Koreana — Restaurant in Galesburg

Visiting Knox College from out of town, Koreana was recommended. We were three people. I got the buffet, one got a ramen, and one got a bibimbop. We also shared some bulgogi fries for some bizarre reason (they did not disappoint).

The buffet included a couple soups, both the beef and pork bulgogi, plain and fried rice, fried chicken, fried dumplings, deep fried green beans, a selection of all their pickles, and a couple of desserts. The buffet was as fresh as a buffet can be and was checked/replenished several times during our meal. Everything was very good. The green beans were especially tasty - al dente and flavorful. Only the fried rice was shy of perfect, as it was a little bland and had some dried/hard pieces. Overall, everything was less salty than I expected - which is a plus for me. I appreciated being able to try all the 6 kinds of "pickles" - kimchi, cucumbers, Korean slaw, par-cooked broccoli and cauliflower, and 2 more I cannot remember. One of the dessert options was a matcha cookie with white chocolate chips. It was a crispy (not soft and chewy) cookie, but it had discernible green tea flavor. The other was deep an egg roll wrapper with a cream cheese filling deep fried and served with a berry compote - like a cross between a crab rangoon and a blintz. Odd but tasty.

The fries were french fries topped with beef bulgogi, kimchee, and mayonnaise. It was fresh, weird, good, and totally superfluous.

The ramen was excellent and had plenty of heat, both temperature and spice (we ordered it to be the spiciest). The bibimbop also well-praised.

The atmosphere was clean but spare and a little "dinerish." The service was excellent, friendly, responsive,...

I was really disappointed after all the hype there was through other reviews. The BF got the bibimbap which was served in a beautiful bowl but all in all was just fine. I had the beef which was actually very well made, not to my taste but I wasn't really sure what I was ordering. It tasted sweet and I'm not a fan of that but I still recognize a well made dish. The egg drop soup was very watery unfortunately, as that is a personal favorite. Dumplings were stellar though.

The actual problem of the restaurant was our server. She was unaware of how to pronounce the names of dishes. She couldn't really tell use what they were or what they tasted like outside of what was written on the menu. She actually misidentified a topping we really enjoyed as kimchi (well looked it up at home as it most definitely was not kimchi). She forgot a few things throughout the night and as a previous waitress, I can say it wasn't busy at all.

The restaurant also looks pretty empty as far as decor but that could be something they're working on. They desperately need a better drink menu as they had many Korean beers and soju that we didn't get to try because they weren't on the drink menu (it just had your basic beers and wines).

Overall, the food was fine but the whole experience was kind of spoiled by the service. We didn't mind the limited menu but being unable to have the dishes explained to us lead to us both ordering something we didn't want. The space was a bit awkward and empty but not enough to bother us. All things considered I don't think...

I hesitated eating here because of my many food allergies, and finally just messaged the owner. She was incredible! Since our daughter raves about Koreana, our son had only positives, and I got excellent info in advance, I ventured in. Not only did the owner recall my messaging, she looked farther and had additional info! And then she kindly answered our questions, too.

The food is excellent! I had the buffet; others had the Kimchi beef bulgogi fries, Egg rolls, and the Pork ramen soup. Every flavor in the buffet offerings has to be savored -- everything is wonderful. I can attest to the excellence of the beef over rice and over the vegetable noodles (gluten free!). The cold offerings, seasoned radish, spinach, several kinds of kimchi, all blended well with the warm side.

I liked the egg rolls the least; they were still so good I went back for a second. They are also gluten-free, which is a huge bonus to me. The buffet items have excellent flavors that complement each other -- even the rice is tasty!

Service was excellent, the atmosphere was homey and friendly and spotless (before we tracked in snow and ice melt), and we all went away happily full (with a couple of take-out containers for...