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Mon-Sat. 11:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Sun. 4:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
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The sushi was delicious! Best sushi restaurant on my list so far.
Boyfriend and I ordered the Deluxe sushi plate and one order of Unagi. The Unagi was sooooo tender, yet firm enough and not overcooked. All of the sushi was sooo firm and fresh. I cannot eat salmon sushi ANYWHERE. It grosses me out and tastes too oily. I was amazed when I apprehensively put the salmon sushi in my mouth and I actually liked it! The following goes for the rest of the sushi also. The way the fish feels when you bite into it. No stringiness, yet firm. The taste, so clean and fresh. The rice was also perfect. Perfect in temperature and seasoning. Perfect perfect perfect. Atmosphere is a little dull, but with how hard it is to find great sushi, it's not really a priority. We will definitely be back next time we're in the area and will be sure to try other things. The more expensive assortments perhaps ;) now that we have assured their quality is up to par.
Quality of sushi is second rate. Mushy texture of sashimi on this day. Mae woonntang had fish that was tough due to freezer burn. Tempura had no shrimp and uninspiring.
Perhaps that explains the place being empty on Saturday night. My take is the business is hurting and it is trying to cut corners with quality of fish. I won't come again. $100 for three people should offer higher level of satisfaction. It failed to do so tonight.
To be fair, I've only had their Hwedupbap so this will mostly be a review of that one dish.
I've been coming here for a while now and I've had their hwedupbap to-go as well as on-site. They give large portions (a little too much, actually!) of sashimi as well as the lettuce. You really have to split it with a friend or else it'll just be a waste.
They don't give a variety of side dishes but their miso soup is pretty good. At $15 (that's including tax), it's not too pricey but it's not exactly cheap. If I have to be picky at all, there are some parts that don't seem as fresh but I've only felt that way once. That's why I'm giving them 4 stars and not 5 stars; they need to up their freshness level. I know it can't be all THAT fresh since it's hidden under all that lettuce and sauce.
Parking is usually ample and their service is fast. If you're hankering for some hwedupbap, try this place out. It's really not that bad! I'd go back to try their sashimi, but I doubt it'll be good enough considering I've been spoiled by Sushi Gen!
the hwedupbap (fish/veggies/rice) was pretty good, but the sushi...not on my top 10. i would def go back next time i'm craving hwedupbap and i'm in ktown, but i wouldn't go out of my way for it.
Here, I was jinxed in a message from Tony C - "Ai Won's hwe du bap tastes like stringy fish. You will re-quote me after you're done tonite"
There, you've been requoted.
Hwe dup bap, hwe dup bap. Where can I find some fantastic hwe dup bap in this city?
Hello There!
I have very mixed feelings about this place but I am still going to rate it 3 stars because the concept is good. As far as I know, this is a Japanese restaurant with a Korean owner. This means Korean side dishes with Japanese food. In my opinion, that represents the fusion of two wonderful things.
So lets get this review started!
Part 1 Food: 4/5
Bento Combos and Udon are the usual Japanese style combos, they taste fine but the price is high. The fish is different. The Korean Sushi Captains definitely have their own take on how the fish is prepared. I prefer authentic Japanese but I'm not going to doc points for that.
Part 2 Service: 3/5
The service was decent, the waiters smiled, gave us the food on time and refilled my tea. Some of them do not speak English which does not bother me. One time they spilled tea on me but the waiter came and apologized.
Part 3 Environment: 3/5
The restaurant is not very well decorated. It's set up to look like a Japanese Family style restaurant. The restaurant is clean and well lit. Nothing to complain about, nothing too fancy.
Part 4 Price: 2/5
Part 3 lends itself to my complaint here. The price is little high. When I pay more for food I expect better taste or better ambiance. A-Won doesn't offer any of those. While the concept and the food is fine, I get the feeling that I am paying too much at this place.
WE ATE GOLD - the sushi chef sprinkled food-grade gold onto our halibut sashimi dish (which by the way was cut masterfully and beautifully). Looking at the dish was like starring at a Peter Paul Reuben. I felt guilty eating but I got over it quickly.
