Friend’s House Korean

My friend and I Unilocal-​ed real quick and found this place when we couldn’t make into another really popular restaurant nearby, since it had an hour plus wait time. And we weren’t disappointed at all.
We were seated immediately; we got a large hotpot to share, which came with a number of side dishes. It was more than enough to feed two people, and was warm, comforting, and flavorful. For good Korean comfort food, I’d definitely come here.

3.8 stars but not a stable 4 for me… But then again it’s kind of hard to find a really good Korean place in San Diego.
Ordered Togo so I don’t know if that made any difference.
Dolsolt Bibimbap– ⁵⁄₅ really enjoyed this dish! Probably the best bibimbap I’ve had anywhere! I liked how crispy the rice was. The beef tasted good and not dry!
Kimchi fried rice– 3.5÷5 flavoring was alright. The egg was a little too cooked for me. Nothing special.
Spicy pork tofu soup: 3.5÷5 tasted a little watered down. Not too much flavor going on. But I did like the pork in here!
They also give banchan for take out!
Overall I’ll come back just for the bibimbap! Plus parking here isn’t too bad compared to the other places in convoy.

I love this restaurant. It’s welcoming, charming, and the food is delicious. Plus, they have a good variety of banchan (free side dishes) in rotation.
The service and hospitality is inviting. That’s one difference I notice between Korean and Chinese restaurants: The service in Korean restaurants tend to be far better. It probably has to do with different cultures, especially how modern Korean culture is heavily Westernized with elements of capitalism.
The décor and ambience is one of my favorites of any restaurant. It’s charming because of the eclectic, yet harmonious, homey style that immediately relaxes you. You are now at home with your best friend, and his mom is going to cook up some mean Korean food. Even the plate ware is homey in charming way: Instead of having one set of restaurants-​quality plate ware, there are many varieties of the same type of plate ware and each variety is home-​quality. For example, your clear plastic water cup may be porcelain next time. Your dates chopsticks may red and plastic while yours are made with stainless steel. This reminds me of how my family collected plate ware over the years and continue to use old and new plate ware.
While the restaurant feels and looks homey, the taste of the food is not. My favorite dishes are the Seafood Fried Rice and the Dolsot Bimbimbap. There are some dishes I’ve had that I didn’t care for, and it’s for this surprising inconsistency that I’d give the food 3.5 stars. But because the rest of the restaurant is so welcoming and charming, I’m rounding up to 4 stars. Service, hospitality, and ambience typically don’t affect how I rate restaurants, but if they exceed my expectations enough, they can become reasons to visit a restaurant.

Our go-​to place for Korean food. Must order ribs (yes a little pricey but so worth it!). Banchan is good, food is filling. Love spicy kimchee soup/​stews. Huge hot pots! Parking can be challenging at times, especially Fri-​Sun. Weekday lunches are much slower.

My personal favorite Sundubu (korean tofu soup) on Convoy. What I like about this place is that it’s fairly cheaper than the other stores along the street, the food in my opinion taste way better, and parking is never a problem. The staff is super friendly, like its namesake, and isn’t pushy at all. I remember I left a personal item once and the staff literally ran out while I was in my car ready to leave and handed it to me.
I usually don’t stray away from my usual dumpling noodle soup that has never failed me thus far, but maybe I’ll try something else the next time I visit. But know that the lunch prices are slightly cheaper than the dinner prices.

If you are trying to decide between Grandma’s tofu and here… GO HERE! Simply better all around. Combo 17 and 18 are the way to go. 17 is the bibimbap, probably spelled it wrong. So good. 18 is the spicy tofu soup, we got the mild and it was still a bit spicy so I suggest if you aren’t down with the spice you just get mild.

Friends house! First off, why wouldn’t you want to come here? Just the name of this Korean restaurant draws me in! My boyfriend & I been here a few times & it is our GO TO if we want our Korean fix! Their spice pork is what my boyfriend orders & its so delicious, perfectly spicy. Except last time there wasn’t much meat which was a bummer :/​I love their kimchi fried rice here! They top it off with egg which is my absolute fav! I recently just tried their spicy soup w/​shredded beef, & vermicelli noodles & veggies, guuuurl lemme tell ya, it was A1! Sooo delicious! So spicy which I love & the beef was perfect!
My boyfriend & I never had to wait more than 2 mins to be seated. Everyone is always so friendly here & helpful with the menu.
Can’t wait to come back to get my Korean fix!

