So Gong Dong Tofu House

I’m a fan. Good prices. quick service. Side dishes are good and they are not stingy. Main dishes are good. The restaurant is small do seeing is cramped, but this hasn’t been an issue.

This place is solid. I like their side dishes, the tofu soups and the beef bibimbap. The vegetables and the beef in the bibimbap are seasoned well – better than other bibimbap places in Korea town and better than the Tofu House in Santa Clara/​Sunnyvale area. I also like that the egg isn’t cooked and that it gets cooked as you mix it in. If you don’t like it that way, please let them know.
I think I finally found one of the best bibimbap places in the South Bay (and believe me, I’ve tried many places) – even those touted to be super authentic.

This place wins in their banchan game. I love the chap jae! I also really like that they give us purple rice. I always go in a group or with another person. The order doesn’t really change much though haha. It must contain bulgolgi pork, kalbi, and a combination soondubu. I wish the pork was a little stronger in flavor but everything else is excellent. I’ll be back again and again.

This is probably the only tofu place in PA but it sure is a good one! Lunch time is horrid and the way can be super long and busy. I went here for dinner one time on Friday around 6 and it wasnt packed at all. It starts getting busy around 7 or so. I ordered my classic beef tofu soup which is loaded with beef and mushrooms. Yum! The side dishes are yummy too. I tried some of the chicken and it was meh. I reallyyyy want to try the fried dumplings next time cuz they look bombbbb,

Have stopped in several times in the last few months with the weather getting more chilly and the need for soupy dinners more necessary. Last few visits have been on Sunday evening and each time this place has been packed beyond belief, but the hostess will give you a menu and take your order while you wait, so the turnover is quicker.
Been sticking to the tofu soups here only lately and been satisfied each time, but be warned that they likely do use MSG in their soups. Not a great deal, but definitely noticeable. I always get the second spiciest level and it packs just the right amount of heat for me.
The banchan options here are fine, but it’s a basically like a lotto drawing if you happen to get a refill, no matter how many times you remind the servers. Service bounces back between abysmal and dismal, so don’t expect any kind of fantastic experience courtesy of the employees here. If you do, you’re one of very few.
Each soup goes for about $ 13 before gratuity, so not exactly the best value out there seeing that a good number of Korean places just give you a free bowl if you order some particular meat combination or whatever.
We come here more than I would like, but it’s one of the consequences of living with a soondubu jjigae addict.

This review is strictly for the tofu soup with beef, clams, and shrimp.
Honestly… I don’t know how this place got such high reviews? Maybe because it’s the only Korean option in PA but still, my entrée was below standards.
The tofu soup had no flavor whatsoever. It just tasted like red watered down soup with ground beef, small clams, and inedible shrimp! They used the cheapest shrimp possible that were basically garnishes, pretty to look at but not tasty or practical to eat. The shrimp antennas were wayyy too long and needed to be trimmed. Disturbing! I don’t need to be poked at!
The place was a little dirty and like any korean restaurant, you come out stinking.
The only good flip-​side were the little side dishes. I’d skip this place and drive to Santa Clara if you’re looking to get more bang for your buck.

Came here last night for dinner and it was the perfect meal for a cold night in the bay. The restaurant was jam packed so we had to wait a bit but the staff were smart and began taking your order before even seating you.
Once you got seated, food came out pretty quickly although the waitresses didn’t really pay attention to you because of how busy it was.
The food itself was delicious. I got the original tofu bowl and it had great flavor and was always kept hot. Would definitely recommend coming here, especially if you’re looking for a hot meal to warm yourself up.

Did I come in a bad time? Or a bad day? I came on a Saturday around 2:30pm…did I offend them by coming past lunchtime??? What’s going on!!!
Pro:
— food is overall good. Surprisingly, a generous amount of bulgogi was provided. Flavorful and well-​cooked bulgogi. However, SoGongDong skimped on my bowl of rice; it was ¾ filled in my sad bowl… wtf. Rice is cheap. Why skimp? It’s a cheap filler. Smh.
— mushroom tofu was good… good and generous amount of tofu. I requested medium level of spiciness but it was not at all spicy… tasted like no spiciness was added. Maybe SoGongDong’s spicy level is conservative???
— private parking
Cons:
— interior: drab and a little dirty (dusty and food particles in crevices)
— service: a lot of slamming … korean rage style.
I flagged a waitress to take my order. Bonchon, rice, and water slammed onto table. Then, out comes bulgogi tray. Slam! 10 min later, mushroom soondubu. Slam! Soondubu bits spilled on bowl tray. No smile. No pleasantries. Just korean rage. I knew I would never see my waitress again after she took my order; I saw her walk out of the restaurant with her belongings. Ok, bye Felicia. I walked to the hostess stand to pay and left.
Although the food was good, I will not return to this restaurant due to their korean rage. Even Philly and New York’s korean restaurants has less rage than SoGongDong.
What’s up, cali? :(

