Chil Po Korean Restaurant

My family loves to come here for the black goat stew!!! Supposedly goat meat is one of the healthier meats so the elderly in particular enjoy this stew. So don’t be surprised if the average age of the patrons is 40+. My friend and I (in our twenties) were the youngest people in the restaurant puhaha.
We ordered one serving of goat stew ($ 20) with kimchi jeon ($ 8). Though we were both famished when we got there, we had so much leftover! I would recommend getting one serving of goat stew for two people and another smaller dish to share.
Will definitely be back to satisfy my ajuma cravings.

I would come back for the huge bowls of neng myun.
The broth had a good base of beef stock that I enjoyed.
The place was pretty packed on a Saturday night, but we were able to get a table for a large party within 5 minutes.

MSG lovers will like this place. The bulgogi and white rice was ok but the side dishes and kal koosoo was a heap of MSG.
I have not had Korean food that was this bad.
I would not return to this restaurant or recommend it to anyone.

I love this place! Best Korean restaurant around the area.
You must try:
–Haemultang comes with bokumbap at the end.
–Hwansil Dweji Bossam (pork belly). Probably the best bossam I’ve had in LA or OC.
–Jengban nengmyun (big portion needs to be shared).

Went with my parents because I wanted to treat them to some decent Korean food (I owe my mom a lot :) Happy Mother’s Day!) and I’m happy to say my picky mama loved the food here. We ordered their most popular dishes — the herb boiled pork belly (bossam), seafood soup (haemultang), and my mom’s favorite — seafood pancake (haemul pah-​jeon).
I’ll sum it up all together. Seafood is fresh! This place doesn’t hold back on the quantity nor quality. It’s been a while since I ate at a place and felt like they really care about their food. I will definitely keep going back whenever I crave that spicy soup or that yummy pork belly.
Service, sadly, depends on which server ya get. Our server was super nice.
Oh, and I ordered the bulgogi for my super-​picky toddler who normally doesn’t eat restaurant bulgogi, and he LOVED it! Wrapped it in lettuce and the whole nine yards :)
Happy to have found a good go-​to Korean restaurant.

Bossam (pork wrap) is one of my favorite foods and the bossam here is one of the best. They spice and cook the meat absolutely perfectly.
The place inside is bigger than it looks and it has average Korean restaurant service. My parents and I frequent this place.

I was dying to get some decent Bo Ssam (Korean Boiled Pork Belly) after watching TV about some people eating this dish from famous restaurant a night before.
For those who are not familiar with Bo Ssam, here’s an explanation.
[Bossam is a pork dish in Korean cuisine. The centerpiece is pork belly, boiled in spices and thinly sliced. The meat is served with side dishes including garlic, onion, ssamjang (wrap sauce), saeujeot (pickled, fermented shrimp) and newly made kimchi. Upon eating, the meat and sides are often wrapped in vegetable leaves such as red lettuce, sesame or napa cabbage, hence the literal meaning of Bossam: «wrapped» or «packaged.”]
There’s one place that I go to in LA but I didn’t want to drive through traffic after work just to get the food so I was in hurry to find a restaurant that was pretty close to me.
After some serious research through Unilocal and online, I found Chil Po restaurant.
I called in for pick up and my order was ready just in time when I got there.
I didn’t wait to get the order which is good since you have to wait to get your order from some places even though you call in ahead.
The packaging was excellent.
They give you all the Ban Chan (Side Dishes) along with your order separately.
Bo Ssam itself was packed separately with Kim Chi and plain pickled cabbage.
They usually ask you if you would like Kim Chi or plain cabbage to wrap but you can also do half and half for those.
The pork belly was very tender and moist.
They also cut the meat pretty thick so all you need is just one piece of meat at a time when you prepare it as a wrap.
By comparison to the one that I usually go in LA, there was no significant difference to the taste.
I really enjoyed the Bo Ssam here and I expect nothing more.
After finishing my meal, I was very happy man.

First day, I to-​go the whang sil bo ssam and it was bomb!!! so Me and my hubby came the next day again for seafood soup and bossam. I’ll make it short and quick. Owner not nice, employee’s some are nice some are bad but we ended up with nice lady so we tipped good lol Food, bossam is unbelievable seafood soup fair enough. it’s good that they have combo menu for it. I took out one star because of rude ah jum mah who didn’t bring us the potato salad (side dish) even we asked her! I saw it on other peeps table lol overall good tasting food!

