KOBUNGA — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Bottom Line Up Front? It’s excellent and worth a visit. If I was a student at USC, I’d eat it at least once a week. By the way this is an exact copy of my Yelp review, but this place deserves a review from me om both platforms.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear/read, “Korean Food in LA”?

The bomb? All you can eat Korean BBQ? Koreatown? LA Galbi?

Maybe even be thinking, Sit-down restaurant, waiter service, time?

Well when I first heard of Kobunga Korean Grill, I was intrigued and excited to try a quick grab-n-go type of Korean food place. Yes you certainly can sit outside and enjoy the nice Los Angeles weather, but if you’re on the go, this place also works.

Of course the day I visited the beautiful, newly constructed USC Village while California was getting their biggest rain storm of the season/year.

Anyways, I rate this....

Cleanliness/Appearance- 5 Stars

A suite inside USC Village, this little restaurant doesn’t have indoor seating, but is efficiently laid out with a full view of the kitchen. Transparency in today’s restaurant is always nice.

They even have an alert/beeper notification system to grab your food when it is ready so you don’t have to stand inside when it becomes crowded.

Taste/Quality- 5 Stars

Its Korean food, enough said. But seriously, it was really good even though it wasn’t straight traditional marinades/sauces. I tried the Signature Plates, the Kobunga and my boss got The Mama Cho.

Interesting sides, Carrots (Kobunga) and Slaw (Mama Cho) but it actually still meshed well.

There is Traditional Korean and Korean New. This is Korean New and I think it has a place in today’s market.

Price/Value- 5 Stars

Yeah of course it’s not your typical fast food price, but I mean you’re paying for all homemade entree and sides. None of these can be just poured out and prepared from a can or bag. Most of these are prepared from scratch.

Portion Sizes- 4 Stars

I probable should have asked if this place could do an Extra Meat option, but didn’t ask. Please don’t mix up Portion for Price/Value. I would have certainly paid extra for more, but just saying that you may still be hungry after one order.

Thanks Kobunga Korean Grill for a good...

If you're not familiar with Korean food, sometimes it's not easy to know what to get or how to eat them. Kobunga really did an amazing job of putting together an approachable authentic Korean dish in a single platter with their own unique twist to it. I got the pork belly dish with the napa cabbage kimchi and cabbage slaw. I never had such a tender and juicy pork belly. It was so soft that i didn't even have to use a knife to cut through it, while keeping enough meat texture for the chew. At first I was slightly thrown off by the napa cabbage kimchi, which was slightly on the sweet side compared to what I'm used to, but it actually balanced the plate perfectly. It was fresh and refreshing. Then I stole a piece of of the cucumber kimchi which was also super refreshing and a good pairing with the meat heavy dish. As for the quantity, it's fairly substantial with a big portion of it being the meat. It's not like chipotle where you are at the mercy of your server for the meat quantity. They just serve you beautifully cut thick slabs of the pork belly. Totally worth my $11. I wish I had one closer by because it's a great meal and...

I first found this place about a year ago I tried it and the food was really good and fast was a line and still only took about 5 min to get my food after I ordered .... That was about a year ago I recently stoped by a few times twice in the afternoon and twice in the evening both times that I stoped by in the afternoon I guess it was their lunch rush so it was bussy but still managed to get my food out in time and had exactly what I wanted but the two times I stoped by around 6-7 pm. Different story I don't know if evening management changed or what happened but both times I started to place my order just to be told they were out both times the only base option the had was salad no rice no noodles no chicken and no pork belly they close at 9 according to their business hours so to only have salad as a base option 3 hours before they close somewhat disappointing what kind of Asian place doesn't have rice ? I suggest to either go For lunch if you actually want to try something other than salad those two evening experiences really brought my rating down wish they would be more consisting for evening as they are for...