I love this place they’re short ribs are absolutely fabulous.
I did not have tonight but their Seafood pancake is also great.
Sometimes the service can be a little slow though.

The food was good. We had the seafood fried rice and the traditional Bulgogi spread.
The meat was tender. The seafood was fresh. The rice was tasty.
The staff was on it, but kind of hard to communicate with and understand. Only knock would be the difficulty having questions answered in regard to the food. Otherwise, it was a good spot.

I don’t really like to go out and eat Korean food, since mother’s cooking is always best…
But my friends like it here and so I tag along.
Banchan (side dishes) come out with your meal and are great, though the portion size of your first set is always small (if you like something in particular they will get you more).
I generally order the stews here, I think they’re tastier and provide most value for the cost.
Gamjahtang, soondubu, yukhejang!
Eugenia is the best server here.

I’ve never tried korean hot pot before so it was awesome to get the hot pot soupy dinner paired with delicious korean sides and rice! Kind of a small place with mostly small booths, it might be hard to fit large groups here without getting split up.
Between three of us, we split one of the seafood hotpots, and it was definitely more than enough to feed us! The seafood included plenty of shrimp, octopus, clams, and tofu. WIth the rice, it was delicious. The broth wasn’t super salty, had the right seasoning and was just the right amount of spicy. You get some rice to go along with the soup, and lots and lots of side dishes. We also got the seafood pancake and it was a hit! I was surprised to see them put some seafood in there and yet keep the pancake still crispy on the outside not too lumpy. I’d come back again!

Very yummy Korean food with nice ambience inside.
I got the spicy kimchi tofu stew (soondaboo) it was delicious. Coworker got bimbimbap and loved it.
Ban chon was on the light side. So that’s why it doesn’t get all 5 stars. Like there were two pieces of tofu in one dish. However staff is still very friendly and refilled them often.
I’d recommend this place to a friend.

Came here for dinner on a Friday night — we were quickly seated as we arrived just before the dinner rush hour. We have tried to come here a few weekends ago, but parking in the plaza was crazy. so come early if you want to eat fast!
As for the food — everything we ordered was on the saltier side of things. They weren’t bad, but the taste wasn’t that good either. The Kalbitang (my mission to eat every restaurant’s Kalbitang in the SD area) was just ok. The meat was definitely under cooked, hence, very very chewy. The banchans were salty, but pretty decent.
My wife had the dumpling soup, it was. how do we describe it. weird. There were ingredients in the soup that didn’t belong, like bulgogi? I understand there would be some meat in there, but usually, they were nicely incorporated in the soup, and not something adding different flavors (in this case, sweetness from the bulgogi sauce).
Overall, the experience was ok — the staff was nice and they were pretty friendly. I feel bad for them when the owner (kind of obvious) came in to check on them, and asked them why they turned on all the lights when it’s still bright outside… imo, treat your employees nicer, as they are doing a great job (comparing to many other places I have been to).
Would I be back again? Maybe.

One of my go-​to (non-​AYCE KBBQ) Korean places on Convoy!
They have one of the best selections of side dishes (and most too!): I love the fish cake, the sweet potato, and the various pickled vegetable dishes they have.
Me and my friend always get the combo A (choice of meat and tofu soup) with the Spicy Pork, Kalbi or Bulgogi and the Seafood Tofu Soup and this is usually enough to fill us both up, plus you can keep asking for more side dishes! The Kalbi is really good and is always perfectly tender, super sweet and flavorful and also include grilled onions on the dish (I’m a sucker for grilled, caramelized onions). The Bulgogi is also good and is very soft and thinly cut so it basically melts in your mouth. Spicy Pork with Rice Cake is a delicious combination of sweetness and spicyness. I’m not a big fan of spicy food but I can totally eat this and enjoy it very much. It also has stir fried vegetables mixed with the rice cake and pork which adds more flavorfulness. The Seafood Tofu Soup here is my favorite and always has generous amounts of different seafoods including clams, squid, shrimp, and delicious soft tofu etc! The broth is super flavorful and has a very distinct sweet but spicy tofu soup taste that always leaves me wanting more.
Another plus is that we have never had to wait very long to be seated here. It is also open super late so we have stopped by here after a late night concert when we were starved; luckily this place was opened and perfectly hit the spot!
They also do to-​go and are really nice and courteous about giving us side dishes to go too! They package it so nicely where the experience of eating it at home is equally awesome as dining in there.