We came here with 8 people to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. We all got the omakase (tasting menu) and all left with a huge smile on our face (and my stomach was about to explode).
I absolutely love this place - delicious, authentic Japanese food at $70/person.
Exotic pureed roots, monkfish liver, fish roe rice, real wasabi (not that fake stuff), pickled accompaniments, fish stew, vegetable porridge, you name it, it was all there.
Sashimi: sea urchin, abalone, live shrimp, geoduck calm, ahi tuna, halibut, red snapper, salmon, tilapia, and a few others.
Disappointments: "Sorry, we've been having a hard time getting toro." Ahhh, come on!!! It's my grandmother's big 8-0 birthday and you guys are out of toro??!! Also, they served salmon collars instead of yellowtail collars. =(
Not a place you would expect to find a 4 star sashimi restaurant. 4 star food without the frills.… Read more »
This is literally one of the greatest sushi restaurants. Ever.
Not many people realize that eating raw fish isn't unique to the Japanese culture. Sure their sushi and sashimi tradition is the most prominent one considering the fact that consuming raw fish is a much bigger deal in Japan than in elsewhere, but nearby countries (like China, Vietnam, and Korea) have eaten uncooked seafood dishes for at least a couple of centuries.
Anyway, A-Won is more of a Korean sushi/seafood restaurant than a Japanese one. The owner and staff are all Korean, and their interpretation of each fish and the way the protein are cut are all reminiscent of the sushi dishes that I would have with my uncles and aunts back in Korea. It's rather similar to the Japanese way so I guess it's easy to confuse the two for those who had not had authentic Korean style sushi.
I usually come to this restaurant for more special occasions to have their Special Course menu. It's a bit pricey at 70 bucks a person, but it comes with over 10 dishes, each worth probably 10-20 dollars. They give you SOOOO much sushi, sashimi, and other seafood entrees that once I could not eat the rest of the day. And their fish and vegetables are of TOP TOP quality. I believe they get their fish freshly caught and delivered each morning.
They end the course with a Korean spicy fish soup/stew, which is IDEAL if you're into the spicier cuisines like Thai, Szechuan, and of course, Korean. It's not too greasy or meaty like American food, but it's also a contrast from the traditional Japanese cuisine in that it emphasizes bold, striking flavors rather than striving for a delicate taste.
If you are EVERY in the area EVER and you would like to impress someone, come feed them the special course. There's also a "family course" which is very similar to the special course but would feed a family of 4 or 5 at 140 dollars.
Not much to say really other than the food was really quite good. It was served promptly and tasted very fresh. No 5 star cause i cant honestly say its as good as it gets, but yes i am definitly a fan and will be coming back for sure.
Got a couple rolls and a couple pieces of freshwater eel sushi and my buddy got a few rolls as well. We were served Edamame beans for appetizer and we both split a large serving of hot Saki. Miso Soup was very good too.
Only downfall was that our waitress knew almost no English at all so we had a hard time ordering and apparently only one person is supposed to order all the food since after my buddy ordered, i then ordered and she only brought out my order in the end. my buddy had to end up re ordering, but not a big deal. the food was well worth it!
I've only gotten the large bowl of salad / rice / sashimi at this place, and it ain't terrible. Service isn't the best, as with most run down Asian establishments. Everything in the bowl was quite tasty . . . except for the sashimi, which tasted like low grade surplus fish being laundered through a non-descript Japanese restaurant run by non-Japanese people. But enough euphemism. Don't go to this place for the big sashimi bowl. The other stuff might be decent, but any dish in which sashimi is camouflaged in a gigantic bowl of miscellaneous ingestibles should be immediately suspect in the mind of a Yelper!
Happy eating! . . . somewhere else.
What to order you say?
Well if you got 4 people, I would go family style. More things for you to taste!
You have to get the Hwe-Dup-Bap. It's serious business. You've can usually mix about 3 bowls of rice in one. Then get the "ketchup" bottle ( their yummy A-won gochuchang mix) and put as much as you want. If you like a spicy meatball... or just want more spice, squeeze more. The sauce is pretty incredible compared to other Hwe-Dup-Bap places. They add lemon and ginger!
