Miami Korean Kitchen — Restaurant in North Miami Beach

My kid chose this place for our regular daddy-daughter date night. Talk about being inconspicuous, at the end of a non-descript strip shopping center in a former dental office, we drove past it and had to park in front of the extra-big-size shoe store next door. Noting the "Help Wanted" signs in front, of course I inquired of the waitress who greeted us if the place is short-handed. I was assured that the service was unaffected. We chose to eat in their dining room instead of the outdoor terrace. There were two occupied tables, both of them had authentic Asian people eating. That is a GOOD sign. The menu has plenty of choices, perhaps a bit more than most of us can handle. Being curious about Korean cuisine, we ordered whatever we wanted to try without thinking about portion size. We ordered enough food for four hungry people, intending to take half of it home to enjoy the next day. For starters, we had the Sweet & Spicy Chicken Wings and Chive Pancake. Breaded with an exceptionally crunchy coating, glazed with a flavorful sticky sauce that was easy to like--not too sweet, not too hot-spicy. Topped with a sprinkling of sesame seeds. The wings themselves were large-ish, fried perfectly and juicy. The pancake was similar to a latke, impregnated with pieces of tasty bits of chives--one of my favorite onions. My daughter didn't love those pancakes but they were hard to compare to other similar dishes other than Jewish-style potato pancakes. Slightly crispy on the outside, tender and soft inside. Served with a thin sauce that was a bit sweet and savory. My daughter's main was a gigantic bowl of Beef Bulgogi over rice with vegetables--mainly greens and carrots on bed of fluffy white rice. Marinated pieces of steak (I think sirloin), peppery with gochujang, ginger and sweet onions, it was fork-tender and delicious. As a sausage lover, I had to try their version of morcilla, "blood sausage." It's street food in Korea, made of pig intestines stuffed with rice, tofu and spices, it tastes savory, earthy, and with slightly metallic notes from the blood. It also had a curious kind of sweetness that I'd never encountered in sausage. Served with a small bowl of seasoned salt to bring out the flavors. Wonderful! The spicy pork was exactly what I expected. Tender pieces of marinated pork simmered in a chile-flavored sauce was medium-hot, delicious without being too fiery. Topped with shaved pieces of spring onions (chives). Another winning dish. After downing a Heineken, I decided to tame the heat with a Korean beer, a Terra. It was a pleasant, spritzy lager without a lot of malt or hops flavor, but it was a decent thirst quencher. We skipped dessert. Service was exceptional, attentive and quick. Maybe because there were only five tables occupied outside and three inside, and I mentioned the "Help Wanted" signs posted outside, it helped. The check includes an 18% tip. We added another 2%. Portions were generous. There was enough food on our table to feed four Americans and five...

I found this restaurant on Yelp while searching for Korean BBQ options and decided to give it a try. I drove to North Miami, and upon seeing the restaurant from outside, I was hesitant to even step out of the car. The place looked dirty and questionable, not giving a good first impression. But I still decided to check it out.

I walked up to the restaurant with my boyfriend and my service dog and noticed a handwritten sign on the door that said, "Service animals not allowed indoors." I proceeded to the outdoor area with my dog. While walking towards the outdoor area, a waiter came out and informed me that we had to sit outside because of my dog. I agreed and went to the outside area, which was enclosed by plastic and had no air circulation ( imagine sitting here in Miami weather at 2 pm)

As I was taking in the surroundings, I heard someone ask, "Is he an ESA?" At first, I didn't know if they were talking to me because no one approached me. After a few seconds, I realized the girl at the counter inside the window, facing the outdoor area, was talking about my dog. Assuming she was asking if my dog was a service animal, I replied yes. The woman immediately responded by saying, "Well, he can't be here. Only service animals are allowed." I reiterated that my dog was a service animal. She then responded with a sassy and annoyed tone, "Well, then he's not an ESA then? He's a service animal...okay, you can sit out here" and threw the menus over the counter before closing the window in my face. I was surprised and taken aback by her attitude. At no point were we rude to her, but the minute she gave us attitude, I placed the menus back on the counter and said, "You have a really nasty attitude" before leaving.

Where is management? How can they afford to have someone like that working in their establishment? They lost two paying customers in less than a minute because of the poor attitude of their employee. By the way, if you are immediately adding an 18% gratuity on your bills, please make sure the tip is earned. And to the girl who worked at the window on Sunday, October 1st, it may be worthwhile to consider a different career path that doesn't require interacting with...

Server: Sally Beverage- Coke, Coke Zero, Water, Blueberry Wine Appetizers: Chicken Wings, Dumplings Entrees: Beef rice bowl, Bulgogi, Seafood Pancake, Spicy Squid, Fish Cake Soup Dessert: Fried pancake with vanilla ice-cream

I was happy to do a search of new restaurants in North Miami and come across the amazing reviews for a Korean restaurant in my hood! FINALLY!!! We always had to make a trek North to Broward for Korean food and I was excited to see we have one so much closer!

So we were initially disappointed that there wasn't any indoor seating, but since it was breezy out, it was pretty comfortable sitting outside (although I was wearing an off-the shoulder sweater). We also noticed that they didn't have the usual side dishes to cleanse the palette that we are accustomed to in the more traditional restaurants. We weren't too impressed with the appetizers, they were just okay. Nothing remarkable.

We perked up when we tasted the SEAFOOD PANCAKE! Definitely a must and a dish we will definitely be having again. Sally was kind enough to tell us that one order of the bulgogi (beef) was sufficient for 4 people to share. She was SO right because when the food was coming out, we saw how big the portions were! The spicy squid dish was spicy but not too spicy you lose your appetite, it was perfect and my brother throughly enjoyed it! Hot on the heels of that dish (pun intended), was the Bulgogi rice bowl in a stone dish with the friend egg on top, decent flavor and amazing presentation.

I thought the fish cake soup was on the bland side until I stirred in some of the veggies from the spicy squid dish and then that's when the magic happened for me! YUM! We finished off our celebrating my mom's 74th Birthday with a unique green tea pancake a-la-mode that was just the perfect amount for us to taste, it was the perfect ending to a great meal!

Sally was super attentive and gave us the time we needed to acclimate to the menu and environment since it was our first time there. It's a little pricey but we did order a lot! Sally made all the difference in our experience and we will definitely be back to try...