Food was pretty good considering the price. The service not so favorable.
Our family went for my mom’s birthday bcuz she likes (agujjim). Try ONDAL in Garden Grove. Much better. So much better. They remove the heads of the bean sprouts which gives it a cleaner taste.
We are not very high maintenance, but the waitresses seemed pretty annoyed by us asking for the essentials :(
Conclusion was, we’re not going back.

I recommend this place if you really like haemul-​tang! (Seafood stew)
Their quality and quantity seems to be diminishing every time and the stew is a bit salty xP
I do however like their ban-​chan and their bibimbap on their lunch menu!

Worst. Service. Ever.
My goodness I have never been so irritated like this at a restaurant before.
My parents and I came here for a good hot dinner since it had been so cold and rainy lately.
When we got there around 630pm on a weekday, the parking lot was pretty full and of course like any Korean restaurant there were a loud group of old men smoking at the entrance. We went in and got seated right away. If they sit you at the table right next the register DO NOT sit there!!! We were seated there for the night and whenever the door closes it does so in a very loud and irritating manner and shakes the whole table area. Definitely started the whole dining experience off to a bad start. Yes it was pretty busy but as a former waitress who has experienced a great deal of «sweating my ass off» busy they were lacking so much. Just to get our table set took FOREVER.
Before we even came to the restaurant we knew we wanted the haemul tang so we ordered that as soon as a waitress ran close to us. We sat there for the longest time with nothing in front of us. The side dishes (banchan) came out ridiculously late and when it did come out we had no mercy and cleaned it all quickly for we were very very hungry.
The tang finally arrived and the service that comes with it was very lagging. They cut up the different seafood up and leave it alone for it to cook a while longer. They are suppose to come back and serve it for you but no one even stopped by for a good while. So then we started to serve it ourselves then finally a waitress took over. From the looks of it when she was pouring the food in the bowls, she was trying to give everyone a little bit of everything but miserably failed to do so cause my mom got all the shrimp, i got no fish, i got pretty much 90% of the clams, my dad had most of the intestines… seriously…FAIL. FAIL. FAIL.
We repeatedly kept asking for rice and after asking the 4^th time we finally got three measly bowls of rice. The amount of rice they gave us probably would have not even made a rat full. The food itself was okay. The fish was very dry and i left it untouched after a bite. The soup and squid were good. I think if the service was better we would have enjoyed out food a liitle more instead of having dinner in such a bitter mood.
Usually at the end they mix rice in whatever is leftover in the haemul tang but we were so fed up and annoyed with the service we said no and asked for our check. The only time they were quick to give us service was when we had placed our cash on the check. They took the money before I could even set it down at the end of the table.
Left the place and made myself another dinner when I got back home.
Wont be returning here again.

The veggies here have been fresh everytime. (I believe they have their own backyard to grow veggies) Entreés are usually solid and consistant but the fish dishes are like 3 out of 5 times good so far. But I never get disappointed with the lunch ssam combo #1 (ssam bap, bulgogi and bean paste stew) or #2 (same as above except spicy pork bulgogi)
They don’t give you tap water, instead they have their own purifier/​water machine so I love it!
Service is fast but just like the other Korean or Asian reataurants, do not expect the most kind service. (Not that they don’t give you what you want or give you some trash) I ain’t gonna sweat about it though.
Good for lunch. Good to come here with your parents.

This place was packed with Korean families out for a nightly feast. The tables were large and sturdy, much like the ones you see at libraries.
The food was delicious and best of all, FRESH. They whipped out a hot pot and cooked delicious seafood right at your table. Did I mention the side dishes? Our entire table was covered by them. Shortly after I felt bad for all the dishes they had to clean. The service was fast and persistent. Our server even made fresh seafood friend rice right at our table. Overall this place offered delicious food for a great value.