Next, you must get the Eun-Dae-Gu-Jorim (spicy cod and daikon radish casserole). It's a small soup bowl but the fish inside is sooo buttery. Dammit! I done drooled all over the keyboard again.
To top it all off, a little grilled mackerel (Gu-i) would be a solid choice. Squeeze that lime on the top and bottom. And, watch out for the bones! Use that tongue.... yeaaaaah.
I have yet to try their sashimi but that's my next visit! I'm sure it will be just as fresh as the others here say.
Till then!
I was definitely surprised with this place because I thought Korean owned Sushi places in K-Town would undoubtedly disappoint me. The sashimi was FRESH and the side dishes were tasty and very -different- from the norm.
I wish their TORO was a little more fatty though.. It was too chewy and didn't melt in my mouth as I expected. TORO should MELT IN YOUR MOUTH. IT SHOULD NOT NEED ANY WASABI CONCOCTION TO ENHANCE FLAVOR. ALL IT NEEDS IS A WILLING MOUTH TO MAKE LOVE WITH.
Anyways, it's a great place.. it was very clean inside and the wait staff was incredibly tentative.
The $140 Sashimi platter comes with -SO- much food. It will definitely feed 4 HUNGRY people.
I dined at A -Won twice after reading LA Weekly reviews.
Over all, this place is just OK for me.
The fish is pretty fresh, but there is one thing that I don't like which is immitation crabs on Chirashi.
It's not worth money for sure!
It's cheating!!
I don't understand why they want to mix fresh fish with imitation crabs.
WHY????????( I am screaming right now!)
Make it short, pros and cons
Pros:
-You enjoy decent fresh sushi and sashimi
Cons:
-Over priced
-Parking sucks
-Be careful they charge you more than what you order
They charged $40 more than I ate, so I had to go back and asked money back.
-Slow service
-Imitation crabs bother me
I love A-Won because where else can I get a bowl with six different varieties of roe, multiple types of seaweed a dollop of uni in it?? The fish roe bowl that's where. It's like a medley of my favorite offbeat ocean ingredients.
Minus one star because I can't vouch for anything else on the menu.
The mixed bowl of sashimi was great but I thought that I had ordered the giant bowl. My mistake. We decided to get a CA roll thinking that the sashimi bowl wasn't enough but with the soup and sides the bowl would have been perfect for 2 people.
Everything was very "authentic" so I was surprised to see the imitation crap. Good thing for them that I like crab flavored fish. There were a couple of things that were really amazing and a few staples. Overall I really enjoyed the food. I look forward to going back to try the rest of the menu.
I should also give them a thumbs up on the mouthwash dispenser in the bathroom and the mints
In a review for another K-town restaurant, one Yelper mentioned that the best people to ask about outstanding restaurants are men, preferably businessmen, because they eat out all the time. Judging from the crush of businessmen sitting at the sushi bar at A-Won, I realized I'd been introduced to a Korean-style Japanese restaurant of the highest order, that is high-quality sushi or sashimi specials at $10 and under. Matsuhisa it isn't, but I could happily eat at A-Won every week and not go broke.
The specialty is the rice with vegetables topped with sashimi (hwedupbab) and mixed with sesame oil and vinegar hot pepper paste. It's one of my favorite dishes anywhere, but here it's served in a huge footed red lacquer bowl with generous portions of sashimi. Elsewhere, you're lucky if you get enough sashimi for 4-5 bites; here, you' can't help but get a mouthful of fish down to the last bite -- but more than likely you won't be able to finish at all. It's served with miso soup (refilled upon request) and simple side dishes like edamame beans (pleasantly sweet), pickled radish, lightly sauteed zucchini and a mild kimchi.
A friend got the salmon bento box, and again we marveled at the generous portions: two good-sized pieces of grilled salmon plus salad, California rolls, tempura.
I had a front-row view of the sushi bar and enjoyed watching the chefs assemble 10 bowls of hwedupbap at a time, two by two by two by two. In another chef's hands, a fish carcass was quickly reduced to abstract bone and sliced into artful piles. The servers worked as a team refilling the miso soup or water for any table they passed by. They also speak English fluently, another plus.
