Kimchi Stew
Bowl'd Bbq Korean Stone Grill

Bowl'd Bbq Korean Stone Grill

4869 Telegraph Ave, 94609, Oakland, United States

Bbq • Asian • Korean • Chicken


"TL;DR Food ? was 3? Rat? lowered to 2?. Came here last night for dinner to try this place out as I am new to the Temescal area of Oakland. Wasn 't too crowded and weather was nice so we sat out in the back courtyard. Banchan and miso came out and were the first tastes of disappointment. Miso was way too salty and the seaweed literally dissolves in your mouth. What that tells you is they don 't make the miso fresh and it 's sitting around long enough for the seaweed to become slimy like jelly. It 's an unpleasant texture and NOT how miso should be. Banchan was your average spread (kimchi, sprouts, broccoli, etc) but was not crispy and was flavorless overall. The only semi redeeming bit was the kimchi but if I had to guess it 's store bought and not made in house. We ordered a couple of their sizzling bowls which are Bowl 'd 's version of bibimbop and those were decent. I got the spicy pork and there was plenty in the bowl. Lots of veggies and overall good taste. Only issue I had was the bowl comes so hot that the rice at the bottom is blackened and charred to the point of eating literally, coal. That was a bummer. What did bother me is that they are practically making bibimbop but they don 't call it that. So it 's confusing. Finally, the rat ?. Like I said we were in the courtyard just eating dinner when I see a fat rat scampering by my feet. Runs straight into the little garden like area to the left of the rear entrance from the courtyard about 6 feet from where we are sitting and is just hanging out there. I alerted a passing server or kitchen member and he completely walked past nonchalantly like no big deal. We decided to get our check, pay up front, and gtfoutta here. I took a picture of the rat and showed it to our server and he commented, They 're here every week and they scare me which tells me the owners management know about the problem and have done nothing about it. Owners put a screen to prevent the rats from going under the building through small holes BUT there is nothing preventing them from just strolling their butts right in through the back door and right into rat heaven the kitchen. Regardless, owners need to invest in pest control, fix the rear doors holes allowing rats in, and block kitchen access to the critters. In summary I would definitely not come back. With all the great Korean options on Telegraph you would be doing yourself a disservice eating here. Sub par to average Korean food at best with uninvited guests running around. ??"

Mokban Korean Bistro

Mokban Korean Bistro

217 Westminster St, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, 02903, United States

Fish • Soup • Meat • Korean


"A terrific new option in Providence. Walked past, went in to ask if they had any vegetarian options, and got pointed to the last page, which summarizes the veggie options from the rest of the menu (and there 's a whole page of them). So, despite knowing nothing about them, we decided to give them a try. The main dishes come served on a tray with the main dish (say, a kimchi soup), a side dish (rice to complement the soup), three little sides (today, for vegetarians: a Korean mapo tofu , pickled greens, and corn salad), and a little sweet (watermelon cube with apple bits in syrup). So the presentation and experience is itself something. Every single thing we had was excellent. The main and rice were great, the mapo was unusual, the pickled veggies were fine, and the corn salad, which was surprisingly sweet, was stunning: like every taste making your nerves jingle stunning. The sweet was also gorgeous. Couldn 't have had a better meal. We don 't usually get dessert but we did here an ice cream flight of East Asian flavored ice creams and that was also worth it. Though the prices are technically not cheap, they are very reasonable given the ambiance, quality, and quantity. For instance, we had intended to order a starter until we found out about the dinner trays, and we 're glad we didn 't order one. But there 's more to it. As several people have commented, they do not accept tips. It 's not just a recommendation: the credit card receipt comes with no tip line. Once you factor that in, the prices are even more reasonable. And no tip is of course in many ways a much nicer experience for customers. Though several reviews have said the food was very slow, we didn 't have that experience: it was around 6:30pm on a Tuesday night but the place was mostly full. It did take a _bit_ longer to get our food than we expected, but not unreasonably so (certainly no hour long wait or anything of the sort). Also, the service was excellent, and the no tip policy improved the service dynamic: it left the waitstaff free to act as a team. They came around frequently, all seemed on the ball, and we got service from whoever was available nearby rather than having to wait for our waitress. I had only one complaint. The bathroom in the back is through a service area that had a really strong bleach smell, and the restrooms were not quite up to the standard the restaurant set. They really need to work on that: it 's just not consistent with the mood that everything"