Pepper Garden

Pepper Garden is a korean «boonshik» spot like Danmooji. Prices are comparable to Danmooji but I feel their rice cake portions are more here. You will always have a table available upon arrival and they are less stingy with their to-​go side portions like the soup if you ask for more. I also enjoy their tuna kimbap, bulging kimbap, and the variety of rice cake options (spicy or cheese). They are friendly and polite when I visit their for either take out or dining.

Every once in a while, I get a craving for kimbap and know that Pepper Garden is a great place for cheap kimbap! A few months ago, I came here for the tuna kimbap. Yesterday I ordered the bugolgi and the regular kimbap. I really liked the regular kimbap. They put some kind of leafy herb in their tuna and bugolgi kimbap that took a little getting used to, but their rolls are cheap, large, and extremely filling! My order came with a bowl of soup and some pickled radishes. Both were delicious as well. The soup had a nice spicy kick! My order of soup, radishes, and 2 kimbap rolls cost less than $ 9! What a steal.
Ambiance is kind of quiet. It is nice and clean on the inside and they have Korean music videos playing in the background. I would definitely come back!

Love the restaurant and the waitresses are really nice. I’ve been here twice.
First time, I had tonkatsu and tuna kimbap. The second time I had dukbokki and kimbop.
Soup:
The soup is good and spicy, if you’re not used to spicy stuff keep your water close.
Kimbap:
I feel like I get the most pieces here out of all the Korean restaurants I go to.
They have tables big enough for groups, where everyone has a chair which good for the end people as they don’t have to stand each time someone wants to get up when a middle person want to go to the restroom or smoke outside.

One of my friends wanted to come through here last night as a quick, last minute birthday dinner. She’d be craving Korean food, so I figured why not. Little did I know that it was a similar place to Dan Moo Ji. We got there around 7:30, and ordered the set meal for 4. We got rabokki, odeng, fried sweet potato, and bulgogi kimbap. We ordered another order of tuna kimbap from the Unilocal reviews, but I didn’t think they were as bomb as they sounded on the reviews :/​Tuna just isn’t something I’d put in my kimbap.
I have to say that I personally enjoy Dan Moo Ji better based on how they cook the duk and ramen. Also, for the dan moo ji they give as a side dish was luke warm and not as pleasing to eat. However, the soup did have a spicier kick to it like other reviews mention which made the soup a lot tastier.
Majority of the group liked the sauce better here, so I could just be complicated lol.
Overall, we had a great time and I also got to catch up on one of my favorite Korean shows since they had it playing at the time :)

Pepper garden is like a less crowded dan moo Ji. The food is good– we always get different plates and then share amongst the table. There’s a wide variety of korean food and it’s all really good! It’s affordable as well.

Eh. This place was okay. It’s sort of jumbled in with the fast food restaurant category.
The complimentary soup was good, but it had a bit of a spicy kick to it. My rice and beef was okay. My friend didn’t like her kim chi fried rice very much. It was pretty plain to her. I’ll take her word for it since she loves Korean food.
Service was okay as well, but the atmosphere here was terrible. As my friend and I weren’t feeling well, the kids at the neighboring table didn’t help. They were running around the restaurant and even raced in and out of the place slamming the entrance door. They were all over the place being super loud. Granted the employee was a high schooler so she probably didn’t think much of this, but it was disruptive to other customers like us. :\
Overall, an okay place. It’s somewhat hidden though. It’s located within the proximity of Walmart’s complex, but it’s on the perimeter of the complex, on the furthest left corner if you’re looking at Walmart. If you see Hansel and Gretel Bakery as you drive by, then Pepper Garden is right there.

I was getting my oil changed at Wal-​Mart, and I thought I try out the place while I wait for an hour. It’s next to Hansel and Gretel and you can see it from the street view.
It’s not a big place, but however, it’s another version of Dahnmooji in Nukoa plaza. I think overall, I will pick this place over Dahnmooji because it doesn’t get super packed and I can actually get some food.
I had the pork cutlet roll and the tuna cheese roll. These two rolls came with the fish broth soup, and it was fine. I think I spent like 9 bucks for these two rolls and I was very full.
The pork cutlet roll was your donkatsu or pork cutlet in a roll pretty much. The meat was still crispy and it was not soggy. The roll had the sauce within, so it had the donkatsu flavor with your typical fillings for a Korean roll.
The tuna cheese roll is your standard where you have cheese, sesame leaf, with tuna salad. It was good, and you can’t really mess up with this roll. Overall, it was a place where I can go in and out quickly and get my stomach filled quickly but at the same enjoy the style of «boonshik» as Koreans will say. Boonshik just means street food in Korean.
I would recommend this place to people if they were looking for this type of food. Dahnmooji is getting overrated and getting more expensive. The wait staff or the staff in general are a bit rude, and I sometimes find them a bit superficial. I heard that they only hire skinny young Asian girls and have them dress certain way.
The wait staff at Pepper Garden are very pleasant and nice. It’s different from the other place.

