It seems like the only option for Korean food in New Haven. We stopped by for a late lunch. Their menu is pretty limited but I would say they have the standard Korean fare. We ordered the kalbi tang and the kimchi jigae. Kalbi tang: the broth is a slight brown which is different than the normal clear soup you would find. Also it was a bit salty but still tasty. The kalbi was also tender but it was a very small amount for the price point. Kimchi jigae: it tasted pretty good but was a little thick. Â Overall the meal was good though. The people working there were friendly and gave us extra banchans.
Review Source:I debated for quite a while as to whether Seoul should get one star or two stars. I decided on one star because I realized my hesitation to give one star was only because New Haven has no other choice for Korean food. Just because something is the only option doesn't mean you should go.
The food is not good and because of that is truly overpriced. I don't think I would return even if the prices were halved. The banchan (small side dishes) were few and rather bland. The bulgogi tough, lacking in flavor, and is as close to American steak and onions or Chinese peppersteak as it is to true Korean barbecue. The bibimbap was probably the least offensive dish but still overpriced and there's not much variety in terms of vegetables and accompaniments in the bowl.
To conclude, if you're craving Korean, you won't get your craving satisfied at Seoul. Just wait until you go to NY, NoVA, or some other city/area that actually has a good Korean restaurant.
Poor souls of New Haven, I cry out and share your pain! Â As a former resident, I was forced to come to this hideous house of greed once when the craving for korean food overwhelms any shred of sensibility. Â $14 for tasteless preforzen haemul pajeon?!! $19 for watery inedible spicy octopus?!! Â R U f**king kidding me?!!
This place should be called soul-less restaurant, a place of a parasitic horror show. Â I grew up with koreans and will speak with full confidence and rage that this is not authentic korean food.
HORRIBLE SERVICE!!
Refused to give me Hot temp. rice first, then gave in with a "dirty look".
REFUSED to give my Mother a less spicy soup. Refused to give us hot water!
What kind of "service oriented" place IS THIS?!
The dishes are Very Overpriced as well.
They Actually told us that they cannot Alter Anything on the menu ( even the simplest things like warm rice instead of cold rice).
They also have No waitstaff but the 2 owners and the "no service" was SLOW.
If only there were other Korean Restaurants nearby!
TERRIBLE. WORST IN EVERY WAY.
You have no choice.
Decent Korean food across the spectrum. New Haven's only option really. So too bad. People are definitely nice, but talk about overpriced :( if it were cheaper and had some smaller portions for quick meals, I would have definitely been there quite often during my heyday.
Decent food. Overpriced. What can you do.
Actually, if you're really craving Korean food that much go to the train station in New Haven. $14 (have prices gone up?) will get you a one way pass to NYC and Grand Central. Take the shuttle to Penn Station, get up and out to W 32nd and Broadway and voila you are in KTown NYC some 2 hours later with a myriad of choices and at least you're in NYC so some of the cost is justified ... End rant. Seoul isn't THAT bad, but gosh give me any alternative pleaseeee.
Cheers!
I love this place. I got hooked on Korean about 5 years ago. I've been to other Korean restaurants when I travel around but Seoul always tastes the best, to me.
Here is a generalization of all of my visits combined, take it or leave it.
I love the food. The owner encourages me to try new things every time I visit and I have yet to be disappointed. You can tell she really cares about her cooking and what you think of it. The owner is a very sweet lady. She will ask what you're into and give you recommendations based on that. Stone pot bibimbap is still my favorite.
Next, the service. It kind of blows because it's really slow. I mean, if you dont ask for your check you will literally sit there for 45 minutes twiddling your thumbs.
The one weird thing is their little karaoke corner. They put that in some time over the last year and ever time I go in, the guy (who I believe is also an owner) is always over in that corner fiddling with shit. I have no clue what he's doing, aside from not helping his staff, but he's always playing over there. Just as well though; he's, like, the rudest dude on the planet and I hate it when he waits on my table. It's very, very odd and not once have I seen karaoke there. If you go to Seoul, I guarantee you will see him messing around back there. It's actually kinda funny to me at this point.
Anyway, I love this place a lot and the woman who owns it takes pride in her food so for that I will always come back.
Just to ditto the other single stars here. Strange thing about this overpriced nonsense is that it's always empty inside. The quality of the food is ok, so why not lower the price to match said quality. Perhaps this would attract more customers and a regular clientele. You may be the only Korean game in town, but if no one visits, whats the point. It's not rocket science folks.
