Hanyang — Restaurant in Buena Park

After a lot of restaurant hopping we ended up here at Han Yang. Why the heck was every restaurant packed on a Thursday night?? Oh wells, I will try the udon and ramen places next time. After the frustration of not finding a good restaurant with a short wait, I was not disappointed. At Han Yang we waited about 30 minutes. I was afraid of trying this place, because I felt this place was over-hyped on yelp.

3.5 Stars

How do I explain this place? Hmm. If you are korean you will get it the moment you look at the menu. For me, I had no idea what anything was.. I spent a good portion of my 30 minute wait, looking a pictures on yelp to help decide what to order. I ordered Yu Kae Jang and Kalbi Tang.

Yu Kae Jang- I have heard of that's some kind of spicy soup. I thought it was seafood, but this version is with veggies and beef. This was my favorite, although its missing a reasonable amount of beef. The noodle with the soup is good. Soup without the beef and veggies doesn't have much of a taste but redness. I was a bit disappointed because I read reviews about it being super spicy. I think the instant Korean noodles I've had were more spicy. I kinda wanted to add hot sauce. Am I crazy? Not hot enough for a spicy food fan.

Kalbi Tang- sounds like a Kpop singer or Chinese. Tang is Chinese right? Okay maybe a mixed singer. NO! This is a beef ribs, although it looked more like ox tail than the short ribs I was expecting. If you want to know what the soup taste like, it is basically the korean version of PHO shizzle. I slightly like this soup better though, not as msg tasting. Tip- just bite the meat of the bone. If you try to use your soup as a knife you will splash yourself with soup.

Both soups were very tasty, but as a meal it was a bit of joke. Maybe I was really hungry or maybe I'm not a 100 pound korean lady or guy, but this was child's portion of food. Yes, it comes with rice and 3 kimchi side dishes and a lot of soup base but I refilled the dishes many times and I felt like I was eating air. Where's the beef and noodles? Maybe its diet friendly. The soup was tasty... Maybe I should order the cutlet next time with the soup.

My verdict is mixed. If you are not that hungry or you are one of those fine Korean ladies that white girls hate on, then this is enough food. If you are a hungry man, order another dish because the soup is not enough. I recommend this place to try it out. I will need to try it one more time before I send my yelp...

So this place is approved by my bf's parents- who are korean, don't have yelp, and rely on word of mouth for their food recommendations. So you KNOW this place is bomb if it's recommended by older koreans who know their shiz.

Anyways, my first experience is a to-go order. I yelped a place nearby my bf's dentist after my daiso adventure nearby. Once a month I have mad cravings for bibimnaengmyun and this place sure satisfied it. They pack ALL banchan in the to-go package WITH soup. The naengmyun wasn't chewy but was very flavorful. This one comes in a salad form, which I didn't mind because they didn't skimp on the noodles.

2nd experience is also a to-go order of galbitang made by my bf to feed my stupidly sick self. It was AMAZING. The meat cooked longer during his hour drive, which made it super tender and fall-off-the-bone. The sauce they have to dip the meat is PERFECTTT.

3rd experience is after its gentrification.. when the restaurant became less mom and pop, the prices have risen, and the amount of people there have risen even more! The wait was crazy as being hangry makes time go by EVEN SLOWER, but the service was amazing to make up for it. They make sure to take your order while waiting so you have the food ready for you within 5 minutes of sitting down. The waitresses make sure your banchan is never empty. They come by with buckets of goodness to refill it. Unfortunately, it seemed that the meat wasn't cooked through as much as when my bf got it to-go :( But still tasty nonetheless

But next time, I am ordering to-go to avoid this wait, but I can't wait til the next time...

Just had galbitang today after about six months of Covid19 hiatus. I've enjoyed their food for three years I've lived here and honestly at least for galbitang, it has been going down over the years while the price has been going up. Today's galbitang seemed like they are now using less quality beef(it had the taste of old beef) and we could taste MSG, which was surprising given the fact that they are known for the traditional way of cooking which would not need MSG if they use fresh ingredients. I hope they find their principles and craftsmanship. After all, it's easy for a restaurant to lose its credibility and fall, but much harder to find someone who knows how to do things right in the first place, and the chefs at this restaurant know it well. Not all has gone down. The Cirsium rice/"gonderae bibimbob" was just as good as it has always been. The price has gone up for both: now they are $16.99 per dish, which is high, especially for Socal area.

12/15/2024 I went back two months ago due to someone asked to meet there for lunch. The food got better and the price came down. So I went galbitang togo today and it was terrible. The soup was salty...I don't remember if they season it prior to serving since other soups there come out unseasoned so that the customer can season for their own preference. The meat was not cooked thoroughly and the soup had fine clots of blood particles all over. I think the regular chef didn't work today since it is Sunday. So bad and...