B Won

From a newspaper report on health code violations in Champaign-​Urbana restaurants:
«B Won (2006 S. Neil St., C) also failed twice. On Sept. 2, a health inspector witnessed an employee pour a bucket of bloody juice into a sink and another employee rinse a pot of leafy greens in the same sink a minute later.
The restaurant failed with an adjusted score of 4 out of 100 and seven critical violations.
B Won received an adjusted score of 40 out of 100, just five points away from failing, on its Sept. 30 re-​inspection.
In total, the restaurant has failed five out of 18 inspections since 2008 and had a median score of 54 out of 100.
It failed again March 1 with an adjusted score of 19 out of 100 and five critical violations, including potentially hazardous food storage of fish, shrimp and tofu out of safe temperature ranges. The restaurant passed its re-​inspection March 31 with an adjusted score of 53.»

Went for the first time today. The waitress was very patient and helpful in assisting us to choose dishes that would suit our tastes, as we were not familiar with the cuisine. The fried dumplings were especially delicious. I had bulgogi and my friend had a spicy cold noodle dish. Both were excellent. All of the sides were so good, especially the daikon kimchi and the cucumber salad. We were even offered refills on the sides! The bean and tofu soup that came with the bulgogi was very good as well. We will definitely go back, and perhaps be more daring with our ordering next time.

I couldn’t stop eating the kimchi that came with the soup. So great. Love all of the soup addins! Also had the fried rice with all of the meat and vegetables which was delicious too.

It’s simple, really: B Won is the best korean restaurant I’ve ever been to.
Period.
Their soups all have incredibly rich broth. Their kimchi chigaes are dense and loaded with meat, noodles, tofu, and veggies. They really dont skimp. Their dumpling soup (mandoo guk) is hands down the best I’ve ever had. The broth is rich and cloudy with big beef, onion, and garlic flavors with a hint of fish and seaweed and just the right amount of saltiness. I hate to say it, but it’s better than my grandma’s.
I always order their seafood pancake. It’s crispy with lots of octopus and green onion.
I am also a big fan of their spicy stir fry squid and kimchi fried rice. The only thing ive had here that i didnt like was the jjajjang myun (black spaghetti).
Service can be a little slow at times, but the servers are friendly and helpful when they get to you.
The food is delicious with big portions, and they don’t skimp on anything. This is a must try for foodies in the area.

B won is a tourist trap! this is the worst experience I had. We 8 people got there and wanted to have two hot pots. The owner kept insisting that two pots were not enough for us and using there won’t have enough rice for us as an excuse. We went there before and one hot pot was so big and can make us 4 girls full. This time, the owner got frustrated because we finally just ordered two hot pots. In the end, he only served us the one mount of hot pot and told us they are two servings! we paid almost 80 dollar for almost nothing. even though the food is not bad here, I won’t go there anymore.

The food is pretty good in comparison to other korean restaurant in town. Manu is confusing. Two items on the manu are with exactly same description. Only difference is in korean. But the guy, who i believe is the owner, did not want to spend time explaining them to me.

Absolutely delightful! I had the Bimbimbap and pajeon. The homemade seaweed bonchon is intimidating but definitely try it!

Worst experience, went there with friends to celebrate her birthday, got yell by the waitress, will never go there again regards the quality of the food.

I’m from Korea and I’ve heard fellow Koreans say that B-​won has the best Korean food in CU. Well I went yesterday and they were right! The pork belly & squid dish, along with the mackerel meal, was delicious. My friends from China were impressed as well. And I’d have to say, some Korean restaurants offer very sloppily cooked food by Korean standards (won’t mention which ones), yet so many non-​korean people think those places are «authentic.» Well they should try B-​won because it’s as close to Korea as you can get in CU.

This is a good place to go. Food is really good (I like their soups and bibimbap). Service is really good.

I took my mom here for her birthday. It’s been a few years since we were in Korea and we’ve both been missing bibimbap since we landed. This obviously isn’t quite the same as the stuff back in Seoul but it’s pretty close! I did not at all expect to find this little gem in the middle of a cornfield! Serving sizes are good, spice is good, and the man who took care of us was great. I’m hoping to find another excuse to drop by some time soon. There’s a pretty big menu and I wouldn’t mind eating my way through it.

It’s a nice place to have dinner with group of friends because it’s very spacious. The owner is very generous. There are two choices of rice — white or bean. Also there are two types of water they serve — cold water or hot tea. I would recommend the hot tea! In addition, they serve side dishes and they are pretty good. If you ask for more, they will serve you more! The food is pretty good and enough to fill you up.

