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Mon-Sun. 6:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
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MmmMm...
for a lil place in a garage down by the beach... toyose, aka GARAGE, is surprisingly good. everything ive had here is delicious. from the french fries to the pork shank to the udon. they also have the BEST kimchi tofu pork ever... and their strawberry soju is yum yum yum!! i could drink it all day if it didnt make me so drunk... its a creeper...
theres always big groups here, but i like coming here with the fam or dinner dates.
and id like to end with.. CHEESE WITH CORN!? uhh huhh!
When I walked upto this place, I wasn't sure if it was open for business since the doors didn't say push nor pull. Just saw the sign for business hours. But alas, I figured you would need to pull open the door that could almost be camouflaged as a garage door. Once in, the atmosphere was quite welcoming.
Everything was great from the spicy chicken wings to the kimchi pancake to the kimchi fried rice. Definitely try out their yogurt soju also! Service couldn't have been any better. They even have a button on the side of each table to alert the waitresses of the patrons' needs. First time I've seen such a device in a restaurant! Most times, I would flag them down when they pass by.
Food = 5 stars
Service = 5 stars
Get the strawberry soju. It's only $11 for what amounts to like..10 shots! So worth it.
We ordered a hearty meal of spam, tofu, cabbage, hot dogs, ramen, kimchee, and, well, broth. In that light the dish wasn't worth the money..I can make that too! It was good at the moment though. The chicken wings..MMM. So good. Definitely get them. They're sweet and savory, slightly sticky from the sugar in the marinade, and fried to perfection. Why a 3/5? Because they don't have japchae!! My fave. :( Also they don't give out appetizers beforehand. They really should.
Went here recently...I was really excited to come here because of all the good Yelp. Well, I could turn this into a long and painful story, but I won't. Basically, if you're not Korean, you are not welcomed here.
Me loves Soju. Me loves fruity drinks. Me loves Toyose.
I love the soju here. My favorite is mango and aloe soju. Those two are a must order when I visit this place, which has been getting more and more often nowadays.
The place is unassuming, it's a converted garage with minimal ventilation and probably not the most structurally sound place for a restaurant. I mean it's supposed to be a place to store cars, not living and breathing people getting intoxicated with delicious soju and eating kimchee fried rice!
I love the kimchee fried rice here, especially the soft yolk that goes with it. I have had better seafood pancake somewhere else, but I won't take offense because my love for yummy soju is more than my love for seafood pancake. The soups are also good!
This is a great place to catch up with friends and to enjoy delicious soju. They also have those gigantic beer for those of you who might feel emasculated by drinking fruity colorful cute shots of soju.
Come early on the weekend. The server is very accommodating for large group if they have tables available. Order several varieties of soju (again, mango and aloe are recommended, but everything is good), seafood pancake to munch on, some soups, and of course, long live kimchee fried rice!
This place is definitely an experience. After reading how popular it was, I expected a huge line out the door but it was not the case when we went last Friday night. The restaurant exists in the outer sunset and you wouldn't really even know it was there if not for the small sign outside. The door wasn't even open and no one going in or out so you wouldn't expect a restaurant. But as we approached there were business hours posted and we opened the door... Wow - this place was packed and full of people drinking, eating and just being merry. 5-stars for fun and atmosphere for sure!
In my opinion, the BEST thing to get here was the soju. We had the strawberry and the mango. A huge bottle is served for the price and the flavor is so fantastic (like fresh squeezed juice) that you can drink a lot of this stuff pretty easily.
That being said, I don't think the food is as good as other reviewers have thought. We had the bulogi, kimchi fried rice, kimchi pancake, seafood pancake, eel, fries and chicken wings. The food was so-so and the only thing I'd want again is the chicken wings, very yummy. The boys said the eel was also good but I don't eat eel so can't really give an opinion there.
So I would want to go back, not for the food, but for the good drinks and good times!
Finally, a place that takes me back.... I LOVE this place for its quirkiness and great food. This is a true find!
Pretty decent Korean restaurant in Outer Sunset.
Seafood Pancake is quite good here. It is made thin, and they don't add a lot of flour so it is not thick like a lot of the other seafood pancakes here.