A-Won's not a romantic place, and some people might not care for the high-walled booths, but I know I'll go there often for the food and the entertainment value.
The BEST sushi place in LA. No, in the world!
So I have to come clean. This is my parents' restaurant... ;P But that doesn't make me too biased, does it? Tehehe. Ok, maybe it does but even Jonathan Gold says this is one of the top 99 restaurants in LA. :) (99 Essential Restaurants: The Metropolitan Palate, June 20, 2007)
http://www.laweekly.co...
A-Won has been my steady supplier of sushi/sashimi-related food for the past eight or so years. Needless to say, I've tried EVERYTHING on the menu. They're best known for the Hwe-Dup-Bap (sashimi salad with rice) and Al-Bap (fish eggs with rice) but the sushi & sashimi are also very very fresh. This is the standard that I compare all my other sushi experiences to and trust me, I hardly find places that will surpass the freshness of the fish here. I also love the Korean food here like the Meh-Oon-Tang (spicy fish soup) and the Eun-Dae-Gu-Jorim (spicy cod casserole) and the many ban-chan (side dishes!)!!! Mmmmm mmmm mmmm! And as is typical of Korean places, the ban-chan, rice, and miso soup are all refillable at no extra cost. Unlike Japanese-style sushi joints where they charge you for EVERY little thing.
This place has completely spoiled me. I now live in Seattle and I have not been able to find a Korean/sushi place of this caliber or anywhere close to it!
I miss my mommy and daddy!!!
After unsuccessfully trying to find a consensus about where to eat before our Brand Upon the Brain screening at the Egyptian , I remembered that I had read a review in the LA Weekly about A-Won, a Korean sushi joint. We decided that that sounded interesting enough and after learning about the infamous hwe dup bap rice bowl.
We consulted the menu and tried to decipher the English translations for our dish. Being that none of us were Korean, we didnt want to butcher the pronunciation of hwe dup bap in asking the waitress for clarification so we blindly stared at her when she came to take our order. We eventually ended up asking and learned that what we were looking for was actually the "Assortment of Raw Fish and Vegetables over rice" for $14.95. But before they brought out the star attraction, we each received a bowl of rice and another of miso soup to hold us over. I was looking forward to the panchan side dishes, but was disappointed when I saw the waitress come over with a measly three dishes to accompany our dinner. They were average at best and just your standard kimchee, seaweed, and pickled vegetable.
We hadn't even gotten a chance to finish slurping up our miso soups [which didn't have tofu in them btw] when we were accosted by the sight of our entrees coming out of the kitchen. Hwe dup bap is a massive bowl of lettuce and sashimi poke reminiscent of its meat-heavy counterpart, bi bim bap. I warned my tablemates about the portion sizes, but they choose to not heed my advice and to instead order three bowls of the fish-laden extravanganza.
Our initial reaction was to gape, awe, and marvel at the sheer size of the bowls (12" in diameter). We then pondered the magnitude of our decisions. Would we be able to finish all that food? At least we would have to finish all of the sashimi. But try as we might, we could not delay the inevitable task that lay ahead of us, so we dove in.
After probing we our chopsticks, we learned that the bowl was much wider in girth than it was in depth and deduced that it was mostly lettuce. We regretted mixing in our rice because it got overwhelmed by the lettuce and ended up having to order a second bowl to even out the ratio.
Actually, I can't take credit for the hwe dup bap because I was more in the mood for meat and ordered Tonkasu ($12.95). It was a little on the greasy side, though I did enjoy the slightly tart, Korean-style tonkasu sauce. I spent the rest of night regretting my decision, which ended up giving me some serious heartburn.
In the end, my tablemates probably ate a combined effort of 2.5 bowls, though they remarked that they could have eaten more, but they had just gotten bored with the dish. No one felt adventurous enough that night, but we heard that A-Won also makes a mean al bap, which is a similar everything-but-the-kitchen-sink rice bowl, but with various types of eggs and roe instead.
..easy to find
..parking on the spot (no valet needed!!!)