I come from Dallas so this might seem unfair because of some the great Korean Restaurants in the metroplex, but this Restaurant just serves over the top salty food. I got the boodae jiggae and my friends got the dukk guk and the yook geh jang and ever bowl was just too salty along with the side dishes. This would be a good place if you’re just desperate to satisfy a Korean craving, but nothing more.
Won’t be back here again.

My first shot at a restaurant while visiting Illinois and They basically told me that I could not eat there; not sure if that was a racist move but it definitely felt like it.

University of Illinois at Urbana-​Champaign had a surge of emergence of Asian restaurants in the last year. However, even among the pile Asian restaurants, the name B Won weighs a ton.
B Won is a Korean restaurant that is ran by Korean owners and chefs. Needless to say, their authenticity is not to be questioned. And I mean it.
I ordered D2, otherwise known as «bos-​som». It is a dish that is meant for two or three people to share. But since I am a «phat» butt, I had it all for myself. On it, comes with seasoned/​cooked pork belly along with radish, and raw garlic/​jalepeno and lettuce. In case you haven’t figure out yet, you are suppose to wrap each of those aforementioned ingredients in the lettuce leaf and eat it whole. The dish, though may seem like a very simple dish to prepare, emphasizes knife work above all else. All the pieces were cut to the same size so perfectly that you would think a machine did it. Some ingredients taste may actually vary depends on the way a chef cut into the ingredients.
Upon ordering, you are given a bowl of rice and numerous side dishes, as per Korean culture. Those are free refill. So do dig away. Though be careful, some of those small side dishes may not be for the faint-​hearted that are not familiar with authentic Asian cuisine.
The restaurant itself is very spacious. The lighting is sufficient, but not too bright to take away the mood. The staff are very nice and attentive (and they have to, with the free to refill side dishes policies). Though high traffic, both the common area and the restrooms are clean beyond my wildest imagination.
If you are looking for the best Korean restaurant in town, stop looking and just go.

I keep getting the tofu stew with seafood (p13 b) and my fiancé gets the spicy squid (s5). I am sure the other food is good because it smells and looks fabulous, but we cannot stop ordering these two amazing dishes over and over.
Great korean side dishes, good service, great prices, Wonderful place.
I’ll take a star off because they don’t send out the tables entrees together at all. Everything just comes out whenever.

The service was a bit slow in the beginning, but once we ordered, it was better. We ordered a seafood pancake for the table, and for entrees we had bi bim bap, spicy cod stew, and chap chae. The pancake was okay– it tasted fine, but the seafood was bland and the pancake itself was mushy rather than crispy. The chap chae was also okay. The noodles were good, but it was very sweet and needed more vegetables. The bi bim bap is really good, and doesn’t skimp on ingredients. I didn’t try the stew, but it was well-​received. Overall, I think it’s good Korean food, but nothing spectacular.

like this place a lot. Good food and good service, and food is usually slow when they are busy, I tend to go at off peak hours and the food never let me down.
Decent amount of side dishes, huge serving size.

If you are looking for a ton of opening small dishes, this is the place to go. The service and the rest of the food is mediocre and I would definitely recommend other Korean joints in town for specific things.
I’m not Korean but from my korean friends this place is a more Authentic Korean place, but beats me, I thought the food here wasn’t as good as say, Woorijib, Aririang, or Star Karaōke. This place definitely had the best side dishes though, they give like 6 – 8 of em and they will refill all of them for no charge

Went to B Won for dinner for the first time last night and spent the entire day today going to the bathroom and feeling sick. I have an iron stomach and can’t remember when was the last time I got sick from eating out (knock on wood). While I don’t think I had serious food poisoning I do feel that the ingredients are not the freshest, the cooking oil is suspicious and the food is loaded with sodium (even more so than typical Korean food).
The seafood pancake was a huge letdown. I couldn’t find anything other than gigantic scallions in the thin and greasy pancakes. Last time I checked scallions were not considered to be seafood! Last time I had seafood pancake in New York, it was thick with crispy outer layer and FULLY loaded with identifiable seafood from shrimp to crab meat. What they serve here is a travesty.
For entrée, I had stir fry with baby squid and marinated steak. There were lesser tiny pieces of squid in the whole dish than all the tentacles on a baby squid. It was also the chewiest and most rubber like squid I have ever had in my life. Lucky, it was easy to pick them out since there were so few pieces. The beef was chewy as well. Like I had mentioned before, the dish was salty enough to require a side of blood pressure medication.
All I can say about the service is that it was quick. A bit too quick for my liking. My bill came with my entrée! Hello, at least let me pick out the squid first. I really wanted to like this place but unfortunately I will not be back.