Review Source:Considering this is the only Korean restaurant my brother could eat at during his 4 years of undergrad, and the fact that they treated him like family, I wish I could give it at least 4 stars for the food! It's good Korean, just not anything like mama's...their kimchee pajun is the best thing on their menu...
Review Source:I've been here many times - every time I went I was reminded why I should stop going there. I only went because there is NO OTHER Korean restaurant in New Haven, and this is the only place to get anything remotely Korean if you're lazy, but I've decided I'd rather save my Korean food cravings for K-Town than waste money on this place.
The food is overpriced, and the worst part is they are so cheap that they think they can get away with it because you're an idiot. Every time I get a Kimchi Chigae with beef, they put ONE (yes one, I counted every time) sliver of beef in there for technicality, but you know it's really Kimchi in water. They charge extra for side dishes (I've never been to a Korean restaurant that charges for extra side dishes - maybe I've been spoiled by K-Town), and when I asked they begrudgingly gave me extras while shoving the menu in my face saying next time I have to pay, as stipulated in the menu (they've shoved the menu in my face 3 times - I don't think they remember me). They are also quite offensive - one of the times I was there they walked up to my friend who was African American and said "there are no fried chickens here" :O
All the rudeness aside, the bottom line is it's not good Korean food - it is oily and bland. Somebody please open another Korean restaurant in New Haven. After multiple second chances I will not go back to this place again.
Being the only Korean place I've seen in New Haven, it's not bad, but being the only one, I guess they don't have other standards to compete with. I went there with my husband, and there was barely any English being spoken. I'm traditional enough that I bowed to the hostess, and they were pretty pleased with that.
We had dol sot bibimbap, bul go gi, and jap jae. It was pretty good, and I really love banchan. The bul go gi was a little stringy, but the flavor was there.
It's not a million percent authentic - you could get better food in K-town. But it is good for what it is, and they have lots of traditional dishes. It's a little on the expensive side, though.
I LOVE KOREAN FOOD. so i come here occasionally but every time i realize, wait...this isn't korean food! nice server and owner....but the food! no korean savoriness... bland, oily. doesn't mean i wont go back though, if i can't get to ktown in manhattan for my korean food fix.
oh, also, really expensive compared to ktown food which is infinitely better as well.
I'd give my experience at Seoul 4 stars, but that's only because my meal was fantastic. We went on a Friday night after 7, and there weren't too many other people there. The waitress came over to take our drink order, but came back after a minute to say that they "weren't serving cocktails" tonight. Next we tried to order the sashimi appetizer, however they weren't serving that either. The waitress added that we shouldn't order anything deep fried as well...
On top of everything they were not serving, the waitress seemed a bit "checked out", like she was confused as to why we kept asking for things. The gentlemen who greeted us at the door was much more welcoming and pleasant. He started playing the guitar in the odd little karaoke corner or whatever they have set up in there.
OK, on to the food they did serve that night. My fiancée ordered the salmon teriyaki, and it was what you'd expect - cooked appropriately, typical teriyaki flavor. She had no complaints about it, but wasn't raving about it either. I ordered the Stone Pot Bibimbap with beef (influenced to get that thanks to many of the yelp reviewers). This was the first time trying this dish, and boy am I glad I did. Great mix of flavors, good spiciness, and large amount of food. I am already looking forward to going back to get it again!
The Bibimbap bumped up my review - everything else about the experience was meh. Might have just been the timing, so I'm willing to give Seoul another chance with all that too.
So, after talking with some of you guys and after having a hankering for Korean food, I decided to revisit Seoul after 6 years to give it a try and see how the place was. Â I was actually really shocked. Â The food was really good and the service was great (which was unusual from what I remember). Â The food only took 15 minutes to come out and it tasted really good. Â I got bibim bap and duk bul ki both of which tasted really good. Â The hostess even came over and helped me with my bibim bap to make sure the rice got cooked evenly and was crunchy. Â
I will say that the food was pricy, which was unfortunate and that since this was my first time back in awhile, it's possible that the service is variable. Â But, all in all, it wasn't the absolute nightmare lack of service void of destruction where your hopes and dreams go to willow away and die like I remember. Â I actually really enjoyed myself and will likely go back again to confirm that the experience was actually good and not the result of a hallucinogenic dart that I may or may not have been hit by on the way into the restaurant. Â Oh, and they have a parking lot so you can park for free.
