Sunney’s Cafe

Me and my boyfriend used to frequent this place and loved it, I always got the stir fry tofu and he got bbq meat.
Then we moved to South Korea and were exposed to the real thing. Coming back to the states and going to Sunneys again, I realized we were already eating the real homemade thing. I get the bibimbap now, its rice and vegetables with a fried egg and hot soybean sauce.
Its cheap, and the same lady (the owner) makes everything, so it tastes just like a mom made it. It tastes more authentic than any place I went to in Korea Town in Los Angeles.
Plus they have soju, and korean beers hite and cass. Awesome place!

Fate brought us to Sunney’s Café. Really. We were driving past Seattle, not even intending to stop, when my partner suddenly declared she was starving. I took the very next exit off highway 5 which happened to be for 45^th Avenue. Not being from the area, we didn’t know we were in UW territory until we saw the signs and turned left onto University Way. Hello, cheap eats! Grabbed the first parking spot we saw, and lo and behold, happened to park right in front of Sunney’s Café. The sign for bulgogi caught our eye, and we plopped ourselves down at a table by the window where we could people watch. I ordered the chap jae, which was tastily seasoned and reasonably priced, while my partner scarfed down some galbi. The kimchee and seasoned seaweed sides were pretty decent too.
The waiter was nice and attentive, and he even let us use the restroom when we returned later after shopping on University Ave. This is a nice spot for quick and casual Korean fare.

I was craving Korean food. Bad. Real Bad. More specifically, I wanted some serious soondooboo (tofu soup). And I knew I wouldn’t be able to find a BCD around here. So I decided to stumble into this place hoping for the best.
The interior of this place is pretty interesting. It’s not straight up traditional Korean, but it’s definitely got some of that casual, Korean sit-​down feel going on. There’s also bar seating, where you can see them cook everything right in front of you. And you know it’s truly Korean when you see a huge lit up rock in the back corner. I’m pretty sure these rocks are supposed to promote happiness or good health or something, but, if anything, the food here was what promoted my happiness that night.
I got the Beef Short Rib & Seafood Tofu Soup Combo. This food won’t blow you away, and isn’t the best Korean food I’ve ever had, but it was definitely good enough to be great comfort food. The Seafood Tofu Soup comes out piping hot and sprinkled with little morsels of underwater treasure (mini scallops, octopus, clams). The mixed seafood is probably the store-​bought frozen kind, but who says that’s a bad thing. The tofu is also your standard soft tofu from the market, but again, that’s not a bad thing. After not having Korean food for over a month, I downed the soup like water. The Beef Short Rib comes in two strips on a huge plate of rice. The marinade is standard and tasted like something you could get from a Korean catering company.
Like I said, it’s nothing out of this world special, but still brings me back to the days I’d stop by a cheap, hole-​in-​the-​wall restaurant in Seoul. If you’re looking for high quality meats and the freshest of foods, go somewhere else, but if you’re fine with some grub, then Sunney’s does it right.
Also, their service is ridiculously fast. It makes me think their daily prep includes cooking all their meat before dinnertime so that they can just throw it back on the grill for a few minutes and get it out to your table as quick as possible.
One last thing. This place nice because they don’t mind you sticking around and reading a book for a while before getting up to pay for your meal.
I’m sure every once in a while I’ll be back to Sunney’s to get a little, comforting taste of Korea.
GET: Beef Short Rib & Seafood Tofu Soup Combo

Had high hopes for this place, but i didn’t like it. Ordered their tofu soup and it was not good at all. The seafood wasn’t fresh and they did not give me a lot of seafood either, the broth was also bleh. Over all, the place is really cute so it’s sad that their food just isn’t that great.

I love when a restaurant is a restaurant. Especially on the Ave! I love my dives and hole in the walls but… Sunney’s plays Korean ballads as background nose, the walls are painted to reflect the mood, the art matches the room, the table arms are tiled, it has silver metal chopsticks, the tables are beautiful wood with matching lounging like chairs, and at Sunney’s the kitchen is clean and open for viewing from all seats in the space. Inviting… Yes!
The menu is full of choices with many reasonably priced items. There is pictures (somehow not a distracting lowbrow move at Sunney’s) of a large about of things that can be ordered. For dinner or lunch Sunney’s is affordable– full meals for under $ 7 – 8 with tax! There is al carte items that are below $ 5 as well. My $ 6.47 seafood tofu soup came in a medium sized boiling black pot with kimchee, rice, and savory seafood to create bites with. Never having had before kimchee left me excited for my meal.
When the food arrived, about 5 minutes later, the soup was so hot that I spent an amount of time reading my book stirring the pot. The seafood soup had tender silken tofu and a few baby octopus, a shrimp, some calamari, and a few bits of shellfish. I got the impression seafood tofu soup was about the tofu and broth– not about having tons of seafood in it. The broth was flavorful, but I thought it could have been turned up a notch.
On a rainy Saturday afternoon, Sunney’s was a very nice place to have a solo lunch. Because of Sunney’s I now know I like kimchee, think Korean ballads are soothing, want to try Bibimbap, and think I found my go-​to Korean on the Ave.
Some FYI’s–
* After my server visited my table– and got my meal started– I realized my «water» turned out to be a steaming glass of tea– I liked this very much.
*You pay at the counter– Don’t wait for a bill to be presented to you… it won’t come :)
*They have Korean beer– many varieties, and a collection of quality loose tea leaves.

