Golden Pig

Best Korean food in Pittsburgh, bar none. The owner is very friendly and helps you experiment with the entire menu. The short ribs are amazing as well as the bulgogi. The ramen noodles always hit the spot, not the same ones you make at home.

I ate here in fall. This was the best Korean food I have ever had. It was absolutely the best. Nice homey feel as well. Very small and very personal. She really cares about her food and making it authentic.
Highly recommended!

Food was really good as I was expecting it to be. The décor was cute, little ceramic pigs everywhere. The owner was very nice. I enjoyed trying the Korean drinks they had in the fridge, there was a delicious cinnamon punch. I had the buldak chicken, it was sooo good. Very authentic. I will definitely be going back to try more things.

Extraordinary. Can’t say enough amazing things about Ms Kwan and her spicy squid. I would crawl on hand and knee for her spicy kimchi soup. Near perfection.

By far the best Korean food in the city. After living in Korea for years, I missed the food. I’ve tried other places but generally have been disappointed.
The Golden Pig is my go to place. Although it’s small and often need to wait, it’s worth it.
Her kimchi is amazing! I always start with a side of kimchi and a pancake (usually kimichi). My two favorite dishes here are the doenjang-​jjigae (tofu soup) and the daeji bulgogi (spicy pork).
It’s a little out of the way but that shouldn’t stop you from trying this cute little BYOB spot. It’s also cool to see the community really support this place.

It’s like sitting in someone’s kitchen — and it’s only about the size of one too. It’s only the second time I’ve ever had Korean food and the first time I had to go to LA to get it. So my quick trip down the road to Cecil was not a disappointment.
First: the food. I got Mandu which is classic Korean dumplings served with rice. Mine had broccoli, carrot, cabbage & tofu in them. There were way too many to ever eat in one sitting. Especially because we started with Kimchi Pancakes and a little kimchi veggie salad.
Next: the environment. Golden Pig gets a lot of regulars. People kept coming into the store and going behind the counter to grab something to snack on or talk to the owner. Just as I was leaving a big rowdy group of guys came in and basically filled the restaurant. They started to pass around wine to all of us in the restaurant.
It was an experience unlike any other, for sure.

So I didn’t know what to expect from this place. It’s in the middle of the suburbs and was touted as having the best Korean food. Umm, ok.
I walked in and it’s TINY. Just a handful of seats, so definitely not the place to bring a group of friends or family. But it’s charming and the owner is such a warm and welcoming hostess. I glanced at the short menu, then made a few selections. I decided to have the spicy ramen there and ordered the bulgogi and tofu sautéed with kimchi and pork to go.
The ramen was ready quickly and is served with lots of tasty vegetables to add in. It was freaking delicious. The noodles were al dente and the broth couldn’t have been more flavorful. The portion was definitely enough to be a meal… I actually took some home with me.
Once I got into my car, the smell of the other dishes completely overwhelmed my senses and I had to give it a try. Good grief this woman can cook! You can tell that she really cares about every single dish she creates and puts her soul into the food.
I live in Regent Square and I have come to the conclusion that I will have to make regular trips out to Cecil to enjoy more of Ms. Kwon’s fabulous food.

We recently discovered this place due to traveling for soccer. It is now on my top 5 places to eat locally — really, everything on the menu is fresh, tasty and soooo good! My favorites are the Kimchi and spicy pepper pancakes; bulgogi (ask for spicy!) and the mandu. I’ve been here 4 or 5 times now and I never get tired of it. The owner is a sweet Korean woman who is very nice and will do her best to make your experience wonderful. The review from 12.14.15 (Alistair C.) is really over the top rude and ignorant; he sounds like a whiny snot from the west coast that isn’t happy with ANYTHING from Pittsburgh (left several other nasty local reviews) so maybe he can take his uppity self back to Seattle. We LOVE Golden Pig and Mrs. Kwon — and more and more local people are discovering her delicious food.

I’ve been to a TON of Korean restaurants in my time and will say this place is not as good as folks say. First, size DOES matter… This place is so small that it is uncomfortable. Seriously. I have never dined in a public place this tiny and dirty. I assume that because this business is shoehorned in a cinder block bunker there is no place to store cleaning agents but in full sight of customers. I was literally rubbing elbows with some stranger and neither one us was happy about it… Second, don’t bother asking for water unless you want to pay for bottled. I needed to take a prescription pill and was lectured about how they don’t have glasses for water. Seriously? I stood my ground and was brought room temperature tap water in a styrofoam cup. Nice. Onto the food. I had the kimchi pancakes. They were what one would expect. I then ordered gimbop. It was average. We also shared a vegetable fried rice. It
was average. I asked for hot sauce and the owner flipped out on me. Informed me that hot sauce will ruin the dish… thanks for the lecture, but I like my food spicy and I’m paying for it… so…give me hot sauce sans lecture. To drive 40 minutes from the city to get jammed into this ugly space to eat average Korean is not my idea of a culinary experience. I suppose if my car breaks down in Cecil I might be back to the Golden Pig. Otherwise, there are better options.