Bulgogi Beef is not bad, but it was not as warm (both times that I ordered). The Bulgogi beef at the Korean restaurant on Taravel and 30th is better.
Open till late, and there is ample parking around.
YUM! This nice surprise was a great place to have dinner last night. I never would have found it except some friends of Mr Sexy Legs knew about it.
We ordered and shared:
Kimchee Pancakes (MUST GET!!!!)
Mango Soju (if you like a little fruity alcohol, get a bottle and share it! Or 2!)
Kimchee & Beef Fried Rice (spicy and extremely tasty)
Calamari & Beef Bulgogi (after the pancakes, this was the best thing)
The place is clean but small. Take groups no larger than 4, and apparently it's so popular that you should make reservations on Saturday nights. Last night (Sunday) was busy, but we didn't have to wait.
I think they were a little understaffed, but we got our food quickly and the waitress, though obviously a little in the weeds, handled things fine.
Serving food in unconventional ways has become all the rage--from food trucks to food carts, Food 2.0 is all about mobile. Toyose puts all that to shame--you are served food that is cooked by a man walking around with a microwave plugged into a random public socket. It's seriously, all about the food.
Okay, just kidding.
However, there is fun to be made at the fact that Toyose exists in a converted garage deep in the residential zone of the Outer Sunset. The ambience matches the mood of an anju/izakaya style restaurant. At 2am in the morning, you feel like an insider as you push through a minimally marked door and enter a rambunctious house of soju shots and fobby giggles. Outside on the facade of the building, there are no lights betraying the liveliness of the party inside.
Ambience aside, the food holds its own against some of the better late night Korean joints I've had.
Bad news first--the Korean Fried Chicken is an absolutely letdown. This pales in comparison to Bon Chan and even Kentucky(FC) at it's best. While the skin was crispy and light, the insides were clearly overcooked and the wings were small and dry. The seasoning was reasonable, though it could have had a more Korean bent with more heat and whatever else these star Korean chefs put into their awesome FC (fried chicken).
Good news--the Kimchee Fried Rice and the Kimchee Tofu Pork were excellent. Both showcased the kimchee well.
4 stars for the overall environment.
3 stars for the food.
This place is so freakin cool! it's a korean restaurant in the garage of a house in the sunset! I've been here a dozen times to eat and drink b/c they don't close til really late. You wouldn't think that the ambiguous yellow duck on the outside is an invitation to eat, drink, and be merry. The inside decor is really interesting...kinda boatish and they have these buttons on the wall at your table so you can call your waitress for something. The service here is always great and the food too. Dishes that I always get are:
FRIED CHICKEN: the wings are fried right when you order them and it's a light crispy batter with tender juicy meat on the inside ...not too thick and greasy.
SEAFOOD GREEN ONION PANCAKE: I just love this dish. it's huge and filling. It comes with a hodgepodge of seafood including shrimp and squid.
KIMCHI FRIED RICE: This dish is always a safe bet...it's just fried rice with kimchi and it's spicy juices w/ a fried egg on top.
DUK BOKKI: this is on of my favorites. Make sure you get this with ramen. the noodles just sop up the spicy sauce and it's just gooood. this dish has rice cakes, fish cakes, green onions, cabbage, carrots, and onions.
The soju here is excellent too. it's the perfect soju to fruit juice.. not too sweet and syrupy like at other korean places. My favorite is the peach soju. This place is small and gets crowded on friday and saturday nights, so call ahead and make a reservation...yes...the restaurant-in-the-garage takes reservations :)
Cozy cute intimate place. Good for small groups, young and hip people. The grilled mussels with special house sauce lived up to the hype. We, in fact, order another one we liked it so much. The fried chicken was whatever. Crispy but dry. Can't compete with chicken from KyoChon or CoCoBang. We also spicy soup w/ sea bass (meh woon tang). I've had better, but it was good. We had two bottles of mango soju and that went down easy. Overall, it was a good experience due to the space decor and servers. If you want authentic Korean food (that Koreans would flock to) this is not the place, but this places makes for a good time for young people.
