Hana Korea Restaurant

A lovely little restaurant in Baldwin Village, serving solid Korean food, with outstanding service and extremely reasonable prices. To be honest, I probably eat here more often than in any other restaurant in the city, partly because I live right around the corner, but also because I enjoy the tranquil atmosphere and the consistency in food quality, both for the banchan and for the mains dishes. Definitely worth trying.

Gamjatang needed more taste.
Service was polite.
But waited for a long time because there were only one or two people cooking, even though the restaurant can be very busy during lunch hours.

Terrific Korean food! All the lovely apps that come out first include: chap chae (best around), kimchi (made on sight so each batch may be slightly different), potato, bean sprouts, edamame come with tongs for sharing. Dolsot bimbimbap is consistently delicious every time and the hot pot bulgolgi (with garlic & ginger broth) warms my soul on a cold day. Try the potato pancakes too!

I love Korean food and I love kimchi… but this place… NO! I couldn’t even eat the kimchi– it honestly tasted spoiled. The kimchi chigae was terrible… it tasted like tomato soup. Anyone who loves Korean food should just stick to Koreatown ’cause this place was terrible and overpriced.

This is a small place hidden inside Baldwin, a bit over shadowed by the great Kinton.
It’s a cute place if you’re craving Korean food.
I went for dinner around 7 on a Wednesday and it was quite lonely… But the food is pretty good and filling!
I had the beef stew and my boyfriend had the bibimbap. It’s really not a bad place, but nothing about the food stood out to me. The kimchi could be better (or spicier!) and more than five pieces of edamame would be nice.
I can’t say that it’s over the top, but it’s definitely a cozy place, making my rating a 3. It is good and cheap costing just over $ 10 per person (recall I went for dinner so things are pricier than lunch), but I can just think of so many other places I would rather of spent that money on.
The décor could also be made over. Overall, really no complains here. Nothing that really pops out either, but if I’m really craving spicy Korean food, I’ll come back for lunch.

I had lunch here today, and ordered potato pancakes and bulgogi dup bap. It was nice. I haven’t had potato pancakes for so long, and they satisfied me, with the sweet soy sauce, though they were pan fried, they were not oily at all. Kind of crispy outside and the inside was mild and soft. The bulgogi dup bap was ordinary but also good tasting.
The restaurant is cozy and relaxing, and really gave me a comfortable experience

I’m generally not a picky eater at all, but the food I had here today was horrible.
We ordered Don Katsu (fried pork on rice), bulgogi on rice, and a jajangmyun (black bean sauce on noodles). First of all, none of this food was authentic. Of course it doesn’t have to be authentic to taste good, but the flavours were completely off and didn’t make sense in the dishes. The bulgogi tasted like plastic and was overloaded with salt, the jajangmyun sauce was also crazy salty and was way too overpowering, and the pork chop from the don katsu tasted as if it was a couple days old.
The only good things that there were the side dishes, the white rice, and the tea. Service wasn’t bad, but nothing really to comment on because we were the only ones in the restaurant at that time.
I’m sad to say that I didn’t experience all the good things that other reviewers here have said, and unfortunately this isn’t a place I will be going back to

i am a fan. I come here often. no complaints. Its worth a try.

I really enjoyed the food I had ordered. The dolsot bibimbap was chockfull of vegetables and sirloin meat. It was filling, fresh and delicious. The dak boki was the right combination of spicy and tasty. I was very satisfied with the food. We got good service and received the food immediately.
The décor is quite worn but the stuff is neat. When I am craving Korean food I will come here and have a great time.

This place is great!
We were a little concerned when we got there at around 8 pm on a Friday to find it empty, but all that meant was that we got great service and just the right amount of attentiveness from our server. The dishes came out at a nice, even pace too (and for the five of us, we ordered a lot).
The food is very tasty – our favourites were the whiting fish stew, the seafood pancake (nice deal to get that plus four beers) and the bulgogi bi bim bap in the stone bowl. The dumplings were tasty and fresh, too.
Oh, and we liked the kimchi so much that we got a large container to go!
I would definitely come back here.

