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Categories: Asian Fusion, Lounges [Edit]
Neighborhood: Koreatown
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good if you're looking for an izakaya-like soju lounge.
fast music isn't too loud, coffee table like bench seating with low lighting
yakitori menu with classic items such as cheese corn, odeng on a little hot stove, fried chicken wings (plenty of food)
chamisul fresh to top it off.
area is happening, smoking inside, and some inebriated people.
Even with all the smokers in here, I really liked this place. Came here for a big party so we took up a few tables. It's the perfect place for groups. With all the noise level and the crowd, I wouldn't recommend this place for a date place on the weekend. All the food was delicious, esp. the crispy rice cake. I have no idea what it's called, but I do remember being happy that our table accidentally ordered it twice.
They have a new happy hour going on Friday - Sunday now. 50% off all food and drinks, 5 - 8pm. In additional to their $20 Happy Hour special on Mon - Thurs. Can't wait to go back and take advantage of these deals.
We were here on a Halloween night for our friend Daniel's birthday. We were immediately seated out in the patio. It took some time for the servers to bring our orders, waters, and plates & napkins. What a sheer disappointment.
However, the only very reason why this place gets a 2 stars instead of 1 star is because of our server, Randy. Not to mention that he spilled some water all over me, too. Randy tried his very best to please us and hook us up however he could.
Unfortunately, this night was ok, although it could have been better.
PROS - Price is right, food is good, and people who work here aren't the typical stuck up Koreans.
CONS- Slow ass service, valet parking only.
I L-0-V-E Gaam! 4.5 stars
I was very very pleased by the ambience. I've came here couple times and always try to come here whenever i'm in la. I've been coming here since it opened.
When you walk upstairs to the lounge, it is dark and the place presents a soothing cool atmosphere. Right when you walk in there is a budda looking watering fountain. All the furniture is black and wood. The tables and seats are low, sometimes too low to the point where it may be uncomfortable, but I'm short so it's cool with me. They have a huge screen projector screen and displays music videos. Their song selections are nice.
What I most love about this place is the people. This place is a typical korean drinking hang out; however, the people are so chill. I would definitely say that everyone that goes are mid 20s and up. There are no youngin (younger age girls) and girls that dress slutty. Everybody there dress trendy yet causal. People come here to just hang out with their friends and to have a good time drinking, eating, etc..
There are no dance floors or karaoke.
The food is excellent here! I love getting the Cheese Katsu, Cheese dabokgi, and the japanese pizza. Their kimchi w/ tofu and their sampler plate is good.
The drinks are amazing as well. I love soju and of course the different flavors. The love how the drinks come in a cool bottle with ice in the middle to chill it.
The service is decent, especially with the korean table button.
The price is sorta up there, but .. what korean place doesn't have those high prices?
Overall, this place is amazing. You honestly feel like you're in a different world, country, etc. You just don't feel like you're in california.
Awesome place to hang out! I love GAAM! I come here everytime I visit LA. It's a nice place to meet friends and play catch up. Beware of the Soju! Seriously, It's a great place to eat, drink and socialize. This is a place to go to pre party before a crazy night or end a crazy night here with yummy korean food.
I highly recommend the Ttong Dak. It's deep fried chicken without the batter. I love the crispy skin! OH and the chicken is super juicy haha!
Once again beware of the soju.... it will creep up on you:)
College reunion and where do we go but Gaam. I knew we were at the right spot when we saw the two big black bouncy bouncers. They checked all the girls' ID's but neither of the boys (I guess because they had facial hair??) Up the stairs and upon seeing the Buddha's Head overflowing with water, I thought...YES, we've hit the TAO of Koreatown. Dark lights, wood paneling, low seating, sleek furniture, and Asian people everywhere. I really liked the atmosphere because it didn't seem too pretentious...more like understated chic?
The outdoor area was nice because the music wasn't pounding and we could hold a decent conversation. The waiter was actually completely bilingual, and the music was a lot of American club music. Koreatown is trying to open up now. Food was expensive. We paid 20.00 for a yakitori platter and bought some other ramen that didn't fill us up. But we knew it's not a place for dinner. But boy, the soju bombs did the trick in making me giddy.
