Hoban Korean Restaurant

Food was great, had the soup army base! And beef bulgogi, spicy chicken wing and jasmine tea. Everything was hot and tasteful! Customer services was good, they try to give the best services they can, especially the whole house is full with people! Will try again very soon!

I really wanted to love this place, but I didn’t. Just like any other cuisine, it varies by area and this just wasn’t what I was looking for.
All the items we ordered just didn’t taste like they should. I have had authentic, my ex was stationed in Korea and loved the food… we have hit so many Korean places, and this just didn’t match.
Service was good, place was clean… but I’m still on the search.

One of the biggest things I have missed since relocating to MN from Los Angeles is the Korean food– particularly Korean BBQ. While Hoban Korean Restaurant is not Korean BBQ and is not quite like some of the places out in Koreatown in Los Angeles, it was sure a nice surprise to find some tasty and solid Korean food. Arrived for lunch at 12pm on Saturday. The place was fairly empty-​but started filling up soon after we arrived. The service was great-​friendly and attentive staff. We were greeted and seated right away. Menu had a wide selection. Our party had the Dolsat Bibimbap, Chick bulgogi, and bulgogi in hot stone bowl, and fried rice. Barchan was tasty and received about 6 dishes. Bummed that they didn’t have the korean fish cake (Eomuk bokkeum) as this is one of my faves. I will definitely be returning to this gem of a little Korean restaurant in Eagan of all places.

Great Korean food! I love the kimchee chigae. The green onion pancakes are delicious as well as the spicy wings. Kal bi and bulgogi are tasty! All the ban chan are wonderful accompaniments. Definitely go here for amazing food in epic proportions.

First time trying this place, service was great and very polite food was amazing. Will definitely be back.

The food is good, but the service is too… s.l.o.w…
We wait for 20 minutes to get the menu, another 40 minutes and food is still not ready.
I understand guests need to be patient, but this is outrageous! The kids are starving…

I’ve been here for about 5 times so far.
Food: I come here for their Kalbi (fried ribs) which is okay priced compared to other places and tastes good.
One of my Korean dinner favorites is chapchae, but they make it awful here, no meat whatsoever, watery, simply eww. Won’t recommend getting it here.
They make their calamari well, most Italian restaurants will make it deep fried, here you will find a completely new way of eating calamari, highly recommend it here.
Seafood pancakes are awesome here, called pa jun. normal pa jun with green onion is also good too. You can’t really find pa jun in other Korean restaurants, so if you like it, this is the place.
As far as soups go, I personally love spicy Yuk gae jang. I like their soups quite a lot. However, though it looks great on the picture, I really didn’t like their hot pots at all.
That pretty much summarizes the food.
Service: it’s slow, they always look understaffed. Not the best service you can find in Korean restaurants. Your wait time to sit and get your food are both slower than other Korean restaurants. That’s definitely a drawback.
Smell: I had to put it in a separate category. After you eat here, if there was a stray dog, that dog would totally follow you because he’ll think you’re a walking hot dog or something. Really, you’ll stink. Even if you leave your jacket overnight on your balcony, the smell won’t go away. So in short, unless you really don’t mind food smell from on your clothes, you should wear something you’d wash right away when you eat here. You’ll smell like you worked in a kitchen all day. And you need to shower too, cause the smell wont go away from hair as well. I totally wouldn’t bring your first date here.
The place is crowded, bad ventilation and no windows that open make it a good combo to smell like a kitchen help. And it’s not a bakery smell I’m talking about, it’s more like burnt oil from deep frier kind of smell.

My mom came into town and we haven’t had Korean for a long while so Hoban was a must. Unilocal seems to think it is the best Korean restaurant in town and after my experience I’ll have to agree. We got in a little after 5pm and seemed to beat most of the dinner rush where the line was literally out of the door. There is an adjacent karoke joint next door (probably the same owners?) so traffic for this quiet plaza is surprisingly high.
I read Sophie C’s review before coming and I am in total agreement. GET THE SEAFOOD JUNGOL AND KALBI. Portion size of both items are otherworldly. She mentions the jungol is enough to feed 3 – 4 people. Well my 105 lb mom and I killed it along with the kalbi. Yep, we’re definite fatties.
In terms of taste, this was some of the most authentic Korean my silly Chinese taste buds have ever encountered (note the caveat). This is on top of an extensive banchan with some very fresh ingredients. We had no issues with service — excellent overall. Actually, I should complain that he filled my water cup too often. I guess I have a compulsive issue that forces me to drink a cup so that its not completely full. I will definitely be bringing my friends along next time.

