SGD Tofu House — Restaurant in Santa Clara

Overall the food was tasty! That’s reflected in my rating, but we were left a little confused overall and I have a few suggestions for improvement:

I’ll start by reiterating that the tofu stew is tasty and side dishes are solid! The price point is high but that’s typical of Korean restaurants in the Bay

The service was slow, I think we caught them at a busy time. We were rushed to order but it took us 10+ more mins after that to even get tea, and even longer for banchan.

The service is decidedly better for Koreans. I’m not unfamiliar with this concept but the service should still be at a reasonable level for everyone else; special service to Koreans should not be at the neglect of others. The table beside us got side dishes refilled proactively twice while our empty dishes sat there. They also got special side dishes that we didn’t receive. I also know Korean so am even more attuned to the special attention given - regardless, differing levels of service based on nationality definitely goes noticed and makes people uncomfortable.

I say this because on top of that, our seafood pancake order was forgotten. This is fine and they were apologetic, but if someone had come to check on us before our soups were almost finished we could have rectified it earlier. As we were almost done we ended up canceling the pancake upon discovery the order wasn’t submitted. The tipping was confusing. We were paying with cash and gave $70 for a $44.50 meal so we could tip 20% with the change back. However we were given change as if we had put down $60 so assumed they had taken the $10 tip (more than 20%). We weren’t going to stiff them on a tip in any way but this felt odd. Either that, or they made a calculation error in the change, so I hope they didn’t think we tipped nothing when we took the change they did give back.

I chose this restaurant carefully amongst many options as I don’t come to South Bay super often. I enjoyed the food but the aspects noted above made me feel ambivalent...

This is probably one of the better tofu houses in the area and the tofu and food are so good. The problem is the safety of ur car is sooooo compromised at this location. They have signs posted and are included with ur menu warning you to not leave ur computer stuff in the car; people are constantly getting their car’s rear glass shattered to search in the trunk. Even the friendly gentleman owner / manager tells everyone to not leave their tech or gear in the car. Alas even going this past weekend, as we parked we saw a person dealing with their car being broken into. This really hurts all the local food places business and it seems like none of the places are making the effort to mitigate this problem. It’s quite out of hand.

But back to the food review... this place like its sister restaurant in MIlpitas rocks! Love their tofu soups and my friends and I all get different ones. I usually get the dumpling soup and it’s so good and perfect for a cold or chilly gray day. I’ve also ordered their bimbambap on stone ware, which is good. Their side dishes are tasty, and the service is friendly and quick to address any needs. I enjoy their seafood pancake which was crispy and perfectly chewy with a ton of tasty ingredients. Again the food is good here... you can’t go wrong. The diverse make up of customers steadily flowing in and out testify to its goodness.

Yet again, the safety of ur car being parked there is what detracts from this place. Seriously even if You don’t bring anything, you are at risk to have people break into ur car just to look to see if ur hiding things in ur trunk. They also use devices to detect Bluetooth signals. But regardless ur always potentially at risk to have a window smashed. It makes me sad that I have to lose a star for this. But I’m looking out for you, the...

Authentic, inviting and cosy Korean food place!

We were intending to check out this zagat/Michelin guide recommended Korean BBQ place across the street. They had a wait time of 1.5hr and that's for regular table, expect an even longer wait time for the BBQ tables!

Not in the mood for waiting especially when it's late and we are hungry. Hungry people = angry people!

Anyway, searched and found this rather highly rated Korean place just across the street. We arrived and was very warmly welcomed into the restaurant. It was super pack, and thankfully there was one 2 seater available, so we were seated very quickly.

We ordered a Ginseng Chicken (3/5) and Spicy Pork Kimchi Tofu stew (3.8/5). Both dishes came with all the side dishes and a large gigantic pot of rice. Tea is compliment and free flow too!

The chicken in the ginseng chicken soup was cooked to perfection. It was so tender and a gentle probe and the meat fell off. The soup makes the chicken taste super tender and juicy. Eat it with the salt/pepper mix they provide and it's super yum!

The soup on the other hand was a little bland. Even though you are to add the salt/pepper mix to tweak it to your tasting, the broth itself was lacking the ginseng taste. Only after adding the salt the taste improved significantly.

The spicy pork kimchi stew was pretty good. Except we thought too highly of ourselves and ordered spicy level, perhaps we should have been less spicy! Or medium spicy.

Overall the experience was basic but somewhat comforting, almost like you are visiting a friend's place for dinner. They have this lovely gentlemen the who went around making balloons for little ones. The way he does it, it was super genuine which makes it extra special.

Recommended esp if you want Korean food and do not...