SGD Tofu House

Family all time favorite. Too bad I don’t really eat seafood but my family loves it there

Nice staff. I think the person who was making the balloon is the owner of the restaurant. Suuuuuper friendly! He greeted everyone in the house and makes the children laugh with his balloon making. Food was great. Kinda Small seating though.

Driving by this restaurant, you see people crowding at the front door waiting to be seated. However, still try to come into the door, you will be warmly greeted by a worker with menus and you will be getting a number and ordering your food whenever you are ready while you are waiting.
At the same time, the owner was making balloon toys for kids and ladies to entertain us. He is the stereotypical Korean grandpa that smiles a lot and genuinely welcomes you.
I ordered the beef veggie soup, it comes with several dumplings. The cost compared to my favorite — Kong’s Tofu &BBQ — is a little more, and the taste of this dish is not as good as Kong’s.
We also got a barley tea with rice left over from a stone pot as dessert. It taste very plain but kinda refreshing after your heavy garlicy korean meal.

I always come here after coming from a Korean Spa House! This place has always been good in terms of their soon dubu and their ddukbokgi. I never bother to try anything else since their soon dubu is super delicious and very flavorful. In terms of spiciness always get the medium if you want a ton of flavor and minimum spice. If not get the Hot since it has a ton of heat.
As for customer service the guy and all the waitresses are super nice!
I don’t see how they’re possibly rude, I believe it’s all about mentality. IF you assume all Korean places are going to be rude to you and take their time serving you because you’re not asian then you might get just that. Come to an authentic Korean spot like this with an open mind and their customer service will shine.
I will always come here for their soon dubu! ¹⁰⁄₁₀
P.s don’t forget to ask for the purple rice.

Good solid korean tofu soup, but the price is a little high and the environment is compact with waitresses running around.
Was greeted by a huge crowd waiting but the owner of the business was going around making balloon figures for everyone with a smile trying to keep us all entertained.
The place was very warm and the tofu soup was better than average. They also threw in a rice soup (kind of like the Japanese chazuke) to eat after the meal. Is it because we waited?
The restaurant is compact so don’t expect privacy if you go during busy hours.
If you have a choice, please try not to sit next to the row where the waitresses walk through. They are busy and run back and forth fast. During my hour stay, I saw them drop dishes twice from rushing. It kept me nervous that a hot soup could spill on me.
The price is a little on the higher side. $ 12.95 for tofu soup.
Haven’t had any issues, but there is a sign outside that’s asking customers to not leave valuables in the car.

I always enjoy eating here whenever I visit. This place is definitely not the closest Korean tofu house from where I’m from, but El Camino is pretty much Korea Town and SGD Tofu House definitely proves its authenticity in Korean cuisine.
Food: My family and I usually order soft tofu soup and seafood pancake. Their seafood pancake is probably the best one I’ve ever tried, so definitely try it out. The banchan (side dishes) are fresh and quite tasty, as usual in El Camino.
Atmosphere: The owner (who I personally dub Korean Robin Williams), is always around and makes cute balloon animals for the kids. If you’re a loyal customer, he remembers you very well. The atmosphere is very family-​like and the staff is extremely welcoming and nice. It’s not the «nicest» looking restaurant, and the tables are quite close together. I almost cause another couple’s food to spill over because I accidentally bumped into their table while getting out from my seat. However, I think the warm and friendly attitude of the staff really makes up for it.
There is rarely a super long wait compared to other Korean places (like Gen). At most, I’ve waited for ten minutes. It honestly depends though, but I don’t think the wait should turn you off from this very lively and heart-​warming restaurant.
Btw, the lighting in there is very bright. Not the most flattering light for some, but the food is great, so I’m sure your significant other won’t mind, LOL.

