Pyeong Chang Tofu House Oakland 오클랜드 평창 순두부 — Restaurant in Oakland

I adored PT(Phyungchang Tofu) for long years. I'd enjoyed their food for about 10 years. Their food was exceptional with the chef's masterful seasoning skills with sugar and salt. The banchan(assorted small free dishes) was so special, I'd wish to buy them if I could. The service was perfect and people who worked at PT was so energetic and happy. Their old-fashioned interior reminded me of authentic Korean restaurants. Everything was perfect,

until the pandemic took over. Here is my honest and worrisome review about Phyungchang Tofu.

High Price Most affordable dish is almost $20 or more expensive. Their special menus are now $40~60, and I can't find reason why I need to eat at PT over fine dining restaurants. The price changed everything. Now the banchan has less variety. the soup bowl is smaller. The seafood pancake is smaller. Inflation is a strong excuse that we all expect. But the high price boom in Korean restaurants scene, is very sad story. Because old time korean food was good, big, and cheap for people. I understand the business owner, but man.. you'd better find other way around.

Lack of flavor I don't know what happened on their kitchen. Every dishes lost its magical seasoning level. It just became tasteless. Amount of main protein (such as beef, seafood) reduced significantly. the number of banchan reduced. the kinds of banchan became generic. And their main tofu soup completely lost its deep and rich flavors. PT lost their core skill, flavor, and its end of story. I am willing to pay money as long as the food is good as before. What happened.

Service I found they extended their business to Berkeley. Yes, I see PT were successful over years in Oakland. But I started to see owner or manager people only counts money at the gate. And employees were just moving food from kitchen to table. Not so much interaction or checking on the current table. I couldn't see experienced old time waiter or waitress any more. They seemed looking new, overworked and unorganized.

Atmosphere They need to remodel their restroom immediately before opening a new restaurant in other location. It is old and unpleasant. The table used to be authentic feeling, now it is fully covered with grease. The only change was fancy menu with higher price marks.

Unidentified Menu KFC(Korean fried chicken) is very hot item in korean restaurant business in the US. And it appeared on the menu of PT too! It was good. But their quality of KFC was not the top notch on the market. It may ruined the balance of food quality, and it may lose identity of affordable normal people's common dish: tofu soup restaurant. They need to review their menu and do real business.

I used to eat at Phyungchang Tofu almost once in every 2 week for about 10 years. Now, I don't go PT anymore. The menu, identity, they all come from the food(flavor: 맛) and the consistency of master chef. I am willing to pay upraised price as long as the food is good. but I am afraid, because nowadays, replies on reviews are macro. I apologize on hard review, but man you gotta...

WOW! Took me right back to my days in Seoul, eating a steamy, spicy bowl of 김치찌개 while it rained outside. The vibe of this restaurant is classic Korean style — K-pop on the TV, water in the plastic jug with the soju ads, and wide tables with plenty of space for the rotating selection of banchan (don’t worry though, they always include kimchi).

If you were to ask me to take you to the most authentic feeling Korean joint, this would be #1 on the list.

Okay, now the food — ho. ly. smokes! Everything was delicious and extremely high quality. The sizzling dolsat bibimbop and bulgogi were highlights, though the kimchi pancake was amazing as well (and not too spicy whatsoever!). We were pleasantly surprised to have a complimentary bowl of tofu soup included in the meal, and were so glad we didn’t miss out on it — there’s a reason they’re called the tofu house. The kimchi tofu soup was INCREDIBLE! We could choose our spice level (I went for medium) and it made for seriously the most unforgettable meal. I savored every bite!

We didn’t realize that the meals came with a side of rice in a big stone pot, so in hindsight we felt like we could’ve skipped the bibimbap and still had a very filling meal. It ended up being fine though, as it just meant I had more leftovers to take home for lunch the next day! :)

One thing to keep in mind is that because the food is really high quality, the price tag is a bit steeper than other Korean restaurants are in Temescal. However, between the quality and quantity of the food we really felt like we were the ones getting the better end of the bargain. I do think that the larger the group, the easier you might be able to bear the cost and try all of the incredible dishes.

I’m not too proud to say that I enjoyed the meal so much that I went back a week later and ordered takeout! This place lives up to the hype and is somewhere I’d highly recommend for anyone in the mood for real, hearty,...

The Food Today is the exploration to one of the Korean restaurants, Pyeong Chang Tofu House. Visited with a friend and take a guess on what we ordered. I ordered the Original Tofu Soup with beef while my friend ordered Mushroom Tofu Soup. Both soup came out steaming hot with good taste and flavor. The soup came with a good amount of rice, and since it is in a claypot, there is also burnt rice. The soups went well together with the rice, and along with all the side dishes. There are quite a bit of other dishes on the menu, so mayhaps I'll return for another round.

The Miscellaneous Pyeong Chang Tofu House is your corner store located along the main street. Street parking is available but can be scarce during peak hours. The inside of the restaurant is spacious with decent amount of seating. Wait time can be short if you opt to share a table with others. Though they do have Yelp waitlist to join ahead of time for more convenience. The service was pretty quick and efficient, got our food within a reasonable time. The staff was sincere, they prepared the burnt rice from the claypot for you so you don't have to scrape it yourself. Their menu has an extensive selection of dishes other than tofu soup, so there's plenty to try. The price is a bit expensive and have increased over time. But good food quality so I would return to try their...