Girin

Avg at best. Yes I know it KoreanFusion but it was just ok! I won’t be visiting again!

This isn’t really Korean food, but perhaps Korean inspired food. The dining room is pretentious as one would come to expect. Prices are way overpriced for mostly street food type dishes seen in Korea. It’s obvious the chef got his inspiration from being a tourist, yet his dishes often are overly salty or lack flavor. I’d rather eat at the H-​mart food court where one could find many of the same dishes, far more authentic in taste and about 10X cheaper.

Have come here on multiple occasions mainly because of the convenience of it being right outside my door. So 2 stars for convenience! (For which of course you pay out the wazoo)
Beer selection is scarce. Food portions are abysmal. Half a dozen wings? Yours for two and half dollars a piece! The décor is beautiful though. They have a koi fish pool and great furnishings. Nice atmosphere if you want to meet a friend for a quick drink before heading off somewhere else to get food

The bar service is awesome! We felt well taken care of throughout our entire visit. Will definitely be back soon!

My new favorite restaurant! I don’t think this place is too expensive given the amount and quality of the food that’s provided. We got the #2 combo which was short ribs and pork sausage along with quite a few other dishes. It was $ 80 and for 2 people with healthy appetites it was more than enough. The short ribs were exquisite. Perfect doneness! So much vegetables and Korean spice and heat. If you spent $ 40 a person at another high end restaurant I believe it is comparable. The service was great and the place is pretty!

Loved this place. It is not your traditional Korean restaurant/​food, so do not have such expectation for those who walk through the door. And be prepared to pay up$$ (lunch total $ 100 including tax/​tip).
For lunch, enjoyed the Combo #1 with hubs, which consisted of:
Yukhwe (think steak tartare)
Kimchi jjigae (spicy kimchi soup)
Pork belly (our fave!!)
Hangar steak
Bibim guksu (spicy buckwheat noodles)
Ssam (greens and stuff to wrap the meat)
Pot of hot tea
Everything was pretty tasty and service was excellent too. My only hesitance in ordering next time would be the buckwheat noodles. While I applaud their efforts in making fresh in house, it didn’t blow my mind. My hubs enjoyed them better than I did. But we both loved the pork belly, something neither of us normally like/​eat all that much.
Will return another time. Perhaps even when my mother visits from Seoul. She can be a bit of a snob when it comes to tasty Korean food, but I have a feeling she’ll approve of this place.

Great food to load up before the Seahawks game. Plenty of variety but I got the kimchi soup along with Kalbi.
It was so good after the game we came back to eat our second round.

I totally recommend girin to my family and friends. As a Korean, I have fun trying new korean restaurants and appreciate that girin stays true to the authentic flavors of Korea but adds elements of creativity and fun. I enjoy their happy hour menu, drinks, dinner, and dessert. YUMMM! Plus the ambiance and customer service are both great.