Another boon-​shik place in Duluth which is good since the other place is usu. so busy. It’s in a small shopping strip near the Walmart off of Pleasant Hill.
FOOD: I got the Tuna kimbap, Duk bok ki, and Vegetable Omrice. The kimbap was filled tuna with sweet relish, pickled radish, egg, cucumber, and fish egg. It was delicious! The duk bok ki is spicy rice cakes with fish cake and cabbage, which is spicy good. The omrice comes with cream sauce on top, not ketsup. I prefer ketsup but it’s not a bad difference.

I personally like Pepper Garden over Danmooji. The service was better and the food is better. If you’re into cute under-​aged servers and the décor of a place really sets the mood for your meal, you’d probably like Danmooji more.
Tuna kimbap, ddukbbokki, ohdeng soup, and the gim-​mari are all great!

Pepper Garden is a Korean snack shop, also known as a pun-​shik.
Simply put, their specialty is Ddukbokki, chewy rice cakes. Other places offer the same red sauce over different items only, maybe if you are lucky, they will add some cheese. At Pepper Garden, if you add cheese, you are going to get almost a pound of cheese. The cheese pairs perfectly with the garlicky flavor in the sauce. Also, at Pepper Garden, you can order dduk with various sauces. Even Carbonara, Bacon, and Alfredo!
Nothing pairs better with traditional Ddukbokki than Kim-​ma-​ri dipped in the sauce. Try it.
I’m not a fan of their Bbokeum, since the kimchi bbokeum I ordered was almost flavorless, even with cheese on top. The Tuna Kimbap we ordered is only $ 3.50 and it is massive.
While I love K-​pop just as much as anyone else, it was so loud that I could not even hear myself think.
Just because there are other pun-​shik dul in Duluth, it does not mean that all are created equal or should even been compared. I am very grateful that there is more than one snack shop available, because most cities have zero.

Decided to check this place out b/​c one of my good friends told me Pepper Garden has better Dduk Bokki than Danmooji.
My quick comparison:
— Ordered the Dduk Bokki and Tuna Kimbap, and we thought they were about the same.
— Danmooji wins for providing complimentary broth and better banchan (white pickled radish & soy sauce pickled radish). Pepper Garden just had the spicy pickled radish and it didn’t taste fresh.
— Pepper Garden wins for their odeng broth — not only tasty but slightly spicy too!
— Menu selections and prices are about the same.
— Danmooji has a more «cutesy» ambience but Pepper Garden has K-​pop on their flatscreen.
My parents and I shared the $ 19.99 combo which included Dduk Bokki, Kimbap, Odeng Soup, and Fried Sweet Potato. Good portion size for 3 people, and we loved having the variety.
DDUK BOKKI
Overall very good. Our server didn’t ask us how spicy we wanted it but I personally liked that it wasn’t killer spicy like Danmooji. So if you want it «really spicy», you’ll probably want to let your server know.
TUNA KIMBAP (9 pcs)
We chose the tuna kimbap — loved it.
ODENG (4 pcs)
As mentioned earlier, broth had an unexpected kick to it. Very flavorful.
FRIED SWEET POTATO (5 pcs)
I liked that they used nice thick pieces of Korean sweet potato but wasn’t a fan of the thick fried part. Reminded me of the thick covering used for beer-​battered fish & chips.
Overall, very good and we’ll be back. I’m curious about the spicy anchovy kimbap. Service was very friendly although our server had some difficulty with his English.
FYI — located in the strip mall caddy corner to Walmart. They are right next door to Hansel & Gretel Bakery.

— I didn’t really have high hopes for this place because I was trying to get something to eat since I was going to be studying next door at Hansel’s and Gretel’s. I found out this place had kimbap (Korean Rice Rolls) and thought it would suffice in the time of me studying. Anyways, it did in a way that I was full, I ordered the Bulgogi and Tuna kimbap. They were accompanied with the spicy soup and the radishes. The rolls were just okay, I think Dan moo ji is better though. It isn’t a bad place, but when you have other options, you’ll want to go there instead.

this is exactly how i feel about pepper garden
«meh, i’ve experienced better»
notably danmooji that is a 5 minute drive away.
there’s really nothing else to say. i feel like nothing here is exceptionally outstanding, and for mediocre Korean food, i might as well go to the shops inside of hmart/​assi to eat.

