Buil Samgye Tang — Restaurant in Los Angeles

So, I'm sure I've said this in previous reviews, but I'm a huge fan of soup. It's a very comforting, familial thing for me, having been raised in a household where dinner was always eaten together, and where there'd always be a pot of deliciously hot soup awaiting all of us.

BST pretty much just focuses on variations of one thing: samgye tang, the Korean version of chicken soup, with various accoutrements. While prices are a little bit on the higher side for what is designed to be a single person serving, I personally thought each bowl was enough to feed 1.5-2 people. The three of us all ended up getting their most common young yang samgye tang, which comes with a young chicken stuffed with glutinous rice.

As with many Korean soups, the base soup comes out fairly bland, so it's up to you to season as you see fit, with the various spices and side dishes they offer on the side. Do it correctly, and, man, do they offer up a fantastic bowl of soup!

The only thing I'm a little conflicted about is that I got a little sick a few hours later, and was relegated to spending a few hours on my porcelain throne. I'm guessing it was the kimchi, but neither of my two friends were affected, so it could also have just been a combination of overeating and food sensitivities. I'd totally come back. How's that for proof that this is a 5 star place?!

Accessibility Info

Venue - A fairly spacious venue with plenty of accessible tabling and seating.

Bathroom - Didn't check them out,...

This is my favorite restaurant in the US! I grew up drinking chicken soup made by my grandmother and this place is the closest to the style she makes even though this place is Korean. The soup is very hearty and the owner is really nice. They cook fresh chicken each day and will close shop when they run out. Once I came at 1pm and he had already closed due to high demand. They make the best kimchi and if you're nice too, the boss would give free refills on the panchan and even the soup even though he says he will charge $2 for soup refill. Downside is that the place has very very limited parking... Like 4 spaces and areas around is difficult to find parking. Once I told the owner that I couldn't find a place to park so he valeted it for me much to my surprise... That's never happen to me ever. Super A++. For those who aren't aware, you're supposed to salt to taste meaning the dish will come bland and you add the amount of salt...

Hot chicken soup #1 is what you want here. It comes boiling hot, with a small chicken stuffed with sticky rice, a date, and ginseng. This supposed to be an aphrodisiac... It works sometimes, and it doesn't work sometimes. Anyway, the soup is tasty. But the side dish plate was a downer. It had raw carrots, raw onions, hot pepper paste, "kimchi," and "radish kimchi" or kkak-du-ki. Kimchi was not kimchi, it was weird stuff made with iceberg lettuce, not cabbage. I didn't know what to do with raw onions and carrots. The radish kimchi was the only thing that was edible. It was not great, but not horrible either. The tea served here was interesting, something different. I don't know why simple barley tea could be served.

Update 9/20/21: Moved to a better location with more parking spaces but busier shopping center. The soups are...