Purple Rice — Restaurant in San Francisco

I just finished volunteering at a non-profit and was heading home, and saw this comparatively inconspicuous restaurant on my way to the Metro. I asked a local who was walking a dog and they thought the place as good, so I decided to give it a try.

It was a relatively busy street, but to my disbelief, there was not a single customer in the restaurant, and it was barely past 1:30PM. Nonetheless, I decided to give it a shot. The menu was relatively simple, so I just ordered the Works (I can’t remember the full name), with purple rice, and spicy seafood (that’s what’s called on the menu).

I think it’s nice that the waitresses (there are two) speak Korean (I don’t speak a single word) and understandable English: the fact that they speak Korean gives an authentic feel that’s it’s Korean food. Frankly I didn’t know it’s a Korean eatery until I see the menu: while the restaurant did give me an Asian feel, it could have been other parts of Asiaa.

I must say that while I appreciate the variety of the dishes they serve with the Works, the portions are really quite small, and I was really confused about why the bean sprouts (the exact same kind) was both served inside the main bowl, but also as a side dish which accompanied the main course. In terms of taste, the food was honestly just between acceptable and what I would call good enough, but nowhere near great or wow, which is unfortunate, since it was recommended by the local walking the dog, as aforementioned.

The service was really questionable, however. The waitresses were both well dressed, with your typical Korean makeup (shiny yet transparent), but not politely friendly: they didn’t serve me water until I had ordered food, even though I already sat down for a long time perusing the menu. Furthermore, they were chatting in a highly audible voice in Korean in an otherwise very quiet restaurant, and never attended to the needs of the customer until asked. They weren’t particularly busy either: they were just wrapping the dining utensil in a napkin.

I must admit that I have very limited experience with Korean restaurants, so maybe this is typical in a Korean restaurant where customers are served water until they become a paying customer (by ordering food), or are given service only upon request. This theory remains to be tested in the future, however.

Overall, I don’t know if I can recommend the place: while the food was acceptably good, the service was so “unusual,” I am not sure I want to eat there again: I felt the service was very practical—they only serve you when you are paying (it’s a hot day, and if I were a restaurant owner, I wouldn’t mind serving water [which is incredibly inexpensive] even if they haven’t ordered food or decided not to order food after looking at the menu, but that’s just me) and only upon...

Their stone bowl bibimbap is artisan no doubt. I have to say that I love stone bowl bibimbap and I always order this dish in every Korean restaurant and the one at Purple rice is the best I have ever had so far.

Where do I even begin?

Their rice is perfect. It is soft but still Shen texture. It is neither too soggy nor dry. Just perfect. The stone bowl is heated to the perfect temperature to give the rice a beautiful crust, but not hot enough to burn the rice. Especially the chef used the perfect amount of oil so it does’t taste greasy.

There are a variety of veggies. Each kind of veggie is well seasoned and fresh. Look how thinly sliced the carrot is!

They offer home made sauce to go with bibimbap. It is well balanced with a hint of sweetness. The texture is fluid but not too watery and therefore can be easily mixed in and not making the whole bowl watery.

The beef is thinly slice, soft and not overly oily. Texture is great. Mostly importantly, it is so well seasoned!

The side dishes are very delicate, fresh and not too salty.

Finally, the ratio of rice to beef to veggies is just perfect perfect perfect.

Their bibimbap is officially the #1 bibimbap on my list. I will definitely go back. Hopefully they could maintain this standard every...

The food lacked flavor, was so disappointing small (portion-wise) and therefore overpriced. My friend and I split the seafood pancake (barely any seafood in it), the mini short rib ($33 for 6 pieces), and Japchae which was mushy, not spicy at all even tho we asked for spicy, and they charged $4 extra to add protein - we picked fried tofu and it wasn’t barely fried.. no crunch whatsoever. I’m sorry I really hate giving a bad review to a Korean restaurant but this did not feel authentic Korean food at all - definitely catered towards a yt palette if you know what I mean. They also gave us the check super early and wait staff just felt rushed to get out of there like an hour before closing. I never give out 1 stars or reviews in general but the 4.5 stars is just misleading and I’m trying to balance...