Gilson Korean Restaurant

I discovered this restaurant by accident while looking for another Korean restaurant sometime back and has been going back about once a month ever since. The price is right and the food is yummy. I just wish the servers are a little bit more attentive or there are more servers. Nevertheless, this is my go-​to for late-​night cravings.

This is probably my first 1-​star experience at a restaurant in the Greater Seattle area.
–Unsanitary and poor service.
The servers are clueless and it takes them more than 20 minutes each time to bring you something. They are unwilling to serve you and they give you this dirty attitude if you ask for something. Not to mention, food has been under prepped (pork wasn’t even fully cooked and still had pink in it. All in all, if you like eating low quality meat and horrible Korean side dishes, come here. It’s a complete waste of money and time.
Avoid at all costs…

Their chicken wings are really good — it’s a must get! Me and my friends just ordered half and half since some of us don’t eat spicy. I really liked the fried fish that I ordered as well. But my friend didn’t really like her tofu soup. The servers were really nice though and I really liked the side dishes. I’m only giving 4 stars because I think their fans weren’t working and the bbq next table made the whole dining area super smoky.

My family and I ended up at Gilson Korean restaurant on New Year’s Day when all our favorite restaurants were too full to accommodate us. It is a cozy restaurant without too many tables, but their booths for grilling meat are very spacious. The staff is pretty friendly, although our waiter kept forgetting food, which was a little annoying.
We ordered the chadolbaegi (thinly sliced brisket) and samkyupsal (pork belly) to grill on the table. The kids shared a beef soft tofu stew (non-​spicy), and we also ordered the spicy seafood stew in stoneware pot. With our meat order, we got free salad and fermented soybean stew, which we swapped out for steamed egg (no issues at all with that substitution).
Unfortunately, their ban chan selection was pretty sparse, and there was nothing terribly exciting offered. The chadolbaegi that came out looked like standard frozen meat you’d buy at H-​Mart, but it was really tasty and grilled well. The samkyupsal was SOOO interesting, because it came out par-​cooked, then you finished it on the grill pan. I totally understand they didn’t want to blacken the grill pan when we were grilling other meats on it. I’m not sold on this way of serving/​cooking the samkyupsal, as I did find the meat to be a bit tougher.
The kids ate up the soft tofu stew, although they’re not all that picky about their soondooboo. The seafood stew was very tasty, and it had a ton of shellfish in it. The addition of squid really added to the seafood flavor. I will say there seems to be quite a bit of MSG in it, so if you are sensitive, avoid it.
Finally, we had ordered a bottle of soju, and it was served very interestingly in shot glasses. Most Korean restaurants serve a bottle in a little teapot that you pour into your soju glasses. But the restaurant definitely wins for having my favorite Christmas tree ever (see picture).

Great food (I reccomend their spicy chicken wings, bossam, and soondooboo). Split those same 3 large dishes with three of my buddies and all four of us were full. Very large portions and great service on the weekdays. Only thing that brought it down was that the location is a bit hidden and not as much seating as a typical Korean restaurant, but great atmosphere to come with your friends after work.

My boyfriend and I sometimes have cravings for fried chicken and we haven’t found a place that we liked up north till we ate here. We were both a bit skeptical at first since we drive by this restaurant often and it is slightly on the older side. However, my sister vouched that Gilson has the best Korean fried chicken in the area and we couldn’t agree more!
We ordered the half and half fried chicken (half original and half sweet/​spicy) and it exceeded our expectations. The wings were so crispy, juicy and big and the seasoning for both types of wings were so on point! The original had a kick of flavor to it with a hint of sweetness, so it was perfect without any sauce. The sweet and spicy wings weren’t too spicy like most other Korean places and even with the sauce, the wings stayed crispy.
Normally, they don’t serve banchan (Korean side dishes) with just an order of chicken, but our server was so kind she served us banchan with a side of rice as well. The wings also came with some pickled radish and we ordered a side of fries that came in a huge basket. I wasn’t a big fan of the side dishes, but everything else was satisfying for us both. They also open till 2am so we’ll definitely be back with our friends soon!

Always a fun spot for authentic Korean food. They are open late, have soju, and their original fried chicken is always good.
The usually have only 2 waiters, so the service can be slow when they are busy.

Sweet place on the north side for Korean chicken and bossam! A must visit if you can’t make it to Federal Way’s chicken or bossam places. They also have grills on tables like traditional Korean bbq places but I’ve only been for fried chicken or bossam. The hours here are more flexible than Stars in the Sky and it’s usually quieter too. They have all the traditional banchan that comes out when you order food, rice sides with soups, kimchi and other vegetables and they provide the radish sides with the chicken. Service has always been nice here, never had any problems when I visit here. It was pretty cold inside but if you’re prepared with a sweater you can warm up pretty quick with some Cass and soju!

