Norbu Korean Japanese Restaurant

My friend asked me if I felt like eating Korean duck bbq. I was like WHHHAAAA? Unheard of! So of course I was willing to check it out. And I’m glad I did because it was such an awesome food experience!
Since I came for the duck, we ordered the 3 course duck meal. First course was the BBQ part. Where you grill the duck and wrap in lettuce and etc. My friend mentioned rice and I thought «Hey! Yeah, this would be SO GOOD with rice right now.» But he said, no without explaining further. He just said, «You’ll see» Glad I waited to see because second course was steamed duck stuffed with yam & sticky rice. AAAAAAHHHHHH! The bones and meat came right off. It was so yummy! If you like to chew/​suck on bones… the second course would be your high point of the meal. But that wasn’t the end. Third course was the soupy duck porridge. Wow. I was amazed. One duck, 3 different delicious and really unique dishes. Amazing.
Oh yah, TONS and I mean tonssss of side dishes! The most I’ve seen. Plus steamed egg and soy bean soup and the salad thingie came with our meal. Delicious!

This quiet restaurant has amazing fresh fish, delicious egg but it takes a little time to serve you since the restaurant is small and it has only three staffs

we came here for lunch. got the specials — bulgogi beef and the tofo soup. the beef quality wasn’t the best and the tofo soup was average.
the highlight was 9 side dishes. most of them were good.
there are much better places on El Camino for Korean food but it’s not that bad.
the service is pretty slow.

I had rolled by Norbu yesterday in my Down Low Whip but my sidekick wanted Mexican. So today I was by myself and decided to roll my Work Whip to Norbu. I was able to park my Work Whip right in front. I was lucky the parking lot is very small.
Norbu is located in an older strip mall on Elcamino in Santa Clara. I like its down low location.
I rolled in and grabbed a table. My server dropped off a menu. It was quite a large menu .
I went with the BBQ ed Beef Diner Special. My food arrived 15 minutes later WOW!!!
NICE SPREAD! Several Plates of Banchan, Sizzling Platter of BBQ Beef, Pot of Scrabbled Eggs, Mushroom Celery Soup and Steamed Rice.
Lots of Flavors Yummy !!! Very filling Dinner .
Paid BY Discover Card Was given a sliced Orange for Dessert.
Rolled out in the Work Whip to Ac /​Dc

My order: Seafood Soft Tofu soup (medium), It came with more shrimp than most places but they are a bit smaller. Soup was real flavorful, it was a little spicy for me but i still enjoyed it. I was trying to eat fast because we came a little before closing time but the owners were real nice and didn’t rush us at all. Lots of side dishes! the whole table was filled, you can probably get full just eating that. Overall it’s great place, i would think they would get more reviews. I’m looking forward to coming back to try their DUCK, its getting good reviews

The best bang for your buck at this Korean Japanese restaurant. A considerable amount of food for the price you pay for and very good customer service. I like their dinner portion that comes with soup, rice, and meat course. They have over 10 different types of banchan (more than most Korean restaurant).
p. s. Come here early or very late because parking is limited.

just a quick update about our NYE meal:
great deal…$ 39.99 for 3 types of meat, soju, banchan… and a jige (korean soup)…
i heart the duck here… but make sure you order the marinated one… we added an extra order to our meal yesterday. my favorite item here!
the banchan (side dishes) are plentiful… and they have such a variety.
love this place… YUM!

Look: Small but cozy place. They have private rooms (I saw on the way to the restroom) if needed…
Food: YUMMY DUCK! You grill the duck. and veggies at your table and eat them while they’re nice, hot, and cooked to your liking. They give you lots of side dishes and everything is just so delicious. It also comes with porridge and so much food that three people could eat comfortably, possibly even four. It was just the two of us… so we ended up taking a little bit home… but we’re big eaters. so we pretty much ate almost everything! :)
Service: Very friendly. but since we don’t speak Korean… it was a little hard to understand everything that our meal came with (a friend recommended this place for the duck… and that’s what we came for!)
Overall: I really like this place. the overall bill came to about 50 or 60… but for the amount of food we got. it was enough to feed at least 3 – 4 people… so it’s not super expensive. :)

Feels like you are in LA ktown when you are here.
The best Korean BBQ deal in town.
3 types of meat, plus 15 appetizers, and soju or Makoli (rice wine) for only 40 bucks.
You can’t beat the deal this deal.
Down to earth atmosphere with nice soju posters surrounding the restaurant.
Plus the ajuma waitresses cook the food for you.

