Koryo Restaurant
2556 Telegraph Avenue
Suite 8
(between Blake St & Parker St)
Berkeley, CA 94704 (510) 548-2525
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street, Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: No
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
48 reviews
Neighborhood: North Oakland
"I love this place! The outside of the restaurant is not too impressive (considering the crummy neighborhood), but the establishment is…" read more »
34 Reviews for Koryo Restaurant
This is my favorite Korean restaurant in Berkeley. The seafood hot pot bibimbap is the BEST. The banchan they give before each meal is better than other korean places near here. The man (owner?) who serves is really nice, and he always walks around and checks if you need more of anything. I would really recommend this place for a nice, quiet dinner.
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Apparently some of the reviewers have this restaurant confused with one in Oakland which has grills at the tables? I'll have to try that one...
This cozy out of the way restaurant is located in The Village on Telegraph Avenue. The same little cubby hole as Blue Note.
I absolutely LOVE this place. Everything I've ever had has been fantastic. Wonderful people. It's definitely a treat every time we go.
BEST KIMCHEE.
Want to impress someone who likes Korean food? Take them here!
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This place has kick ass BBQ! holy crap its good. Grill it to your liking on their charcoal grill with a huge fan above you. You still end up smelling like BBQ afterwards, but its quite tasty. My main problem with this place is that it is incredibly expensive. I went with 3 people, and altogether, we ordered 3 bowls of dol sot bibimbap, which is just regular bibimbap in a stone pot to make the rice kinda crispy on bottom, and an order of Pa-jun, a korean style pancake with oysters and green onion. This cost us $20 including tax and tip. Mondo expensive for what it is. If it were cheaper i would give this 5 stars, but i just cant do it since it hurt my wallet so much.
AMBIANCE: A little gem tucked away in a cove down on Telegraph Ave. A small restaurant with tables for twos or four. If you are in a larger crowd, don't worry they can push the tables together for you. The couple who own the place speaks very little English, but they are always friendly and helpful if you have any questions. The atmosphere of the restaurant is very cozy and warm. They do not have a restroom in the restaurant but if you ask they'll give you the key to a shared one that is outside. It's very small but clean. Just not a lot of room for movement so ladies, leave your purse at the table for someone to watch.
NOISE LEVEL: Even when the place is jammed on Saturday afternoon you have no problems hearing what the person across from you is saying at all. Something about the place being small probably makes people aware to not shout and keep their tone down which is really nice.
FOOD: The food here is awesome. My Korean friends say it's like home cooking. No special fusion cooking here or anything like that, just delicious simple staples that is good time after time. 5 years coming here and I had never had a bad meal. I love the soft tofu seafood soup that is always hot and steamy with rice and their bulgogi is delicious. Thinly sliced, sauteed and seasoned perfectly and brought out to you on a sizzling hot plate. The side dishes vary and is a nice supplement to the meal. If their is a particular side you'd like more of, ask them nicely and they'll bring it out to you if it's on hand.
**Koryo is a mom and pop restaurant. The food is not fancy or elaborate. It's as if a family opened the door to their dinning room and you are invited to sit and enjoy a home cooked meal. You won't be disappointed and the food is decently priced as well. It's much more fun to order different dishes and share with friends here.**
Ambiance Rating: 4 Stars; Small, clean, feels like a home kitchen.
Noise Level: 4 : Moderate noise even when filled with college kids!Food Rating: 4 for their bibimbap but definitely a 5 for seafood tofu soup.
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Pretty good Korean restaurant, with good BBQ.
Stopped by here since I was doing laundry at Bing Wong's which is only a few hundred feet away.
I was really hungry and didn't feel like taking a trek down to Intermezzo's.
I had the pork spare ribs, and my boyfriend had the chicken curry.
The spare ribs were good, as was the rice and seasonal veggies that came with it... but I was still left hungry.
My boyfriend said the curry was good, but definitely could have used more chicken.
Would I go out of my way to come here again? No, probably not.
Will I go the next time I do laundry? Not unless I'm too lazy to walk down to Intermezzo's.
I love this place! I've been going here since I was a teenager and not much as changed since then. It's a family run restaurant and the husband and wife are very cute (they remind me of my own folks) and very kind. I always go here for a quick fix for my korean cravings.
I almost always order the Bibimbap in the stone bowl while my sister orders the Soft Tofu Soup and we share. Both are my favorite and are very delicious. My Bibimbap comes out with the rice cooked to perfection on the bottom (and who can resist the red pepper paste?!) while the soup has just the perfect balance of savory and spicy. I've tried their beef and chicken before and they were enjoyable as well - not too dry or chewy and well seasoned. The banchan is also plentiful.
