Pretty sure my lunch companion and I crashed a Korean Funeral when we arrived here. We did not know that they were not open for lunch. We show up, the door was open and the place is filled with people in Black Suits and Funeral cars in the parking lot. We were not able to put two and two together until we arrived. hahaha.
Place was good. the first BBQ we got didnt really work so they had to give us another one. It took a while to acutally get through the lunch. This was my first Korean BBQ expreince. I had mongolian BBQ in my head so the time may of been about right for a Korean BBQ expirence. Decent food, meat was pretty fatty. The staff was great even though they didnt speak english.
I came here with my family and a family friend last December last year. We do not go out as a whole family too often so we looked forward to this occasion.
*note - the family friend that came spoke Korean.
When we got there the owner came and informed us that their server had not showed up so they would be taking our order (translated by friend). The owner spoke no English.
We asked for water and a hot tea for my grandma. She brings out the waters and the hot tea. After a couple seconds, we notice that the cup that the tea was in had a crack in it. Tea was leaking out onto the table. My dad went and asked if we could get another one to replace it. The owner refused. My dad brought the cup and put it on their counter and the tea leaked all over their counter. They brought us a replacement.
We ordered some kind of korean bbq special where we would grill it ourselves. The wait time was ridiculous. Over 40 minutes had passed and my brothers and I had drank all our water. We waited for someone to come and refill our waters. No one came. The owners (husband and wife) were no where to be seen. Some one could have literally came into the restaurant and stolen all their furniture and they would not have even noticed. After awhile my dad gets a little mad at the poor service. We can see water pitchers full of water in a fridge through the glass door in the back. My dad walks to the back, opens the fridge and takes the pitchers, walks back to the table and refills our waters, then puts the pitcher back. No one noticed. No joke. We could have fucking walked to the cash register and stolen all their money and they wouldn't have noticed. That's how bad it was. No attentiveness at all.
When the food finally came out, it was not that bad... at first. We noticed that some of the pieces of meat had spoiled. My brothers and I noticed it first and quickly put it aside. We didn't want our dad knowing and have him flip a shit. We ate quickly and then gtfo.
Overall this place was garbage.
The service was piss poor. Paid no attention to us whatsoever. The meat  that was edible (what they're supposed to be known for) was so-so. And then there was the spoiled meat.. wtf... are you kidding me?
I can understand if a place serves food that just doesn't taste good. But serving spoiled food is a sin.
F*ck this place. Do not come here.
I was all excited about the charcoal grill. We started with the usual: seafood pancake. It was just ok though, not quite crispy enough and I thought the sauce was a bit boring. For entrees, we got the soondooboo, kalbi and spicy pork. I didn't care for the pork: the cut was too lean and I didn't like the marinade. The kalbi was excellent though. Soondooboo was standard fare. My biggest complaint with this place was how COLD it was! I guess they didn't have central heating, so there were two tiny portable heaters which didn't do much unless you sat right in front of them. Guests at the table next to us were eating with their coats on. Everything cooled down far too quickly for us to enjoy at leisure. I might come back when the weather's not as cold, but in winter this wasn't very comfortable.
Review Source:Had dinner for a friends birthday and it was great! Â There were 5 of us and we had a private room. Â While i loved the ambiance, it got to be uncomfortable after sitting on the floor for 2 hours.
The service was amazing, YoKo was very attentive to our party. Â The food was extremely delicious and there was so much of it!!! Â it was a great experience and it was a lot of fun.
There really wasn't that much which was great about this place.
I'm saying this principally because the service was lacking, the atmosphere (well mediocre) and the price pretty high. Maybe paired up with Yeosai (right next door and not too well behind Haewoondae in terms of quality) does this establishment shine...well even that would be an overstatement.
As far as no-frills Korean BBQ, Hae Woon is pretty good. Â The side dishes are plentiful and the portions for the grilled meats are generous. Â The dumplings and savory pancakes are tasty, but forgettable. Â The charcoal used for grilling was well prepared and gave a good flavor, although they brought it out when it was still a bit too hot for ideal grilling.
