DOMA Korean Kitchen — Restaurant in Charlottesville

WOW! First off idk how anyone can give this place anything but 5 stars. Korean food, in my opinion, has the best flavors in the world. I am a "Korean food aficionado" and I love to try different Korean restaurants every where I travel to. Best dish combo is beef bulgogi (dolsot+) bibimbap, kimchi, and pickled daikon radish. Thats usually my go to and I can eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner every day for the rest of my life. My favorite spot to get this was in Little Ferry NJ, which I would occasionally go to when I loved in NY. But DOMA is now my favorite Korean restaurant on earth and I don't think their will ever be a location I find as remarkable. Amazingly good food. Flavor is undescribable. Must must go. Get the combination of items I mentioned previously. Also comes with a very good gochujang sauce that I WISH they would tell me the recipe for. I live 2 hrs away from here and can't wait to come back for more. So far I've eaten there 3 nights in a row, and I will probably go there 1 last time tomorrow before I head home. On top of the good food I criticize restaurants based on the taste of their water. Some restaurants either don't filter the water or don't change the filters. The water at DOMAs is some of the high quality h2o water that tastes like its melted from the cleanest glacier on the highest mountain. They definitely have a high quality filter and change the filters. Rastaurant is also very clean and they have some good alcohol options. Staff is extremely friendly, smile a lot, and provide very good and fast service. Boomers and GenX be prepared to scan a qr code with your camera to get to the paperless menu. Prices are very very reasonable especially considering the quality Anyone giving DOMA anything less than 5 stars is either narcissistic or had their taste buds burned off. I wish I could try all there menu items but I can't help myself but to get the same thing that I love so much. Wonder if they would...

The aesthetic of the place is definitely a raw materials/urban vibe yet with a comfortable seating area similar to chipotle's decor and other newly established fast casual restaurants. The workers were all great and very friendly.

I highly suggest getting the bibimbap in the hot stone bowl to keep your food warm. We ate as a group of 6 and some people mentioned their food was no longer hot, but mine was steaming hot even halfway into my meal. The beef was very flavorful and delicious. I noticed there was not a lot of rice in the bowl, which is fine with me as I enjoyed the fried egg, beef, and plentiful toppings (sautéed onions, carrots, sprouts, zucchini, and greens). If you love rice you may have to order some extra rice. The bowl was filling though!

I tried the BBQ burger also. It is not a hamburger patty, but the strips of Korean beef BBQ with a saucy mixture of mayo and their own additions. The fries that cane with the burger were large, crispy, crinkle and delicious! I actually enjoyed the burger a bit more The tofu udon plate looked great as well and my niece said she enjoyed it as well.

If the wings were as fantastic as I am used to Korean Fried Chicken (KFC) being I certainly would have rated this place 5 stars. I am used to the super crispy wings offered at Bon Chon and other Korean restaurants. While the wings here were pretty good and we enjoyed the sauce I wish they were the extra crispy type I was anticipating. To be fair, they didn't mention them as KFC on the menu, maybe they only offered regular wings here? But if you crave wings, by all means order them! Just don't expect the extra extra crispiness. I would definitely add this to my list of restaurants that I would visit again.

Conclusion: go here and try...

We dined on Sept 28, 2019 at around 5:30 PM. Never in my life have I experienced such a rude waiter. He was young and the only male waiter that evening. My boyfriend and I dined here for the first time and ordered sweet chili wings as an appetizer, and then Doma Korean bbq chicken plate and Doma Bokum Udon. At the start we had a young female waitress who took our order and was very nice. Then for the rest of our dining experience, we had the rude male. First he brought us our entrees, and then the chef gave him the chicken wings to put at our table. And the waiter said (very loudly) "they got chicken wings on top of all the food they already have?" I felt so embarrassed. I really didn't think it was necessary to say that, especially since we only ordered one appetizer and 2 entrees. For the remainder of the night this waiter was incredibly rude to us, treating us as if we were not welcome. At the end, I asked for a box for the remainder of our food. And he brings over a box but then also grabs our plates with the remaining food on it and walks away very quickly. So I guess we weren't allowed to take the remaining food we paid for? Overall, the waiter made this the worst dining experience I have ever had. The food was alright. The wings were very good. The Korean bbq plate was terribly overpriced. It was $16 for some dry chicken on top of cabbage, a small bowl of rice and lettuce. The udon noodles were okay. It was about 85% vegetables, 15% meat and noodles. Definitely not a dish for noodle lovers. I will not be returning and advising others not to go here because of...