Surawon Restaurant

SOUP is ok, had much better in ktown. Beef ribs is too fatty. Rice is not piping hot when served.

APPETIZER comes in huge chunk, hard to eat! Saw the same server serving us, cutting the kimchi into smaller pieces for the korean guy next table, but why not ours?
Shouldn't they be consistent with their service?

Asked if I could pack a few pieces of kimchi that I barely touched and add it to my to-go balanced rice, the lady server says No, I am not allowed to. I can totally understand if it's a refill but it's not, it's first round of appetizer that is barely touched and I don't wanna waste food. And I only asked for kimchi not even the rest of the 5 appetizers. It's the first and last visit. I would not be back!

To be honest, the place did smell somewhat funky as other yelpers had mentioned. But once your nose desensitizes, it was not too bad.

My husband and I visited Surawon for a casual dinner. My husband went with their signature pork neck soup and I opted for the beef tendon soup. Pork neck soup - bigger portion that ones we had that were meant to feed two! And the pork neck wasn't mainly just bone - tons of fall off the bone meats - so tender, so yummy! Beef tendon soup - I was on my tendon everything kick and I couldn't be happier about the amount of tendon they packed into my bowl. Loved the texture, loved the creaminess of the soup. Especially loved the purple rice pairing. Banchans - loved that they include steamed egg and more than a handful of home made dishes (personal fav: stewed potatoes!)

Overall - another hidden gem with affordable delicious Korean dishes. Love the fact that they offer free parking in a mini lot at the back of the restaurant. Would definitely be back to try more of their dishes.

Stumbled upon this restaurant after some heavy shopping at Kim's Home Center down the street. There's a small 8 car or so parking lot in the back. Since we were there at 5PM, we had no problem getting a spot.

When you walk in, you realize it's not your average Korean restaurant - a substantial amount of decor and infrastructure from the previous restaurant still remained - I'm talking about the large red plush booth seating, the green cactus chandeliers, and bull/cattle ceramic tiles. Not important in the bigger picture of things, but certainly fun to look at and imagine what kind of restaurant/atmosphere used to be here.

I wish I had taken photos of the menu, as it's been updated to be much more user friendly (as of this posting, most recent photos of their menu are from 2013, so their prices have been increased about $1-2/dish, just FYI). Their main/most popular dishes are printed in Korean and English, there's a descriptive list of main ingredients, and my favorite part - there's PHOTOS!

We ordered the bibim neng myun (cold noodle with sliced beef, egg and vegetable in spicy red sauce) combo, which we upgraded to a combo with the seafood pancake, and the mool neng myun (cold noodles with sliced beef, egg and vegetables in cold beef broth). Cold noodles was $8.99 and to upgrade to combo was $13 (only $4 for the seafood pancake!).

The seafood pancake was by far my favorite (as this restaurant and others) - reason being you could barely see the pancake batter; it was choc filled with leeks, and carrots, and some seafood; I saw mussels and maybe squid. I think the amount of seafood was perfect and not overwhelming, and loved the amount of leeks in there! The pancake was greasy and crispy around the edges, so delicious!

I also thought the mool neng myun was one of the better ones I've had. It wasn't just cold, it was downright icy, and there were still some small chunks of ice in the beef broth. It kept the dish cold all the way till the very end. I couldn't pinpoint just exactly why this tasted so good (it might have been the effect of the ice on the broth), but it was just SO.REFRESHING. Would definitely come back!

Side note - banchan does not automatically come with your order; apparently only certain orders come with banchan. Our server was nice enough to give us a few to try when we inquired about our lack of banchan. I also saw a lot of other tables had ordered large shareable stews that looked really popular and would come back to try. The restaurant was filling up when we left around 6 - crowd was most mom and dad aged Koreans - which I think is promising relative to the authenticity of the food.

I'm hoping we came on an off day because they changed their hours. They open at 10am now. They also stopped serving their affordable breakfast. They were also out of noodles and chicken and brown rice! They had just opened.

That being said, the food we did order was quite tasty. We ended up getting a soup which I don't recall the name because my friend ordered it. We also ended up getting a spicy bulgogi dish which was plentiful and yummy.

Parking is pretty easy on the street. Just make sure you put in W. Olympic. I apparently ended up on E. Olympic where this place was no where to be found.

We also had to ask for plates. The service was just okay. I'm not sure if I'll go here again because they got rid of their affordable breakfast.

