The best Korean restaurants in Los Angeles

Named for the low-slung tables used in traditional dining, Soban serves one of the best Korean meals in Los Angeles that doesn’t involve a tabletop grill. Instead, this no-frills eatery offers the city’s best assortment of banchan and first-rate ganjang gejang, a.k.a. soy-marinated raw crab. Though service may be brusque, no other Korean seafood spot can top Soban’s buttery, sweet crab marinated in a blend of green chilies, white onion and soy sauce. The dozen-odd banchan plates that come with each meal burst with flavor, texture and painstaking attention to detail, from the cabbage kimchi to the seasoned acorn jelly. You’ll also find excellent galbi jjim—braised short ribs—and a fiery black cod stew. Newcomers should note Soban’s early close (8:30pm is the last call for orders). If you can, we suggest making a reservation: Everyone from the late Jonathan Gold to Parasite’s Bong Joon-ho has dined at Soban—so unless you’re visiting on a weekday afternoon, you’ll very likely have to wait for a table otherwise.

For an artful, unexpected riff on Korean cooking, look no further than Yangban. Unlike other places on this list, Yangban Society takes the dyed-in-the-wool definition of the cuisine and shoves it, and that’s exactly why we love the place. Early favorites like the twice-fried chicken wings have become classics for devoted fans, and after initially shying away from tasting menus (the couple previously worked in Napa), the restaurant’s Yangban-style spread has offered a gentle, and worthwhile, introduction to new-school Korean American cuisine. Within the moody walls of the stylish, new remodeled dining room, there’s always something new and interesting to try.

Bubbling, red-tinged bowls of comforting tofu soup are now commonplace across Los Angeles, but this Koreatown eatery inside a former Mexican restaurant (look up at the cactus chandeliers) takes an unusually artisan approach to its soondubu. All the tofu at Surawon is made in-house (a relative rarity), and for a slight upcharge, there’s also a unique black soybean variety that lends a complex, almost nutty aftertaste to the soup’s typically neutral soy foundation. The same attention to detail makes for delicious takes on Korean standards, including the sizzling platters of barbecue chicken and generously portioned fried mackerel. Sure, Surawon might lack the late-night hours of other soondubu specialists, but when the main attraction is this fresh and delicious, we wouldn’t head anywhere else  during regular business hours.

Also known as Mapo Galbi, Mapo Chicken’s signature dish has made this no-frills ajumma-run restaurant a beloved favorite among Korean food lovers for years. Meant to be eaten in groups of two or four, this bubbling red family-style dish full of chicken, rice cakes, perilla leaves and other vegetables can be spiced to your liking and modded out with cheese, udon noodles and extra vegetables. Make sure to save room for the fried rice, which your server will make at the end with the last of the skillet’s leftovers.

At all hours of the day, Sun Nong Dan’s two Koreatown locations fill up with diners hankering for the cheese-covered mountain of marinated short rib, potatoes and onion known as galbi jjim. Though the cheese—and its requisite tableside pyrotechnics—is optional, the restaurant’s signature dish is not, at least for first-timers. Aside from their signature family-style dish, the rest of the beef-centric menu offers single-serving soups and meat platters designed to be dipped into bubbling hot pots. If you’re closer to the San Gabriel Valley, Sun Nong Dan also has outposts in San Gabriel (open until midnight) and Rowland Heights (open 24/7). For those near Koreatown, the larger location on Western Avenue typically has a much shorter wait.

This polished Western Avenue strip mall eatery serves two versions of ganjang gejang (soy-marinated raw crab) with an element of hanjeongsik—a traditional Korean tablescape of rice, soup, side dishes and mains that makes any meal feel downright. Whether ordered whole or scooped out of the shell, the crab meat is sweet and tender, with none of the fishy, almost rotten odor carried by inferior versions of the dish. Other items like the raw salmon rice bowl and live sea urchin are equally delicious, and there's a separate, equally worthy section of beef-based soups and an above-average L.A.-style galbi (barbecued short rib). On colder days, the “special boiled beef” makes for an excellent hot pot; a mountain of chives obscures a shallow pan of brisket slices and milky broth, seasoned to your liking with salt and pepper. The beef soups might be beside the point for first-timers, but when you return (as you invariably will), these beef items are waiting, patiently, for their time in the sun.