I went to Sunney’s last night and I can tell you it was «magic». The staff was more then helpful and very very nice, I hh

Cheap… Super Cheap!
After a quick trip to Upper Playground, we headed over to Sunney’s. Bulgogi and Korean hot pot soups. The food was good but not great. No soju, but a nice selection of Korean beer.
For those not into Korean food, they have your standard chicken teriyaki and katsu. The quality of food is a notch up from the regular Ave style take out so if your in the neighborhood, it’s a cheap a place for a quick lunch or dinner. We shared three entrees for $ 25 including tip…

I went here the other day after my apartment ran out of fresh vegetables and chicken (not that the chicken here in the US is ever fresh, but I digress)…my very «Korean» white friend convinced my boyfriend and I to go with him here (2 blocks away from my apt).
The service was off to a rickety start since they kept making us move because we were sitting at the bar and they couldn’t squeeze past us to serve food. Well, don’t arrange your chairs that way! They also had to take my boyfriend’s order twice because the lady completed just ignored him the first time to handle another order. Anyway… the rest of the evening was uneventful.
Food: I god the pork bulgogi (sp?) which was quite tasty. It was a bit on the sweet side and was not spicy enough to merit the 2 huge chili symbols next to it on the menu. I was a bit disappointed, but I suppose the majority of the white kids on campus may have more delicate tastebuds than mine. My friend got the sauteed squid, which was delicious! I was jealous. My boyfriend got the udon soup, which was mediocre – it wasn’t very flavorful nor very big, nor had much stuff in it. The seaweed we were served was ok, but the kimchee and preserved turnips were A+. This is big, coming from me, because I hate turnips.
Price: WAY too expensive for the ave. My bugolgi, although quite big, was over 7 $! My friend’s squid was in the $ 9’s. Totally ridiculous since they are out of the way and their food is not amazingly better.
Ambiance: Adorable place. Doesn’t seat too many, but cool paintings, clean vibe, very ‘chill’. Good place for Koreans to hang out, seeing I kept hearing Korean spoken throughout the night.
Service: It was okay after the first few incidents. She offered nicely to refill our rice and the food came really fast. Seeing I was starving, this was very much appreciated.
Bottom line: Good place if you’re hungry and want Korean food. Not too great for a college wallet.

Have you ever had bibimbap? I’m pretty inexperienced with Korean food, so this was a bit of an adventure.
Its a Korean salad served over rice, with sliced seaweed, mushrooms and unknown veggies (one ‘known’ was thinly sliced carrots.) It was served with a little cup of soup, some kimchi and thin sheets of dried seaweed to put the salad in and rollup a bit. Oh. and there was a fried egg on top. I loved it! My son had a really interesting multi-​noodled, dumpling dish that was pretty tasty too.
There are so many interesting things on the menu, I’m going to have to go back for lunch and experiment.
I really liked my waitress too. I asked her if she would make my dinner for me, and she did! They had some interesting different Korean wines and stuff too.
Tasty and inexpensive ($ 6.95). Check it out!

the best korean food on the ave. good selection of side dishes and i love the atmosphere and décor. good place for a small group (4 people max). pretty affordable. the workers are nice and i love it in the summer when they open up their windows.

I’m not Korean, but this this place is great. The service is good, the owners are really nice and have great memory and it has everything that I usually order at Korean places… or that my Korean friends order for me…

Sunney’s Café has good Korean food.
It is a small, bright, and colorful place with a sweet Korean mom chef and nice staff.
This place has a good mix of Korean favorites — bibimbop, soondobu, fish cake — and more usual Japanese style dishes like Teriyaki and Gyoza. Don’t come in expecting your usual Korean restaurant with all the sides, but do expect something a little more original than you’re used to in the city.
I plan to return next time I have a bibimbop craving… or some spicy rice cake… yummy!

ESL Alert: This is not a café, it is a Korean restaurant. That being said, its pretty good food.
Unlike so many of the pseudo-​Korean places on the Ave which hide their Korean food behind teriyaki dishes, Sunney’s stays true to its Korean roots and features Korean classics such as bulgogi and bibimbap on its menu. Much to my delight, hot barley tea was provided on entry. I had the pork bulgogi and enjoyed every bite — the sauce had the uniquely delicious spicy Korean flavor and was absolutely not greasy. I was also provided with unlimited kimchi (yea!) with little salty seaweed squares to wrap it in (double yea!).
Sunney’s also provides options for those less adventurous eaters — or those less comfortable with Korean cuisine. My dining companions had the chicken teriyaki, chicken katsu, and fried rice. After sampling each one, I will attest that they are at least as good as the alternatives offered at other teriyaki places on the Ave.
The real kicker for me was that, despite the extra amenities such as the tea and kimchi and awesome décor (did I mention how cute the interior is?), Sunney’s is still cheaper than most of the other teriyaki and Korean places on the Ave. I just can’t see myself eating at University Teriyaki anymore…
Sunney’s is a great value, and has enough menu diversity to keep me coming back, at least until Samurai Noodle opens on the Ave this spring and I start eating there three times per week.

I used to love this place.
Its still as cute as it ever was, what with all the mosaics on the counters (they have a little bar area where you can watch the cooks make your food :)) but the original chef has left.
Now, I used to come to this place religiously. I’m serious — four or five days of the week for order number 25 — japchae with soft tofu soup. But since the original chef has left — it doesn’t taste the same anymore. The food tends to be under seasoned, and the soup doesn’t have the same KAPOW kick it used to have.
This place is like a bittersweet memory — you remember that it tasted SO SO much better and every time you go back to eat — you leave disappointed. And I’m serious, I love food so much that I almost cry when it tastes bad.
Still — its one of the more cuter places to take someone special out to on the Ave. Its just a little trek upaways is all.

New to the Ave, this is a sweet little coffeeshop and Korean café. The interior is colorful and bright and they have fresh bakery items available to have with a latte. I haven’t tried their lunch menu but the selections are the usual Korean choices sound very tasty.