Gamja Bawi Korean Restaurant — Restaurant in Los Angeles

We stumbled in, a couple of non-Korean tourists basically lost and jetlagged in Koreatown, looking for something quick to eat. Food court! Sure! We'll definitely find something there. We'll have lots of choices, and it'll be quick!

Well, maybe not as quick as the McD's at the local mall, but it all worked out pretty well.

Gamja Bawi had the most people milling around it, and lots of trays prepped with banchan so I said to my friend "there. That one." We stepped up to the line and I ordered a bokum.

The lady behind the counter looked at me askance. "You...you know that's spicy, right?"

"Yes." I said cheerily. She shrugged and yelled at peak volume to the kitchen.

My friend ordered a dolsot bibimbap. He'd never experienced korean food before, and had an approximate deer-in-headlights look.

It took about 10 minutes, but the food arrived, and it was wonderful.

My pork bokum was indeed spicy, but not in an obliterates-all-flavor way. The tray of banchan was a nice touch - I didn't see that at a lot of the other stalls.

I am reasonably certain that better bibimbap could have been found in Koreatown, and probably a better example of bokum too, but neither of us paid more than $9 on our frankly enormous feasts, nor did we have to wait for a full seating during the dinner rush. So in terms of raw value it was astounding.

So a great bargain...

I walked up to the counter and respectfully asked the lady standing at the register how long the food usually takes and she said 30 minutes, but that I wouldn't be able to order any food, while other Korean customers were placing orders right in front of me, her exact words were "30 minute but you no order here.", I'm dressed very decently and my hair is nicley combed so I don't understand why she denied me. I don't stink at all, I take a showers and brush my teeth daily as well. So it couldn't have been because of my odor, I have none, I wasn't rude nor did I come at her in any disrespectful way. I definitely felt DISCRIMINATED. Very unfriendly people, they were talking bad about me in Korean, and all I did was ask them how long the wait was and if I could...

This place had AMAZING Dolsot Bibimbap. The portion sizes are MASSIVE, the food came out hot and fresh. The only thing is, it took a while to come out but I think that’s because they make it on the spot and the taste was definitely worth the wait. It’s a place in the koreatown plaza mall, and I’d say the koreatown plaza food court is a pretty good court court compared to other food courts in ktown. I would probably share a dish with someone else if you’re getting gamja bawi because I wasn’t able to finish everything. But it definitely tasted authentic and it was just super flavorful. A bit in the pricier side though but since portions are big it...