Joy Yee Noodle — Restaurant in Evanston Township

Okay, first off - I am not someone who likes to complain about places or services especially online, but I was so upset at the treatment/service I received here last week that I need to write a review about it. I'm giving this place one star because the pho and bubble teas are decent (some of their dishes are really mediocre and hyped out imo). I went here time to time with my friend for their pho because there aren't a lot of pho places near where I live. There have been times where I felt that their service needed work, but I never voiced my opinions and still went back because of location. However, I will NEVER go back here again after my last dining experience. I took my mother here last Sunday to grab an easy meal after shopping to celebrate Mother's Day early. After we had put in our order (2 special phos), I had asked if we can get extra bean sprouts on the side when it comes out. Our server nodded but looked annoyed that I had asked for that. I brushed it off. After our food came out, I asked about the extra bean sprouts. Our server said he can't give us more and I asked 'why not? I've gotten extra before multiple times when I was here.' He still said 'no' and just stood there. My mom then mentioned that if they need to charge extra, we were willing to pay for it because at this point we were both annoyed about this pettiness. He laughed and said 'no, we ran out, we don't have anymore.' OKAY... First of all, how do you 'run out' of bean sprouts when you get a lot of customers who come in for pho? Mind you we were there at around 2PM, so it wasn't like we went there at night almost during closing - if so, then I would definitely understand. I had asked the manager there and he came off rude about it, when in previous experiences he was actually courteous - this surprised me. Then I witnessed our server and another server staring at us and laughing, and when I made eye contact - they looked away. I'm not stupid and they made it so obvious they had their opinions about us. I then saw 2 other people get pho and they got bean sprouts with their order, as assumed. It was honestly like a chain of bad services one after another, and I was pissed at this point because we did NOTHING wrong to be mistreated and to be serviced like that. It ruined both my mother and my appetite, and I left super disappointed and upset. I have been working in the customer service industry for a really long time, and one easy thing to keep in mind: customers are always #1. Happy customers keep you in business. We pay you to be provided with courteous service in return, not to be ridiculed, lied to, and laughed/talked about to our faces. I just wanted to treat my mother to a nice meal. I am telling everyone I know not to go here anymore. You just lost a lot of customers over some petty sprouts that probably cost less...

Let me be clear. I despise pan Asian cuisine. Of course this bias will be set aside as much as humanly possible for this review as there is an off chance "pan asian" could be delicious! I even went back a second time to make sure for objectivity. I despise pan asian for the reason that it casually lumps a vast diverse side of the world and unceremoniously condenses it into one menu, having the same boring one note of generic ginger and five spice which Americana seems to love for the reasons only the food gods would know. Joy Yee's almost falls into this but not really. But kind of. Is this Asian food? I suppose so. I mean they don't serve this kind of food at Olive Garden.

Ok so forget the momentary confusion, if I could, I would rate this 2.5 but this isn't going to kill them anyways. I ate a variety of things here: thai basil chow fun, tomato beef rice, and spicy mango fried rice. Alongside this I had some boba (or as Chicagonians call it, "bubble tea") in strawberry milk tea and also the mango smoothie. The food tasted "meh", it was pretty close but the majority of it tasted like it was mangled to better appeal to the surrounding demographic. The mango fried rice was nowhere near spicy, the rice was way too dry, and was littered with unripe mangos. The thai beef chow fun (although Thailand doesn't have chow fun if I recall) was actually not bad, if anything I would say get that. Lastly, the tomato rice and beef cubes had that meaty, somewhat light refreshing tomato taste but seemed like it was fried up with a packet of shin ramen seasoning and by the end of the meal that was all I could taste.

I have been told the boba here is the bee's knees and that upon drinking/eating it, I will be doing the happy dance all the way into my dreams. At least that was the overwhelming recommendation from people I have ran across. Overall, I wouldn't say it was terrible, I have certainly had worse boba. The mango was actually...ripe, and the fruit was all fresh and delicious. A bit pricey but delicious. The strawberry milk tea was...milk tea with strawberries. I have no idea why I was charged 5 some odd dollars for this.

Overall, I don't think I will make the pilgrimage to this establishment again. If I happen to be in the area and want something that isn't in the form of a burger I will stop by.

The good: mango smoothie (it has little chia seeds I thnk) and the chow fun. Your water cup will not runeth empty, the flash seems to be cooking in there as the food was made under 5 minutes. The not so good: a bit pricey for what it is. the mango chicken fried rice, tomato rice. The tireless orders of sesame chicken and cream...

First off, I know a lot of people who love this place, so I will start with the pros. They serve epic portions of food. Come here in a big group and don't get as many main courses as there are people. You will still have leftovers. (Unless, of course, you skip the appetizers and delicious bubble teas. Then, 1 dish per person is perfect.) You won't realize how much food you're getting because the food is so cheap, and it will be tempting because the menu has so much to offer.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, here's why I only give 3 stars: The food isn't all that great. The vegetables are always over or undercooked and there's always too much sauce. And the sauce? You can basically taste the high fructose corn syrup under the soy sauce, oyster sauce, or whatever is added. It's just too sweet for me, and I really wouldn't call any of the dishes authentic. That also goes for the bubble tea, just too sweet for me. In my opinion, this restaurant has all the qualities of a bad American food restaurant: too much food, too much deep frying, and too much sugar! I get an upset stomach just thinking about Joy Yee's food.

I will give props to the waitstaff who generally do a great job, given that they work in such a loud and crowded environment. But then, there is the whole environment issue...loud...crowded. The tables are long and connected. You'll be sitting next to people you don't know. Not a great place for private conversation.

Overall, it's a great place for people who have the munchies and want something big and fast. Not my scene at all, but as I said, I have friends who love the place. Not to promote, but 527 Cafe is right next door, has better quality food and better environment, and isn't much more expensive at all. The choice seems...