The Day The Princess Pig Craves A Drink

Being Korean, it is my cultural responsibility to review every bar in a given area. Ok, I obviously made that up, but Koreans are notorious for our drinking prowess (or would that be more of a curse haha?). Anyway, I have soft spot in my heart for these small, hole in the wall Korean bars – NOT THAT KINDA KOREAN BAR! – since the food and ambiance just screams, «comfort,» and «familiar.»
Although a little hidden from plain view, Princess Pig is a quaint bar that has surprisingly good food. That might sound a bit unkind, but I have been painfully disappointed many times in the past by bars that say they make Korean food. And although you’ll find your typical bar staples like fries and fried chicken, my heart and stomach are always set on the more traditional Korean fares like soondae (Korean blood sausage) and tripe. And for those who want a little bit of everything, get the doshirak (basically the Korean word for bento box), which comes with rice, egg, kimchi, myeolchi (Korean seasoned anchovies), and gochujang (red pepper paste). The best way to eat one of these doshirak boxes is to pop the lid on first, then shake the hell out of it, so the contents get evenly mixed up inside.
As good as the food is here, the bar aspect of Princess Pig is fairly disappointing. Now don’t get me wrong, you can and you will get pretty drunk here if you give yourself the chance. And if you’re coming to a Korean bar, I’m sure you’re in the mood for soju, and that Princess Pig has aplenty. However, aside from soju, beer, and a few different types of hard liquor, you’re not gonna find much variety of drinks to order from.
The majority of times I’ve been here was for a pau hana type of deal. After a long day of work, there isn’t anything better than just unwinding with some coworkers. And if you’re in the mood to sing, Princess Pig also has a private room with a karaōke machine because we all know after a few drinks everyone sounds like a professional.
Sigh. I really wanna give Princess Pig a higher rating. Believe me, I really do. I mean I come here so often it seems that I’m almost obligated to. And in all honesty, if I could give them 3.5 stars I would easily do that. But the bar limitations and the very limited space available in the bar itself won’t let me do so. But 3 stars is still better than average, and better than average is pretty much the best way to describe it here.

Pigs for days! They sure love their pigs here!
It’s their bar mascot, per our friendly and attentive waiter, Dante.
Pigs are considered very lucky in Korean culture, so it’s no wonder the owner loves this wonderfully delicious creature. Various pig sculptures and figurines of all shapes and colors are proudly displayed at the bar. They’re so damn cute that I almost wanted to take them home, lol!
Located on the ground level, within the Title Guarantee Escrow Building on 1350 South King Street, right next to Café Sistina.
— As you pass Café Sistina, you’ll see their parking entrance to your immediate left. There’s lots of free parking stalls avail. The restaurant is located towards the end of the lot, towards Young Street. It’ll be the only lit up place at night, lol.
The interior is humble and cozy with just 4 booths and a small bar area. The bar stools faces their small open kitchen.
There’s also 2 karaōke rooms avail for small groups.
— First come, first serve. No hourly rental fees.
— $ 1 per song
— You could call ahead to reserve as well.
The food is mainly anju/​Korean snack foods/​pupus that you’d normally find in your usual Korean bars. There’s a small soup and stew section as well.
— Happy hour is 6pm-​8pm, but for food only.
— A bottle of soju is $ 10. Cheap, compared to most places.
Page 1 of menu:
Page 2 of menu:
The food we ordered were overall tasty, but a bit pricey for the amount you get.
FRIED CHICKEN WINGS ($ 12 HH, $ 15 reg price):
— Crunchy wings fried to a golden finish. It was lightly floured and seasoned simply with salt and pepper.
— Also available in a spicy and/​or soy sauce glaze too.
FRIED SQUID/​OJINGEO TWIGGIM ($ 15):
Long strips of calamari fried to perfection. The coating was thin and crunchy.
I loved that it didn’t fall apart when you bite into it. The perfect drinking food!
HAEMUL PAJEON/​SEAFOOD SCALLION PANCAKE ($ 15):
The only «seafood» in this jeon was squid, but there was lots of it in every bite. The sweet scallions were not at all overpowering, very nice and tender, sweet tasting.
— I asked for them to make it «crispy» but it was still doughy in the middle. No biggie, it was still delicious.
SPICY GARLIC SHRIMP (10 shrimps for $ 15):
These shrimps were nice and plump. Leaving the shells on during cooking, kept them nice and juicy.
My friend ate his peeled, I ate it shells and all, it was that good!
— The garlicky gochujang sauce was sweet and spicy, and complimented the sweet shrimps very well. I kept dipping my fried calamari into the sauce, lol.
Overall, a nice bar that’s chill and relaxing. I’ll probably be back to try out their soups and stews.
(3.5 stars rounded up)

