Amber B.
Yelp
This review is catered to folks who are concerned about not speaking Korean, since this establishment - in my experience and according to some other reviews - is mostly conducted in Korean. Long story short: you'll be fine if you don't speak Korean!
I love authentic hole-in-the-wall places like this! I walked in right at noon on a weekday, worried it would be busy, but there was one table open (and most of the folks already there left by 12:30). I was also slightly concerned about being a single eater since my experience in Korea is that many restaurants don't really cater to single servings, or the servings would be very large - but that was not an issue at all. I don't know what size you might get if you ordered one stew for two or more people, but I got a perfectly single-sized hot bowl. You just come in the door and seat yourself at an open table. Unfortunately all the tables are for 4 people so if you're a single or double eater you'll take up a whole space. Maybe during a busier time they would seat single eaters together, I'm not sure. Like other reviews have mentioned there are maybe only 10 or so tables in there.
Service: great. Saw another review saying the service was bad, possibly because they weren't Korean speakers. Indeed everyone in there was speaking Korean, and the staff was also speaking Korean. I speak some, but I was initially approached with English (the specific lady working when I was there had simple English but I was able to understand. We used a combo of Korean + English to communicate since my Korean isn't fluent either). We had a brief conversation in Korean and she was very sweet. If you don't speak any Korean, the menus are in English and, push comes to shove, pointing to the menu is probably all you'll need. (But again to be clear the staff DID speak basic English to me that would have worked just fine had I not spoken Korean at all). If you're familiar with ordering/service culture in Korea you'll know that they don't really come around and check on you as often, so if you need something you'll need to get their attention. If you don't speak Korean at all, it is relatively easy to get their attention because the space is very small and you can probably catch their eye. This is kind of what happened to me at the end when I was about ready to leave.
Food: I did not try their cheonggukjang but I had the doenjang jjigae, which I was craving and it was delicious. The banchan were also really good and at the end the staff was trying to explain to me that one of the banchan (which I was not eating because I didn't like it) was good for digestion so I ate some anyway. You are offered cold or hot "water" (that's what the Korean-speaking customers were saying), which is barley tea. This was presented to me as "tea" so I expected it. The prices are reasonable for LA. The food is also very filling so if $15 for a stew + rice + banchan seems expensive to you, you can get any remaining packed up to have for dinner! From a sign on the wall (in Korean), a to-go box is an extra $0.50 - $1 depending on the size. I didn't see this price reflected in my bill, so I'm not really sure what happened there. I did ask for my soup/stew to be packed up (in Korean) but it seemed that everyone else there had their food packed up so if you don't speak Korean, "to-go box" is how it's written on the sign.
Parking: There is a small lot, as this restaurant is part of a mini strip-mall on a corner.
Other: I saw every other group in there paying with cash, so I got a little worried as I did not have adequate cash on me. But I paid with my card just fine.
If you do have any level of Korean, I would encourage you to try and use it! The lady who helped me was very surprised and we had a short conversation, and obviously it helped with ordering and other communication. It felt like I was back in the small towns and cities of Korea, in the best way.