People are dressed up here-- like they're going to a club. Guys in suits and girls in heels. And I waltz in there in my shorts and tank top like a little kid. It was funny watching a guy in a suit completely fall on his butt. And the girl talk in the bathroom (what parts I could understand) was fabulously bitchy. All of the club drama without all of the sweaty dancing.
Wow, I think I'm in love with Stella C.'s review, she just strrrraight read my mind.
Anyho, the bestie and I took an "out of town" friend to Gaam tonight to grab some drinks after dinner. Amazingly, I was quite pleased. Why? It was a Monday night and it was dead BUT I looved it. I finally figure out that if you minus the smokers, rude drunks and loud underage kids, you have a purty spacious- chic- somewhat cozy lounge. And did I mention I love the high ceiling? =)
Service was swell and WOW, the restrooms were CLEAN this time around, Gasp (probably due to the fact that it was dead =).. Now I know to ONLY come here on WEEKNIGHTS.
An extra star for that.
Not a big fan of this place and I'm not quite sure why. Even though I have been here numerous times,… Read more »
I can't say this is an actual bar; there's no actual bar that you can stand at and order drinks. You sit down with your group of friends at a table and get drunk off overpriced soju. That has its own joys, I guess.
I feel like this would be my favorite hangout if I was in the Crazy 88s. But, unfortunately, I left my suit, mask, and katana at home. Woops!
Well looky at this. It looks like I came on a bad day because all we got for free were a small basket of nachos. I'd so much rather have the egg dish! And why in the world did they think that it would be okay to make people walk up/down a flight of stairs? As we were leaving, I was so scared to eat sh!t. I was picturing a scene straight out of a bowling alley. I'd fall and knock everyone down below me. STRIIIKE!
This place is surprisingly trendy and chic. We got a table outside so I can't really go into detail on how the inside was, but it looked really cute. I really wished we sat inside because all the tables outside were too close for comfort. We came here because we heard they have the best apple soju. I am currently on a soju kick so I insisted we come here.
We ordered the large peach and yogurt soju. It's probably not as strong as The Past Memories but you could still taste the soju. My friend bought a $50 bottle of soju and it tasted like straight rubbing alcohol. The flavored soju went down nice and smooth. We only came here to do some pre-partying before we headed out to VR, but I'd highly recommend staying the night here if you're with a big party. A lot of people come here, there was a mean ol wait when I went to and from the bathroom.
The bathrooms were nasty. They frequently ran out of toilet paper and paper towels, and the trash cans were overflowing with nasty used toilet paper. The stalls were so small, I feel bad for the ladies with long legs. My friend said she had to sit at an angle because the door wouldn't close haha.
Don't forget to validate your valet ticket on the way out!
Gaam, Gaam, Gaam.
I don't know about this place, either I love it a lot or hate it a lot. Actually, I know now. I like Gaam a lot on empty nights and absolutely hate it on busy nights. Rude drunk (stranger) patrons sitting at MY table chatting with the next table because their chairs are full and mine happens to be open because I had to go to the bathroom. Yeah, get out of my seat, asshole and don't give me attitude about it! And waiters who you're trying to catch (ringing the bell, waving down, etc.) make eye contact with you and zips on by. Hell no! Anju is extremely salty, I can't even imagine the amount of MSG is in the food (or is this their tactic to get us to drink more?). Drink selection is so-so, I just stick to my lovely soju.
I like going to Gaam with people that don't know how to hold a conversation because at one point all of us are engulfed at the projection screen watching some flashy/provocative music video, haha, yeah that's it.
I upped it two stars. Why?
Well, who knew that all these bars in Ktown were doing recession-special-style thingamabobs?
I went over to Ktown for an early dinner the other day, and my friend suggested we go to Gaam.
"Isn't it a little too early to be drinking?" I asked. My watch said 6pm.
"No, they have food, too."
Skeptical, but too hungry to protest, I meekly tagged along. Gaam looks different when the sun's still out. Definitely looks more like a izakaya than a bar. There really were a few groups scattered here and there, grabbing food!