Kimchi Beef fried rice w/ egg- Yummy!
Spicy chicken wings (8 of 10 were chicken drums, not wings) were not spicy at all!
It is located in a home's garage, not a place anyone would expect to find a restaurant. I've lived in the neighborhood for 10 years but never realized there's such a restaurant on Noriega.
Too bad they don't make the flavored soju in a smaller size. Two of us could not finish the whole jar.
They have a service bell at each table, the server gets to your table within 5 seconds of you ringing the bell. Cool uh?
A little bit pricey: pancake, rice and wings, for two people = $40
We call this place "The Garage" because it is literally the garage of a house transformed into a restaurant. Didn't even know the real name of this place until I looked it up on Yelp just now. If you're coming here with a big group, make reservations. Otherwise you will end up waiting anywhere from 30 mins to an hour...if not longer.
I always order the same thing when I come here. Chicken Wings, Kimchee fried rice, and Bulgogi. You will not be disappointed.
This place has the best flavored soju. Call me soft, but I just can't stand the green bottle. The yogurt and peach flavored soju are the best. Its actually pretty strong too but you can barely taste the soju.
If you ever get a craving for some spicy Korean snack foods or some Asian style fried chicken, and would like to bring your night owl friends who have no reason to get up early in the morning on a weekday, this is a great place to go!
Everything I had there was pretty tasty, and the spicy level wasn't watered down either, there was definitely some beading of sweat on my nose... :)
Only by luck and at the most random times would you find this place for the first time, but after you find it you'll wonder how you never saw it before.
Toyose is a Korean restaurant located along the edge of of the Outer Sunset on Noriega. I found out about this restaurant with my Korean food loving friends one late night. The funny thing is I've lived in the Sunset all my life and I NEVER heard about this restaurant till that night.
At first glance you wouldn't believe it's a restaurant, Toyose literally looks like your typical Sunset house but inside surprises you. Tables setup along the walls complete with a call button if you ever need to flag a waiter/waitress. In terms of food, their menu is slightly different however their kimchi dishes are excellent.
You'll only be able to get dinner here as the restaurant opens at 6PM. HOWEVER they are open late so they're PERFECT for those late night food cravings or when you don't want to call it a night after getting out of the clubs/bars. Only problem I've had was extremely limited seating and at times difficult to walk around due to the small dining areas. But if you can get around that, I would recommend you try out Toyose.
SO YUMMY!
Must try:
Chicken wings
kimchi fried rice
#19
soju ($7 for a whole bottle! and they make it themselves!)
and a bunch of others. I have not found a dish I didn't like!
service is pretty good considering its only 1 or 2(on busy nights) waitresses for the whole place, and they have this button you can press to get their attention.
This place is always crowded, especially at night since they open till 2am!
I found this place very odd at first because it doesn't look like a restaurant from the outside, but the inside is very nicely decorated and everything.
I've been here once before but I think I finally got the appeal about this place last night. It is literally in a someone's garage and has a dark but incredibly homey feeling. The walls are plastered with Lee Hyori Soju ads with Korean music thumbing in the background. As it gets later into the night, more people fill this joint, making you feel like you are getting closer to the people in your party. The food is good and you are amongst good people. What is there not to like.
If you like spicy, this is the place for you. Everything we ordered was literally RED and all of us had a glistening glow on our faces from sweating. We ordered 5 dishes - I would highly recommend the chicken yummies...lol...I mean the chicken wings, kimchee fried rice, and the kimchee pancakes (#46). The wings are crispy on the outside but juicy on the inside, the kimchee fried rice with bits of fried egg, beef, and veggies, and seaweed was moist, spicy, flavorful...JUST try it. And make sure you grab the end pieces of the kimchee pancakes as those are the crispiest. :) The fruit soju drinks are good...especially the peach.
We also had the rice cake with ramen dish (#11) and the spam/hot dog/kimchee ramen casserole but I thought they were ok. I'm not a big fan of rice cake and felt the flavors were a bit off.
Anyways, it is a great place for a group of friends to unwind after a 'freaken drive me crazy' work week. We got there at 6:30 and grabbed a table for 6...right before it got PACKED.
