KTOWN Night Market

I’ve gone to two KTOWN Night Markets now — the first was an overcrowded mess in an all-​too-​small venue. By now, they’ve figured out how much space they need — it was almost too empty during the Halloween KTOWN Night Market! But we did go from opening to early afternoon. There’s a good variety of vendors and food here, though I wish vendors were more prompt at opening when the event started. For example, Seoul Sausage opened 2 – 3 hours late. They posted a sign saying «Be back in 30 – 45 minutes»… except it didn’t indicate at all when that sign was posted… And they took a lot more time than that.
It was kind of amusing to notice that places like the Ramen burger, which had like a 200 person line only a handful of months ago, had not a single person waiting for it this time. I wonder if it got a lot more crowded at night though.
One significant downside was that there was no reentry to this one — there are a lot of stores around the street that they had the event at this time, so it would have been nice to be able to go in and out of places. Another problem was a lack of seating/​shade spaced throughout the event — they had some tables in shade at one end, but another area would have been nice.
Lastly, it seemed as if things were spaced out a little oddly — there would be somewhat large gaps with nothing there and no real amusement. But it’s still an improvement to being too cramped into a small space. They also seemed more understaffed this time.
I hope they continue finding ways to improve and I look forward to my next opportunity to go!

Everything here is super over-​priced. None of the food stood out to me. There’s a $ 5 cover charge as well.
Bought a Bambu drink for $ 6 when it’s usually only $ 4 at the store.
Ramen burger $ 10? It’s good, but def not worth $ 10…You could make this at home for like $ 3.
You’re better off getting the same kinds of food at real restaurants…
PS. There also wasn’t even a beer garden inside when the map showed that there was…

It was really fantastic. Fun, food, varieties.
My daughter and i visited here by accident today. On the way Sul and Beans which is the shaved ice in Korean version, we saw the lots of tents on the 6^th and Vermont in KTown. We decided visiting here instead going Sul and Beans. It seemed more like fun than just the shaved ice.
$ 5 at the door and smaller than other Night Market like 626 and looked empty, but it was more fun and nice food selections. Many gorgeous Korean street food like Dduckbboggi, Kimbob, Oden, Hamjibak, and Japanese ramen, yakidori, and other like Ubatuba Acai, Chinese fried dumpling, boba, and bbq chicken, and the baby back rib. I really loved the baby back ribs. It was so scrumptious and heaven which were bbqed with char coal. Orange flavored. No ridiculous smell. I have never eaten that before.
And many food trucks, like The Seoul Sausage, Grilled Cheese, Indian, Indonesian but it was 5pm in the evening which means it was almost closing time. There were many trucks already closed.
As a big fan of the street fairs, i have been so many fairs like Japanese tofu festivals, ramen festivals, Greek festivals, Chinese festivals, and i think other events can’t beat this event. It gives me many experiences at once the popping restaurants I’ve never visited.
I am gonna come back next year.

Tickets were cheap, $ 3 pre-​sale and $ 5 at the door. I found parking fairly easy because I went around 3:30. I wanted to beat the crowds and lines that usually are crazy at these night markets. Surprisingly this market was tiny compared to the other ones. I thought there would be more food vendors.
After walking around, I tried a few food items.
–The phở burger $ 8 was surprisingly super good. It had the essence of phở flavor packed into a burger! They fried up some phở noodles and layered the patty with the veggies that come with phở which I think really made it taste like phở.
–Quenelle ice cream was selling ice cream bars and ice cream macaroon. I got the red bean ice cream macaroon $ 6. Sadly disappointing, there was no red bean flavor in it at all. I’ve had this place bookmarked for so long, but now I don’t know if I really wanna try the store.
–The potted plant ice cream $ 5 was very cute and definitely sold me on presentation. The ice cream was thrifty’s which is good, but there was nothing special about it.
–Churros and dippers $ 6 from Solid coffee was amazing! Freshly fried, super crunchy and covered in sugar and cinnamon. The dippers were spiked with alcohol which made it interesting. I tried all the dippers, but my favorite was the dulce de leche. You could really taste the alcohol in the dips.
I wanted to try dolcissimo bakeshop macaroons but I was too full. I would suggest getting the phở burger, churros and dippers and seoul sausage poutine.