But here's the most awesome blossomest thing of all! For $19.99, you get
1. A plate of chadol (brisket) - was actually yummy!
2. A plate of gamja-jun (potato pancake)
3. Two hand rolls
4. A few pieces of fried squid or octopus or something
5. Odeng tang (fish cake soup)
6. Bottle of sake.
Are you kidding me? TWENTY DOLLARS?!
'Twas definitely enough for two, and to throw in a bottle of alcohol on top of that? Awesomeness!
Five stars all the way!
"Let's go to Gaam."
"Ehhh..."
"C'mon..."
"Ehh..."
Despite my reservations, a bunch of us ended up at…
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Soju once ran through my veins. And Gaam is one of my favorite places to relive the good ole days of Seoul. Though the price of soju in LA will never reflect its true, $1 price, Gaam provides a sociable and open environment to get back to your Korean drinking roots. For eats, their Soon Dae Bokkum is out of this world. I have no way to define it other than say that it is the Korean version of a pork sausage, stir-fried with vegetables, glass noodles, and some spicy twang. It's definitely one of the best things to eat while drinking soju.
GET: Soon Dae Bokkum, Soju
Okay, went here again and had all the soju that I wanted. But this time, I tried the strawberry soju and it was a delight. It was like running through a strawberry field naked. But without the weeds and leaves whipping against your private areas.
I must praise the corn cheese again. It is like a gooey teddy bear inside your mouth. You will love it. Even if your initial reaction is "WTF," you will love it. And then you will Yelp about how you did say WTF and that transformed into IHEARTCC. CC meaning corn cheese.
And the fried chicken is DELICIOUS. Crunch crunch.
I love my people, but I hate Koreatown. Even for someone who enjoys alcohol and loves being around… Read more »
I had my birthday here and it was great. We might have been the only non-Koreans there. Food is pretty good, the soju is good, and the set up is really nice, not what you expect when you first get there. It has a very trendy LA lounge look. The first time we went we didn't have a good experience, they kept forgetting to bring parts of our order.
Go during the week and get the special, it's well worth it.
Street parking at night is nearly impossible. They have valet service for a reasonable price.
They even let you smoke inside.
When you think about korean booze joints, you think DIVEY with sticky tables. However, this place was VERY upscale and clean! You walk up the stairs and you see a huge Buddha head, and the place has this Asian and modern feel with lounge music and bamboo everywhere. The skewers were quite good (i tried the chicken, steak, sausage, ddukbokki, and pork). The booze however is quite overpriced. freakin 15 bucks for a small bottle of flavored soju... and that small bottle had a HUGE hole in the middle filled with ice, so you really got HALF of the SMALL bottle.
I mean, I would come here again for the food and ambiance, but long hours of drinking wouldn't happen here... unless I was BALLIN'. :T
Gaam is a Japanese sake bar with fusion type food (Japanese+Korean appetizers). They also have korean alcohol though--plain soju, flavored soju, and korean beer.
It is upstairs of Bohemian, so yes, you do have to take a flight of stairs to get in. I never understood why any bar would want to make people take stairs to get in and out... Don't they understand that drunk people cannot function the same as sober people?
After sitting down, they give you a free plate of this egg dish with the takoyaki sauce. Pretty good considering it's free! I've ordered their chicken cutlet which was good and some skewers. All the skewers I tried were delicious--the mushroom especially.
The prices are a little overpriced.. but what Korean/Japanese bar isn't in LA? I would definitely recommend this place to people just because of the decor.
Well I had a birthday party yesterday here.
This place looks kind of modern-japanese.
I chose this place because it cleaner than the other korean bars.
I chose this place for my party because I thought it was loungy and hip
First of all,
the food here is not good compared to the other korean bars like
Mazinga or DGM. The portions are small also. So that's a minus one star.
Second,
I like their different variety of cocktail sojus,
but its too pricey despite its size.(It's freaking small)
So that's another minus one.
BUT i would like to drink here again because of it's armosphere:)
Overall a pleasant place to eat, hip interior design and lots of windows (I like that). Oh and I love the Happy Hour menu :) Enough for 2 people to come here after work for some food and drinks, and its pretty cheap. I love the yakitori and the spicy tuna hand roll (it's spicy yay!) The food weren't ALL that great, but overall I still think it deserve a 5 star!