Really good Korean food near my work to keep my pork bone soup craving satisfied. The kimchi is really good here too. I especially like the tongs that they handout for more hygienic sharing. The side dishes are a bit on the small side (4 cubes if potatoes between 2 people?) but I’ll take what I can get.
They have quite a few additions to the menu on the walls which I’m hoping to try sometime. The pork bone soup is tasty but not very spicy even when I asked for medium. The broth is flavourful and not greasy at all. However, there is no potato or vegetables to speak of. It is literally pork bones and soup.
Dolsat bimbimbap is consistent and reliable. Make sure you get the stone bowl (dolsot) version, it is significantly better than the normal version. The crispy rice at the edges are the best but you have to get your rice in there fast to get good crust.

Just went here a second time, the food was much better than the first. The Dolsot Bibimbap was great!

0.5 star (0.5 for service, 0 for food)
the food here SUCKS. probably THE WORST KOREAN FOOD i’ve ever had. trust me — i’m korean and i know what korean food is suppose to be. i came here with my bf on thursday night, we were super hungry and decided to eat here. baldwin street was full of people wandering around, but this restaurant was completely empty when we stepped in until we stepped out. we should have known better — this restaurant has no customers for a reason!
the service was mediocre. they promptly bring you menu and tea, take your order immediately, and don’t come bug you when you’re eating.
side dishes were ok — we were given a fairly big bowl of kimchi, potatoes, some japchae, and pickled radish. sadly, side dishes were really the only thing edible here.
for appetizer, we got kimbap for $ 5. it had too much rice! and the standard kimbap always comes with some sort of meat (such as ham or beef), and this lacked it. it basically had yellow radish, spinach, carrots, and i think turnip. the portion was too small too.
then for main dishes, we got pork bone soup and jajngmyun (both $ 8). THEY BOTH SERIOUSLY SUCKED. i can’t believe they call themselves a restaurant. honestly, the pork bone soup lacked that rich flavour (broth was watery), just tasted super salty, my bf really struggled through it and left half of it. for my jajangmyun, they used udon noodle instead of the legit jajangmyun noodle, stir fried the sh*t out of the noodle that it was freaking overcooked and gross. it was just salty, no flavour, terrible quality of sauce and noodle. we were so disappointed and grossed out. my bf is not a complainer. but even he couldn’t take the food here.
i can’t even go on about how bad the food is at this place. i’m not sure if it was just tonight, but a restaurant needs at least a minimal level of consistency in the quality of their food. i can’t believe we chose here to eat, when so many better options are available around the area. yes it’s cheap, but it was so bad that i’d be pretty offended if someone gave me this food FOR FREE. avoid this place at all costs.

I avoid this place if at all possible, but sometimes am in an emergency for quick Korean food. Really, I shouldn’t even visit then, because aside from the names of their foods being Korean, their behaviour is atypical of authentic Korean restaurants.
I can’t believe that none of the reviews mention the very weak, non-​refillable selection of banchan.
Never have a visited a Korean restaurant where the banchan is not refillable. The selection of course varies from restaurant to restaurant, but every place (save for cafeteria-​style) offers free refills!
The price wasn’t even particularly cheap (when compared to other Korean places).
As for the food, I found it to be bland, which is a bit of a travesty when it comes to Korean food.

Having been here a few times, I can say it’s not one of the best Korean spots in town but it’s still decent. Avoid the jajangmyeon though.

Cheap Korean food near the University area? You can do no wrong.
Considering the fact that I can NEVER seem to find good/​cheap food by University of Toronto, this is a savior. Located down some steps in Baldwin Village, Hana Korean is a small mom and pop shop with a variety of Korean dishes.
I went with my friend on Thursday at lunch (around 11:30 or so) — there was nobody there yet. However, once 12 PM rolled around, a bunch of people came in.
I ordered myself the soon tofu (like always) — however, there only seemed to be a seafood and vegetarian one. I would’ve liked it more if it was just vegetarian. Banchan included radishes, a heap load of kimchi, marinated cucumber, and Korean pancake.
My friend got himself the dolsot bibimbap, but the surprising thing was that the rice wasn’t cooking with the food in the stone bowl (doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of having crispy rice at the bottom of the rice bowl to pick at?!)
Lunch specials are ALL DAY as well — which is a win as well!