Night markets are pretty fun and I think this is the first one they had in K town. They regulated drinks very strictly, which was annoying at first but grately appreciated because it got really crowded. I don’t think I could have tolerated drunken debauchery in such close encounters. There was also live music that was actually pretty good.
Parking looked horrible. Thank goodness we took the metro!
FOOD STALLS– note, everything I ate was delish!
Ramen burger– 45 minutes in line for an original. They get really reguHate people jumping the line, how many you can buy (2 max per person), and other people giving you $. It was pretty good and under an hour wait… I guess it was worth it. But it was borderline ridiculous how strict they were.
India Jones– Took home naan, samosas + yogurt. Lots of spice and kick in the food so the yogurt was a good balance. I had some mango lassi too and it was pretty good.
Fluff Ice: I think it is similar to Blockheads. Shared the mango madness for dessert, a medium was more than enough for 2 people.
COMPLAINTS
Bathroom lines– I thought food lines were bad, but the porter potties were horrendous too. Thank goodness I had my own hand sanitizer too because they ran out of soap. EW!
Stinky tofu– random moments of pungent odor would attack us while walking through certain parts of the market
Two things that looked good that I wasn’t able to get:
Coconut juice fresh from the coconut– because they ran out and it was only 5pm
Potato sticks looked so good, but also seemed like very dangerous poking devices in these crowds
It was a very fun experience! I am really looking forward to the DTLA night market!

Alright, so this was my first night market in America experience. I have heard of the 626 Night Market and even met someone who actually plans and puts it together. Of course, when I heard about the KTown Night Market, I got pretty excited. I even brought my parents out!
As everyone mentioned, parking was horrible. I think I expected the school’s parking lots to be open to the public (even if they charged) but we were left to our own devices to find open lots or street parking. Luckily, my dad knows the hood, so we were able to find a parking spot relatively quickly.
We got in line, and it was wrapping around the block by the time of our arrival (approx 8pm on Friday). FREE ADMISSION! Which was great! I know some people have been proposing to incur an admission fee, but I’m not super down for that.
When we finally got in, we went straight for the food trucks since that’s what we happened to see while waiting in line. SKIP THE FOOD TRUCKS! You can get food truck food whenever you want. I didn’t know there was food stalls in the night market, so I ended up finding the truck with the shortest line (East LA Tacos) and was completely underwhelmed. Not down for those tacos.
When we finished our tacos, we went to the night market side, and it was busy! Lines everywhere for food, which was to be expected. I didn’t really get to eat many things cuz of the lines and having eaten at the trucks. There wasn’t really too much Korean street food (mainly Japanese, which my parents noted lol). Overall, there was a pretty large selection of food, so that’s good.
There were also a lot of little vendors, including an alum from my frat who was selling K.R.A.P. (koreans representing amazing products. or something like that haha). I remember passing by a DJ music producing booth too. I think these would’ve been much more interesting and fuller earlier in the daytime.
I can’t really fathom what the best strategy would be for arrival. Maybe in the afternoon on a Sat? Might be too hot. Maybe in the late afternoons? I don’t know. In any case, I thought it was pretty fun (but prob not so much for the older/​parent folk).

Oh my… the K-​Town NIght Market was a well planned event. It’s located in the heart of Korea Town in Los Angeles. There was plenty of food booths, food trucks, game booths, and sponsor booths as you walk in.
It was good to see so much security to ensure the public safety given the fact that it’s not in the nicer part of town. Everybody was courteous including the security guards. I did not see any thug incidents, nor people pushing and shoving like the L.A. Street Scene years back.
It was a bit too crowded for me as expected. Waiting in long lines for food was horrendous. I’ve only tried their Tofu Steak with soy sauce and leeks. They also erected a stage and a large tent in front of it to accompany people to be able to sit, eat, and enjoy the entertainment.
One side of the Night Market was the food trucks area, and the other side were game booths and food booths. I found it kind of amusing how I overheard so many people complain about the bad odor. The odor was actually the Stinking Tofu that was being made. It looked so delicious that I really wanted to try some. I just didn’t want to pass out smelling it while waiting in line to buy.
I had a nice time at the NIght Market there, both days I went was crowded. So my advice for night markets is to eat elsewhere first, then go enjoy the scenery and try whatever you can there.

