Baek Ban Korean Restaurant (백반) — Restaurant in Chantilly

Visited on a Sunday night for dinner with my family of 8. Decent sized restaurant for large parties or small. I also noticed a party room at the back of the restaurant. Ordering is done at the self-order tablet at the front, however, the payment was not working so we ordered with the solo worker in the register at the back. It looks like she was the only one to take orders and setting up the trays of food. There was some confusion because in the kiosk it showed an option for “Baekban combo” and “Combo Set” - not sure if there was a difference?

The little banchan was different for every entree but each dish was so good! There was a large variety and it was nice that each entree came with something different. Portion size was great and I thought the whole tray of food matched the price point. The only critique I have is that the noodles for the mul naengmyun was not cooked thoroughly and some parts were hard and stuck together. They also have take out containers for any leftover foods. Everything is self-serve, and you’ll have to return the dirty trays to the back.

The owner came to each table towards the end of the meal and served frozen/slushee shikhae. Perfect end...

Baek Ban is as solid as fast casual Korean food can get in the Centreville/Chantilly area. It’s now my third time visiting, and it’s been solid, excellent, or above and beyond each and every time. The food comes out consistently hot and good quality with more than generous portion sizes and a fun variety of banchan (side dishes). I’ve tried the galbi, sundubu, and jeyuk entrees. My friends and/or family have tried the mackerel, jjamppong, jajangmyun, ginseng chicken, and more. Every single things that all of us had gotten had come all come out with a really unique set of side dishes, and they’re good abt rotating it out too when you visit, so it’s a bit of a “new” experience each time. The owner (maybe manager) had also been so kind as to provide my family of 10 complimentary dduk (fresh made rice cakes; it was still hot and steaming) and shikhye slushies (Korean rice punch). They were attentive to the size of our group and had also been relatively fast about getting the meals out quickly, despite everyone having a multitude of different food order types. 10/10 recommend. Honestly, I’m here once a week...

I don’t write reviews but my meal here was extremely disappointing. First, you have to order at a single kiosk yet also come to the front to confirm your order, which felt inefficient given how busy the restaurant is.

We ordered LA galbi and bulgogi, which took about an hour for us to receive. Initially after waiting about 50 minutes, we were called to pick up our order, but then shooed away to wait another 5-10 minutes without any explanation— despite our completed orders being on the counter. Once we finally received our orders, the food was unsurprisingly cold. Additionally, the galbi was overcooked, the portions were quite small given the price, and it didn’t come with rice even though rice was pictured in the menu.

Overall, the flavors of the food are good, and the authentic self-service concept is nice, but the unreasonably long wait and subpar service made the experience...