Soju 101 — Restaurant in Katy

I can see all of the comments of this being empty half the time, one reason only…… OVERPRICED HIGHWAY ROBBERY. You are seriously going to charge 2-3 times the price knowing this exact bottle is only $5 at total wine, you pray on people that are drunk and don’t see what they are spending. I walked out of there when I saw the ridiculous price on everything, the owner of this place seriously needs to bring down the price on everything especially those stupid Soju bottles, and the portions of the food let talk about it. Quit acting like you are a 5 star place charging people $20 for lunch portion foods. Literally I saw a buguli for $20 and when I saw it served literally who you are trying to feed? These are bite sized portions. I understand the crisis every business is going through but $20 for 1 portion and $17 for a soju bottle? You should ashamed of yourself robbing people money. Just because business are struggling doesn’t mean you should make your customers struggle for a good time, bring down your prices. You can still a good amount of profit with 4 times to volume charging a REASONABLE charge. Bottles should be around $9-10 and food should be around $12-$15 and I can assure you that your volume will increase. If you think this is ethical charging people that robbery price well I will make sure I tell everyone to never come here, trust me.

UPDATE:** replying to the owner- thank god you mentioned the beer pricing because it sounds like you dont know what a fair upcharge is and instead you want abuse that by price gouging it. Yes beer at home will cost $1 and yes going out will cost you anywhere from $3-4 not 6 unless you got to stadiums…. Regret to inform you sir that you dont own a stadium which means i stand what i say and its correct that you are abusing it by charging what cost you less than $5 since you get them at whole price and not retail price, pay all the taxes you want but still does not justify your reasoning and math of going from $4 ish to $16????? Like come on i would expect more...

I am torn at giving this place any kind of rating but I will for the food. First and foremost I came upon this restaurant by way of TikTok. I'm not even sure where to start. Pulled up, the place was EMPTY; didn't know if it was open until we tried the filthy door. The outside looked deserted. Windows were disgusting.

Door opened, counter was cluttered with junk. We were seated, no other clients in there. Multiple tables stacked with trash, not clean from previous clients. I went to restroom which was beyond disgusting. The floor was sticky, the walls were dingy with dirty hands repeatedly touching them, no seat covers, floor covered in trash, filthy sink, towel dispenser, dirt crust ALLLLLL OVER THE PLACE. I left, came out, passed the bar, asked the young kid if he was the only one here, he said yes. As I continue to the booth, my shoes stick to the ground from the urine soaked restroom floors. I told my friend let's go is gross in here, he said he already ordered drinks. I looked back at the young kid and asked if he was the cook, he said no.

As I'm holding the dirty menu, I look up and watch this young kid eating and playing on his phone at the bar.... while the dirty tables remained with trash. He eventually makes his way back to us, takes our order, advises the kitchen, and goes back to his spot of eating and being on his phone.

Food comes, VERY SURPRISED. ordered normal Ramen soup for 5.99 WHICH WAS AMAZING, garlic parm wings which were crunchy and garlicky and scrumptious, no fatty parts! We also ordered French fries with cheese, bacon and kimchi...ehhh they were ok and finally pork dumplings. These had a different filling than a normal dumpling, they weren't bad but I wouldn't order them again.

We were there over an hour, 2 other customers, tables remained filthy and kids remained at the bar on his phone.

Would I return? Only for the ramen... and it'd be to go.

HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT

I hope the owner reads this review and gets a cleanup crew, a painting crew...

Really good place to drink and enjoy some Korean food. Great atmosphere. Not too loud. And as a Korean, I can safely say, best Korean food in Houston by far. Long review of the foods: We have the following: fries (deep fried spam), 101 pork, smoke pork feet, Don katsu, chicken fondue, sauced fried chicken and buttered fries. •Deep fried spam was great. For the dipping sauce, the ratio between Mayo and ketchup was off. Like 80/20. Nothing a simple request for more ketchup couldn't fix. Even my friends who loath spam loved it when they didn't know it was spam. The thick crispy panko batter wrapped the strips of spam were great. Sweet, salty, savory. The trifecta of flavor. Pro tip, I'd ask for kimchi on the side and try it with that. The the spice and sourness added to the other three flavor, will open the 5 Gates of flavor haven in your mouth. •101 pork in my honest opinion is a must try. The sweet Korean sauce did over power the flavor of the pork belly. However, when eaten with the julienned green option counter balanced the sweetness of the sauce and brought out the pork flavor. Simple and yet very complexed flavor. Very oxymoronic saying, bit it holds up. Just try it and you'll see. •smoke pork feet's were great. Never had a Korean good pork feet in Houston since the 90s when Hyang Chon on Harwin closed. It's a welcomed twist smoky twist to the Koreans' classic pork feet. •chicken fondue was just okay for me. But that shouldn't stop you from trying this out. I mega loath cheese on fried food. With that said. The cheese fondue was actually surprisingly good. They added a garlic into the cheese, and made it more flavorful. I must say, if I were lactose intolerant, I would of have. More than 4 bites. (yes, that's a lot for someone that is lactose intolerant.) We've had may too many drinks for me to type the rest of the reviews. But I gotta say. It's a must go location. Houston's been lacking in good Korean...