Kimbob E Ramyun

Use to love this place, but it recently underwent a management change. New owners are douche bags, rude and did not care at all that we were regulars who went there once a week for the past year.
Not only that, but the same dish we ordered for years, was drastically different, and no where near as good. I am very disappointed, and will never return.

Yuk. Cheap but everything was awfully sweet. I might as well have taken a spoonful of sugar with every bite.
I’ve been meaning to check out this place for some time, but never got around to it until just this afternoon when I had a meeting around the corner. We ordered rabokki (deokbukki rice cake with ramen noodles) which was edible but not flavorful enough. Even the boiled egg tasted overcooked.
The regular kimbap was decent. Don’t know about all the other kinds like cheese, tuna, beef, etc. The soup is typical of these cheap places — salty, light fish-​based broth with a hint of potato flavor.
The worst ever was jeyukbap. I miss the simple but delicious (though not exactly healthy-​conscious) rice plate with slabs of spicy pork on top that I used to get near the Berkeley campus. This one had indistinguishable bits of pork, chopped up so finely that you really had no idea what it was that you were eating, in a red spicy sauce that was far more sweet than it was anything. As if that wasn’t bad enough, they drizzled saccharine terriyaki sauce all over it. That’s right, teriyaki sauce over the jeyukbap. That’s like… pouring ketchup all over an expensive steak. No, I think its weird-​equivalent would be: pouring powder sugar all over top-​quality sashimi. I tried to scrape off the sauce, to no avail. I should have returned it, but I had already made a mess of it, so I just ate it. Gross.
I would never eat here again.

I have lunched here regularly since starting to work a block away, and love it. I completely agree that the kimbob is underwhelming, but everything else I have eaten here is a treat. The ugly rice balls – rice mixed with carrots, fish cake, and ham, formed into balls and rolled in seaweed – are filling and delish. (I’m a veggie, and they did mine meat free upon request.)
I always love a good rice bowl (bibimbap) and they have a couple of good options on the menu. (Warning, the tuna one is made with canned tuna, which is completely tasty, but has surprised some friends I’ve taken there.)
I haven’t tried the ramyun (Korean ramen), mostly cuz I’m more of an udon girl myself, and their version (udom I think in Korean?) was definitely satisfying. Also haven’t, for obvious reasons, eaten their meat, but my colleague Mike frequently gets something spicy looking and loves it.
Probably my favourite, though, is the dukbogki, which I kept seeing Korean ESL students eating, and eventually tried. You get a plate of thick (I’m talking thick like a finger) rice noodles, smothered in sweet and spicy red sauce and served with a hard boiled egg. Yum!
The clear soup served with most mains is mundane but warm, and they really shouldn’t even bother with the iceberg lettuce salad, but it’s easily ignored, or picked at when you have sauce left over and nothing to dip in it.
When you’re paying, you’ll see a small pile of what look like business cards. Pick one up and pass it to the cashier. They don’t advertise this, but on the back it’s a loyalty card. After 10 meals, you get a free one! Tragically, I only discovered this AFTER my initial romance with the place, when I was eating there every other lunch.

Originally the SO thought this place was on Granville, but it turns out it was on Seymore St. instead. We had passed by this place last year during our cruise and wanted to try it, but this was before the SO knew that she liked kimbob (without the radish anyway). So we went in and ordered the beef kimbob which came with a side salad and fish cake soup. Sadly, it was less than memorable. The SO commented that she actually prefers the more basic versions.
The nude roll does sound interesting though — essentially a kimbob roll with the rice on the outside, like a maki sushi roll. Maybe next time I’m in Vancouver…

Inexpensive Korean snack food. The duk bo gee is similar to those found from Korean street vendors in Seoul. Popular with Korean ESL students. They also offer an internet terminal if you are in need of a quick Unilocal fix with your food!