Food is OK. Service is TERRIBLE! It took them 20 minutes to bring the water and 15 minuets to bring the check. Hire more staffs plz…

Nothing to wright home about, service was fair, banchan was boring, main dish was just so so. We split the spicy intestine, it was a moderately sized dish, could have been much spicier. The garlic cloves in the dish had almost no flavor, for $ 23. I think our money is better spent elsewhere.

Solid all-​around, great for late night food with a group when not much else is open. Portions are very generous, especially the hotpots. Wings are definitely worth getting, but stick to the original vs. the spicy. Banchan are so-​so, but that’s fine, because you need to save room for the aforementioned generous portions :)

Wings are excellent — the original is better than the spicy/​sweet version.

Came with group of four people. Order Bossam (steamed pork with kimchi) combo and makchan. Definitely should be hungry, if you’re trying to eat here.
I recommend the two items we ordered. They both taste really good.

The food here is so so. Hit and miss depending on what is ordered.
The bad:
The chicken wings are not good. The batter is too thick thus making a very soggy not crispy exterior. The frying oil was not fresh for batch as I could taste overcooked oil. This is almost beer batter fish and chips like consistency not a true bonchon or kyochun chicken double fried chicken. Light batter and double frying creates a very thin and crispy exterior. The seasoned chicken tastes mainly of gochujang and not a well balanced seasoning sauce.
The good:
I will say the bossam was good. The fresh kimchee was very good and not spicy. Well seasoned pork and really quality cut of meat. Some places serve too much of the fat and not enough of the meat.
The makchan was good as well. Essentially dakkalbi seasoning.

Always delicious bossam and side dishes. Bossam meal usually serves two people. It is huge so you might have an awesome leftover kimchi. I always order their piping hot egg soup at the end of the meal.

After driving for almost an hour we were extremely satisfied with the delicious appetizers and the bibimbap pots! So so yummy! Worth the drive and worth the wait! Definitely coming back. Authentic and great fast service with free barley tea and surprising egg soup with our bowls. Yummyyyyyy

Had really high expectations as the parking lot was full. We decided against the bbq option and chose to get played instead.
I ordered kalbi and my sister got the bibimbap.
20mins later I finally pulled a waitress aside as they never brought waters.
10mins after that, still no food and the tables all around us that came after had already gotten theirs. PLUS the guys next to us got their SECOND entrée!
After 40mins of waiting, we got our food and it was just mediocre. Korean BBQ short ribs that were very tough and just not that flavorful. Sadly I would’ve eaten the sides more enthusiastically than that beef. Just disappointing food and service.

Who would have thought that the fried chicken wings here would be so delicious! And one order and you get A LOT of wings. I mean A LOT. Definitely a great place for wings if you want crispy, hot, juicy wings. My lips are smacking just thinking about it.
The other dish you must definitely get is the steamed pork with fresh kimchi. The pork is like pork belly (bacon-​ish) but it’s steamed, not fried. You get the delicious taste of pork belly with a lot less oil and fried. The kimchee — I can’t rave about it enough. It’s the right kind of flavored kimchee, you can tell it’s fresh… Tastes more like the kimchee you get at BCD if you know what I’m talking about.
The Banchan is fine but do come here for only two reasons: The Fried Chicken Wings and the Steamed Pork with Fresh Kimchi… Anything else should be secondary.

Food — 4
(synopsis)
Bulgogi — 3.5
Short Ribs — 4
Deep Fried Pig Intestine — 5
(this dish, C9, was freaking awesome)
Kimchi — 4
— — — — — — — –
Service — 3
The server was friendly but only checked on us 1x. The food though was enough to overcome this slight short coming.

BF and I had a rare craving for Korean food and the wonderful reviews led us to this spot. We were misled! Maybe the hour of which we arrived had to do with the poor service (9pm).
We enter the restaurant and there was no hostess or server in sight to seat us. We had to wait a couple minutes because everyone was hanging out in the kitchen.
We shared the combo spicy tofu soup and I got the kalbi plate. The kalbi was your standard kalbi. It was really good, flavorful, fatty, and tender. My BF’s tofu soup was a huge disappointment. The broth was bland, which is was very disappointing because Korean tofu soup is always very flavorful!
We wanted a refill on the kimchee and BF wanted another bowl of rice, and we were unnoticed forEVER. Nobody ever checked on us after delivering the food to our table. BF had to flag the waiter down. This isn’t even a huge restaurant.
When we wanted the check, it was no surprise that nobody noticed us. We had to go up to the counter. No thank you or good bye when leaving.
The poor service really spoiled our dinner.