So I’ve lived in Cecil most of my life and finally stopped here to eat. Wow — what a pleasant surprise!
I started off with the spicy ramen and once my wife got a taste of it we ended up splitting it. It had a nice kick but still had a bunch of complex flavors going on — the heat doesn’t overpower you.
For my meal I mistakenly ordered just the pork fried rice. I misunderstood the menu — it normally comes with beef, chicken, and pork but I thought I had to choose. No matter… it was still excellent. My wife got the Dak Bo Kum which is essentially chicken with veggies and a side of rice. It also had a very unique flavor to it that we both loved.
What really made the trip enjoyable were the owners. They were both so kind and you could tell the genuinely cared about how our food tasted — not something you get to experience very often.
We will definitely be going back here a bunch!!!

This rating does not reflect a comparison between other cities’ Korean food as this would not be an apples-​to-​apples comparison. If you spent as much time as I did seeking out decent, non-​Americanized Asian cuisine, you would understand. It would simply be unfair to judge a one-woman’s home cooking operation to other large businesses in established Asian communities. Simply put, she does a decent job in putting out a homey feel with food at reasonable prices.
Their condensed version of ban chan (small side items that accompanies the entrée) come combined on one plate. The handmade kimchi was outstanding and she also packages them in jars for sale.
Some of the items on the menu I had:
Korean pancake — the texture is consistent with what I expect and the optional hot peppers really add a delayed heat kick that I enjoyed.
Bulgogi– a stir fry of seasoned meat and veggies that comes with steamed rice. Simple but hits the spot.
Short Rib — comes already deboned and tender. The marinade on the soft, tender meat is a welcome change. I would have liked it even more with grilled onions.
Mackerel tofu soup — large chunks of fish and spicy tofu soup. The spines of the fish were super soft and can be eaten so no bones to worry about.
Verdict: best Korean outside the city on the south side of town.

There are folks on here saying the Golden Pig is not as good as many Korean places… blah, blah… try the coastal cities., etc.
I know that everyone is going to have their own opinion and there are going to be regional flavor differences. However, I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy Korean food in LA, Seattle, NYC, San Diego, Atlanta, near several Army bases across the U.S. and myriad Midwest restaurants, and I tell you that this place is as good as any place I’ve ever been.
I’m not kidding. When I say «any» place, I’m including the home I was raised in. The home where I spent my youth getting spoiled by a grandmother and aunts who grew up learning to cook… in a Korean kitchen… In Korea.
Don’t let the experienced foodies with the exquisitely sophisticated palates turn you away from this little place. If you want «Americanized» Asian food, there are dozens of places you can go and get that, but if you want REAL, home-​cooked Korean food, this place is a winner.
I plan to eat here every time I come to town.

Though a little far out of the city, great place to go for Korean food. Expect home-​style cooking. When I went, I ordered Daeji Bulgogi which is essentially slices of marinated pork over rice. The beef was pretty good, perfectly marinated, and quite spicy as I liked it (preference). I also appreciated the larger portions that I was given (in comparison to other Korean joints that I’ve been to, where the amount of meat given was less than satisfying). The Kimchi pancake also ended up being pretty good … not too oily but definitely most filling and you could actually taste the kimchi in it, which meant that that the amount of starch used was not excessive. Will be back … I look forward to trying other dishes.

We came for lunch.
The atmosphere is very home-​y, and everyone is friendly.
P. S. Get the meat kimbap. It is. AMAZING. Yeah I kind of ate the entire plate of it… Whoops
Their bulgolgi is on the less side for full of flavor, but it was still good.
A home cooked Korean meal in Pittsburgh? Can’t get it anywhere else

Food was excellent! Service was very slow though. They only have 11 seats max. A very, very tiny store but food was what you call «homecook». If you are up to try some decent somewhat authentic home cook Korean food, this will be it!

I can see why this place gets really good reviews – it’s almost like going to a Korean house and having a nice, home cooked meal. The food is good; many of your standard Korean items are on the menu and the prices are reasonable. I got the impression that many of the folks who come here come here very frequently. Seating is very limited – I counted eleven chairs on the inside and a few on the outside for those brief months in Pittsburgh when this is a feasible eating arrangement. The bulgogi I had was solid.

OMG. Don’t miss the kimchi fried rice! Kimchi pancakes are wonderful. Owner is adorable.
Itty bitty place and always a wait but worth every second!

