Kuma's Corner — Restaurant in Jefferson Township

Copied from a review I made for their Schaumburg location.

It hurts me to write this review. I loved Kumas and have been a loyal customer for 10 years. However their food get cross contaminated on a daily bases. Our waiter asked us if we had any food allergies/dietary restrictions. We said we can do everything but no pork. Our waiter told us that a majority of the items on the burger that are fried are cooked in the same oil as their pork products. We tried picking other items but the waiter kept telling us that many of the ingredients in the food had pork products in it. Of course this is not a bad review for service or our waiter at all. In fact I appreciate that they went above and beyond. I'm upset for 10 years I have been coming to Kumas and was always told the staff that I can't consume pork due to health/religious reasons. I feel lied to, honestly. When the manager came out their response was "to be truly safe, you can just go." Yeah... I left. 10 years a customer and I won't return until cross contamination, a basic health code, is fixed. Literally just fry your fried pickles in a different fryer. That's it! And boom! You are in code.

Edit 9/3/23: I reached out to Wendi Cabo a week after I wrote this review. We went back and forth talking about the issue and how she educated her staff about being in health code, gave me a gift card, and asked me to come back again. Well I did.... and again I get the same answer from waiter staff....

Yesterday was my first visit to Kuma's Corner, and unfortunately, it was a deeply disappointing experience. The atmosphere was dark, the kitchen area didn’t appear clean, and there was an unpleasant smell that made me hesitant to stay. However, my partner encouraged me to give it a chance because of its reputation -reviews. We were seated near the only other occupied table with food, and even that didn’t look particularly appetizing. I asked the server for a burger recommendation and placed my order, specifically requesting no lettuce or tomato. Despite the place being mostly empty (only 4 tables had people), we waited around 20 minutes for our food. When the burgers arrived, mine came with lettuce and tomato anyway, and the bun was cold—like it had just come out of the fridge. It definitely didn’t seem fresh. I hadn’t even touched the food yet when I went to talk to the manager. I told him what was wrong, and his response was, “We can warm it up for you.” That was honestly the last straw. I just looked at my partner and said, “We’re leaving.” I said goodbye and walked out—didn’t even bother eating. Given the number of positive reviews, I was expecting a completely different experience. I'm genuinely curious how the ratings reached such a high number. Unfortunately, my visit did not reflect that...

WELL DONE IS BURNT. READ THE MENU.

visited on a Tuesday & was not packed/busy

This place is amazing for anyone with good taste in music. We decided to go to the original location for our first time going to any Kuma's Corner. When we walked in and we were greeted by host and we ended up sitting at the bar. Within five minutes of sitting down we were given menus, water, and had been asked if we ever visited the location before. The bar tender was more than helpful and extremely friendly. The atmosphere is exactly what you would think it to be knowing that it is a heavy metal themed restaurant.

As for the food, we ended up getting three different appetizers. The pulled pork fries, cheese curds, and fried pickles. All three were equally delicious as the next. My partner had the Slayer burger and loved everything about it. From it's bed of fries to the bunless patty. I had March's burger of the month, Killswitch Engage. I thought I was going to be a fan of the cheeri dust but it worked well with the whole burger. I was able to enjoy a City Morgue drink (spirits). However the bar wasn't fully stocked so some drinks were unavailable during our visit. That was the only "bad" encounter.

Absolutely delicious and such a great atmosphere. We loved every second...