Myeongdong Donkasu

Donkatsu. You are delicious no matter what time of day. I’ve always been fond of katsu and crave it at least once a month. I never try any of the fusion katsu (pizza katsu, cheese katsu, etc) because I’ve never felt the need to. Why change what is already perfect. I’ve heard good things about Myeongdong so my brother finally took me here for lunch. It was pretty empty but we came at an off time. The menu is simple enough and we ordered the Chicken Katsu, Pork Katsu, and my brother’s girlfriend ordered their Curry Katsu. We didn’t have to wait too long for our food which was a blessing since I was starving.
One thing I noticed right away was that the portion size is on the smaller size than what I was used to seeing. It is an ideal size for lunch but maybe not necessarily for dinner. Another thing you need to know about the katsu here is that it is very lightly breaded, and very thin resulting in a very crispy katsu. None of that greasy, oily feel you sometimes get after eating katsu here. It is not a heavy meal. As always it comes with some cabbage, pickles, radishes, and miso soup. I preferred the chicken over the pork here because the chicken was a bit more moist. The curry was pretty good also but nothing to write home about. Another unique thing about Myeongdong is their katsu sauce. Theirs come with a dab of spicy mustard. I love it.
Service is friendly and quick. They will also come around to ask if they can refill anything or give you more of something. It’s kind of like being fed by a mom or something. Just a note, it’s a relatively small restaurant, and there’s parking out front but it’s really tiny so it’s probably better to avoid peak hours. But otherwise, a solid place for some katsu! ⁴⁄₅

I’ve been here before it was the shabu place, and although there was nothing WRONG with my food. It was just mediocre, even if that. I never came back.
However, now it is a shabu place and it’s nothing fancy, it’s only $ 9.99 and gets the job done. Try it out!

Tried going but it’s invisible… because it’s closed.
I had this place bookmarked for a while, but missed my chance. It used to be where the Shabu place is now. Oh well…

Someone below said it perfectly: the katsu was decent, no flaws in taste and decently crispy. If you are on a mission for great katsu and distance isn’t an option, you will find better.
An a-​okay experience. I’d put this on rotation — maybe visit a couple of times a year.
Restaurant was pretty empty during lunch on Saturday, so quick seating and service.
Décor is nice.
Location is in a plaza with a parking lot that is shared with other little stores.

My friend from Japan insists this is a Korean restaurant and not Japanese, which surprised me. I thought the katsu style of meat originated from Japan and was related to dishes like katsu curry without the curry, for people who like the crispy, perfectly fried meat with rice. I’ve been to a couple other similar places that have sprung up around Koreatown and in Ktown food courts, so maybe that’s what he meant. That the restaurant itself is a Korean concept but it’s based on Don Katsu which came from Japan.
At any rate, this place is in a shopping center which shares the same parking lot as a couple of other restaurants, hair salon, and Bourbon St Coffee café. They have valet parking, which is free, but you’re obliged to leave a tip. There’s also street meter parking too. The food here is great, my pork katsu was perfectly fried and crispy, yet tender and moist. Not oily or greasy, just light and crispy but no oily aftertaste. The pork itself was pretty thick and delicious. The cabbage coleslaw was a good complement, with the house dressing which I think was thousand island. You also get miso soup, which was barely memorable.
My friend also got the same thing as I did so I don’t know how any other dishes tasted, but based on the pork it’s worth coming back and trying. There are several varieties of meat selections. They also have chicken, shrimp, cordon bleu, and tenderloin pork. You can also get curry as well. Service was very friendly, the waitress came by and checked on us regularly. There are daily lunch specials which change M-​F, and are good variety, so another good reason to come (though the chicken katsu is both Mon and Thurs). Also compared to the other donkatsu places in Ktown, I think this rises to the top. The prices and good service here help tremendously of course.

I’ve had Japanese tonkatsu at Kagura in the past which I wasn’t pleased with since the dish there was way too greasy and chewy for my liking. Wasn’t expecting much from the Korean version of Donkasu but was pleasantly surprised at how light and crisp the textures were. Nothing greasy, breading stuck to the meat as it should, meat was juicy and tender, everything was just perfect. Service was very attentive, side dishes were refilled w/​o having to ask. Great lunch specials for just $ 7, I’ve got zero complaints about my experience here.