I still don't like the uncomfortable seating here, but I wanted to try their $20 happy hour special, which runs Mon - Thurs until 8:30 p.m. There was sure a lot of food. The chicken was a bit on the dry side, however, and the o-deng (fishcake soup) was pretty spicy - peppery spicy. I like that they leave the soup on a flame so it doesn't get cold. I really liked the squid tempera, which were only good while they were hot. Korean flour pancake was okay, and the pork bbq was good. Didn't try the tuna rolls, but we got two of them. Also got a bottle of soju. It was more than enough food for two ppl and could be enough for three who want to munch. Great value. Service was also good - one of the guys actually spoke English. Later, some of our friends came so they were nice enough to move our table to a larger one. We ordered the sweet potato fries, which I didn't like very much. They were super, super thin and dusted with cinnamon powder - usually they come with sugar. Bleh. Also got the bud-deh-jiggae, which I didn't try, but I didn't hear any complaints. The flavored soju was a bit strong. I'd recommend coming here for Happy Hour rather than for their regular food.
I remembered when this location used to be a pool hall called Renaissance. It's a really nice… Read more »
My friends and I went to Gaam on a Thursday night for my friend's going away party. There were about 10 of us and we got seated immediately, NO WAIT! Pretty awesome, right?
Well, it was a very drunken night, I think we ordered like 10 bottles of soju, 6 bottles of Hite, and 5 yogurt sojus. (Yea, we were wasted)
The soju bottles were $12 each, which is pretty standard for a place like that, yet still pretty absurd since theyre like 5 bucks at the super market.
The yogurt sojus!!! They were the reason why the bill was so huge. We ordered 5 and each one was like $19!! 19 bucks for watered down slushy soju with 1 part soju and 5 part yogurt! I mean come on, yogurt is not that expensive!!
Yea, my advice, if you want to get trashed, do it right. Order the cheap strong stuff, not the weak expensive crap.
Oh, and we ordered cheese duk-bok-ki...it was alright. I'm Korean myself so seeing that was pretty alarming since I love my duk-bok-ki...
I came here recently with some friends to partake in the Happy Hour Special that they have going on, with the fried chicken, sake, oden, etc. While I left completely full, with a slight buzz going, I don't think my big guy friends were completely satisfied.
I fully understand that with a special like that, and priced so well, you may or may not leave completely satisfied. But when the first item arrived (the 3 lonely strips of fried squid), I felt like they should've given us a knife so that we could've split and savored the fried squid. The second item, the spicy tuna hand roll, only came in two's...how on earth were we supposed to share it? So my gentleman of a friend let me have it. We also ordered beer to go along with our meal.
3/4 of the way through, my friends stopped the waitress to ask if we could order another special and she said no. You can only order 1 special per table, she said. I'm guessing if you're only allowed to order more than one if you have a certain number of people at your table.
With the beers, everything added up to be around 60 bucks (20 bucks each), so really, you're not really getting much of a deal here, especially if you are a hungry man like my friends are. I think it would make a great date spot: the ambiance and decorations dictate so and the portions would be perfect for date night. But we shouldve just driven around and went to an all you can eat Korean BBQ spot instead.
Oh snap... I'm going to elevate the rating for this place from 2 stars to 4 stars. Why? Apparently, they have a happy hour special (til 8 I believe?... which makes it easy for us corporate drones to make it out there) for 20 bucks which is one hell of a bargain. For that Jackson, you get...
- A bottle of soju or house sake
- A whole roasted chicken (tong-dak)
- An odeng hotpot
- Potato pancake (gamja juhn)
- Two spicy tuna handrolls
- A sizzling Korean brisket (cha-dol) platter
- Some deep fried octopus legs
A bottle of soju and a chicken would cost well over 20 bucks. So for the hungry, this is one hell of a bargain. I'm guessing that the ownership is banking on generating extra $$$ from people ordering more alcohol. Whatever their plan may be, this deal is awesome. A recession special, if you will =)
Gaam... persimmon in Korean. I never liked persimmon very much and Gaam isn't great either.
Chapman…
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Dont want a disgusting hangover? Hate the taste of soju? But stuck in ktown? Drink Nigori at Gaam!