Toyose is not a restaurant. We didn't realize this. Well, it is and it isn't. See, they serve food, but so do most bars...and this place is basically a bar with snack food.
Instead, we ordered full meals and were disappointed. The prices/quality were not in order.
What we did notice were all the other people ordering Soju, getting a bowl of popcorn with it and then ordering fried foods. It's a small place but warmly decorated. I will go back for the bar food experience, just eat dinner elsewhere!
I definitely wouldn't give this place as many stars as others have... Well, thats cuz I am not a fan of SPICY food, so this place was not that good at all... Even my friend, who is a spicy food fan, said their food was too hot...
My boyfriend: "Too spicy and too little meat in their soups"
Out of all the things my friends and I ordered, I would say the kimchi fried rice w/ beef was the best.
Besides that, the decor was cute, it was clean, and the food came out fast.
when u think about flavored soju, Toyose is the place! This hidden place is located in a real but resigned garage in sunset area. To me, this place is more like 3.5/5 because I think their portions could be bigger. However, the environment, music, and business hr are totally good for the young crowds.
For ppl who are looking a place to go late at night with friends, believe me, toyose is better than bar! you can order some spicy food with their flavored soju, i guarantee u will have a good time!
Recommendation:
spicy cold noodle (big dish, good for 3-4 ppl)
kimchi pancake
spicy rice cake
fried chicken
Bulgogi KimChi Tofu (big dish, good for 3-4 ppl)
Yogurt soju
kimchi fried rice
I always forget this place has a real name, besides the garage that is.
I come for the chicken wings. Great late night snack and I guzzle down some yogurt soju to get the night going. Yogurt soju is my favorite because it reminds me of my childhood. Minus the soju.
The only thing that would make me love Toyose more is if I was married to it and was sharing in the profits of this brilliant idea.
If I had the brains, I'd totally turn my garage into a popular local hangout. After so and so bottles of soju, people get hungry, and you can gouge them on more food!
Service is always great, and if you make reservations, they definitely make you feel special. So, I've never really experienced the waiting around while everyone sitting down is enjoying their food and drinks.
Kimchi fried rice. Strawberry soju. Chicken wings. Yogurt soju. Seafood pancake. Pineapple soju. Enticed yet? Go!
I LOVE this place. Their kimchi fried rice is to die for (and worthy of the wait). Reminder that… Read more »
I generally try to reserve my 5-star ratings for places I think are unique enough that it would be hard to replicate the experience elsewhere in the city. Toyose definitely fits into this category. The best way I can describe this place is 'Korean izakaya' - go here to drink beer/soju and snack on food items that go awesomely with drinking.
Waaaay out in Outer Sunset (almost to the beach) and basically housed in a converted garage, this place is an odd find in the middle of a mostly-residential neighborhood. When we entered, both of us got this distinct feeling that we're no longer in SF. Not having been to Korea, I can only say that the place reminds much more of places in Hong Kong or Tokyo or even NYC. Also, I think we were possibly the oldest people in the place since it seems to be a hangout spot for local college kids.
The place itself is tiny with quirky decor and only one waitress, so we prepared ourselves for the long haul. Once we managed to get our order in though, the food came very quickly. We ordered spicy fried chicken wings, seafood pajun, and kimchee+beef fried rice - all delicious and of course, went perfectly with our little bottle of soju. We saw other tables order the 'cocktail sojus' with various flavors as well as large boiling cauldrons of delicious meats and vegetables with ramen noodles - we'll definitely try that next time.
The best part? They're open every single night until 2am! Where else in the Sunset can you find that??
This restaurant offers a nice ambiance considering it's in a garage (As with most of the reviews is quite possibly what sets it apart from other Korean Restaurants). It's quite easy to find parking and the wait isn't too bad. My favorite dish is the kim chi fried rice and the spicy caserole. I don't want to make any generalizations about the food, so I'll just say that it definitely hits the spot whenever I'm craving for some Korean food.
I recommend this place.
I've been hearing about this place for years. I'm sad to get there so late, thrilled I finally got there. Toyose met & exceeded my wildest expectations. And they have the best fried spicy chicken wings in San Francisco.