The service here was horrrennndousssss. Â We had to wait like 30 minutes for everything to happen. Â They were clearly understaffed, but they are the only Korean BBQ place in New Haven, so i guess there's not so much we can do about it?? Â
The food itself was alright. Â Seoul Kalbi was tender, Spicy Chicken was nicely flavored. Â Kimchee + scallion pajun. could have used a little more kimchee flavoring, but it was good. Â Definitely overpriced for the portions, but again, perks of having a monopoly I guess.
Summary: I'd save my money for a train ticket to New York's Ktown to have better korean food with faster service and better value.
Disclaimer: I have been here just once.
Cons: it is really pricey. I shared an appetizer with several people, had a noodle seafood soup and a beer and spent 26 dollars. Compared to other Korean places I have been to (not in New Haven, to be fair) that's a lot.
Pros: it is pretty good, and service was excellent last night. From what I gather from the other reviews they must have increased the amount of side dishes, which were plenty. I am not a kimchi expert so I can't talk about that, but they all tasted pretty good to me (something like fish cake was delicious).
I had a seafood soup which was really rich and good, and those who had bibimbap really liked it.
And the owner was super kind and sweet.
I suspect the main problem of that place is that it's a bit out of the way and they compensate with too high prices that in turn keep customers at bay.
This was my first Korean restaurant. Â Food was okay, $13 got me a little bowl of soup and when I asked for extra kimchi I was charged $2 for three small pieces (waitress was nice enough to beg the owner to even let me have that!)
Honestly, after going to this place I decided that Korean food is not my thing (even though I love all other asian food!). Â Thank goodness, my bf convinced me to try BCD Tofu House while visiting OC. Â That place was so much better!
botom line, since there is no other options in new haven if you are desperately craving Korean food you can check out Seoul but I am not going there again.
Pretty good, not great, Korean food, and I've been eating Korean food here and in Korea since '84.
Kimchi more sour than tasty. Yook Gye Jang was barely spicy and it's  supposed to burn your face off.
Soon Du Bu was just average.
Also, stingy on the 'pan chan' in general.
Perhaps the best in the area, but there are few choices evidently.
Hostess was friendly enough. Considering Koreans can be outright rude as a rule, that's a bonus.
I want to like Seoul more and give it a better review, but I just can't. While the food might be tasty, the prices are a little ridiculous and the service was pretty terrible when I went.
My friend ordered the soon du bu jigae while I ordered the stone pot bibimbap. While we both liked our food, I was rather astonished by how small a portion I received. For $15+, I expected more than a meager portion of vegetables, an even more meager portion of meat, and some rice in a hot bowl. It was a tasty meager portion, but meager it was.
Maybe I'm just more accustomed to cheap(er) Korean food since I'm from the west coast, but I felt a little cheated. And the fact that the service seemed to forget about us after our food was delivered. Are you seriously not going to try to refill our water glasses even once? I'm fine with shitty service if the food is cheap, but this restaurant is clearly trying to be "nice".
Seoul is solid. We went tonight for the first, and dude, had I missed me some Korean food. In some ways, the 'Have is a desert! I had the hot pot, Jamin had the bulgogi - honestly I have had better, but the pot was prepared correctly, the service was wonderful, the ambiance of the restaurant is family and comfy and tranquil, and for being the only game in town, they do a nice job. I would definitely go here again. Wish the meat had been slightly higher qual. The Korean sides were pretty ok.
Review Source:So, I've been eating good Korean food for years in Cleveland. Â I was super stoked to try it here seeing as its so close to my home and the reviews were all favorable and i've been itching for some for awhile now. Â
The kimchi was super shitty. Â The sides were small and bland and limited. The duk buk ki was blasphemy (tomato paste??? not spicy???) Â coupled with the fact that you had to order two table bbq dishes to get the table bbq and then the lady comes out and cooked it for us at our table all at once it was just a really lousy experience. Â and waaay over priced even if it was good. Â
The nicest thing about this place is the bathrooms. Â super clean. Â the lettuce was really crisp too. Â Â not going back.
Great Korean food... its as authentic as restaurant food gets.  I had the  beef soft tofu soup, and it was great. It wasn't overly spicy or too saturated with MSG.  You could taste tons of flavor. The side items was great as well.  The kim chi wasn't over fermented and still crunchy, as well as the cucumber.  I also really enjoyed the fish cakes.  I also tried the chicken skewers, which I didn't care for, because it was drenched in teriyaki sauce.