I came here for the duck. It was good, but tasted even better with the dipping sauce that it came with. It comes in a hefty serving, which would be perfect for 3+ people.
Tons of side dishes, steamed egg, and bean paste soup came with the meal. There was tons of food and just two of us.
Apparently the food here is made «country» style. So if something tastes a little different, that’s why!

Hmm… This place I’d say is A-​Ok, though to be honest I wanted to like it a lot more than I really did.
I guess my main gripe is that most of the stuff just doesn’t taste like a whole lot. The ingredients are quality imo, but they prepare them pretty bland. I do know they don’t use MSG, so I guess yay for that.
We got the duck dishes and some other things. I didn’t really care to remember the other things, but the duck was good. Their duck dishes serve 2+ and are either $ 39 (up from $ 33) for pressed steamed duck or BBQ duck, or $ 50 for 3-​course duck dinner, or «duck with traditional Chinese medicine.» One time we got the pressed steamed duck. This was very good. They don’t give you a lot of duck, although it was sufficient for two people. They do however stuff you with side dishes and refill them, and while they weren’t terribly tasty I appreciate that some of them were unique (like the garlic stems.) The next time we were going to order the duck with TCM but they said you need to call in advance 2 – 3 hrs ahead of time for that so they suggested the 3 course duck dinner instead. This came with BBQ at your table duck (which wasn’t a great way to eat it imo), a duck-​herbal rice soup (which was good, but I wish it would have been made out of more whole grains rather than white rice) and the duck carcass stuffed with sticky rice and potatoes. Again too much starch, although tasty starch.
Service…ehh…it was 9:00 and the waitress was attentive to us and on top of everything, but acted like she wanted to go home.

I wanted to try the duck here but they don’t offer it in a single person portion. I was super disappointed because that’s what I had heard from friends. I never really wanted to try Norbu before because honestly the reviews were mediocre.
The duck I’m referring to was described as almost a bulgogi-​marinated-​like duck and I saw it on the menu but it was like $ 40+ and was wayy to much for lunch.
Instead I got the seafood tofu soup and the boyfriend got the grilled fish. They were both just okay and a bit overpriced. The banchan were plentiful but none of them were exceptional.
I dunno, I don’t think I’d come back unless I found enough people to go try that duck with me.

Came here around 9PM and they were still open!
Their dinner menu isn’t pricey at all! very reasonable. regular tofu dishes (soondobu) were around $ 7 – 8, but they also had pricier dishes such as hot pot platters, etc for those with a stomach of money.
But where this place shines isn’t just their good prices for their food. it’s the crazy amount of small dishes they offer with every meal! (korean places usually give out several complimentary small dishes of various food). There must have been around 12 small dishes on the table! and all of them were great! some places have those dishes where one taste is all you need, but this place had be going for seconds on this stuff. the tofu soups came shortly afterward with a bowl of rice. They didn’t ask for the spicy level for the soups but I found it to be just right. it was spicy enough to taste and have the feeling, but not enough to numb your mouth or put you to tears in front of your date! so far so good for this place eh?
this place also offers complimentary barley tea (most korean places offer this as well) but the waitress kept mine refilled all of the time. granted, it was late so there were less customers to attend to, the servers here seem to know exactly what to do and the kitchen knows how to prepare their food. what more can you ask for?
okay okay you can ask for more. what would really put this place into the superb category is if they spiced up the décor and had more promotions like happy hour stuff, etc. or what would do it for me is if they added the fried fish as a complimentary dish along with the other small dishes (those things are so *droooll…*)
anyways, great food, great service, great price! highly recommended!

I had to find my way to the front to find out what the restaurant was called since it was primarily in Korean. It’s located right next to a flower shop in a janky looking plaza, across street from See’s Candy. So drive slowly to find it!
My friend decided to take me here to try some new korean dishes. We tried the one where the meat was BBQ and then wrapped with lettuce in addition to other ingredients you are supposed to eat with. I forgot the name :(
Many banchan side dishes were served! it was awesome! A lot of variety to choose from.
It was delicious! My first time trying this out! I liked the bean paste that you were supposed to add. The lady taught us how to cook it fast and what to do. It was nice of her because initially we weren’t very welcomed and served since we were right next to the front door. You gotta be korean to get better service at some places i swear! The place was filled with korean men drinking! It was a whole plate of pork with fatty sides to it. Good enough for 2 individuals.
Overall, I am not sure if I am motivated to come back even though the food was pretty good.

found my new favorite korean restaurant and it’s NORBU!!! I couldn’t believe my eyes when the owner brought out 12 dishes of banchan =O.
I got the lunch special $ 7.99 beef bibimbap. It was delicioso!!! The hot sauce was tasty. This dish is perfect on a hot summer day! REFRESHING! and lots of meat too! Never seen before at any other Korean restuarants serving bibimbap with tons of meat!
Cheap and loaded with full… I couldn’t walk out of that restaurant after the meal!