This place is quiet during lunch time and gets a lot more crowded during dinnertime. The service may not be prompt, but their politeness more than makes up for it. If you need the restroom, ask for the key and the husband will guide you where to go. Go eat here now! :D
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Today I broke my Monday routine and while in the Berkeley area didn't go to O Chame. I wanted to go to a place I hadn't reviewed yet, so I decided to try this place again. As others have mentioned, it's a family run plsce. The husband was doing most of the waitering. There was a group of young Koreans next to me with a white guy. They all were laughing loudly while their companion just sat there eating.
The menu is somewhat limited. No Yuk Hwe (raw beef). Also the dishes are only written in Korean without transliteration. They do have English descriptions but it's hard for me to figure out what is what by reading those. Luckily, I can read Korean script.
I ordered the Mul Naeng Myon, cold thin noodles in a cold broth with pickled daikon,some cucumber, and a few cold beef slices. It's an acquired taste, but I like it. Their version was good, though I missed the mustard bottle to spice it up.
The side dishes were served in a little cafeteria style tray. The kimchee was excellent, as was the kak du gi.
I would return again if it were the only Korean restaurant around, but there are many others in the area that I prefer.
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When I lived in the Bay Area, I'd ALWAYS go to Koryo! The food is great, price are reasonable, and the service is speedy. Now everytime I visit the Bay, I always pencil in time for a bite to eat at Koryo... :-)
My wife and I used to live in Berkeley right around the corner from Koryo, and we used to go here all the time for good food at reasonable prices. As one other reviewer noted, they don't havea lot of dishes in terms of banchan, but we would usually just have them bring extra kimchi instead, which is great. Oh, and the kalbi is great and definitely filled the void when we had the craving. We both love the fact that it is a mom and pop restaurant, and we always go out of our way to stop in for lunch or dinner when we are back in the area.
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Generally I'll go further down Telegraph for Korean, but sometimes I need my bowl of rice immediately. A couple runs the place: the woman does all the work, cooking and serving; the man will occasionally get up to fill your glass, but mostly sits around watching Korean TV. (How authentic.) They do a decent job with stone bowl dishes like bi bim bap, complete with crunchy rice layer stuck to the bowl; with stews, however, the quality difference between here and top places like Pyung Chang and Sahn Maru is more pronounced. Banchan are better than at Berkel Berkel though.
No one seems to know how this Koryo is related to the better-known BBQ place in Oakland: I don't even think they have a grill here. Maybe they just stole the other Koryo's sign.
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So I can't say I am an expert on Korean food but I have tried many places in the San Fran and East Bay over the past 4 years; and this is my favorite. It is cheaper and and fairly consistent. I think 'ol TL C went to a different place than I . . . we always get at least 7 little dishes (and every time there is someone by themselves who gets the same amount). The dishes vary as to what they are but are usually pretty good. Haven't seen any frat boys yet . . . they are open late . . . . . maybe I missed them at 1 a.m. in my drunken stooper . . .. oh wait I usually go there for lunch.
As for spicy, get the kimchee - bokummmm (extra mmm's for yum and to cover that this might not be how to spell it) Anyway, it will have your nose running in no time. Service is fairly attentive.
Another overpriced Korean joint. This place makes you say "where's the beef" like that old school burger commercial because the bibimbop is like rice and veggies with a speck of beef. The rock bowl you eat out of is pretty cool like the Flintstones. It makes the rice crisp on the bottom. The small plates are good but nothing you can't get nowhere else. It is a pretty authentic place unlike Steve's at the Ghetto.
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so good. I love the shrek. and the cherry blossom. their chicken udon is amazing. I never would have known but my fella ordered it and I was completely shocked. I usually don't dig udon (I'm a soba fan, through and through) but this one? the stock is luscious. healthy clean meat. lots of elements. I was sick as all get out and I got this as a take out because I knew it would make me feel loved. and it did.
for in house, we go wild. we eat so much it's frightening. this place is great. I only wish they opened earlier in the day.
Great big menu. Lots of choices. Excellent panshan. But what I like best is that you can get real Korean bbq cooked over real wood grills. That makes it awesome. As other people pointed out the servings are big. You don't need to order a dish for everyone. Maybe one dish for every 1 1/2. It isn't the cheapest Korean place on Telegraph.