It’s alright. It was a little disorganized. On the first day, the event was supposed to open at 4 pm, but I think it opened a little past 5 or something like that. When I made my way out, the lines to getting in were so long. Just operating in the heart of the K-​town area itself, made cars coming in and out of the parking lots very difficult. It took a little over an hour to get out of the parking lot and into the streets.
Coming to a night market you would expect most people to be hanging around the food area. I think that’s what attracts most of the people. Food, and freebies. The space for the non-​food truck food was a little compact. Most of the people were clustered around their food places. While there was plenty of space around the food trucks, the non-​food truck food seemed like a tight alley with very little space to walk through.
There wasn’t really much to do except people watch I guess, and maybe try the different food. But echoing what Richard said, there was lack of authentic Korean food. Majority of the food were Asian fusion. It would have been nice to have legit street Korean food vendors.
I heard the Unilocal booth was badass though, giving out free stuff and awesome high fives!

After reading the reviews and being there myself, I can see why people will complain about the parking and lines. I myself didn’t really worry about it too much since I came an hour before it opened so the lines were not as long. I’m glad that I was able to go, but to me it was just another version of the 626 Night Market but smaller. I hope that the people that created the Ktown Night Market can seek out another venue that is bigger and can accommodate all the people that attends. The very first station I stopped by was our beloved Unilocal! I checked in and got some pretty cool Unilocal swag!
I think the longest line I saw was the Ramen Burger so I didn’t get a chance to try it. I did get to try a lot of other things. There are lots of food trucks and I got to try Belly Bombz and Seoul Sausage. Belly Bombz had some amazing pork belly sliders! A lot of the Ktown restaurants that were at the night market I already had at the actual restaurant so I didn’t really try them. I did try Ham ji park’s ddukbokki, which was just okay. The potato was okay, it needed a lot more seasoning so I had to come back and get some more. The biggest disappointment was the green tea churro from churro labs, it lacked green tea flavor. This was the one thing I looked forward to and it was a waste of $ 5, because the churro wasn’t that great.
All in all, I had a great time at Ktown night market and enjoyed the entertainment at the stage area. I hope next time they will learn their mistake and pick a bigger venue!

Came all the way from Vegas to attend this night market (not the first time me and my other friend has done this. we came down for the 626 before as well)
After our brunch, we decided to go there early to park and hang around. The 3 noted parking lots mentioned on their sites were a bit of a pain to find.
The first, smallest one on Catelina. No one was manning the lot nor was the garage opened. A lot of us and others came in and out trying to figure out if that was the garage. There was a sign that denoted K-​Town Night Market parking $ 5 but no one confirmed.
The second, on Wilshire… Wasn’t exactly sure which one it was. By the map, we ended up in a different one. Was told by people working the Valet that it wasnt the garage and they charged $ 10. The garage across from it, that belonged to a market, and some other stores, were free for parking (saturday)
The third was on Mariposa. Easily found but like the other 2, no one was manning it. We didn’t get there too early, nor too late either. It was about 1:30 or so (event said to start at 2). By the time we walked to the entrance, the 1^st garage had people manning it now. Apparently we’re supposed to get a ticket with a coupon aside from the one from the machine that gives us the discounted price. Didnt find that out until i was returning to my car. Got it from the guy who was at the gate.
The event was supposed to start at 2. it was said the doors would open at 2. When it got close to 2, they delayed to 2:15. who knows why…
The night market itself, was located in a fairly small lot (especially compared to 626). Merchants, games, and food on the left track n field lot. Food trucks on the small right lot. And some info and various etc booths, including Unilocal,were in the mid lot where the entrance led to.
Ok, so it was supposed to be a korean night market. not even a ¼th was korean food. SADDDD there are the quite a few japanese places, a few chinese ones, and some recognized from the 626 market. Food trucks, i think the only «korean» one was seoul sausage that probably had the LONGEST line aside from the ramen burger on the other side.
Still was able to try a few places. Some likes. Some okays.
I mean, first time hosting the event, shouldnt be expecting too much but eh. it was on okay event. granted the admission was free so it wasnt too bad. Parking and organization could have been much better. Hope to see much improvements in the future for this event