Honestly better than Wako (both Olympic and Alexandria) and Curry House at the Madang Mall.
If you want some good katsu, you have to get out of Ktown, but Myeongdong is as good as it gets if you have no other choice.
The katsus are pretty standard. Exactly what you would expect a decent katsu (pork, fish, chicken) to taste like. Nothing too special. I’m just glad they’re not too soggy or tough.
What really attracts me to this place though, is the salad dressing and the katsu sauce.
The salad dressing is peanut based and it’s just absolutely delicious! Goes really well with the rest of the meal.
The sauce for the katsu is a mustard/​sauce mix which works surprisingly well with the katsu. I really suggest trying it out!
It’s pretty dead inside so if you’re looking for a quite place to enjoy a decent katsu, well, there you go.

«Myeongdong Donkasu — almost as good as the donkasu I had in a sleepy residential suburb 45 minutes south of Seoul!» may not seem like a very complimentary tagline. But it’s true. And it’s very complimentary. That Gwacheon donkasu was serious business.
They serve a very tidy, well-​rounded lunch here at Myeongdong. You get your breaded meat, neatly lined up on a cute little metal grill. You get your circle of shredded cabbage. You get your pickles. You get your radishes. You get your miso soup. You get your rice. And you get your dipping sauce bowl, with dipping sauce squirters ready to mix and a nice squeeze of hot mustard laying in wait.
This all for around $ 9 – 10, depending on which meat you get, or, if you’re lucky and come on the day where your favorite meat is on special, around $ 7.
I got the pork tenderloin, which was impeccably breaded and fried. The breading was so crisp it slid off every time I picked up a slice. I’d then have to pick up the denuded meat, re-​grab the breading, and dip it before it all fell apart again. The ratio was great, the meat was moist, and the mustard was fiery. I was silly and mixed the whole pat of mustard in with my sweet sauce. Oops. (Maybe not oops because at the end, the mustard was gone, no problem.)
I have to mention that the open kitchen looks like it fell out of someone’s house. I mean, the cabinets and the sinks — it’s a home kitchen, not a restaurant kitchen. I had no idea how they made anything in the volume necessary for a restaurant. (And I didn’t find out that day either, seeing as how there were never more than 2 customers at a time.) It was so incongruous I thought I must be dreaming for a few seconds. Then I was startled out of my reverie by the waiter: «Do you want more miso soup?»
Oh, well, yes, I’ll enjoy some more dream miso soup, thank you. As long as I’m here.

Myeondong Donkasu is in the same plaza as Kobawoo, a popular lunchtime spot, so I ventured next-​door and decided to give Myeondong Donkasu a try. What attracted me to the place was their lunch specials and no wait.
First off, they have daily lunch special Monday-​Friday from 11 AM to 3 PM. Monday is Chicken Cutlet for $ 6.99, Tuesday is Fish Cutlet for $ 6.99, Wednesday is Pork Cutlet for $ 7.99, Thursday is Chicken Cutlet for $ 6.99 and Friday is Cordon Bleu for $ 9.99. Deals like this are a steal! On top of that, they also have other lunch specials, such as a grilled chicken salad and udon noodle soup, that are also reasonably priced.
Second, the food is decently portioned. They aren’t too big and came with two banchan. I ordered an udon noodle soup and it was OK.
However, the thing that drove me away was the service. I came during lunch-​time and they had around 15 customers and only one person attending to all of us and another person in the back. It was hard to get any attention. I had to wave them down to order my food and ask for water. In addition, when I was about to pay for my meal, the server refused to take my credit card because they required a minimum of $ 10. I had to argue with the server for a few minutes and eventually they reluctantly let me pay with my credit card. I wished they displayed notice about this policy, so customers can know ahead of time.
Overall, I have mixed feelings about this place. I want to come back and try their lunch specials cutlet, but because of the poor service, I am unsure if it is worth the hassle.