Went to Pepper Garden Monday evening. The food was really good. This restaurant gives you a lot of food for your money. Service was great, The guy who is either the owner or the manager had to come over and explain some of the food on the menu. The vast majority of the menu is in korean. One downside to this place. do not drink the hot tea, it tasted like burned coffee.

I wouldn’t say I am bougie when it comes to restaurants since I typically eat anything, but this place is just ok at best just like all the other crappy Korean restaurants in the ATL. Service was good. ddukbokki i didn’t like. I liked the kimbab at DMJ better.

I once went on a study abroad trip to South Korea for 3 weeks, which, by the way, has very flavorful and healthy foods. So naturally, I craved these foods when I came back to America.
Pepper Garden is perhaps the closest eatery that offers food which taste to what I have had eaten back there. Their Al Bap (fish egg rice), is perhaps the most addicting mixed rice I have ever eaten. It is mixed in with minced vegetables and al (fish egg), and this amazing sauce that I can’t quite put my finger on, yet it has a bit of a mayo texture to it too.
Their Cheese Kimbab is another one of my favorites, used to be made with American cheese but the guy changed it to cream cheese so it’s even better. The Myulchee or Minnows Kimbab is also quite tasty and delicious, but be forewarned, it is quite spicy. Also would recommend the Tuna Kimbab, my little bro’s favorite.
Their Tonkatsu was pretty standard, didn’t cut it up though, which made it a little difficult to consume.
And last but not least, my mother’s favorite here was the Ddukbokki, or Korean Spicy Rice Cakes. She’ll always get it here by default, and I’ll typically snag a bite or two – or five.

I’ve been to this place twice now. I’ve tried numerous dishes… When you sit down, they start you off with spicy and regular pickled radish. And a extremely small portion of chicken rice porridge (pretty good).First time I went the service was amazing. Second time I went the service was still pretty good but still not as good as the first time (different waitresses)
— Al Bap (fish egg rice): First time trying this ever, and I LOVE IT. IMO, I think it’s much more flavorful than regular bibimbap. It had some kimchi, masago, two differe types of diced pickled veggies, and what looks like a mayo mixture of imitation crab. I just love it. I gotta start eating this at other restaurants too! lol
— Tuna kimbap: Taste like danmooji to me. I let a friend try it and she thinks it tastes better than DMJ.
— Spicy Anchovy kimbap: good, but sooooo spicy. People who like spicy will find this attracting. I don’t think I can handle it.
— Tonkatsu: A little thin for me, I like my tonkatsu thick. But a friend who ordered it liked it. The sauce was a little sweeter than what I expected. If I ever order it, I would ask for sauce on the side.
— Bulgogi bibimbap: the bugolgi slices were pretty big and thick! I was expecting crumbles like all the other Korean restaurants. I was impressed! But other than that, bibimbap is bibimbap, can’t really mess that up…
— Some sort of spicy noodle dish: Lol sorry I forgot the name. The noodle texture was good. But the menu said spicy beef noodle soup, but when I got the dish it was seafood. I decided not to say anything about it. The dish was average.
— The Omlet Cream rice dish: Sorry I think I got the order of the name wrong… but basically… it’s omo-​rice with a cream sauce on top. Instead of kimchi fried rice, they have a curry fried rice under that thin piece of egg. And on top was a thick cream sauce… I thought it would taste like alfredo sauce but it didn’t. It’s not bad. Very interesting. I would be happier with it if it had some sort of meat in it, but eh.
There are still alot of things I want to try on the menu, I will definitely come back. I give it one star for being so close to my house, one star for opening until 11PM, one star for awesome customer service, and one more star for having some variety in the menu! The albap is my favorite so far!

Glad to see this place busy everyday despite being open only a week ago. The menu boasts of items a Korean food newbie would be comfortable with. There’s the usual maki rolls (kimbop) that go for $ 3.50. A steal since you get 12 pieces to an order. Ramen noodles and fish cakes in spicy sauce are run of the mill. There are also tempura dishes and tonkatsu that are just okay. Some items are a little pricey considering the taste and quality you’re getting.
Nothing spectacular overall but hits the spot when you’re craving for something quick.