Izzi Korean Kitchen — Restaurant in Oak Ridge

It’s fun to see the food from my favorite Kdramas here. 💕😍 Tteokbokki, spicy pork, bulgogi, kimbap, soju, chicken and makgeolli, and more. Many South Americans are fans of Korean drama and many of the patrons I saw during lunch were proud to be Latino and fans of the Korean scene.

This is a larger restaurant than it looks like from the outside with clean varnished wood tables. Current KPop music videos play on a large screen above the soda fountain and condiments area while Korean cooking videos play on a screen above the middle of the restaurant. There are two electronic menus: a limited one in two kiosks near the front door from which you can order, as I did. I recommend you go to the front to check out the menus displayed on the screens over the kimbap bar because there’s a screen for shaved ice that displays things not on the kiosk menu. Also check out the drinks and desserts in the refrigerated case at the front.

Bottled water is at the front and it’s not on the kiosk menu.

They also have Korean snacks, drinks and cool stuff for sale at the front.

I asked the super cute girl with blue hair who was arranging the to-go orders how long they’d been open and she said about a year (as of today, November 29, 2022). Before that this location was Izziban Japanese (a play on the Japanese word Ichiban which means number 1) and the owners shortened the name to Izzi’s and now emphasize more Korean food because of the recent growth of worldwide awareness of how cool KPop music and Kdramas are.

My American-born hapa Japanese Haole daughter was the one who got me into Korean dramas when she was 19. All her white American friends were into it in Southern California and those whose siblings worked in the SoCal movie industry said Korean dramas were what to watch. Now even my 70 year old blond California boy husband watches the legal Kdramas every night.

So it’s great to see this restaurant here! I gotta tell him they have bulgogi.

I had the Vegan Kimbap (looks like a Japanese maki sushi roll but it’s stuffed with Korean vegetables like cabbage, cucumber and julienned carrots and accompanied by a sesame seed sauce—-the sesame oil cues you that it’s Korean, although they did add takuan, Japanese pickled radish) and it was fabulous!

I loved the kimchi: they were generous with the red pepper paste but it wasn’t so spicy that I couldn’t taste it. The kimchi was fresh and perfect. Such a yummy way to get your probiotics.

Bonus: For dine-in guests they offer complimentary kimchi soup so I had a bowl. Mixed with a fish broth they’d added the garlicky, spicy kimchi and bean sprouts. It will clear your head and make you healthy on a cold day.

Next time I want to try their Korean-style hotdogs, particularly the Cheetos hotdog. Eliana, if you’re reading this, girl it’s on. You and me to...

Sweet & Spicy Fried Chicken - definitely NOT the typical K-fried chicken I'm used to in NY. The chicken, albeit crunchy, was drowning in a sweet & tangy sauce. The sauce tasted like a bottled/premade sauce and too much of it killed this dish in a bad way. Had to wrap each chicken that I eat to wipe it off! The coating was overkill too. This is the first time I was disappointed at a Korean fried chicken AT a Korean restaurant! (Never thought that would happen).

Rose tteok-bokki - $15 for 15 pics of rice cake LOL had to mention that because this dish was served in a pot and it just looked so pitiful. It didnt even fill half the pot. Again, the dish had way more sauce (see the trend here?). The chef was heavy handed on the creme.

Spam musubi - luckily this time the seasoning is right (I mean, come on. Who messes up spam musubi?!?!

Spicy chicken Izzi box - bento box with japchae, spicy chicken, rice, salad, and a fried dumpling. Chicken had a nice kick to it. For $18, this is the best order.

Spicy salmon poke bowl - 2nd best dish to order. They didn't skimp on the salmon and they held off on the sauces (thank goodness).

The place looks nice - the squid-game-esque wall decor is a nice touch. Nice spot to take photos.

Service can use a lot of improvement. Only saw 1 lady when we dined for lunch and all she did was yell out our names so we can pick up our food. She called me when the olate of musubi and pot of tteok-bokki was ready and I had to ask for a tray to carry and transport it. I mean come on! Your not "serving" the tables so the least you can do is put it in a tray so customers can easily transport the food we paid for! Our orders did not come out at the same time (about 2 orders at a time, had to make 3 trips). Of the 3x I went to pickup our food, I had to keep asking for a tray.

We also went here on a Thursday because we had visitors from out of town. It was about 9pm and we were surprised that they are closed. The sign at the door says 9:30pm closing so when I asked the staff about it, they said it was never 9:30pm but 9pm. (Is she a new staff by any chance?). 8/21/2024 8:49PM Wed update: dining here now and asked the staff what time they close. Staff said they close at 9:15PM. Guess they change times based...

The food is amazing. Basically, for $24, you'll have unlimited meats, soups, sushi, etc. the meat is preseasoned and you'll be given tools to grill with. Since the meat is thin, it cooks pretty fast and you can mix different types of food all on the same grill. This is an awesome place to go with friends because of how much fun it is. We had such a great time there. The server was very friendly and personable. We spent about an hour here and ordered a small dessert after the feast. The fried wontons are AMAZING. Do not miss out on those! The sushi is spectacular and it is really unlimited! The only tempura sushi they have is the Las Vegas rolls and they are scrumptious! We visit once a month because of how delicious it is! Try it!!

UPDATE: We came tonight with a family friend and had a terrible experience. We were ignored most of the night and ended up staying over two hours 90% of the time waiting. It was awful. First our drinks were forgotten about after reminding our waitress two separate times. Also forgot a fork and most of the dishes we ordered. We had to remind her multiple times as she came back and said she had forgotten what we just told her. Our drinks were empty most of the night. Continually asking for water was just annoying. There was even a time we asked for the RAW chicken at we waited over thirty minutes. Come on, it’s RAW. She brought over spicy salmon roll we didn’t order and said, “oh come on, just take it.” The meat is no longer pre seasoned and comes bland. A steak we ordered was LITERALLY frozen solid and still had ice on it when it was brought to the table on a plate. We had to defrost meat, which is lazy on the size of the kitchen. We tried to end the night right with a moshi ice cream and guess what? It was frost bitten. Yes. Even the store bought ice cream they served was expired. The consistency was like sand in your mouth. Horrible. We told the waitress and she told us that she will see what her manager thinks about what we were saying. She took it off the bill then hit us with a mandatory 18% tip! What?! We were a party of three, since when do they force tips on their customers? She did not deserve an almost $20 tip. She hid in the back most of the night and was nowhere to be seen. If management is seeing...