Ernie C.
Yelp
Stopped in for the soft opening after seeing an ad on social media . . . I was excited to try the place out, especially as I was craving Korean food, and gimbap (rice and fillings in a seaweed roll, similar to a sushi roll, subbing Korean flavors and fillings for the raw fish) sounded great.
The space is cute, with a black and white theme going, kind of a a mix between a fancy dining room and a bistro. There's a large chandelier which dominates the space, over two display cases and the counter in the back, while there's a half-dozen or so small two-tops in the front, with some fake windows on the wall to give it a street cafe kind of vibe.
There were two cold display cases up front that mainly had different types of gimbap on display, though the display wasn't super helpful - hard to tell what the fillings are in gimbap, even if you see a cross section and they're layed out artistically, but these were still in rolled up form in take out containers, so they all pretty much looked alike, and I ended up relying upon the menu descriptions instead.
The variety of gimbaps they had was impressive, with probably close to 20 different items, ranging from a traditional gimbap to things like asparagus, tofu, bulgogi wrapped, etc. The menu also included some various katsu items, as well as bibimbap, and some appetizers. I almost got the bibimbap but I wanted to try out a few different things. I was stoked to see kimchi jeon (pancake) on the menu, but then a little disappointed when they didn't have it (which I totally get is part of a soft opening). I ended up ordering a spam gimbap, a kimchi gimbap, and a tteokbokki (spicy rice cake). The menu definitely encourages a bit of mix and match with the gimbap roll prices from $4 to $7 or so, and the appetizers being in the same range. (The katsu items and the bibimbap were in the $15 to $20 range). There was also complimentary soup station next to where you ordered, so I made myself a little bowl of miso, adding in some seaweed, tofu, and green onions, which was a nice little touch.
Was a little surprised when the food came out as the presentation was way fancier than I expected - the two gimbap were on a big plate with a small salad on the side, as well as ramekin of some kind of spicy aioli, while the tteokbokki was in an oversized bowl.
I really liked the spam gimbap (hard to go wrong with that salty goodness). The kimchi one was fine, though I would have liked a bit more kimchi flavor - felt like there wasn't much kimchi, and it was pretty fresh, so you didn't get the strong fermented punch you might expect (though might be more popular for Western palettes with the fresher kimchi). I could have used some chojang (a spicy dipping sauce that's mainly Korean gochujang) instead of the aioli.
That being said, the tteokbokki filled that gap. It had that blend of sweet and spicy I was looking for, and plenty of sauce for dipping in the gimbap pieces. The other surprise with the tteokbokki was the egg - I thought it'd be a hard boiled egg, and was a little surprised it hadn't been cut in half. I split it with my chopsticks, and was pleasantly surprised to find a perfectly soft-boiled egg with a brilliantly runny yolk.
Overall, I liked the spot and definitely want to try stopping in again. The price point is pretty wallet friendly and encourages trying several items, which is great when the menu has so many options.
Protip: make sure to order the tteokbokki and to dip your gimbap pieces in the sauce if you want a little spicy kick.