I originally had not planned on going to the KTOWN Night Market because I know how crazy packed and overhyped these events are, but I was in the area on Saturday afternoon with the wife so we decided to check it out at 2:30 PM.
You see, after my experiences with the original 626 Night Market (which was more like hell and should have been called the 666 Night Market) and being let down time and time again with lame ethnic festivals including the Tet Festival and Songkran Festival as well as overhyped food trucks, I had very low expectations for this event. Rock bottom.
So after being searched by security before being let in because who knows if the crazy North Koreans might try to start some Olympus Has Fallen stuff, the wife and I were instantly met by the smell of stinky tofu. At first I thought it was squid, but then I realized naw, this smell was much more wretched. So instead of Gangnam-​style, we were met with smells-​like-​ass-​style. And I bet you are wondering why the hell is there stinky tofu at a KTOWN Night Market? Yea I am still wondering that myself since this event was held in the 213 and not the 626…
In fact, more than two-​thirds of the food vendors were non-​Korean. Every other stall was Chinese food or Japanese food. Not that I dislike Chinese food or Japanese food, but when a market refers to itself as the KTOWN Night Market, it is inferred that the majority of stuff you find at the event represents KTOWN.
But yea, aside from the food, there were some really cool vendors. Ended up spending a Benjamin on some hats and gear from the KORE booth (
) where they reeled us in with buy 4 get 1 free… And of course they had to suckerpunch me by saying Tiger JK wears their stuff. Bam bam bababa bam balabeoryeo!
Also saw the Liberty In North Korea (LINK
) booth which is a non-​profit organization that helps North Korean refugees and of course the Unilocal booth manned by Marcus L.
After spending a good 25 minutes, we left the market and grabbed some snowy ice at a place down the street that had no lines. Good thing we got to the KTOWN Night Market early and left early because I hate crowds and I could not stand the stench of stinky tofu any longer.
At the end of the day, they should try to encourage more Korean food vendors and ban stinky tofu from all future events. Also, if the market is going to allow the same vendors that show up at the 666 Night Market, then they need to change the name of the market from KTOWN Night Market to Just-​Another-​Asian-​Event.
Still, I applaud their first attempt and hope that they can figure out a better way to attract KTOWN vendors and a better way to manage the crowds. Blame it on my rock bottom expectations, but this event was not as bad as I thought it would be. Sadly, my lasting impression of the market is that damn stinky fucking tofu.
* By the way, was disappointed that there were no alcoholic beverages. Then again, the ban on alcohol was likely due to the event being held at a school. So sorry, no liquor shots…
** Speaking of «liquor shots» if you like Korean Hip Hop Check out «Monster» by Tiger JK featuring Rakim and Rakaa (Dilated Peoples)

I think that this event was cool mostly because I live in Koreatown and I love it and because of the company I had this night — I was hanging out with my BF and Dave A. That fact actually made me feel more positive towards the Night Market even though I can’t say I was very impressed either.
What really irks me is that some people complained about the lack of «authenticity» of the event. The event was called Ktown Night Market, not Korean Night Market. Ktown is a diverse part of town and I’m glad they chose to make the event equally diverse!
My main issue with the event was with the fact that we got there before the Seoul Sausage truck even opened around 530 pm and still I didn’t get to try the Kalbi Sausage because they ran out! The line was not that long either! I had to settle for a burger with kimchi relish and jalapenyo aioli which was pretty good but small for $ 6. I wanted to get a kimchi fried rice ball but decided not to since I felt there was probably something else better out there. I actually regretted that decision. I did get to try my friend’s but would have liked my own.
I tried the deep fried philly roll from the Jogasaki truck which turned out to be a bit on the fishy side but it was ok.
I got beef skewers (3 for $ 10) from a KBBQ stand and was disappointed since one of the skewers had really tough meat. Let me reiterate that — really, really tough!
The only true fail of the night was the Coolhaus truck. I got their nutella and toasted almond snickerdoodle ice cream sandwich ($ 5) and was utterly disappointed. The snickerdoodle cookies at Carl’s Jr. are way better than the ones I got at Coolhaus. Now that’s scary!
I never felt like the event was poorly organized as some think. Some say the venue was too small. I disagree. I never felt there were so many people that you could not walk around and I didn’t see any negative people out their really. One thing that shows this event was not as packed as some say is the fact that we found a place to sit not far from the food trucks. Besides, unlike the 626 Night Market the Ktown Night Market is not in the suburbs. Just try to find a bigger venue in Ktown! I can’t think of one. Many don’t even consider the fact that the venue was a short walk away from the Wilshire/​Vermont subway station.
It just seemed everyone was having a great time and honestly I had a great time too but most of the food was not that great — at least what I got.
The line for the ramen burger stand was really enormous! I’m glad that I didn’t feel any urge to have a ramen burger!
All in all I didn’t have trouble finding parking and it was cheap ($ 5). I didn’t have trouble getting to the event or leaving from it and there were not too many people walking around so that you couldn’t have a good time. My advice to the organizers is to get better food trucks and food stands next time.