..fast service (and might i add friendly? the server didn't bat a lash when my broken Korean busted out)
..HUUUUUUGE portions (i'm talking washyourface and takeabath bowl)
..SPICY (and not just "spicy for dem white folk spicy")
..creative banchan u don't find just anywhere (fried fish skin, a fish/egg omelet with bean curd to name a few)
...they CARDED me (ok, so i wasn't drinking the soju and this isn't a plus really, but i love when they card me!)
we ordered the hwedupbap. what they are known for and what LAWeekly's Jonathan Gold raves about. and the spicy fish soup.
the fish soup was really
f-ing
hot
really
really really
and between 2.5 people (the 3rd person showed a bit late and only had a tiny bit to eat)
we finished EVERYTHING.
except the soju bottle
ahem........
anyways, now i know where to find some kick ass hwedupbap in ktown!! awesome.......
Love this place.
Their sashimi is really fresh. Very reasonably priced...gotta love korean japanese restaurants. :)
Their portions are SO big.
The hot sauce you dip your sashimi in...oh man...sooo good.
The only thing I didn't appreciate was the service. My waitress seemed lost and confused...very slow.
I am going to f*cking fat as hell if I keep eating these multi-course dinners, but they are sooo good... Anyways, my bf took me here on Valentine's Day and we had the special set meal (70 per person).
We started with abalone porridge. It was a really small portion, served in a tea cup, but it was delicious. Small chunks of abalone in the thick rice porridge, both rich but not too filling definitely warmed me up considering how cold it was outside. They also brought out the ban chan at this time, and I loved the salmon skin salad and the little sea periwinkles? snails? The salmon skin salad would have been even better if the skin was still crunchy, but it was still good, nice and salty, great with beer. There was also seaweed and other sushi toppings, carrots, onions, seaweed salad, etc to roll your fish in. They also offered fresh wasabi, wasabi grated from the root which is always a plus in my book. The snails were work intensive for such a small bite, but also really good. Then came the first round of sashimi with geoduck, abalone and halibut. The halibut was really fresh and the texture was supple with not gristle. The geoduck was soo good, some of the freshest I have had, both crunchy and sweet. The abalone was also pretty good, crunchy with a taste that reminded me of the geoduck but a little less sweet. There was a dish of boiled baby octopi that were pickled in vinegar. The octopi were extremely tender with a sweet and sour taste that was great to cleanse the palate between dishes.
From here on out I do not remember the order of the dishes but will relay the ones that I remember first. There was a salad with raw squid, raw squid wasn't slimy, though it looked it, had a nice crunch and worked really well with the spicy dressing in the salad. Another salad of seaweed and sea squirts? the dressing definitely had tabasco in it, but it was sour, spicy and salty, with the crunchiness of the seaweed and the saltiness of the sea squirt, it just worked even though it looked kind of gross. There was some mushrooms covered in a green dressing, it was like thousand island with mushrooms, a downer for me amidst all the seafood. The second course of sashimi included toro, yellow tail and uni. The toro was a light pink and extremely well-marbled as was the yellow tail which was my favorite. The uni was mild and creamy and one of the best uni experiences I have had. The monkfish liver was served atop a citrusy salad, I didn't like it, but I am not a big fan of liver in general, but my bf enjoyed it. There was a fried dish that reminded me of hae mul pajun, seafood pancake, but in circular form. Pretty good, salty and oily, good with beer. There was tempura squid, the batter was pretty good, but I think the oil was old because it smelled densely of other things that have been fried prior to the squid. The last course of sashimi had lobster, tuna, red snapper and salmon. The salmon was cut from the belly, it was extremely fatty and luxurious. The red snapper had a bit of gristle but was still pretty good. The tuna was a dark red and had a good clean flavor. The highlight of this plate was the lobster. It was crunchy and almost popped in your mouth. I wasn't expecting the texture to be so different than cooked lobster. We also had grilled salmon head and atka mackerel. I was so full at this point that I asked if they could pack it in a box, when I got home squeezed some lemon and ate it with some rice. Awesomely grilled with no frills just some salt, still moist on the inside with crunchy bits of skin and cartilage. Lastly, they brought out a small bowl of al bap, rice with fish eggs and bits of veggies and mae eun tang? spicy fish stew. It was a great way to end the meal, al bap is my favorite since I like crunchy salty eggs and warm rice. The soup was spicy but not overwhelmingly so, the fish was again really fresh, there was also bits of lobster in the soup. The soup settled my stomach from all the food.