Tofu hot pot is good, no doubt. For $ 12.00, you will have a nice dinner!
But.
1. Parking is bad! Very bad! Walk if you live in South Palo Alto.
2. Inside venue is bad too. Tables for 2 are lined up like cafeteria. So close you could accidentally eat the food on the other table. You could hear them too. Very loud, unpleasant.
3. So many students that I would not take my first date there unless you are student too. Both college students and high school students jammed this place.
Otherwise, location is good, price is good, food is good. Also this is Palo Alto…

Friday night and the hubby wants noodles. I consult with my fellow Unilocalers for a noodle joint nearby and decide on the Tofu House. This place is a smooth moving machine. We arrive, write our name on the wait list, someone shoves two menus at us and says, «we’ll take your order before you sit.» Very efficient. Then someone calls our name and we are seated even before they take our order. A quick wipe of the table, paper place settings– slap! Tap water– bam! And with a smile. Our server takes our order: tofu bibimbap for me and tofu dumpling soup for hubby. The girl next to us slurps up her bubbling bowl. She blows so hard at every bite, I think she might blow the chopsticks out of her fingers. Then we get our sides and food. So much food! Burn-​the-​roof-​of-​your-​mouth hot, filling, and tasty. The sides don’t seem very fresh, but I like that the tofu is non-​GMO and organic.
I doubt we’ll return, but we had an entertaining time people watching. And clearly they have a strong following.
I highly advise against it for any kind of date night, but it seems like a good option for an un-​romantic meal. Overall ambience feels like «Korean cafeteria assembly line». It would be great if they served beer. I wonder if you can bring your own…

WTH!?! Restaurant closes at 9PM and we arrived at 8:30PM. Staff were ignoring us and avoiding eye contact when we’re trying to get seated. (you will know that this is VERY unusual as this place is always fast and efficient, getting people on and out)
After about 1 – 2 mins, the staff handed me and another couple behind me – also trying to get seated — a «to go menu». We’re told that we can only order to go because «it’s too late».
Me: You mean we can’t sit down and eat?
Guy: No it’s too late. To go only.
Me: It’s only 8:30. You close at 9!
Guy: Yes but it’s too late. To go only.
WHAT — THE — HECK???

This place didn’t live up to the hype for me. We came at 7PM on a Saturday and was able to get a seat in 15 minutes. Our orders were taken right before we got our table, but it still took 10 minutes after we sat down to get our 6 ban chan (side dishes).
I got a mild fish cake soft tofu (fish cake and vegetables) and my boyfriend got a mild seafood soft tofu (oyster, shrimp, clam). I’m pretty good with spices but I’ve had experiences where a medium spice level would be unbearably hot, so I thought mild would be a good choice. However, a mild spice at this place apparently meant no spice. I definitely would’ve liked it to be spicier… Ditto with my boyfriend.
In terms of the tofu — it was very silky smooth and well cooked. Tasted really good with the purple rice.
Bottom line: if you like spicy, go with medium spicy and (hopefully) you won’t be disappointed.

This location just doesn’t charm the pants off me like the So Gong Dong Tofu Houses in Milpitas and Santa Clara.
Stephanie S. and I came way before the dinner rush, so we were seated in the center area in the back. Thank god because the first room you see first when you walk into the restaurant is filled with flies (eww). For a restaurant that only had two tables to check up on, I was surprised we had no service at all. I had to get up from the table and walk to the kitchen area to flag someone down to order our food. Uh??? I also had to get our own water cups.
Their tofu soup dishes are $ 12 and comes with purple rice! They have some different types (crab, cheese, sausage and ham, dumplings, and more) of tofu soup so that was nice. I had the crab tofu soup and was pleasantly surprised they used real crabs instead of imitation crab. The soup was more watery than other tofu soups I’ve had, but I still scarfed it all down!
Ban chan includes: bean sprouts, kimchi, potato, cucumber, a roll, and japchae.

SUMMARY: Went for dinner with 3 others on a weeknight — had to wait 30 minutes or so (no good waiting area), but it’s a decent Korean restaurant near my house with a casual feel and good food. Definitely a go to spot given there aren’t too many Korean places in Palo Alto. I’m Korean and probably have unreasonably high standards for Korean food though. The first time I went was with my parents in March 2015 and we really enjoyed it then as well.
WHAT I TRIED: Dolsot bibimbab + seafood soondoobu chigae (tofu soup)
—-MORE DETAIL — -
FOOD: GREAT: Nothing exceptional, but good Korean food and definitely will go back given its convenience + great food. Ingredients are fresh (important for the bibimbab with so many veggies) and the soondoobu chigae doesn’t taste artificial (many places put so much MSG and poor quality ingredients that you feel a little gross after eating it — but not here. They also bring out the egg separately for you to be able to crack into the chigae which is the more traditional (and delicious) way + the bibimbab leaves out the excess oil so that the rice starts getting crunchy (best part but hard to find in restaurants because it’s a pain to clean). Overall — not my mother’s cooking, but one of the better Korean restaurants I’ve been to.
SERVICE: OK: Nothing to write home about, but nothing to complain about either.
AMBIANCE: Casual Korean — reminds me of a comparable casual Korean restaurant in Korea so that’s good. They can cluster tables for bigger groups — a little loud but not so loud you need to shout. Always busy when I’ve gone so you may need to wait. Very casual atmosphere (it would be the Korean equivalent to a diner I suppose)?

