Soban

Before I even start on the food, let’s talk about the basic respect first. I don’t want to use the word “racist” as my friends and me are all East Asians. But if you are not speaking Korean. You will be discriminated. We ordered our food 10 min before another table of Korean customers got seated. How ever, they got Banchan way before their first dish was served and ofc way before us. Ironically, they got their seafood pancake served first after we ordered the exact same dish 15 min ahead. We were frustrated and hungry with an empty table while the Korean customers beside us who arrived 10 min later were enjoying Banchan and the same dish we ordered 15 min earlier. To all people that read Chinese, here’s the advice: 他们歧视中国人，不要到他们的店进行消费。 Now, let’s talk about the food: Good tasting dish: 1. Braised short rib. The flavor was creamy and spicy. They might put in honey to give that caramelized flavor. However, it’s over $50 for a serving size of a normal stone pot. Mediocre dish: 1. Marinated raw crab It’s said to be the highlight of this restaurant, but i don’t really like the flavor. The bitterness flavor overwhelmed the sweetness of the raw crab meat. And it only came with one crab unlike what was shown on Mark Wien from YTB where two crabs were served (nor they suggest the quantity on the menu). 2. Seafood pancake Just typical Korean seafood pancake flavor/texture. And the chef over cooked 2 pancakes with very burned black crust. The sauce was deadly salty! Definitely not worth 26 dollars. Bad tasting dish: 1. Fish roe soup The bitterness from chrysanthemum overwhelmed the soup. The fish roe was very fishy tasting suggesting they didn’t treat it properly. And the texture was not creamy suggesting the roe was cooked in the boiled soup without any pretreatment. We ended up paying $170 before tax/tip for 4 very common Korean dish. You can Judge by your standard, but I think it’s way over priced for this food quality/quantity and service. Let alone the discriminations we suffered. I would not recommend this restaurant at all due to it’s discriminative service, mediocre tasting and overpriced menu. Also they really know how to advertise themselves. The owners should spend more time on the food and service instead of advertising with food bloggers. If you read here, go somewhere else if you are looking for good Korean food. Plenty of choices in KTown. UPDATE： response to the owner The customers at the other table got their menu and ordered the food at the table. Do they need the menu if they had called and ordered? So don’t try to gaslight the situation. Is it so hard to apologize and admit it? I know you don’t even think you did anything wrong. And don’t take your Dad’s China experience as an excuse to justify the discrimination. Your dad didn’t take the order or served us. It’s the servers maybe you or your mom took the order. I always respect family business and I grew up eating mom-pop restaurants. But being a family business doesn’t justify you being discriminative.

I think in the past this restaurant served very well done dishes since I saw a lot of good reviews. Just from the way the banchan was made I can see there is lack of attention to ensure best taste and freshness of ingredients. Basics are missed. Kimchi was quite awful. Other banchan were afterthoughts and were very bland and no flavor. Cod fish dish was good, tofu pancake was dry and the sauce that comes with it was simply too salty to use. Bulgogi was overcooked and it was way too salty. In the end the head hostess didn’t even say bye as we left. This is a major disrespect for Korean culture. Also the dishes are quite expensive and sadly the dishes and service do not justify. I hope things will improve for them.

The galbi jjim is so good! Unique ban chan too!

Service is kind in a genuine way, food was great, we ordered the crab, short ribs and seafood pancakes and would recommend all!

The nuance and complexity of the Black Cod and the Kimchi stew were beyond my expectations. The broth enhanced the seafood, but was also generous with delicious vegetables simmered together. Service was attentive and conversive. I like the atmosphere as understated. I saw from across the room signed headshots of respected guests incl. JYP, a South Korean singer-songwriter, producer, executive. I would love to go back again.