This was definitely an experience, I will definitely come back and scale back trying either the hwe dup bap or al chigae.
Their al bap was good. Their deluxe sashimi platter was alright. Eun dae gu jorim (spicy cod and daikon) was awesome.
Service was good.
My client brought me here for lunch one day and told me to get the Sashimi Salad (see photo). I guess this is what their mainly know for. The sashimi was really fresh and tasty. Add in the hot sauce and you're in ecstasy.
Oh yeah, I was done with my miso soup and then here comes the waitress with a pitcher of miso soup! Refills?! That's craziness!
I'll be back for the omakase.
your average korean sushi spot.
meaning it's not good.
the al tang was not great. The eggs seem old and small. The hweh dup bap was big ($15) and ok.
the big bowl of sashimi salad is OK (sometimes it's good, sometimes not so great).
their tempura is yummy.
the LA shortribs SUCK. very tough.
service is friendly. eventhough they don't speak much english, they try and they're always courteous.
I went to A-Won hoping to encounter Hae Dap Bap that change my life -- at the least. I found Hae Dap Bap that didn't quite succeed but it didn't quite fail. Their HDB ($14.95) was served in a bowl that looked like it was a mixing bowl large enough for the mixing of a multi-tiered wedding cake. This sucker was big. An hour later I saw most of the bottom of the bowl (one which reminded me of the Hollywood Bowl) and was ready to fall over. Thankfully I did not. Was the HDB very good? Yes! Was it the best in LA? I'd hope not. There must be better out there but this option certainly isn't bad and value is a plus when you can feed an Army with it -- or at least a Korean soccer team.
I liked the atmosphere and the service as well. I'd be curious to let my palette peruse the rest of the menu which did look pretty interesting.
_C$
My buddy and I went to A-Won tonight on the recommendation of a neighbor who read aloud Jonathan Gold's review to us. She was insistent we try the sushi salad and report back our findings. We did try it and it was enormous and superfresh! We also tried traditional sushi and sashimi which were unremarkable, but good and also fresh. I think the secret is to go to A-Won with someone more experienced in the unusual dishes offered, of which we knew little. The tempura was delicious as far as tempura goes (what can I say, I like the stuff). Portions are generous, prices below average for some, average for others.
The servers were very nice, but seemed to have less of a grasp on how to describe the dishes when asked. Nevertheless, I will give this another try....it was overall very good for what we ordered, I want to try more exotic fare next time to see what all the buzz is about.
This place is mostly known for their giant bowl of sashimi salad mixed with their special sauce and rice. It's big but not impossible to finish by yourself. It also comes with soup and a couple of pickled vegetable dishes. YUM. They also offer sashimi platters (which are on the pricey side even for sushi - but very fresh). Well worth a visit!
korea town is the bermuda triangle of resturants. i swear, unless you're a local or happen to speak korean you're completely lost. anything is a risk. that dump on vermont and 7th could be the bbq joint from heaven or the inside track to food poisoning u.s.a.
as it is i have only a few places that i know well enough to recommend to friends and those places aren't exactly the hidden gems, so it was nice to get a referral from a trusted source and try something new last night. my trusted source being jonathan gold; i heard him on good food the day before and was convinced i needed to try the whe du bap.
i love the idea of kim chi with my sushi salad and of korean and japanese food mixed (my two favorite asian cuisines). yes, the bowls are exponentially bigger than what i need to feed myself but it's delicious and i found the fish fresh and there are a ton of weird things on the menu i'd be willing to try. i'm so going back. now, if i can only remember that place where they're specialty is bibimbab!
The sashimi salad with spicy sauce and rice was delicious. The portion was gigantic. Two of us couldn't even finish. We also tried the sashimi Bowl. The presentation was beautiful. Every piece was fresh and yummy. Great Korean Japanese restaurant!
