Seoul Gom Tang — Restaurant in Oakland

I felt bad for this restaurant on the corner of Telegraph and MacArthur since it's literally fenced off by construction. They have this sad little handwritten sign to usher people into their parking lot. (Free parking ftw btw!)

Little did I know that they don't need any misplaced pity. They have a pretty steady stream of customers, new and return alike. The restaurant is fairly spacious, with 15 or so tables, and is run by two or three ladies. They are very efficient and friendly.

The menu can be a little difficult to decipher if you're new to Korean food, since the descriptions don't always tell you what the dish entails. I highly recommend the "thick broth" with various kinds of beef. I recommend the mixed beef (which includes brisket, tripe, intestines, and tongue) or the ox knee if you like cartilage. If you don't like fringe meats, stick with brisket.

You'll get a stone bowl with (very hot) broth, pieces of meat, and rice noodle. The broth is not seasoned with salt (but is very rich with flavor otherwise), so you should season with the salt available at the table, scallions, and fermented pepper as you like. Then enjoy with the few kimchi they bring you and rice.

I also highly highly recommend the seafood pancake here. It's one of the best I've ever had at a Korean restaurant in the US. It's crispy and full of veggies and seafood. It's a great deal for the price compared to other places.

I don't really recommend the steamed dumplings however. They are very large (like literally the size of my fist, and you get 6), but I didn't like the filling.

There are other iconic dishes like short rib stew, blood sausage, and soondoobu. I haven't had any of those yet, but I'll definitely be...

We came here on Saturday 2:40 pm for very late lunch and the place wasn’t crowded. We had a parking spot on the back right away. Bulgogi that my son ordered was delicious and it’s pretty big portion for a person. I ordered gom tang which the restaurant was famous for but I found it less flavorful than how I remembered from the last time I visited 3-4 years ago. Based on what other people are ordering next to our table, the steamed dumplings are the popular dish here. Dumplings will take some time to make and steamed to be served, a patron ordered another dish to start her meal then get dumplings. Unlike some other Korean restaurants, only 3 different kimchi are served here. the large chunks radish (daikon) kimchi are the popular side (Kkakdugi) and I ended up finishing 2 small plates. A lady who served me was so attentive and very sweet. She offered more sides and checked on us often with water & barley tea. This place is almost opposite of fancy for a restaurant and maybe I’m partially drawn to the fact that they focus on the food but less of ambience of a restaurant. I will recommend bulgogi & dumplings for folks who’s trying this place especially for the people who may not familiar with...

We liked the soup a lot, but dumplings were stale and the server lady with glasses misconstrued the ingredients in the dumplings. She said the dumplings had beef and kimchi and it turned out to be diced tofu sort of with very little beef incorporated, and refused to send the dumplings back to the kitchen. She also didn't list out the ingredients in the soup, and we felt very threatened by her attitude. Felt like she took advantage of us being younger girls and kind of got angry at us when we said we didn't like the dumplings. We still paid $20 for 5 dumplings we never ate and feared the food safety of. Tasted like dog food tbh. Kimchi Soup was good, though. Just kinda sucks that the server is the type of Korean lady who only seems to care about saving face in front of the white people, but if it's Asian customers, she can treat them however. Hopefully they can hire another waiter in the future. Will be reporting to the FHS...