Two stars were deducted because the service was perfunctory without a hint of a smile to be found anywhere. Â Dishes were dropped on the table and the waitress (owner?) was off without even glancing to see if we might need anything else.
If you go in expecting good value with no-frills and perfunctory service you won't be disappointed.
While this place may be good for in-house Korean BBQ (haven't tried), this is really bad takeout.
The Kimchee Rice was the best thing we had. Â But even that is pretty boring.
The JaeYuk BokUm (spicy pan fried Korean Bacon with vegetables) and literally 3 green onions for the veggies and that was it. Â On top of that, it wasn't spicy and the flavor wasn't great.
The JopChae was mediocre and for $10 I'd say less-than-mediocre.
Bul Go Gi ($15) was forgettable, bland, and overpriced.
Without exception, all of the sides tasted old/off. Â The seaweed was inedible and literally spewed out.
All of the above dishes ran us $60 with tip. Â That's simply outrageous for the quality and quantity of the food. I have no idea how these guys make it with so many other great Korean BBQ joints around. Â Next time we're going back to Solga or Woo Chon.
Friends took us here when we visited Chicago. I really like the private side rooms.
The wood fire grills add great smoky flavor to the meat. I'm not completely sure every table has the wood fire, so I would definitely request a table with it.
We got the combo meal. It was a feast!
good ban chan (side dishes) - both in flavor, variety, and quantity
galbi, joomooluk, chadolbaegee meats were all satisfying and pretty tender
seafood soup - clean-tasting, hearty
japchae (vermicelli noodle dish) and pahjeun (pancake) good
Hope to return next time i visit Chicago
My first visit to Hae Woon Dae was an adventure of steamed pork, tender beef tongue, delightful steamed dumplings, and of course copious amounts of kalbi.
The Bo Ssam, which was steam pork with cabbage leaves and oyster was tremendous. I think most people would be reluctant to order this appetizer due to it's high price tag ($15.95), but it's a huge plate of tender and flavorful steam pork with lots of vegetables and rice paper wrappers if you prefer to eat it that way. We had 6 people in our party and this appetizer had more than enough food to make it past one round for everyone. I must say this was the unexpected highlight of our meal.
The mandu (dumplings) were surprisingly good. Filled generously with pork, and seasoned nicely with garlic and green onion.
Of course the kalbi was outstanding. Razor thin sliced beef that you cook on the open charcoal grill...the meat just melts in your mouth. The beef tongue, while I thought was not quite as flavorful, still was very good and went down nicely with rice and a Hite. They provided us plenty of banchan, my favorites being the kimchi and the green beans.
My only complaint was that the entrees are accompanied by soup and rice, however they didn't bring that out until we asked for it at the end of the meal. They should have brought that out without us having to ask. The tragic part was the soup was excellent! Although a bit on the salty side, it had a superb beefy flavor, and wonderful complexity. It would have been a travesty for us to have left without trying the soup.
5-stars for excellent food and good service. Minus one start for not brining out the rice and soup until we asked for it. I would definitely go back, but will definitely make sure to ask for the soup if ordering one of the main entrees!
The food was great! Only towards the end of our meal did we discover centipedes on our table crawling. I told the lady and she said so sorry. That's it? She also gave 13 dollars for the problem. Maybe I'll call health dept. We left and called the business on our way out and said I'll call health dept. feeling sick now and I said 300 dollars and I won't call. She said ok. So I went back and to find out It's only 100 dollars. I'm pissed and sick. I'll call health dept. And.. the better Business Bureau. Not enough money for my pain and suffering. If you wanna try this place DON'T! nice lady but....
Review Source:so my wife and i were here about a couple weeks ago while we were in the area. I haven't been here for a loooong time (many many years since the KA township moved out). Â we didn't expect much but it greatly surprised. wife had the bibim nang myung and i had the beef fried rice. both were excellent and reminded of why i used to frequent this place when i was younger partying self.
the interior decor has not changed in over a decade but neither has the food. Â that's a good thing since i remember most of their food to be good. Â struck up a conversation and she insisted that i try tta ro gook bap. Â i felt bad since we were very full but she insisted and brought us a mini version of what's on the menu. Â WOW!
we will definitely drive 30 mins or so try eat this again and wife agrees. Â
going to hvae to try the kalbi as well.