I give 5 stars to Hoban. It is the best Korean restaurant in Minnesota. I highly recommend Champ Pong， it is delicious.

Holy moly, who knew a gem like this existed in the Middle of America aka Minnesota?!
I was pretty impressed at how legit the Korean food was here. It’s pretty comparable to the ones I’ve had in San Francisco and New York.
On two trips, I had a chance to try the Sulang Tang, Bibim Naengmyun, Mul Naengmyun and Kop Chang Kui.
Sulang Tang — Short rib kalbi served in a noodle soup. It’s a simple and light dish, great during the cold weather. The meat was served in tender slices.
Bibim Naengmyun — Naengmyun means cold noodles in Korean (learned this from my man who worked overseas for a year there.) Bibim is spicy so it’s spicy cold noodles. This dish was a kicker in flavors, it’s kind of those it hurts so good kind of moment. I couldn’t stop gulping water between each bite but it was sooo good. I recommend telling the server to lower the spice level if you get this.
Mul Naengmyun — This one is just regular cold noodles. It’s just as good except without the high levels of spiciness. The brisk you get from the noodles is pretty refreshing on a hot summer day. Don’t forget to ask your server to cut up your noodles otherwise you’ll be slurping for eternity!
Kop Chang Kui — Spicy beef tripe; once again it hurts so good. The place sure knows how to set your tongue on flames. The tripe is pretty tender but the dish was drowned in oil and sauce so maybe skip?
They also provide banchan, keepin’ it traditional. All in all, not bad for a Korean restaurant in Minnesota.

There’s only 2 korean restaurants I like in Minnesota, and Hoban’s is one of them. Korean food is generally gonna be expensive compared to chinese food, but Hoban actually gives you enough food for your money. Their Kal Bi is delicious and comes sizzling hot from their hot pan. You can’t go wrong with any of their meat dishes, like the beef/​pork bul gi gi.
If you’re looking for Korean food in Minnesota, I’d highly recommended this place.

Great Korean place! I think that the bi bim bap was the best dish, in the hot stone pot! Crispy rice, fresh vegetables and deliciously cooked bulgolgi!
The one thing I didn’t like as much as I wish I could have was the seafood pancake — it had amazing pieces of seafood and was plentiful, but the pancake wasn’t very crispy and a bit chewy.
It is located near the Outlet malls so not a great location but definitely one of the better Korean options, if not a bit pricy.

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve came here, but I joined in on my mom and brother’s lunch plans last minute. My mom really wanted their lunch buffet. We arrived around 12:45 PM and their lunch buffet closes at 2 PM. We glanced at the buffet. They only have 9 options and 1 soup but to our disappointment, everything was empty. However, the manager assured us that they were still refilling everything and that we should still enjoy the buffet option, so we went ahead and got seated. My brother opted out of the buffet and ordered something off the menu instead.
My mom and I’s first plate of buffet food was basically the leftover its and bits of whatever was left. After waiting maybe 10 or so minutes, the waitress comes out with some brand new bulgolgi to refill the buffet but immediately, a line formed and by the time the end of the line had ran its course, the bulgolgi was once again, empty. This was the fashion that the rest of my experience proceeded as. Each time a new dish would be brought out to be refilled, you had to rush to the buffet or once again, it would be empty. By the time 2 PM rolled around, I wasn’t even able to try all 9 dishes because they hadn’t refilled everything like they promised. Some of the 9 dishes had remained empty the whole time I was there. Not to mention, I got my water probably 30 minutes into eating and my brother didn’t receive his food until my mother and I were already done and full from eating the buffet.
Now, maybe I would’ve rated this place a bit higher had the food been delicious, but it wasn’t. The side options that they gave us were things like lettuce, kimchi, but lacked the more special unique Korean side dishes like fish cake, etc. The actual food itself was so mediocre and just wasn’t at all special. The jap chae was practically 95% noodles, lacking the usual stir fried vegetables mixed in. I figured it might’ve just been a thing where the buffet food is prepared with less care than if it had been an order so I ordered a jap chae to go, but it was the exact same as the buffet food and wasn’t good. Overall, most likely won’t be returning. They’re not necessarily a bad place, but possibly just gives a bad experience to guests due to how understaffed they are.

I go to this place once in awhile. One of my fave Korean spots in Minnesota if you’re willing to spend the buck for it. Quality over quantity. More pricier than the one by the UofM but tastes better. Plus you actually get a well attentive server. Well every time I been to Hoban I get one of the friendliest service ever.
Ordered yuk hwe like a raw beef tartar. Light, delicious, that melts in your mouth. Nice sweet taste to it. Kalbi the Korean short ribs. Nice well cooked and charred. Also ordered their Korean fried chicken wings. I love the flavored to the wings but it could have been crispier. Still good tho! Entrees come with like 6 – 7 sides like kimchee.
I definitely would recommend this place to everyone. Just keep up mind you’re paying a little more for quality!