If I make plans to drink with my friends, I tend to come to this bar first. It has been open for quite a long time but it still isn’t well-​known to the public yet. I’ve only seen Korean customers so it feels like I’m in Korea. It is kind of hidden to begin with, but basically it’s right across from ‘Spero Spera’ (which has been getting really popular lately) on Young Street. Parking is very convenient. Once you go in, it may seem very small (2 karaōke rooms and 4 tables outside). However, as it isn’t as busy as other bars, you should be able to get a seat right away. I usually go during happy hour (6 – 8 pm) to eat dinner and drink at the same time (to save money too). The choices aren’t that diverse but it’s enough to get you full. One of the other major factors that influence me to go here is the soju price. It is relatively cheaper than other bars ($ 10).

Came here with a couple of friends last night to grab a bite and have a few drinks. Right across the street from Spero Spera, there’s a sign in Korean that literally translates to «Pig Princess», and the entrance door is to the right. Parking is available right next to the bar, and it’s free! The only way to get into the parking is if you go around and onto King St. then make a left into the lot.
This place is small and cozy, with only about 5 tables outside and some seats along the bar. There’s two karaōke rooms for use at no charge, but they have karaōke machines that charge a dollar per song. I love that they have both the Korean and English machines, though I don’t think that too many non-​Koreans know about this place.
As soon as I walked in, it felt like I was at a bar in Korea! All the workers greeted us with a loud «UH SEO OSAEYO!» as we walked into one of the karaōke rooms. It’s definitely not one of your typical Korean bars in the area like Duckbutt, Café Gangnam, etc., where they normally cater to a younger and local demographic. I feel like this place caters more towards Koreans.
The entire food menu was in Korean, so for those of you that can’t read Korean, bring a friend who can translate everything for you! Haha
We ordered the chicken wings, ddukpoki (spicy rice cakes), kimchee pancake, french fries, and the pork kalbi stew, which was my favorite dish.
Everything tasted homemade and flavorful! The pork kalbi stew was full of depth and had just the right amount of sweetness. The meat was tender and broke apart easily, but remained intact to the bone.
Prices are a little steep, but they have a pretty decent happy hour menu from 6−8pm. Plus, soju is cheaper here ($ 10) than most other korean bars, which typically charge about $ 15.
We ate, drank, and sung out hearts out!
I definitely wouldn’t mind coming back here again.

After work on a Friday night, my amazing coworkers dragged me out to this small Korean bar for food and drinks, and they have never led me astray so I would go anywhere with them even if I haven’t checked Unilocal for reviews =P
By the way, I love bad translations — this makes me like this place so much more because I just find it so charming! But it’s kind of small and I haven’t even heard of this place before (my inner hipster is pleased though). I would probably go back because it was fun to just hang out.
The food was pretty good but I let everyone else order for me so I don’t know specifics — one chicken dish that came with salt and pepper to dip, the Korean kimchi pancake thing, and a bibimbap-​like dish where you close the lid shake it all up. Though we definitely had the oden, which was somewhat spicy but not «oh god it burns» spicy. I’m assuming they have their liquor license now (versus the BYOB rule before) because we ordered some beers and soju as well.
Karaōke was still $ 1.00 per song if you get their rooms as mentioned by someone before, and I guess the muted Korean music videos made for good eye candy whether you sing or not. I can’t tell if this is a pro or con, but the rooms are not sound proof, so while I enjoyed tormenting everyone with that, I can’t help but think that it might be a little annoying for the people outside.
The downside was our room’s wonky door handle — you have to lift up the door handle to properly close it — my efforts to dampen our music quickly were so futile!

So I came here once and really enjoyed it.
It’s BYOB, but just in case, make sure you don’t have any underage kids with you (you never know when the po-​po might come in and not just at this place).
The food there is delicious and has a certain vintage Korean look to the place.
They also have karaōke rooms where you just add a dollar for a song.
Sometimes you just want to hang out with friends and your throat hurts after singing, so you’re not wasting any money and time like at other karaōke places.
I don’t know when I’ll be going back there again but I will go back! LOL!

Such a cute place! At this time byob. Very reasonable prices for food!