Many drunken nights are punctuated at Hae Woon Dae. Generally, the way to do it right is go to Yosai for drinks, then the Karaoke bar for, well, karaoke, and cap it all off with late night Korean grub at this spot. The service here is great, but that is probably the case because I know a friend of the manager. The rule of Korean establishments also applies here, show up with someone who is fluent in Korean.
I order the kalbi tang (soup) as its' brothy-ness sobers me up for my next adventure, or the kimchi jigae (kimchi soup) to smack some sense into this aging party-holic. They got plenty of banchan to fill you up, and a few small private dining rooms with sliding doors for a more intimate setting, or to keep drunken patrons away from you.
Since I did not order KBBQ, this review is based on side dishes and their soondobu. Â Side dishes are okay at best, the server forgot to give a side of kimchi! Options given were mainly egg and potato based with a couple pickled veggies and dried fish. Â I guess I'm just spoiled with a vast number of veggie dishes since I like eating vegetarian at Korean places (when I don't feel like a load of meat).
The soondobu is traditionally made w/ silky tofu. Â In this case, they made it with medium/firm tofu... and texturally, it wasn't what I expected. Â I also wasn't given a raw egg! Â Again, I'm probably just picky with this as well.
I've been craving Korean food for a few weeks, but had to go alone this time around. So I chose Hae Woon Dae's restaurant due to its good reviews.
I went in the late afternoon (I was the only one there) and was treated very nicely. One of the ladies greeted me and let me sit wherever I wanted (again, it was empty...). The inside was the size of a typical strip-mall restaurant - enough room where you aren't bumping into a neighboring table. The menu had a lot dishes ranging from soup to of course, BBQ. The lady let me order one dish of boneless beef ribs with a side of rice even though the menu stated that you must order at least two. Before that came out, I was given lots of mini Korean side dishes (some spicy, some mild). As for the ribs, they were served with a side sauce and lettuce. The ribs were well-cooked and very tasty. I was expecting to grill the ribs myself, but having them cooked for me was fine. At the end of my meal, they gave me a slice of watermelon.
Overall, the food and service was great. I will be going back when I have another craving for Korean food.
My Yelp page tells me that 5 of my Yelp friends rated this place 4 stars! Granted the reviews are dated years back, thankfully, otherwise should I think I don't know what I'm talking about ?
A decade plus ago and a couple different owners back the food was amazing. Â Hae Woon Dae has been here for many years. Â Late night Kalbi & traditional Korean dishes were excellent. Â Service was way better than San Soo gap san(a rival Kalbi joint that Yelp users for some reason think is so awesome). Â Back in the day, if we had cash to drop, we knew where we were spending it. Â Right here, but times changed and so did the cooks with new ownership. Â Now it all tastes different, to me anyway. Â Not one of my Korean friends eat at this restaurant. Â Why? Taste, its not here, it's left and no one knows why.
Maybe it's the changing of the kitchen staff or maybe it's that they don't have any traditional cooks back there? Â I don't know, that's what my friends tell me.
The last couple times I've been here I've disliked the food and flavors. Â I only go because the group wants to, so I'll snack on panchan. Â When the friends ask for a recommendation I'll tell them what dishes I know of; would be good for them to try. Â Because it's a different taste, they dig it. Â Being as I know how good Hae woon dae used to be, it's not the same. Â I've been to Korea a few times and been lucky to dine with the parents of my many Korean friends in their homes. Â Traditional is better. Â This tastes like an inexperienced person is in the kitchen adding too much mix.
Don't just trust reviews. Â Ask somebody! Â Blowing $60 bucks on a sub par meal, is not worth it.
I found this place on Yelp! A mutual friend wanted to get together to eat at a Korean Restaurant.
