Red Bowls
- Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: No
- Takes Reservations: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: No
12 Reviews for Red Bowls
I love this place. I also love this place because it is 3 blocks away from my office. :) It makes me a happy fucking camper when noon rolls around.
I love the tofu/and veggie bowls here. I can't stop ordering the "Earth bowl." It is LOADED with Tofu, baby carrots, broccoli, cabbage, marinated spicy tomatoes, and avacado. It is fucking good. The Veggie bowls also come with Brown rice so it's awesome. If you like it spicy they also load it your bowl up with hot sauce.
This place is just a great lunch spot. Esp. if you work the crazy streets of downtown! The line goes fast, its cheap and its good. What better can you ask for.
Red Bowls was packed full of people - the line nearly went out the door. Like everyone else, I waited it out. But not a problem, as the line was moving pretty quickly. So far so good. But this was not a sign of things to come...
Menu was varied, mostly Japanese-style entrees. Sushi, sashimi, tempura, teriyaki -- it was all there, with a good variety. Wanting something safe, I went with the spicy chicken veggie bowl (aka, "The Farm" - every bowl has it's own ridiculous name). Total was $6.51 after tax - a good price for lunch.
Nice packaging. The bowl was heavy, signaling that it was packed full and that they didn't skimp on the portion. Styrofoam bowl for everyone, whether you're eating there or taking it to go - I'm not a fan of that - not very "green", but for my to-go order I could cope. Bowl came with a nice lid, and everything was in a nice plastic baggy with handles. So at least the packaging was clean and tidy...
Soon I was back at my desk. Unload the bowl and pop off the lid. First thing I notice is a marinated bug, fairly good size, a few millimeters in diameter I'd say. This was no gnat. He met his fate in the cabbage bin, and was smooshed up against a leafy piece right on top of my lunch. It made me wonder what else was smooshed in there, but I continued to eat because I was starving. From there, I saw no other bugs, but other nasty things. The chicken just didn't look right - it reminded me of eating chicken in Mexico, where I was wondering if it was really chicken. Except that I've had chicken in Mexico, and this was far worse. It had clearly been pre-cooked long ago, and was sitting in some lukewarm bin until being served. The chicken was warm, yet the cabbage was cold and rubbery. There was also the occasional baby carrot in there, which seemed odd and out of place. The rice was smooshed way at the bottom - nearly impossible to eat with the chicken, and left to get soggy. Squirted on top was the "spicy" component -- looked to be a Sriracha-type sauce with some vinegar added to it. It wasn't tasty.
Normally I'm not too picky when it comes to ingredients I already like. I tend to like places that are generally regarded as "sub par" by others. The right ingredients mixed together and cooked OK, and I'm usually a fan. But Red Bowls was nasty.
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Red Bowl is reasonably priced and reliable. Their bulgoogi has a ton of beef. You can get it with brown rice or white. If you can tolerate spice at all, just go with the bibimbap. The mushrooms are delicious (and salty!). Next time I'll ask for more spinach.
The staff is also quite helpful. Since they only have a limited amount of tables (2 large tables, 3-4 smaller tables, and counter seating facing the window), I called ahead to ask them to save the large table for our party of 10. We got there just as the lunch rush was picking up so we were happy to see our table reserved for us.
Free hot tea near the window, bottles of water for 50 cents with a meal! How I wish that I came here before I went to Pasta Ya Gotcha!
update:
To answer Tony G's question, no they do not have noodles (other than udon).
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Just got back from here, and I thought it was pretty good. The teriyaki chicken bowl had tasty tender pieces of chicken and very good steamed vegetables. They give you a lot of chicken, which is good because I got full and didn't finish the rice (bad carbs!).
If I could change anything, there would be a little less chicken, more steamed vegetables and have a noodle option instead of rice. I dont know if they have noodles or not, but it would be pretty cool if they did.
BTW, the bowls were white, not red.
*Update: I just noticed something that doesn't make sense. The first paragraph I said I like all the chicken they gave, but the second paragraph says I wish they had less chicken. To clarify, I like the fact that they gave a decent amount, but would trade some pieces for other things. There.
Zipzap Zubidy Bop!
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Red Bowl's a downtown worker's dream lunch spot. Or at least it's mine!
The food is incredible, cheap and dangerously filling and the serive is quick.
Afternoon bout with drowsiness after a Red Bowls lunch? Check.
Basically it's a donburi joint where you choose from tens of different toppings for your rice bowl. I typically go with a mixed chicken terriyaki and bulgogi bowl. The bim bop is delicious and the veggie meals are quite tasty and refreshing. I still have not managed to try any of the sushi bowls though.