Came here for a late lunch on a weekday and it wasn’t too crowded so I was seated right away. I forget exactly which tofu stew I ordered, but it had beef and seafood in it. Appetizers came out first, pretty much right after I ordered, and there was a good selection! I really liked their kimchi. The tofu stew came out not too long after – maybe 7 minutes? It was piping hot, thankfully, cause I hate it when the soup isn’t hot enough to cook the egg that I crack in. But that wasn’t a problem here! The tofu stew here has a lot more flavor than other tofu stews that I’ve tried, and I think it’s the soup base that they use. And there was a very generous serving of clams! I’m used to going to places that give you MAYBE 3 clams in your whole soup, so the amount I got here was quite a pleasant surprise! So overall, I thought the tofu stew was pretty good.
So you might be wondering why I rated it only 3-​stars. I had two main issues with this place. The spice levels here are ridiculously tame. I ordered a mild and it turned out to be pretty much white. I appreciated being more able to taste the flavor of the soup itself, but there was no spice whatsoever. I suggest ordering a level up than what you normally would. Also, the service here, while quick, is kind of meh. I didn’t feel welcomed at all, and everyone just seemed to be in a rush to get you out. They don’t say thank you when they hand you your check or after they bring you back your receipt, and they brought out the check like 5 min. after my tofu stew came out. Like wth man I’m just started eating. But the food itself is good, so I might still come back in the future.

My favorite two dishes: the tofu soup with beef and kimchi, and the galbi.
Tofu soup: two words describe this dish… «Flavorful» and «filling». What got me was the flavor the kimchi really added to the soup, and the amount of ingredients they managed to fit inside that bowl of soup. Jampacked with tofu, and meat (yes, there was a looooot of meat), and kimchi, their tofu soup dish is one of the few that could actually make me full at a tofu house. I still can’t believe how filling it was!
Galbi: again, this place doesn’t disappoint when it comes to portion sizes. This dish came with literally 3 large stacks of short ribs, covering a layer of caramelized onions. Additionally, the meat was fall off the bone tender, with a nice grilled char on the outside.
I definitely recommend this place, especially the tofu soup which is pretty cheap, just under $ 13.

Wow. What a feast. For a few dollars, you will be stuffed! They don’t play around and provide all of the Korean food accoutrements, including Kimchi, seaweed, cucumber, beansprouts, glass noodles, mung beans with rice, and potato. I had the beef and dumpling tofu soup. I ordered it extra spicy. It was not very spicy. They probably have to tame it for the masses. When I asked for extra hot sauce, the flavor of the hot sauce diminished the flavor of the soup.
Overall a delicious feast. And the seafood pancake was awesome. It’s dry here, so only water, soda, or juice with your food. The service was slow, but I forgave them since the food was so good.

You can never go wrong with Korean food! Love tofu stew and seafood pancake. They had a nice variety of sides and the seafood pancake was crunchy and delicious. The tofu stew that I order was the ramen and vegetables one. So yummmmyyy! I didn’t finish it because there was a lot of tofu and ramen. :P
Love that they have a parking lot too! We were lucky because we barely waited 5 minutes before we got seated. Party of 4 on a Saturday night and only 5 minute wait? WHAT?! Maybe I’m too used to San Francisco and people lining up for places.

I’ve been to SGD before (the one in SJ/​Santa clara) but this place was far off from my last visit to the chain.
First of all, the waitress was extremely impatient and rude when seating us and taking our order. I understand it was busy during lunch hour… but still… I requested for hot water but had to politely remind her twice and her response was «okay okay I got it.» Hello? Customer’s concerns first, right? And this was just a series of disappointments to come…
The side dishes were pretty bland and definitely far off the flavor charts compared to other tofu houses I’ve been to in the area. The dumpling soondubu I got was decent though. I would’ve preferred a stronger gochujang (spicy pepper paste) and garlic flavor though… that would’ve really given it a nice kick.
When paying the bill up at the counter, the same waitress also rang us up. We had a group of friends so we requested to split the check… but she impatiently explained that it’s max 2 cards per bill. I definitely left with a poor impression from this Palo Alto chain and I actually like SGD. This goes to show how important customer service really is. I also had an upset stomach the following day… which has never happened to me post an SGD visit… so I’m not sure what’s off about this chain.

I met up my friend here for lunch and we were treated to good Korean food! The place is pretty roomy inside and the service was great and fast! I ordered the Kimchi Bulgogi Bibimbap and I was not disappointed with my choice. The bulgogi was so good, I wish they put more in the bowl! The kimchi wasn’t as spicy, but the bowl in general was delicious. My friend also steered clear from the tofu soup and ordered the glass noodles. She liked it as well! For the appetizer we decided to try the fried tofu pancakes… It was slighty crunchy, but we didn’t really enjoy it very much. I wasn’t sure if there’s supposed to be some sauce to compliment it but we weren’t given any…
Overall, this place still deserves four stars from our main entrees!