We enjoyed the food. This is not a fancy establishment, but the food was good! Â The last time I was at a Korean restaurant was when I was in TX. It was good to order Hite, a Korean beer - it has a clean and refreshing taste.
I had the BBQ octopus. My friends got fried rice; they stayed on the conservative side. I liked the octopus and some of the side dishes.
There were other items on the menu that looked good also.
We went on a Saturday evening arriving at about 7, there was plenty of parking in the car park.
These days, Korean bbqs and now Japanese bbqs are popping up a dime a dozen. Â But that also comes with a lot of distinction and differences between all mom and pop joints. Â
This particular one had private rooms where you can sit on the floor while you grill and eat; or just tables in the regular dining room. Â We opted for a private room to giggle ourselves through dinner while we stuffed our faces without having other diners being in awe at our unlady like food eating contest skills.
Both of us ordered the kalbi, and awaited for that to arrive while we ate banchan. Â They have a lot less banchan than San Soo so don't expect 25-30 different small plates. The soup here is also a lot less spicier here than its nemeisis. The kalbi was marinated very well, but I will have to say that the thicker cuts of this meat are noticeably chewier...hmmm. Â Doesn't make for a good "medium rare" cut. Â But the thinner slices done at a nice charred consistency were gobbled down, no complaints. Â
Service with the smile here, these Korean ladies didn't show us any sort of "tude that goes along with the theory "don't come here for the service, just come here for the food". Â "Food with "tude" still doesn't make for a great experience, no matter how great the food is. Â Didn't have any of that mess here at Hae Woon Dae. Â Come here for a great alternative to SSGS, no long wait, good service
While I still like coming to this place, there have been some changes I'd like to note. We recently came here late Friday night and we had a private booth this time --- Great. But...
+ They started offering a Japanese menu (basic dishes)
- The panchan we got this time around was scaled down to maybe 6 sides :(
- no rice water after dinner :(
- service was lacking a little this time, but that might have been because we were tucked away in a booth and out of sight
I've dined at the top 3 popular Korean restaurants in Chicago and Hae Woon Dae is probably my best experience. On my business trip last week, our team decided to try a new place so we stopped by Hae Woon Dae. It's a small restaurant and there's always parking outside in the strip center.
The food is fantastic. Their galbi was extremely fresh and juicy and their sangulpsal was very tasty. I typically only like a few side dishes Korean restaurants offer but I loved almost every one at HaeWoonDae. Their Korean pancakes were delicious and Kimchi jigae and Korean noodles were just as superb. Might I add, it was my first time to try Makkoli rice wine and Bokbunja Raspberry Wine here. Now they are definitely my favorites. Even better than sake (and I really love sake).
Food was phenomenal, and add to that, so was the service. The owner Hera (pronounced Hey La), was very courteous and helpful. She even offered us a free bottle of Makkoli at the end and made us an extra big bowl of Kimchi Jigae.
If you're looking for good food, good drinks and no wait, this is a sure hit. It was perfect for our business dinner because we were starving and was able to get a table immediately. On top of that, it was much quieter than other Korean restaurants where you have to literally scream to get a waitress. Go here!
OK, so I admit: I was not prepared for my dining experience at Hae Woon Dae.
I went with my friend of Korean descent. Â He was born and raised here, was adopted by an Iowan family, and knows as much about Korean food as I do about nuclear physics... but since he looks Korean, our hosts assumed that we knew what we were supposed to do.
We didn't.
So, first, we got the private room. Â Ignorantly, my wife and friend took their shoes off AFTER entering the room. Â I said, "I think you're supposed to take off your shoes BEFORE you enter." Â Our hostess arrived in the midst of this, saw their shoes sitting inside the little private room... she frowned. Â Ok, see, we're off to a bad start here.
We ordered drinks and chatted while we waited. Our hostess returned and asked if we wanted to have the food cooked here at the table or prepared in the back. Â We opted to have the food cooked at our table, it took a sec for us to figure out that was what she was asking.
What took a bit LONGER for us to figure out was that we were going to be the ones doing the cooking.
