Samwon Restaurant — Restaurant in Lakewood

It's a restaurant that offers a typical teriyaki menu along with a variety of traditional Korean dishes. The menu is so extensive that instead of feeling like a place specialized in one type of dish, it seems more like a place where any customer can find something they like.

Since I was there, I ordered a mix of four different dishes: from the typical teriyaki menu item, chicken yakisoba, to traditional Korean dishes like hot spicy beef soup with vegetable and even soondae only plate (Korean blood sausage).

After trying the food, I found that the flavors were a bit different from what I had expected. The taste reminded me of Korean home-cooked meals--rustic, but not without flavor.

The fried rice was slightly sweet, but not in a natural way from the rice itself; it seemed like something had been added, which didn't suit my taste. The soondae was disappointing and didn't taste good. The hot spicy beef soup with vegetable didn't have a deep broth flavor, but it was well-seasoned and not too spicy. The chicken yakisoba was well-seasoned but lacked the smoky, grilled taste I was hoping for.

As it's a teriyaki restaurant, they only serve three kinds of kimchi as side dishes, and even then, only if you order Korean food (they didn't serve it with the teriyaki items like chicken yakisoba or fried rice, and not even with the soondae).

The owner himself does the serving, and even when there aren't many customers, the food takes some time to come out. He does give a heads-up if a particular dish will take a long time to prepare.

Here is more information: Food: Below average with limited side dishes (three types of kimchi for certain menu items). Price: Average (slightly cheaper than other Korean restaurants in this area but similar to Korean Mart food court prices). Service: Slightly below average, as the owners struggle to manage all the customers' orders during busy hours. Ambiance: This is a somewhat divey restaurant and flies (mentioned other people's review as well). Parking: The restaurant has its own parking lot...

레이크우드/타코마에서 모둠 순대국밥을 먹을 수 있는 것 자체만으로도 항상 감사하게 생각합니다.

The fact that I can even have a hot boiling bowl of modeum soondae gukbap (Korean style blood sausage soup and all other mixed pig parts, such as pig's head meat with scalding white rice) in occupied Turtle Island makes me very grateful.

The milky-white soup tasted quite clean and was not as gamy or meaty as other soondae gukbaps I've experienced. There was a generous serving of both chopped up soondae and pork. The gukbap also included three types of kimchi, and as someone with a sensitive tongue who reacts poorly to Korean meals that include too much msg, I appreciated Samwon's usage of minimal msg!!!

I hope Samwon serves salted shrimp with their gukbaps, and I recommend trying their soondae plate...

Fantastic authentic Korean food. Everything I've had so far has been excellent. Owner takes huge pride in their food. One time I ordered a to-go soup and got held up at work so I was a little late picking up the food and the owner insisted that he remake my order because the noodles would be too soggy. Super polite and considerate owner. Every time I go, there are native Koreans here which you know is a good sign. Also their Mongolian beef (my favorite Chinese dish) is hands down the best I've ever had. This is a hidden gem....