The place has a shoddy Asian supermarket cafeteria feel to it, which is attractive to some I guess. I didn’t mind that much, since you would expect the food to make up for it. Ordered kalbi, bbq chicken, tofu soup and a pancake, all of which were mediocre at best. The Kalbi was blander than it should be, the chicken had no spice to it (I ordered spicy), and the tofu and pancake were… meh. On top of that, the side dishes (my second favorite thing about korean food next to kalbi) were… lacking. They gave us 4 dishes, and gave us a hard time when we asked for a refill on a couple of them.
The service was another thing. I mean, let’s be honest here, you expect some rudeness when you go to an Asian restaurant. In fact, sometimes the level of rudeness is inverse to the tastiness of the food. The problem was, the food ain’t that great, and you kind of got the sense that if you were not Korean, well you had to be just as rude in calling a waitress over or face being ignored the whole time. For example, we ordered 2 diet cokes. It never came out. So we tried to politely flag a waitress down the entire meal, finally got the attention of one after 15 attempts (only because we got up and actually made sure we got the attention). Of course, the diet cokes never came out. Then came the bill, and then and ONLY then were we able to get them to get our diet cokes (cause of course it’s on the bill).
2 stars cause it’s not a complete sh*t hole, but needless to say, there are a lot of better places to try around the area. I won’t be going back.

This place has no English sign that said «SGD», only «Tofu House.» It is quite authentically Korean. Of course we ordered the Tofu bowls, mine seafood. It was exactly as I expected: just enough spicy, richly flavored, just the right amount of chewy rice.
Very satisfying!

Came here around lunch time with my asian friend, and everything was fine — it was super busy but the service was quick, the food was good, and everyone was friendly.
Came here literally two hours later with my non-​asian friend who was craving Korean food, and they were disrespectful at the door. We came in before an asian couple, yet they were seated first, even though another employee asked if we were first and both parties said yes. 20 minutes passed by, and that couple is already being served their food while they haven’t even taken our orders yet. Another 5 minutes pass and they are still seating newcomers and taking their orders.
Are you fucking kidding me? I don’t know if they’re racist or what, but the way they treated us when I came in for the second time was totally disrespectful. We walked out without them ever trying to take our orders and after this I won’t be back.

We dropped by for lunch since it was on the way to these for. The place was so packed with a long waiting line. However the staff and owner were very nice and took our order so once seated, they would immediately make the food. I think we waited for 15 minutes or so. The service was quick and good despite all the requests they get from customers. We ordered the original tofu soup and the dumpling tofu soup. Both were very good. I highly recommend this place!

I grew up with SGD. This one in particular went through different management – it used to be owned by a smiley older Korean man. Now it’s owned by an ajumma with her (probably) son taking care of a big chunk of the FOH work.
This is the place to go if you’re craving some tofu soup. They have a HUGE variety of tofu soups from seafood to curry flavors. I always get the seafood or the crab. Lunch prices are more worth it, because you pay less and still get the same portions (and banchans). They’re not really focused on the service rather than just pumping out as many food items as quickly as possible.
The people serving you won’t give you a smile or even pay extra attention to you. They’re all essentially Korean ladies who speak relatively sparse English, but they do their job efficiently and without fuss. The banchan are a-​plenty, and if you’re lucky… and ask nicely, you will get a refill if the ajumma isn’t too quick to hear what you have to say. The food itself is the star of SGD, as the atmosphere and walls are blank with white space. There isn’t much going for SGD, but there are always lines out the door because of their homemade «soul-​filling» soups.
I come here once in a few months, and every time it’s the same. I come here for the tofu soup, no-​fuss atmosphere, and variety of banchan. Yup, never fails.

For the past two times I’ve been here, I’ve only ordered their Dumpling Soft Tofu Soup. Perfect for a cold day. It comes with dumplings, rice cake, tofu, beef, and purple rice. Perfect portion size. Lots of ingredients and definitely not skimpy. Both times, I’ve ordered it medium spicy and it was NOT spicy at all. :(I’ve also tried their Seafood Pancake and unfortunately, it did not impress me. It’s crispy, but super oily. I put one slice on a napkin and the napkin was soaked with oil. Can you say gross? There also seems to be a lot of batter/​flour, which I’m not used to compared to other seafood pancakes I’ve tried. Their ban chan (side dishes) were average. Nonetheless, in the end, I still really enjoyed my tofu soup and I’ll be back for more of that. :)

LOVED the ribs!!!
All the food as well as the service was excellent. The lunch meal includes a spread of sides and the servers are very sweet.
Unfortunately the atmosphere is extremely divey.
Would definitely return as well as recommend!