Prepare yourself for Korean fusion! And hopefully watch your blood pressure because yes they do salt a lot of stuff. Ambience is excellent with the woodwork, fountains and the dim yellow lighting. I chose to sit at the bar to see how the chefs cook. We got some recommendations from Byron, who suggested the gojuchang wings, jap chae with Dungeness crab, seafood pajeon, mandu, skirt steak and the ribs. We got the combo #1 with ssamjang marinated skirt steak (in place of the hanger steak) pickled shitake, green chili, radish, grilled pork belly with grilled apple, gochugaru, yukhwe, kimchi jjigae & bibim guksu. There was no way we would be able to eat all of the chef’s recommendations with two people. The combo meal was enough to feed 2 and a half of a person (a little kid, perhaps?).
Food: 3 stars. GET THE STEAK!
Service with the cook interaction: 4 stars. If it weren’t for the cook interaction, we would have been annoyed since it took our waitress ten minutes or so to come to us.
Average: 3.5 stars.
I also got their special drink in the Kooksoondang kettle with two gold cups. I was prepared to compare it to nigori sake, but even though it has the same color, there was barely any rice particles and it was sparkling. It had an apple like flavor.
The yukhwe came out first, which was just like a beef carpaccio with pieces of Korean pear, pine nuts some sort of greens and egg yolk. Nicely done. But it also didn’t stand out among the other beef carpaccio dishes I’ve had in other restaurants except for the Korean pear.
Banchan: anchovy, mashed potato salad, thinly sliced cucumber in a sweetened vinegar, and kim chi. I thought the anchovy stood out the most because it was crispy and nicely salty.
Wings: Crunchy, but not the double fried crunch. Sauce had a sweet and sour dipping sauce (similar to lumpia dipping sauce) but with more Asian red pepper flakes added in and with a nice honey finish. Worth eating if you want Korean wings due to convenience, I still like Stars in the Sky’s original recipe chicken. And no it doesn’t come with the typical Korean sides like the cubed daikon and sauces/​seasonings on the side.
kimchi jjigae: Tasted sweeter and yet bland in flavor. It had more napa cabbage and onion than I would have liked. I found myself digging out small pieces of cubed meat. The tofu was a bit more plentiful than the beef. DON’T GET THIS DISH!
bibim guksu: Imagine cold buckwheat noodles with quail egg and pickled bok choy with a light sweet sauce. It didn’t blow my mind, but glad I got to try it once.
Next up, the ssam sessions:
The cool part of ssam is that you get various veggies to make your wraps. I’m a huge fan of the perilla leaf. You also get butter lettuce, slices of pickled daikon, slices of raw garlic, serrano and a red pepper, as well as another green I couldn’t identify. I had to ask for an extra side of perilla leaves. It just adds a little bit of black pepperiness and a touch of freshness. I had to wrap my skirt steak and pork belly in it with some garlic slices, and the gochujang and the kim chi!
ssamjang marinated skirt steak: nicely salted with sesame oil and was cooked to our liking of medium rarity. I liked it a lot!
grilled pork belly: When I grill it, it is crispier and they don’t crisp it at all. I felt kinda sad, but it was decent. Mind you the pork belly is frozen beforehand.
If you arrive after 6 PM, don’t park in front of the restaurant, you’ll have to pay 6 dollars and some change for 12 hours of parking. Instead, find street parking since it’s free after 6 PM.
If you sit at the bar in front of the cooks, they’re really friendly! I got to try their black garlic sauce and it was quite good.

I was excited to see that the owner of Momiji, one of my go-​to spots, was opening a Korean steakhouse, and I heard some really wonderful things about it. My experience here unfortunately did not live up to the hype.
With all the good buzz, I took the plunge and went for the aged steak ssam, which cost around 70. I also got the kimchi soup and wings. The ssam was… boring. The flavor wasn’t incredibly deep, and just failed to impress in any way. I’d like to say that it was because I had high expectations for the price, but the reality is that I just didn’t enjoy it. The wings and soup were good, but the disappointment of the steak took everything down a notch.

A Korean steakhouse that’s not even a steakhouse, and in a good sense. Steakhouses are the culinary cul de sacs where chefs die of boredom, and patrons of gout. Girin does have its red-​meat-​heavy offerings, plus much more. The chicken wings, for example, were outstanding, cooked to perfection and presented in a fashion that does not evoke «sports bar». If I could find a downside, the portion was too generous, you’re better off sharing appetizers. That’s a downside I can live with. I came to the place being lured by a picture of a grilled sausage, elegantly presented the classic array of sides. The real thing was just as classy, easily tastier in person. And if you choose to sit by the bar in front of the kitchen, you get to see all the action, possibly your own dish being whipped up right in front of you. Thumbs up on the desserts as well; while the pear pudding seemed to be the most popular order, I was recommended an interesting green tea custard, something new and tasty, perfect ending to a filling meal. Again, come in with a larger crowd, easier to mix and match given the average portion size and the natural inclination to try a bit of everything. Pleasantly worth it.