I kept hearing about the hype about how this was the most authentic and best Korean food in the area (some claim in southwestern PA??) and finally decided to make the drive out here from the city. Unfortunately, this dining experience probably gave me the largest ever deviation between expectation and result.
I’ll cut straight to it – the food is not my type. Eat at an acclaimed Korean restaurant on the coasts, or if you’re in the suburbs just make the reverse drive that I did into the city and go to a place like Korea Garden or Nak Won Garden. They’re not mind-​blowing, but I assure you they’re much closer to what you’ll find in NY or LA than Golden Pig is. We got the ramen to start – okay, we weren’t expecting instant ramen, but fine it was $ 5 and somewhat hearty. As we waited for entrees, we never got our banchan, and no one came by to check on us or at least give us some water (for the record, other customers got the side dishes at the beginning, without asking).
When the entrees came, we asked the guy (not the couple who owns the place) and he was somewhat apologetic for forgetting. The banchan consisted of a small plate with two pieces of random things like kimchi, potato, and broccoli (??). It wasn’t amazing, but the biggest surprise was that each of us got one such plate. Go to any other authentic Korean place, and a table would get one portion of each side separately. Yes, it’s the same food in the end, but the implication is entirely different – these sides are meant to be shared among the people dining together, and preparing them on separate plates individualized for each person signifies a huge shift in the dining experience. I understand that they might be trying to accommodate for customers who don’t regularly eat this kind of food. At a certain level, both patron and restaurant have to adapt to different customs (and that’s a good thing for intercultural mixing), but I felt that the owners went too far in this instance.
For the entrees, we got the daeji bulgogi and buldak, both of which were rather mediocre. They weren’t terrible, but I’ve had better at the aforementioned places in Pittsburgh. The two main issues were that 1) there was too much sauce on both plates, and 2) there were few other seasonings or flavors. For 1), it appears from the Unilocal pics for this place that they’re not very consistent – some appear drenched in sauce, while others actually look appetizing. We got the former, and that probably led to 2); the only taste was spicy, and while there were some onion and carrot pieces their taste was basically overwhelmed by the sauce. Other than that, the sesame was probably a bit overdone, and some scallion would probably have helped a lot.
Despite all this though, I’m genuinely happy that this couple has made it this far. It’s not always easy working such long hours as an immigrant family, but evidently they’re making a lot of people happy. They’ve also put in a lot of work making the restaurant welcome to everyone (try to count how many pigs are inside if you go), so I hope they thrive as long as there are happy customers.

I knew Golden Pig was a small one woman operation and her leanings were home cooked Korean. I couldn’t wait to try her food. The owner was very warm & welcoming and we were seated at one of 2 tables in the restaurant. There were also 2 other patrons seated at the bar that had 4 stools. It’s a tiny operation. We ordered the Korean Pancake with Kimchi to start. My husband ordered the bul dak chicken that was described as fiery hot. I ordered the pork daeji bulgogi.
Our Korean Pancake arrived with 2 starter plates with some amazing Korean Coleslaw, Kimchi & other assorted veggies. I mixed all the starter goodies with my kimchi pancake & it worked. Without these enhancements the pancake wasn’t nearly as exciting.
Both of our main dishes arrived with what appeared to be a similar sauce — the color of hot cheetos (that’s literally off the Post Gazette review that hung above our table & he nailed it!). The sauces were nearly identical & I actually preferred it over my husband’s chicken than my pork. Spice on a 1 – 10 scale was probably a 7 for the chicken & a 5 on the pork. That was about the only difference in the sauces that I could discern. It was definitely a home cooked style & pretty good.
If I lived close enough to frequent Golden Pig, I believe the owner’s charming personality could woo me into a 4 star. She’s quite fun and really brings her personality into her cooking. Realistically it’s a 3.5 rating. Although I 100% get the plethora of 5 star ratings she’s getting from regulars who adore her.
We are in love with Korean food & have tried some truly stellar places, sadly not in Pittsburgh. Not yet anyway.

I read others talk about this being a «tiny» place and was assuming it would be small. It’s smaller than small. It’s about the size of the last 4 rows of a school bus. You cannot have a table for 4 here. There are two tables total that might squeeze 3, plus maybe 4 – 5 seats at a counter. That being said, the woman who runs this literally does everything! That’s both good and bad. The bad is that she’s swamped between taking orders, cooking, answering the phone, and who knows how cleanup and dishwashing is done… It’s like someone’s mom in a small kitchen with limited supplies. But she gets it done! Amazing.
The food is ok, not great. Considering its in Cecil maybe I should say it’s great. But frankly I was hoping for something better. I love Korean food and have been spoiled by some awesome Korean places, regrettably none in Pittsburgh. The Korean pancake was a huge starter and even though we ordered it with hot peppers it was a little bland. My Buldak Chicken was listed on the menu as fiery and «not for the faint of heart» but It was probably only a 6 on the heat scale but fairly tasty. My wife’s Daeji bulgogi looked almost identical despite being a pork dish. The color was indeed, as someone else pointed out, like that of fiery Cheetos. Somewhat off putting. Must be the same sauce cause the dishes tasted almost the same.
All in all, pretty good food and very reasonably priced. Not worth the drive for me. Also not a place I’d want to wait to get into. Go off peak or call for takeout.