Dong Nae Gil

We come to Dong Nae Gil when we are craving traditional Korean (non-​BBQ) dishes and don’t feel like making the long trip to Ktown. The restaurant itself isn’t much to look at but they keep it clean and they have great service.
The food is delicious! We’ve had most of the menu I think but our typical order will include some mandu (dumplings) soup and bossam (boiled pork) and maybe some fish like a mackeral.
Like I said service is great! The food comes out quickly. Prices are very reasonable, great value! And most of the clientele is Korean, so that’s a good sign!

This place is very homey. If I had a Korean mother and she opened up a restaurant with an aunt or her sister, that would be this restaurant. Not very crowded, super casual. People who worked there sat around at the tables and watched TV until they are needed.
Ban chan — Nothing exciting. Mostly vegetables. One dish was with dried fish and one dish had squid in it. One of those rare times when I didn’t demolish the ban chan and asked for seconds.
Kalbi tang — soup wasn’t clear at all. Probably just a personal preference, but flavor was fine.
Duk mandu guk — good… enough.
Overall, food was average. My pet peeve with both soups was that the egg was cracked in whole toward the end, so you end up with large chunks of unevenly distributed yolks and whites. I would not return again.

Great food. Loved the banchan. It is an authentic korean homestyle cooking restaurant, no frills no fuss. I got comfort food that reminded me of my year living in korea. We tried the manduguk (rice cake soup) and bulgogi. I need to go back and try the bossam.

Food is excellent! You know it’s authentic when none of the wait staff speaks English and you have to make up your own version of sign language to get through the night. Pointing and gesturing did me fine. The staff were super sweet and accommodating!
FOOD:
Pork belly house special: ⁴⁄₅ Pork belly meat was flavorful and tender. I shared with a friend and there was more than enough for us both.
Oxtail soup: 3.5÷5 Good, but meat did not come off the bone easily. If you don’t want to look like a savage holding this huge hunk in your hands and tearing it off your meat, don’t get this. It’s yummy though!
Came out to be around $ 30/​person with tax and tip.

Went a bunch of times for bossam (IMO it’s their specialty.)
Good variety of side dishes — they refill like most Korean restaurants.
It’s not fancy but items are reasonably priced and pretty good for the most part.
Not the best customer service but you get what you ask for. Just ask.

Amazing Korean food and excellent banchan. The décor is nondescript, but that only adds to the charm. The Mrs. and I (neither Korean nor Asian — I mention this because some other reviewers made comments about their not being treated well on account of not being Korean) felt well cared for and the staff acted friendly and was happy to answer any questions we had. We were the only non-​Koreans the whole time we were there and were never made to feel out of place or uncomfortable.
Back to the food, though: really, really good. I had the tofu stew and the Mrs. had the grilled mackerel and strong soybean soup. Hearty flavors and done to perfection at a great price. Try this place out.

I like the lunch combo here. Good portion and it stay sizzling hot on the plate till the last bite. I ordered bulgolgi and bimbimbap last time and I was really pleased.

Been coming to this korean restaurant for awhile now. They are fairly priced, taste fresh and traditional. I like getting the special combos with pork belly lettuce wrap with choice of hot stew. Their side dishes are great too!

I’ve been in US for over 10years now and this place simply amazed me.
While there are many korean restaurants that cooks food to the general norm’s (amaerican) appetite, this place just straight up went and said «eh we barely get any non-​korean customers» and Just cooked everything authentically korean. I asked the chef to make my bean paste stew a little spicy, thinking that it won’t be too spicy anyways considering this is US. I almost died. Was it good? Hell yeah. Havent tasted anything this spicy in years. Man. I really do recommend this place to all those of you who lived your teenagehood or over in korea. As for fellow americans, do keep in mind that they have near 0 consideration for your appetite. If you are willing to take that risk and try out real korean food, then please. This place is it.
I certainly will be back for more.

This restaurant is ok. I went to the restaurant by myself and the server only gave me 4 side dishes and when an Korean person came to the restaurant by himself, the server gave him at least 6 side dishes! Not fair… I think the owner is being racist because I am chinese and don’t speak Korean

Very traditional Korean restaurant. They have very flavorful kimchi and I love their Manduguk! Thy also have Gamjatang which is my favorite Korean soup. If you’ve never tried it before I’d recommend giving this place a shot as they have such an amount of depth in the flavor of this soup!

This is one of the neighborhood spots that we frequent when we have a craving for Korean food. Authentic. It gets kind of busy on Saturdays and Sundays, especially during lunch. If busy, just be pushy and call out for the ahjumma for service since there is no button at the table. Sometimes she is running back and forth and forgets your request since she’s the only one waiting on the tables, so just give her a gentle reminder once in a while until she gets to your request. Hahaha!

I really like this place. The owner is very nice & the food is really delicious. Not your typical Korean Tofu house, but rather Korean home style cuisine with really good meat dishes & authentic side dishes. I always judge a restaurant by who eats there. In this case, there are mainly Korean patrons who come to Dong Nae Gil. I give this place 5 stars for awesome food & humble service.