FYI, they don't have the grills here, everything is prepared for you. So, good food that you don't have to work for.
I had a good experience at Seoul Restaurant. Â Their Kalbee Tang (It's a non-spicy soup with meat in it) and their Dol Sot bi bim ba p (hot stone pot with rice /vegetables and meet) were both really good. Â
They had side parking which was really nice. Â Their service was really quick and loved their hot tea. Â Their interior is very coordinated and spacious. Â You'll definitely won't feel claustrophobic.
Now that there are two Korean restaurants in town, I thought I'd try Seoul again. Â I haven't had a bad experience here- the service is friendly and prompt, the food is decent, drinks are fine, it's a bit pricey but not unreasonably so, and especially not when compared to other places around New Haven. Â
Last time I went, my friend and I split a bottle of very sweet Pinot Grigio and enjoyed the sample of little side dishes, albeit small. Â Her soon du boo (please don't hate me for not phonetically spelling korean correctly) came in a stone pot with lots of seafood and pleasant fluffy white rice, and I as usual enjoyed my stone pot bibimbap with plenty of stuff served steaming hot, though I prefer cracking the egg in myself. Â Their chap chae is also decent, and I hear the same of the rest of the food.
There's a lot of talk about price at this place, and yes, it's not a cheap Koreatown joint like you'd find in NY or LA, but this is New Haven. Â It's not stellar Korean food, but it sure is comforting when you just want some good kimchi and gochujang (violently red korean spiciness).
I waited to come here three times before I wrote my review, just to make sure the food/service/everything was consistent.
What can I say? I love korean food, and there is a lot of good Korean food where I come from (Atlanta). I'm used to $8 fantastic tofu soup combos and loads of side dishes. And nyeungmyun. This place is almost twice the price and with a much more limited array of side dishes. Service can also be slow sometime. Oh. And no nyeun myun.
However, I must say that the bibimbap here is the best I've ever had. In fact, I used to dislike bibimbap until I came here. Something about the perfect combination of crunchy rice, seaweed, bean sprouts, flavored meat, eggs, squash, etc, really hits the spot for me.
I've also ordered their soon du bu jigae (both beef and seafood). It doesn't compare to the tofu soup I'm used to, and most of the time I find myself picking around the beef (it's like shredded sloppy joe beef...not even real beef) or avoiding the seafood. Then again, I'm not a huge fan of seafood. (They really should make a pork and mushroom combo. I would love this place so much more.) Still, I will probably keep ordering it because I love tofu soup that much. Their seafood pancake was okay, but not something I would crave.
Oh yea, just a warning, they never have sushi for lunch. And their bulogogi is SO expensive. Haven't tried it yet but it's prob not worth it.
If you're willing to dish $15 for a meal, or if you're craving korean food that much, give it a try. In all, I'm pretty glad I found the place. 4 stars for the excellent bibimbap!
Oh I am thankful that New Haven has some proper Korean food because I'm pretty sure my system needs a shot of kimchi from time to time to keep on running. Â Seoul is not the best Korean food I've ever had, and it's pricy for what it is, but it's good, and it's comforting. Â I've never tried the sushi/Japanese stuff and don't intend to, but I imagine it's okay too.
I've tried a whole bunch of stuff on the menu and it's all been yummy - galbi, bulgogi, chicken bulgogi, pork bulgogi, octopus stir-fry, kimchi stew, scallion pancakes, dolsot bibimbap...all good. Â Seoul is really good for coming with big groups so you can steal off your friends' plates in typical Korean/scrappy glutton style.
We threw a surprise party here for a friend once and the staff was helpful, let us bring our own cake and hide it, and the restaurant easily accommodated around 20-30 of us. Â It's a fun space and you wouldn't necessarily think of it to throw a party in, but it totally worked!
But back to the food...I really don't have anything else to say about it, except I guess that I would like some now.
So before I left New Haven, I had to stop by at least once, since I know the owner's son from Soul de Cuba. I've never had Korean food so I won't dare to give more than 4 stars since I really had no idea what I was looking at. However, I did know that I wanted traditional Korean food and so I asked the waiter what he recommended. And my roommate and I both took his advice and shared two very tasty dishes. For the life of me I can't remember exactly what those two dishes were, all that I know is that we both left fat and happy and really, that's all that matters, right?
Review Source:Most people I have talked to seem to give this restaurant either a very bad review or a pretty good review, and I really think it's somewhere in between.