The kimchi was very good, and we enjoyed all the pickled side dishes while we patiently waited for our cook to come back and cook for us. Â Heh... sucka. Â When the hostess returned and saw we had done nothing with our shrimp and marinated beef, she frowned again, and motioned to us... apparently she thought we didn't like the food. (Truth be told, everything was delicious, but my wife wasn't expecting full shrimp, uncleaned and with heads and... eyes.)
Well, now we know better. Â We'd definitely eat here again as our hosts were polite and courteous even though they were probably laughing and scorning our American asses (and deservedly so) at the same time after we left. Â The food was excellent, especially the marinated beef and the fried rice, and the kimchi, as I said, was really good.
Dessert was non existent, which is what you'd expect.
Why is it, that the BEST restaurants are located in little, hidden strip-malls?
Hae Woon Dae is no exception!
I was treated to this hidden gem by Yelp's very own Korean Princess Caroline A. and what an honor it was!
In my opinion, a restaurant always gets bonus points when a person tells you that their family has been dining in an establishment (of the same ethnicity) for many years.
It turned out that this is one of THE best Korean restaurants in all of Chicagoland!
I love this place so much, that when my family asked me where I wanted to go for last Mother's Day, and I could pick anywhere...I chose HERE!
Happy "Umuni" Day to me!
What makes it so good?
1. The most delicious and freshest Seafood Pancake I have ever tasted.
2. Tons of Banchan (little appetizer type) dishes, and were always asked if we wanted the little dishes refilled.
3. Open-flame-coal BBQ for the grilling of the meat orgy.
4. Great service...EVERYTIME we have gone there!
The only negative I can come up with is that you will smell that lingering meat deliciousness on your clothes (and hair) for hours after leaving there...ohhhh the price we pay for smoky tastiness!
In the midst of a bitter duel for the mayorship of this place, I've finally hunkered down to write a review for it.
Back in the day (I won't reveal my age, but Britney ruled the scene), we used to come to the internet cafe in this strip mall, Cyberzone, to play Counterstrike. Â Soon enough we happened on this place. Â And then we'd boogie over to the karaoke joint next door. Â You can pretty much plan your whole night in this little strip mall.
For one, it's never crowded in here. Â I don't understand why that is, but the good thing about it is we can bring my little nephew to dine with us, and if he's fussy, no one is there to be annoyed by his cute but piercing cries. Â Also, there is usually a sports game on the TV. Â The last couple visits they had the Blackhawks game on one night and the Bulls game the other. Â KBBQ/sportsbar/panchan/kimchi/FTW
The chop chae is outstanding, one of the best I've tasted. Â The jalapeno miso soup is spicy to the heavens. Â The seafood pancake is average, but I'm willing to overlook that. Â The kalbi rocks, and that's about it for this review.
The nice thing about rolling into a major metropolis at midnight on a Sunday is you can count on some Korean BBQ place being open - lol. Â Hae Woon Dae is open until 3 AM on Sunday, 4 AM Mon - Thur, and 5 AM on Fri & Sat - freaking AAAAA! Â There was a small group of people in one of the rooms, otherwise I pretty much had the place to myself.
Since I wanted to cook at the table I was forced to gorge myself due to the usual required 2-entree minimum order to do so. Â So kalbi and dyae ji bulgogi along with the requisite bottle of soju to take the edge off my seven hour drive it was. Â Between all that and the banchan, I had a feast of Korean BBQ before me that was fit for a big, fat, gluttonous king.
The South Korean hostess initially seemed a bit leery of my white devil presence, but she warmed up to my ever-present-accepting-charm-for-ethnic-diversity soon enough and we had a nice conversation during my meal. Â She was kind of sweet in her own way and quite interesting too. Â I haven't known many Korean people and am not very versed in that particular culture. Â She was into a golf championship playing on the TV and that kind of blew me away. Â Not a fan myself, but I never would have expected her to dig it so much. Â You just never know.
Nothing fancy, just what I expect in any decent k-bbq joint. Â An hour later I left full, fat, relaxed, and happy. Â What more can a white devil ask for?
