J'S Kitchen — Restaurant in Naperville

I’d give this place 10 stars if I could - I can’t believe it’s taken me THIS long to eat at this joint!

We ordered SO much food because I just could not decide what I wanted. So here are all the things we ordered:

Lamb Soup with Handmade Bun - the broth is clear, and mildly flavored. This is NOT for the folks who are looking for the fiery sichuan peppers. This is a comforting, homey type lamb soup that shines in its simplicity. The radishes in it add a nice bite, and the herbs it’s garnished with add a fresh pop of flavor. The handmade bun is bland, but soft and chewy, and what you’re really supposed to do is pull the meat off the bones, stick them inside the bun with the chilli crisp provided and you have a xian bing!!!! It was DELICIOUS!

Chicken in Sichuan Sauce - for those looking for the fiery kick of sichuan peppers, this one is for you. Even then, it’s relatively mild. But EXTREMELY flavorful. The sauce is not so much a sauce as it is a poaching liquid that pairs REALLLLLLY well with white rice. This was a delight to the mouth.

Pepper Chicken Fry - this is more along the lines of the commercial Chinese food we ordered in its look and consistency, but the flavor was amazing and unique. My husband I absolutely loved it. The egg fried rice we ordered with it was simply divine!

We also ordered the chicken dumplings, the filling is very plain but flavorful. And we also ordered the crab rangoons - the filling is delicious, not too sweet just perfect!

The BEST part of the meal, for me, was the pot of green tea we ordered. It was the PERFECT accompaniment to our meal.

Our server was super helpful, and answered all our questions with a smile! Please keep in mind that this is a Northern Chinese joint, I believe (correct me if I’m wrong), and the food is meant to be flavorful, not overly salty and spicy. This is exactly what I would expect out of a northern Chinese restaurant! Loved it! Definitely coming back over...

This place has VERY good food, it was delicious. We got the beef lo mein, beef fried rice, chicken tender appetizer, pot stickers, orange chicken, curry chicken, and the traditional street noddles. The flavors were amazing, the meat was juicy, and everything had great seasoning/sauce. Every dish we had was great! The service however made the experience less than enjoyable. We had a female server and when we first got there she was being rude to another waiter who was trying to help customers in the dining room. I have no clue was her name was but she was extremely rude and was upset with my table because we didn't know what we wanted as soon as we sat down. Mind you, this was our first time there. She was not helpful when we had questions about the menu, our grandma cannot have spicy food and she told her that every dish was spicy and that there will be no flavor without the spice and that she doesn't know what to do for her (3 of the dishes we had had no spice so we were confused). When we placed our order with her she was very impatient since our grandma had a hard time reading due to vision impairment, she kept trying to rush her by asking questions and when we were helping she kept trying to rush us as well. Our table didn't have napkins and when we asked for some she FLUNG paper towel at us and left. She forgot to put in two of our dishes and got mad at a different server who asked us how we were for putting the order in for us. The male server, white guy that speaks perfect Chinese, was so sweet. He was very attentive to us even though it was busy and he was very apologetic but we understand you can't help the flow of customers. He was the perfect waiter and we wished we had him as our server. I don't know if the lady was having a rough day but she made out first time...

J's Kitchen is a nice, new casual strip mall eatery with a quality Sichuan style (Northern Chinese) menu. You order with and pay the receptionist, find a table, and they bring the food to you when ready. They currently have a very attractive $15 lunch special deal (11am - 3pm) which includes a starter, a main dish, and a drink. It's a great deal firstly because there's plenty of authentic and delicious food, and secondly starters alone can range from $5-$9 and main dishes from $12-$13. We both also had their plum juice for the drink which alone goes for $3. The starter with the lunch special is a smaller serving than the regular starter, but it's still a deal. So, the wife ordered their braised beef shank slices and garlic pork ribs over rice. I ordered their signature Sichuan style beef burger and signature spicy beef noodle soup (but easy on the spice level). All of the meats were tasty and flavorful and the thick noodles in the soup were well made with a good fresh texture.

The lunch special was also a particularly nice way for us to try a variety of their dishes. You can tell the dishes are fresh and made to order as there was a little bit of a wait and they came out piping hot. We were the only ones dining in at this weekday lunch time, but we did see several carryout orders (not surprising given that they're located in a strip mall with a Jewel). The server/receptionist was friendly and the ladies working the open kitchen were visible at times. Their space is clean and airy. Check 'em out if you're having a hankering for good Sichuan...