With its everyday ambience, decent menu prices and top-notch meat selection, Soowon Galbi is one of our favorite Korean barbecue spots in K-town, especially when we’re in a group of four or more. The wait times here generally run shorter than other popular spots like Park’s and Quarters, though we’re confused as to why; Soowon's banchan assortment and prepared dishes, including the perilla leaf stew and scallion pancake, showcase a depth and breadth of Korean cuisine that’s remarkable for a restaurant whose most popular items come cooked on a tabletop grill. The combination courses, in particular, offer excellent value for a crowd, especially the Combo B, which includes the must-have kkotsal, or marbled boneless short rib, and chadol, thinly sliced pieces of brisket that quickly crisp on the grill.

This Vermont Avenue eatery serves an amazing take on North Korean-style mul naengmyeon (buckwheat noodles in icy beef broth), steamed kimchi dumplings and an array of hearty, mostly beef-based soups, braises and stews made with Korean taste buds in mind, but available for all to enjoy. The chewy housemade buckwheat noodles also come in the form of bibim naengmyeon, which douses them in a medium-spicy sauce flavored with gochujang and red pepper flakes. I prefer the subtler mul version, which offers a tangy, beefy flavor worthy of sipping to the very last drop, especially after lightly seasoning it with the mustard and rice vinegar available at each table. This might quite well be Koreatown’s best naengmyeon.

This love letter to Korean comfort food inside Grand Central Market comes from Kwang Uh and Mina Park, the same chefs behind Baroo, the now-closed restaurant that helped popularize fermentation within the L.A. food scene. Now, the pair—who are married and have a son—have turned their attention to dosirak, or lunch boxes, which come perfectly portioned with three types of house-made banchan and your choice of L.A.-style galbi, kimchi-braised pork belly, doenjang-marinated chicken or vegan-friendly fried shiitake mushrooms. Kimchi fried rice, bibimbap and a KFC (the "K" stands for Korean here) rice bowl round out the menu, which easily rank among the top places to dine inside the Downtown food hall. With Uh and Park’s fermentation skills, the stall’s take-home, larger portioned banchan are equally mouth watering—especially, when available, Baroo’s signature kimchi yellow corn.

With a palatial, patently luxurious feel to the dining room and a roomy outdoor patio, Chosun Galbee is our other favorite Korean barbecue restaurant for special occasions. For over two decades, this classic Koreatown restaurant has offered smokeless grills, attentive service (something you can’t find at every KBBQ spot) alongside a high-quality meat selection. We also love the jungol, a type of Korean udon hot pot we’ve yet to find done better anywhere else in the city. Available with seafood, beef intestine or a combination of meat and seafood, the bubbling family-style dish features a spicy, umami-rich broth and plenty of vegetables.

It’s all in the details at LA Tofu House, a strip mall gem on the eastern end of Koreatown giving a certain three-letter soondubu spot a run for its money. Whether opting for a standard tofu soup or their delicious octopus bibimbap, each dish supersedes others in quality by leaps and bounds, with a slight premium to match across the (still quite affordably priced) menu. Combined with all-day hours—which stretch to 3am on weekends—and easy $3 valet parking, this tiny restaurant on Vermont Avenue is a must-go for neighborhood residents, those who love homestyle Korean cuisine and night owls in search of a cozy afterhours meal.

Koreatown’s top-notch seafood-oriented KBBQ joint pays homage to the East China Sea by serving its edible bounty in waves at the table. Go with one of the bang-for-your-buck combo sets—even the basic A set is enough to feed a family—which begin with airy steamed egg, crisp-edged scallion pancakes, sizzling cheese corn and a heaping bowl of chili-packed mussel soup. From there, DIY grill options include sea scallops and mussels on the half shell, large shell-on shrimp, spicy chili salad, octopus tentacles and more. Upgrade to a B or C set to feast on rarer delights like abalone, which squirm in their shells before yielding tender meat when cooked. Step up your game with the D combo for selections from clams, oysters, a spicy cold seafood bowl and more.