I wish i could have rated a zero or half star.
This is now formally the worst korean food i have ever had anywhere.
i suggested to my wife to go there because one of my absolute favorite yelpies loved this place and i trust her recommendations.
we got there at about 5:30 PM on a saturday...my wife, son, and a friend of our son. there were no other customers there. the kids were loud and playful so in that sense we were comfortable and the staff did not seem to mind us anyways. one of the waitresses even talked japanese to us (i think her japanese was better than her english).
Service: nice, sweet ladies. not attentive. but not bad either. saw one of them having a finger deep on her teeth...kinda gross.
Food: we ordered standard BBQs and also shrimp. The shrimp with no flavor was the best of all....still not special. the rice, meat, kimchee, all the goodies that came with the meal...everything was bad to mediocre.
i love korean food. i have had it during my many visits to korea, even in china and japan, all over america...and this one was just bad. i feel bad about writing this review but .....
Killer Korean.
Many thanks to my most lovely twin, Caroline A, for finally opening my eyes to the fact that Yelp-favorite, San Soo Gab San, ain't the only Korean darling in town.
Upon pulling up to the small, uninviting looking storefront that is Hae Woon Dae, I almost had second thoughts about going inside. Almost. Then I remembered that my best Asian persuasion beauty would never steer me wrong, especially when it comes to tasty bites, and boy was I right!
Of course for similarity (and brevity) purposes I can closest assimilate the HWD experience to the likely more familiar SSGS one. Same deal here, folks... sit down at a table with a built-in grill, proceed to order copious meats and fishies for DIY grillin', get saddled with lots of small banchan plates comprised of a whole mess of weird - but fabulous - things to try, consume aforementioned meat wrapped in beautiful lettuce and smothered in sweet bean paste, get way full, leave smelling like smoked ass.
For such an almost identical setup, the one question I'm still left with is: why so empty HWD? Not sure if it's a location based reason, a need for marketing or what, but what HWD has in resemblance, it lacks in customers. Great for those uberbusy times when that 'other KBBQ spot' is bustling and you want to get your kalbi on, but if you're looking for that fun, packed, raucous atmosphere, you won't find it here. Aside from staff workers and one other table, we were the sole heirs to the kimchee throne during our visit.
Despite the relatively unpopulated surrounds, a few things must be noted... not only did the food (especially the short rib) absolutely rock and the spicy miso soup clear my sinuses in a jiffy, the Chop Chae was the best I've had. Ever. And that's KBBQ FTW!
I love to lick myself even days after visiting places like this.(and so does she and she and she...;p )
I can still taste the smokiness on my skin and my sweat has a nice spiciness after my body has been marinating in the same pickling spices that created that awesome kimchi.
and yes i shower and bathe, throw my clothes in the wash and eat my yogurt and oatmeal for breakie to keep the regulars, but HWD makes the food to permeate your soul, to brighten your smile and outlook on the life despite the inevitable 2012 date approaching.
The coals burn hot and on windy days can change the air flow in the vents to prevent the smoke from escaping, but just a change to your perspective and accepting the smoke into your clothing and skin can be good as you realize you will attract most meat eaters for days to come and will subconsciously gain favor from them.
Even the veggieheads will love you as you resonate the tasty banchan which decorates your soul and table with splashes of ooohs and aaaahs.
Its great for big groups, very friendly and attentive servers(though they are somewhat typically stand-off ish, they are only a few feet away, close enough to see the hunger in your eye and within earshot of your belly screaming for more).
Great place, great choice for an evening out (open til 5am) as its right next to the karaoke joint next door. Strip mall parking and small tea rooms(though I noticed the floors underneath the table are not recessed, so those with legs up to my piehole be aware).
Do it NOW!
My bff and I love to go out for KBBQ together, and this is one of our favorites!
Hae Woon Dae is a dive. It's old, run down and has scary bathrooms, but the food is fantastic. We came in here for an early dinner, and we stayed for about two hours. We were also massively hung over, so were moving at a slow pace.
