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Irvine Tofu House - CLOSED
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
12 reviews for Irvine Tofu House
12 reviews in English
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Review from Anita L.
9/11/2006 2 photos
There are so many Korean restaurants in the area so we thought we ought to try a new one, hence Irvine Tofu House. I generally get the tofu pot so since this was their specialty that's what I got.
We ordered the bulgolgi with tofu pot combo so lil guy could eat the bulgolgi. Hubby ordered the bibimbap (beef). I took photos of the panchan but when the food arrived I forgot to take a photo and just dug in. Oh well (This is a problem of mine when visiting restaurants and I usually have to place the camera within reach otherwise I'll forget).
The panchan was all pretty good and naturally like all Korean restaurants, they replenish it when you are out. The kimchee was nice and spicy though the marinade was a little thicker than the usual kind. What I liked was they gave you a fish each as panchan.... I love the little fish, it's really good. There were others such as kelp, konnyaku, bean sprouts, daikon etc.
I ordered the clam tofu pot and after cracking the raw egg into it and mixing it up I dug in. Very very good. The bulgolgi was also much better than Kaju Soft Tofu across the street. So far so good. But when hubby's bibimbap arrived and after we stirred in the "goljujang" it was THE best bibimbap I'd ever had.... even better than Hawaii (and Korean food is really good there!)
Service is good, there was only one girl there but it was early so there wasn't a big crowd yet. Definitely worth visiting if you like Korean food! And oh, it was very very reasonable too!! -
Review from Grace L.
Emeryville, CA
11/30/2006
I hate to admit it, but this tofu house is better than my all-time favorite Cho Dang Tofu in Cerritos.Thank goodness this place is in Irvine, otherwise I'd be tempted to eat here instead of CDT, which would be awful because I'm loyal damn it! I'm so loyal that I'd keep eating at Cho Dang but deep down inside, I'd be thinking of you know who.
ps - minus one star because they don't have a soft serve machine and I'm partial to the watery goodness of soft serve. -
Review from Abbe C.
1/22/2007
Updated July 19,2007:
It's now known as Goong! Lots of panchan! Tofu is ok!
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Usually, I would make it at home since you can pretty much get the seasoning from 99 Ranch. They do have more pan-chan than most of the Korean tofu house. I took my usual tennis group to try it out. They all liked it.
Parking was a bitch at noon but we were still able to find some parking space behind the buildings. -
Review from Nat S.
Rowland Heights, CA
1/26/2011
Just to give you guys a heads-up. I think this place is called Juju Pocha now.
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Review from Steve W.
Dana Point, CA
Updated - 6/21/2009
Only reason I kept coming back here was for the $4.99 tues Tofu. Food was good for the price but isn't good at FULL price! 1st time I ordered the tofu without mentioning the special price and ended up staring at a full price receipt when I got home. Tried to call them but they don't speak english!!!
For the same money you can get better quality at BCD Tofu in Diamond Jamboree Plaza!
Will never go back.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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3/3/2009
EDIT: Got ripped off here
Going to BCD Tofu from now on...
This is an awesome find! I thought I had… Read more »
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Review from Tossama C.
Long Beach, CA
5/15/2009
I love this place. Everytime i come here we always get the kim chi soup and the spicy barbeque pork. The sides that come with the meal are the best. They are like little plates of heaven. I especially like the potatoe salad and the kim chi. I think it's pretty authentic, even the people that go there are mostly korean/ asian. I bring my boyfriend and he is caucasian and he sticks out like a sore thumb. He says he feels uncomfortable at times but when he takes a bite of the foods we ordered he soon forgets his troubles...
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Review from tiffany l.
Pleasanton, CA
6/4/2007
Eh, its okay here, but I've only had the beef soondobu which turned out to be too sweet (odd as that sounds) and not spicy at all when I ordered spicy. The service was okay and the side dishes were plentiful. They are surprisingly busy and there are a lot of koreans meaning they do serve authentic korean food. I would rather go to Koba than this place for my fix of soondobu. Prices are like any other tofu house about $9 a pot and they have combos and other specialty items like the bibimbap with the stone pot and all the different assortment of meats.