They have their range of beer/alcohol munchies... which isnt very spectacular.... but who cares, you're going here to drink and get tanked so you can sing till u lose your voice at the karaoke place next door....
I would however suggest the skewer combo and fly fish to munch on as you get inebriated....
"is there a dress code here?" my friend asked... "No" I replied... "That guy is wearing a jersey" noted my friend. Laff.
The decor suggests it should be a bit more upscale than it is. They did a great job in building a decent Asian Fusion (korean heavy) menu and a good selection of fruity sojus.... Too bad the crowd is always so ghetto... The table next to us bounced without paying.
Great space. Dirty place. Won't be eating here again because the food was not very good. And judging from the sticky floors, I'm guessing their kitchen isn't the cleanest either. (but judging from the sticky floors, I'm sure a ton of people had a great time here, too. SICK)
The service was horrible. I guess that's what I get for going on a Friday night. It took 20 minutes to seat us even though there were plenty of open tables everywhere. Actually, it took 20 minutes for anyone to GREET us. And then they forgot half of our food order so we had to wait 45 mins (and endure 3 birthday songs k-style) for food plus another 40 mins (and 2 more birthday songs) for the rest of our order.
The worst thing about this place is the seating. My back is still aching. The tables are short so my legs barely fit under them and the stools were just uncomfortable.
I'm still baffled by all the good reviews though. Maybe my review would have been better if I had taken a couple soju shots. At least the soju bottle was clean.
OMG the best combo set ever!
$19.99 gets you this crazy combo set with the largest most yummiest Tongdak+refreshing Ohdeng (fishcake) soup atop jellyflame+bbq+2 handrolls+pancake+1sake or 1 soju! MADNESS!
Me + friend=very happy!
Watching the lakers lose ...not so good.
So the seating is a bit uncomfy...seats should never level the table.
This causes back pain and bad posture.
The current light fixtures need to be raised, removed or something, it's in the view of the only screen in the house. argh
I believe this place used to be Renaissance...a pool hall way back in the days.
First time since then to come by this place thanks to a coworker propping this place for good food.
Cool place to hang out, have some drinks, and check out the korean bar scene... It was packed on a Friday night and looking around, the crowd consisted of mainly 20-30 year olds.
Lovelovelove the green tea every time. Don't know why, but it feels so detoxifying as you're eating so-so food and drinks. Yep, the food is pretty mediocre but the menu selection is pretty good. Tongdak is okay and I'm always a sucker for the corn cheese altho I'm disappointed every time. Anyways, I drink loads of the green tea and it's inspired me to brew it at home..
So, if you're into the ktown scene, this is currently the place to hang out (i think!) It's very spacious so you'll be seated in no time ~ it's worth checking out :)
Cool place! Why have I never been to Chapman Plaza before? This place is different from other K-Town drinking bars. It's on the 2nd floor and is huge with plenty of seating. Architecturally it's so nice - high ceiling and huge windows.
You can smoke inside, the food is clean and nicely presented, and service is quick. There are cute guys, too....or maybe that's just because I wasn't wearing my glasses.
Total came to about $21/person for 4 bottles of sake and about 4 dishes. A bit pricey, but worth it. Love the musis videos on the big screen, too. None of the k-pop stuff!
The stairs are in crappy condition - girls w/ 4 inch heels, watch out. Oh and I've never seen so many guys puking outside in the parking lot(s).
If you know Bohemian, you probably didnt know there was a whole lot more going on upstairs.
An incredibly renovated wood floor manhattan attic style dining experience---ktown style.
Never expected something like this to be in LA. Loved every moment of it. This place is only good for crowds, so dont come one; come all. Hope this place stays around long enough for another review. Chapman plaza is full of secrets. Know some Koreans and you will know alot.
i never even knew places like this existed. then again, it's only my second time in ktown so..go figure.
went with a bunch of friends here for some soju and beer. i never actually saw the menu or prices, so i have no idea how the pricing is...but it was a really nice place! it's pretty inside and i like the set up of the place. not too crazy atmosphere, but not dead. definitely not dead. just right. friends weren't hungry so didn't order food other then fries..in a place like this, i would not think to order fries, but i'm glad the girl in our group did order it because it was BOmb! huge basket of fries, but it tasted like it was dipped in tempura batter or something..definitely not your average french fries though.
also, hanging out with pros (korean friends) lol, i learned a good tip..ask for lemons! squeeze a little bit of lemon in your soju, and it completely kills the taste. i love it. good for weenies like me that make those ugly, disgusted faces after i take a shot.
oh and valet downstairs was only $5. over all, a cool place to chill. word of advice though...always remember that soju is a freaken creeper! ahh. yes, i got owned by soju that night. one minute, i'm fine, the next...head out the window going down the freeway ..attractive.