Yummy and solid Korean food when I am not in Koreatown. Service was good and they were fast when we went for dinner on a weeknight. We tried the stew with the fish eggs and seafood pancake. Very hearty, yummy, and a great way to end my day.

Too legit to quit. I’m SO down with this place. It reminded me places in Korea, in terms of both quality and price point I was craving kimchi jjigae like cray and I was pleasantly surprised at the all chunks of porky goodness they put into it! Other Korean restaurants skimp on the pork, and all you get is an overly fermented, sour tasting soup. The pork fat MAKES this soup. The wonderful ajumahs here understand this. ^^
I had the kimchi jjigae and bossam (steamed pork belly) combo. I would’ve devoured the whole thing, but I was SO full… however, I killed the kimchi jjigae, which is saying a lot for me b/​c I never want to injest that much sodium, but it was like crack kimchi jjigae. Definitely coming back! Already told two other friends who ate there the next day!
I gave them one fewer star b/​c their customer service could be better. When I asked to close the door b/​c of the wind, the lady said no b/​c it was too hot. I appreciate her honesty, but had to move seats b/​c of the draft. That main lady could give a SH*T about what you think. That doesn’t mean she’s not nice, but she’s not one for small talk either.

The (Black goat stew) is spectacular. The broth is rich and extremely flavorful. The (pork belly) was also very good. Can’t speak for the other dishes but those two are very authentic and delicious.

I was happy to find a pretty solid Korean restaurant nearby. Service was good. Food was good. Plenty of variety. Reasonable prices. Dong Nae Gil reminded me of some of the places I frequented in Korea. I’ll be back.

The proportions here are HUGEEEE! The bibimbab and the boiled chicken here were pretty good, I guess the service was a bit slow though. Overall good experience!

This place is so good! Today I got the pork cutlet again, and I would say it’s way better than other places. My mom and dad got the samgaetang nulunggee, they said they loved it. The crispiness went well with the soup. Service was nice.

Today’s word is DRECK.
I have to confess, I have utilized the services of this great website and yet have yet to make a contribution. This is mainly due to the fact that I never felt the need to echo what others have already stated, much more eloquently than I could. Until today.
Two of my coworkers and I often make a trek down to a particular Gardena strip mall on Western Ave. to enjoy the various Korean samplings unavailable near our work. Today, Thursday April 12, 2012, was one such day. Originally we had planned to eat at the Korean BBQ in order to slake my desire for some meat. Once we pulled into the plaza, I noticed this new spot on the north end of the plaza — Dong Nae Gil. Always one to want and try new things, we headed over. The restaurant smelled a mix of Korean meat and soup, mixed in with that familiar new restaurant smell. The place was filled with Koreans chowing down. I was excited.
We were immediately seated in one of the last tables available. A few minutes passed, and still no water, no menus, and no place settings. The waitress finally brought over two waters and place settings — but there were three of us. Sure, I don’t mind waiting another three minutes for mine. Was it because I was the only non-​Asian in the place?
After an unusually long time, the waitress took our order. We ordered the Korean pork belly with oysters. And a pancake to munch on while we waited. As my Grandpa used to say, «you can’t go wrong with pancakes.» I guess Grandpa never ate here.
Normally when you go to a Korean place they will serve you the banchan (side dishes) immediately. Not here. That takes about ten minutes. And even though I was very hungry, to say that the banchan produced a tepid reaction in my taste buds would be charitable.
After about 25 minutes, the long awaited pancake arrived. By then I was starving and devoured my share of the pancake. We were then all ready for some pork belly. «Bring on the pork belly» I chanted in my mind.
About 40 minutes into our stay, the waitress approached! Instead of pork belly, she appeared with a bowl of bibimbap. She set it down on the table along with a plate with two whole fishes. We all looked at each other perplexed. This was not what we ordered. We had actually seen what appeared to be an order of ever so delicious pork belly being delivered to another table — a table that was seated well after us. The woman retracted the bibimbap and departed with the fish and no explanation.
Remember that song «Days Go By» by Dirty Vegas? They used the song in a Mitsubishi commercial a while back. Dave Chappelle did a funny skit based on it. Well it seemed that a few days went by waiting for our food. After the bibimbap was recalled, we waited. We speculated that since the other table (that came after us) got our order, then what should have been their order would be due shortly. Nope!
Long story short is that we were there almost an hour and all we got was some craptastical side dishes and a pancake. We didn’t get our food, let alone any semblance of an explanation. The owners need to know that a «lunch hour» means that’s how long I have to leave work, drive somewhere, eat and come back. That doesn’t mean you get to hold me hostage for an hour, tease me with the thought of food to induce a Pavlovian response and then hang me out to dry. We ended up just leaving. I grabbed something at the bakery and then raced back to work. There I sit typing this, oh so hungry. Will I ever eat again?
Some places need to go through their growing pains in order to become decent places. Other spots just need to be put down.