Now that Mr. Lee's is dead the honey and I have been on a search for the next best Korean restaurant and well this place is not it. Mostly I go to Korean restaurants for the little dishes and this place is pretty skimpy maybe only 3 or 4 little dishes. Plus the food is not very spicy (I know this is alway a problem when eating in Berkeley and always a sign that the food has been altered to the whiter tastes -- yet I can never get over the disappointment of bland food. )
The place seems to be frequented by the frat style UCB students so it's uncomfortably loud and the staff seemed really scattered and unorganized so little things like getting our food and getting the check took a long long time
I went here last night, and the food was awesome. I got a HUGE bowl of bibimbap (asked them to hold the beef), and I was really impressed. This was my first outing at a real Korean restaurant so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. They brought out a huge cast iron bowl on a piece of wood. The iron bowl was probably several hundred degrees, and the food inside it was sizzling like crazy. A raw egg adorned the food. My girlfriend, who is more knowledgeable in international cuisine than myself, explained to me that I was supposed to mix it all around and let the egg cook in hot bowl. It was really fantastic. The egg sort of cooked and solidified throughout my food, the rice cooked really well and got burnt on the outside, which ended up being really tasty.
They also bring out a lot of different little bowls of various kimchees and other things that you can eat with your dish. These are called banchan, and apparently are traditional for serving with rice dishes in Korea. They were really good as well. On the whole, I really, really enjoyed my visit here. I'll certainly be coming back here soon, and if the food continues to be as good as my first visit this place will get five stars from me.
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After watching the Japanese Drama, "lunch queen" I became obsessed with finding a place that served Omurice, the dish featured in the show that consists of fried rice inside of a thin omelette. After a long hard search, I finally stumbled upon Koryo through the website sporq.com. I immediately took myself down there and satisfied my craving. It was delicious! And the guy next to me took one look at my food and ordered the exact same thing. The dish also came with soup and really beautiful and tasty banchan. The restaurant had a really homey feel, and I didn't think the service was unfriendly. It was refreshing not to have really fake-nice waiters who come to your table all the time and askyou about your food.
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It's a plus that it's pretty close to the UC campus and the food is good deal for the price. The people there are really nice. One time I went wtih a group of friends pretty late at night and we were the only ones in the restaurant. We ordered maybe 3 dishes for 6 people but they gave us rice for everyone free of charge. I've gone here multiple times, every time I want a quick Korean food fix. I always get the kalbi or the tofu soup.
My favorite korean restaurant in all of berkeley. Way better than steve's or berkel berkel. Their korean gumbo stew is awesome.
i used to come here all the time when i was a berkeley undergrad. i ordered mostly Bi Bim Neng Myun (cold spicy noodles with egg, sliced cucumbers, and beef strips), which was my favorite dish and definitely a good dish. ive eaten other dishes too, and they were all good too. they always give at least 5 different side dishes. i cant say the food is stupendous, but it's good enough that you'll be coming back. and for a hungry college student, that's good enough.
the service is good. the couple who owns the place knew me pretty well, and they were always kind to me.
the interior is very homey and comfortable, with soft yellowish light, paintings, wooden beams, and wooden tables.
This is the tiny place next to Fondue Fred's. I've only been there for lunch, but I love the fact that it's the husband and wife team rocking it out. Simple home cooked food - not as good as my mom or I would make it - but great for a cheap meal with friends and a beer. Yum.
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another one of my favorites when i was in school! came here any time i was craving korean food, which was quite often
everything's good here (dolsot bibimbap, soupy noodles, korean bbq, etc etc), make sure you don't wear anything nice, as you'll come out smelling like bbq meat, try to go with a korean friend, you'll get better service and pan-chan (the little dishes that come out before the meal...?)
yummm....i miss koryo!
This is actually my favorite Korean place to go to when I'm on the Berkeley campus. As someone else mentioned, it is tucked away in a little cove on Telegraph. And yes, every time I go, there aren't many people who happen to be there. However, their food is AWESOME!!!
I like their version of fried tempura because it's crunchier than regular tempura and I love the soy sauce-based dip they give you. In fact, I don't think I've ever had anything there I didn't like. Their side dishes are tasty and generous. Plus, their dishes (especially the stuff that comes on the iron plates) are fantastic.
I'm all for supporting small, local businesses. This one looks like it's family-run because I've never seen more than 2-3 people work there (and it's always the same people). This is one restaurant that I hope is around for a long time.
Sad story: Unfortunately, during one of my visits, my friend and I left, leaving the tip on the table. (Since it's only a couple of people working, the cash sometimes stays on the table for a while, because they workers are busy handling multiple things.) As we stood outside the door, two teenage girls walked in, took the tip and ran out. I was really disappointed because small mom-and-pop places don't deserve that kind of treatment. Unfortunately, we couldn't replace the tip because we had no more cash on us. On our next outing at Koryo, we double tipped them. Lesson learned... make sure to hand them the tip tray so that they get their fair share.