Great chill environment. Awesome soju. Food is decent.
I've been coming here for years. Whenever I can't decide were to hangout I come here. This is my sure bet backup for when I feel like going out but can't figure out where. Now let me clarify, this is no "backup", this place is awesome! The food is good, the drinks are good, the ambiance is excellent, and the waitresses are friendly helpful and know me as a regular.
The thing that makes toyoses service so good and efficient is that they have a typical Korean restaurant button system. You push the button they come, simple and to the point.
The food and drinks here are what keep me coming back.
The Spicy Chicken wings are delicious, though they were bigger years back.
The Duk Bokki is good and spicy, even better when you add ramen noodles.
The Seafood pancake is ok (I've had better).... However I thought I would mention it on the list since my gf likes it.
The kimchee fried rice is an excellent complimentary dish to another main dish.
The flavored Soju here is the best I've had. Now I haven't explored many places that offer it but the few I have been to (5 or so) have not come close to the quality that toyose offers. The Peach, and Yogurt are my two favorites however the other flavors or worth trying. "To each his own" You might like the flavors better.
Toyose will always have a place in my heart, and I wish them well in the future. I will continue to enjoy my nights there.
Recommended by a bunch of Koreans, this restaurant is AWESOME. Note this is NOT Korean BBQ, more like home cooking! And it really is in a garage.
Spam Kimchi Soup with Noodles! - I'm not sure exactly what it's called but it is DERRICIOUS!! They bring it out in a big metal bowl on top of a propane fire. It's got a mix of vegetables including mushrooms, onions, cabbage? Note: don't mix the ramen in until the end or it'll get soggy.
Fried Cheese and Corn - You might not want to get this unless you have a large party. It's plenty tasty and rich but if you leave it for too long it gets gross.
Ramen and Rice rolls? - Yummy but can be a bit starchy as the rice rolls are very dense. But the sauce is excellent and there are plenty of vegetables to go with it.
This is more of a home-cooking / drinking place open til 2am (longer if you're korean :P) Make reservations or you'll be hanging out at the bar across the street (also good).
Toyose is deserving of 4.5 stars! Heard of this place for some time now, so I was very very excited to finally make the trip out there with a person whose been several times. A lot bigger than I imagined given it's a Sunset house garage. Cheesy decor, but you get past it when you see the screen that can come down for more privacy and the wait staff call button..and of course the food and soju!
My companion and I order the following:
- Green onion seafood pancakes - Not a fan of seafood usually, but the tentacles and the like embedded in the pancake were well masked with the actual pancake and sauce. I'm glad we ordered it as it appears to be one of their specialties.
- Kimchee fried rice - Love the raw egg atop it; makes it more like bi bim bap and I LOVE bi bim bap. Flavors were right on point and I helped myself to a hefty portion of the platter.
- Gyozas - Nothing to sing about, but definitely done right in terms of crispiness and arrived pipping hot. Generous portion too, if I recall.
- Marinated pork with tofu - Mmmmm...unlike any pork dish I've had at a Korean restaurant. Tangy and sweet and overall well seasoned pork with fresh tofu pieces. I'd order that again!
- Yogurt soju - Very good flavor. Though not the best I've had. Prefer it to have a thicker consistency.
- Other flavored soju (most likely peach as it's my and my companions second favorite usual flavor): The fact I can't truly recall makes me conclude it wasn't that memorable. But we did finish off both.
Overall, the portions were generous, and we brought leftovers in the fried rice, pork/tofu and pancake. The wait staff weren't super attentive, but did respond quickly to the "call button". Go early on a weekday for quick seating. I'll likely go again as the food seemed very authentic and I agree with the many that have said, "...it's like eating at a Korean mama's kitchen."
I guess I don't eat at Korean restaurants too often, this wasn't what I expect at a typical Korean place. Everything comes out pre-cooked and I didn't see any BiBimBap.
I liked the KimChee pancakes, that was something I hadn't tried before - I already admit that I don't eat Korean food often, right?