This place looks deceiving, it is located in a very difficult place to spot. But then again it is located in a korean plaza?
well anyways.
Food was surprisingly good, and a lot of ban– chan compared to any other korean bbq places. plus the server kept giving us refills of ban chan :)
service is gay.
food was descent.

After eating lunch here for a 2^nd time, I can honestly say I think I’ve found me a great weekly lunch spot!
Before reading on, I’m only basing this review on lunch and the #20 special.
I’ve only tried that one special so far… why? Cause I’m interested in a quick and satisfying meal and as far as taste and quantity that Special fits the bill nicely. I’m not so stuffed I can’t walk, I have no desire to eat anything else afterwards (it happens… yes I’m fat), I walk in, sit down, get food eat and I’m out, in the car and smokin on the way back to work in under 40 minutes.
What is the #20 Lunch special that I’m infatuated with at this point in my life? It’s Galbi… Kalbi…Korean BBQ short ribs… it’s MEAT!!! MEAT! Screw cake son! Gimmie the MEAT!!! This fat kid loves MEAT! Not just Meat… Beef! I like Beef!!!1…umm…anyways.so along with the meat you get a portion of rice and some fishy tasting soup. I can do without the soup.
The other thing that I like about ordering the #20 special is that it comes with a whole bunch of small dishes, 12 of em to be exact. On my last visit I’d noticed some different stuff — in the little plate/​bowl things — than my previous lunch. I wasn’t sure what each dish contained but I tried all of them and like a good portion of em too. Another plus about those little plate things is that if you finish one… they refill it for you! YES! So I ate lots of the kimchee tasting bean sprouts, the eggy zuchinni things and some kinda eggplant thing. Gooood stuff!!!
There’s only 1 waitress I’ve seen and she’s a nice woman who is attentive enough to see who’s lil plate/​bowl things need refilling and she does so with a smile.
Dunno about dinner, but lunch #20 = $ 10.90 — You’re full and out after 40 minutes.

Dinner was a disappointment… for whatever reason, the soondubu broth was questionably bland and didn’t taste the same. Hmmmmm. I guess lunch is the best time to hit this place?!
They do have chicken — teriyaki chicken under «Japanese menu». Regrettably, t’s stiff, overly sweet and definitely NOT Japanese.
Hmmmmm… Maybe we went on the wrong day.

I think I’m getting soondubu’d out. I doubt anything’s gonna be as good as Pyung Chang in Oakland. That being said, this place is pretty good, and they certainly give you plenty of panchan. A total of 12 generous plates of all levels of fermentation, that I kid you not. A couple of the panchan were definitely not for the faint of tastebuds, but kudos for keeping it authentic.
I ordered the soondubu spicy and it was bright red, with smaller clumps of tofu than I’m used to. The broth was good and spicy, with a nice balance of anchovy broth and gochucaru, faintly similar to the style at SGD. I got the seafood version and they piled on the oysters (or mussels?), couple shrimp, smaller shrimp, and squid. Definitely a good value here, even without the raw egg other places serve.
The rice was on the wet side, but I won’t fault them for that, it’s free anyway right? Service was very nice, they checked on me several times, and the quantity of panchan give it 3.75 stars in my book.
They also have a bunch of options for family style BBQ and the other typical Korean fare. An interesting menu item is the duck chungol, or duck casserole stew.

This place is great! I’m surprised it’s not been Unilocaled more!
It’s right along the strip (near See’s Candies) a little past Choi’s Kitchen.
I’m a huge fan of Choi’s Kitchen and i think this place is pretty close in second. The cold dishes are very fresh! They change it up a lot. Usually 15 cold dishes, egg omelet bowl thingy, the other soup (not hot tofu) and rice comes along with your choice of the short ribs (good amount, around 13), or spicy pork, or beef bulgogi. For 15.99. I think that’s a good deal!
Cold dishes are soo good. I could just eat all the cold dishes as a meal. They even have the spicy marinated crab. This is also the first place I’ve seen that serves that yummy egg omelette thing.
The hot tofu soup isn’t very spicy although I ask for it super spicy spicy! But I suppose it’s still got a good amount of hotness and flavor.
The only thing that’s weird is they claim to be Japanese as well but have a very limited Japanese menu consisting of ramen, udon, and rice bowls.
The service is friendly and they really try to communicate with you. But I suppose if you know your Korean food vocabulary then it wouldn’t be a problem.