China Cook On West Jefferson: Ferak Food Review

JOLIET, IL — If you want quality Mexican food, Joliet has plenty of great options. If you want Italian beef, hot dogs or homemade pizza, Joliet has several top-notch restaurants as well. But when it comes to Chinese cuisine, that's a different story.

Indeed, the Dragon Light Restaurant has been around the area for decades on North Larkin Avenue, but that's in the city of Crest Hill, not Joliet.

Last week, in search of quality, I decided to check out China Cook, the little carryout restaurant at 2951 West Jefferson St. It's across the street from Joliet's Memorial Stadium.

It's a small restaurant. There are only two tables and a handful of counter stools. This place specializes in carryout and in my opinion, it hit the marks.

Most importantly, it's very affordable for Joliet.

China Cook runs a daily $5.90 lunch special from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. And on Mondays only, there's a lunch special of buy three, get one free.

All lunch specials are served with chicken fried rice and an egg roll.

The $5.90 lunch special was too good to pass up.

One day last week, I went with the orange chicken platter. When I made it home, the food was fresh and I liked the fact that my tangy orange chicken had a little bit of a spicy kick to it. The fried rice also tasted good.

After my kids got home from school, I told them we might need to give this China Cook a try. I saved my egg roll for my youngest child and she approved.

So a few days later, what did I do? I got my sixth-grade son in the car and we drove over to China Cook. He loves eating pot stickers. Besides ordering the pot stickers for him, I got myself another $5.90 special, this time the sweet and sour chicken.

On both instances, I didn't tell the restaurant I was from Patch. I wanted to observe this place in its natural environment. And besides, if the food wasn't to my satisfaction, I wasn't going to give this place a write-up.

Both times I visited China Cook were late in the afternoon, and even though this was way past the mid-day lunch rush, China Cook was hardly empty.

There was always three to four people waiting to get their food or showing up to place an order.

China Cook is not the place to go for a fancy dinner date.

On the other hand, if you're looking for quality Chinese to bring home for dinner and a Netflix movie, I think this place hits the spot for Joliet.

The prices are reasonable. The food is cooked up fresh. It's been in Joliet since 2012, so it must be doing something right.

"Healthier and Tastier Chinese Food," its website proclaims. The full menu includes noodles, pan-fried noodles, beef, pork, seafood, vegetables and soups. There's a family meal special for $22.99 and another one for $37.99. There are also three separate promotions online.

For more, visit the China Cook website here. China Cook is closed Sunday and open 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Phone is 815-725-0888.

This place gets my recommendation.

What about you? Do you know of a great Chinese restaurant in Joliet that I don't know about? Feel free to post your comments and suggestions at the bottom of this article.