As many of you may know, Toronto has two Koreatowns (one old one new). Since my friends and I have already thoroughly explored the old Ktown at Christie Station, we decided to venture into the unknown territory that is North York. The general impression is that the Korean stores are much more scattered and is stretched across North York (roughly from Yonge and Sheppard to Yonge and Steeles).
I had my eyes set on this restaurant before we went. My friend, who lives very close to Joons recommended me to try this place. I've also heard people rave about this place over the internet, so I was beyond excited to give it a try!
This is Joons's specialty called Dak Galbi, which is a stir-fry typically with cabbage, chicken dices, onions, scallions, ttoek (Korean rice cakes) etc. So this is how it looks like before it's cooked. When you order this, they just bring you the whole pot and cook it in front of you.
Note: they place orders by portions. There's three portions here.
The ttoek and cheese we ordered caused extra. There are three types of soup bases, the teriyaki, mild spicy (chilli paste) and the very spicy base. We chose the teriyaki because my friends cannot really take spicy food. While I was taking pictures, the waitress was laughing at me, and the all the employees gathered around our table and started speaking in Korean lol. Awkward.
Finished product. Cheese + teriyaki + chicken + Korean food may sound like quite an odd combination, but this is the best stuff ever! Not just speaking for a cheese enthusiast point of view, but my friends (whom aren't as fond of cheese as I am) thought this was great! Somehow, all the odd flavours work very well together. Everything is soaked with the teriyaki sauce, everything's just so gooey, warm and fuzzy kinda like baby food (in a good way). One complaint I have is that the sauce is wayyy too sweet. 1/2 way through, it gets sickening. It didn't look like a lot to start with, but we couldn't finish it and we were full (or sick, we couldn't tell) for hours. I think the spicy sauce would've been better.
Overall Review:
Food: 9.5/10
Heavenly, since they combined two of my favourite things that I've never thought would go together (Korean food and cheese). The only problem is that it's over-seasoned.
Ambience: 6/10
Slightly better than a cafeteria, and the tables were sticky.
Service: 6.5/10
The employees were almost overly polite; each time they approach our table, they say "excuse me." I just didn't like the boss, she was yelling at everyone and when I went to the counter to pay, she took forever to notice me and took forever to take my payment and she was sighing and yelling in Korean the whole time.
Price: 8/10
Slightly more expensive compared to other Korean restaurants. Each portion of the Dak Galbi was ~$9, so we paid ~$30 for that. Since I paid by card, they also forced me to either tip 15% or 20% with no other options. I mean the food was good, but forcing me to tip a certain amount is not cool.
Final Verdict: 7.5/10
Despite all that, it is definitely worth giving Joons a try. There aren't many places in Toronto that serves Dak Galbi. Their Naengmyeon (cold noodles) is also one of the best in Toronto (and unlike other restaurants, they only serve it during the summer). However, I would suggest going to the Joons near Bathurst Station instead if you don't live in North York. From what I've heard, the food and service is way better.
Address:
4852 Yonge St
North York, ON M2N 5N2
(416) 840-0589
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