Just the food would be 3.5 stars, but the service definitely bumps it up to a 4!
I couldn’t decide on the cordon bleu cutlet or the curry cutlet, so I asked the owner (i think she was the owner) for her recommendation and she recommended the cordon bleu. But when she brought the food out, she gave me a side of the curry, so that I could basically try both! So nice of her! She definitely did not need to do that for me, but she did. And I was very touched by her kindness.
She was very friendly and generous the whole night and we all ate happily :) The cordon bleu is a little too rich for me. too much cheese haha, so I don’t think I would order that again. I did like the curry, so perhaps I would order that next time, or try something totally new.
I would even come back JUST b/​c the lady was so nice. I’m telling you… the food quality/​taste is very important, but the service/​experience is pretty darn important too!
Kudos to the owner! :)

This is a sad Wako wannabe.
I’m genuinely surprised this place has 4 stars. This is one of those rare instances where Unilocal would steer you down the wrong path.
The actual pork cutlet is pretty juicy and tasty itself, but everything — literally everything else — is a disaster.
— Their katsu dipping sauce is prepared so wrong. It’s half wasabi and half teriyaki. .Huh?!
— The spicy radish side dish is repulsive; it immediately disintegrates in your mouth as if it’s made of powder. .What?!
— The miso soup has no tofu in it. –_​–
I also ordered the soba noodles, which was a big waste of money. The noodles were soaking wet (it’s supposed to be kind of dry), and sadly they were overcooked.
Never coming back again.

My boyfriend and I were really impressed. Tonight was the first time I ordered from here. We had ordered delivery.
I highly recommend ordering the filet pork katsu. It’s a different cut & better because how soft & tender the meat is.
We will be ordering from here again.

First things first — I’m not a donkasu expert. But I’m always down to explore Koreatown eats, especially ones that have been well received among Unilocalers.
I came here earlier this week for a late dinner. To my surprise, the restaurant was basically empty shortly after 8 p.m. with the exception of one other party. So much for a wait for a table! The menu has lots of fried options, and even for dinner, some of the lunch specials were available.
I ended up ordering the pork tenderloin donkatsu combo with soba noodles. It’s only a few dollars more for the soba. They also give you pickled turnip and cucumbers as mouthwatering starters/​banchan. The katsu came out pre-​cut into strips. It was a little thinner than I expected, and considering it was pork tenderloin, the meat was a little drier than I would’ve liked. The salad comes with dressing on the side, which I always appreciate because you can control how much you want. The soba was standard, but I don’t know why they propped it up on a rack just like the katsu.
Service: Reasonable. The restaurant only had one other party, so the fact that there was only (what appeared) to be one staff person working was NBD. They were out of a few things when we tried ordering, but I suppose that made our decisions even easier.
Bottom line: Although there are some perks to eating here, I think there are better katsu places in Koreatown.

I came at around 2pm and it was empty.
I ordered a fillet pork cutlet, and and it was served in about 10 mins.
The picture on their menu looks exactly like what I got.
The cutlet came in cut slices. It was really juicy and tender, its crust was perfectly crisp and there was no oiliness at all. I dipped each slice in a mustard/​soy (?) sauce mix and ate it with some rice. Really tasty. There was also a ball of shaved cabbage that was crisp and delicious, as well as two small sides of pickled vegetables.
The miso soup that comes with the cutlet was too salty. It tasted like they had put a whole bunch of soy sauce or something. Nothing like the light and warm soup you’d expect.
Except for the miso soup everything was good. For the price, it would have been awesome if the portions/​cutlet had been a little bigger, but it was so tasty I thought it was still worth it.

This is an excellent find in Koreatown – a Korean-​owned, Japanese-​style restaurant. It’s part of a shopping plaza that has a much busier (at least at dinner tonight) more traditional Korean restaurant, but this place deserves to have a crowd. My friend and I both ordered the pork tenderloin katsu. The cutlets were not greasy, but inside, the pork was tender and moist. At the server’s advice, I combined the katsu dipping sauce with the spicy mustard they gave me, and it was delicious. Nice presentation, and it came with miso soup, rice, cabbage (with a tasty dressing) and two banchan dishes. Service was extremely friendly and generally quite helpful and attentive, and the ambiance is very pleasant. I look forward to going back and trying more dishes.

