Sorabol

Very sad to note that this place is closed… however there is a great Vietnamese restaurant located in the same shopping center that is excellent. Although you may be disappointed to not have the hibachi tables, it is worth a try as the service is great, the prices are very reasonable and the food is fresh and delicious!

Oh how disappointing! This place is no longer in business – it’s now Rock Side of the Moon, a «hard rock bar».
I came to get some tasty Korean BBQ on 6÷10÷11 and it’s no longer there. :(

Great Korean food with warm service.
Seems like many of the lower reviews on here have to do with complications with
. It sucks that there were complications and misunderstandings with the certificate, but it doesn’t warrant a one star review. It skews it for the rest of us who just pay in cash or credit card.
Anyway, solid food and great lunch specials. $ 5 for a lunch set? Not a bad deal. The people here are always friendly and the streaming Kpop videos interesting. No complaints here!

Sorabol is the best korean food you are going to get in Portland OR and here is why:
1. The food is authentic. Better than the other places you are going to go in SE. Taste the most like my mother and grandmothers korean food. No Americanized fusion crap.
2. Most of the side dishes are made from vegetables grown in the owners backyard. She prides herself on growing her own stuff and using them in the sides.
3. The family that runs this place is genuine and sweet. They provide really great service and are always so nice.
4. The lunch specials they have are so cheap. People who think Sorabol is expensive must have never been to a Korean restaurant before, because their prices are way better than others.
5. There is always k-​pop playing along with music videos. Its awesome.

More satisfied with the side dishes than the actual entrees.
Decent selection of little dishes with the classic marinated soy bean sprouts, and then some marinated greenbeans to be extra special.
But the entrees left something to be desired… Chop Chae portion was way too small for what they were charging. Just give some extra noodles!
Also had the special oxtail soup with potato which sounds pretty unique and good but was a little bit lack luster. They stewed three ox tail bones and 2 whole potatoes in some spicy broth. It was savory, but didn’t end up being very satiating/​substantial. Had to order more side dishes to eat with my rice.
Fortunately the service was good and with the clanging of their metal wire push carts, I could anticipate when my food was coming. =p
Probably should have tried the bbq grill, but it just seemed cost prohibitive.

I’ve been to Sorabol once before with friends for lunch. The service left something to be desired, even though the food is really good.
Tonight, I took my son there, in hopes of using a
coupon that I had purchase over a month ago. We sat down and I handed the waitress the coupon. She immediately told me that we couldn’t use it. Then she said that we could use it, but not for dessert or beverages (which, isn’t that the whole point? To try out the extras?). I hadn’t asked about these things anyway, but I double checked the coupon and it had no stipulations about what type of food was covered.
I pointed this out, at which point she went and got another waitress, who showed me a printout from some random site stating no beverages or desserts.
I stood up, said, «This is probably why you don’t have any customers!» and
left. There was no use arguing. I felt like I was unwelcome before I even had a chance to order any appetizers.

+Fun presentation, good flavor, fresh ingredients, and good service.
+Nice drink selection
+/​-​Portions are large for most things, especially if you start with one of the pancakes, and that makes the price reasonable, but not cheap, so it’s not as easy to order lots of different things everyone can try unless you come with a really large group.
+/​-​Nothing is spicy, which is great if you are not that adventurous, but may be a let down for some.
–The «cook at your table» seating is crowded, each table really only comfortably seats 2.
Overall, I like it, and keep going back, but that may be due to the close proximity to my house!

Prior to my job in Korea, I had been to Sorabol a few times. But I guess after spending two years in Korea — it has turned me into a snob when it comes to Korean food. However, I also know good Korean food in America and I wasn’t impressed.
For $ 30, we got the Korean Pancake, Spicy Pork and LA Kalbi. The side dishes were below average. The lettuce was weak. The rice was meh. And the Kimchi was so bad. I think the preserved Kimchi in the jar tastes better.
The best dish out of the three was the Kalbi and that wasn’t even that great :/​I guess it’s true about how you have to go all the way to Beaverton for good Korean food these days.

[+] I really like this place. It’s really good. Very interactive, especially I decided to cook it myself. The flavors were really good. The food portions were very generous, we were extremely full. One of the better places to go for Korean Food in the SE Portland area.
[-] Cooking was fun, but my clothes/​face/​hair/​etc smelled like greasy oil afterward. Seems like I’ve been in the kitchen cooking for hours. Also, I feel like the food is overpriced. Wayy overpriced. Since no one is cooking the food for us, they still charge a lot… I mean all they really did was prep the food.