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I don't know if this is the same Koryo as THE Koryo further down Telegraph, but I've always been fond of this place since my undergrad years.
At the time, I'd never had Korean food before, and a couple of my dormmates came back and were raving about the Bibimbap at this place. We went to check it out, and it was awesome! It's the stone bowl kind so you can burn the rice a bit to make it crunchy. Since then I've tried bibimbap and many other forms of korean cuisine (including a mass beef-injection that I experienced in Seoul that I hope to forget one day), but I've always still really liked the Koryo.
It's hidden away in a little chalet-ish nook in Berkeley, alongside an ethiopian and a fondue joint, and it's just a nice cozy atmosphere. I honestly haven't tried anything else here, so i don't know how it is, but the bibimbap is good.
I sort of feel bad for the owners cause everytime i go, I seem to be the only person there, but it's not really indicative of their food - only their location.
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It's from a mix of college memories and genuinely good Korean food that I can say Koryo is a solid Korean restaurant in the Bay Area. The decor is in dire need of an update but if you can overlook that aspect of this restaurant, make your way over for a meal.
All the dishes from soups, stews, meat and other entrees have an authentic Korean flavor. They have the best quality meat relative to competitors in the East Bay.
The crowd tends to be Cal students and Koreans in the area so be prepared for a boisterous environment.
A friend ordered the beef rice bowl, and I ordered the beef barbecue (not the eyelet beef). DELICIOUS! They don't skimp on serving size, either. The meat was very tender, and I thought that the couple who served us was really nice. I've had Korean BBQ in LA (being an Angelino myself) and this is definitely on par.
Great Korean Food
Been eating luch here for a very long time
This was heavy rotation in school days
cheap and good
freshly cooked home style
very nice couple have been feeding me for years
My Korean friends have taken me here as well
I came here last night with a friend at around 5:10pm. The place looked deserted from the outside, and even though lights were on inside, I thought it was closed. Once I stepped in the restaurant with my friend, I just realized that there weren't any customers there, yet, but more customers started coming in past 5:45. So, we seated ourselves, and the menus and water were brought to us-- I ordered the rice omelette, aka omurice, (which is under the specialty section on the menu) while my friend ordered the marinated spicy pork. Mmm, the food was sooo good. The rice omelette was pretty big and it was mouth-wateringly attractive, and the coleslaw that came with it tasted great. The banchan was pretty good too, to me at least. Oh, and the marinated pork, oh my goodness, it was mouth-wateringly delicious. The service wasn't bad-- our banchan and soup were brought with our entrees rather than beforehand and the servers looked unhappy, but they made sure our glasses were filled with water. It's too bad that the restaurant is located in a hidden/secluded area. :(
I've been eating at this restaurant for 10 years and I've always have a great food experience. The owners aren't really that friendly and they do ignore the customers once the food arrives. I have the strong impression that they are unhappy or would rather be doing something else.
If you ignore the lack of service, the food is very good and as authentic as I had while living in Korea. The side dishes change according to the seasons and the Den-jang jigae is the best I've had in any Korean restaurant in the area. If you want a good value for the money, give this place a chance.
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It's never crowded. The decor reminds me of a Chinese take-out place.
BUT the food was simply amazing. It's so far down telegraph that it's often missed. Plus, it's overshadowed by Norikonoko which is right next door. The flavors are balanced, and the dishes are served with sides of all the korean pickled dishes, which are excellent although the kimchi could be a bit spicier.
My only gripe was with the chopsticks, which were balanced oddly.
The restaurant owner was very polite. Also, because it was not crowded, it wasn't noisy like a lot of other restaurants in the area.
I would definitely recommend this place, and it's really too bad that such good food is tucked away in a corner.
i came here with three other people. i got the vermicelli with beef and vegetables, and other people got the fish stew, tofu + beef soup, and the bbq beef. their food was pretty tasty. when i was ordering, i wanted to switch my noodles to the "chewy clear noodles" which was served with another dish. but the waiter assured me that the vermicelli was a much much better choice, and he was right. definitely would go back again. their lunch prices are super cheap too. can't beat 4.95$.
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This place was one of my favorite places to have lunch when I was at Cal. We were in the neighborhood the other night and decided to have dinner here. The marinade for the bulgogi a little too sweet and distracted from the beef flavor, but was otherwise fine. The kalbi however was excellent. The beef had the right amount of fattiness, and a good grilled flavor. Dinner came with soup and seven dishes of banchan (side dishes). This is a pretty small mom and pop restaurant, and there's not much of an atmosphere. But the food is good and the prices are reasonable. Definitely one of your better bets for Korean food in Berkeley.
Very decent Korean in Oakland. However, compared to NYC and LA standards, nothing special.
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