Four stars? Really?
Not impressed. My wife got the ramen which was literally out of the package of instant ramen. Not even an effort to make it look more «legit.» Looked and tasted just like how it would if you were to make it at home with the instant package.
I got the donkatsu curry. The cabbage salad was almost frozen in the middle and was not tasty at all. As if they just prepare it and store it in the freezer, and then put it in the fridge in the beginning of the day to let it thaw.
The curry was Vermont curry for sure that you can get in any korean market. I know that flavor better than anything.

If you’re looking for the real, authentic KOREAN style donkatsu, check out MyeongDong Donkasu!
This location is actually related to the famous one in Korea. Really good quality and delicious food!
The deep fried cutlets are perfectly crispy and the sauces are phenomenal. They are known to have a signature mustard donkatsu sauce which goes great with your cutlets.
Also, their cutlets are not oily or greasy like most are!
I usually order the chicken cutlet or pork cutlet. They have lunch specials Mon-​Fri. I think the chicken cutlet is $ 6.99 on Mondays and Thursdays. And pork cutlet is $ 6.99 on Wednesdays. Their cabbage is fresh and the salad sauce is really good, has a hint of a peanutty taste to it. They’ll give you more cabbage too.
Their combos that come with a small size cutlet and either udon or soba noodles is also a great deal for about $ 9 – 10. OOh! And I also love the pickles, radish, and jalapeño side dish they give you. Compliments your dishes nicely.
The service is good and the waitresses are all very attentive and nice.
The only complaint is parking which can be a bit of a hassle, depending on what time you go. It’s valet– $ 1.50 at dinner or just they accept tips during lunch. There are a couple other popular restaurants in the plaza so the valet gets pretty packed.
I’ve been here a couple times and will be back again soon. It has a different, unique taste to it than most cutlet restaurants. Sadly, I was so hungry and busy inhaling my food that I forgot to take pictures… NEXT TIME.

I had the pork cutlet and curry.
The pork cutlet was nice and crispy. The Japanesse /​Korean style curry was not from a box. It is her own blend of spices and is really good.
The place is nicely decorated and the service is good.
Parking sux but it is Ktown.

I came here for the first time with a large group of people and they were able to easily accommodate us. This place looks new and very clean.
Food:
1) Donkatsu + Udon — The pork tenderloin cutlet and the chicken cutlet were very good, crispy, and thick. However, the portions were smaller than that of Wako Donkasu. I do like the spicy donkatsu sauce that they have here. I haven’t tasted anything like it at other korean places that serve this entrée.
The udon was ok, just the standard udon you can get anywhere else, nothing fancy, nothing special.
Service:
I don’t expect the greatest service when it comes to Korean restaurants, but it was actually very good and efficient here! I was shocked.
Parking:
Tiny Lot. There’s valet. FYI it’ll take FOREVER to get your car if you come during peak dining hours

Love the Thursday Lunch Special $ 7.60 (total) for Chicken Cutlet, that comes along with cubed Kimchi, pickled Jalapeño slices (which I thought was pickled pickle slices, and thank gawd, it wasn’t spicy! 0. o!!!), miso soup, small bowl of rice (which you can ask for more), and their spicy dipping house sauce.
The Chicken Cutlet itself was impressive — moist and cripsy, not so greasy, and actually fills up the entire plate. It also comes with two slices of pickled radish, which I absolutely loved, and a heaping of shredded lettuce, and their dressing is sweet and refreshing, excellent! My waitress also brought out a small dish with a squirt of mustard sauce (I think horseradish), and she mixed it with their sweet house sauce perfect for dipping the chicken cutlet in, and definitely clears your sinus, lol!
The two waitresses there were very attentive, especially in filling up my water three times, lol, and explaining the sauces when they brought it out, especially if they haven’t seen you here before.
As for payment, I almost came close to taking one star off. BRING CASH. I saw the reviews that they accepted credit cards, but it has to be OVER $ 10. Since my dish was under, they let it go this time, which was nice, especially since I only had $ 2 bucks left, lol… yea, I would defintiely come back.