Jang Su Jang — Restaurant in Alpharetta

Admittedly I was skeptical about a restaurant that serves both Korean and Japanese food. Granted, the pictures and reviews peaked my interest.

First, on parking, consider parking at the Innovation Academy 2 blocks to the west. After 5 and on weekends it’s open and free. Then you can enjoy walking by the other great bars and venues.

We went early on a Saturday. It was fairly quiet, but picked up quickly.

The decor is upscale and thoughtful. Makes sense since it is in the Hamilton building and downtown Alpharetta. Hoping that doesn’t detract families from trying it. I noticed they have Bibimbop on the menu. When I lived in Korea, that was the goto for kids. Still my little brother’s favorite. I’m doubt, your kids will love the Bulgogi or Galbi.

My wife started with a Lychee martini, which she absolutely loved. I opted for my old school soju. They have flavored soju and even a flight of soju, but I went basic.

For dinner, we ordered several staples: Bulgogi, Jaepchae, Galbi (short ribs), and kimchee fried rice.

Bulgogi - was tastier and more thoughtful than those all you can eat places. Most of those places don’t put much seasoning or marinade into their bulgogi hoping for their in table charcoal to impart the flavor. Here, the marinade was sweet and savory. They even cooked in bunapi mushrooms (I think) which is a clear sign of the greater care and pride their chef takes. It even sat on a small bed of glass noodles, so you can get an idea of what the Jaepchae is like. For context, I’m most other standard Korean BBQ places, my wife and I prefer the Galbi over the Bulgogi for the flavor. Here, she clearly preferred the Bulgogi.

Jaepchae - This dish is traditionally made with sweet potato glass noodles. At Sabu they make it fresh with the standard veggies and give you the option of meat or no meat. It was tasty, but also so fresh that the glass noodles were still steaming (and cooking) when they came out. This can sometimes cause the noodles to stick together. Still tasty.

Galbi - Don’t come here looking for all you can eat short ribs. What you will find is a plate of some very tasty short ribs (enough for one person or multiple if you are sharing). It comes out on a sizzling plate. Don’t forget to eat the crispy onions under the meat. Also, we asked for some samjeung. It’s like a Korean bean paste that goes well with meat. At Sabu, they make their own sauce version that they use to prep dishes. It was perfect. Also, they don’t give you the standard side dishes. We asked for some kimchee.

Kimchee Fried Rice - This was a treat for me. It’s not something I would normally order. The kimchee is not overpowering and the fried rice was also delicious. The wow factor came by way of the large hot plate it is served in with an egg covering the entire bottom. As you eat the rice, the bits of egg give it a crispy texture that is surprisingly good. Try it!

Our service was quick and friendly. The manager Philip spoke to us constantly and even walked us out the front door. Our server Brianna shared that she is an Asian Studies student at KSU.

As thoughtful and well prepared the Korean dishes were, I will definitely try some of the Japanese items next time.

After dinner, we walked around the corner to Some live music on the patio at Mercantile Social and...

Stumbled upon Jang Su Jang the other day and decided to try it out for date night this weekend!

Food: For our appetizer, we got the Spicy Rice Cakes and it was delicious. It comes with rice cakes, flat fish cakes, a red curry, a shrimp tempura skewer, pot stickers, and some noodles all the way at the bottom. This dish was so good! I was extremely impressed with the flavor. My boyfriend ordered the Chicken Teriyaki (best Chicken Teriyaki I've ever had) and it came with a bunch of sides. We tried each one and they were all also very tasty. I especially liked the noodles and potatoes that came as a side. We also got a soup with the Chicken Teriyaki and it was phenomenal. For my entrée, I ordered the Yookgejang Kalguksoo (spicy beef soup with hand cut noodles). Out of everything we ordered, this was our least favorite dish of the night, but it was still good! For dessert, we got the Choco Temptation and it was a super light-weight, hazelnut and chocolate cream cake with a thin wafer in it. It was SO delicious! Highly recommend ordering it if you have a sweet tooth and room for dessert. The portion sizes are also very generous, so come hungry or prepare take a lot of food to go!

Service: The service was probably the biggest letdown of the night. It seemed like they were understaffed, so we were not too bothered by the long wait times, but we did not love how rushed everything was when they did come to our table. At the very end of dinner we asked for boxes for our leftovers and the waitress was very rushed with pouring in our leftovers into the box and spilled a lot of it onto the table and all over the box. Instead of giving us a new box for our food, she sloppily wiped it (there were many food stains all over the outside of the box) and walked away. I was a little grossed out by this experience and wish we could have gotten a new clean box since we still had to touch it to put it in the bag and she had used our napkins to wipe up the table. This was a bummer because the food definitely deserves 5 stars.

Atmosphere: Cute simple interior. Jang Su Jang is very spacious which I liked because I didn't feel like we were too close to any other tables. They were playing football on one of the walls in the restaurant which I felt took away from the elegance of the restaurant a little bit (didn't really match the vibe haha) but I like watching football so I...

I went here for an early dinner with my family and we were not disappointed! We were greeted and seated quickly.

We started off with the black dragon roll, the south main street roll, the Sabu special, bulgogi, and a chirashi don. The food came out very fresh and quick! My mom has a sensitive palate, especially about fish, and she said that the fish they used here was very fresh and didn't have any off-putting smell! The rolls here were very good and they weren't drenched in sauce like some other places so you could actually taste the fish and rice. I personally really liked the black dragon roll, the eel on top was so yummy! The Sabu special is one of their more expensive dishes but definitely worth a try. The lobster was nice and fragrant but not overpowering in the roll. The bulgogi was good too; I liked the flavor of the marinade. The chirashi don was packed full with a variety of fresh and delicious fish! The fish was cut nicely too, not too thin or thick!

I also ordered a virgin Sweet Mule and all I can say is wow! I finished my drink so fast; it was sooo delicious! Definitely would try the alcoholic version next time!

We also had room for dessert so we ordered 2 slices of cake; the Black Forest cake and the Ricotta Pistachio cake. The server told us that the cakes are made by an independent baker who drops them off fresh. The pistachio cake was super light and delicious! I had one bite and I was amazed! It was seriously the lightest dessert I have ever had....it basically melted in my mouth! The black forest cake was equally as delicious. The chocolate flavor was decadent but not overpowering. Both cakes felt like such high-end desserts you would get at a super fancy bakery. I definitely recommend getting a slice of cake, even if you feel full! They were sooo light that it didn't matter how full I was from the delicious food.

The service here was top notch too! We were checked in on often and asked if we needed anything else. They were friendly and accommodating.

I would definitely recommend dining at Sabu! Everything came out fast and fresh! The service was amazing! My only regret is not taking pictures of the food! This place...