San Korean Cafe — Restaurant in San Rafael

Nice to have Korean food in San Rafael, but I am disappointed in this place. Very small menu. Very skinny portions. They charged $4 for a banchan side dish item (I've never paid for banchan in my life before and I've eaten at 100 Korean places in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where the real Korean food is served).

The only thing on the menu that appealed to me was a "bulgogi Bahn Mi." However, it was a very skimpy (and I mean micro-sized) sandwich, and the presentation was kind of pitiful. First of all, it WASN'T Bahn Mi. A Bahn Mi sandwich is served on crispy French bread, and by definition has either jalapeño peppers, shredded carrot, and cucumbers and/or cilantro on it. This small sandwich had none of that and was served on a soft hot dog bun with ONE small slice of lettuce. That's it!!! Not Bahn Mi.

Furthermore, proper bulgogi is charbroiled. This very bland beef seemed to just be fried in a pan...very boring and fairly tasteless and unimpressive, maybe a pinch of salt at most for seasoning.

I don't like leaving 1 star for a new business but I see that there are to date only 4 & 5-star reviews (many reviews from new "first timers" with no posting history), so I am injecting a dose of reality to the reviews here. I'd leave two stars if this review wasn't preceded by obviously ridiculous 5star reviews (friends of the owners I suppose).

I really do hope this place ups its game, because my impressions on first visit is that this place is extremely sub-par. Not really even real Korean food. I hope this place gets real with the portions, and at least gets some real French bread for what they purport to be Bahn Mi....I'd be happy to patronize this place in the future if quality improves.

That said, the place had decent looking pastries and I'm sure the coffee was OK. Maybe a place for a quick morning bite before work....as "a...

I was excited to hear there was a new Korean cafe in San Rafael. I had a chance to go there twice so far. The cafe looked very nice and inviting with indoor and outdoor seating. I like that their menu doesn’t have too many things but everything looks interesting and I just want to try every single one. I had tried their breakfast burrito with kimchi inside and spicy pork Bahn mi sandwich. They both were yummy and the ingredients were fresh. My boys liked their Bi Bim Bap and Kim Bap roll. The protein rice bowl with spicy pork was yummy, too (I loved the kimchi and pickled radish on the side). They also have pastries, the owner said they were from the bakery in Berkeley. I tried their almond croissant and it was good, except the almond paste was a bit too sweet for my taste. The coffee from Equator was very nice, too. The owner is...

I dine here for lunch at least two times a week and breakfast on occasion when I’m early for work (I work nearby)… everything on the menu is great and they make something not on the menu, per my request - a ham n cheese croissant with Kim chi … try it! As others mention, the cleanliness and cheerful staff add to the pleasant experience of dining there…. The Korean artwork and Korean movies add to the ambiance… only thing missing is the K-Pop music! Glad to have this wonderful place near the foot of the San Rafael-Richmond bridge - there’s not much out in this area but industrial and commercial offices. ...