— - — - USUALLY EVERYONE LOVES KOREAN DRAMAS — — - -
Aigoo…but not after last night…
WHERE WAS THE KOREAN FOOD?
When you get to the area expect extreme congestion both inside roads and at the market. I think we found a parking structure a block away, but considered it lucky. Cars on the streets were literally 1 – 3 inches apart, with many actually touching!
After checking out the OC festival celebrating Vietnamese new years, I was excited to participate in a ‘Korean Night Market’. From what I read, I imagined booths with old ladies cooking delicious street food while getting a sample of what korean culture was about.
I guess instead of ‘Korean Night Market’, it was really, «K TOWN night market», since it involved Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Chinese of the korean town area. That’s cool and all… but it felt like arriving at a Korean restaurant and they served… other stuff…
— - — - — - -
[Lines]
Of course, the lines were in the masses. But, I think event management and volunteers were overwhelmed by the numbers. At the entrance they TSA you for knives and such. Guys were lucky to breeze on by but girls line was packed. Girl, thank god I left my man-​bag at home.
[Layout]
Food trucks were on the right, booths and everything else on the left.
[Booths]
Well, can either attribute to bad design or just too many people. Almost each row of booths you had no clue where to find any lines. It looked like 4 – 5 lanes on the highway of people traffic. This probably helped and hurt the businesses.
*It was so bad that taking photos of food and the booths was challenging. Most of my shots were blurred.
[Food]
Seoul Sausage– Saw them win the competition on the Food Network! Wanted to try but they were already closed! Someone mentioned they ran out after 1 – 2 hours! OMG
–We found a short line and I had a ‘Beef Galbi Hotdog’ for $ 4. Tasted like a left hot hot dog with good bbq sauce and toppings… that’s about it.
**NOT REALLY MANY KOREAN SELECTIONS! SOME KOREAN FUSIONS AND BBQ STICKS… BUT NOT REALLY!
[People]
Much younger crowd. The people in the booths looked so frantic and tired!
— - — - -
*** THE THING THAT DISAPPOINTED ME THE MOST WAS NOT BEING ABLE TO INTERACT WITH THE COOKS. WHERE THEY ARE FROM, TALK ABOUT THE FOOD, TRYING TO HAGGLE FOR A DISCOUNT… YOU KNOW? THAT’S PART OF THE KOREAN CULTURE I WAS HOPING TO EXPERIENCE. ***
…AIGOO, maybe this turned out to be one of those dramas that starts slow but gets better? We will see for next year.

I know what you’re thinking… «HEY!!! Let’s CHECK OUT THE K-​TOWN NIGHT MARKET TONIGht AND EAT SOME DELICIOUS FOOD IT WILL BE AWESOME»…
**Before you decide to go on this adventure, please read this review and it will save you at least an hr of your life tonight…
*I highly recommend not coming here if you’re extremely hungry, hate long lines, annoyed by so many Asians, Port-​a-​potties, and trying to find parking.
*Like the 626 Market, the 1^st time is always a test run… I recommend coming back here when they move to a bigger venue cause you will be very disappointed…
*A lot of my friends and myself included left after 10 mins due to the long-​lines, huge crowds, and the inability to eat any food at a satisfactory rate.
**I remember the 1^st 626 night market being a huge cluster fuck as well but rest assured I know that future versions of this market will be AWESOME…

