Woo Lae Oak

Was a great place. Just tried to call. Phone out of order. .. Google search said that they had closed on June 30 of this year. .. .. I will miss you Woo Lae Oak

This is your Upper Class, Fancier Korean BBQ compared to others out there. Typical customers that dine in there are business men and women. The layout is much greater and spaced out, therefore, I don’t walk out completely smelling like my dinner which I absolutely dread. Plenty of parking at all times. The service is great because you are after all paying $$$$ which is totally worth it. There is always someone waiting on you every minute and checking on your needs, which I love.

My family and I have been coming here for YEARS, ever since I was a young girl, and this place has given me some of the fondest memories!
The food is outstanding and has never disappointed. Their cuisine is simple, clean Korean cuisine. It’s straightforward Korean food, high quality, and very very tasty.
I still can’t comprehend why people on Unilocal always complain about the high price of food, even when the food is obviously high quality and fresh??? You get what you pay for, people!
Whenever we go there, we almost always get galbi, and the meat is always so red and fresh that you can really taste the quality
The ambiance is also very clean and refined. I think this is a great place to go to have a business dinner meeting/​an important date. Sometimes at night time they light the candles in the hallway, and it just looks so beautiful!
The ban chan (side-​dishes) are always plentiful, and you can always ask for more!
The service there is outstanding. Everyone is always extremely polite and respectful. People that are not used to Korean restaurants may be thrown off by how they cook your meat for you on the grill, but it’s supposed to be a sort of ‘service’ to the customer, so that you can enjoy your meal and not grill your own things. Granted, I know a lot of people prefer to do it themselves, then you can always just tell your server that you’d like to grill it. Every single server I have had there has always been so respectful, gracious, and all around just fantastic
The female manager there is GREAT. She is always so accommodating, she remembers faces and names, and really cares about the experience and service that they give
Anyways, we will always keep coming back here. This is some of the most authentic, clean, and fresh Korean food that you can get in the Chicago area. Food coma’s…commence!

When Woo Lae Oak first opened many years ago, I took my wife and small children (who are now grown). We were surprised by just how expensive everything was. At the time, we were too embarrassed to leave, so we ordered Bulgoki and shared it. As I recall, it was very good.
Months ago I noticed they mentioned lunch specials on their sign. Had an opportunity to go to lunch with a colleague last week so we decided to choose Woo Lae Oak.
Their lunch menu is very limited. But, everything looked good. I ordered Bulgigi, and my colleague ordered the salmon. They are served as bento boxes, with a variety of Korean sides. If I recall correctly, there was a mound of white rice, egg cakes, two pieces of California roll sushi, a salad and a small bowl of kimchi for the table. They also served a soup before the meal. They also serve green tea with the meal.
Everything was great, with the exception of the salad dressing. I found that way too sweet. But, the bulgigi was excellent, the sides were also very good. And, at their lunch prices, it was a great value.
If you are itching for a good Korean meal, they can be pricey for dinner. But, the spectacle of Korean barbecue, being able to cook your meal at the table, is very fun. They offer this at lunch if you order from the dinner menu. But, even their lunches are worth going out of your way for.
Service = excellent, Food = excellent, Prices = high. Earned the place four stars in my view.

I also really love the spicy galbi soup here. If your throat is itchy or if you’re feeling a little under the weather… or even curing a hangover, it’s the soup to try! It’s gonna be difficult to choose between this and the yookgaejang soup now.
I tried the pork belly dish «bossahm» here before. It’s pretty tasty but it definitely needs the cabbage wrap and maybe some fresh oyster moocheem. It just needs that extra something you know? But the meat is tender and goes well with the kimchi or whatever else you’d like to eat it with. Usually something spicy and crunchy goes perfectly with it.

I dont know why this place doesnt get better reviews. The quality of meat is very good, the side dishes are plentiful, and the service was very attentive. Its quiet, and fairly good prices relatively speaking.
the galbi is very good, the shrimp was also delicious. I cant speak to the other dishes but this is certainly a very solid place.

galbi jjim ($ 24) — 4.5 stars. Delish.
galbi + nangmyun combo (around $ 22) — 3 stars. Galbi was good and a waiter cooked it for us, but it didn’t come with sangchu or ssamjang (lettuce wrap or spicy bean paste). I thought this was strange, like I’ve never been to a Korean bbq place that didn’t offer that. Also, we ordered the bibim nangmyun (spicy buckwheat noodles), but they gave us mul nangmyun (noodles in cold broth). My brother was really hungry and didn’t want to wait, so he just ate that. I tried some of his, and it was okay, 3 stars.

