Seoul 1979 — Restaurant in Rancho Cordova

There are so many things to write about during our lunch here. Small restaurant owners have a tough life, but the most important thing is to listen to customer's feedback as you want people to return. The people were friendly and for that they deserve a 5 star. For speed they deserve 5 stars. But for the food, we won't be coming back, and considering I usually pay for everyone as we do lunch often in this neighborhood that means they are missing out, especially because I'm Korean, and my employee's are Korean. I heard about this place from one of my customer's and the first thing I said was... If they are good I will try my best to support them. Well the food is basically not good. Sorry. The ramen comes in a huge pot and it looks awkward, try it you'll see. Way to much water and simply not delicious or good looking. I've been eating ramen my whole life and all I can say is they don't know what they are doing. It had bok choy and a hard boiled egg. That is not ok. Bok choy should really not be in ramen. You need a fresh cracked egg and minus the bok choy. If it was served with a Koreans bone broth or some other items it would have helped. The Tteokbokki oh my gosh was just wrong in everyway. You can buy it better in a package and cook it on the stove at home. The bibimpop had good flavor as the pork was the meat of choice. The bowl was so small we couldn't mix it properly. Bigger wider bowl and let the customer have a bottle of gochujang, it's more customer friendly that way. Needs better presentation but it tasted ok. It would be better to have sort of a bento box style lunch menu. The kimchi came in the smallest container with lid and like one bite and it would be easier to simply have a salad bar style or something. Good luck, I've seen 3 restaurants in this same location come and go. One last thing. Get rid of the sushi. You have sushi one major block away. Redo the menu and keep it simple. Do a few things really well. Bulgogi and Kalbi are what most American's are used to eating, so offer a bento box with this. You can even freeze it and steam it and cook so it's easy to have on the menu. My family has owned two Korean restaurants and Cafe's so I promise you if the price point is correct and they are hooked on the sugar of bulgogi you...

got an order of seoul 1979 gimbap, sotteok-sotteok, curry cupbap to go. here are my thoughts about each one.

the gimbap was the most delicious and enjoyable of my meal in my opinion. they tasted just like i remember them tasting growing up. it is a very big portion and the price $7.65 is really good compared to other korean places who would have charged double for the same thing.

the sotteok-sotteok was okay, but it lacked a lot of sauce. they only drizzle a little on the middle, so the sides are dry. also, i think they used ketchup and mustard. it would have tasted a lot better with a gochujang sauce instead of ketchup and mustard. 5/10 i am willing to give them another shot for this one if they changed their recipe because i love sotteok-sotteok.

last but not least the currybap. it was really dry and unappetizing in my opinion. there was barely any curry sauce, it was at the bottom of all the vegetables and chicken and soaked into the rice. there was not a lot of gravy to begin with but when the rice soaked it up it made it obvious how little they put. i will not be ordering this again, 4/10.

overall i give them 4/5 stars because the prices are appealing & i heard they provide good customer service in person (my meal was delivered via doordash) i am also open to trying other things on their menu because i feel like they would have better options for my taste buds. bonus, their kimchi is amazing and one of the tastiest i’ve had, but they sadly only give you a small dipping cup size container of that as a side if it comes with your meal. i am willing to come here with my husband one day to sit down inside and give this restaurant...

I had the chicken Bibimbap, tteokbokki, and the Seoul 1979 roll. The tteokbokki was okay, this was my first time trying it at a restaurant so my pallet in bibimbap and tteokbokki is limited. But I know I didn’t like it that much. I personally don’t like the hinted sweet taste and there was too much sesame oil in the bibimbap and roll, it was very overpowering. I would like there to be more flavor, but that’s more of a personal preference, so I’d have to make it myself at home. The place is nice and clean and the staff were very kind. However, for this being my first time at a Korean restaurant, I would give it a low rating; only because of the overwhelming taste of sesame oil. I don’t think I’ll be coming back, but cheers to the workers for working very hard!!

Edit: it’s been about a month and a half, I wanted to say that I was vey pleased with the improvements of the taste in the food. I decided to get the same thing I got: Bibimbap, gimbap, and the tteokbokki and man was it amazing!! Maybe I just got my food on a bad day a month and a half ago because this time, you could taste every ingredient and the sesame oil wasn’t as powerful! I know I went in on the sesame oil last time, I’m not a hater, I love sesame oil, but not when the flavor is strong and overpowering every ingredient in the food!! This time, it was very different! I tasted the mushrooms, the veggies, the rice, and the meat in the bibimbap!! So delicious! I definitely will be coming back when I get in the mood to have Korean food, and I do recommend this place!! As always, the staff are very kind and the place is clean and...