Jokbal Night Market Glenview (족발야시장 & 무청감자탕 글렌뷰) — Restaurant in Northfield Township

This is about as authentic as it comes. it's not the most popular K-food menu that you might be familiar with... but all the items in the menu are super popular in Korea, especially as anju (to have with soju/alcohol). And this place is legit!

We made a reservation via google, but arrived to find out that they don’t honor google reservations. So if you need reservations, CALL!

Also, as of May 2025, they run out of food fast, especially their specialty, the Jokbal (pork hocks) and bossam.

The owner gave us a table (for 8) despite not having a reservation on his records, but said they could only serve us gamjatang. And a few other menu items, minus the Jokbal and bossam.

Getting to another restaurant on a Saturday evening without a reservation would be pretty impossible without waiting another hour or so. So we decided to give them a try.

Good choice!

Finally being seated and putting in our order, the owner sent us a chive pancake on the house as an apologetic gesture. Thought this was actually very tasteful, both in act and in flavor.

Siraegi Gamjatang & Mugeunji GAmjatang We shared a large of each, and it was plenty of food for 8 of us. This is a pot that will cook on the table. Siraegi is radish leaves, and this one is a more deeper tasting soup. The mugeunji version has old kimchi, though I don’t think the kimchi was that old. And the kimchi taste was actually quite strong, and if I were to order again, I would totally skip this one and get 2 of the Siraegi. Both were good, with falling off the bone pork and tasty veggies. Overall, I wish they had a little more perilla seed powder. When you are almost done, you can add rice, and they will make you a fried rice dish right on the table. Make sure you get it crusty and delicious!

Jangban Jjolmyeon This is a very chewy noodle dish, with spicy sauce and lots of veggies. They bring it out pretty, and give you gloves to mix for yourself. So a little work, but quite tasty. But if ordering the gamjatang, I think I’ll skip it next time - not really worthy of the $17 price tag.

Chive pancake was on the house, and fat and crusty and delicious. I would pay for this!

Reservation troubles aside, I would definitely come back for their more popular dishes, especially their...

First and foremost just ignore past 1 star reviews. Do people just expect to be treated as kings and queens? Seriously, the atmosphere itself looked busy as hell right? If they have short staff then it is what it is. All you guys need to do was just simply wait. lol thats how the world works. Grow up. Went 3,4 times? That makes me wonder, yall couldve came earlier? On your 3-4th visits? Just spamming 1 star to make you guys feel better is total absurd. Also, people need to understand ingredients can be out of stock in any restaurant. Visiting same place 3-4 times already, that pretty much states you guys really wanted to experience right? Then try harder not just trolling on google. Enough of this nonsense and our honest review starts now.

This is our third visit and there was obvious wait time. But after long wait we got greeted and got seated. (Still long line behind us). Dont need to wait too long for food to be served. We always order same menu and yeah, our eyes gets rolled everytime for how authentic it is. 10 out of 10 regarding the food. But they definitely need more servers. Otherwise people will keep spamming 1 star. To finalize this review, we will be...

TLDR I'm no restaurant owner, but from the surface it seems mismanaged and understaffed. I want to like this place for the food but it's not worth the wait and poor service as of now.

Always running out of something important (like Jokbal their main) sometimes within hours of opening - logistics issue?

Expect 60-90 min wait in the lobby with no one greeting you or even telling you that you have to write your name down or anything, plus the whole entry stinks like bathroom sewage so enjoy the wait.

They had one guy bussing the entire place, had several tables remaining uncleared for like 20 mins while people are not being seated.

The staff are nice enough but too busy to refill waters or side dishes, so they cant be looking for more things to do, meanwhile they are having to endlessly apologize for their service and food even though it's not their fault.

Meanwhile to get their attention for anything you have to either wait forever, yell, or just go up to them by the kitchen.

The food is pretty good but I won't be looking to come back unless I hear better things - a real shame, the food was pretty good but I did not have a good...