Now in these days, the organizers better think twice before deciding to host the so called «night market» or food festivals. With the emergence of the 626 Night Market, Ramen Yokocho Festival, and Asian Garden Night Market, many SoCal foodies are willing to travel long distance for these types of events. I will be more critical about the night market if I am driving out of the way just for the event.
Anyhow — three questions need to be answered:
1) How was the parking?
Street parking was definitely a nightmare, but we were able to drive into the «suggested» parking structure right next to the actual event location ($ 5 flat rate). So the parking situation was … manageable.
2) Was the event free?
Yes, but you got to get through the security guards before you can get in. They will just simply check your pockets for any potential threats.
3) How were the food stands?
There were food trucks (Jogasaki, Fluff Ice, Belly Bombz, etc) and various food stands with Japanese, Korean, and Chinese/​Taiwanese food. Both ramen burger and potato on the stick had really long lines. However, you can pretty much get whatever food (like stinky tofu, shaved snow, spicy Korean pancake, etc) that you want if you can avoid ramen burger and potato on the stick.
For the very first KTOWN Night Market, I thought the organizers did a pretty good job. Nevertheless, it did feel like a scaled-​down version of the 626 Night Market. There was no uniqueness factor that made the KTOWN Night Market different from the 626 Night Market. The parking situation needs to be resolved. If it wasn’t for the WonderCon and Coachella, I believe there would be more people coming to this event (which could potentially make the parking situation even worse).

When reality does not meet expectations, people become disappointed and complain. Ultra high expectations from attendees in combination with underwhelming logistics from the hosts are reasons why the event received low ratings on opening day.
If you come to night markets just for the food, then you may be disappointed.
KTOWN Night Market is not a venue to seek an entire meal. Consider filling up elsewhere before coming to the event. Otherwise, you may complain about starving in the long lines as you wait to purchase expensive snacks. The menus feature up to 50% markup compared to dining at the actual restaurant. This surcharge is to help cover the expensive vendor fee. Customers should accept the concept as «paying extra for the experience or ambiance». I think the average person is likely to spend at least $ 20 and over 2 hours of standing in line just to keep his or her stomach satisfied. Not recommended unless you have deep pockets and the patience of a sloth.
I noticed that this night market is enjoyed most by those who attend not just for the food. If you treat it as a market to go shopping for random merchandise, to play carnival games at a relaxed pace, to watch a few performances from local artists, and to share a few small bites with friends while enjoying their company, then the experience should not be disappointing at all.
Unfortunately, «night markets» in North America are misrepresented as «street food festivals» or «ethnic food tastings» or «food truck showcases». Sure, eating is one aspect of night-​life, but the food court is not the only attraction of a night market. Many criticisms about the KTOWN Night Market are related to food (did not expect long lines and long prep time especially at popular vendors, did not anticipate some vendors to run out of food, did not forsee sky high prices, did not expect lower-​quality batch-​processed food and smaller portions than actual restaurant) but few commented on the free admission and leisurely night-​life atmosphere.
Co-​founder Joseph Park indicated in a LA Weekly article that his vision of the KTOWN night market «is for people to come and experience Korean food, Korean culture and Korean entertainment». Unfortunately, I left the night market without much exposure to anything unique to Korean culture, aside from purchasing some South Korean snacks for the first time.
I’ve heard many people complain about parking. Parking issues can be avoided by the guests with better planning, through scoping the area online and identify parking options before arriving. There’s minimal chances that there will be plenty of street parking available or free spaces in the tiny $ 5 lots if you come later than 6pm on Friday. Anticipate that this is a popular festival in a small venue, likely resulting in traffic congestion, so the best option is to park near public transportation, take it, and then walk to the event.
For the night market hosts, «we did not expect such a huge crowd» is somewhat of an excuse to explain failure of not preparing for the worst. Did the logistics team not project the crowd after reviewing the turnout of four previous 626 Night Markets? If members of 2PM were invited to promote this event that is marketed as «KTOWN Coachella», and if the 11 popular food trucks were highlighted, wasn’t there an expectation that an event with free admission would attract a large crowd from LA?
Moreover, an oversight in visitor forecast does not adequately explain why there was disorganization outside the entrance even before guests were able to enter the school. For example, there were no clear signs or information on the website indicating where the single entrance was. There was nobody to direct guests to the back of the line to enter. No clear delineation of any queues, which encouraged teenagers to cut to the front while others were left to wait two blocks behind, not to mention alcohol was consumed in the street and bottles littered. Security was present but was too busy having a smoke. As for the food vending area, please widen the gaps in between rows and mark clear walkways. Also, please add disperse more trash cans around the site.
Overall, an impressive turnout and successful event for the first try, and I am sure the owners will go back to the drawing board and incorporate the long list of feedback that they receive.

