Abbaee Soondae — Restaurant in Centreville

I hardly ever write a reviews on Yelp but I had to share my bad first experience here. I came in around lunch and there were no customers but there were two ladies who worked there just sitting in front talking, one of which was doing her makeup. Which I felt looked very unprofessional, especially when the establishment is open and customers can walk in. She could have used the restroom to freshen up if needed. It was my first time there so I asked to have a minute while I looked at the menu. The first lady (makeup lady) who was going to ring me up got impatient and just walked away. I was ready but I kindly waited for her to return in which she took longer so the other lady took care of my order. I told the lady I would be dining in when I placed my order and they took my payment upfront. The service was pretty slow but I didn't say anything just waited. Finally, one or the ladies (makeup lady) told me my order was ready and I saw it was packed up. And I looked at her confused saying I asked to dine in? And she looked at me with an attitude and said "you want to eat here?!" And I just responded yes. She then starts speaking Korean in what seemed to be an annoyed tone. Again, the service was so slow. I thought with my food being already prepared it wouldnt haven't taken much time to transfer it to an eating bowl. But again, I didn't complain I just waited. I ordered the Gamjatang which was okay. I felt like it could have been more flavorful but I asked for more rice. When I finished eating I reminded one of ladies (makeup lady) that I needed to pay for the extra rice and she told me it was $1.50 and I told her okay that's fine and pulled out my card. She asks me "you're going to be paying by card?" Again, with an annoyed tone. And I looked at her like yeah...? So she rings me up annoyed and my card didn't go through because my card was turned off in my banking app by accident. I told her to give me a minute to turn it on and she'll be able to charge it. Again, she got impatient and walked away. I could understand if the restaurant was busy but they weren't. So the other lady rung me up and the payment went through fine. I still tipped 20% for both charges because I just always tip when eating out. But I wouldn't come back here because of the terrible service. To be fair, one of ladies was decently nice but the other one was rude enough for me...

TLDR: Authentic Korean eats in a cozy atmosphere. Come for the superlative soondae and jokbol.

Vibe: 5/5. Tucked away on the bottom level of a office building, Abbaee has a simple layout making it the perfect place for impromptu lunch and dinner meetups. The restaurant is on the smaller side, with about a dozen tables for groups of 2-4 people. Large group dining would be challenging in this space, so best keep the group get togethers for KBBQ.

Service: 5/5. The staff at Abbadae were great from start to finish. My party of 2 went on a Thursday for lunch and we were greeted by the staff and seated immediately. Korean is the preferred language for the restaurant, however English will do just fine. The menus are nicely laid out in both Korean and English with several pictures to use as guides for Korean food newbies. Staff was attentive throughout the whole meal, with orders taken immediately when ready as well as food arriving at the table not too long after that.

Food: 5/5. Very authentic to the point it made me reminisce about the many soondae I had throughout Seoul and Busan. Abbaee offers several varieties of soondae, from the traditional, to a spicy and sweet rice variety. On my lunch visit, I had the traditional soondae, tteokbokki, jokbol and Seolleongtang. Everything tasted fantastic, with the jokbol and soondae taking awards for best in show. The soondae has a nice sought after squishy texture with a pleasant mild flavor and generous in portion size. The jokbol was perfectly cooked, with each bite emitting juicy pork goodness. The tteobokki was what you come to expect from the dish, mildly sweet sauce with subtle spice from the gochujang. The rice cakes were a little on the softer side vs chewy/al dente which is what I personally prefer. Seolleongtang was the most underwhelming of all the dishes, as it was extremely mild in flavor and required a fair amount of doctoring up with the banchan to get it where I wanted. Pricing is very fair for the area, with each dish costing around $10-12 for decent portions. Overall, Abbaee puts out some solid Korean comfort eats that make it the perfect...

20240803 I always get #8 and it was delicious as always!! 20240323 delicious as always!! 20230519 Im back for more pork rib soup 😋20230414 😋 20230216 Have been craving for the pork rib soup all week. Delicious! The waitress was polite! Im stuffed!!! 20221223 My friend, who is Korean, always finds all kind of yummy Korean restaurants, and after he taste-tested them, he would invite me to go with him. Today, we decided to go to Abbaee Soondae, and I am so glad that we did. Their food is delicous. I ordered the pork rib, and first sip of the soup, I can taste the pork rib in the broth. The broth has so much flavor, and there was so much meat and port ribs in the bowl. I love that the broth was still bubbling when it was being served. I also tried the broth of the soup my friend ordered, and it was on the lighter side comparing to the pork rib broth, and it was still very good. The different sausages was interesting. Like the one with the rice most because the texture was smoother. The other 2 sausages has a rough feel because of the ingredients in the sausages. I will definitely come back again. The prices are also reasonable, comparing to Biden's inflation prices that are impacting all businesses and...