Jungdon Katsu — Restaurant in Oakland

(TL;DR: it's actually good!)

I was suspicious of this place when my wife shared it with me. The thing is, all the places that serve katsu in the area are incredibly disappointing. And given that this is a "ghost" kitchen, I was doubly suspicious.

But I figured, it's a new katsu place in the area, let's drive by and see. Upon arrival, I probed to discover if I could see the kitchen. I'm not so familiar with ghost kitchens, and the front staff was resistant and told me I wasn't allowed to go to the kitchen. I asked if there was a chef, if I could talk with them. Seemingly incredulous, the staff said they'd ask.

A few minutes later, the chef came. I asked her if she makes the katsu herself or if they're frozen and store bought; she makes them from scratch herself and buys the meat in the morning. She started her business as a ghost kitchen because finding staff and an affordable location was difficult around here. I was reassured and placed an order. She was very nice!

I ordered one Anshim Katsu and one Cordon Bleu. Both we're pretty good, on par with good katsu delivery restaurants we'd find in Korea. So to us, that's a find.

We wish Mme Kim great success and will order from here in the future. Good luck and hopefully you'll one day have your...

Please beware that this is not an actual storefront, as it's part of a ghost kitchen where many other restaurants also operate out of. I was not aware of this and was surprised to find a narrow hallway with lockers and nobody to greet me upon entering. I ordered on the tablet and I believe some of the pictures are wrong, as the pork tenderloin option seemed to resemble the loin option. This resulted in me not getting the kind of cut I wanted. It took 15-20 min to get my food. When I got the text saying it was ready there was nobody at the counter to give it to me and I had to knock on the wall to get someone's attention. The employees at the ghost kitchen are not the most professional. On the positive side, the food is quite solid and the katsu is very crispy. Meat quality is good, but nothing mind-blowing. The cheese katsu option only comes with 4 pieces, which seemed a bit light given the price. Unfortunately my overall experience wasn't great and I won't be returning. If this got turned into an actual brick and mortar restaurant I think I would've enjoyed...

I’ve been craving a plate of juicy katsu for a while! I was so excited to see a katsu restaurant in my area and placed my first order a couple of days ago. I ordered a deluxe deungshim plate - good value but I would have liked less rice and more katsu. The rice was fresh, the cabbage + dressing was SO crisp and yummy, and the potato salad was light and creamy. The miso soup was miso soup!

Sadly, the deungshim katsu was pretty disappointing. I expected a thick cut that was pink in the middle as the restaurant’s website advertises. Instead we got a thin white piece of pork that was pretty dry on its own. Thankfully the breading was excellent and the dipping sauce helped make up for the dryness.

The website isn’t super clear on the difference between anshim and deungshim but after way too much Googling, I believe I should have received a fattier and thicker cut of meat. I’m giving Jungdon Katsu 3 stars because I’m willing to give this place another shot but they definitely didn’t satisfy my...