Dude, where is the Korean Food?
I don’t find this so called Ktown Night Market much influence by Korean Cuture, remind more like 626 Night Market but in a smaller scale. Majority of Food stall are Japanese and Chinese, there is very little Korean food. Only thing I see authentic Korean food is the spicy rice cake. There were no Korean Tofu, Soup, and other thing that you know is Korean. Here you find are mostly street food from other Asian Country, some are fusion take like the interesting bacon and green churros.
The top 3 most packed line are the Ramen Burger, Seoul Sausage, and Hotato Potato. The line is awful long in those even if you are an early bird. They called this a night market, yet in order to get good food in decent time require you come very early, that defeat the whole purpose.
The line to getting very long around 5pm, I came here both day. First day around 8pm, Omg the line is 2 blocks away and keep up growing! However the second day, we arrive at 4pm the line to the gate is very short about just 30 or so peoples. Male and female are search in the separate line in the gate. No water and food allowed, drink price isn’t bad in general $ 2 – 3 in most of the vendor. Water cost you $ 2, might as well paid $ 1 to get boba tea, however it wasn’t good especially at night. This is when boba getting bad after more than few hours. Anyone who drink boba a lot would know what I talking about, plus the boba lack milk, it just tea with sugar and boba.
EZ Convenience Store (Lamb Skewers) — This is was irony that combination, convenience store that sell skewers… They lamb skewers not bad, it was best bargain $ 1 each, but in the second day they raise the price to $ 3 for 5 skewers, the line immediate disappear.
Tokyo Curry (Boba Milk Tea) — This tasted like coffee boba, not good. Boba was nasty.
Mattou Seimen Ramen — This is one of the three ramen booth in the festival. It claim is from japan and popular there, but I can’t find anything online except they happened to be in the Japan Festival just few week ago in Santa Anita Park. There’s zero line in the second day afternoon, didn’t like this ramen that much, the broth is super salty and little bit of spicy. The chashu was replaced with ground pork, which is inferior to chashu in my opinion. No Egg… Only thing was stand out is the noodle, chewy and perfectly cooks. Cost about $ 7, not a bad value but what it bother me if they are really 3 times ramen champion in Japan, it is hard for me to believe this. Beside ramen, they also got Gyoza which is $ 5 pieces for 3. Decent deal but I probably should try something else that is more exotic.
Whole Coconut Drink — Forgot which vendor this is from, I do remember this is the one that serve popcorn. It cost about 2 for $ 9 or $ 5 each. This is good alternate to most other drink in this festival. I only wish they cut the coconut bigger and gave you better quality spoon. Is is worth the money, they gave added a mini umbrella ha-​ha.
Mama Musubi — This is one very popular Japanese rice ball vendor that I always hear about it, they are in 626-​night market too. This is pricey rice ball, cost $ 3 to $ 3.50 each. The size isn’t big and the meal ratio is small, kinda overpriced but the rice is general fresh. So if you like rice ball, it is worth to try. The line is very long however.
Fluff Ice Food Truck — This was our last tasting in the K-​Town Night Market. I think is the only vendor that serves snowed ice, unlike 626, which got a handful of them. I don’t think is worth it unless you must get the snowed ice here, you are paying 30% more. I am regret for not getting the macaroon ice cream instead from another vendor.
As you see, I didn’t able to try any of the Korean food vendor, the fact is there’s handly of them, the website said there’s Moodaepoe KBBQ, I can’t find them at all ! The non-​food vendor is definite more dominated with Korean culture, handily any line in those. The music is kinda small, it getting super packed at night, when some known k-​pop show up. 2 PM is not perform in here, despite they were in their homepage video try to promoted the event, this definite increase the attendance. Ironly, they and many other popular K-​POP perform last week in the coliseum free, yet none of them shows up in this event…
This is their first event, it has too many flaws of other similar event like Ramen Festival and 626 Market. The venue is too small to handle the big crowds; there was not enough supply to meet up the demand. I am not surprise that it turn the way it is, since after all K-​Town located East and West mid-​point. Of course will be crowded plus the is easy access to public transportation. I hope that they learn their mistake and select much bigger venue next time. There is enough demand for this and please put more authentic Korean food vendor.
They should had do something with the recent South Korea Ferry Sink Tragedy, there’s no mention anywhere in the event.