Why does this place always change?
In the last five years this place is constantly changing their menu, setting and prices!
Its always korean food, but they put their own spin to it. One minute they have a conveyor sushi belt, then the next time we walk in its a regular korean restaurant. I was disappointed that they took the sushi conveyor thing away because at that time i was craving korean bbq and sushi!
However, their korean food is pretty good & i love all their little side dishes. I like that i have a variety to pick from & each one of them has a different taste to it. Their side dishes are always changing & it amazes me how they can make such creamy potato salad…=)
I usually order their spicy pork and grilled mackeral. The dishes are simple, but it goes sooOO well w/​their side dishes. Their portion size are good, but not their mackeral, they should give me more!!! Anywho, its a great place to eat spicy soup and eat korean bbq.

I love coming to Sorabol every time we come up to Portland. Tee heeee~
Korean BBQ is great, but for the prices they have here — it’s even greater. Around $ 30 fed four people, plus two $ 5 plates of chicken and kimchi chiggae. Yess!
A star off just because the waitresses are not really attentive. You have to grab their attention at times. If you keep this in mind, instead of just waiting too long, you’ll have your stuff in no-​time.

I had a good feeling about this Korean restaurant when I walked in and observed a lively party of Korean gentlemen enjoying themselves. It’s clean inside, and the service is polite and prompt. The menu has lots of variety, and price points from $ 4.99 up, including vegetarian items.
Time to talk about the food. I’ve had Korean food at several places around town that has more intense flavor, though this is passable. The dul sat bi bim bap was mushy; the flavors not too distinctive. The seafood pancake was delicious, and just the right contrast of chewy and crispy. We thought the spicy black cod soup was really fishy (not in a great way), but I liked the savory broth. The side dishes were pretty unexciting.
Overall, Sorabol is a good value, with large quantities of decent food, but there is better quality Korean food around Portland.

Wow, it is kinda hit and miss during this heat wave on finding restaurants with good A/​C. It wasn’t so terribly hot when we came inside Sorobol, but our waitress was very apologetic about the A/​C conking out, saying that a repairman would not be there until the next day.
It was still (a lot) cooler than our house, so we stayed.
We started out with Sorobol’s version of an onion pancake (they have another version with kimchee). Excellent! It came stuffed full of scallops and shrimp. None of that went to waste, I guarantee
I don’t remember know what exactly our entrees were, but I remember they were very good.
Our waitress knew how to entertain me and make me laugh. She was pushing all the right buttons. When I asked her if my dish was going to contain cilantro, she informed me that this was Korean cooking and that Korean cooking would never have cilantro.
She further volunteered that the first time she went to a Vietnamese restaurant she experienced cilantro for the first time. And she said she was so mad that they had put it in her food, because it was so horribly strong. Amen, sister!

Came here with a friend on Wednesday’s night. We were seated promptly.
I ordered the Tofu Udon and my friend was going to order the Unagi (Eel) Rice Bowl but she couldn’t because Unagi is a «sushi fish» and since the sushi bar is closed they couldn’t make Unagi Rice Bowl. I thought that was a little lame because (their) Unagi is premade/​prepackaged. All you have to do is just heat it up. My friend ordered the Beef Udon instead.
Food came out fairly quickly. The bowls were HUGE. There were bell peppers, green onions, and zucchini in the udon. The zucchini slices were line up like a flower. Kind of pretty. Broth was okay. Noodle was okay. Taste actually just like the «instant udon» package from Fubonn. I didn’t really like how they put bell peppers and zucchini in the udon. Those vegetables have a pretty strong and distinctive taste and they don’t go well with udon. Their attempt at Asian Fusion cuisine kind of failed and resulted in simply Fake Asian food.
After the waitress gave us our food, she sat back in the corner with her coworker chatting up a storm. My friend wanted some of those chili sprinkles but couldn’t get the waitress’ attention. The waitress didn’t come back until we were already done eating to give us our check. Not nice, lady.
They remodeled again. Pretty recently, I’d say. I noticed the difference when I came here a month and a half ago. They took out the sushi belt and rearranged the tables in the center and installed more smaller tables/​booths.

If it weren’t for the hair in one of the banchan plates, I would’ve given it 4 stars, even with the horrible service and overpriced menu items. Considering that there was only one other table in the entire restaurant, I would’ve expected to at least get good service; however, this was not the case.
I’m assuming that this Sorabol is not in any way affiliated with the Sorabol’s in Hawaii and LA. Very cheap décor and very slow service. What’s up with the Korean restaurants here in Oregon? I’ve grown up eating at places where the rice and banchan actually comes out before the main entrees and not with them.
Don’t get me wrong though. The food wasn’t bad (minus hair) but for the price, it was just bleh. $ 22.99 for one order of pre-​cooked joo mool luk?!! $ 19.99 for one order of pre-​cooked galbi?!! You gotta be kidding me! I could see myself paying these prices at New Seoul Garden, but here?! I don’t think so.