I've had *really good* Korean food, so I know what it can be like--and this place falls notably short. Â That said, it's not terrible, and the stuff they serve here is still a step or two up from your typical Americanized Asian joint.
My main beef with this place is the pricing...the food simply isn't good enough to justify the $10 and up per entree (and sometimes WAY over $10/entree) pricing scheme. Â This place would be four-stars if you could get in and out for $7-8 but it just doesn't deliver the quality to justify the higher prices. Â I would eat here more often if it were cheaper.
If you want top-notch Korean food, for cheaper, go to Oriental Pantry on orange street. Â It's not a full-service restaurant (rather, a little grocery that happens to sell some food) but they make killer bibimbap, and a few other dishes, and they're a lot cheaper. Â And their food is really a lot better...true excellence, whereas here you just get a notch above mediocrity.
wow im surprised people gave this place any stars...
first off this is not real korean food... even houston had better food then this! Â i'm from nyc so granted i have a higher expection of what good korean food is... not to mention this place is also expensive!!!
second they didn't even have kalbi.... what kind of korean restaurant runs out of kalbi?!?!
ok so this is what we did order...
chicken bulgogi... way too overcooked and dry
dukbogi... also not soft... not spicy enough
soonduboo... filled with oil... not enough flavors... where's the tofu??
kimchi chigae.... can't really mess that up unless ur kimchi chi sucks!
fried tonkatsu... huge dish... best thing there... can't really mess that up either its just fried pork!
stone bibimbap... also can't really mess that up... its rice with a bunch of stuff...
i mean i guess if its the only restaurant in town then ok fine its good... but i wouldn't seek it out if i had other options...
Seoul's quality of food is less than that of Jersey's or New York's. There are far fewer banchans (side dishes) than I'm used to...and I think that the flavor of some soup dishes were accentuated by the almighty secret ingredient: msg (I think this because my mouth felt dry the following morning). However, I'm not making a real complaint here, because msg is one of those things that creep up when you least expect it ( like in many deli meats) and even five star restaurants use it time to time. Besides, Seoul is the only Korean restaurant in New Haven that will provide me with the Korean comfort food that I need.
Family owned and operated, their service is very good. The owner is friendly and is very hands-on. She is willing to work at the sushi bar shoot the breeze with you.
There is a zen-like homeyness here: quiet and comforting. Â But what I appreciate the most is not their atmosphere. It is rather their many choices in their menu. They offer enough variety to satisfy everybody's cravings and moods.
My husband ordered yukaejang (which is a spicy beef soup), and enjoyed it thoroughly. My children had kalbitang, which is a healthy, mild soup dish for kids. I ate hot stone pot bibimbop (a vegetable medley on rice), and liked the fact that my rice stayed piping hot until the last bite.
I know it's nice to cook healthier meals at home, but sometimes it's equally nice to get a break from the kitchen to taste all sorts of flavors. I know where I'll be going to, next time my taste buds yell for more gochujang (korean pepper paste).
i've looked down crown street from york street many a time, just to check to make sure seoul was still there. Â it was. Â it is. Â and thank goodness for that.
the inside is surprisingly large, considering how small it looks on the outside. Â and the tables and chairs are luxuriously large and comfy (kind of like sitting in the backseat of a buick or some other such bus-like car).
the food is good and not too expensive.  i've heard good things about the bi bim bop.  i'll have to try it next time.  but the chicken bulgogi is not too bad.  not the greatest, but good enough  the kim-chi pancake is good too.  it's a little light on the kimchee, but it's crispy and greasy and delicious!  i just had the stir-fried octupus today.  it's good and tasty, but the octopus is kind of rubbery.
and make sure you save room for dessert! Â 3 people shared one order of ice cream, and it was plenty. Â also give the soju a try. Â i wasn't a big fan, but i did feel like i was getting the full korean experience.
This place is delicious! Totally yummy stone pot bibim bop for me, and the kimchi, pickled daikon, and other table garnishes are good for snacking.
I came here with friends to celebrate a birthday, and was surprised to find it empty at 6 on a Saturday night. Kind of eerie.
I'll have to try the table barbecue and the soju next time!
This is one of New Haven's few undiscovered gems. The family-run restaurant has top notch Korean food (simmering sun doo bu for $10), and for my money, the best sushi in downtown New Haven. For some reason few students know about the restaurant, but nevertheless it's hopping with devotees on weeknights.
Review Source:
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