Good, Korean-family style sushi place. It doesn't knock me off of my feet, but if I'm hungry, it gets the job done. Now, the real reason I'm writing this review is b/c of the Ahl Bap. That's egg rice, for you non-Korean-speaking-crazy-son-of-a-guns. Yep, that's right, egg rice. But egg meaning fish egg. Caviar, if you please. There are many kinds and many colors. Bigger, smaller, black, orange, green. Yo, I'm not kidding, that stuff is gooooood. It's also a very difficult dish to find, even in Korean food haven K-town. The only other place I know that has it is the restaurant at the Oxford Palace Hotel on...you guessed it! Oxford St.! Back to the Ahl Bap--I'm thinking this is a dish I'm just gonna have to dish out for from time to time (it's a little pricey, but totally worth it in my humble opinion). Yeah, A-Won, I'm hooked. You had me at multi-colored fish eggs. Oh, and props to the tactful waitress who refilled my miso soup when I was getting low. You gotta love that kind of attention.
If you are looking for fresh and tasty sushi and sashimi with a twist of Korean flair, this place is it. I've been going to this restaurant for the past decade and it's still one of the best LA sushi spots I've tried. Even though there are other famous sushi/sashimi establishments such as sushi-gen and the Redondo Beach's Han Kook Hwet Jib that I also frequent on regular basis, I prefer this place above them all.
My favorite is their Ne Jang Tang (spicy fish intestine soup). Its name is not too appealing, but if you have the palate for spicy fish soup, Ne Jang Tang's the best spicy fish soup you will ever have.
I read all your stellar reviews for this restaurant on my mobile and busted a U to A-Won instead of this hole-in-the-wall I usually go to for my hwedupbap fix. $30 for hwedupbap and albap (egg mixed rice?) my gosh, HEAVENLY. I ordered my food to go and was happy with the clean packaging and speedy service. Although they have a parking lot it can be a pain to find a spot during dinnertime so call ahead w/your order. Prepare to have FOOD COMA because the portions are huge!
i've been waiting FOREVER to eat the HDB at a-won. i was kinda sad that i had to hear about a-won from jonathan gold instead of through the ktown grapevine, but what can you do...
the HDB is very good - fresh greens and other veggies plus a generous serving of sashimi. put the rice in the huge bowl of veggies/sashimi. generously pour the red chili paste/vinegar-in-a-ketchup-bottle over it, mix, and eat!
like everyone else says...the bowl is huge, but i still managed to finish most of mine. if you want to try a variety of dishes, i'd recommend getting one HDB and another soup or appetizer, for two people.
perhaps the greatest thing about a-won is that there is a parking lot where you can park your own car instead of paying someone $2 to park in a spot that you could have well parked on your own. seriously, sometimes my social life revolves around the parking situation.
then, go next door and use all the money you saved on affordable sashimi on overpriced boba/shaved ice/coffee. that's the korean way...sometimes, your dinner costs as much as your coffee.
I was a little weary when we pulled into a sketchy strip mall parking lot but was pleasantly surprised to see how nice and clean the place was inside. The food was good. We had the salmon bento lunch special. The fish and sashimi was fresh, and you get a lot of food for the price. I had to knock off one star because I saw a roach crawl around the table. When we mentioned it to the waitress, she didn't flinch. Made me wonder...
i hate to jump the bandwagon but this place has really good albap (fish eggs-- caviar? w/rice) and hwedubbap (sashimi w/rice). its not all hype! their lunch price is phenomenal.. but ive come here for dinner as well and realized its only like a $1 or so difference. we usually split one hwedubbap between 2 people cuz the bowls are the size of basketballs, and also order some sorta roll on the side.
Happy Hour 3:00- 6:00 PM
Neighborhood: Hollywood
Lunch Special
Neighborhood: Mid-City West
Neighborhood: Koreatown
Category: Restaurants
Neighborhood: Koreatown
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: Koreatown
Category: Japanese
Los Angeles, CA
Category: Bakeries
Neighborhood: Pico Union
Category: Restaurants
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