I was literally killed with kindness here. Our waitress and the rest of the staff are so friendly and sweet. Service was perfect. The restaurant itself is gorgeous. I love the architecture from the big doors as you come in, to the little garden space in their atrium. The bar also looks like a fun place to hang out. As for the food, it was good as well. We had the braised pork belly ssam and the marinated skirt steak ssam, the kalbi, tofu soup, and chicken wings. Our waitress explained what ssam was. Basically, it is lettuce wraps. All dishes are shareable. There were three of us in our group and ww wqere full. For dessert, we got the pear and walnut cake a la mode. Overall, it was all very good and it was an enjoyable experience. The only reason I am giving it 4 stars is I’ve had better kalbi, wings, and tofu soup at another hole in the wall Korean restaurant that is a lot less fancy. I would definitely be back though if it were for another occasion. If I crave Korean food, I’ll stick to my go-​to hole in the wall joint.

If you like fusion Korean food then you should try Girin in Seattle. If not then I would not not recommend this place. I personally like it very traditional when it comes to food (especially Korean and Japanese).
First time at Girin in Seattle, I saw on their menu that the had yukhwe (beef tartare). This is one of my favorite dishes and not many places offer this dish so I had to try it. It came out with Korean pear and a quail egg. Now of you’ve tried yukhwe before (if not you can Google it to see what it looks like) you would understand I was initially surprised by the presentation of the dish. I have never had yukhwe that looked like this before. As for the taste it wasn’t bad. We also had their meat mandu (dumplings) and while both of these dishes tasted decent and they were really salty. And I love salty food so if I’m saying it’s salty then it’s pretty damn salty.
Then I had their lunch kalbi ssam set. You get 4 banchan (side dishes) which includes myulchi (anchovy), a mysterious dish (we could not figure out what that was), some kind of mushroom dish, and kimchi. Myulchi was good, mysterious dish tasted very mysterious, mushrooms tasted sour and odd, and kimchi was very fermented (which isn’t a bad thing. I just prefer fresh kimchi). Now the most interesting part was the soup. I have had my good share of Korean soups in my life, and I could not figure out what it was supposed to be. It didn’t taste remotely close to any traditional Korean soups I’ve had. The main dish, kalbi, was good. They actually ask you how you want your meat cooked which is nice. Most Korean places will not give you this option. It came out cooked perfectly.
The restaurant itself is very clean and the interior is well designed. The service was also great. Once again, if you like fusion food then this might be a good spot for you.

Their lunch specials are a pretty good deal for upscale Korean food. Their $ 15 lunch combos come with a lot of food and the beef is high quality and super tender, especially the kalbi short ribs. I had a bite of the hanger steak and it was too charred for my liking, but I really liked the ambience as well as the variety of options on the menu for lunch.
Their fresh lemonades are also refreshing and tasty!

This place could be a 5-​star but service was a bit slow in the bar area (it was a Seahawks game and everyone including myself went there for a drink and a bite to eat before the game).
Food and drinks:
My friend and I share a bunch of stuff. the wings, the ribs and the sullungtang. First, the sullungtang was good, it was a bit dark (which means something but can’t remember) but it still had a good flavor and had bits of meat, green onion and glass noodles in there. I think our food was waiting a bit because the noodles kind of got mushy but it was still good. With sullungtang it comes out unseasoned so its self seasoned with salt so I had to ask for that and of course it was busy so womp womp, soup was lukewarm when I got it. I will say their radish kimchi was good (a bit spicy but I like spicy). the ribs were fall off the bone tender. yummy. the wings were good as well.
Service:
This was the most disappointing part of my experience. we had a male waiter and wow, I would make eye contact with him multiple times kind of getting his attention but rarely ever stopped by. UGH.
Ambiance:
this place is pretty big, its inside stadium place and its gorgeous. they sure put a lot of thought into it which I really liked. the design and layout was nice.
I will come back and try more stuff.

Girin is pretty legit, as far as upscale Korean restaurants go.
The fam bam had dinner here for my brother’s birthday, and we had an awesome meal. The restaurant is gorgeous. Upon entering, you can turn left for the bar, or right for the restaurant. The place is polished, yet serene at the same time.
On to the food! Girin does ssam plates, with various choices of proteins and accompanying vegetables and leafy greens to wrap your meat in. It’s fantastic if you’re into the low carb thing. We started with the yuhkwe (beef carpaccio) with asian pear and pine nuts, as well as the gochujang wings. The yuhkwe was sliced so thin, it basically melted in your mouth. Yum.
Entrees:
Hangar steak with pickled shiitake, green chili, & radish
Short ribs with soy pickled perilla leaf
Grilled pork belly with kimchi
Kal guksu
Both the steak & short rib were cooked a perfect medium rare, and the pork belly was definitely on the fattier side. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious, just a smidge fattier than I would like.
My only complaint is their lack of dessert. I get that dessert isn’t really a thing in Korean culture, but a couple of sorbets and an ice cream option is a pretty boring way to end an otherwise fabulous meal.