I highly recommend this place if you are craving Korean food. I usually get the beef tofu stew and its really good. They’re really smart with their stamp card, I keep coming back! Haha. Just like any other Korean place, they have the side dishes!

I really like this Korean place because their food isn’t salty. I usually get the tofu stew or the dumpling soup. The dumpling soup is great. The broth is light and the dumplings are actually one of the best dumplings I’ve ever had. The meat is soft and seasoned well.
The only thing I have to complain about this place is how sweet the marinated beef is. They put chopped up beef in the soup and it was so sweet it ruined the entire thing. I had to ask for it on the side the last time I came back.
Parking can be limited during dinner time but it is part of a private lot.

I love this place!
Korean BBQ, and multitudes of other Korean dishes, that were DELICIOUS!
My husband liked that we could have Korean BBQ without having to cook the meat at our table. He had a seafood stew that was spicy (you can order it less spicy), with a delicious broth, and plenty of yummy crab, clams and other seafood in it. (Couldn’t eat the crab — tiny crabs that were there just to flavor the broth — but that’s fine.)
I had the bone-​in short ribs (which they will cut off the bone for you if you ask, and give you the bones to gnaw on if you want.) Best I’ve had, and I’ve had many! Side dishes were very good, and you can get two refills on any one of them before you have to pay extra. I even asked if I could have a bowl of soup (which they don’t usually serve as a free side dish), and he brought me some of the best Egg Drop Soup I’ve had!
Why only four stars? Service was friendly, but they rarely checked on us. I had to stand up and wave three times to get things I wanted.
But, aside from the less-​than-​perfect service (and a fly we found on the edge of one of the dishes), we LOVED this place! Now, I can even get my husband to go to Korean BBQ with a smile on his face!

Friend’s house? That means it’s mediocre!
Honestly most Korean places in Convoy /​San Diego are all like 3 or 4 stars to me. I had the bulgogi, not bad. Ban chan wasn’t that impressive. Maybe I will come back for their tofu soup.
Service was not good, are they under-​staffed or something? It always takes forever for someone to come take our order. Parking is a nightmare too, just FYI.

I’ve been coming here for years!
I love getting their kimchi fried rice ($ 9.99) It comes with an egg, spam and side salad, which is such a great deal since other places charge you extra for spam and an egg, but its already included here. I always get their kimchi fried rice along with their bulgogi ($ 15.99) which is Korean marinated beef with mushrooms and onions. The bulgogi and kimchi fried rice paired together so well. Along with these two dishes they also give you side dishes. The side dishes are ok, they can be hit or miss.
Besides that service here is always quick and friendly. Parking can be a bit difficult especially during peak hours.

4.5 stars:
We came here with a party of 13, unfortunately they couldn’t seat all of us in a single table, so some of us had to split up at the adjacent table.
We ordered the 2 pancakes: kimchi, and seafood to share.
The seafood pancake was pretty delicious. The center though was a bit soft and slightly underdone. The kimchi pancake is new to me. I think it was alright, at least I tasted the kimchi.
Service was alright, the gamjatang took forever to come, so I had been eating off of others’ food. They were a bit stingy on the ban chan. There are 13 of us! It was all gone in one chopstick go per person.
Their dol sot bibimbap was delicious!!! Must try.
I had their gamjatang (pork bone and potatoe soup), and yukgaejang (spicy beef soup): There’s a lot of sesame leaf flavors in gamjatang. Of the 2, I prefer the yukgaejang more. very good beef flavor, plenty of spicy (to me).
We also ordered 3 bottles of soju: a really smooth drink!!! We took a picture of it to see if we could find it in Zion, but no success. :(
Oh and they have Five Stars/​MOGL!