Its Tofu — Restaurant in Irvine

Came for dinner on a Wednesday night around 7 and we waited less than 10 minutes to be seated. Conveniently located walking distance to Zion if you need to do any shopping afterwards. Interior is clean and neat. Our family of 5 sat in a booth. They provided utensils and water right away. They gave us a new bottle of water too before we asked when we placed the empty one on the edge of the table. Almost right after we ordered the ban chan came out followed by the stone pot rice for the soft tofu soups we ordered.

My favorite part was the ban chan- they had a different selection of what I’m used to eating and everything was tasty. You could taste the sugar/sweetener in most of the side dishes which probably explains the tastiness. My favorites were soy braised peppers with potatoes and tteokbokki. The ban chan they served: vegetable pancake, tteokbokki (spicy ricecake), japchae (glass noodles), spicy spinach, soy braised potatoes with peppers, bean sprouts, kimchi, and Cheongpomuk (mung bean jelly with soy sauce). The braised potato dish also has seasoned quail egg which my son love! They also refill any of the ban chan on request. We ordered: Mixed, Beef, and Dumpling tofu soups. All soups come with an egg, fried fish, and stone pot white rice. They make sungnyung by pouring bori cha (barley water/tea) over the rice stuck at the bottom of the stone pot. I had some and it was pretty tasty. Got a combination meal of the marinated beef ribs and vegetable tofu soup. The combos have a smaller bowl. Kids tofu soup which is for age 7 or less. Came with white tofu soup, kkakdugi (radish kimchi), 3 small fried dumplings, 2 rolled rice balls with sesame seeds and seaweed, and a very generous amount of japchae. The dumplings are small and look store bought frozen dumplings but they were good.

I had the dumpling tofu soup and it had the same dumplings as the kids meal. Small dumplings- maybe 5 or 6 in my meal. There was a very generous amount of tofu in the soup. I couldn’t finish everything. Soup is definitely brought out hot enough to cook the egg to the desired consistency. Soup was not completely bland but also not the most flavorful I’ve had.

Service was excellent! They were available to provide us what we needed even during the weekend dinner rush with all tables...

This is my first time leaving a review for a restaurant. I used to visit this place when it was Duree Restaurant. I noticed they were renovating, and I visited on the first day of their soft opening about 10 days ago. Since then, I have already been back about 6 times because my son loves their tofu. He always orders the Budaejjigue tofu. I have tried dishes like Galbitang, Seafood pajeon, Dumplings, gopchang tofu, chadol tofu, and more. They also serve many delicious Korean side dishes that taste homemade!

The restaurant is very clean and modern, with a spacious and inviting environment. The staff is friendly and I had the chance to talk to the owner, who clearly loves his job and has years of experience in the industry. The soft opening only offered dinner service without takeout to focus on perfecting the food and service. The kitchen and serving staff are still getting used to working together, but they are improving over time. During my today’s visit, I was surprised to see the restaurant almost full of customers. They now offer lunch and dinner service as well as takeout. They currently close at 9 pm, but the hours may be extended in the future. Some menu items like Jokbal and Eundaegujorim are not available yet, but they are definitely worth trying in the future. I always forget to take a picture before I start eating, but I wish I had captured the dishes each time but here is a picture I took while waiting for my main dish.

I definitely recommend visiting before it gets crowded with a long waiting list in the future, which I believe will...

반찬 재탕이 아닌 쓰래기 탕. I am leaving a review right after I witnessed something I could never imagine in United States (26Aug2025 19:05). When I entered the restaurant, a bus lady was cleaning a table removing all the side dishes(반찬) in a waste tray. Then, a server lady came and scolded at the bus lady. It seems like there was a miscommunication between two. What happened next shocked me the most. The server lady brought out those dishes from the waste tray and put them back on the table again. Few minutes later, a customer and her daughter came back from restroom to finish the food. I couldnt say anything since they have already begun eating that same food before i say any. I was on my way to LAX with my friend and did not want to make big out of it. My last conscious wanted to let them know but I couldnt as they seemed to have a great time together. Even worse, the customer even packed the left-over with her... I used to go to this restaurant once a while, but treating their customers less than the food trash made me so uncomfortable. The restaurant just demostrated its lowest ethics and morality. Funny thing is that I cut myself with credit card when i was paying, which never happened in my life. Could be my karma of not speaking out... I hope the restaurant owner rewinds the cctv. I am ready to be called for duty if the owner of the restaurant rejects what has happened on 26 Aug...