Took the best friend here, and we lucked out, we were the only two there for happy hour!
For $ 40, we ended up getting 4 gyoza, 4 chicken wings, 4 strips of green onion pancake, a plate of raw beef with 1 quail egg, 1 sausage link with lettuce and a side dish of kimchi.
Mandu has either two choices: fried or steamed. We ordered fried and it tasted very meaty (a good thing for me). Chicken wings were sweeter than what I’m used to but still tasty with a fried goodness. Green scallion pancake was chewy in texture and tasted more doughy than what I’m used to. I will not be ordering the sausage ssam ever again, not in a negative way. It’s just I only need to try it once in my life.
Raw beef with quail egg was absolutely fantastic! So hard to find a restaurant you can trust with this dish. I will order that over and over again! It’s silky and buttery at the same time.
Portion sizes are smaller, so make sure to order accordingly. Service was spectacular since we were their only customers that night. The décor and seats make it a great drinking atmosphere.

Happy hour review only. 4−6pm (everyday?) in the whole restaurant and 4−7pm in the «bar» which looked very decently big still. I loved the décor of the place! There is a little house in the middle of the restaurant with seating inside.
Food wise was not amazing. I particularly did not enjoy the happy hour oysters. Prices went up to $ 1.75, darn was hoping to make it in for $ 1 oysters. Anyway they were no good though. Pretty low quality, and very gooey tasting. I do not recommend. I bet their regular menu oysters are probably better (kusshi, shigoku, etc.) Everything else was just ok/​would not necessarily get again. Chicken wings were good except they are pretty salty. Baby back ribs, only bad because I don’t eat spicy much and this was too spicy for me so I ate one piece and gave up. Pork Belly Ssam, not bad pork belly, but not much of it. We also got this raw beef thing w/​quail egg yolk. It’s like really thinly sliced raw beef with some toppings. Not all that great in my opinion. With that being said, and a couple drinks, happy hour was about $ 60ish for 2.

Came here for Happy Hour with a few friends on a Monday evening. There are two separate entrances that divides the restaurant from the cocktail bar — we were seated in the bar for HH. The HH menu was actually quite impressive and consisted of a range of delicious items from ssam plates to $ 1 oysters.
We tried: Gochujang wings — this was a favorite amongst my friends. Fried to a crispy perfection with a spicy honey glaze that brings out the best of the sweet and saltiness. The size of the wings were ideal for snacking and the meat was very juicy.
Seafood pajeon (pancake) — definitely expected a much bigger portion, and while it was a very good pancake, I honestly don’t think my two bites were worth $ 2.
baby back ribs — very succulent and fell right off the bone. It was also a very proportionate balance of salty and sweet.
Ssam plate (combo) — I’ve always wanted to try this but haven’t come across any restaurants that serve these plates so I was super excited. We picked all meat options for the combo (kabli short rib, pork tenderloin, pork belly). It comes with a few leaves of lettuce, a shiso leaf, kimchi, chili peppers, garlic, radish, and pickled ginger. You wrap everything in the greens, spread some ssamjang (chili sauce) on it, and take a huge bite. The flavors blend very well together and each bite is refreshing and packed with a tangy bite. This was my personal favorite and I’m hoping the portions on their regular menu is a lot bigger because I definitely want to come back to try!
All in all, service was spectacular, the place is clean, modern, and just like in Korea, the bathrooms had mouthwash dispensers to freshen up your breath after your meal. I shall return very soon!

Beautiful interior design and the oysters with the different topping were awesome. All the food was actually really good but Korean food is not meant to be so expensive, happy hour house helped cut the prices down alot but if it was not for happy hour this place would be extremely over priced.