Nice thing about this particular night market is how big it is. It was like being in OC Fair… maybe not that big but pretty big. It was crowded and there’s a line to get in. Parking is a pain and driving around the vicinity of the area slows down to turtle speed.
There are plenty of booths, games, stuffed animals, and rap musicians on stage. Expect to see long lines in front of every food vendor. If you’re already used to K-​town food, it probably won’t surprise you. Nice energy. Caters to families like OC Fair.
Overall, it’s nice to have something like this. Traffic, not so much.

A 3.5 star experience. I would’ve deducted one more star if it weren’t for the delightful Unilocalers our family met at the Unilocal booth.
For the event itself, the selection of Asian dishes were pretty good (that would be a 4 star review) — but not sure if I want to go through waiting, more waiting in line for food and entertainment for hours before getting some good eats — oh, and did I mention even more waiting afterwards? That’s right, traffic, ladies and gents!
I know, overkill, but it hits home — hopefully. We had intended to arrive earlier so to avoid the waiting and all the traffic — but what we encountered was disappointment. The actual night market didn’t open until almost an hour witnessed was pretty inadequate.
So, onto the food.
Mama Musubi was good — loved the organic lychee green tea, the spicy tuna and the tuna musubi
Hugo Trading was pretty good too — enjoyed their stinky tofu and the salted chicken
The Churro Lab was pretty interesting — tried their bacon churro and green tea churro, but would’ve enjoyed the bacon to be a little more flavorful
Overall, it was pretty good for the limited space — but would want to try out the individual stores by themselves as the lines are ridiculous for Hotato Potato and a few other booths.
Suggestions:
Lines are long — so you want to get there early or be in your walking shoes so you can park further away. While there is a parking lot right next to the event, they have limited space — so you’re going to have to let the attendant park your car — who is extremely nice, btw — so tip accordingly. The parking rate is $ 6 when we first parked
If you can, try going with a group to divide and conquer the booths you want to try that have long lines.
If you have a baby in a stroller, please avoid from going into the food booth lanes, people might hurt your stroller — I had my hubby park with the stroller in front of the school benches. ** Sidenote — One of the things that made my day was seeing a toddler try to strike passerby’s in his stroller, while kicking his leg as he yelled «hi-​yah!» — priceless.
Other than that, be civil with each other, and please don’t elbow anyone — it hurts without a bag.

After a quick bag search, I walked into the free event and quickly realized that this Pan-​Asian market was filled with Thai, Chinese, Japanese and some Korean vendors, plus random other foods such as the Coolhaus truck, french fries, cupcakes, etc.
What was immediately striking were the long lines at the food vendors and at the food trucks. While the prices were reasonable for the food items that I saw, the setup of the food booths was less than ideal. The vendors were so close to each other down the middle aisle that as the lines grew, it was nearly impossible to walk causing stagnant crowds. But, forget about the walking; parking was a nightmare! The Ktown traffic was horrendous and there weren’t posted signs directing people to parking lots. After circling the area for a while, I finally managed to find street parking a short walk away. But, obviously, the timing of this event was less than ideal with Good Friday celebrations in full swing all over Koreatown which made the traffic and the parking terrible.
If you’re into food trucks, food vendors, music, random samples, free stuff and long lines, then check this place out. It may be better to try an early afternoon arrival rather than a late night one.