Here's what I love -
* Charcoal grill - oh yes.
* Tender and flavorful kalbi.
* Awesome banchan assortment. Typically, when I go to a Korean restaurant, I like to eat banchan more than the main course. Hae Woon Dae puts out several different kinds of kimchees, pickled greens, mini savory pancakes and Korean style potato salad.
* Condiments. Their daenjang (fermented soy bean paste) is a combination of Korean style and Japanese miso. The combination is fantastic.
* I think they improved their ventilation.
* Open until 5am.
* I think their mool naengmyun is pretty good. Cold buckwheat noodles in beef broth.
* Korean pop songs in the background. It's hilarious.
I know a lot of Yelpers like San Soo Gab San, but this is another great one. I think they're pretty similar, except HaeWoonDae is smaller in size.
I would like to say that next to Filipino food, Korean comes to a close second. Hae Woon Dae is a great place to go if you happened to end up at the Korean bar a few doors down drink some of that flavored Soju. Its open late night and has private rooms for your guests (no shoes allowed) if you don't want to be bothered. The meat is good but could use a bigger portion. I highly recommend the Pa Jun. The service is a little weird but what do you expect? The panchae (side dishes) are delicious especially the potato salad, and dicon with kimchi, and egg omelet. YUM! Its a bit pricey but worth the experience!!!!!!!
Reccomend: Pajun, Kalbi, Bogulgi, Pajun, and duk bok ki (spicy rice cake)
Dislikes: Spotty service, and prices (10-25) per person.
Minus one star because it was soooo cold.
Other than that, best Korean BBQ experience by far. Â There were four of us and we ordered a set meal for 3. Â I don't know how they determine the portions, but they must've planned for 4 sumo wrestlers. Â Instead, they got 4 annoying white kids who kept asking stupid questions ("is this edible?", "are we doing this right?").
Why I like this more than other Korean BBQs:
1. Â Friendly service
2. Â Soooo much food
3. Â For #2 - doggie bags (what?!)
4. Â Private rooms
5. Â Coal
6. Â Generous meat portions, fresh octopus
Total damage for group of 4:
3 person meal + wine + soju + tax = $30/person + tip
Great food and great service. Â We came with a party of four and ended up ordering the set dinner for 3 people. Â When the food started coming, it never stopped. Â We didn't even come close to finishing.
Good selection of panchan, delicious entrees, and fresh raw meat and seafood to cook up on the charcoal grill. Â Octopus was extremely fresh - and included the head (squish).
As the other reviewer pointed out, the room was freezing. Â It got a bit better with the grill going, but if you don't mind coming out smelling like korean BBQ for a few days, I'd advise wearing a coat.
As the first Korean restaurant I have ever been too (way back in '94!), this place will always have special meaning to me.
Even though I have moved on to other Korean restaurants, I sometimes go back, not for the BBQ but the dubus. Â The sun dubu and kimchi jigae is really good here, with bits of pork roiling in their clay pots. Â
A perfect date night could look like this: dinner at Haiwoondae, flavored soju at the bar next door, then noraebang all night long at the karaoke bar two doors down. Â How cool is that?
Let me get this straight.  What happens here is, I sit around eating a course of appetizers with my friends and drinking first some hot tea, then some very cold beer.  Then, they bring out a bunch of meat, some hot coals, and a cooking grate, at which point  my dining companions who aren't novices at all this proceed to grill all that meat and then give goodly portions of it to me?
In a nutshell, what you're saying is, the main point of eating here is consuming large quantities of grilled meat?
Yes, yes please.
Yes.
My go-to place for kalbi without wait or fuss. Quality varies depending on the time you go (I've gone super late and my meat had yet to be defrosted...but it cooked up just fine) and service is dependably surly. Live coals makes it all worth it to me...mmmmm. And there is chicken here, for those who don't care for the four-legged friends.
I like the panchan here, and they do, at least, keep it coming.