Came here because I was really craving mul naengmyun. I usually go to Yu Chun because they specialize in cold noodle but they close at 9! Checked this place and they closed at 11pm on a Friday. Got here and found out they stop serving cold noodle by 9pm! So disappointed.. I had to choose a noodle soup that was hot instead. I ordered the Kalbi Tang ($12.99) which has noodles in it. Since the server lady knew I really wanted cold noodle, she said she would give me extra noodles, which was nice. There is also a lot of meat that comes inside this dish too. IT was pretty delicious even though it wasn't what I came here for.

Overall, the service was really good.. the lady who served us was really nice and friendly. She was very generous and didn't hesitate at all when we requested refills on all the side dishes.

There is free parking here btw! No need to valet or anything. There is plenty of parking behind the building in a lot.

My husband and I are regulars here, and we now solely come for their gamja tang. We usually get the large pot for ~$24 and we always have leftovers with the generous size they provide. Their gamja tang in my opinion is more flavorful than Gamja Gul which is down the street on Olympic Blvd.

It's a mom and pop shop that isn't overly crowded. Service may be a little slow sometimes, but they are always very kind.

Free parking behind the building. Their restaurant is adjacent to KFC.

Highly recommend!

My friends and I tried the noodle + entree combo special ($13.99 - $19.99). The taste of our dishes ranged from okay to disappointing.

Noodle dishes: we ordered the mulnengmyun and the kongguksoo. Not bad and the sizes seemed decent.

The combo entrees: This is where it was somewhat disappointing. While the pajyuns (Korean pancakes) were okay, the galbi we got was very thin, somewhat tough, and small portions.

Pajyuns/Korean pancakes: seafood is better than the potato
($13.99 combo - price worth it. Could even share with two people if you ARENT super heavy eaters)

Galbi: little portion, thin and tough meat attached to the bone. With the size and the quality, I would definitely be disappointed in dishing out $19.99 for this combo with the noodles. Not worth it.

Service: Server was nice.

Parking: SMALL free parking lot in the back of the restaurant


Overall, maybe I would go again to try their sul lung tang; but would not pay $16-25 for the combos mentioned above.

I had no idea what to order. Not very familiar with all the beef parts lol and I am still not very sure what I ordered. The thing I do know is the stew was delicious!

Service was very friendly. Though I don't speak any Korean, we were able to communicate just fine. She was always smiling and very patient when I had no clue what I was doing.

The beef stew was full of collagen. My lips were stick together after eating it. Also loved the spicy cold noodle and seafood pancake.

Classic Korean joint. Can't go wrong here. It's very much a family restaurant or somewhere that your parents would go eat with their friends after a long hot day of playing golf lmao.

I love all the banchan (side dishes) because they taste really home made. Loved everything I ordered here so far except the nang myun (cold buckwheat noodle) but that just maybe because I prefer the taste of Yu chun's vinegary broth better.

They give you a sweet fermented rice drink at the end, if they don't give it to you, ask for it!!!! Don't let them play you like that! Haha kidding. But seriously.

Tiny lot in the back but never had issues finding a spot. Entrance on Olympic RIGHT after KFC

*******5 Star Korean Soups*******


OMGosh Good and Easy Free Parking! Spicy Beef and Leek Soup

That's not all. Egg, noodle, lots of veggies and stone pot black rice.
I only wish Orange County had places like this. I was going to opt for the kalbi tang, but our hostess suggested this dish. The beef was deliciously prepared. Veggies were fresh and tasty and fit well with the rest of the ingredients and broth. The broth?? Yes, Spicy!
I had lunch here with Yelper Maggie C. She had a different dish. I think she liked it..still waiting for her to post her picky review. Kudos to her for finding this.. How did she find this?

Banchan-4 Stars..solid 4 stars.

I am not Korean. However, I have been eating Korean food since I was little. When my dad came back from Korea, all we ate was fresh noodle at various Korean places. Nothing compares to Korea Town. I have yet to find a place in OC that even comes close. Well worth the drive for me.


~Ambiance/Service
South Western Desert/Mexico sets the tone of this place. Cactus Lights overhang and Mexican paintings and lamps line the walls. Randomly placed signs read "horchata" and other Spanish phrases.
Why redecorate when you have food like this. In fact, I was soo busy chowing down on the delectible banchan and savory and spicy soup.. I had not noticed. It was yelper Maggie C who brought up the decor.

Service was great. Nice suggestions. Nice Hospitality. They even know when to leave you alone so you can chow.

~Parking 5 Star
If you know K-Town then you know parking sucks. SUCKS! Not here! Plenty of free parking on the side and rear of the builidng in their own parking lot. No valet either. Just park. Guess what? Even in front they have street curb parking without meters. Nice!

~Price
10 bucks. They also have lunch signs for 6.99. There are people on Yelp who will spend 15 bucks on a "Gourmet" Burger. This soup is a much better deal for the money and healthier!