We should have known better than to take the word of our waiter. He said the Spicy Squid wasn’t that spicy for him. Not wanting to come off as a wimp, I ordered it. While not the spiciest dish on the planet, it was still packing some heat. Enough heat to keep your face warm and leave you with a pair fire lips. The Teriyaki Pork Bento was both salty, sweet and a nice break from the Spicy Squid. The portion sizes were good and provided us with another meal the following day.
Service was a bit slow, even though there were two servers and to care for four tables. Not only for their good food, but Sorabol is worth trying because they have convenient late night hours that a lot of other Portland dining establishments are lacking.

While the food is not exceptional (especially compared to what I grew up with), I’d say that it’s good. The service is excellent.
The thing here is that the lunch menu: the Bibim Bap or a generous bowl of Kimchi-​chigae with rice are FIVE BUCKS each! Korean food really doesn’t get much cheaper than that. It’s a far better and healthier deal than what you’d get from Taco Hell or Burger Fling. Another bonus is that it’s substantially closer than locations in Beaverton.
Reasonable expectations would make a visit to this place a worthwhile experience.

I remembered when this place was a hole in the wall place with a sketchy karaōke lounge attached to it.
Now, seems like an IKEA designer came in and remodeled the whole place. They have wide open space, bright lights, and a sushi train… a what what? Yes, they have sushi train like at Sushiland, but the problem is seems like they aren’t as busy as other sushi train places… so I’m not sure how good or more important, how fresh those sushis are…
Stick with the Korean food especially the bulgogi, galbi, and regular Korean meat fare. They have a pretty huge and diverse menu. Banchans come with your meal and they are delicious. I love kimchis!
This is one of good Korean places in Portland. Not as good as those ones in Beaverton, but if you don’t feel like driving all the way to the west side, Sorabol will do. :)

Kind of a bizarro-​world atmosphere and décor in there. But I have to say, I thought the bulgogi was excellent and VERY reasonably priced. Good condiments, pretty solid meal. Did order «smoked salmon» off the menu for one sushi order. Ouch. Got a dried up lox-​like hunk of (I think) flesh instead. Not good. But I will go back for Korean fare.

I smell liked grilled food. It’s tasty good food, so I’m ok with a little stink, but I certainly don’t love smelling like grilled pork.
Sorabol is a solid Korean joint. It has «Oregon’s longest conveyor sushi belt.» The sushi, if I’m being honest for the Yeeps, looked sad and old. My sister got some potstickers, they were cold. We timed that it takes five minutes for a dish to make the entire run of the conveyor belt. I don’t know how long they stay on the conveyor, but nobody was eating sushi, so I think it stayed there awhile. If you feel compelled to eat the sushi it’s 50% off from 9 to 10 pm. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
I did see a lot of Asians in the restaurant, contrary to a previous review. Nobody ate sushi. Everybody ate food ordered from the menu. There are some grills under hoods, but the people sitting across from us in the conveyor belt area had a grill without a hood. Thus we smelled liked grilled food when they were finished. We asked that our food be cooked; we don’t like the whole cooking at the table thing, we suck at it and get burned, and again, not loving the grilled pork odor clinging to my hair and clothes.
The banchan (panchan) is great! Fabulous taro root, kimchi, and 6 other yummies. None of those little eyebally salty fish that I’m used to getting with banchan. That’s ok, I don’t really like them anyway. It didn’t come with fishcake, bummer. You also get a small bowl of rice.
The bulgogi was tasty and well marinated. The beef ribs were tender, delicious, and had very little fat. The kimchi tofu pork soup was very good, but not really spicy. I’d like it spicier and will tell them next time. I added some jalapenos that came with the lettuce wraps for the ribs and it helped. We all shared at the table and there was more than enough for three people. They will bring extra bowls and plates for sharing if you ask. They also will refill the banchan if you ask.
The ordered food is solidly a four. The service, despite being pleasant and friendly, is a two. They are slow, disorganized, don’t offer drink refills, and the wasabi jar was empty and the ginger jar looked old.
The décor is a weird mix of typical Korean, with the soap operas and pop videos playing, and photos of Korean celebrities on the wall, and also a bit mod with corrugated metal walls and funky colors. It also has sort of tiki umbrellas and picnic chairs at weird tables, along with booths.
Anyway, I would go back and order from the menu again. The people behind us ordered udon and it looked great. We really liked the food. I just can’t advise eating the sushi, and it does the restaurant a disservice being «fusion.» If they concentrated all their efforts on Korean food and improved the service, they could be top notch and well worth the drive to 82^nd and Powell. I bet the conveyor belt was expensive, and it’s a nice gimmick, but the kitchen food just doesn’t need it.