| Specializing in Lunch Buffet |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 992
Reviewed: 8/12/2004
Rating: 7
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Korea House was recommended by one of the agents. Its one of his favorite places to go since its cheap and close to his house. Terry and I had somewhat of a high expectation since hes been busting our balls to try it out. Right off San Tomas Expressway, make a left on El Camino Real, and Korea House will be on your right side.
We went there around 12 and there was a long line for the buffet. Luckily for us, the line went very smoothly. With about 5 veggie plates to choose from and roughly 10 or so chinese, japanese, and korean dishes to munch on. They should just stick to Korean cuisine, why bother with the japanese sushi. Speaking of sushi, they had MEAT sushi? Small slivers of beef tucked into a roll. It was below average tasting..definitely not something I would order off the menu. I was too scared to try the salmon, and tuna.
Buffets normally scare me...quality is lower and presentation is a joke. At todays buffet, the food was stacked about 1 feet over the steel tray. Its like they shoveled this food into the serving platters.
On my plate to eat spouts, rice, fried chicken, short ribs, meat sushi, and clear noodles. The only thing that saved this place from anything below 7 was the short ribs and fried chicken. Fried chicken was crispy with a hint of ginger on it. The short ribs were great!! Probably marinated overnight cooked over mesquite chips. Im glad I had self control today, I could have eaten myself to sleep.
I know this review might sound negative but if you want good tasting short ribs, a cheap meal, and all you can eat Korea House might fit your bill. I hear it gets busy during dinner and also try ordering for dinner, quality of food goes up. Buffet isnt veggie friendly so you might want to pass if you're a vegetarian.
**Update 01.22.05**
I said..."With about 5 veggie plates to choose from and roughly 10 or so chinese, japanese, and korean dishes to munch on. They should just stick to Korean cuisine, why bother with the japanese sushi."
Thanks to Niki for making a good point...
"There are some similarities and distinctive differences between the cuisines of these 3 countries. Because of its geographical location, Korean cuisine has both Japanese and Chinese influences; however, Korean style Chinese food to me is still Korean"
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Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 723
Reviewed: 8/12/2004
Rating: 6
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Korea House was a wishlist item we decided to tackle. We arrived here fairly quickly and found the place completely bustling. Lots of folks lined up for the fairly cheap ($6.99) KoreanChineseJapanese buffet. The seating seemed very limited yet we had little problem finding a place to sit.
We quickly got in line at the buffet which snaked 12 way across the restaurant. Wait was long (over 10 minutes - doesn't this long wait defeat the benefit of a buffet?)
I got to the food. Not much choice here but there was plenty of what they did have. I found every dish (save 1 or 2) had some sort of beef, pork, or chicken in it. :( A bit disappointing to say the least. Even the sushi rolls had pork in them!
The food was quite popular with the folks there, so I can't say that no one was having a good time there. It just didn't appeal to non-meat eaters like myself. I think Korean food just doesn't appeal to me, haven't found any I would rate higher than this place. I prefer Japanese or Chinese food (which they claimed to have but I couldn't find any that was Americanized enough. )
Will I be going back? Probably not. It was a far enough drive, that I'd be willing to experiment on a new place before I go back here willingly.
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Reviewer: Eddie
Total Reviews: 47
Reviewed: 8/14/2004
Rating: 9
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I felt I need to defend Korea House here since I am the one who submitted the wishlist. I specifically told them NOT to go for the lunch buffet and if they have to go during lunch, order from the menu instead of going for the buffet. Well, what do you know. Not only they go for the lunch but opt for the cheap buffet and then bi***ing about it.
Anyway, my recommendation: go there for dinner, either early or around 8:30 or you are looking at least 20 min wait. My favorites:
1. Juicy tender Korean BBQ short ribs
2. Boiled mackerel with saltflatfish
3. Sliced raw fish with seasonings over steamed rice (if you love sashimi, this would be an excellent new experience)
4. Pancake with beef, green onion and oyster
With more than 10 dishes of kimchi they serve with steamed rice, there would be more than enough for you (and your parties). The lovely hostess also makes sure that you are well fed.
If you have any doubt with my review, just drive by during dinner time and see for yourself. All the people waiting in line can't be wrong.
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Reviewer: Julie
Total Reviews: 46
Reviewed: 8/13/2004
Rating: 6.5
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Buffets have a unique ability to scare me away from eating anything. In the case of Korea House, my lunch mostly consisted of iceburg lettuce and rice. Mmmm...
I guess I have to admit that I'm a picky eater. Ambiguous piles of meat products at a Korean buffet is not on the list of things I eat. As you can see from the pictures, many of the buffet items fit this category. And when you have to look really hard to decide if something is fish or meat and even then still aren't sure...*shudder*
The fried chicken was good, and I tried one of jason's meat things and that was pretty good too. The other problem with this particular buffet was that the line was so long, you didn't want to go back. Usually, when eating at buffets, I get a really small amount of several things and then go back and get actual servings of the things I turned out to like. In this case, I didn't bother to go back because it would have taken too long.
The food actually tasted okay, but well...I just didn't like it. At least it was cheap. |
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Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 165
Reviewed: 8/17/2005
Rating: 6.5
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The line for Korea House buffet during lunch hour is ridiculous. I went there several times for lunch buffet when I worked near by, not by choice but had to go for free company lunches. If I could have passed on the free lunch at Korea House I would have, for some reason my co workers seemed to love this place. Lunch was 6.95 I think and there was aplenty of food.