Took the family here for a nice dinner. We were greated with a smile and seated quickly in the family booth. Ordered or drinks then our food. Is been a while since we went here to the time that I’m actually writing this review. All I remember is the spicy chicken hot pot (I think this time they were using a different type of chicken as the last few times we ordered this dish the chicken tasted different). We also got the calamari. That all that I remember for now. I will definitely put up the pictures for reference.
Overall the service was great the food was good. I think it’s time for some korean food in the next few days here.

Their service is not so great since it’s always too busy. but I go there sorely for the food. this place is good to go after shopping, it’s right next to the twin cities outlet mall and pretty close to the MOA!
Their food is pretty good– so much better than other Korean restaurants in twin cities area like Korean restaurant near the U. but, still– not my most fav Korean place. I liked every single dish that I had there but their beef jeon (so weird texture, I think they cooked it wrong or something?). I also like their banchans (side dishes) too!

I think this is a great Korean place for people that live closer to Eagan than Minneapolis. I didn’t think the food was absolutely amazing. I’ve came here many times only because it was closer than Minneapolis.
The food is okay for a Korean place in MN.
However, the service here is kind of slow. We never had just one server every time we came. When I ask for things like a straw or a container, some people actually looked like they were upset.
Definitely come if you don’t want to drive to Minneapolis.

I’ve come to eat here quite often. While their food is ok, the location is what makes me come here. I miss the actual grilling of meats. As far as I know, there are no Korean restaurants that offer grills at the tables.
They are open daily from open to close. No lunch/​dinner breaks here. Just come on in and get your Korean grub on. Again, I can’t emphasize enough the disappointment in not being able to cook at the table. It really takes away from that dining experience.
Food is above average here. Nothing to write home about. They do offer an extensive menu. You will be able to find all your noodle, rice cake, grilled meats, pancakes, and hot pot cravings here. If you are looking for specifics to try I’d wholeheartedly recommend their spicy wings, seafood pancakes and their kalbi. They also serve soju with some fruity flavors. I have yet to be disappointed here nor have I been mesmerized. Prices are reasonable and really close to where I live which is convenient.
Never had any problems with parking. The restaurant shares the same plaza with Anytime Fitness so if you feel like eating Korean food right after your workout, it’s very convenient. Feel free to reward yourself with some good tasting Kalbi after an intense work out. Or if you feel like singing your heart out, karaōke is right next door.

I am giving Hoban three stars with a heavy heart. I have been here around 3 times before yesterday, and the food was always great each time (I would even go as far to say the best Korean food in town), and the service was at least okay.
My favorite dishes from Hoban:
Seafood Hotpot *GET THIS! It’s probably enough for 3 – 4 people, depending on how much you eat*
Seafood Pancake
Beef Short Ribs (Kalbi)
Bingsu *GET THIS*
However, yesterday, we decided to stop for lunch around 3:00 pm on a Sunday afternoon. The restaurant was relatively busy, with a few huge parties. We had to wait a few minutes before being seated, which was understandable. But after 20 minutes of sitting down and looking at the menus, no server came to greet us, and there were no water given to us. It seems like there were only 1 – 2 servers, and they were occupied serving the large parties of people.
The one server that I see consistently helping the parties that were seated just before us walked past our table at least 4 times without acknowledging the wait, water, and etc. We decided to leave after 20 minutes as it’s unacceptable to me to wait 20 minutes for the server to come by, greet us, and give us water.
I should also mention that the previous time I was here, the server messed up our bill when we asked them to split the check three ways. They end up swiping my card twice. I did not notice this until I was looking at my credit card transactions.
This used to be my favorite place for Korean food, but I think it will be a while before I come back. Meanwhile, I will explore other Korean restaurants like King’s! :)

I have been thinking about bi bim bop ALL DAY and everyone I know was watching the superbowl so I didn’t have a dinner date so I got this to go! Brought it home. So I didn’t get the whole Hoban dolsot bi bim bop experience but it was still delicious. The spicy sauce it came with was awesome. All the flavors were really good. Not very much meat though.
While I waited for my food I chatted with the employee a little. Evidently they have a lunch buffet M-​F so I will have to check that out sometime when I have a day off of work.
Location is a little weird, it’s at the end of a strip mall so it’s not very convenient unless you live in the area (or happen to be on your way home from MOA, like I was).