the wrapper as you try to grab it, and your left with a piece of shrimp and an unsavory wad of rice cake. Â They don't offer steamed dumplings with variations other than shrimp, where as other places usually offer them with beef, pork, and shrimp/chive combinations. Â The same story goes for the rice noodles -- the wrappers are unacceptibly thick.
The short ribs should be fatty (about 60% meat, 40% fat), but here, they don't seem to hold back on the fat, and the ratio is the opposite, if not worse. Â I found myself spitting out every other piece of the short ribs into my napkin because I found myself chewing on a piece of pure fat.
The rice used in the Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf is way too starchy (probably resulting from too much water), and it sticks like glue to the leaf wrapper. Â It's unfortunate that I had to constantly scrape the rice off of the leaf with my chopsticks, because the fillings are actually generous and well seasoned.
The other dim sum items are not as bad as the aforementioned trio, but they're uninspired at best, usually ending up being mediocre or misses. Â In today's lunch for 8, the only items that were okay were the shuimai and stir-fried noodles (non-dimsum item).
The service is also a mixed bag. Â It's nice that the cart servers speak excellent English, so I don't have to get up from the seat to scan the items on the carts as I do in places where the servers simply repeat, "chicken," "shrimp" or "pork." Â However, the service from waiters that are responsible for basic service needs such as refills of tea or ice water can be extremely spotty during weekend lunch hours -- I usually have to march up to the utensils cabinet to fetch the items myself. Â
The price is on the cheaper side, and this place is the only dim sum option I know of in Schaumburg -- one star each. Â I always hesitate a moment when my friends suggest Jockey for lunch ("boy, we haven't had dim sum in a while") but usually end up consenting -- today, I have taken the initiative to actually narrate my typical experience here so that I can overcome this obvious lapse in short-term memory and judgement.
--- Update 21 Oct 08 ---
Somebody should beat me over the head whenever I find myself back at Jockey (because my friends really crave for dim sum, and they don't want to drive into the city). Â After another visit last Sunday, all of my comments above still hold, but I think that it's actually getting even worse!
1. None of the items that should come with their own special dipping sauces come with them. Â For example, the fried crab balls should come with vinegary dipping sauce, but it comes bare. Â You are left with just the hoisin, soy and hot sauce on the table.
2. Quality of their sticky rice in lotus leaf is getting even worse. Â Given the extremely tattered quality of the leaves, I'd venture to guess that they might even be re-used.
3. Most of sauces in dishes that need them (i.e. chinese brocoli) tend to be either too sweet or too salty. Â
I will NOT return.
Jockey is one of the best Chinese places in Chicago outside of Chinatown. The servers are fantastic, and I love the vegetables and peanuts they give you (kind of like bread or chips and salsa before your meal at other places).
Prices are reasonable, portions are large, and they're prompt and clean. Buffet is good, though my favorite dinner dishes are the chicken with pan fried noodles, or the Marco Polo steak.
Someone, please remove the Asian Fusion label from this place. It's straight-up Chinese.
If you want to avoid the fuss of going to Chinatown and live in the suburbs, then this is the only place I know that serves dim sum daily.
The selection on the weekdays, which is the only times I'd been there, are limited compared to the weekend. But they do have the basics.
The dim sum is not bad, doesn't taste frozen, and being Hong Kong style, they do have the congee/porridge. Prices are extremely affordable.
My friend and I ordered 2 pork and egg congee (L), roast pork buns, stuffed eggplant, shrimp dumplings, sticky rice in lotus leaf, and a vegetable dumpling and walked away with a $25 bill.
The restaurant is awfully clean, although it has that stale cooking oil-saturated heaviness that is prevalent in most small Chinese restaurants.
Wait staff is extremely affable and prompt with their service, and speak English well.
I would return to satiate any cravings for dim sum and congee.
They have the cheapest, best lunch buffet I think I've EVER been to. Â $6.50 for high quality Chinese food, including amazing dumplings?! Â If you come here, eat 4 potstickers and some fried rice, you've already gotten your $6.50 worth. Â But to make things better, they've got plenty of other goodies - chow fun, beef, egg rolls... etc.
This place is dangerous how good & cheap it is. Â You could load up on calories for the entire week here and get out spending less than $10.
Amazing!
You gotta love a place called Jockey Wok n' Rolls that's situated in a run-down strip mall right near the nefarious empire known as the Woodfield Mall. Â Now, one would think that a Chinese joint with the words "Wok n'" in it would have tomatoes in their beef dishes (you know, the kind of pseudo-Chinese food that you can get out in the sticks?), but no...I think that the word "Jockey" Â in the name elevates this place to another level. Â And THAT is does. Â
JWNR serves up Hong-Kong style dim sum along with other traditional Chinese dishes. Â I haven't had too much experience in Chicago's Chinatown, but the dim sum I had JWNR rivals that of New York City's and even some parts of LA. Â The carts proffer up your typical dim sum fare. Â The servers are super-friendly and can even work with you when you are not Chinese and don't know the names of the dishes you want. Â I didn't get to try some of the more traditional non-dim sum dishes, but the noodles on everyone elses' tables looked very much to my liking. Â In other words, greasy and good. Â
The decor is what you'd expect from any typical Chinese restaurant...meaning horrible pink flowery wall paper, mirrors also serving as wall paper, those black plastic chairs, and of course, the disgusting bathroom. Â I don't know about you all; but akin to my LA experience and only wanting to eat at hole-in-the-wall ethnic joints with a "B" grade for cleanliness, this is how I feel about Korean or Chinese places out here. Â If the bathroom is sparkling clean, then you know the food will be suspect. Â When it comes to hole-in-the-wall joints, I don't care what it looks like. Â I just want the food to be good and cheap and Jockey Wok n' Rolls delivers. Â
I hear it gets super crowded on the weekends, so beware. Â But if ever in the Woodfield area and you're tired of the mega-chain crap restos around there, come over to the dark side to try something with a little more soul.
For a suburban place for dim sum that's not on a coastal city, I love it. Â Honestly, I come from a family of dim sum snobs and they only like dim sum in LA or New York. Â Regardless, I enjoy the dim sum in Chinatown, but this place has the best in the suburbs.
I also went here for their lunch buffet too, and usually Chinese buffets scare me. Â They did an excellent job. Â Try the salt and pepper fish, shrimp, and squid. Â Awesome.
Ahh, Jockey. You are delicious Hong Kong style dim sum and you have a pretty darn good selection of non-dim sum items. Not many places around these parts carry shark fin dumplings (though they really don't have a distinctly different flavor than the normal siu mai; easily recognizable because they're white instead of yellow, though). The servers are friendly, the portions are large, the food is delicious (sesame chicken is excellent as is the fried rice - and I am terribly picky about my fried rice - it's of the obviously soy sauce made sort, not the frozen yellow junk) and the prices are easily affordable.
They've outdone most Chinese restaurants I've been to - instead of just having an autographed picture with Martin Yan, they have a letter from him praising their dishes (specifically, if I recall correctly, the Marco Polo steak).
The decor is nothing to write home about but it's a friendly atmosphere and they do cart style dim sum on weekends - along with a daily lunch buffet that I've never had. Oh, they also have a small selection of bubble tea (the same sort you'd find at their Express location in Mitsuwa - though the menu at Mitsuwa is a fraction of the size of this location's).
Careful, though! It's really easy to over order. Your bill won't hurt too much but your stomach will if you try to keep up. It's always easier to order more dishes if you're still hungry than it is to un-order your food.
I like eating here. I like eating here a whole lot. Easy parking, too! A repeat visitor for sure.
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