NOTICE: If you're concerned about the plastic bowls they serve their meals in, I recommend just bringing your own. They will serve you with your own bowl.
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Lunched here yesterday and today and have to say I love this place.
Yesterday I had the bowl w/ the chopped raw tuna and it was the best "sushi" meal I've had for $7 anywhere. Like getting a huge magura sashimi order on top of veggies and rice.
Today I had the chinese bbq which was a pork sliced up w/ the hot chinese mustard. Again very tasty.
Its easy, quick, tasty. Not a fancy restaurant, just a good place to grab lunch and head back to the office
-LW
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I agree that the rice was congealed - I don't know how to explain it but the texture was just wrong. I also didn't like that the default serving container was styrofoam. I shudder to think how many they throw into the landfill on a daily basis. The tofu bibimbap was just OK. Plus there is no tap water option - you can buy a bottle of water for 50 cents with the purchase of a meal. In short, I found no real reason to go back.
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Hmm, I have no idea what one of the reviewers means by the "congealed" rice. Every time I've been, it's been fresh, regular, short grain sticky rice, typical of what Koreans use (this place is Korean owned). Anyway, on w/my review.
I've ordered their bibimbap twice now. The beef version is really good. Their "calamari" version is not. I was expecting fresh, tender pieces of sauteed or steamed squid. What I got was a skimpy helping of DRIED, shriveled up squid. Who eats dried squid with rice? No one! The type of dried squid I was served is typically consumed as a snack and is never part of a meal (unless it's the kind that's covered in spicy red sauce, which this wasn't). Basically, don't order the calamari bibimbap! Like I said, the beef bibimbap is really good. You might want to order extra sauce though, as I found my dish a little bit on the dry side (they charge you for it though).
I also tried their udon/California roll combo. The roll was good (hard to screw up a California roll, you know?) and the udon was so-so. Bland. No doubt made w/liquid or powdered soup base, rather than homemade broth.
I'll probably be back here for the beef bibimbap (w/extra sauce of course). This place gets really busy during lunch rush though and often has a line out the door.
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I ventured down there yesterday as I was having an asian craving for lunch. There was a line when I walked in but it went fast. There's a lot of choices and this place is very veggie-friendly. Everything comes on a rice with carrots, radish sprouts, broccoli, and cabbage in a bowl. I ordered the chicken katsu, which was very fresh and crispy.
But where this place lost a star with me was the obvious pre-pared rice and veggie part of the bowl. I don't work far from here at all and so I was a bit confused why the rice had congealed a bit. I surmised that the early prep work has them assembling the bowl part and then just throwing on whatever entree topping you want, hence why the line moved so fast. And the carrots were a bit too under-cooked for me, still very firm and crunchy.
However, the lady working at the register, taking the orders was very nice which leads to me consider going here one more time but earlier then when I went, just to see if I can get the rice and veggie portion of the bowl a bit more fresh.
And who doesn't like fresh?
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So. Red Bowls. I'm trying to figure out how to give it 3.5 stars, so forgive me if only 3 show up.
I like Red Bowls. I don't love it, but I like it and it's only a block away from my office so my fat ass can roll up there in less than 3 minutes flat (I have short legs).
Their vegetarian rice bowls are pretty good - although occasionally overloaded w/ cabbage, which I'm not a huge fan of, but I eat it b/c rumour has it cabbage is good for you.
Last week I had their tempura udon bowl thinking it was going to be veggie tempura. I was wrong. There were pieces of shrimp in there. Now I loves me the shrimp just as much as the next person, but that day I was not in the mood for it and it showed up in my meal. The menu doesn't state whether or not it's fish or veggie, but we just assumed it was veggie b/c all of the meat options were listed above it.
sigh...
I'm not saying I spit it out b/c I didn't...I ate it.
And I'll go back and eat again.
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For a cheap healthy on the go lunch this place is great. There is often a line, but it moves quickly. It's healthy - mostly rice and veg - and fast and not too oily or overcooked. It's not the best korean style food I've ever had, but for six bucks and a few minutes of my time it works great. I always get the sauce on the side because I think they put too much and it is spicy!
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This is a little rice bowl shop in downtown. Good news is that there was a line. Which means that it's cleary popular and tasty. So I followed suit and got in line!
Despite the line, it was fast service and a great price. $6 for my "Farm" which was a spicy chicken bowl. (That's right, I bought the Farm there.) A few of us from work went and we all loved our food. And most of us had trouble finishing it, because there was plenty! They have a wide variety of selections, even organic.
Definately good, definately filling. And yes, they did serve the food, to go or stay, in a red bowl.
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