I came here for dinner during a weekday at around 5PM with a friend because I wanted to eat some Nyengmyun. It was not packed so there will most likely not be a wait for dinner during the weekday.
Food:
Mul Nyengmyun ($ 9.99): I usually come here for the Nyengmyun because the portion is big and it is delicious! The buckwheat noodles are easier to chew/​eat as well compared to some other buckwheat noodles that i’ve tried at various restaurants… love it! It tastes delicious with some vinegar and a hint of hot mustard (they usually give it to you on the side so you have the option to put little to a lot of vinegar and/​or hot mustard in your broth)
— — — — — — –
Contains: buckwheat noodles, ice cold broth, Korean pear pieces, thinly sliced cucumber pieces & beef pieces & pickled white radish (vinegary flavor)
*Highly recommended on a hot summer day, very refreshing!
What is Mul Nyengmun?
–it is a Korean cold noodle dish made with thin buckwheat noodles topped with egg, meat, vegetables (cucumber) and a delicious ice cold broth. you have the option to add vinegar and hot mustard to add flavor to the soup as well. it is perfect to eat on a hot summer day!
Food Portion: filling, content!
Costs: ranges from $ 10-​$ 30 depending on what you order?..
Wait Time: no wait to get seated. wait time for food is decent, not too long. but also depends on what you order
Customer Care: friendly waitress and waiter, they were attentive when filling our water and providing us with anything we needed.
Washroom: yes I check out washrooms when I come to restaurants… the washroom was clean, but smelled a little funky… they have seats for waiting in the washroom or maybe if you need to tend to your new baby… but .you might not enjoy the weird smell in the washroom…
Atmosphere: spacious, nice seating, family friendly, clean, good for families/​friends/​events… traditional/​cultural feel…
Parking: plenty of free parking in their free parking lot
I would come here again if I was craving Nyengmyun…

Dined here numerous times, but must say that yesterday evening left distaste that lingers and resides on to yield repugnance that won’t be resolved with mouthwash.
The male significant other and I have been overworked and stressed, and we finally made time for date night. We strolled in to a restaurant completely staffed without any customers– that is until we showed up (aaaand one gentleman showed up about 20 minutes into our feasting). We wanted to turn back and leave, but stayed because we didn’t wish to be rude. I scoff now at the stupid decision.
#1: You gave us an opportunity to take literally three bites of yuk-​hwe before bombarding the table with side dishes and starting up the fire. It’s a raw meat appetizer dish eaten cold, yet we were able to finish it while still lukewarm roughly 10 minutes after you were done cooking our Kalbi orders. Why didn’t you let us enjoy our appetizer first?
#2: You sent some guy over to start cooking our meat. Then some younger gal shows up and belittles him on lacking meat-​grilling skills, snatches the tongs from him, then goes on a meat flipping rampage. Despite her trying to play it cool and asking how we wanted our meat, my request for medium rare got me thoroughly chargrilled chewy meat on my plate.
#3: I was guilty of reviewing flash cards momentarily, and boy did I hear the «pshhh that little high-​schooler studying-​» remark from the younger lady that so «cool-​ly» cooked our meat. For someone attempting to prep materials to continue their education in medicine, I didn’t have the heart to defend myself in fear of having to stoop to her «cool» level.
#4: Mul nangmyun. Bland. Not missing salt. There’s an essence to it missing, as if it was watered down. I personally never made the broth before and wasn’t able to pinpoint myself what it was lacking, but it was a disappointment. How would you feel if your chicken soup tasted like water with bits of chicken, while having enough salt at that?
#5: The «cool» gal told us to enjoy the sweet potatoes on the grill. She said it needed to cook more, then shut the grill off so it never cooked enough (until we got someone else to turn it back on for us!).
#6: We sat around and got asked if we wanted anything else. We said no, then the so-​called cool femme offered to bring the check… we asked if we were going to get the soup and rice that comes with the Kalbi at the end, and were awkwardly told «of course»…it arrived a long time later, leaving me and the boyfriend wondering if she was gonna attempt to not bring it to us at all. After all, they were so eager to bust all the food out at us in the beginning. Perhaps we just weren’t «cool» like her and undeserving of a worthy and complete service.
#7−9: More aggravating for me to revisit and write up, up to #6 was the easier stuff.
I now have an abhorred association to this place, as well as the ever-​so-​cool people out there :(

I have zero experience with Korean food. I used to work for a Korean doctor who insisted on taking me to his favorite restaurant and this is where we ended up. He’s from Korea and this is where his family prefers to eat, so I trusted his judgement.
Now I’m probably not all that helpful on this place. He also insisted on ordering my meal for me (in Korean). I do know that we did the BBQ. I loved everything. I was a little nervous at first, but that all went away after my first bite!
The staff seemed to be very helpful. So don’t be afraid if you don’t have the perfect guide to the meal that I had. It was a lovely dinner and I’m excited to get back.