To truly appreciate Korea House, you cannot eat the lunch buffet and make a judgment call. You MUST visit during dinner time and order off the menu for true authenticity.
Reasons to avoid the lunch buffet:
The dishes they put out during buffet you can also eat during dinner for free since they serve samples in small dishes, like how they do it at ToFu House. The quality is not that great, I question the freshness of the food they serve during lunch. Do not eat the Sushi during lunch. The freshness of the Sushi is lacking. You come for the Korean flavor, why are they serving Japanese? Seems like most buffet's serves sushi as a staple to the menu.
The parking sucks during peek lunch hours and there are really no where else to park nearby unless you feel like taking a long stroll. The buffet lines are long, sometimes they weave through where people sit and eat, and making it hard for those who are seated to get up to get more food, plus who likes people watching over them while they eat? The lunch lines need to be organized better.
This is one time I prefer quality over quantity when it comes to buffet. There's nothing special during the lunch buffet to separate it from other Korean restaurants that also serve lunch time buffet.
Reasons to eat during dinner:
The owner is friendly; she'll take care of you. If you're not eating she'll show you how to eat, by teaching you how to wrap your rice and meats and veggies into dried seaweed.
The dishes served from the menu are authentic Korean dishes. The owner makes very good recommendations when you're in doubt. The meal comes well within ones budget and just the free side dishes fill you up allowing you to take the leftovers home. |
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Reviewer: Phuc
Total Reviews: 13
Reviewed: 8/19/2005
Rating: 9.5
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Although it is true that the buffet sucks (can't expect too much for $7 or $8) this place is great for dinner. I came here once for the buffet, and never came back. It wasn't until a friend of mine (she's Korean) had her birthday dinner here that I came back.
Since what everyone else wrote about the buffet is true, I won't need to say anything else about it.
For dinner, you get about ten different little sides (kim chi, tofu, sardines, bean sprouts, chili oil cabbage, etc...) the most I've seen at a korean place, and they are all pretty good too. You can almost get full off of those. Sometimes there will be a nice old korean lady coming around filling up your water and making you some sushi rolls out of those side dishes and some seaweed.
When we went they gave us a few plates of those clear noodles (forgot what the real name is) for free.
The truth is, most of the galbi (spare ribs) at a lot of korean places, while one of my favorite things to eat, almost always tastes the same with minor differences. Some places use sesame seeds, some places use a lot of onions, etc... This place makes it pretty darn good. We ordered a few types of fish also, all were good also. The marinated bbq pork was a little spicy, probably not the healthiest dish, but I liked it. The kim chi noodles was also good, especially on a cold day. An appetizer I really liked was the oysters with egg. Kind of like an omelette with whole cooked oysters in it with some sauce on the side. The oysters were juicy and flavorful. I recommend it.
I like Korean food as a whole but no Korean place has blown my mind away (although my taste buds might be). I guess instead of presentation, good ol' fashion homecooking is what they focus on. So normally, I would rate this place a 9, but since it is my favorite Korean place (side dishes, service, overall value) I will give it an extra .5.
Try this place, or try it again at dinner. |
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Reviewer: Miriam
Total Reviews: 5
Reviewed: 9/25/2005
Rating: 8.5
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Great for groups, and DINNER only, as said by all other supporters. I've yet to find an amazing Korean restaurant either, and having lived in Korea three years, I'm picky. Buuut, this place does the job when I have cravings. Usually, though, it's too busy for me day or night, and I go to another one down the street I can't remember the name of; I'll look it up and wishlist it.
All times I've gone, Korean friends were in my party and we had the added bonus of their communication skills. That said, newbies to Korean food, people frightened of spicy food, and vegetarians all ate well and left happy.
Our service was biased due to us filling up entire tables and ordering tons of food. We got frequent refills and our hostess kept the side plates coming to the point that we took BOXES of it home. They literally didn't stop, even when we still had multiple FULL side plates on the table. Note that these sides are FREE. We took home BOXES. Radishes, lettuce, japchae (the clear, warm noodles, similar to Filipino pansit), bean sprouts, winter kimchi, summer kimchi, kimchi up the wazoo. We were well satisfied.
Standards on the menu were just fine. Bulgolgi (beef), bibimbap ('fried rice' with you will, but assembled with various mixings and cooking in a cast iron pot just as it gets to your table), mandu (korean potstickers, the god of all potstickers and my absolute fav, but theirs were a bit too fried for me). Their japchae was really yummy.
We also took soju bombs (note - soju is the korean equivalent of sake but FAR more potent and liable to give you alcohol poisoning if abused). Again, we all left quite ... happy.
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A note on the mixing of cultures and what you'll find on many public Korean menus.
Korean food has merged into Chinese and Japanese food in America in order to be more readily eaten. Ie, most westerners don't think of Korea when they think of Asian food. They're like, I know Korea is a country but ... they have their own food? YES! THEY DO! Alas, when most Westerners hear 'Korean food' they have no idea what that means, nor do they want to try it.
Therefore when a Korean restaurant opens up, what's one of the first things they put on their menu if they're going to put an English sign up? Sushi. Yes. This is sacrilege. Korean seaweed and rice rolls are called kimbap and involve NO RAW OR COOKED MEAT OR SEAFOOD. There's plenty in the Korean menu to satisfy veg-heads, my friends. And I honestly prefer kimbap to sushi, thank you very much.
The only way you're going to get a REAL, unmerged Korean menu is to show up at what MAY be a restaurant (ie, where you've smelled food wafting out after people waddling back to their cars). They'll generally have a sign written only in hongul (ie, they didn't bother advertising what they we | | |
