Nak Won Jung Korean Restaurant — Restaurant in McAllen

My whole experience eating here was one of the most enjoyable eating experiences I've ever had in my life.

From the moment you walk in it's clear that the owners are, in fact, Korean and that they wished to fill the restaurant with as much as they could that reminded them of Korea. The decor is nice, the TVs are on a Korean station, even most of the writing and menu is in Korean. I could not think of a way to make the place more authentic.

There are no fountain drinks or water so the water you ask for is bottled. Just a fair warning I suppose.

Service seemed pretty ok, I'm unclear why others on here have given low ratings based on that. In Korean culture you're usually left alone at a restaurant unless you REALLY get their attention. I chalk this up to ignorance of other cultures from the patrons' point of view.

For the vegans that saw fit to get into a lengthy discussion with the owner about their food not being vegan, what did you expect when you walked in? They serve authentic food as it would be served in Korea. It would be like walking into a local Italian restaurant and asking for gluten free pasta. It just isn't how things are done.

But, I digress.

I ordered jah-jang-myun (black bean sauce noodles) and it was a heavenly dish. The noodles were perfect and the sauce was nice, thick, and tasty. I also had a side of dumplings and those were just as well-made. The sauce was a little hard to dip into

My roommate had spicy squid which I got to try and that was delicious as well. It had a very unique combination of sweet and spicy that worked heavily in its favor. It also came with a variety of side dishes, including something like daikon, bean sprouts, jalapeño, spinach, pickles, and dried squid.

Overall we greatly enjoyed the restaurant and will be coming here again as well as recommending it to...

Taste-wise, this place is average. Slightly overpriced. What I have a problem with is the service. People may say that the owner is friendly and everything, and she might be. That's not my concern. What I'm angry about is that she lied to my face. First, let me start off by saying that I am a vegan, which means that I do not consume or use any animal products. We've known the owner for quite a while now, and she knows that my sister and I are both vegan. We also always order the same thing, with no meat, dairy, or seafood on it. She also knows this. So there is no excuse for what she did. She gave us a "special side," and she told us that it was ok for us to eat. She said there was no meat. Trusting her words, I bit into it, only to find that there was in fact dead cow inside of it. That's not even the worst part about it. When we pointed out that there was meat in it, she said "only a little bit," and proceeded as if she had done no wrong. All I wanted was an apology, some sort of acknowledgement that she'd done some wrong on her part. But all she did was continue to berate us about our lifestyles. She also asked why our mother raised us like this: to be so picky. I just don't understand why I couldn't eat a peaceful meal, and not be attacked by the restaurant owner. She attacked us based on our young age (Koreans believe respect is gained by age), and she discriminated against us based on our beliefs. If you want to eat in such a discriminative environment, then go ahead, but I myself am never going back there. If I could give this place zero stars I would have. The average-tasting/overpriced food is not worth being attacked for...

Lovely experience. I was there on an off hour at 2:00 pm and got the Bulgogi meal. The rice and banchan were pretty good - especially the cucumber kimchee. Not many Korean restaurants have cucumber kimchee so I was pleasantly surprised. They did have Kalbigui due to how expensive it now costs and I understand. The bulgogi was really good and very tasty. I also tried the mandu and they are store bought so nothing special but good. The order came with 8 pieces and I didn’t expect that either.

Very friendly grandma’s working the front that took my order and we chatted for a bit. The restaurant reminds me of an old school Korean restaurant I went to back in the day on the mainland. I couldn’t believe there was this Korean restaurant in this area!! Highly recommend and would come back. Matter of fact I am back now going to try the tteogbokki. I’ll update the review with thoughts and pictures about that.

Update: just ate the tteogbokki and gotta say this is pretty much what my grandma makes and dare I say it maybe a little better? Everything was cooked perfectly and soft. None of the vegetables were hard and they were cooked just right. The rice cake was perfect and the dish was overall awesome. The meat added just a good touch without overpowering the dish flavor. I only asked for cucumber kimchee instead of the full banchan since I didn’t want to eat too much. Super super good and would recommend. Spicy level is maybe 5-6 out of 10 for me. You can taste and feel the best without it being...