My mom thought the atmosphere was cute but as others have described, I think gritty is the perfect word. The waitresses, although nice were not very attentive. But the food was decent and it's in my new 'hood.
For a time, I was calling this place up and making reservations every two weeks. My enthusiasm has since subsided, if only because looking back on pictures taken over the course of the last few months, every other set of pictures seemed to be taken here. That's kind of ridiculous, so I stopped for a while. I am eagerly awaiting the next time my conscience decides it will be okay to come back without being deemed hedonistic.
The beer here comes in plastic bottles (called "pichas" here, which is hilarious to me), and the soju comes in many flavors. My favorites are yogurt, peach and strawberry. I only wish they had grape soju here, because that would merit bumping this review up to 5 stars. They have Hite and OB, and I usually end up ordering Hite, because I was told once that girls prefer to drink Hite. I'm sure most girls don't choose to go the route of the self-fulfilling prophecy, but Hite is pretty good, and I like it a bit better than Cass (which I don't remember if they serve here).
The food is great. Jokbal is a favorite, and great to share with a big group of people. The fried chicken is also delicious. Damn, Koreans sure know how to make fried chicken right. Kimchi jjigae is also great here, as well as the boodehchigae. We've had the ojingo bokkeum, and we always get ramyun ddukbokgi. I would list everything I've ever tried here, but I don't have their menu at my disposal. Suffice it to say, almost everything I've tried here has been delicious.
The restaurant is in a garage, which is great, because you'd never know it was there if you didn't know to look much closer. It's not a huge place, (we tried to make a reservation for 12 once, and we had to get split into two tables), so make reservations on weekends. Or don't, and be told to wait an hour and spend it at Flanahan's across the street while you wait for them to call you and tell you that your table is ready (which is also a great idea, by the way).
You know, I've put off writing this review because I was sure that it would make me want to end my self-imposed exile from this place, and sure enough, I was right. Maybe I'll give them a call and make a reservation for this weekend...
words cannot explain how much i love toyose (the garage)
kimchi tofu, kimchi pancake. i could even eat their cheese corn on a bed of dog crap. on a bad day.
the service is spot on, the girls are nice and attentive, their beer/soju is inexpensive and its an overall good time and EASILY my favorite korean joint in the city (oakland has "pornos" on telegraph, which is similar, but not as awesome).
great for big groups or a one-on-one.
keep being, well, awesome!
I sooo love their BIG dish with noodles, carrots and other stuff. Omgg it's to die for, and I never knew what it was since my cousins are the ones that order it. It's a great place if you want to eat and chill and drink soju, mmmm.
Usually they are packed here at night on weekends, which is a bummer. The place is really small so be prepared to wait if you need to!
They only have 1 bathroom, so please don't get too drunk =X
Came here for a Guy Love night before Jay left for Fresno for 6 weeks. We had been talking about coming here for months, wanting to check out "the garage" restaurant. Man we were not disappointed. This place really is straight up a garage, but they cleaned it up real nice and it reminds me of the restaurant/bars I used to go to in K-Town. Really good seafood pancake and ramen with dduk. Oh and they have this spicy pork and tofu dish that's pretty bomb. We didn't get any soju that night but I can assure you that we will go again and it will be glorious.
Food is ok but they get the extra star for being opened till 2 in the morning daily!
Expect bar food and nothing fancy. It is a hangout joint for young'ins and those late night pigs, like me. I usually order chicken wings, stir fried octopus and chicken gizzards.
To be fair, we only have the spicy chicken wings + yogurt soju...but the chicken was too dry and not super tasty. the yogurt soju was ok.
but yes, it was quite pricey for ok chicken.
but great, gritty late-nite bar ambience
i would go back to try other dishes since it seems fairly popular...
Friend: "Let's get Soju."
Me: "OK."
.....Later on.
Me: "WTF. Why are we at a garage?!"
Don't let the outside fool you. Toyose [ or Chicken Garage as my friends and I like to call it ] is legit. The inside is bigger than I expected and is actually decorated really decent.
I don't come here for the food but I have tried the pot stickers, calamari and cheese corn. All really decent.
