Babo Jumak — Restaurant in Mesa

Finally was able to try out the newly renovated Babo Jumek last night and was pleasantly surprised. The interior is fully renovated and looks very modern with Korean decor.

We ordered 5 different dishes for 3 people because we wanted to try a variety of things. They do have a new menu so apologies for forgetting to take a picture of it.

Ban Chan was solid. Nice little variety and everything tasted fresh albeit a tad salty. Ban Chan should be refreshing and not making me feel like I need rice to go along with each bite. This carried over to some of the dishes as well. Each dish executed the flavors really well but we wished they went a little lighter on the salt.

We also felt like the portions for the meat entrees were a bit light compared to other places. We’re paying $30 for a Galbi entree and while it’s a premium dish, I do expect a little more than 2-3 strips. Despite so, it had good flavor and the right amount of sweetness. I personally would’ve wanted it charred a bit more. The spicy pork was also very tender and had a good spicy flavor that went really well as a ssam.

While the seafood jeon had excellent flavor and texture, it a bit too oily and salty.

The doen-jang was also extremely salty. I’m also not sure if I liked the chunky bits of onion in every bite. This was almost inedible for us.

The yukkaejang and bibim naeng-myun were our favorite dishes. Which isn’t surprising because these did not taste overly salty to us.

Overall, we spent a total of $150 including tip for the 3 of us and left full and happy despite a few complaints. I wonder if we could request them to go lighter on the salt next time? That, along with bigger meat portions, would make this a restaurant a 5/5 experience and I wouldn’t have to eat at any other Korean eatery other than Babo Jumak.

Side note: Please consider adding Galbi-Jim to your menu! Galbi-Jim served in places such as Dae-Ho in SF or Sun Nuong Dan in Ktown are really popular and doing extremely well. I’d love to see a Korean restaurant in AZ bring this dish into their menu - it’ll blow the restaurant up if...

I had high hopes for some excellent food given the high rating at time of my visit (4.6). Unfortunately, the food left a bit to be desired. There were six side dishes which were all good, not great. We ordered bulgogi, spicy pork, and kimchi fried rice. The bulgogi was a bit bland and lacked depth of flavor with some unrendered fat. The pork was good and moderately saucy. Both of the meats were cut a bit thicker than is generally seen with Korean BBQ and seemed to be lower quality cuts. The fried rice was alright, but was made using the same fresh kimchi that's served as a side. The best kimchi fried rice uses aged kimchi as it provides deeper flavors when fried. We requested lettuce and ssamjang ($3 extra) and were presented with a mountain of fresh lettuce and small container of ssamjang that we could use to refill as we needed. The ssamjang was tasty.

The service was adequate and the gentleman was pleasant and attentive throughout the visit. The prices are a bit higher than some of the other restaurants nearby and the quality doesn't justify the price. Overall I wish the restaurant owners the best, but it's unlikely I'll be...

Update, under new ownership. The menu has changed. The beef and spicy pork bulgogi are a little thicker slice than before, but excellent flavor. We will miss the kalbi soup, but their kalbi ribs are very tender and flavorful. I enjoyed a cold Cass with the meal, great pairing. The potato ban chan is our favorite, the ban chan may change from time to time like before. They also provided 2 kinds of kimchi. Yes it is different than before, but we really enjoyed it and will definitely be back. Still the best Korean in Chandler in our opinion. We did not try soups, but will keep updating as we try other items. We wish the new owners much success so we can continue enjoying good Korean food close to home! Update: tried the short rib soup and japchae. They are delicious. I saw another 1 star review from someone that had eaten food in Korea before. I don't know what food in Korea tastes like, but I do know what delicious tastes like. The new owners appear to be doing well. It was almost at capacity, which we never saw under old ownership, and service was still fast...