Lots of Yelpers like this spot, and I do too--but for different reasons than most.
First off, I love that the entrance is down a sort of unfinished back hallway, off a tucked-away parking lot (like lots of spots in K-town). I always feel like I'm in that long-ass "entering the club" shot from Goodfellas. To me that's cool.
Next--I've never gone for the $20 combo. I'm just a sucker for some of the stuff that's not on the special, and it's not *that* much more expensive to get my favorite stuff a la carte.
Of course, I dig the architecture and the "feel" of the place like most of the other reviewers, and I agree that the seating is definitely uncomfortable if you're there for anything more than, say, half an hour. Parking is a mixed bag... if you're there during prime-time, bring along some patience. The place does get pretty packed.
But for a fun time with friends, or for a nice, high-energy start to a date, this is a great option. Recommended.
This place is ridiculously audacious and flashy. For goodness sake there is a fricken huge head of a statue when you get in but I loved it. Soju isn't very strong but looking around you swear it was 151 with all the drunk Koreans running around. Food is alright but nothing stands out. The main attraction to the place is mostly the drinking and socializing atmosphere. It would be to your benefit if you brought someone who spoke Korean because there could be a slight language barrier when ordering. Myself, I just ended up pointing to stuff. Once all that is sorted out sit back enjoy the great people watching and semi cheap food and drinks. Come early because it can get crowded. Also be wary about leaving tipsy because the whole neighborhood seems to be scouted by cops all the time.
So was there last night for a friend's birthday...it was my first time there and I would have to say...it was cool...
We had a huge party so we sat outside on the patio and based on other reviews...the waiters can be good and bad...the guy we had was above average service but this other girl that helped him was a lil clueless...she would bring a bottle of hite but no glasses to drink with...
Food was very good i though and drinks were basically soju and hite...if you go with girls..they seem to love the fruity soju's like yogurt, lime/lemon, etc...the guys prefer the soju with no flavor..i guess u can say the hard stuff...
but to sum it up ....good food..very nice eye candy...98% korean in there..so i kinda stuck out...u can smoke EVERYWHERE...if you do smoke..but it doesn't smell...definitely a must go at least once...
Gaam fills a niche in my nightlife that I never knew existed. The atmosphere is just right for a relaxing night and a slow descent into sloppy happy drunkenness. Lighting is low, people are potentially good-looking (see previous: low lighting), and soju flows in every color of the rainbow. My favorite color of that rainbow, for the record, is yogurt.
My only complaint would be that the place doesn't really lend itself to mingling. It would be nice if there were a dance floor in a separate room. That said, I mainly like Gaam for the intimate setting, and if changes were to encroach on this, I wouldn't welcome them.
Food is pretty solid, and if you come at the right time can be fairly cheap. Portions are not big, but it bills itself as a yakitori spot, so it is what it is. Everything I've tried has been good, though nothing I'd go out of my way for. Soups come with mini-fire-stove-cube-things to keep them warm, which is a nice touch.
And yes, soju is tasty. My friends and I like to get flavored sojus as well as the straight and mix them together for a good balance of flavor and alcohol content. Also recommended are Korean drinking games. Gaam does not provide these, unfortunately, but the air is ripe for silly fobdom and laughter. Gunbae, y'all.
A few friends just moved into this area so was a good excuse for us to start exploring this place. Went out with a dozen friends the other night and stumbled onto this place thanks to Yelp.
Plenty of seating and very affordable. Great place to hang out with a big group of friends. Had the fried chicken and the fried beef. Don't know if it was because we were already a little typsy but the food was very good. Staff was very accommodating and great atmosphere overall!!!
Came here after a laker game and had a few drinks.
Last time I was here it was the infamous pool hall known as renaissance.