HAEMUL TANG
Spicy seafood stew, seasoned with gochujang (red pepper paste). It’s mild to spicy in flavor. The secret to the success of this soup is fresh ingredients from the ocean, including crab, octopus, lobster tail, squid, scallops, fish, shrimp, and clams. It also must contain various vegetables such as peppers, mushrooms, onions, bean sprouts, dropwort, leaks, and crown daisies. The more the merrier, since it’ll supplement the refreshing, deep taste. Rich, savory, and simply amazing if prepared properly.
BOSSAM
Steamed or roasted pork, wrapped in lettuce or sesame leaf, often accompanied by ssamjang (thick, spicy bean paste) or gochujang (red pepper paste). Topped with pickles, garlic, onion, kimchi, and saeujeot (pickled fermented shrimp).
These are the two reasons why people visit Chil Po Korean Restaurant. They have quite a selection on their menu (English friendly), but I would just avoid most of it. We did order the Bulgogi for my niece and nephew and like a greedy pig, I ended up devouring most of it myself. I was quite impressed by the sweet and salty taste, mixed with the bed of onions. Steaming hot when delivered, it was pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. OINK.
There are combo specials you can order, but for some reason, we skipped that and ordered a medium size Haemul Tang. Not sure if this made a difference, but I noticed that they’re generous with their seafood ingredients. I’ve known some places to be really skimpy, but not today. Always looks like a full pot to me.
After all the gluttony, I still managed to take some leftover soup and seafood back home in a doggy bag. Then, the waitress added extra stuff into the pot and made us fried rice from the leftovers. It was really scrumptious and paired well with the remaining soup from my bowl. Not burnt one bit, rice never tasted better.
It was awfully busy for a Saturday night and service was slow. I can’t blame them due to this cold November weather. I can push the table button to the limit, but my brother in law knows the owner and there’s no need for that when the food was this satisfying. Not sure why this place is rated so poorly, but business seems to be doing just fine regardless. YUH GI OH! May I get another bottle of soju please?

Spicy seafood soup! Good spot for fresh and spicy seafood soup. Good spot for pork belly cabbage wraps as well.

this place USED to be good back in the days… i’m talking about when they had original owners with the old name. they used to be so packed and busy. anyway, the 6 of us came and it was pretty much empty. for a saturday evening during dinner time, it should be busy.
service was extremely slow because the ajumma just took her time and sat around most of the time. banchan dishes were meh. we ordered the hae mool tang combo + bossam that came with soju.
haemool tang — spicy seafood stew, wasn’t actually spicy. it hardly had any fish, shrimps, clams and crab meat, but it definitely had a lot of sea squirts. i hate sea squirts. no one wanted to eat them in our table either. lol anyway, it was really bland, too!
bossam — pork butt slices, were actually pretty good. except, i’ve had better. this, however, was actually pretty good.
we also ordered their naengmyun + galbi combo. don’t ever order this. naengmyun is from their instant noodle package and the galbi was just 1 long slab of fat with barely any meat on it. again, no flavor on both.
another reason why korean food in cerritos (and the neighboring cities within 3 miles radius) sucks.

Came here yesterday.
Orderd the haemool tang
It was good but nothing out of the ordinary.
I was gonna give this place 4 stars
but when I was asking the waitress for the check
she was handling another table next to us
and she gave me the HAND.
I understand she was dealing with another customer,
but I never got the HAND before
tsk tsk

Found this gem on Unilocal while heading towards Cerritos High’s graduation. Kind of a hole in the wall set up. Service was typical of a Korean restaurant (thus not 5 stars). Order was taken right away and water brought out. However, none of the side dishes were ever refilled. Water jug was brought out for self refill (no big deal).
Now on to the food. Unilocal mentioned that portions were big, and that’s the truth. Wife ordered Nehm myung (cold noodle) came in the biggest bowl that I have seen. I ordered the bulgoggi. That came out on a gigantic platter. The meat had good flavor and had a tad of char to them (I liked that). The side dishes had nice variety (including egg) and were all good too. Another plus was that they had brown rice available.
Like I mentioned before, nice little gem in Cerritos. Will come back and try there other specialties.

This place is generous in the amount of food they serve.
For a family of 5, we ordered three dishes and three was more than enough.
One of my favorite food is a-​goo-​jjim (steam spicky monk fish with bean sprouts). There’s so much flesh to the fish and the spice is just right.
I also get the pork slices with the kimchi. Their kimchi is different. Not spicy but rather sweet. I didn’t know if I liked it or hated it but I loved the pork. Cooked so well that it was good just as it was.

The restaurant specializes in hae mool tang (spicy seafood soup) and bo ssam (pork wrap). The pork wrap was pretty good and they even give the option of a half size for about half the price of the full size. This is a good option if you are trying other things on their menu.
I was also able to try the hae mool tang and it was OK. It wasn’t the most spectacular hae mool tang I have tried which was a disappointment (since this is supposed to be their specialty).
I thought their service was OK. The waitress seemed to be attentive and we were taken care of. The restaurant was a medium sized place, and seems like a good place to bring your family.
Overall I felt this was an OK restaurant. I may come back, but I am not sure if it is worth a 20 minute drive. I would rather drive up to Korea town in L.A. to get some good Hae Mool Tang (Spicy Seafood Soup).