Not bad, not bad! Â I'd give this place 3.5 stars, rather than just 3. Â After reading the other reviews, I did not have a lot of expectations coming into this place, but I was pleasantly surprised. Â My BF and I ate here on a Saturday night at peak hours, but we were seated immediately. Â There were a lot of large groups, and you have the option of sitting in a private room on the floor (shoes off, of course). Â
Very modest, sparse interior and a relatively decent number of tables. Â This is definitely not a dress-up place, but a very casual vibe (especially since you will leave smelling like your dinner). Â Although the hosts/hostesses can speak English, don't expect a warm friendly greeting. Â They're not mean, they're just all business, baby. Â
We sat down, read our menus, and waited a bit for a server to come by. Â Just at the point where we thought we would be ignored, the server appeared and took our order. Â We waited again, and just at the point where we thought we would be ignored again, an amazing panoply of banchan appeared. Â A very good variety and number of small dishes. Â I thought the kimchee was a bit "underdone", meaning it had not quite cured enough to achieve that souring taste, but the kkaktugi was quite yummy and crunchy. Â I always laugh when I see potato salad in the banchan, but I think every Korean restaurant has that. Â
The mool mandoo was okay, but we should have gone with the fried. Â The mool mandoo tasted a little dough-y, but no worries, we finished off that appetizer quickly. Â We opted not to get bbq (especially since we weren't seated at a grill table with a vent) but we thoroughly enjoyed our dolsot bibimbab and duk mandoo guk. Â Both had very good flavor, although I thought the duk mandoo guk could use a tiny more soy sauce.
All in all, a very good meal at fairly decent prices...though not at the awesome prices that you could find at Korean Restaurant on Lawrence (boy do I miss that place). Â
Since it's located in a mini-strip mall, there is free parking to be found, although on weekends, it might be difficult. Â However, you can always find street parking. Â You can cap off your evening with a trip to the Karaoke Restaurant to the right of Haiwoondae, which I have yet to try.
To sum, food was good, service was ehhh, parking was good, and location was out of the way. Â If you don't want to deal with the crowds at San Soo Gab San or Solga, head to Haiwoondae for an alternative.
For Korean BBQ in the city, I haven't found a place better than San Soo Gap San. Â However, I did finally end up paying HaeWoonDae a visit last night.
Overall, I give it 3 stars for reasons below:
Pros:
- meat was yummy
- Delicious panchan (small Korean hors douvres)...my friend LOVED the potato salad with figs, the anchovies, tofu, tempura, galore!
- has private group tatami style rooms
- grill your own meat
- free parking
- next to gu ddi karaoke!
Cons:
- location is a litle out of the way
- meat portions are small
- pajun was ok - a bit bland
- ran out of soju (korean rice wine) the night we went
- spotty service
If we can combine the meat at San Soo Gap San with the panchan at HaiWoonDae, we would have almost a 5 star Korean BBQ place!
Giving it 1 extra star because we were brought almost 20 plates of panchan. That's almost on par with SSGS, the golden standard of panchan in town.
Kalbi had decent marinade, tho unexceptional. The daegi bulgogi took me forever to cook over the grill that nite, perhaps I needed more coals.
Pluses: a not-too-salty tang giang (sp) jigae which comes free w/ the meat, thinly-sliced daikon for meat wrapping, LIVE COALS; next to a Korean bar, AND a noraebang. There are BBQ "prix-fixe' for large parties for those who complain of higher prices.
As far as Korean restaurants tend to go, Haewoondae is pretty unexceptional: not great but not bad either. Â The food is good in terms of taste but the portions you get are smaller compared to what other Korean BBQ restaurants tend to offer. Â Unfortunately, despite the smaller portions, their prices are not necessarily cheaper compared to other places.
Service can be iffy; sometimes you have to resort to raising your hand to get their attention. Â My parents are cool with doing that but I think that's a first generation Asian immigrant thing because I always found it to be somewhat rude. Â I think their service issues could be remedied if they just hired one more person to wait on the tables but they do try hard.
All in all, I think this place is worth a trip if you live in the area or if your plans include hitting up the noraebang (Korean karaoke) a couple doors down afterwards.
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