First impressions walking in... O wow the place has changed. Love the big open feel to the place.
We walked in and were immediately seated. The tables are a bit low and you sit on these stools but they weren't uncomfortable at all. Prices are the norm for a bottle of soju and hite. Awesome thing was that we just ordered a couple bottles of beer and the soju and we got some "service" (free food for the non ktowners). That made me feel good about the place.
I was only there for about an hour or so and pleasantly surprised by the crowd No ghetto ktown troublemakers and everyone seemed to mind their own business in having a good time.
Would definitely come back again.
Pardon me while I have a FOB relapse.
Those who know me will vouch that K-Town is probably not my first choice in nightlife. For food, yes. Nightlife, definitely not. How much fun can sitting around a cramped table and drinking Chamisool and Hite beer be? That is until, I was reigning Ms. Fob K-town...a sparkly tiara and sash and I was good to go! Those many sleepless nights and longing for places I can turn to when I'm feeling less than Korean, question my heritage or feel like running into every single Korean person I know...are gone. Gaam is the holy grail of Fobulousness.
You can most definitely take the girl out of K-Town but you can't take the K-Town out of the girl.
Service good. Parking good.
I like this place! It's a little bit more modern than most Korean cafe's and they serve more modernized food. As in, they don't just serve the normal appetizers with the soju. They have an outside patio too, which is cool for all the smoking groups. One weird thing is that they serve tea instead of water, so don't be surprise if you're drunk and amped of caffeine.
Cheers Gaam!
Is this place called Gaam cause it's short for Gaam Doogie or Gaam-som-me da?
I'm not Korean so excuse me for butchering the language. But besides the interesting name of the place, the food is really good, plenty of choices for alcohol and it seems to be the new hot spot in K-town.
The food portions are huge, so it's best to go with a large group. Right when you sit down they bring you a complimentary appetizer that changes everyday,. We got nachos which were good. It seemed like every table had ordered some sort of soup, so we gave in and ordered one as well. We got the spicy seafood soup which was really good. We also ordered the fried tonkatsu with cheese which came with 2 large pieces of tonkatsu sliced up with a generous portion of melted cheese on top. Again it was another good dish. The chicken and fries is a must order at any Korean drinking spot, this dish was good as well. The water they serve has green tea mixed in which is pretty good, I think we killed 2 pitchers of it among 3 people. I think the waiter got tired of refilling our water glasses so he left the second pitcher at our table.
I can't wait to go back and try the other stuff on the menu. I believe they have some happy hour special where you get a bunch of food for $20 total. It is more then enough food for 2 people. I think it's M - Th or Fri before 6:00 or 7:00 at night. When I go again I'll confirm the time and what specials they have and post it on my review.
The decor is very trendy and Asian. Reminds me of the Japanese restaurants in Hollywood like Konpachi or Megu in New York.
We left full, satisfied and drunk. What more could you ask for? I'm trying the skewers for sure next time!
*on a side note, Toe Bang and the all you can eat Korean BBQ restaurant located in the old Intercrew are both good spots in the plaza.
On my recent trips to Socal I was invited to join my friends at Gaam for a night of drinking.
Uh-oh.. K-Town and drinking next to a bunch of power trippy Korean dudes that can't hold their liquor = just /me.
But.. I havn't seen my friends in quite awhile so why not? Just this one time.
Parking? Just valet your car for $2 and save the hassle.
Imbibe- Soju and Hite.. and lots of it. Cafeful with the Soju.. creeper...
Crowd- lol..everyone looked the same.. all smoking their Marlboro lights and loud as they can be. But that's besides the point. Let's drink!
Decor- Very modern. What bugged me were the tables. Everytime I sat down my knees would hit and lift the table up. I guess the tables were made for short people and I am not even that tall. :(
No drama this night out. Thank god!
Yelpers Special on Fridays
Neighborhood: Downtown
Late Night Happy Hour
Neighborhood: Hollywood
Neighborhood: Koreatown
Category: Korean
Neighborhood: Koreatown
Category: Bars
Neighborhood: Koreatown
Category: Korean
Neighborhood: Koreatown
Category: Bars
Neighborhood: Koreatown
Category: Restaurants
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