ARIRANG KOREAN RESTAURANT — Restaurant in Pittsfield Charter Township

**COVID-19 update: Let's get the elephant out of the room first... I know some of you might be concerned about their storage of their silverware in a cute little box encouraging people to touch other's dining wares. Since it's the COVID-19 season and my first time back... I saw them still doing it, I had a conversation with the staff about my concerns and scaring people away. It sounded like I'm the first to bring this up... And they agreed to comply with my demands right away to doing it the old way of bringing individually wrapped silverware.

Why did I do this? 1) I think it's not right to just come online and complain without talking to them and tarnishing their reputations without giving them a chance to resolve it. 2) I absolutely love their food. I've been a regular my whole 8yrs in Ann Arbor and I think they hand the best Korean bbq in the area... The meat is not soggy and fatty but lean and good in texture. The flavor is also superior with above average portion size for the money. Why did I try to improve them? Because the food is too good to have them shutter their business.

**Old review: My Korean mother-in-law would actually pay money to eat here... that's saying something! This place prepares some very authentic dishes at a reasonable price. I have tried everything on the lunch menu and a few dinner dishes and nothing has yet to disappoint. The value isn't as good as it used to be but the flavor hasn't and will never change. I highly recommend the beef dishes as the seasoning is fantastic. The lunch boxes are a can't beat, especially the BBQ beef box. You really can't go wrong here if you want some real authentic good...

Ordered YukGeJang soup and Bulgogi lunch box. I noticed that this YukGeJang soup is different than the ones I usually get in US and even in Korea. But to my surprise, I liked it very much. It had vey deep 얼큰한 ( hard to explain in English ) taste. But the lunch box was a mixed bag. Dumpling was good. Usually, typical Korean restaurants use store bought dumpling to put in their lunch box. But I would not be surprised if this was home made one although I highly doubt it. Beef bulgogi was not made with ribeye like usual but probably NY strip or even cheaper eye of round or something. As a result, it is drier than usual Bulgogi made with ribeye. Also, items included in lunch box was somewhat lacking. Also banchan ( side dishes ) counts were fewer than others in the area. Banchan is a very unique aspect of Korean cuisine. I absolutely adore Korean restaurants that has good rotating banchan selection. But this is not one of them. So this place was a mixed bag. I am usually harsh with rating because can cook most of them and have wide variety of gastronomical experience. Not one of those saying " this is the best Korean restaurants " after eating in two places. With that said, I would not stay away from it but I won't rush...

Came in to get dinner at about 10 minutes to 5pm. There was only one other table dining at the time. I ordered the "summer special" bibimnaengmyun. 35 long minutes later I was brought a bowl of buckwheat noodles soaking in liquid (either water or mul broth) topped with a boiled egg, half a julienned cucumber, and a raw scoop of gochujang. Already frustrated with how long I had to wait considering how empty the place was, I asked the server if she had brought me the wrong naengmyun. An older lady came out from the kitchen and told me it was correct and when I said that typically there is no broth in bibimnaengmyun she told me to just "try it". Knowing that mul broth is often made with beef stock, I preferred the veggie dish I ordered but was told once again that the order was correct. Bibimnaengmyun is my favorite dish and I've had it many times and in many places (including Seoul). Any Korean chef worth their salt would have been appalled at the trash I had been served. I offered to pay for the side dishes I ate but refused to eat the dish. They were still fine charging me $16 for it. If they could mess up a basic dish like this, they don't have a basic understanding of...