Tom B.
Yelp
In short
Huge menu, exceptionally good ingredients, a little more expensive than some spots as a result, huge dining room and STILL always a line out the door.
In long
This isn't the most sumptuous stretch of 99, but the affordable real estate has drawn in tons of great restaurants in between all the car dealerships and strip malls. You can barely see Modoo until you're practically on top of it, but that's not to say it's tough to find. There's just a bunch of landscaping out front blocking the sign.
You could be forgiven for not realizing how great a restaurant there is in a building like this. It's one of those tilt-up office-park-type things that looks like they built it as inexpensively as possible. It's nice as soon as you're inside, though. Big bustling dining room with more rooms off to the side. Tons of booths, tons of tables, tons of families, tons of people overall. You check in on a kiosk and it texts you when you're on deck for the next table, then they call you and guide you back. We were extraordinarily lucky to wait only 10 minutes at 1:30 in the afternoon. At least 5 more parties came in after us.
The menu isn't the longest ever, but there are several dozen choices, many of which you can order with different proteins or starches. No kbbq or kfc, no sullungtang, but otherwise you have pretty much everything you want to eat at a Korean place. Every ingredient and technique is taken to the absolute top tier in every dish we tried, so you can definitely splurge on a fancier, pricier meal here, especially if everybody wants to try lots of things.
And you definitely have to share here. The tables are extra wide to make room for all the plates. Family style all the way.
Banchan
Nice mix of fairly conventional and even seemingly somewhat Americanized dishes along with some interesting and funky flavors.
100 year wine
Worth repeats, reasonably priced, delicious and funky.
Chicken wings
Ordered spicy, next time I'm asking if they can go spicier. Absolutely delicious. We started to say they were worth the visit all on their own, and somebody at the next table said literally the same thing at the same time.
Soft tofu soup
Probably as good as any I've had anywhere. We ordered a mix of beef, kimchi, and seafood, and the brininess of the seafood might be better left out next time. Comes out at a roaring boil, after your server already dropped off a raw egg that you add right away. Fun!
Jjusami
$44 for multiple servings worth of food. Thinly-sliced pork belly, no excess of fat, thankfully. Nice chewy squid ("webfoot octopus"). Awesome huge flavors. They will turn the extra broth into fried rice if you like.
Seafood pancake
I haven't tried every single one of these in town, but I dunno how you could make a better one. Beautifully tender octopus, tons of other sea proteins, all sparkling fresh and flavorful.
They have a huge staff here, I think 4 people visited just our table with all the different dishes and orders. Everything comes out when it's ready, so they just keep hitting you with food. Every single ingredient we tasted seemed like they were getting the best of everything--never even the slightest hint of off flavor or unwelcome chewiness or anything. Generous portions, all cooked exactly to temp and seasoned with great balance and explosive flavors.
This kind of caring attention to detail costs a little more than many of the more-informal spots around town. It's so, so worth it. And this has to be one of the most-packed restaurants I've seen in a while, aside from maybe a place across the street from a big event or something like that. There's a reason there's always a line out the door. You gotta check it out.