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Review from Diana Y.
Irvine, CA
12/30/2007
First it was Kaju across the street, but the wait can be horrible, so I discovered this place and I started coming here as my go-to tofu house, but THEN I discovered Kaya on Culver and they have really good sides, so started going there religiously, but the last few times we went the service was really bad, so we reverted back to here, and I'm sad to say, after a couple of visited, I think I might try to brave Kaya again because the food here just wasn't good enough to make me want to keep coming back. I wanted to like this place too, because there isn't usually any wait unlike Kaju or Kaya, but then again that's not necessarily a good thing.
I usually only get the tofu or else a beef cabbage soup. The beef is this really stringy, cooked to death strips of meat. And even though you can tell they've been stewing that beef for a long time, it was still really chewy and didn't have any flavor. It's the cut that some other places will cook with some soy sauce and serve as a side, but here they stick it in the soup with some veggies and charge you 8 dollars for it.
Yesterday went and got the Kimchi stew. This was really a 2 star dish. The flavor of the soup was really vinegary, like an over-pickled kimchi dish. That was how the kimchi radish tasted too. You know how when kimchi gets old and have been sitting around for a while it gets this strong flavor, well that's how the kimchi sides and my kimchi stew tasted. This doesn't bode well for Tofu House, I mean isn't that suppose to be the general measuring stick for the quality of a Korean restaurant? Also, besides the bad kimchi sides, there wasn't much else that I liked. I was looking forward to the potato one, but they didn't have that. One that I did enjoy, and that I think is better than any other tofu places was their pickled cucumber. It had a slight sweetness that you taste first, then the kick of the peppers comes after. Alot of other places it might LOOK red and peppery but it just doesn't taste like anything, not here though, I went through two refills of it, and I poured the red pickling sauce onto my rice and ate that too. And the other plus of the sides that made my rating a 3 star is that they give everyone a whole fried fish. It's called literally "Yellow Fish" in Chinese, but I'm not sure if that is its name in English.
They only had three workers that I saw, and the restaurant is pretty big, so if it's a full night, don't expect any service besides ordering and getting your food, which is what we basically got. I only asked for a side refill once, and that took forever to get the waitress's attention AND she gave this snotty look like we we've been asking for refills all night, when for the 4 of us, we only asked for refills once and only for two dishes too. So besides the pluses of the fried fish and cucumbers, there's not much else that would make me want to come back. -
Review from Tina L.
Irvine, CA
3/21/2009
This place is the bomb - esp bc of the price! Why pay $10+ for tofu when you can get it for $4.99 and you still get your tofu fix? I will definately come here again.
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Review from Jessica W.
San Francisco, CA
8/1/2007
pretty clean, delicious and great service! They lack variety of appetizer dishes. Such as the potato salad, white jelly dish etc. But the tofu was definitely great. I would recommend this place to any tofu lover!
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Review from Nic J.
Long Beach, CA
4/15/2009
The food here is really good, im not an expert on korean bbq but by the amount of koreans that are usually eating here im guessing its quality korean food. The sides they bring out before your meal are excellent and the kim chi is the best ive ever had. Ive had the pork plate and the kim chi soup both really good. The staff isn't friendly but thats probably b/c im white. i give this place 3.5 stars. I will def go again when in irvine and craving korean bbq.
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Review from Daphne L.
Irvine, CA
5/10/2010
This place has come to be my comfort food haven. However terrible my day has been, I always leave satisfied. The portions are very filling and the prices really aren't too bad. I think there's a special deal on Tuesdays, but I haven't checked it out yet. The waiters are all right- when I bring my white friends they can't really understand them, but it's all good :) I would recommend the seafood tofu soup!
