A Ri Rang Tofu House — Restaurant in San Gabriel

Originally wanted to go to Jazz Cat, but the line was incredibly long - we headed over to A Ri Rang Tofu House instead: warm food, good banchan, no wait definitely made for a pretty good meal.

Service isn't the greatest here as the workers all seem super busy and barely have a second to pause by the table as you request for more banchan. But we were immediately seated and able to order within a few minutes, which meant that food came out of the kitchen in about 10-15 minutes. Not bad at all!

All my friends and I ordered the combination tofu soup except for one friend who got the chicken broth instead. We also had an order of galbi ribs to share. Banchan was pretty impressive - I really like seaweed, so I was super happy that A Ri Rang served an unlimited amount of the tangy seaweed sidedish. They also had kimchi, broccoli, beansprouts, potato, tofu, and pickled spicy cucumbers. And of course the salad. All of the side dishes really got our stomachs ready for the tofu soup and galbi.

Combination beef and seafood soup was not too bad. Each of my friends ordered a different spiciness level (I had mild, one had medium, another ordered hot). I preferred my mild the most as I could really taste the soup flavor. With the spicy soups, I really couldn't taste much of the soup - overall, not too bad. I think Young Dong gives a bit more seafood and other ingredients in their soup, but I liked the overall flavor enough. Can't complain.

As for the galbi - it was a bit on the smaller side considering the price. I think we were only given like 5-6 pieces, which really isn't worth the price point. The taste of the meat was good! But the portion size is pretty lacking.

My friend's chicken broth was a winner. Very natural - perfect if you're feeling under the weather, want something warm, or want something healthy. Had the entire chicken in the broth as well as lots of green onions, ginger, and other ingredients. Tasted perfect on a chilly night.

Located in Sunny Plaza - parking isn't too tough to find.

tl;dr - Overall, I'm glad I got to try A Ri Rang. It's a pretty decent tofu house, but I think I prefer Young Dong to this. Side dishes were good, and they do give you rice in a stone pot - I really like digging into the sides of the pot for the crunchy rice. Would come back again if I was...

Food: Very Tasty with option choice of spicy. The flavors are excellent. Lots of side dishes Portions: Good size/Same size as any Tofu house

Price: A bit in the high side, but fair for Korean food

Service: Service are fast and responsive. Seems like there's always a waiter/waitress around.

Atmosphere: simple, all table and single chair style, no booths. Place is clean

Con: No Brown or Purple rice. They do not serve any other kind of rice except for white.

I come to this place a lot when my friends. This place has a pretty good flavor for their tofu soups. They actually have more side dish than some other tofu house I've been to. There are many options that is printed on the menu also double as your placemat. Brilliant, all the Asian restaurant does that, when I place my could be an advertisement. Tofu soup can be ordered in combination or by itself. When ordering a combination, the tofu soup is the same size as an individual order. Some restaurants have a smaller size tofu soup as their combination.

The service is quite fast, it's rare now restaurant has this many service people in house As the wages are getting high. There's always someone around to check your order and any other requirements you need.

The atmosphere is okay, that place looks clean and looks very open. They use just regular rectangular tables an individual chairs, no booths. I actually like it this way better...

My girl and I went for dinner expecting to have a great one however after few minutes wait we got in, we knew what we wanted to get, while waiting again few more minutes nobody showed up to take our order, then i have to waive for service, , we place our order and the guy who took the order was very nice he brought the side dishes very quick. when we finally got the 1rst dish we didn't get rice, after about 5 minutes I asked a waitress that we needed steam rice, and then my girlfriend noticed that the couple that was behind me got their food first and the came after us, which I felt we were being discriminate at some point, not so sure, anyway that's how we felt, and because we got late our food we didn't have enough time to enjoy, they were about to close we got the check, they didn't even bother to say take it time or whatever, and we got waitresses checking often if I had the car or cash ready to pay, the dishwasher guy with the tray waiting right next to us to clear our table, the reason i didn't pay when i got the he check is because as they were almost closing I knew if I pay they wouldn't hesitate to clean the table, it happen to me already, my recommendation is don't go around 8 pm if anyone wants to enjoy dinner, only if you guys can eat really hot and fast. Definitely for us was the first and last time coming here, good...