11/19/08

the best dukbosam in so cal!

by Sheauen

you'll always be greated by the smiling owner. the quality of the meat is always great, and who can resist the dipping sauces. its pricier than the AYCE places but its worth it. Always get the deckle and the short ribs. YUM!

• Pros: awesome dukbosam, always welcome by the smiling owner
• Cons: can be crowded at times, a little pricey

11/18/07

Super Fresh, Great Flavor and Friendly Effficient Service

by redbeansandrice

Super fresh, super tasty Korean BBQ. The service is outstanding: prompt, polite, efficient. It's a feast and always lots of fun. We take friends from out of town and it's always impressive and well received. They will cook in the back (rather than you cooking at your table) if you like. We prefer it that way. I think that they do a better job cooking the meat than we do, and we can focus on conversation instead of cooking our meat!

10/22/07

Authenticity

by tkim14

The disparaging remarks about this place probably comes from either a horrible misunderstanding of Korean culture or simple meanness. This isn't a place for hip Korean food, where waitresses are dressed in hanboks and giggle with their hands covering their mouths. Go down the street to Cho-san for that kind of cartoony korean experience. This place is real. There's a giant mural in the back of a vast river landscape, totally out of place, totally endearing. The owner, a sweet, solicitous man with dyed black hair, walks to each table, asking if everything was ok, even pouring you water if you have an empty glass.

Even the utensils reflect the truthfulness of the place. The plastic bowls have warped scars from being near scalding table grills.It is rambunctious inside, full of voices of families and folks just off work and even kids on dates. The setting is durable, authentic, and the ajuma waitresses look and sound like your emo, always making sure your pan-chan is refilled, making sure you're being well fed. The reason why people wait in line for this place is because of the way it feels, eating here. Cement floors, slick metal ceilings coated with layers of vaporized grease, you can't get more authentic than that. Don't come here if you're looking for Woo-Lae-Oak or Chosun fine dining, with metal chopsticks and plasma screened waiting rooms. Come here for good food, for conviviality, for modesty and heart, all elements of dining you can't buy with all the money in K-town. And of course, the duk-bo-sam is necessity.

If you're irritated with valet pulling your car out for you when your car is thirty feet away, well, then, you haven't been to k-town, or you're not familiar with its rascally ways. You go to any plaza on 6th street, like on Alexander or Kenmore, and this is just protocol. Koreans need to make a living! (My uncle did this sort of scheme, and it's just accepted, just like pushing a button to call a waitress, or belting out a "Yogi-yo!")

• Pros: Consistency, atmosphere, balding old man
• Cons: No cons, unless you have the wrong type of expectations