Seems like a mom and pop shop at the bottom of a set of stairs that you might not even notice on a Baldwin Street full of different cuisines, atmospheres, and price points.
Perfect day for Korean as it was a chilly September day (still don’t get it!) At just after 7, there was only one other person in the resto, which I was a little surprised about. I’m guessing it attracts more people during the day and weekends.
Tasty free appies consisting of cold japchae, marinated tofu and cucumber, in addition to mini bowls of pickled radish and kimchi — good heat!
Their lunch specials are on ALL DAY! How awesome is that. Set in my mind was the dolsot bimbipap and it was the deal of the day for $ 6.99. No I am not joking. Seven dollars for a full stone bowl of hot sizzling goodness. What I was surprised about was that the rice was in a separate bowl, not crackling to crispy grains at the bottom of the bowl. Not a big deal — I just dumped the rice in afterwards, along with the sauce and combined it like a madwoman until everything was mixed in. Although I’m not big on meat these days, i have to say I was a tad dissapointed that the beef was very minimal, like pieces of ground beef and I thought it was supposed to be more like bulgogi strips. Everything else was delicious about the dish so boohyah!
We also got japchae (dinner portion) and added pork to it. The plate at first didn’t look very big, but beware it is misleading and the lunch portion may been enough. The flavours were spot on and this is the first time I saw the noodles to be a little thinner than what I’m use to eating. Probably would result into quicker cooking time?
There is green tea and red bean ice cream for $ 1.99 although I was too full by then.
I know there are many other great korean places but knowing what I know about this place, it’s a place I’ll come back to!

Cheap Korean Food alert! It was okay, but it was at really good prices. Our total bill was $ 13 including taxes for two people.
I got the special $ 4.99 Pork bone Soup. It wasn’t spicy at all, and I did prefer Owl of Minerva to this. I did find that some of the meats were a little pink — I don’t know if it was supposed to be or if that was okay.
On the other hand, AT had the Kimchi Soon Tofu for $ 6.99 and he LOVED it. Called it «orgasmic», but I think he’s exaggerating. He ate it all I didn’t get to try.
They also gave us fixings like Kimchi (big bowl), pickled randish and small thing of japchae, pancake and pickled cucumber.
However, I’d come back and try something else. They have some crazy lunch specials.
Free parking after 6 near the school, west on Baldwin.

Thought I would give this a try since we had a craving for some Dol Sut Bibimbap and wanted a place close by. We went with the reviews we read here and weren’t disappointed.
We went on a Wednesday which was their Dol Sut Bibimbap special. We ordered one of those, black bean noodles and the spicy seafood ramen. The ramen was ok and tasted very artificial like what you would get out of a package so not sure if it was actual ramen or home made type.
Otherwise the other 2 dishes were great! Appetizers were good and eaten without hesitation.
Keep in mind though if you have a stroller or a wheelchair, there are no ramps down the 13 or so steps. The doorway just fits a stroller so be aware. And not all tables will accommodate a stroller.
We’ll be there again!

One of few Baldwin locations I had still yet to try, and if I had come here before my new found love for Korean food, I would have given it 4 stars. But with the taste of Koreatown fresh in my memory I couldn’t really bring myself to have this a 4 star rating.
Don’t get me wrong, the food is still great and the prices are better! But the fact is that I’ve had better and small things like that fact that the kimchi here was not as good as I would have wanted it were held against it. They do serve the kimchi in a mini hot stone pot to their credit though. The banchan in general were not the best I had which was a shame as the dolsot bibimbap was very well done and where some places have the rice included in the hot stone, they serve the rice separately with the stone full of veggies and meat which I enjoyed very much.
Service was not the quickest but they were very friendly.
Due to it’s close proximity to my workplace I see myself coming here a lot more frequently now!