The soju is where it's at though! It's juicer/more watery than The Spot but still really tasty. They have lots of flavors: strawberry, lychee, yogurt, mango and more. 8 of us went in and ordered 6 bottles and 4 appetizers and walked out the door and paid about 9 or 10 bucks each. NOT BAD.
The crowd is super asian but the staff is really nice. They have these cool buttons at every table the calls a waitress to you. Convenient, much?!
I still haven't decided which place I like better. Toyose or The Spot. I love them both!
The Garage! I love this place. So good, so good. Yes, it's out in Timbuktu, but it's worth driving to the Sunset. It literally looks like you're entering someone's garage (hence it's nickname), but once inside, I don't care if they serve food on a rusted rim, because the food is AMAZING!
The spicy chicken wings with the cold radish is probably my favorite. I usually order the same thing: a spicy soup, some sort of app and lots of soju. I even like the popcorn they serve with the drinks. Reminds me of KoKo's (when it used to be around). It has a very bar feel to the place. No BBQ pits on site. Just a bunch of drunk twenty-somethings getting their grub on.
The hours are funky, I know they're open for dinner, but not for lunch. And if you go on a Friday or Saturday night, the wait can be really long. One time, I waited for an hour. But, it was well worth it.
When my BF is not home, I like to do some really naughty things. Like eat forbidden foods. One such forbidden food is, and consistently has been: Korean. I don't know why. He's such a stubborn ass. I've tried and tried, I even tried making it at home with "safe" ingredients and less spice, and marinating the meats myself. The minute the food is labeled Korean, he can't stand it.
Well, tonight was such a night. Not only was the BF away, but he left me his car. Yes. Little Asian girl in Big White-man SUV car. It's as bad as it sounds.
Lou and I pull up here after finding parking on the street in front of the ... crazy school? after school day care? smallest school ever? I see signs up on the wall for 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade.
It was about 6:30pm and we were properly hungry. The place was nearly empty except for this soul-searching musician who sat in the "private" booth and read sheet music while drinking soju. Right after we were seated, this group of 4 high school student come in and are seated in the same area.
Maybe they did things differently in Berkeley, but when I was in high school, I didn't have money to eat at places like Toyose. It's not French Laundry, but it sure is not UC Berkeley eatery places. This is real sit down, leave a tip, eat with utensils type place. Classy, if you will. The inside of the this garage was tastefully decorated in a nautical theme. Think "Lost" Korean sea-side fishing village theme, hanging nets, cork floats, driftwood. It didn't feel like a double wide parking place at all!
Back to the high school kids. Maybe it's an Asian kid thing but they talked about their grades the whole time. And they were not dorky looking Asians like I was, they were hard core ring-wearing, pierced ear, spiky haired, school cutting high school kids. Who got an A on the midterm but then got a C in the class bc they never showed up.
Food ordered: Korean seafood pancake, fishcake and rice cake in a hot sauce saute, fried spicy chicken wings.
Our mistake: I think the food would have tasted better with copious amounts of alcohol. But then I would have had an even harder time driving.
It was all really tasty. I liked the Korean pancake. It could have been a bit crispier. And the fried chicken wings were a tad small. I'm used to the south bay 99 chicken-drooling-messy-eating-lick-my-finger-salt- and-pepper-give-me-more. The fishcake and rice cake had an excellent texture and seasoning. There was the option to have it with ramen and an egg, which we did not exercise, because there was already so much food.
After about 30 mins, I threw in my napkin. However, Lou had been in France for a month and this was his exodus. So he ate everything left on the table except for 1 lonely little rice cake. It sat in the hot sauce, crying, begging for acceptance. No one touched it.
Final thoughts: would come back here with many more people. And order much more to drink. Prolly not the place to drive to but there's public transportation somewhere.
KFC and 1/2 priced beer!
Neighborhood: Inner Richmond
Birthday Free
Neighborhood: Western…
Neighborhood: Outer Sunset
Category: Korean
Neighborhood: Outer Sunset
Category: Korean
Neighborhood: Parkside
Category: Korean
San Bruno, CA
Category: Creperies
Neighborhood: Outer Richmond
Category: Korean
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