Came here for the bibimbap, which is their cash cow/​golden goose. In all honesty, I hear this is their best dish and most other dishes are rather subpar. The interior design of this place is a bit confusing. Given the high ceilings and décor, you may think this place is meant to be a banquet hall.
The service is great, and the waitress separated our checks with no fuss. Watch out for entitled patrons though. We were waiting for a few people and an older man demanded we move tables because ours was bigger and he is older. Said patron also banged on a large drum when he got there demanding immediate service. Said patron needs to be thrown into a playpen.
The food is all a bit on the more expensive side, and Korean restaurant rule #1 applies here. Bring someone fluent in Korean with you.

You can tell what they were kind of going for with Woo Lae Oak– classy feel, traditional/​cultural décor, sparsely translated menu, higher prices than similar Korean restaurants. I feel rude calling the place pretentious, but it is what it is. At least the staff is polite and accommodating to even the most obnoxious of patrons (which was not my party, thankfully).
Get the Dolsot Bibimbap. It comes in a hot stone bowl which will make your rice all nice and crunchy and delicious. The ingredients are very fresh and you get a nice set of panchan (side dishes) and soup with your order. Not the biggest portion, but definitely satisfying.
I also feel the need to add a blurb about their ladies’ room. OH MY WOW it’s so big and clean and fantastic. There were mirrors galore (full length FTW!) and a little area with chairs and a coffee table. and it had plants! and smelled good!
Another thing: I’m not sure if it’s the dome design of the ceiling or just the volume at which another party was speaking, but I was a little thrown off by how much of their conversation I was able to hear over dinner. So I guess if you’re planning on having an intimate (or inappropriate) conversation, speak quietly or get a table in the back.

This place was big, nice, and clean. The food was just okay, and the service was slow. The servers were nice, but slow. We came all the way from Chicago to eat here because the birthday girl wanted to come here. That will forever be the only reason for me to make another trip here. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that bad, but just not worth the distance. If you’re in the neighborhood, and you feel like some Korean food, and you’re not in a hurry, you should definitely check them out. How’s that?

Breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, supper…
Yep, it’s true. I’m on the hobbit diet… or least that’s what I’ve been told. And after a long day of non-​stop nibbles I was famished and looking for somewhere to pack on the winter pounds. So of course, Korean came to mind.
As one of my favorite types of food, I was excited to see find out that Woo Lae Oak had a decent selection of vegetarian items on their menu, though some have special notes that mentioning that while the ingredients are veggie, they’re served in a beef broth, hereby negating the whole vegetarian thing, but you can special request for your meatless dish to actually be meatless.
We ordered up the Yachae Dolsot Bibimbap (sans beef broth) and the Soontofu Jjigae, a soft tofu soup. Overall, the Bibimbap is my favorite– you gotta ask for extra sauce because it’s unbelievable on everything– the rice, the cornucopia of tiny dishes and I’ll even add it to the Soontofu, which can at times be a bit bland and others be filled with strange very fishy tasting, chewy seafood. Okay, that only happened once, but it made me reconsider my original 5-​star rating and downgrade to a 4, though at times, again, I can understand where a 3 might be reasonable. Especially since once food is dropped off, if you haven’t ordered anything on the hot top, your server won’t be back to check on you until you’re completely done eating– so if you get meat in your no-​meat stew it’s too bad, so sad and you’re gonna have to wait it out for the next 40 minutes until your server comes back to take your plates away.
But besides that one meat-​y mix-​up and the semi neglectful service on the reg, the dining area is beautiful and huge and not the kind of place you show up looking as scrubby as I have, so be warned. Step it up, put on your Sunday finest and order up yourself some mighty fine soontofu.