Cold days are perfect for tofu soup. I went a little bit after opening for lunch and they had plenty of availability. By the time I left, the place was packed and there were people waiting. I ordered a mild seafood tofu soup. Banchan came out first. About 4 dishes — a pickled radish soupy thing, kimchi, something else that looked like kimchi but wasn’t as spicy and a beansprout salad. The tofu soup and purple rice finally came out. Mmm, I love tofu soup — it’s such comfort food. The mild was just right for me and this had plenty of seafood — shrimp, mussels, clams, etc. I slurped it all up and left with a satisfied belly and a stick of melon gum. Oh and there are different process for lunch and dinner but the difference is minimal (less than a dollar). Located in a strip mall, it gets full easily and parking can be scarce.

I had the chicken with mushroom tofu soup, medium spice level. It was ok, not spicy at all. I feel like the ban chan was lacking and waitress didn’t come to offer refills. We did get tea, which is nice and all, but even then the side dishes came out after we got our tofu soup.
The front of the restaurant just says tofu house, doesn’t say SGD, but I do think it’s a chain because I feel like I’ve been seen or been to another location.
Overall, it was ok, I do like Gangnam in Fremont a lot more. Two tofu soup was about $ 26, it’s a bit pricey in my books.

Average korean spot. I wish they give spicy cucumber and sweet potatoes side dishes :(they are my favorite but they dont have it.
I tried the tofu soup and it tasted okay, nothing special. We also got their ramen squid dubokki and it was good but veryy sweeet.
Unfortunately, I would rather go to other korean spots in Santa Clara.

This place isn’t bad! But I’ve definitely had better.
THE GOOD: To start off, this place has PARKING. ENOUGH parking. There are so many Korean restaurants on El Camino that don’t have enough parking spaces in their lots! Thankfully this place isn’t one of them. I came here for lunch at 12pm on a weekday and it wasn’t super crowded. But then again the restaurant itself is quite big. Service here is very fast and they’re generous about refills for the side dishes! Purple rice is also the default here. I, personally, prefer white rice, but I know some places actually charge extra for purple rice so…
THE MEH: The tofu stew was okay. My kimchi tofu stew didn’t have as much flavor as I would have liked, but it wasn’t bad. My friend got the seafood one and the soup in that one was a lot more flavorful. The spice levels here seem way off. I didn’t taste any spice in the «mild», and barely a hint in my friend’s «medium». So that was kind of disappointing. The side dishes here aren’t that impressive either, but at least their kimchi was good (in my opinion).
Overall, not a bad place to go for tofu stew! Prices here are also fairly reasonable.

I’m always on the hunt for quality Korean tofu (or sundubu jjigae if we’re being proper here), and SGD is by many accounts the best tofu house in all of South Bay. So came here on Friday at lunch time.
Ordered the medium regular tofu soup with beef and some spicy pork as well. I am definitely a fan for sure! I’ve always preferred my tofu soup to be more on the chunkier side and SGD definitely delivers on that front. Soup was a little less saltier than I would’ve expect, but that was fine with me because the tofu itself is well-​flavored. And their spicy pork is on POINT! Definitely have no complaints on that at all.
The décor… well, it’s actually pretty basic. Definitely not what I was expecting, but it serves its purpose of getting a ton of people in there as there were plenty of seats. Either way, I am a satisfied customer and would come back!

I came here with friends for dinner on a Friday night over Memorial Day Weekend. It was around 6 o clock and it was already busy inside. Luckily the 3 of us were seated right away.
All of wait staff were genuinely warm and friendly despite it being crazy busy inside. The owner was even making cute balloon animals for the tables and for the long line outside the restaurant. He was wishing everyone a happy holidays and just gave the whole restaurant happy vibes. :)
I ordered the bimbimbap. Yummy and not greasy and super filling (leftovers fir breakfast haha). The food was good, but the service was even better. I’ll be back!

Holy heck. It’s BRIGHT in here.
Hey girls, no amount of concealer can hide that red mountain forming on your chin. So, don’t take your first dates here :p
Kidding aside, you’ll encounter a friendly, all Korean staff. Eager to take our order, we immediately asked for a pot of original soft tofu with chicken and mushrooms. If you want your tongue to be tingly, ask for spicy version. I’m a wuss, so medium spicy was more than adequate. The banchans were on the skimpy side! what gives?! Everyone knows when you eat Korean food, it’s all about the banchans! Bonus points for serving purple rice though, so de-​ri-​cious!!!
We’ll be back. Maybe when I don’t have a pimple on my chin.