Cheo Gat Zip

One of the best korean restaurants I have been to even by K-town standards!!  The banchan is always fresh and yummy. My favorite is the fried chicken so crispy and yet not greasy at all.  And they have beer on tap !! what more could you ask for !!!

*Edit* Tried it again today and the ban chan was so fresh and very much homemade. We ordered the goat soup, dol sot bibimbab, and blood sausage. All were so tasty and very well prepared. It's rare to find authentic, homestyle Korean fare outside of koreatown. The unripened, fresh kimchi was amazing. Guh Juhl Yi Style. I just came back from a trip to Seoul so it was very comparable.  We got a watermelon "cake" dish for my mom since it was her birthday! Upgraded to 5 stars!

As a Korean, I'm pretty critical of the fare. That said, this place does have good quality banchan that is made fresh daily. I tried the stone pot (dol sot) bibimbab and it was tasty. I love it when it comes out sizzling with an egg. I also tried the clam soup which is pretty large and fresh. There aren't a lot of "good" Korean restaurants in the valley but this place is worth mentioning. Not "Wow" but decent.

We came on a Friday evening and were delighted to see the place 95% full and occupied by Koreans... So it must be good right?  It took us several minutes to be seated because they had to clear the only remaining table.  Then when the small sides arrived, the kimchi and fish cakes were so tasty we were off to an excellent first impression.

We ordered the pork neck soup and spicy chicken as recommended by other yelpers.

Things generally went downhill from here.

Service was super super slow.  There was only one waitstaff and she disappeared to the kitchen half the time, probably to help in the back.  Our cups of water took forever to arrive and we saw other patrons getting their own waters and even their own orders of rice!

When the food arrived, the pork neck soup was kind of bland, lacked spiciness and seasoning, potatoes were undercooked and the peppercorns overwhelmed the entire bowl of soup.  The spicy fried chicken was just ok, nothing too special and actually the batter was too thick.  Special note, we asked for extra bowls to share the soup, but the broth lost its temperature very quickly when scooped into the small bowl.  If management reads this, please change your bowls to something that retains heat better.

This experience just made me miss Toronto's Ka-Chi pork bone soup that much more.

Doubtful that we will return.