TLDR: Solid Korean food in a big, fairly nice venue. Higher price point than other Korean restaurants in Chicago but if you really think about the food and how it tastes, it is stronger than some of the other Korean places in Chicago. Recently changed ownership — menu slightly bigger.
Food — Their kalbi and bulgogi are good. I still think L.A. K-​town restaurants are better, but its good. Their mulnengmyung and bibimnengmyun are also solid. Esther’s family claims their kalbi jim and daenjang jigaes are good too. Their panchan is ok – not super great.
Décor — Its big and spacious but also seems a little dingy — that’s not unusual for big «fancy» Asian restaurants that are actually run by Asians — the little details are sometimes ignored.
Kid-​friendliness — High chairs. Also, its big enough that the kids can run around and horse around a bit in the back.
Beginner’s Tip — If you are new to Korean food and aren’t coming here for a set lunch but a dinner, here’s what I’d do in case you get a server that doesn’t speak English that well. Here’s a set of what I’d order
Appetizer
Haemul Pajeon (seafood pancake) — You dip this in soy sauce.

Main Dish
Kalbi (korean bar-​b-​q short ribs) — They will bring out the meat and you can grill it but note that if you want, you can ask them to cook it in the back. You can either just eat the pieces by themselves with the rice or dip them in the brown slightly thick sauce they will bring out. They will also bring out lettuce and you can wrap the rice, the meat and some of the sauce in the lettuce and eat this.
Optional — Bulgogi (bar-​b-​q pork) — This is another common bar-​b-​q dish that is more like torn up beef or pork. Its eaten in much the same way. If you want it spicy asks for daeji bulgogi.
Newbie friendly side dish
Chap chae — this is a clear noodle dish with meat and vegetables in it.
Not so newbie friendly but «I want to see what koreans really eat» side dish
Kimchi chigae — Koreans love stews. This is perhaps the most classic — its a stew whose primary component is the fermented spicy cabbage side dish kimchi. its quite tasty but its spicy and its flavor profile is very different than many traditional western foods so be warned. but this is a classic dish.
And, unless you really don’t want to, get beer (like Hite or a japanese beer like a sapporo). Korean bar-​b-​q is much better with beer.
If you really want to have a Korean-​American experience, go golfing first, then come here and eat while drinking beer, then go noraebang someplace.

I regularly eat Chinese, Thai and Japanese food, but have never tried Korean BBQ before, so I was really excited to try this place. Walking in, the place is impressive with tall, decorated ceilings and ample dining space. But that was the best part of the experience.
The server barely spoke English, and we could not understand a word she said, nor did she understand us. We just pointed at things on the menu, and she wrote them down. When she brought out our food, we had no idea what she said the dishes and side dishes were, but we tried everything anyway. I am a firm believer in trying everything at least once, and in this case, it will only be once.
Both of us disliked our meals and the majority of the sides. My meal was served ice cold, which was not mentioned in the menu description, and my husband’s meal was served hot, but was as bland as bland could be. Some of the side dishes were just plain nasty — and I am not a picky eater! I love to try new things, and I was so sad to have wasted my hunger on this food.
I have it in me to try Korean BBQ at least one more time somewhere else, and you best believe I will research it on Unilocal first to see the reviews.

They say don’t judge a book by it’s cover and if you judged this restaurant from it’s tired exterior and cheesy signage. You’d miss out. Woo Lae Oak makes for a lovely Korean dining experience. I’ve been to a few of their locations, NYC, LA, Chicago (Hubbard street loc. now closed) I’m a little puzzled as to why they chose Rolling Meadows but after a long day shopping with family, I’m grateful for their location as they are the closest decent Korean restaurant to Woodfield Mall, it’s reliable especially after their change in management and kitchen staff around June of 2011.
The gorgeous general manager Ms. Kaylyn Kim, (once a news reporter) came out for a table visit, during a busy post-​Thanksgiving weekend lunch period to welcome us and talk about the food we ordered. I had been there twice before and true to Woo Lae Oak fashion, they have the most gracious staff exhibiting old world gentility in speech (if you speak korean), and action. They’re so courteous, I was a little taken back.
My thing with korean food is that I stick to traditional entrees. I find that not many places do fusion well nor is the dish good when they start trying to create their own interpretation of korean dishes. But Woo Rae Oak does both traditional dishes and the unusual so I took Ms Kim’s suggestion an and ordered a dish unique to them. A spicy seafood jungol, kind of like a korean cioppino, it had vegetables, pork, seafood and noodles. The dish sounded odd and had it ordered on Ms. Kim’s recommendation and did not regret it!
i absolutely loved their spicy tuna tartar
. Almost 2 months later and I’m still thinking about it. Spicy Tuna served on a leaf with peppers and julienned asian pear. I loved the contrast of sweet, heat and textures in my mouth. It was beautiful, simple but clever.
Their signature dish is the Naeng Myun, the buckwheat noodle soup in cold beef broth and it is good but we’ve had that before and I’m glad we ventured out of our comfort zone and tried the other dishes.
Woo Lae Oak is wonderful for larger groups too. They have the staffing to accommodate so you’ll never wait too long for service. They work in teams so it’s not just one person serving you like in many other korean restaurants.
It’s rare but I left feeling indebted to them for their hospitality. Thank you Woo Lae Oak. =)

I’ve passed by this place for the last 15 years wondering how it looked inside. Curiosity always peaked me, but never enough to want to dine here. Until recently, when my quest to find the best k-​bbq came into existence
Its just like my Molly’s Cupcake quest… I love Molly’s cupcakes, far superior than any other cupcakes. But I still tease myself, trying to see if there is someone who can top off their red velvet. That (impossible) mission, is still unsuccessful, but I still attempt at it.
So, onto Woo Lae… I have tried to find the wonderful merriment of great service, Korean fried rice, bountiful panchan… and still no trifecta of the 3. This place was close to my dinner mate’s house, so we checked it out on a very uneventful Friday night.
The outside looks very dull, but walking inside you’ll see humongous horseshoe booths with a large grill in the middle. The ceilings are high and intricately decorated. The service was quick and fast.
The food was average though, and really disappointed me since the surroundings don’t match the food. They give you endless amount of the…5 panchan that they give you. Only 5. hmmmm. Stick with the anchovies and sweet potato.
The kalbi was just ok. It wasn’t on the bone «like the picture we pointed out». But it did come with veggies, with is a rarity at kbbq. The other meat we must’ve been less than stellar because I can’t even recall what it is.
The staff was really nice, and they were really swift. But the price of the food was a little more expensive than other kbbq, so I wouldn’t say that this place has fair pricing, especially since panchan was limited
3.5 stars. I wouldn’t rush to come back here, but if a (majority ruled) group decided to come here, I wouldn’t oppose

Wow! 5 star atmosphere!
That was my first impression when I walked in. Waitresses with slacks and white dress shirts and bus boys with bow ties? COME ON! They have alot of traditional paintings on the wall and overall and plenty of room to accomodate 100+ people.
I ordered the cold buckwheat noodle and galbi combo ($ 19.99) and Hite lager ($ 10). Noodles were delicious! Ice chunks floating on top with pieces of asian pear, cabbage and radish perfects the texture and flavor combination! Galbi? Pretty awesome also, marinated good and very tender. You get little bit less meat than the regular order but with all the side dishes and noddles, it’s more than enough to fill you up, It’s little pricey but amount and qualify of food you will get is more than worth the money.
Service is very courteous and they cook the meat for you, I told them I could do it myself since I like my galbi medium rare. They came around few times to ask I needed any more side dishes and it wasn’t too intrusive which I dig.
This place is little too far for me to visit often but I will surely visit this place again if I don’t want to deal with the hustle in the City!

We had meal «A». I have no idea what anything is. There is some stuff that is in the set meals that are on the regular menu but most of the stuff is not. The A meal is 26 dollars per person before tax and tip. There is also a B and C meal for 36 and 46 respectively.
They also seem to have some much cheaper lunch specials in a box, like bento box style.
Our waiter was very good, but when asking questions I think English was not his strong suit.
The food was delectable! It was served tapas style, small dishes of everything which intro’ed me to Korean food really well.
Here is what is in A (I’ll try to describe it best I can)
DanhobakJuk — A hot pumpkin soup — It was ok
Gaesal Salad — Think Korean Cole Slaw, it was a bit spicy and good
Ahnsim-​Pyeonchae — Tenderloin beef wrapped in pickled radish — This was really good! You get 2 pieces and some salad
Godori-​twigum — Deep fried Mackerel with salad — this was really good too, nice piece of meat, good texture and good sauce
Samseak-​Jeonyuhaw — I forget what this was… sorry
Jinji & Doenjang-​jjigae — Stew of soybean paste, tofu, and veggies. This was alright, I mixed it with my rice. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t bad either. It’s got this crumbly texture to it like ground beef ish.
LA Galib-​gui — 3 pieces of korean short ribs in a honey glaze, quite thick too! i loved this! It’s served with rice
gwail — 1 big piece of honey dew (3 bites) 1 small bite of pineapple, 1 small bite of orange, and 1 grape.
So my confusion is this, why can’t they give these dishes english names for ppl like me that are new? lol Any how, it was very upscale and a very good place to go and try Korean food. It’s a bit pricey but it was worth the money!
I think you can also have stuff cooked in the middle of the table, kinda like hotpot where you cook it yourself. I wasn’t sure how to order that and that’s a bit daunting for a first timer I think.